Mistaken for a Returnee

The obnoxious song of a thousand cicadas looking for love filtered through Sulika's open window, but the insects weren't what woke her this time.

No, she was slapped across the face, dragged out of dreamland, and tossed face first into a hangover induced migraine by an urgent banging on her bedroom door.

She opened tired, bloodshot eyes and sighed while pushing herself into a sitting position.

The banging continued with no sign of it slowing down or stopping anytime soon- every sound was like an electric shock hitting her brain, causing a considerable amount of pain.

"That's it. No drinking for a while." She muttered, climbing out of bed and stumbling to the door in an old gray shirt, and white pajama pants with small foxes embroidered into each thigh.

Sulika reached the door and pushed it open to find Faeyra standing there with an irritated look on her face.

"Get dressed. There's a problem." Faeyra said while pushing past Sulika and entering her bedroom.

"Who died?" Sulika hid a yawn behind her hand and slowly closed the door.

Despite the way it was asked, it was a serious question. Sulika just didn't have the emotional or intellectual bandwidth to display the proper level of concern right now.

Faeyra emerged from the bedroom holding a fresh outfit, consisting of dark blue joggers and a black tank top.

She thrust the clothes into Sulika's hands and urged her into action.

Tired, nauseous, and royally confused, Sulika forced down her grumbling and went along with Faeyra's wishes.

She stepped into the bedroom to change and freshen up, but didn't bother closing the door. "What's going on?" She asked… But her question remained unanswered. So, she tried again, and again, Faeyra refused to say anything.

"Fay, you're starting to worry me a little." Her friend was never this serious, I mean, she hadn't made a single joke or flirtatious remark yet.

Once Sulika was fully dressed, and looked slightly less like a motion sick corpse, Sulika left the bedroom and spotted Faeyra standing by a window in the living room.

Snowball was perched on the back of the couch, watching Faeyra with a cautious look in his intelligent eyes. However, as Sulika drew closer to Faeyra's back, she realized she'd missed something.

Snowball wasn't watching Faeyra, he was watching the thing moving around her neck and peeking through her hair at the bird.

Sulika didn't understand what was happening until that very moment.

She stepped around Faeyra's side and looked at her friend's face: her eyes were clouded by a milky-white substance, yet her expression was one of someone looking at something in the distance.

And Sulika knew from experience that whatever Faeyra was looking at was something far away.

She lightly brushed Faeyra's hair aside and peered up at the creature encircling her neck.

"Hello, Howlie. It's nice to see you again." She whispered, reaching up and rubbing the tip of her finger along the scaled brow of Howlite- the five-foot long serpent acting as Faeyra's familiar.

Howlite was a Velorin serpent, but don't let the pretty name fool you. In Lirael, the elvish tongue, 'Velorin' translated to 'Two-Day', which is about how much time you'd have to say goodbye if you were bitten by one.

However, if you were bitten by a Velorin, you probably did something to deserve it. As, on the whole, the species were mostly harmless to humanoids. They didn't like wasting venom on anything they couldn't eat, so the odds of being randomly bitten were astronomically low.

That being said, if you were unlucky enough to be bitten, then you should prepare yourself for some of the worst pain imaginable. The Velorin's venom caused the extremities to slowly necrotize, the cells decaying until the extremities fell off the body.

This was especially painful for men, as they had a fifth extremity to lose… And it was usually the first to go.

Though rarely seen, Howlie almost never left Faeyra's side. Faeyra had even gone so far as to sew a secret pocket into all of her clothes, giving the serpent the perfect place to relax and sleep until he was needed.

Normally, that meant he was using the messaging spell- allowing Faeyra to communicate with Sulika through Snowball. She had also known the serpent to get bored and come out to people watch from time to time, though you'd never know it just from looking.

Despite being almost entirely white, save for a few orange spots scattered across his body, Howlie was a sneaky one. And Faeyra almost never gave it away when her scaly friend was moving around, trying to find the perfect position to watch anyone interacting with his master.

