Steel and Mana

"We are from Avalon… And we are here to kill all the monsters."

Leyla's words were met by utter silence. Maybe they didn't hear her right... or they just thought it was a joke. Probably both... But then, more and more things began clicking in their minds. The frightening flying monsters, the noise, the way it looked like people were riding them and dropping smoking, burning monsterpoo on their refuge... Those were not... beasts? Not a new kind of demons?

Seeing their confused expressions, Lancelot gave a hand sign. One by one, the Avalonian soldiers reached up and removed their helmets, lowering the skull-faced helms and causing the people to audibly gasp, for under them were indeed human faces looking back at them now. So they weren't ghosts as some thought... but indeed real humans... who had grown surprisingly tall and big.

"They… they are human..." Someone whispered, somewhere amongst the soldiers.

Their leader, standing in front of Leyla, Arthur, and Lancelot, looked on with an unreadable expression, his eyes quickly moving between the figures, trying to see a trap... or anything. Maybe they were shapeshifters, he thought, but then chased away his paranoia, replacing it with hope.

"Come," he said at last, his voice shaking a little, "You should… come inside. It is not safe to talk... here..."

Although they would argue about that, looking at each other, the siblings didn't want to bring it up. They survived for so long, so it was inevitable that they had their thoughts about the outside world. When they followed him, the troops put their helmets back on, still at the ready, one hand gripping their weapons, and maintained their vigilance, no matter what.

Stepping inside, the keep was nothing like the structure it had once been, back in its heyday, when it probably belonged to a Markothian noble. The great hall, which once had to be filled with statues, paintings, and colorful banners, was nothing but a gutted ruin. Most of the roof beams sagged, the walls were blackened by a fire that had once broken out inside, and the stone floor was cracked and uneven. But the strangest part was what lay beneath those tiles...

There were multiple, wide holes cut straight through the flagstones, revealing stairwells, ladders, and earthen tunnels that sloped down and went underground. The air that drifted up from each of them was a bit damp and cool, spiced with the unmistakable scent of humans living in close quarters for way too long... it wasn't the greatest of smells, but... There was nothing to do about it.

Unsurprisingly, they were led down one of the tunnels. The deeper they went, the more voices they heard from below, mainly that of women, babies crying, and the noise of people moving and working underground. The tunnels weren't uniform, and they branched and connected here and there before curving into 'rooms,' supported by timbers taken from many of the outside, scavenged houses, lashed together with string and strips of leather. Most of the 'doors' to such abodes were nothing but linen hanging on a strap... At some places, the passage became so narrow that the Avalonian soldiers had to forcefully squeeze themselves through, making their armor give a scraping sound as they bent over, unwilling to stray from their Sovereign's children. Protecting them was more than a duty...

Essentially, what they were walking into at the end was a complete, underground city.

All the old basements under the houses and the secret tunnels under the central keep had been dug through and connected to one another with crude passageways. Then, from there, they tunneled into the old sewer system, which had been rerouted and widened where it was possible. Its stench had by now been replaced by the acrid smoke of hearth fires, which kept people warm while funneling the smoke away from the main areas, back to the surface. They could even notice some plaques put up at certain intersections, with names and arrows, guiding the new generation who were born underground. In some corners, lines of herbs and mushrooms were strung up to dry, while in others, racks of monster meat were being prepared, and the bones were sorted and being worked on, destined to become weapons and tools they could use.

It was a testament to the human survival instinct.

When they finally stopped in a wider room than any of the others, akin to a meeting hall, with actual tables and chairs around, the leading figure of the survivors put down his spear and shield, beginning to take off his armor, revealing a patched and rugged garment underneath. Looking at him now, he had to be only a bit older than their father... but not by much.

"I am Captain Deyros," he said, looking at the siblings once again before glancing at the Avalonians standing behind them, knowing he would not be able to do anything to persuade them to relax. Nor to sit... and he didn't want to. Thinking about it, he was sure that the moment one of those sat on these rickety chairs, they would just break them.

"My name is Arthur, she is my twin sister, Leyla, and he is my brother Lancelot. We are the children of Avalon's Sovereign, and we are here to find the Third Pass and to plug it in. We are here to stop the monsters from coming through."

