Demon's Design

Chapter 1

It was midday when Zandra arrived in the almost desolate town of Langton. It was a small little town at the edge of Crowfall forest, which was the home of Crowfall castle—a demon's castle. The castle wasn't always run by demons. It used to be home to the Crowfall family, a family of demon hunters, magicians, and powerful witches. The best of the best resided there. However, one day about fifteen years ago demons attacked the castle, a horde of them, seemingly out of nowhere. It didn't take long for the castle to be overrun, and the royal family destroyed.

Since then the forest was off limits and the small towns nearby started to fall into disarray as people stopped visiting. Before the demon take over, visitors from all over would stop by small little towns, like Langton, to stock up on supplies before making the full day trek to the castle. Those towns took full advantage of being so close to the castle, and created trinkets and all sorts of things for various travelers to buy when they came through. Demon hunters, magicians, and witches were their typical clientele as those were most of the visitors that went to the castle, and those people typically had plenty of money. Hunting demons was a lucrative business during that time, and hunters would travel the world to help towns rid themselves of demons plaguing them. 

After the castle fell the forest became full of demons, and extremely dangerous. Normal hunters used to hunt the woods for food, to feed their families, and to feed the town. As the demons took over hunters went in and never came back. It didn't take long for demon hunters to start coming by, searching the forest for prey; They hoped to find riches from the castle and rewards from the suffering towns. However, fewer and fewer demon hunters returned from the forests. As the towns became poorer the rewards stopped outweighing the risks. Soon even demon hunters stopped bringing business to the towns, and it didn't take long for a lot of them to fall apart. She was surprised by how long this little town had held on, though it was clear it wouldn't last much longer. Walking through, it was obvious that people started leaving a long time ago. There were some homes that were already crumbling from vacancy, while a few others still stood it was clear they wouldn't be for long. 

Heading towards the Blue Boar Tavern she passed a man and a woman packing a wagon, clearly emptying their home. They barely looked at her as she walked by. They had a sense of urgency about them, clearly something had spooked them—and recently.

Zandra was slightly surprised to see the small Tavern still standing, the sign hanging on by a single hinge. Walking inside it was quiet, with a few unconscious men scattered around. It looked as though they lived here as they looked dirty, homeless, and hung over. They probably had no where to go. Is that why the tavern was still here?

Either way, Zandra was hoping to gather some information about the forest before everyone cleared out or was killed. She heard rumors that the demon activity around the forest was becoming very active. If anyone was going to have information about the forest and castle activity, she was sure it would be here. Zandra suspected that the demon, or demons, behind the attack years ago were still within the castle walls. She was determined to find them, but she wasn't suicidal enough to head towards the castle—yet. She needed information, however information regarding the castle remained elusive. Those who ventured into the forest and survived were either too crazy to speak fluently, or they were so crazy they killed themselves.

She sat down at the counter and the barkeep started sizing her up. Zandra smirked, always the same look when people didn't know who she was. After all she was, a young female demon hunter dressed in leather with a sword strapped to her back, two guns (one on each hip), and daggers all around her belt. Not to mention she had some hidden toys under her jacket and various other places which she kept secret. Demon hunters weren't as common anymore, especially not young female ones.