All of the people in the training grounds of the castle of the capital of Lisbea, soldiers, mercenaries and adventurers stared with attention at the four people standing in the wooden stage.
The redhead man in golden armor took a step forward, clearing his throat before speaking.
"Greetings, soldiers of Lisbea and brave mercenaries who have acceded to help us. Most of you already know who I am but for those few that don't, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Julius Frozenshot, prince of Lisbea" The man spoke with an elegant voice.
The prince took a deep breath before continuing his speech.
"As you already know, we are about to undertake a mission against the Esteller Empire. They have gotten away doing whatever they please for too long, we cannot continue to fear them, we have to start fighting back!" Julius spoke up with determination in his eyes.
"Do not let the ruthlessness and salvagism of their actions confuse your minds! They are not as powerful as the stories say or as they want us to believe, they take advantage of our own superstitions about their kind to make us think that it is worthless to try and fight them, but believe my words my people, they are not any more capable than we are, so let's get rid of that fear that invades our hearts and let's prepare ourselves to show them what we are really capable off!" The prince declared with great spirit, it almost looked like his eyes would begin to burn.
The words of the prince seem to enlighten the soldiers of Lisbea, the increase of will could be felt in the air, the fear and insecurity that surrounded the atmosphere was slowly dispelling in favor of hope and bravery. Julius' speech seemed to have more of an impact on the soldiers than the mercenaries and adventurers nonetheless.
Shouts of optimism and encouragement could be heard from the soldiers, fulfilling the place with their positive energy. The shouts were so loud that people in the nears of the castle could hear them, but before the shouts became even louder, the prince made a single gesture that made everyone shut up in an instant.
"Now, It's time for you to know the details about the mission. General Drake, your turn" Julius said, turning to look at the man with a scar on his left eye who nodded at his words.
"Yes, my prince" Drake responded.
The general took a step forward as the prince stepped back. Drake turned around and made a sign to Sylvana that she didn't seem to notice, so after a few seconds he whispered something that made her step forward as well.
"Listen, everyone, the elf lady at my side, Miss Sylvana, is a guardian elf who was in charge of protecting a powerful weapon that belonged to the elves, unfortunately said weapon is now in hands of the Esteller Empire" Drake stated.
The people seemed to be a bit worried about this statement, imagining what could the demons do with something like that. Whispers could be heard all across the training grounds but were quickly interrupted by Sylvana's words.
"As General Drake here said, a group of demons who serve the Esteller Empire ambushed me and a group of my kind, stealing a powerful weapon we were meant to protect, I was lucky to make it out alive, a now I require your assistance to take it back from them" Sylvana declared with a serious tone.
However, as soon as Sylvana finished her sentence, whispers quickly began amongst the people reunited, whispers of doubt. Wondering why they should fight for a problem that seemed to be of the elves. Julius was about to speak up but Sylvana beat him to it.
"Listen" She said, as loud and calm as she could. "I can hear you. Your discontent, you believe that this is a problem of the elves and that we should be the ones to handle it. I can understand why you think that, for generations the relationship between humankind and elfkind has been distant and somewhat tense, and even if it hurts me to admit it… My kind can't handle this problem, the problem with the demons… Only humanity can face off against these… hellborn menace that has come to take over all of us. We have to leave any past issues our races may have. Demons are an enemy not only to both of our races, but to everything that lives in this realm" Sylvana took a deep breath. "I'm not asking you to fight for my kind, but for yours"
After Sylvana's words, silence dominated the place for a good while before the whispers began again, even if some still doubted on if they should be the ones to handle the issue, most of the people seemed to have been convinced by Sylvana's speech, making her sigh in relief.
"With that out of the table" Julius spoke up, making everyone shut up. "Sylvana, please, I believe there is more explanation for you to give"
"Understood. Alright, so, right now I'll tell you that you shouldn't worry on the possibility of them using the weapon against us when attempting to do so, the 'Elven Cannon' as it was called by my ancestors, needs of a command in the form of an enchantment to be activated and for what we know, they haven't be able to figure it out, and trust me, we would now if they did, the cannon possesses the magical power to level an entire city with one shot" Sylvana declared.
