The highway to the royal city ought to have been secure. Merchants traveled this way every day, their carts full of merchandise, their guards at ease. The road bent softly through a forest of massive pines, beams of sunlight coming down between the branches. Birds ought to have been singing. The wind ought to have been murmuring through the leaves.
But it was quiet.
Kael sensed the wrongness first, a chill coil of tension in his belly. His hand went to the hilt of his longsword, the crest of his house shining pale in the dark. "Be on guard," he grunted. "Something's present."
Thargrim moved his shield into place, his war axe at the ready. "Aye. This silence… it smells of death."
Lyrielle's silver hair glinted as she shut her eyes, fingers tracing runes on the air. "The mana in this place is broken. Distorted. Someone's distorting the flow of the forest itself."
Rina drew an arrow, twitching her ears nervously. "I don't like this. Not at all."
Azrak hung back in the rear, shadows already twining around his twin daggers. But his golden eyes squinted, as if he knew something.
The quiet grew deeper. Then the air creaked like glass, and a figure emerged from the darkness between the trees.
He stood tall, clad in black armor etched with veins of crimson fire that throbbed like living flame. His steps were slow, almost indolent, but his mere presence weighed upon them like a mountain. His eyes burned molten gold, his gaze filled with cruel amusement.
A smile played on his lips as he spoke, low and even. "So… these are the ones causing a ruckus in my territories."
Kael lifted his sword, his voice making an effort to remain steady. "Who are you?"
The man cocked his head. "Names are wasted on prey."
The heaviness of his aura weighed Rina down to her knees. Thargrim growled and planted his boots in the ground, his shield shuddering against the force. Lyrielle's runes exploded in mid-air, breaking apart like fireflies.
Azrak's face went pale. His voice broke as he breathed, "No… it can't be."
The golden-eyed figure shifted to gaze at him, and the smirk broadened. "Ah. So the half-blood strolls with mortals. Quaint indeed.
Kael had hardly any time to respond when the man shifted.
He didn't walk, didn't run—he materialized before Kael in a whirl of darkness. A backhanded blow crashed into Kael's chest, his breastplate buckling with a scream of metal. The impact sent him flying backward, shattering through two trees before he thudded onto the earth, blood spraying from his mouth.
"KAEL!" Elira's shriek cut through the trees.
Thargrim bellowed, shield up, charging. He swung his axe as heavily as ten men, sparks flying as the blade struck. The Demon Royal caught it in his open hand. The metal creaked, then cracked like dry wood.
Before Thargrim could even move, a boot struck his knee. The sound of breaking bone rang through the clearing. Thargrim screamed, crumpling as his leg bent in the wrong direction.
"Pathetic."
Lyrielle screamed, her staff aflame with runes. Lightning, flame, and wind stormed together against the demon. The earth opened, trees fell, the air scorched with burning power. For an instant, the forest was an inferno.
When the flames abated, he still stood. Unhurt.
He snapped his wrist. Black whips flailed out, wrapping around Lyrielle's limbs and trunk, dragging her off the ground. She screamed as the darkness pulled tighter, snapping bones in her wrist. Her staff dropped, thudding helplessly to the ground.
"Such delicate bones… elves shatter so readily."
Rina shot arrow after arrow, all radiant with elemental magic. One burned with flame, one flashed with lightning, one oozed with poison. They all came to a halt an inch from his armor, exploding into dust.
His gold eyes focused on her. In an instant, he was behind her. He wrapped his hand around her bow, shattering it into splinters. He took her by the throat with his other hand and jammed her against a tree so hard that the bark ruptured. She gagged, blood flowing from her nose.
Azrak charged in a fury of rage, his daggers blazing black with shadowfire bursting around him. He struck wildly, blur-fast, each blow intended to wash away life.
The Demon Royal deflected them on a single finger. One. Two. Ten. Sparks shot, shadows snapped in two. Then he twisted, and with a quick motion, he ripped one of the daggers from Azrak's hand.
"You strike like a child, half-blood."
The dagger had been stolen and driven into the belly of Azrak. He wheezed, gagging on blood, before he was kicked aside like garbage.
Kael climbed to his feet, his ribs burning with a fire of pain, blood on his lips. He lifted his sword despite it, standing in the way of the demon and his dead friends. "I won't… let you have them."
The man laughed. "How grand. How idiotic."
His fingers clenched around Kael's arm. A revolting snap. Kael screamed as his sword fell from his mangled hand. The demon tossed him aside like a ragdoll.
Everywhere, his friends were broken. Thargrim grasped his crushed leg. Lyrielle dangled helplessly, arms contorted. Rina hacked up blood, struggling to breathe. Azrak bled from his abdomen.
And Kael couldn't get up.