Karrie
1
I held my brother's neck as blood spurted like a fountain.
Who did this to him?
What kind of world does this?
Where is Father?
Why was this happening?
How could I have prevented this?
I see… this is my fault.
If only I listened.
If only I hadn't run away.
WHY.
WHY.
WHY.
Simon's eyes were darting around.
He looked almost confused, wary of the situation.
He couldn't die here.
Not now.
Not here.
Not ever.
There was no one in this world I looked up to more than my big brother.
The pain I felt from overusing my magic was numb now.
Bloody tears ran down my cheek.
I held down the taste of iron in my throat.
Why was I always so weak?
I could never do things on my own…
I always needed my big brother's support.
When I felt scared and alone—
"K‑a ack!"
"Don't talk, Big Brother. I'll save you. Don't worry, I'll— I'll…"
I stammered on my words, and my limbs felt like jelly as I trembled.
This isn't real, right?
It's all just a nightmare I'll wake up from.
My emotions bubbled up, and I felt:
Fear.
Sadness.
Regret.
But more than anything…
HATRED.
"Big brother… I'm sorry. Should've listened… I should've stayed i…"
Simon's eyes suddenly fixated on me as our eyes met.
He raised his bloody, calloused hand to me and touched my cheek, wiping away the bloodied tears.
"‑tis— I'll, ou—"
Then his hand fell.
"Big brother?"
I tried to grab his hand, but all the blood made it slip.
"Hey, Big Brother Simon, what are you…"
"That's enough. He's gone."
I was yanked back by the collar of my shirt, backwards.
"Let me go! I have to save him. Big Brother, hold on!"
I kicked and screamed, my vision caked in red.
This couldn't be the end.
"Let me go!"
I tried getting out of his grasp, but he was much larger than I as a man.
"Let go! I have to save him. Let go! I can help. I have to!"
No matter what, I needed to help Big Brother; he was the one who looked after me the most and made sure I was okay.
Is this death?
As they dragged me away, I started using chants:
"Pi‑la… aqua‑tica!"
Weak balls of water formed, then fell to the earth in a puddle.
"Ter‑ra… ter‑ebra…!"
I tried using drills, but they crumbled like paper.
All I managed to do was give myself a bigger headache.
I felt like I was bleeding right out of my brain.
"You'd better knock it off before you go and collapse!"
The man yanked me harder.
"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. Let me help him. I have to help him."
"Stop flailing around before I accidentally cut ya."
My lungs burned.
My head felt like it was split in two.
My nose ran with a mixture of blood and snot.
The man grabbed my hair and began dragging me even harder.
It didn't feel real; all this pain and negative emotions were overwhelming.
"WHO DO YOU WANT TO KILL?"
A strange, deep, grumbly voice rang out in my skull, a voice I had never heard before.
I tried catching my breath for a response.
Kill?
I could never do something like that, could I?
All I want to do is save everyone and get away from this nightmare.
" I‑I want to save Big Brother—
and— and everyone—
I'll—
I'll do wh‑whatever it takes—
p‑please—
Please help me—
I'll do anything—
A-anything it takes—"
"She's talking to herself."
"Let her be. She's probably just in shock."
The bearded man stroked his beard.
He knelt down in front of me, using his sword as a balance.
I was barely coherent, mumbling to myself.
That voice… it said it wanted to kill…
"An honest‑to‑heaven half‑elf… the information was right on the money. Don't worry, kid, you're gonna get five‑star treatment where we're going."
I had nothing more to lose, did I?
I'd follow the stranger's voice if it meant I could save everyone.
The Captain
2
"…"
"I— I—
Ignis…
filum…
a—sancto…
nomine—
tuo…
emissum…
accende…
i—ignem…
in…
corde…
meo…
et…
arde…
hostes…
Meos…"
The brat started mumbling to herself.
Guess shooting her brother right in front of her left her unable to ever comprehend reality.
Such a shame.
I didn't plan on killing anyone, especially a kid, but nothing in this world ever goes as expected, I guess.
"Hey, kid, you there?"
I gently tapped her head with the tip of my scabbard.