"The Third Pass..." Deyros muttered, closing his eyes, thinking back on a memory, "I was once a member of the Knighthood of Folga Riverhearth... We were taught that we are here, as servants and soldiers of the Riverhearth noble lineage, in case Airosia fails to protect it and monsters come to attack our Kingdom of Markoth... This city was built for that reason, I think... Not that it actually mattered when our Pass was broken through."

"That has been fixed," Arthur said, making the man stiffen as he looked at them, his mouth opening to ask a question, but he was unable to form proper words. Not that it mattered, because Arthur continued with a smile while sitting down. He could feel what he wanted to know... "Not much survived of the kingdom. Honestly speaking, you are only the third group of survivors we have ever found."

"Only the third..." The man collapsed slightly, sat down, sighed, and shook his head.

"Yeah." Arthur nodded, only continuing when he looked up at him again, already calmer, "The first was your old capital city. By now, it has been rebuilt, and we erected a fortress in what we call the Second Pass. This happened... well, several years ago already."

"The second batch we found were living in an old mine," Leyla added, "Similar to you, but... they were much worse off. But we managed to rescue them!"

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"You must have a great army... but I never heard of you before," Deyros said, realizing what he said was probably insulting, and already tried to say something else, but Arthur just chukled.

"Our country is pretty fresh!" he nodded, "But we broke off from Ishillia and even killed its Emperor. Now we are allies thanks to the new Empress, and then we united most of the western kingdoms and empires, coming here on a crusade with a joint army to reclaim our world from monsters, and–"

"That's enough!" Leyla cut in, grasping her brother's shoulder, "Don't overwhelm him with useless details..."

"Long story short," Lancelot grinned, watching the look of surprise on Deyros's face, "We are here to help you."

Lost in the overwhelming news, Deyros looked each of the kids in the eye, trying to detect lies... But... he could see none. He even thought he was hallucinating, but... the others, already filling the room, were also listening in, so... whatever was happening had to be real.

"..." Finally, Captain Deyros lifted a hand, comically slapping himself and rubbing his eyes, "I guess... You wish to know how we lived so far," he began, "Am I right?"

"Well, yeah," Arthur leaned back, "We were about to level this city to the ground because we thought it was weird. All we came across while marching were monster nests. An intact place, this deep in the beasts' territory was a weird sight... You were lucky to come out and put out our flares, or we wouldn't have noticed you at all."

"I can't even imagine what you mean by that..." Deyros murmured, shaking his head, throwing his questions back into his mind, "The first long winter," he began, "was a ruthless period, but it was one we still endured. I became part of the guard just a year prior. To our luck, we had stores of grain, salted meats, and fuel for fire stacked up. There were deaths, yes, there are always deaths in winter, but it wasn't what made us kneel... We received news by spring that monsters had broken through, and that both sides, we and the rebels, had suffered greatly as a result. But we won, and they were extinguished. Both the monsters... and the rebels."

Arthur just nodded, knowing this part from the Markothians already. The first winter weakened the kingdom, which was already embroiled in a decades-long civil war. Then, when the second happened, it was when they collapsed completely.

"But Airosia fell..." Deyros said as his eyes darkened, "It did not hold out."

"They fell in the first winter?" Leyla asked, sitting up straight.

"Yes..." he nodded, "Even before the snows began to melt, they had already come from the east. Beasts, foul and twisted, kinds that I had never seen before. They surrounded us, constantly prowling outside our walls, testing us and our defenses. We fought, and we won, at first... but they never disappeared ever since their first kind came through. They always returned, regardless of the season. Slowly, we could no longer leave the safety of the walls as all the surrounding villages and towns were attacked and destroyed."

"So the Third has been open for longer than the Second... tsk..." Lancelot grunted, clicking his tongue, "If not for Dad, maybe our Pass would have been broken through, too."

"Yours?" Deyros asked, surprised again.

"Yes." Arthur nodded, "Avalon is guarding the First Pass. Our Dad has made sure we can kill whatever tries to come through! And we have ever since."

"We are professional monster killers." Lancelot nodded, sitting there proudly.

