Song of Shadow and Light (BxB)

Chapter 7

The village wasn't far away from where the kids found him, and as they got closer, Kaelan could see the infestation of demons. From what he could see, they were smaller demons, which would be no issue for the cleric to deal with. Before getting too close to the village, Kaelan made the kids come to a halt. He could see the fear in their eyes as they watched the demons destroy and terrorize their village. 

"You two should stay back. I don't want either of you to get close to the demons, so I'll come back for you when it is safe, okay?" Kaelan gently squeezed their hands to reassure them that everything would be fine in the end. He would save their village.

Though fearful, they looked up at him with hope in their eyes. They nodded, then let Kaelan go. He gave them a soft smile and turned his attention to the village. Thaddeus was still with him, even though he seemed upset. He didn't say anything to Kaelan as he pulled his sword out of its sheath and then approached the village. Kaelan felt bad, but this was for the best. Thaddeus would understand why in the end.

Regardless of what Thaddeus may have been feeling, he didn't let himself get too far from Kaelan. While these were lesser demons, it was still his duty to protect the cleric. He glanced behind him once to make sure that Kaelan was still behind him. Of course, he was. The cleric had always been righteous. He knew that the knights should have been the ones to take care of this job while they went off to their goal, but Kaelan would never leave these people to suffer. If he could help, then he would. That might have been one of the reasons why Thaddeus admired him so much.

If it weren't for Kaelan, then Thaddeus never would have agreed to fight. Unlike Kaelan, Thaddeus knew that he was a selfish person. He wasn't embarking on this quest for the right reasons. Perhaps one day, if Kaelan was willing to listen, Thaddeus could tell him the truth. There was more to this than him simply liking the cleric.

"Stay behind me," Thaddeus said. It was time to do his job and protect Kaelan from danger.

However, Kaelan wasn't going to stand behind some man and let him do all of the fighting. He was capable of fighting demons; something that he had done plenty of times. He was positive that he had fought more demons than Thaddeus had ever seen before. He had his spell book and staff ready for the fight ahead of them.

He said to Thaddeus with a smirk, "I don't need you to keep me safe against the small fry. I bet you that I can kill more demons than you."

Thaddeus was a bit taken aback by this challenge. This would be his first time fighting alongside Kaelan, so he never had the chance to experience his competitive side before. It only made him admire the cleric more.

"Challenge accepted. Don't underestimate me, though. You made that mistake before, and I proved you wrong," Thaddeus retorted. Kaelan may have been competitive, but so was Thaddeus. He did not like to lose.

Kaelan was surprised that Thaddeus didn't try making a deal with him if he lost, but he guessed that Thaddeus still wasn't too happy with him. Kaelan felt like apologizing to him but now wasn't the time. Thaddeus seemed to take his challenge seriously as he rushed to the village to fight the demons. He slashed at two of the small creatures that had noticed him running towards them, and easily cut them down. Thaddeus glanced back at Kaelan with a cocky grin on his face. If he wanted to win, then Kaelan could not fall behind.

The cleric chanted a spell to turn his staff into a sword of light. With this, Kaelan would be able to kill the small demons easier and quicker than if he had continued to chant and cast spells. He may not have been as talented with a sword as Thaddeus appeared to be, but he still knew how to use one. He had been trained to use all sorts of weapons, but divine magic was always his strongest weapon. With a sword of divine light, he could cut down the demons quickly.