Whispers of worries began to be heard between the soldiers.
Drake coughed before speaking up again.
"Bring on the board!" He ordered a pair of servants behind the stage.
The servants brought said board into the stage where it was accommodated by General Erbow. In the board there was a map of a tower and its surroundings with the label of 'Demon Tower' on top of the paper.
Drake walked to stand at one side next to the board while Sylvana was helped by Erbow to stand at the opposite side of Drake.
"What you see there, is a map made by our scouts, with the help of Miss Sylvana we were able to locate where the demons have taken the elven weapon and track it down to this tower that is about 3 days north from here" Drake said as he pointed at the map.
"This is what I was talking about" Julius said outloud. "Not only did they dare to invade our territory but they also had the audacity to erect a tower within the limits of our kingdom!" The prince declared with anger.
Erbow chuckles.
"Oh, for the gods, Erbow. Mature!" The prince says turning back to look at the general with a death stare.
Erbow recomposes.
Drake coughs, taking back the attention of the people. "The tower that we refer as 'Demon Tower', is surrounded from all sides by a camp of demons, for what our scouts have been able to investigate, the demons camping at the power, most likely to protect it, seem to be more organized and geared unlike the usual demons that are usually reported to be just erratic and salvage. And for what we know, there are hundreds, if not thousands of them"
"The weapon is powerful, of course they would bring some of their best demons to protect it, it would be stupid to leave such a thing in hands of irrational savages" Sylvana declares.
"The plan we have is to go on an all out assault against the tower, there is a hill in front of the tower where we will establish ourselves before attacking, once there we will give the details about the attack plan. But for now, the most important thing you need to know about is that we plan to destroy the weapon" Drake said as he pointed at the board, signaling at the lower part of the map that had a symbol that represented a hill.
"That's correct, the weapon is too powerful. These four months have given me time to think, and I've come to the conclusion that the course of action is to destroy the weapon. It is too dangerous in foreign hands while in elven hands at best it would allow us to land one shot. As the only guardian of the weapon remaining this is up to me, and destroying it is what I decide" Sylvana said with a serious expression.
"In order to destroy the cannon, Sylvana has taught the prince, Erbow and I an enchantment that upon being spelled next to the cannon will result in its deactivation, it is very important that any of us makes it to the cannon so we can destroy it" Drake said.
"It is also important to clarify something, destroying the cannon by attacking. although possible, must not be done unless the situation becomes too extreme or if the four of us die. Succeeding to destroy the cannon by attacking it will result in all the magic it has accumulated to release in an explosion as powerful as if the cannon had been fired, effectively wiping any living being in the radius of a big city like this in a matter of seconds" Sylvana stated.
"We really hope we don't have to resort to destroying it, our priority is to secure a path for any of us four to reach the cannon so we can spell the deactivation enchantment" Drake said.
"I have seen the tower from afar and managed to spot the magic emanating from the cannon on top floor of the tower, I highly doubt they'll move it from there in a while and even if they did I could still identify its position" Sylvana declared.
"Mercenaries, this is your last chance to retire, we don't need scaredy cats getting in our way. We will be heading out in an hour, most of the supplies we need are already prepared" Julius said firmly.
After those words the four of them walked down the stage as two servants took the board away. Between all of the people reunited the murmuring began, some of them feared, some of them were excited to kill some demons and some of the mercenaries finally decided to not partake in this mission and proceeded to retire from the castle. Amongst these people however, our protagonists were not a part of them.
On one side of the training grounds, the squad, The Elementals and Prime Squad stood still, looking at the stage.
Ascalon smiled calmly while Lyle seemed in shock, but it wasn't fear, it was something else, something he couldn't figure out.
"Everything ok, Lyle?" Ascalon asked.
"Yes, I'm ok, it's just.. I don't know, I'm not really sure what this feeling is, after these months, I'm finally gonna face the demons of the Esteller Empire. It gives me a weird feeling" Lyle said, unsure on how he should be feeling.
