The Immortal Hero And The Nightmare Queen

by Gravitiaxis

Chaper 9: Age 21

Travelling by boat, you stared at the distant island as it slowly grew larger as time passed. You are consumed by your thoughts as you examine the dark gloomy cloud that covered most of the place. It looked exactly like something from Linnan’s favorite books and that wasn’t a comforting sight.

Gilvina’s constant whining snapped you out of your musings as she was clearly having second thoughts about the entire ordeal. Unlike you or your other arcane companions, Gilvina had no affinity towards magic. she had only her with and her wings to keep her out of death’s grasp. Her fighting skills weren't something to be overlooked either.

Unknown to most people who didn't have the attention span to pay attention to small details would fail to notice the dozens of little tiny blades Gilvina keeps hidden in the thickness of the feathers of her wings. You have witnessed this on multiple occasions as she cut down dozens of her foes with the slight spin of her wings. Most fatalities were caused by the opening of the victims adamant and their contents viewing out onto the ground. When she's unable to do her turn she uses the extra set of knives and daggers as back up throwing objects to come back an unsuspecting foe has there making a move on her. this is an action that has saved your and her butt on numerous occasions.

Despite her lack of magic, she was still a formidable opponent who was to never be underestimated under any circumstances, though you would never tell her your positive opinion of her fighting abilities for if you did you would never hear the end of it.

You turned and faced you're weary companion. “What were you babbling on about?” You asked watching as her already sour expression worsened by your apathy.

“I think I made a bad call.” She exclaimed as she eyed ominous cloud hovering over the island.

“Too late for second thoughts now. We're already halfway there.” You snorted.

Sensing your obvious irritation with the notion of her chickening out, she closed her eyes and sighed. “Why couldn't we have at least brought some of my men along with us? It would at least made the job easier for us.”

She was right. More people raise the chances of you and her surviving but it made things harder to coordinate. You weren't a natural born leader. One person was the best option to have tag along with you. You informed her of this and she rolled her eyes.

“Alright then, so what's the plan? Are we just going to slay the demon and bounce?” That was surely the quickest and easiest way to deal with the problem, however...

“A demon with this much power is not something to be taken lightly.” You said reminding her of the weight of dead fish in tainted water the boat was traveling through. “I wouldn't be surprised if we manage to cut off the demons head and another one or two grows in its place. A fight with this demon will surely bring some scars if not outright kill us.”

Gilvina shivered at the thought and you couldn't blame her. Once more her fear was justified. For a demon to have this much power it would have either been a pride demon or despair demon. You've never fought against beings of this magnitude before. If it's truly at full power then getting close to it without being forced to fight with each other would prove to be taxing on your mind as it would force you to cast a barrier on your minds. You hoped that your skills in necromancy would be enough to combat the threat, whatever it may be.

“Are there any other ways to defeat it?”

You leaned on the side of the boat and began to think. You wondered if the demon was summoned through the use of a summoning circle or perhaps it was necromancy that had done the trick. Luckily you specialize in both. However it was vital that you figure out who summoned the demon and why. If summoning circles were used in the process, you would need to discover where it was located so that you could to dispel it. But back to Gilvina question...

“There are a few ways we can defeat it, but some of them very on the situation. So I suggest that we go along with the idea of killing it. At least until we know more.” Gilvina nodded her head and said she would follow your lead. This was a comforting thought. Though the two of you may have your differences and would argue during the most unfavorable of circumstances you still valued her as a wonderful friend and companion.

A few moments of silence had passed while the both of you steal your nerves for me on coming fight. You half expected that you would meet a horde of demonic spider babies crawling its way to you as soon as you stepped on the docks. Gilvina did not find this joke funny when you presented it to her. Apparently she did not find spiders fun to be around. Neither did you unless you were the one controlling them through magic other than that you did not think of them as your friends. When the boat reached the docks you were kind of surprised to find out that nothing was there to greet you. Everything was silent and that was obviously a bad thing or a good thing depending on how everything turned out.

“Maybe the demon packed its bags and left when it found out there was no one else to kill.” Gilvina nervously joked as she gripped the handle of her sword.

“Always do enjoy a little bit I have good morbid humor. Got any more to elevate the tension?” you said sarcastically as your own hand twitched towards your hidden dagger.

“Oh sure, I got plenty. Ever heard about the Griffin massacre a couple of decades back? That one’s a real doozy.”

You appreciated your partners need to make witty comments in order to release some of the tension. However you found it strange that a demon that most likely values its existence would not have some type of enemy waiting by the docks to kill anyone who entered.

“Take it from here oh glorious leader.” she smirked.

“Stop talking and let me think.” You wondered if there were any survivors still on the island surely not all vegetation on the island have been killed. Perhaps there were still inhabitants who were hold up away from the demons influence. Maybe somewhere in the villages or not... The demon may not know that you're here, plus there might be something of value that could help aid you against the demon or you could hurry up and head towards the demon now. your practice in the dark arts have allowed you to sense evil so you know where to go in order to find it.

So what's your choice?

Comments

[Amethyst Blade]

You should try to be careful and scout out the town first...
Searching for info and survivors to get a decent knowledge on what you will be facing, it will help increase your chance of survival...

[LunarGaurd]

I think the best option would be a mix of the two proposed routs. Head towards the demon while scouting out the village for anything of use. Whenever we come across a dead body, we can use necromancy to raise it to increase our numbers, and when we get to the demon, set up an ambush and have us be the only one out in the open to try to pry information from and/or reason with the demon.

[Zwei]

possess all the dead corpse if there are any and get them to search the island for survivors, the daemon and any magic circles. if there are any survivors gain information from they about the island and anything to do with the daemon. after the search recall all zombies travel the magic circle and dispel it and look for clues as to who did it and why or confront the daemon with any of it's weakness learned or just try and kill it