"Hellooo? Anyone home?"
The girl was a mess. Bloodied tears rolled down her cheek, and crimson streaks spilled from her eyes — clear signs of mana overuse.
I'd seen that look before.
Eyes like that… belonged to people who'd seen…
Hell.
One in a million, this kid.
Elves use spirits to channel mana.
She didn't for some odd reason..
She burned it from her brain.
And in turn caused her to go through disintegration.
Most Mythos don't go through that due to innate abilities….
Half-elf.
That explained it.
I don't enjoy this job.
But I was hired.
So I'll finish it.
"Alright, load her up with the rest," I said.
I stood up and brushed off my pants.
Things turned out well enough in the end, besides that boy dying, but it could always be worse.
"A‑Acci… ac‑cip… co… corpus m…meum… et…"
"…neca… neca in… inim—…coos… et… re…construas… quae… per… perdit—"
"…If…Ifrit… i‑invoco… Ifr—"
"…De… Deum… rena…renasc…entiae…"
"…eg… egred—hff…"
She kept going with her mumbling.
It wasn't gonna stop her.
It wasn't my good to hurt kids, so I let her mumble to herself as we loaded the rest of the Elves up.
"Sir, do you feel that?" one of my men said to me.
"Eh? Feel what exactly? You gotta have more specifics, son."
"The air feels heavier and suffocating."
That's odd, I thought.
"You finally gain a consciousness, or do you really feel something up?"
"STOP HER!!"
I turned around to see the chief standing up, being held back by my men.
"Eh, what's up, chief? I suggest you settle down."
"You need to stop her, she's gonna kill herself if she finishes that chant!"
The man's eyes were shaky and all over the place.
He was serious, and I wasn't so prideful as to ignore a man's warnings.
"Stop her. Don't let her finish."
My men grabbed her and attempted to gag her.
"What a troublesome bunch."
And then—
A voice rang out right into my brain, causing blood to drip out of my nose.
"EGREDI!!!"
Like I said before, nothing in this world ever goes as expected.
A split second later, I would've been dead if I hadn't blocked the flaming spear that went right for my neck.
The girl's skin seemed to burn.
"RAAHG!"
She let out a painful roar.
Magical collapse was a hell of a thing; this had to be it, right?
I've never seen a Mythos go through it since they have innate abilities, but this girl being a Half‑elf… is that why it was like this?
And is that why I felt like I was gonna die here?
What a pain.
I wish I had stayed home.
The girl began to float off her feet, and the air made my lungs burn.
Thin red thread began to come out of the pores of her skin.
I turned to give orders; however, my men were already aiming at her.
"Hey, don't fire. We need her alive!"
I turned to the man who was lying back watching all this go down without a care in the world.
"You're up, kid."
A young man stepped forward, hands in his pockets.
"Right, right," he calmly approached the girl, her gaze fixed on him.
She was gonna kill herself at this rate.
Her limbs snapped one by one, jerking in impossible angles.
Crk—shnk—crkk!
Her elbow folded backward.
Not dislocated — rebuilt.
The bone cracked, reknit, and pushed outward like a second joint, forming stumps… almost like wings.
The skin across her shoulders peeled like wet paper, sliding down her arms in burning clumps.
A red mist steamed off her body as thin red threads burst from her pores and enveloped the village.
She raised an arm to the sky, and a flaming lance appeared.
"You got this, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, no problem, though I'd better get paid extra for this."
The girl sent down her arm, and the lance fired upon us, but the young man we hired seemed to stop it and disrupt it with ease, absorbing the blast.
In another breath, he was already behind the girl and placed a hand on her neck from behind.
SKRRKT.
The girl fell to the ground.
"Jeez, you didn't kill her, did you?"
I scratched my temple.
"No, I avoided the spinal cord and the brain stem. She'll be fine."
"Hffk—! Hhh…hhhhh…"
The kid gasped for air.
It was hard for even me to watch the pair of kids suffer like they did, but a job's a job.
"Load her up and—"
I turned. The world went silent, my rowdy men stopped all their mummering
And found myself face‑to‑face with something I couldn't rightly call human. Or a beast. Or anything from this world.