"I guess that's understandable. Although, does that feeling make you… not want to fight?" Ascalon asked with concern in his voice.
Lyle thought for a moment.
"No. It makes me want to fight" He responded with determination as he clenched his fist, making Ascalon smile.
"Heh, you have courage kid, it's good to see that the youth still has that" Gork said in a chuckle.
"In fact, I like to see that all of you seem eager to do this" Gork said, looking at both the squad and The Elementals.
"Of course, we are going to show those demons what we are made of!" Dante declared with a wide smile.
"Even if they make us afraid, we will not flinch!" Raphael declared, noticeably nervous.
"I… wouldn't speak for all of us here" Mistia said as she looked at Stella, who was clearly terrified of the idea.
Stella was shaking with terror in place, sweat fell down her face, the fear in her eyes was undescriptable.
"Umm… you know Stella, you don't... have to come with us" Lyle said with a soothing voice as he put a hand on Stella's shoulder.
"N-No… I-I-I will go… I can't… I can't let you down" Stella said, despite still shaking in fear.
Stella tries to stand straight as she forces herself to stop shaking, almost stopping completely.
"I-I couldn't live with myself… If because of me-me not being with… you, any of you got truly hurt…" Stella said, trying to hide her fear, making her three companions smile at her.
"It is truly respectable, to see someone so determined to help out her friends, despite the great fear that invades them" Tak-Al said, looking at Stella.
"Thanks, I-" Stella turned to look at him, and stopped talking as for a moment she just stared at him.
Suddenly, Stella leaded one of her hands to her mouth, extending a finger that she bit softly as she took a pose that made her look shy and vulnerable.
"Thanks for your words, mister, I really appreciate them. And I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out, the warm feeling of-" Stella said shyly but was interrupted by Mistia slapping her on the face.
"Don't start" Mistia said, with noticeable annoyance on her face, neither The Elementals or Prime Squad dared to say something to her.
"Mistia, I think you exaggerated a bit" Lyle said, a bit fearful of Mistia.
"I didn't hit her that hard" Mistia excused herself.
"I think you threw off some of her teeth" Ascalon said, looking at blood and teeth that had come out of Stella's mouth on the ground.
Stella recomposed, she put a hand on her mouth as she grunted because of the pain. After a few moments she took her hand from her mouth, as she showed her regenerated teeth, however, both her mouth and hand were still bloody.
"It's ok, Mistia, I'm fine. Although I just wished you hadn't hit me so hard, healing magic doesn't clean up blood you know?" Stella said with a forced smile, clearly afraid of her partner.
"Oh, let me help you out Stella" Lyle said as he pulled off a rag that he used to help Stella clean up the blood from her face, which Stella let him do eagerly.
Mistia looked at them, she felt a strange feeling stirring within her as her visible eye twitched a bit for a reason unknown to her.
Karla put a hand over the shoulder of her husband as she chuckled. "These guys are truly something"
"I just hope that these imbeciles can focus while on the battlefield" Elias said looking at them.
"Elias, what have we talked about?" The woman said with a scolding tone.
"To not go there insulting freely" He responded with a tired sigh.
Raphael chuckled while looking at them, causing a vein to get marked on Elias' forehead.
"What's so funny?" Elias asked with annoyance.
"Oh, nothing… it's just so adorable to see a little boy hanging with his mommy" Raphael said with a mockery tone as he tried not to laugh.
Elias's right eye twitched at Raphael's words before he pulled off a karambit from under his skirt and tried to lunge towards Raphael but getting restrained by both Karla and Gork as the short guy threw a barrage of insults and treats to Raphael, who just chuckled as he looked at him.
"Ralph, I think that was a bit too much" Terrac whispered to his friend.
"Oh, come on, this guy is funny!" He responded.
"Apologize. Now" Elene said with a menacing tone as he grabbed Raphael by the hair.
