Mistaken for a Returnee

Sulika, Faeyra, Derrik, Oladi, and Zarud were done waiting.

The sun had fallen below the horizon and the island had become eerily gray and still. There were no sounds; not from the animals, not from the trees, even the ocean could be barely heard.

It was as if the entire plateau had been engulfed in a silencing spell.

Sulika could feel her palms sweating, her throat drying out, and her stomach tangling in knots. But she held it together; she had to.

"Okay…" She took a calming breath and stood up. "Everyone ready?"

"Aye," Derrik pulled Rosa, his beloved Warhammer, from his back in case he needed it in a hurry.

"You know it." Zarud pulled his twin axes from their sheath at his lower back. The grin on his face was positively feral from anticipation.

"I'm ready." Oladi nodded and began chanting in preparation for the fight to come.

"Sylthen Laiara - Thaelorn vas Laithnor. Theren thi valar nor thalvar. Nael sylthen, Laiara, fael thi aelora: Thalvar Verithyn. (O' Eternal Mother- Impart with us the strength of beasts. (Wild soul reshaped: Monstrous Form)"

Her nose and mouth elongated into a grayish-black beak with a sharp point, her neck lengthened slightly, and a wave of feathers cascaded from her scalp to the souls of her feet.

Dark feathers cascaded down her body as a pair of large wings burst from her back, passing through otherwise unseen slits in the fabric of her robes.

The visible part of her arms transformed from flawless skin and elegant form, to almost grotesquely muscled in seconds. And though no one could see it beneath her thick robes, the same transformation was happening to her legs.

"Just give the word, captain." Ralocan pulled his amulet free from his robes and gripped it tightly in his right hand- his eyes glowing faintly in the darkness, almost like a pair of fireflies.

"I'll be right behind you." Max replied, pulling a pair of leather gloves out of his back pocket and slipping them on. His gloves reminded Sulika of sparring mitts, only not as thick and covered in inch-long metal spikes.

Faeyra raised her portion of Notice me Knot into the air, which prompted everyone else to do the same.

"Good luck, everyone." She threw back her head and swallowed the entire vial's worth of liquid in a single gulp.

Her action was quickly repeated by everyone else, as they all took the potion like a shot of whiskey… To varying reactions.

"Damn blueberries." Zarud shook his head and stuck out his tongue- an intense sour flavor sticking to his tongue like a thick paste.

Oladi rolled her eyes and lightly smacked the back of Zarud's head.

"What? You know I'm no good with sour things."

"Zarud, can it. How much time we got, Fay?"

"Each vial should take around eighty seconds to activate, then we'll have ten minutes to get inside the city. Oh, but we can't forget to drink our other potion too. With luck, they'll kick in right as Notice me Knot wears off."

"Good point." Sulika fished out the other vial she'd been given and raised it into the air for everyone to see- Then she chugged it down without a second thought-

"And make sure you sip this one… Oh, oops."

Sulika smacked her lips against the empty vial a second before Faeyra's words registered in her mind- and the sickeningly sweet taste of overripe blueberries assaulted her taste buds.

She couldn't help but wretch at the taste.

"Sorry, I had to make the flavor stronger to cover the-er- 'other' flavors of the potion. My bad." Faeyra offered a canteen of water to wash it down, but Sulika waved her off.

"Hey, if you're still offering, I'll take it." Zarud said, holding his own potion at arm's length as if he were afraid it would bite him.

Faeyra laughed and tossed the canteen his way.

Sulika knew their time was already ticking away, they didn't have time to stand around and drink the potion one at a time.

"Clock's running, everyone. Drink the resistance potion while we walk." She motioned for them to fall in line behind her, then led them closer to the clearing.

"Oladi?"

"I'm seeing two demons patrolling the wall; both appear to be imps. There are three more to our west and four to our east, but we should be able to slip by them if we hurry."

There was about two-thousand feet of open space between their hiding place and the wall. The demons might've been lazy, but they'd still need to do more than simply 'hurry' if they wanted to avoid detection.

The wall wasn't the issue, not really.

Most of them could easily jump over the pile of smoking rubble they were calling a 'wall'. No, the real issue lay in what was behind the wall.

Aside from what the demons had thrown together, the city was normally open from all sides. Visitors could come and go as they pleased, without having to deal with irritating security checks or handsy guards.

But for an invader… Well, things were a little different.

The city was laid out in a massive grid network that could, theoretically, turn it into a fortress at a moment's notice.