It stood inches from me.
Its eyes — if you could call them that — were milky white and clouded.
I jumped back on instinct, barely blocking the creature's claws with my blade.
Sparks flew from the steel.
"One thing after another," I cursed under my breath.
Its face was like a motion blur.
I couldn't make out its features — it was like someone had censored it in real time.
No reason.
No sanity.
Only a hollow shell of black bone and spiraling hunger.
Looking at the thing made me feel sick
Horns jutted out from its head like spears of ash.
Its body was drenched in darkness, and its expression was dark and unreadable.
This is what this clan was feared for.
What people warned that Half‑elves were capable of.
This was the birth of a Devil.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I never really fully believed that until now — until I was face-to-face with a Demon.
It was barely moving its feet — one wrong, sudden move and I'd be dead. I felt it. No, I knew it for a fact. "Devils," as they say, are the accumulation of all the negative emotions of a mass group of people. However, this village was small. Even if we killed most of them, that wouldn't be enough to spawn a devil… so what was it doing here? Could it really be that the brat did this all by herself? Summoning this bastard from hell itself?
I found my legs trembling… Is this fear?
SHINNK.
I took my knife and stabbed myself in the thigh — not too deeply to cause issues.
"Focus. This isn't the time to waver," I muttered to myself.
"Group A, load the rest on the wagons," I ordered.
"Group B and C, cover Group A."
The men stared at the shadow monster.
BANG!!!
Nothing. Not even a scratch.
But that got the men's attention.
"Those who falter or run will be treated as traitors — and I'll put them to death myself, right here."
That got them moving.
The men looked at the monster, raising their swords and taking their hidden firearms from their coats. I didn't want it to come to this, but it seemed our cover was already blown from the get-go. Firearms weren't common around these parts, mind you, but well… what are you gonna do? Nothing ever goes as planned.
The monster cranked its head back.
"FIRE."
BANG! BANG!
CRACK!
The bullets hit the thing straight on; its body jerked back with each impact. The rounds pounded into it with a wet, meaty thud — like driving a hammer into raw flesh. It didn't make a peep.
When the smoke settled, it still stood upright. Its expressionless face looked up, and its limbs began to vibrate and twitch, its eyes burning into our very souls. It embodied emptiness.
"What's it doing…?"
Its face landed on a group of five men. It didn't move a muscle, though the black thorns on its back twitched.
"Move now," I ordered.
But my orders were too late. The monster launched blade rods at the men, which expanded in mid-air, turning into spikes.
DOOOMF.
"GAAH!"
The men were impaled through the chest, and their stomachs were skewered like meat on a stick. They coughed and choked on their own blood. In the blink of an eye, we lost five men.
Its head slowly turned to more men. They fired their semi-automatic weapons at it; its body jerked and continued making those wet, meaty sounds, but it did not fall. Not being able to see its face meant we couldn't tell if it felt any pain. I began to wonder if this thing was even killable.
The thing was slow at least. It behaved like a newborn fawn — the way it moved was awkward, and it shivered. It was like it was learning as it fought.
I'm too old for this shit.
"Alright then, I didn't want to use this, but I have no choice."
I stomped on the ground. It began to rumble and shake, then—
THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.
Walls of raw earth slammed into place in a perfect circle, then twisted toward the center, forming a crude dome of rock and shale, entrapping the damn Demon inside, sealing it away.
"Move now. It won't be enough to hold it for—"
Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The dome I made was punctured by dark spikes.
Woosh!
The dome crumpled in an instant.
"Well, that didn't last long."
The thing didn't make any sudden movements — it just stood there again, defenseless. No, that wasn't right. It felt like—
One of my men seemed to have gotten close, sneaking up on the demon.
Good. He didn't yell like an idiot sneaking up on him.
But then he stopped.
What was he doing? His focus was on me. Why stop?
The man began to vibrate and tremble. He dropped his sword, and a black shadow rose and enveloped his body.
"GRRK."
Black tendrils coiled around his throat. He clawed at them, gurgled, and his fingers went limp.