"On second thought, what I said was highly offensive and my behavior really immature, hence I offer my sincerest apologies to you… uh… Elias" Raphael said, sweat going down his face as Elene let him go.
However Elias wasn't calming down, so Karla held him tight and carried him under his arm, taking advantage of the size difference between them as he continued throwing a barrage of insults to Elias. They had begun to draw the attention of those surrounding them so Gork with one hand hit Elias on the head, knocking him out.
"I think that the best is that we go somewhere else, it was a pleasure to meet you anyways, I hope we encounter again at the battlefield" Gork said as he and his squad walked away.
The Elementals waved at Prime Squad as they walked away, so did Ascalon while Mistia just watched them go.
"There you go" Lyle said as he finished helping Stella clean up the blood on her mouth and hand.
"Thanks, Lyle, this was very considerate on your part" Stella answered with a soft smile.
"Are you feeling ok?" Lyle asked as he packed away the bloody rag.
"Yes, I'm feeling ok, my regeneration does wonders with pain, I… " Stella said as her gaze turned to Mistia. "I'm just gonna.. be over there"
Stella walked a bit afar from them, from Mistia most specifically, the fear on her face was pretty noticeable. Lyle looked at both Mistia and Stella with a concerned look, it wasn't good that two teammates got along so bad as this.
"Maybe I could talk with Mistia" Lyle thought.
Before anyone could proceed with the conversation, their gaze got caught by a person approaching them, it was Sylvana. The Elementals, Mistia and Stella seemed surprised at seeing the elf that had been on the stage walking towards them, unlike Ascalon and Lyle who weren't as surprised.
"Greetings, Lyle, Ascalon, it's been quite a while" Sylvana greeted the duo as she opened her cape, revealing her tonified body, her brown shorts and a dark green top with one brace.
"Wait, you know each other?" Mistia questioned her companions.
"Yes, we do, we met Sylvana when we first travelled towards this city, she was a good help" Ascalon declared.
"That's correct, Lyle and Ascalon were a gratifying company on my way towards this city, allow me to introduce myself properly, I'm Sylvana Swiftblade, it is nice to meet all of you" Sylvana said with cordiality.
"Greetings to you as well, my name is Mistia" Mistia replied.
"Y-Yes, it is… really *gulp* nice to meet you, I'm Stella" Stella said, looking at Sylvana's abdomen while being watchful of Mistia.
"Sylvana, these two women are our teammates, they have been of great help" Lyle said pointing at them both.
"I guess I have to agree with Lyle, they have done decently" Ascalon added.
"I see, well, if you say that they are competent then I believe you, I'm sure you two will be of great help during the battle against the demons" Sylvana declared as she turned to look at The Elementals. "And who may you be?"
"Heh, who are we you ask?" Dante said as he and his companions grinned with presumption.
Once again, The Elementals proceeded to do their usual flashy introduction in front of Sylvana, who just stared at them, wondering what the hell was going on, she stood there, speechless.
"Were we too magnificent for you?" Dante asks with a smug smile.
"Uuh… well, I can't see properly, so… I couldn't appreciate your… thing" Sylvana said as politely as possible.
"Oh, well that's a bummer" Dante said as he and his team returned to a normal stance.
Sylvana turned to look at Lyle and Ascalon. "Anyways, how have you been doing these past few months?"
"We've doing pretty well actually. I have become a lot stronger!" Lyle exclaimed with a smile.
"I can notice that" The elf said.
"And what's been with you?" Ascalon questioned.
"Well, the past few months have been a bit complicated, between localizing the weapon and making up an attack plan, it's been tiring. Although possibly the most complicated part was to teach Erbow, Drake and Lord Julius the spell to destroy the cannon" Sylvana replied with tiredness in her voice.
"How complicated can it be?" Lyle asked.
"The enchantment lasts about two minutes if you speak fast" Sylvana answered.
"Why so long?" Lyle questioned in disbelief.
"For what I know, it was a safety measure to make sure no one spelled it on accident or to complicate it for any enemies who tried to steal the destruction enchantment" Sylvana clarified.