Narrow streets that only allowed sightlines in two directions at once, unless they were standing at an intersection. Buildings so pushed together a single person would have trouble running between them. Not to mention the sheer height of the buildings- any one of them could be transformed into a defensive tower and they wouldn't know it until they were already under attack.

Sure, the number of demons they could see was extremely low… But what about the ones they couldn't see? How many were hiding in the shadows, on the rooftops, or just behind the next corner?

Sulika didn't know, but she also didn't have time to dwell on it right now. She pulled her wand from its sheath and prepared to run.

"Move fast and head straight for the wall in front of us. Don't slow down, and don't look around. Keep your eyes planted on the wall and don't stop running until you reach it. Oladi, Max, you are the fastest among us- if you reach the wall first, make sure those imps don't alert the rest… Okay, let's do this."

Oladi and Max took off, both runners quickly leaving the rest of the group behind.

Max ran on all fours; his legs pumping fast enough to render them little more than a blur to Sulika's eyes. Whereas Oladi maintained her two-legged running style, her monstrous legs allowed her to cover much greater distance with every step.

For every step she took, Max had to take six just to keep up.

As they were running, Sulika could feel the effects of Notice me Knot taking hold.

At first, she could see and hear her allies running beside her without issue.

After five seconds of running the figures around her started to blur, almost as if they were very far away.

After fifteen seconds, Sulika realized she needed to keep her eyes on Zarud- who was directly in front of her- because if she didn't, she'd lose sight of him. And it wasn't just him: Faeyra, Derrik, and Ralocan too. The instant she took her eyes off them; their presence would vanish like a mirage.

"Stop thinking about it." She gritted her teeth and focused on Zarud's back. He was the one she needed to worry about running into, the others were fine where they were.

Thirty seconds after they started running: Oladi and Max reached the wall and easily leapt over the four-foot-high obstacle as if it weren't there- Max landing on the hard concrete and rolling to his feet to maintain his momentum, while Oladi barely had to break her stride.

They were inside the city at last, the first row of buildings lay before them- just waiting to be explored and looted… However, they didn't have time for that just yet. They needed to eliminate the closest imps before they spotted Sulika and the others, who were still thirty seconds away.

Max broke away to the left, running with all his might towards the imp strolling down the road with his back to him.

With Max going left, Oladi spun to the right and tore after the imp resting beside a campfire, some type of red meat hung from the metal hook in its tiny hand.

The first imp heard something slapping against the concrete and stopped, tilting his head to the side to better hear the strange sound- It realized too late that the sound was growing closer.

The imp drew the dagger on its side and spun- directly into a leaping haymaker from Max. The Kandisi's fist struck the imp's face like a cannonball, rending his skin, ripping apart his nose, and snapping his head to the side hard enough to snap bones.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Crack!

The Imp's neck snapped under the weight of Max's fist, and it dropped: his knees buckling so quickly, his head actually fell between his own legs and smacked against the ground.

The second imp was more perceptive than the first- whether thanks to the campfire or sheer dumb luck, Oladi didn't know. But the Imp was somehow able to see the seven-foot-tall mutant bird sprinting at it.

The imp screamed, its voice loud and shrill enough to draw the ire of every demon in a three-hundred-foot radius.

Oladi grimaced, she'd hoped to get the imp before it could scream. With that failed, she was on to plan B- Driving her razor-sharp talons through the Imp's chest and removing it's still beating heart.

The Imp's body fell to the ground as Oladi raised its heart above her head.

"Sylthen Laiara, Ves'tari vael, Lin'ra thal umbra, soriel-nal. Vael'gora ven'kael tharn ul'dur, Kessan ra'morth, drael an'ur. Skar'fal, ven'tosh, ul'vyr ne shyn, Thar'el morak, vass'el rhyn. Vel thal'dross, kel'ar'vyn— Vaal dray'kar, Tahl'roth kyn! (O Eternal Mother, Breath of the Wild, Soul of the Storm, Hear this plea beneath root and thorn. From the veil where monstrous spirits tread, I call thee forth from among the dead. With fang and claw, with shadowed might, Lend thy wrath in darkest night. By bark and bone, by sky and sea— Come, Tahl'Roth, the All-Seeing!)"

The Imp's heart slowly lifted off Oladi's talons and floated into the sky- The ground shook as a monstrous cry filled the air.

Hearing the cry, Max spun around and began sprinting towards Oladi. He didn't know if she was being attacked or what, but he knew he needed to reach her fast!

Sulika and the others reached the wall in time to see the results of Oladi's hastily cast spell.

"What's she doing?" Sulika leapt over the barrier and sprinted for Oladi- but she was stopped by Zarud wrapping an arm around her waist and lifting her off the ground.