"Gah… ahh!"
Damn it.
I placed my palm on the ground and pulled out a spear. I quickly chucked it at full force at the demon. It caught the spear with its black roots — it was inches away from its eye.
"HA… HA."
The soldier was released and gasped for air.
"So that's how it works…"
Heh.
"Surround him on all sides, men."
My men weren't the brightest or mightiest, but they sure did follow orders like good little lapdogs.
The Demon's roots began to envelop it.
It went on the defensive; it formed a circular motion around itself — a barrier. It writhed around like a snake or worm; the sound was one of crushing bone, and it defined itself.
"Get ready!" I ordered.
"Right!"
"Yes!"
"Sir!"
GRRRNK… KRCHHH.
The thing shot out its thorns from each and every angle.
"AH!"
"Grah!"
For the poor fools who couldn't block in time, the roots shot out and tore through them — SHLKK—SPLRTCH! — a sound wet enough to curdle the stomach.
It was like the roots were an extension of him — a living, breathing viper.
It seemed aware of my plan to surround it on all sides.
I looked back, and it seemed the men were just about done loading those damn Mythos in the wagons.
Well, besides one woman who seemed to be distraught.
"Karrie! Honey, baby, get up!" the woman yelled as she was being dragged away.
"Move it! Come on, lady, or do you wanna die here?" a soldier said, pulling her by the waist, tears in her eyes.
Now it was time to make our grand escape.
"As much as I would like to take you home and poke and prod you, I don't think you're one to sit back and take it."
".."
I dug my sword into the soft dirt.
"On my signal," I ordered.
A beat passed, and then,
"Now."
A wave of bullets hit the thing, increasing and tightening its defense, not moving from its sphere.
BANG BANG BANG.
"Move now."
The men fired in waves, one rank after another — a steady rhythm of volley fire pounding against the thing's shell.
BANG BANG BANG.
We halted the damn thing one wave after another while the men rushed to the wagons.
"Sir, are we ready to go?"
"Alright."
I twisted my sword in the dirt and, for the last time, created an earth dome thick enough to trap it.
The wagons began to move.
DOOM DOOM DOOM.
The trap began to shake and rumble. Sharp spikes rose out of it and reached into the air.
Its tendrils locked onto one of my men.
"Marx, hold on!"
He was going for the half-elf brat — the last one we needed to load up.
It was too late to warn him.
A tendril slipped right through his neck.
He dropped to his knees.
Its roots coiled around the brat's body, encasing it in a smaller shell — like its own.
"Damn it, we can't get to the girl… well, this is unfortunate."
"Captain! We're ready!"
"Alright." I turned around and got to the wagon.
DOOM DOOM DOOM.
The thing was trying to break out; hopefully, I bought some time. It's a shame we couldn't get the girl… well, as long as I'm alive, that's all that matters.
RRRRMMMM.
The air rumbled. From the center of the village, a pitch-black aura emitted from it — and it was coming towards us.
The wagon lurched forward — then stopped dead.
SKRRRKK—CRRRNK!
The wheels groaned as black tendrils wound through the spokes, wood splintering under the strain.
"It's got us!" the driver bellowed.
I looked down to see the tendril roots snagged around the wheel.
The sphere was getting closer, and we were dead stopped.
I hopped out the back and sliced the wheel off its axle, removing it completely. Then, with my abilities, I conjured a wheel made of stone that wrapped around the axle.
"We're good now — move!"
By a hair's breadth, we escaped the village.
Suddenly, the black sphere stopped in its tracks once we reached the edge. It pulsated, sounding like a heartbeat — the barrier was alive.
We had made it out.
I looked around. We lost many men; not all made it out of that sphere… what was going on inside? Did that demon trap itself in there alone? What was it even doing here?
No matter. Not like I get paid enough to fight nightmares.
One thing is for sure—
That demon might've stayed behind, but looking at the half-elf… I wasn't sure which of them scared me more.
We rode off, and I lost a lot of good men. I wouldn't be able to bring most of their bodies back.
That's just life, I suppose.
"Let's go home."
Little did I know what I had started — and what I had put into motion —