"Alright, that… that actually makes sense" Lyle declared.
"Besides, I have put up a lot of training, last time I faced demons I was utterly useless against them, and these ones are for sure stronger than those I fought" Sylvana stated.
"I can understand that feeling" Lyle said with a hint of sadness.
"I've heard that elves aren't particularly powerful, right?" Mistia asked.
"That's true, our magic potential and growing capacities are very lacking in comparison to humans" Sylvana declares with shame.
"I've heard of that about elves, but I've never understood why" Elene stated.
To the surprise of her companions, Stella was the one to clarify Elene's doubt. "It's not that complicated actually, unlike most of the other species on the world, elves were not created by Eternal but by the goddess of magic and the goddess of nature, due to them not having the same power as Eternal resulted on the elves being a considerably weaker and less lasting species"
"That is indeed, correct. I'm surprised to be honest, not many humans know much about elves, and based on your voice I assume you're a young woman, usually only the elderly have some knowledge about us" Sylvana said, impressed.
"I'm surprised as well to be honest, that you out of all people would know something like that" Mistia said, looking at Stella, causing the healer to take a few steps back.
Stella gulped as she took some distance from Mistia and began explaining herself with clear nerves. "Well, I think I've mentioned it sometimes but when I went to school I had many theology classes"
Mistia took Stella's explanation but seemed a bit weirded out, seemingly oblivious to the fear she caused on her teammate, or rather not caring. Lyle looked at them both worried, it would be better to address this issue between them as soon as possible, he had to find the moment, maybe after all this thing with the demons was settled he could have a chat with them, Ascalon had also noticed but he didn't seem to care about it at all.
The tension between the women did also not slip under Sylvana, who could notice the disdain on Mistia's words towards Stella as well as the fear on Stella's words towards Mistia, she was a bit intrigued of what could the reason of this situationship because of them being companions of Lyle and Ascalon, but she didn't have intentions of investigating further, it was none of her business and right now, she had most important things to take on.
The Elementals also noticed the tension between Mistia and Stella, but they really didn't want to intervene on that, they didn't really consider the squad as their friends, but rather as just fellow adventurers. The feeling was mutual.
An awkward silence dominated the atmosphere between the presents, after a few moments Sylvana would break this silence.
"So, Lyle, Ascalon, just must be excited, to finally have a chance against the Esteller Empire" She said, looking at the duo.
"Excited is not the word I would use but I'm really looking forward to it, to see what I'm capable of" Lyle declared with nerves and determination.
"How are you so sure this is our first face off against them?" Ascalon questioned the elf.
"I was not, I just made an assumption that turned out to be right" Sylvana stated.
Suddenly, Sylvana's ears twitched.
"Huh? Is something wrong?" Lyle asked.
"Drake is looking for me, I should be going" Sylvana said, turning away her look.
"I don't think I heard someone calling out your name" Raphael said.
"My hearing is sharper than yours, I believed that was obvious" Sylvana declared.
Raphael felt a bit stupid but Terrac comforted him.
"Well, I'm going, it was nice to meet you again" Sylvana said.
"Same here, good luck Sylvana" Lyle said.
"Try to survive" Ascalon said, getting a scolding look from Lyle.
"I'll do my best" Sylvana said as she turned back and began walking away from them.
They all watched as Sylvana walked through the multitude of people and slowly faded into the crowd, Stella couldn't prevent herself from trying to get a good glance of her until she lost track of her.
"I had never seen a woman, let alone an elf, with such a fit body. Damn she's hot" She whispered as she bit one of her fingers.
Stella's words caused all of her companions and The Elementals to turn to look at her, however, there was one sight in particular that the healer paid attention to was Mistia's, looking for any sign of hostility towards her. Fortunately the only thing she could see was the same questioning gaze that the rest was giving, however, that did not stop Stella from taking a few steps back as sweat dropped through her cheeks.
"Hehe, I agree with you" Dante said without thinking twice.
"You agree with what?" Elene said, giving a piercing glare to her boyfriend.