Around him, the listening survivors shifted as they heard him speak... They believed him; that much was evident.

"I wish we could have had someone like that." Deyros muttered, "When the second Long Winter came... Everything became worse. The monsters were small, but there were so many more of them. They came in swarms, through the forests. We demolished the bridges leading across the river, but that wasn't enough! The first wall fell before spring... We had more than thirty thousand people living here... This is what remains of them." He pointed at the faces listening in on the conversation behind the Avalonian troops. "That is also when I… became a leader, as I was promoted to the posts left empty by the dead... Because no one else was left to take the burden of trying to keep the others alive."

"You did a great job." Leyla offered, and hearing that, Deyros paused. For a moment, the mask of command he was wearing for so long slipped, and grief showed in his eyes, but he quickly pushed it down, and then he straightened his back.

"We adapted... That is what we could do. So, we dug down... The basements, the sewers, the old escape routes from the keep, we carved them wider, deeper. I had learned that the beasts are not good at sensing us below the earth, so... It was safe to live down here. Then, I studied them and learned how to lure some away, only one or two... And then, we killed them. We needed food... And they are not so bad..." He added, looking ashamed.

"Yeah," Arthur nodded, tilting her head, "It isn't weird, we also eat them. It is normal."

"Is it?" Deyros asked, his eyes going wide.

"Yeah." Lancelot repeated his brother's words, "It is the main meal for our troops." He pointed at the soldiers, "It is also the reason why you are probably still alive."

"I see..." He muttered, glancing at the bone weapons, suddenly seeing a similarity, "We also used their bones. It can kill them better than steel... All our arrows are now made from their body."

"A good choice, but..." Arthur leaned forward. "Are you saying that... you have not seen larger beasts? Not once?"

"Not here," Deyros said, thinking, "After the first winter we heard of them, we still had scouts and Airosia refugees passing by us in the first few years... They spoke of them, but we were spared their presence. Is it... weird?

"It is." The three said at once, making the man move his eyes quickly between them, trying to think of details.

"That is the truth of it..." he muttered, "But... after the Second Winter... even the small ones were... less frequent."

"..." Hearing that, Leyla glanced at her brothers, brows furrowed, "But why? Everywhere else, the monsters are present, growing, even wandering around and fighting..."

"That," Deyros admitted, "we do not know. And perhaps it does not matter. We live because of it..." His hand tightened on the armrest of his chair. "We were twenty thousand! Look around you now... Count what remains..." His voice cracked while he spoke, but he forced it to remain steady. "Why does it matter? They still destroyed us..."

"You endured what no city should or could." Lancelot said, gazing into his eyes, "And it stops now, because Avalon is here. My father will not leave you to rot underground."

"..." Deyros's eyes flickered, but visible doubt was written all across his face, "Your words are kind," he said, "but we have lived on promises before. Every spring, we thought rescue would come; we were even promised reinforcements after the first Long Winter. Every year, people told their children to wait... Now they are grown or dead, maybe eaten by monsters... or taken by the cold... and still we are here. Tell me, Avalonian... what makes you different?"

"Well," Lancelot met his gaze without flinching, "Firstly, because we are not waiting. You had already seen us; you just mistook us for beasts. We are killing the monsters. Everywhere. And now, Horringar will become one of our major camps, it seems. If what you are speaking is true, we will use this city as headquarters from where we can coordinate our effort of cleansing the east from beasts!"

"Are you... Taking our home from us?" Deyros asked, making Leyla lean forward, and speaking in a kind, soft voice.

"No. We will help you rebuild, strengthen, and protect it. No matter what comes to take it from you, we will help you guard it. Alternatively, those who wish to leave can relocate to Markoth. Or, to the new capital city of the rebuilt Markoth. Your choice."

"We wouldn't survive a month-long trip like that..."

"Month?" Leyla chuckled, leaning back, "It wouldn't take a month..." She murmured, her smile widening. "Let us convince you more. Let's head up, and I will signal our Father... Let him demonstrate one of our favorite pastime hobbies!"

"Which is?" Deyros asked, confused.

"Shock and awe," the three answered in perfect unison.