"Your master is looking at something difficult again, huh?"

The snake slowly nodded, a mixture of understanding and concern in his bright orange eyes.

"What do you think she's watching?" Sulika muttered before moving to feed Snowball his breakfast…

Faeyra couldn't stop running, not until she found him, not until she told him what was happening.

Stopping meant they'd catch her. Stopping equaled death, not just for her, but for everyone on the island.

Winged shadows cried as they fell from the purple sky- their bodies were burning, not from a flame, but because they'd passed through the golden barrier surrounding the island.

Yet, despite seeing their brethren burn, the horde of shadows continued to charge forth.

Crack

The barrier begins to sag under the weight of all the dead bodies- Soon it would break, and miasma will fill the city.

The ground suddenly began to shake, and dust rose from the streets. Unable to keep her balance, Faeyra stumbles and falls to her knees.

Blood dripped from her scraped knees and palms, but she ignored it and climbed to her feet- A terrifying roar shook the sky and rattled the windows of the buildings around her.

She looked to the sky- that massive shadow was still there, looming over the city like a guillotine waiting to drop.

The shadow was larger than anything she'd ever seen, larger than even the three-hundred-foot-tall walls the city was so proud of.

A sinister purple flame burned within its massive eye, the eye that seemed to be looking for something within the city.

Faeyra had seen the truth, that monster- that flame was the source of the miasma. She didn't know how, or why, but the longer that monster sat there, the thicker the miasma became.

"Zhak!"

Faeyra didn't have time to look, she could already feel the monsters breathing down her neck. No, now was the time for running- A searing pain struck her leg, driving her into the hard road.

She looked down- and saw a barbed whip digging into her bare ankle. The skin was mangled, beads of crimson color welled up from beneath her skin.

She followed the whip back to the one wielding it- a slender shadow with feathered wings held the other end, while two larger shadows closed in on her.

She felt them grab her, felt them pull her from the ground with grips stronger than steel.

Even as they carried her back to the one holding the whip, she fought them every step of the way-

"Rukh." One of the shadows holding her grunted with pain and released her.

Faeyra smiled at the familiar weight of the shadow lingering within her sleeve.

She used what little time she had to twist her body and aim her sleeve at the other shadow-

"Zhag-ost!" The familiar shadow's strike was blindingly quick, biting the large shadow and retreating back into her sleeve in less than a second.

A part of her wondered why the slender shadow had yet to respond, but she didn't care. She just needed to run, to escape- then her eyes landed on the whip holder.

Though shadows didn't possess eyes, she could tell it was staring at something over her head. Logic dictated she strike the shadow and run. Every fiber of her being was screaming for her to ignore the urge and make a break for it…

Faeyra turned around and looked towards the sky.

A second giant was falling towards the first, only this one was no shadow.

The second giant was almost blinding in its radiance; Its presence illuminating the city like the rising of a second sun.

As the second giant descended towards the first, Faeyra caught a glimpse of the humanoid riding atop its shoulder and knew that she'd be okay.

Faeyra blinked back to reality with her eyes burning and tears streaming down her face from not blinking.

She wiped away the tears and turned, finding Sulika sitting on the couch beside her- the back of her hand rested against Faeyra's thigh to let her know she was not alone.

"Hey, foxy." She muttered after taking a moment to collect herself.

"Hey, Fay. How's it going?" Sulika replied, standing to her feet and rounding on her friend in the blink of an eye. "Are you okay?"

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"I'm-" She thought about what to say and how to say it… Then she remembered something that took precedence over the vision. "I'm fine, but we have a problem."

"Clearly." Sulika said, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms under her chest.

"No, apart from that. A group of sentinels was waiting for me to open the door this morning… Apparently, someone attempted to arrest Aldritch this morning."