"She's summoning Tahl'Roth to aid us in battle." He explained before putting her down.

"What's a Tahl'Roth?" Faeyra asked after landing beside them.

Before Zarud could explain, a second monstrous cry ripped through the air- though this one was followed by a gust of wind that almost knocked all of them over.

"That's Tahl'Roth…" Zarud swallowed his nerves and pointed at the monster devouring the imp's heart behind Oladi.

Illuminated by the campfire was the figure of a twelve-foot-tall beast covered in pitch black feathers. Its three obsidian-colored eyes glittered faintly against the moonlight overhead, while its four muscular legs carried it closer to the group.

Oladi stepped around the Giant Raven's legs and placed a clawed hand on its chest. "No'vren; Vaen'thal dor dael'morr. (Not them; We're here for the demons.)"

"Dael'morr? (Demons?)" The raven repeated in a voice that sent chills down Sulika's spine… Or maybe it wasn't the voice, maybe it was the sight of its mouth full of needle-like teeth that was making her nervous.

Tahl'Roth lifted his head and closed his three eyes… Then erupted into a cry that extinguished the fire at his feet.

Max slid to a stop beside the group and prepared to fight the monster- until it sprinted away without giving any of them a second glance.

It reached the corner of the closest building a few seconds later- reaching it at the exact moment an Ogre rounded the corner.

Tahl'Roth sunk its teeth into the Ogre's thick neck and the two monsters went down in a tangle of limbs and claws.

Then six more imps and two incubi ran into view with weapons drawn and spells at the ready- all of them aimed at the Raven currently ripping the guts out of their pet Ogre.

"Guessing that thing is on our side?" Max said before sprinting away to join the fight.

Sulika turned to Oladi, who shrugged helplessly in response. She could only speak Sylvethen; the language of the druids, in this form. And she wasn't about to waste a transformation just to switch back and explain what's happening.

Not when Zarud could do it just as easily.

Instead, she dropped onto all fours and sprinted after Max.

"Short version?" Zarud started running after them, prompting the others to follow or be left behind.

"Please." Sulika panted: she was going to start working on her cardio as soon as they got back to the city!

"She hasn't been able to summon him for long- a month at most. But the requirements for bringing him to this world are a bit… Difficult, so she hasn't been able to do it until now. It- Sorry, He's on our side though."

"Why's that?"

"Because the price to summon him is the still beating heart of a demon. Which, as you know, isn't easy to come by in our world." He cackled as they drew closer to the group of demons.

An incubus shot a bolt of lightning at Tahl'Roth, hitting the monstrous bird on its right wing. The Raven roared as lightning coursed through its body, frying its skin and melting its muscles-

Then the lightning vanished, since the incubus casting it was tackled to the ground by Oladi. She used her talons and claws to attack his throat in hopes of taking him out quickly… But this incubus was no slouch in melee combat either.

He jammed the nails of his foot into Oladi's stomach and threw her over his head- causing her to land on her own wings. She felt an uncomfortable pain in both her stomach and back, but she pressed on anyway- climbing to her feet in only a couple of seconds.

The incubus pulled a long knife from his belt and Oladi flexed her claws in return.

The other incubus was preparing to hurl a large ball of fire at the Raven's back, but Max intervened before he could finish the chant- The short Kandis leaping high into the air and kicking the incubus in the face with both feet.

Max used the momentum to push off the demon's face and backflip into a crouch, the push causing the demon to stumble back and trip over his robe.

Sulika and the others arrived at this time and immediately attacked the imps before they could shake off their surprise.

Taking a page from Aldritch's book: Derrik focused his strength into his legs and shoved off the ground hard enough to launch himself into the air. He was airborne for a few seconds before he reached his target imp- With Rosa above his head and gravity on his side, Derrik smashed the flying imp out of the sky.

Zarud pivoted mid-run and spun his body- he launched the first axe towards the second flying Imp, missing it by about a foot. But the second axe was flung at a grounded imp and struck true, hitting the winged demon in the spine and driving it to the ground.

Ralocan was already targeting the imp Zarud missed with his first throw. He slid to a stop, grabbed his medallion with his right hand and pointed the palm of his left at the creature- who was already beginning to move.

"O' Noble Cyndarr, keeper of the flame most radiant, hear my despaired plea. Bring down your divine wrath upon the world and set mine enemies alight. As your devoted servant, I beseech you: Divine Flame!"

Ralocan's mana surged through his body and exploded from his left palm; a miniature sun flew towards the imp, crossing the nearly thirty feet in the blink of an eye.

