Short Stories

S.S - Heroes and Demons

This should hopefully turn out to be a thought-provoking short story, although I imagine that I'll botch it somehow.

Smoke. As far as the eye could see. Stretching across the horizon like a wall of darkness, drawing ever closer. It had been just two weeks since it was first sighted, and since then it had advanced almost twelve miles closer to our fringe-town of Veal. The Baron paced his small army, as it is a mere day's walk. It was time to end this. 

The Baron's scouts returned just after midday, and they bore frightful news. "Demons! Sir!" The Baron stiffened. "I beg your pardon?" The scouts looked away, "It is the truth Sir! They are felling trees and burning the forest!" The scouts looked terrified. "Nonsense! It must have been a mere trick of the light! Come, we shall vanquish these Demons of yours!"

It was indeed Demons. There was no denying it. A crimson tinge to their skin, horns protruding from their skulls, and some even had bat-like leathery wings. The Baron couldn't let it stand. They were burning the forest, these fallen angels wreaking destruction upon God's divine creations. The Baron already had his troops in position, and without second thought gave the order to charge.

***

"We were successfully able to withdraw my Lord, but we lost over half our men to these creatures! Many of them were captured as well! What's more, they're uprooting the forests and butchering all in their path!" The King listened in silence, "How many?" He finally asked. "How many men were lost?" The servant looked down, "Almost two-thousand Sir. We were not prepared for any resistance whatsoever.". The King blanched, two thousand men dead? His eyes narrowed. "I see. These monsters believe they can challenge our mighty Empire? Which I have worked tirelessly to build? This is an unforgivable act of war! General Karktova, summon an army! We shall show these Demons the true might of our Empire!"

And thus began almost a century of war.

***

Eightyfour Years Later

The magic flowed through her body, vast amounts of energy building into one Holy blast. She offered a prayer to God and released the spell. The effect was devastating. The stone walls of the Demon's fortress seemed to just evaporate, revealing about a hundred Demon soldiers on the inside, and an Ogre. Crap. Hero Shulia drew her holy sword and infused it with a bit of magic, then in one great sweep cut through half of the demons. Some tried to flee, but none could escape her sword. The Ogre stepped forwards and swung his huge war club in an arc, despite its size it moved in a blur. Desperately she blocked the swings, enhancing her strength with her magic. Suddenly she slipped on some rubble, falling onto her back with the Ogre looming above her. The Ogre laughed a deep guttural laugh, raising its club for a final swing. "Smite." she mumbled, and the Ogre simply vanished in a cloud of dust. The Hero Shulia gasped, she tried to never use her trump card unless it was last resort, it completely drained her magic and it would take weeks to replenish. Shaking, she stood up to see the last of the demons slain by Holy Knights of the highest order.

All demons were male. It was just a fact of the universe. Demons weren't born like humans were, they were summoned from the pits of hell with powerful dark magic. Only one being in the world had access to such magic. The Demon King. He was the reason that Humanity had suffered so. Little had been learned about Demons since the war began, as all encounter with them lead to one side being completely eradicated, no exceptions.

Exploring the fortress, Hero Shulia felt as if something was wrong. She entered one of the dwellings, completely made of stone. Two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room with what could only be food on a table, though she doubted it was edible for humans. Something was bugging her, she didn't feel in danger, just that something was... off. "Hero Shulia! We've received reports that a group of demons left the fortress over two hours ago, fleeing further into enemy territory! What should we do?" Javis the Scout asked her. She shook off the feeling of unease, she always felt nervous when she was low on magic, and gave the order to follow, "I vowed that I would not rest until the scourge of Demon-kind had been erased from this green Earth. I owe it to all of humanity." And to my parents, she couldn't help but thinking.

***

"My Lord, we have won the demon's castle, however it came at heavy loss to our own armies, General Karktova requests that he be supplied with more men to fight for him. Furthermore we have gathered Intel that they have great war beasts, an embodiment of thunder, which shakes the very ground as it walks." The King thought, and thought some more. "My Lord?" "Leave me. These Demons are clearly going to be a tough nut to crack. I must develop more effective strategies for the future. Besides, we have beasts of our own..."

***

The Elephants thundered along the road. They had been trained for years to fight the Ogres, though they were yet to actually meet in a battle. The Demon Kings' palace was in sight, though would probably still be a day's march or two. Word had been gathered that the Demon King had amassed all his armies for one final stand. It would not be enough, the King himself accompanied his armies here, it would be Hero Shulian's job to take down the Demon King, master of the Dark Arts, and bring a long-awaited end to Demon-kind. She was almost giddy with anticipation.

Two Demons approached the camp, they were unarmed and dressed lightly; Scouts. They were shot easily by Long-bowmen, though there would undoubtedly be more.

There was no army, just a single demon, though his identity was unmistakable; The Demon King. And who was that with him? An assistant? No, upon closer inspection it was... a boy.

***

"Why do the demons fight us? What did we do to deserve it?" The King looked up and sighed a weary sigh, it had been a long day. "Who knows? From what I'd learned previously, they were a peaceful peoples, but that seems far-fetched now, after 80 years of non-stop war. Envoys of peace and even offers of surrender are rejected, the messengers executed. It seems that this time we've lost Verin, bit off a bit more than we could chew. I only hope they spare you at least. You are, after all, one of them." The King looked up. Well, the women, children and what's left of the men are hiding in the Catacombs now, the messengers are late back again, I suppose this is it. A single tear threatened to slip from his eye, but he would have none of it. He owed his people that at least.

***

"He's trying to bargain for his life!"

"Fool! Can't you see this is a distraction! Right now his army is sneaking up behind us!"

The squabbling continued for another fifteen minutes, no one knew what to think. In the end everyone could agree. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. And the Demon King is right there." 

No one could come within twenty feet of the Demon King, his aura was too overpowering. There was only one Holy Knight strong enough to withstand it. Hero Shulia stood with her sword poised, ready to strike. Was he not going to fight? He should be resisting somehow, she could feel his magical energy pulsating through her. His magical potential was unbelievable, bordering on infinite, in another day and age this being of evil could pass as a God. Yet he did nothing. He'd had his eyes closed the whole time but now, they opened. He looked up at her raised sword and said, in perfect English, "I don't know, and no longer care, about why you did it. You destroyed everything I worked so hard to build, there is nothing left for me here. But it's too late to grieve now. I've just one request." The Hero Shulia stood there, completely confused, "Please take care of the boy." Then he reached out, into her mind, and seized control. It had been a trap. She was helpless to stop him taking control of her sword arm and- plunging the sword into his body.

***

On their way back to her homeland. The Demon King had finally been vanquished. After eighty six years the war was finally over. But The Hero Shulia, the one to finish it all, felt empty. Something still bugged her. She should be happy, but she knew she was missing a part of the bigger picture. All the Arch-mages had gathered after the 'battle', and smote the Demon King's castle. The boy, Verin, had passed out after that. He was accompanying them back to the Capital, though he spoke not a word of English. They passed through the fortress she had raided nearly a year ago and stopped for the night, using the abandoned houses of long dead demon soldiers. Something still felt wrong. It niggled at her mind.

There it was. Verin had found it for her. The thing that was wrong. Demons were all men. Everyone knew that. They were summoned from the underworld through Dark Magic. It was basic, taught in school stuff. Yet here was this. Verin had been staring at it silently for a solid twenty minutes before she'd noticed. How had no one seen it sooner? There, sitting int eh corner of the room plain as day, was an empty crib.