"... They did what?" She shouted, her voice breaking under the stress. Now she wondered if her first question shouldn't have been 'who died?' but 'how many died?'

"Relax." Faeyra said, holding up a hand. "He wasn't hurt-"

"Wasn't him I was worried about."

Faeyra sighed at the interruption and gave Sulika an 'are you done?' look.

"Sorry. Continue."

"As I was saying: He wasn't hurt, and neither were the sentinels who brought him in. But since there's no record of him living in the city, we need to go down and talk to them before they'll release him." She explained, leaving her irritation at the situation on full display.

"That's… Actually, not as bad as I thought." Sulika admitted as relief washed over her. "What'd they arrest him for?"

Faeyra smirked humorlessly, "Dragging a demon through the streets."

Sulika's brain short circuited.

It must have, right? Otherwise, there was no way she'd actually heard what she thought she'd heard.

Aldritch wasn't dragging a demon through the streets, he'd said he was going to watch the sunrise while gorging on chocolate milk.

So, how in the HELLS does an evening of chocolate milk drinking turn into dragging a demon through the streets!?

Where had he even found a demon to drag!?

Sulika finished getting ready in a flash and the two women stepped outside, where they found a dozen sentinels waiting for them- their dark helmets and uniforms always gave Sulika the creeps.

Eleven of the twelve sentinels stood in stoic silence, completely unmoved by the presence of onlookers that stopped and stared.

The last sentinel, who Sulika believed was the legion commander, stood at the front of the group with his helmet tucked under his right arm.

He was an attractive elf: Long black hair, a statuesque build, and eyes the color of molten iron.

Once Faeyra had locked the door behind them, the commander stepped forward and offered a hand to them.

Faeyra gracefully accepted his hand and quickly moved down the four stairs to the street. Once she was on solid ground, the sentinels moved to surround her while the commander offered a hand to Sulika- Who wanted to wrinkle her nose at the thought of being helped, but also didn't see the point in being rude.

"Sorry, what is this about?" She asked while taking his hand and copying Faeyra's movements.

"The Governor and the Master of the Hunter's Guild are waiting for you at the Roost." He replied before donning his helmet; it completely hid his face from view and gave him the same artificial stillness the rest of the sentinels possessed.

Sulika was extremely uncomfortable with the way this was going.

She already disliked the idea of being escorted somewhere against her will. But that unease was only multiplied by the fact that the sentinels looked more like golems than people.

"Why are such important people waiting for us? I thought we were just going to vouch for our friend Aldritch?" Faeyra asked, redirecting the commander's attention to herself.

"Ours is not to reason why: Ours is but to do and die." He replied before silently giving the order for the sentinels to begin moving.

Faeyra took Sulika's hand and pulled her along, choosing to walk under their power rather than risk getting pushed along with the iron tide.

"I've heard you sentinels say that line before, and I've wondered what it meant for a while now. Mind enlightening me?" Faeyra asked, attempting to make conversation with the soldiers.

Yet they said nothing and continued to remain silent despite numerous attempts from both women.

As far as the legion was concerned, they weren't ignoring them to be rude. Their orders were just to escort a package from point A to point B, then get back to their usual duties. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, the silent soldier act did nothing to endear them to Sulika.

The way they walked in perfect harmony, the odd stillness in their postures, the lack of casual conversation, all of it only added to their artificial appearance. Leading her to wonder if they actually could be Golems inside those faceless helmets.

Thankfully, for Sulika's mental health and Faeyra's patience, they arrived at the Sentinel's Roost a short while later.

Sulika half expected the building to be nothing but rubble, so she was pleasantly surprised to find nothing amiss. And judging by the lack of interest from the people walking by, nothing serious had happened in the time it took them to get here.

Apparently, Faeyra's information was correct and Aldritch had allowed himself to be taken in without a fuss.

"Enter through the double doors and talk to the woman waiting behind the desk. She'll guide you the rest of the way." The Commander said, holding out his arm and guiding the two women away from his legion.