"Argh!" The demon's shrill voice filled the air as his body was engulfed by brilliant orange flames.

Oladi and the incubus attacked with blindingly fast slashes of their weapons- Oladi had the reach advantage, but the incubus was far more flexible. He could dodge any attack she threw his way and then counter from seemingly any direction he wanted.

Oladi swung at his head- he ducked and slashed down her side.

She attempted to grab him- he twisted away at the last second, leaving her frustrated and bleeding from a new slice on her wrist.

And while Oladi was growing frustrated with the Incubus's play, he was having more fun with every passing second.

Every cut, every stab, every drop of blood sent waves of pleasure through his body.

This was what he lived for. This was why he'd become a demon.

"Ah…"

This- was Zarud's axe biting deep into the incubus's neck, removing the slippery bastard's head from his slender shoulders.

He never had the chance to realize Oladi was forcing him back with every strike, slowly driving him towards the other members of her team.

He thought he was playing his game, when he was really playing hers all along.

Sulika pointed her wand at one imp, "Enmet: Daze!" a ball of black mist was launched from the tip of her wand and slammed into one imp's side. The instant the ball touched the imp's skin; it exploded and went to work.

While the explosion could do no damage, it was useful in other ways- As the imp quickly discovered.

Dark mist coiled around the demon's body as if it were alive, seeking out every nook and cranny it could to infiltrate the imp's body. Only once it was inside could the spell's true purpose be known- The imp felt a flash of pain behind his eyes before his consciousness was cut.

The imp fell to the ground amidst a rush of nausea, pain, and hallucinations- all of which were only amplified as a bloody Tahl'Roth snatched the imp up in its beak, threw its head back, and swallowed the small demon whole.

Sulika missed this, however, as she'd already redirected her focus onto the Imp Faeyra was targeting. She knew her friend wasn't used to combat anymore, so she widened her eyes at the sight of Faeyra launching a handful of needles into the imp's side and face.

Everywhere the needles touched, the imp's skin bubbled like boiling water. Black blood exploded from beneath the needles, pouring down its face to form a large puddle on the ground around its feet.

The rapid dehydration caused the imp's skin to shrink in a matter of seconds. The dehydration effect turned its already rough skin to the texture and consistency of clay. So, when the imp fell forward onto its face, its body could help but snap apart.

And then, there were two- Or there was supposed to be.

Max had long since eliminated his own incubus and was sitting down to watch how the others fought. His own demon now lay under him with its head facing the wrong direction and its skull flattened into the concrete.

As for the other…

"Did anyone see where the last imp disappeared to?" Sulika asked, scanning the ground for any sign of the demonic creature.

"Not me."

"Nope."

"I saw nothing."

"I did," Faeyra replied, a bright smile on her face.

"Where…" Sulika trailed off as she followed Faeyra's finger to Tahl'Roth beak… Or more precisely, to the crimson tail hanging from it. The monstrous raven slurped the demon's tail into its mouth and made another sound that made the hair on the back of Sulika's neck stand up.

"Oladi, how long will he be staying with us?"

The feathers began to fall away from Oladi's body as her transformation came to an end. It was a painful process that thankfully didn't last very long. She was back in her own body in a matter of seconds, though clearly tired for it.

"Ten minutes, though his time is extended every time he eats." She panted- She suddenly swayed to one side, forcing Zarud to catch her shoulder and risk letting her hit the ground.

He easily scooped her off her feet and looked to Sulika for direction.

"How far are we from the rendezvous point?"

"About a mile." Derrik pointed down the street the demons had appeared from. "We could reach it in ten minutes if we hurry."

"And also run into another group of demons." Max muttered.

"Max is right. We can't risk running into another group with Oladi in that state. We'll move when we can towards the rendezvous, but for now let's find a place to lay low until Oladi recovers. Can he," She motioned to the Raven. "Be placed on guard duty for the time being?"

"Thaeli'ven, dran'torae. (Please, protect us.)" Oladi said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Dran? … Dran'tae!" The raven cried, nodding its massive head in understanding.

"He will protect us…" Oladi's eyes fluttered, and her head lolled against Zarud's chest.

"I can look her over once we're in the clear."

"I also have my healing spells. They won't do much for restoring stamina, but they'll stop her bleeding."

"Good," Sulika nodded at Faeyra and Ralocan. "Let's get a move on everyone, time is of the essence here." Sulika motioned for Derrik and Max to lead, while she brought up the rear with Ralocan.

Faeyra stayed in the middle to watch over Oladi and assist Zarud if he needed it.

Sulika could only hope he wouldn't need it.