Bound By The Blood Moon

Siestri hovered high across the battlefield, watching on as thousands of vampires and werewolves clashed with demons of different colours and built as endless streams of blood flowed along the battlefield.

He looked lonely in the air as the moonlit night held no clouds and no night birds dared to cross the airspace surrounding this battle; the demon archers made sure of that.

And just then, they sent their warm regards to Siestri: a barrage of heavy arrows that darkened the sky for a moment. Siestri looked far ahead to see the archers lined up diligently, the only unit of the demons that seemed like a real army.

"Tsk. This is tiring. I might as well do my part with earnestness."

Steadying his wand, he began to conjure shields that stopped the arrows and ground them to dust with sheer repelling force. He needed to make sure that the Triform behind him didn't have to fear the arrows from above.

Descending slowly while moving forward to meet the archers, he chanted a spell slowly in a low whisper. High in the sky, a near-invisible blue rune was conjured, which covered a large area. 

At the end of his chant and while the archers were nocking arrows on their bowstrings, he summoned lightning within their ranks. 

The lightning cracked through the sky as it tore through the air and struck the demons. With the fire it ignited, the demon archers were burnt to crisp in seconds without sparing a single one. They barely had any time to scream before their vocal cords were singed.

"That's done. Now, to the main event."

He landed among the ashes of the demon archers, but the whites of his shoes were not stained by a single speck. Stamping the end of his staff into the ground, he conjured up a wind that blew all the ash away. He looked around with wisdom shining in his eyes, searching for Maydriyn.

"That demon woman must be very sly and heartless. Even after I killed all her troops, she still hasn't shown any signs or tried to attack me."

With the staff still standing firmly in front of him, he brought his hands close together like you would when you were praying but made sure that the orb of his staff didn't touch his palms. The orb pulsed a little then held a steady glow as Siestri chanted.

"Le Aver."

From the point where he stood, a faint red ring pushed out as it covered hundreds of meters. Siestri was scanning for Maydriyn as he couldn't go on walking blindly. 

The red ring covered the few trees that were left standing and the many hills that were littered around. As the faint red ring crept upon an oddly shaped hill, it stopped before it pinpointed a particular spot. Siestri opened his eyes and smiled as he stared at the spot that his magic had indicated.

"Found you, you sly demon."

Maydriyn had spotted Siestri the moment he hovered before the demon archers. Seeing as he easily defended against the barrage of arrows from the archers, she had run away to hide with one of the few stealth techniques she had. 

Constructing a nearly perfect hill with the shadows around her was no easy feat, as she had to remain motionless for the duration of this skill. And with a powerful wizard like Siestri in the vicinity, it was even more difficult as the fear of death from his attacks bore down on her mind.

Siestri picked up his staff and took off in the air as he headed northward. Maydriyn, seeing that her stealth technique had barely held Siestri back, cancelled her skill and took off immediately, hoping to create more distance between her and Siestri.

She urged her legs to move faster, burning her lungs in the process, but Siestri matched her pace, not letting the distance between them decrease. Maydriyn had strapped her bow to her back while she shrunk the size of her quiver with magic so it wouldn't obstruct her movement. Although the demons didn't know much magic, they still had magic enchanters within their ranks. 

Many thoughts kept running through Maydriyn's mind. She needed to escape, but Siestri's speed had not dropped one bit since he started chasing her. With a low whisper, she relayed her plan to herself.

"Running away like this won't solve anything. I might as well stand my ground and attack."

Siestri watched as she abruptly turned before she pulled her bow off her back, holding it in her left hand. He halted his flight and watched her keenly, not letting any of her actions miss his wise eyes while he readied a defence spell.

"Wise mage, what is your name?"

"Siestri. And yours?"

"Maydriyn."

"Are you a member of the demon succubi race?"

"Yes."

"I see. You must have struggled a lot to get here."

"How did y-?"

By now, Siestri had descended but still hovered about an inch off the ground. He hushed her mid-sentence with a wave of his hand before he continued.

"As you said, I'm a wise mage. Would it then be odd for me to know these details about your kind?"

After a short pause and the crease on her forehead slowly disappearing, she finally understood his words.

"I think not."

Sighing, Siestri looked on at her with his gaze piercing through her eyes and into the depths of her soul. He could see the little girl she used to be at some point and understood the pain she must have experienced.

"I would want nothing more than to spare you for the sake of the painful past you experienced. But you've done too much in so little time that my bleeding and dead brethren would claw at my soul for eternity if I do not avenge them."

"I do not need your pity, wise mage. And I will run no more. As you said, I have experienced pain to get to where I am today. I will not toss it all away."

"Then so be it."

Enlarging her quiver, she pulled out three black, long arrows and nocked them on her bow, all in one swift movement. Just before she fired her arrows, she jumped backwards and shifted her bow to the side, angling her direction. 

"I guess I'm not the only wise one here now, am I?"