"Uh… Thanks for guiding us, I guess?" Sulika said, still wondering why such a thing had been necessary.

"Just doing our duty. Have a pleasant day." He replied, dipping his head to Faeyra, then Sulika. He turned on his heel and returned to the legion, before leading them towards the market.

"Those guys give me the creeps." Sulika muttered. Now that the sentinels were no longer looking over her shoulder, she couldn't repress the shiver that left her with cold bumps along her arms and down her back.

"I'll admit, even I'm a bit unnerved by the whole 'Golem' thing they've got going on. But I don't think my reaction comes close to yours. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Sulika sighed in relief. "I just really don't like golems. They freak me out."

"Since when?" Faeyra asked incredulously. "We had a Golem assistant at my grandmother's house, didn't we? You never had a problem with it."

"Hey, Dixy was not an it. She was a girl, and she was also shaped like an adorable purple trash can. I don't have a problem with those…" Sulika glanced over her shoulder at the Sentinels fading into the crowd of pedestrians. "It's the humanoid shaped ones I can't stand."

"Fair enough, I guess." Faeyra replied and moved towards the door- but she stopped just before opening it. "Oh, but if that's the case, then you probably shouldn't come into my lab anytime soon… Just saying." She opened the door and stepped inside, leaving Sulika to stare after her in shock.

"What did you do?" Sulika whispered before following Faeyra into the building.

The main lobby of the Sentinel's Roost was much smaller than the lobby of the Hunters Guild and sparsely decorated.

The term 'bare bones' came to mind while looking around the room.

The lobby was shaped like an upside down 'L'; with high ceilings, a thick concrete floor, sturdy stone walls, and a large wooden door set into the wall at the very back of the room. Just above the door was a large sign that read 'See receptionist for entrance.' in glowing white letters.

The only furniture Sulika could see was the four rows of wooden benches that had been magically anchored to the floor. Each row contained three two-seater benches, allowing only twenty-four people to sit inside the lobby at any time.

Faeyra led Sulika to the back of the lobby and turned left, bringing them to a stop at the top of the upside down 'L'. There, blocking off a portion of the room, they found a wall-to-wall stone desk that was so tall it came up to Sulika's chin.

Starting at the leftmost wall, five-inch-thick stone bars protruded from the desktop and merged into the ceiling some ten feet overhead. The bar was followed by a four-inch gap, before another bar protruded from the desk. This pattern continued across the entire desk, save for a single two-foot gap at the very center of the desk.

It was there that Sulika and Faeyra spotted a gnomish woman with vibrant purple hair and metallic purple eyes. The woman was watching them both with a bored, but professional smile across her handsome face.

Faeyra approached the woman without hesitation, while Sulika trailed behind and continued to observe the various people waiting inside the lobby.

"Hi, maybe you can help me?" Faeyra started, her own professional smile locked in place and on full display. "My name is Faeyra Silverowl, and this is my friend Sulika Wysarie. We were asked to come in and speak for our friend Aldritch."

The Gnomish woman's face subtly shifted: her smile grew larger, her eyes met with Faeyra's eyes instead of looking only in the general direction of Faeyra's face and shifted slightly in her seat. It was clear the woman was excited, though neither Sulika nor Faeyra could understand why.

"Ah… You're the ladies the Governor is waiting for, yes?" The Gnomish woman asked. Without waiting for a response, she reached beneath the desk and pressed a small black button that could only be seen from her side of the desk- there was an audible click from the big door that drew both Sulika and Faeyra's attention to it. "Please go through that door. I'll meet you on the other side and take you to your friend."

"Oh! Thank you." Faeyra replied, smiling at the small woman.

"Yes, thank you." Sulika said, echoing her friend's sentiment.

The two of them hurried over to the door and Sulika pulled the door open- and was surprised at how light the door felt in her hand.