"What? I said nothing" Dante responded quickly and nervously.
Terrac and Raphael facepalmed. They knew someone had been doomed to the floor the next night.
The next hour went by like a breeze, before they knew it, they all had been called to organize and begin traveling towards the 'Demon Tower', it would be a 3 day long trip approximately and they had no time to waste, each second was as valuable as the last one.
The prince alongside the generals and Sylvana were leading the army that was separated in base to their role, the heavy soldiers, the average soldiers, the archers, the light soldiers, the long distance mages and it turned out there was a sixth bunch of soldiers in the army, the healers, who had gone unnoticed before in the training yard because they were barely a group of 8 people alongside a captain per role that determined the separations between the formed soldiers and leaded their respective groups.
All of the mercenaries and adventurers were all the way to the back most part of the formation, going alongside the carts containing many important things for the mission such as stockpiles of food and water, replacement armors and weapons, tents, tables, beds and many other things to make the nights more comfortable, although of course most of these facilities were meant for the high ranks of the army.
Once everyone had been organized, they all remained on the training yard for a while, before they all went out to attack that tower, the king of Lisbea himself wanted to give some words to his soldiers.
Everyone watched as the king, John Frozenshot, walked onto the stage with difficulties as he supported himself with a cane. The king was an old man, his difficulty to walk was clear as sky on a sunny morning, his hair was blank, almost transparent, his face and hands were wrinkled like raisins although this aspect of him was highly overshadowed by the large scar that went from the top of his forehead, through what used to be his right eye, all the way down to his chin. The king was dressed in a similar looking armor to his son's, however, his looked old, damaged, the condition of his body wasn't any impediment for him to still carry on the armor that had seen so many battles in its entire existence.
As the king walked towards the center of the center, the squad overheard some other people talking about the king. According to the stories, when he was younger the king had fought in a war where he was the only man left alive, no one else in either sides had survived but him, this gained him a lot of respect that had been kept through the years, of course there were some who refused to believe that story, but it's not like there was someone else that could count their version of the events.
The old king stood on the stage in front of thousands of watching eyes, despite his limb he had walked in completely alone, his gaze was serene and a feeling of wisdom could be felt emanating from the king.
"Soldiers of Lisbea" The man said, despite his voice being old, it was strong and firm. "Today all of you are gonna embark on a trip that could change the fate, not only of us lisbeans but also of all the kingdoms that had suffered from the relentless chaos that the Esteller Empire has brought upon us in the past 16 years. As much as I wished I could be at your side to fight this enemy, my time as a warrior has been gone for quite a while. Now it's time for you to take the situation in your hands, if you fail you will all be dead and those damn demons will continue to roam around the world doing whatever they please, but if you succeed, we will show the world that those demons are just as mortal as we are!" The king said with strong determination in his voice, the desire to be on the battlefield screaming with each word that came out of his mouth. "So, stop standing there like stupid babies that just learned to use their legs and go kill those motherfucker demons!" He screamed with an intensity that wasn't proper for his age.
The crowd of soldiers cheered at the words of their king, many of them chanting his name with admiration and respect, amongst all that crowd, the squad stood looking at the king of Lisbea. Stella looked at him with admiration, and surprisingly, there wasn't any trace of lust on her gaze, she looked like a child meeting their hero in person for the first time, Mistia stared, she seemed more impressed by the support the people had towards their king, almost like she thought of it as something unnatural, Lyle stared fascinated at what was going on, the spirit, the respect, all of this was something he could've never imagined back at Dawnwood Town. Finally, there was Ascalon, who just stared, Lyle looked at him for a moment, he saw something in his face that he couldn't exactly tell what it was, respect? Admiration? Only Ascalon knew.
As the army calmed down, they slowly began to march at the lead of Julius, alongside his generals, Sylvana and two men carrying flags with the symbol of Lisbea, heading out of the training grounds, through the streets of the capital as citizens, specially the younger ones, looked at them with admiration and cheered at them as they headed towards the north door of the city, from where the trip towards the 'Demon Tower', would officially begin.