The front door was as heavy as it looked, requiring a considerable amount of strength to even move the thing. But this door swung open almost without effort, and even more surprisingly, it did so while remaining completely silent.

Sulika took the lead this time and stepped through the door ahead of Faeyra. Once both women were inside, Sulika released the door and watched it swing closed just as silently.

Fifteen seconds later, the Gnomish woman emerged from somewhere nearby and beckoned the two women to follow her deeper into the Roost.

She led them down a few barren halls, passing numerous sentinels who were either returning from a patrol or were getting ready to start one.

Passing an open door that led to what Sulika assumed was a locker room, Sulika saw something which surprised her: two human males, a female elf, a female dwarf, and a male elf were hanging out in the locker room. The neatly folded sentinel armor laying nearby gave her the impression the five of them were sentinels… But they were all laughing at something the male elf had said.

That was the first time she'd ever seen a sentinel laugh- Hell, that was the first time she'd realized there were women among the sentinels. She'd thought they were all men beneath those helmets.

"Here we are." The Gnomish woman said as the three of them arrived at a door that was completely identical to twenty other doors Sulika had seen on the short walk here.

She didn't understand how anyone could find their way around this place. Everything looked just as bleak as everything else, with no identifying marks or doors to give you a sense of where you were.

The Gnomish woman opened the door to a small, but surprisingly decorative room. The walls were painted a calming blue, while a light-colored carpet covered the floor. An elegant wooden chandelier dangled precariously from the ceiling by a simple copper chain- Its eight glass orbs cast a delicate white light onto the room, illuminating the large square table placed directly beneath it.

Of the six chairs surrounding the table, three of them were already occupied.

Max: The Guild Master of the Azuris Hunters Guild sat alone on the right side of the table.

Sulika didn't immediately recognize the Gnomish man sitting in a chair at the 'top' of the square. But it only took a few seconds before the face clicked, and she realized she was staring at the Governor of Azuris Island.

The Governor was a portly Gnome with dark purple skin, bone white hair, large black eyes, and a long, hooked nose.

Joolbic Zalbess was a Gnome who was descended from a long line of Gnomish nobility.

Thanks to his family's connections and the best schooling money could buy, Joolbic could've had any posting he wanted.

But instead of staying within the relative safety of the main line, where he was all but guaranteed a lofty position and high salary. He'd instead opted to become Governor of a little frontier island, whose previous governor had recently retired without an heir.

A little island known as Azuris.

No one knew why he risked it all to come this far outside the safety net of the gods, but the people of Azuris were surely indebted to him.

In the twenty-five years since he'd taken the mantle of Governor, the island had finally experienced its first golden age… Now, if only they could convince the other islands of that fact, maybe Max wouldn't have as much trouble recruiting hunters.

The last person in the room was Aldritch, who looked exactly as he had the last time Sulika saw him- he even had the damn barrel of Chocolate milk sitting beside his chair. But aside from that outrageous amount of milk, Aldritch was alone- Except he wasn't.

Kneeling on the ground beside him was the largest Demonwolf Sulika had ever seen: fur as black as a moonless night, a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs, claws that shined like obsidian tipped blades, and crimson eyes that… really took away from the whole 'intimidation' factor he had going on.

His right eye was swollen shut and his left eye was so fixated on the floor she wondered if he thought it would eat him-

Movement out of the corner of her eye drew Sulika's attention to Aldritch's chest.

She realized he was holding something; his right arm was, somewhat awkwardly, lying across his chest and a small, clearly malnourished, gray puppy lay on her back with her head facing the door.

Though the puppy had been sleeping prior to Sulika and Faeyra's appearance. The moment the door swung open, the puppy opened the brightest amber eyes Sulika had ever seen and gave them both a sleepy look.

Sulika looked from the puppy, to the Demonwolf, to the two VIPs sitting across the table from Aldritch and couldn't help but ask her giant friend one question,

"What did you do?"