A Devilish Tale

Two days had passed by since we returned from the dungeon. Our training had continued, and we were starting to make real progress, in our duels with Orion most of us could now land a hit on him. I doubted we would be able to defeat him in a true battle, but the improvement was plainly there for all to see. Rayall had been the first of us to land a hit on the red-haired sword master, we had all gone silent when we saw it before Korin had let out a cheer. Orion seemed happy with the development, despite the fact that his clothing would now come away with rips and tears. As for our magic, it continued to become stronger, and I was learning to focus on using a sword and my mana at the same time.

Whilst my training was in a good place for the time being, I had a feeling that all was not well in the Citadel. Calendis had been avoiding me ever since he and Ishtir had performed a full reading on me, there was clearly something that he saw that had disturbed him enough to avoid me. I had attempted to go to his office on multiple occasions and pry the information out of him. However when I had arrived at the door, I was rebuked firmly by his guard who informed me that his work was not to be disturbed. I had to admit that it unnerved me, I was left to wonder what there was about me that he could have found so unsettling that he would not see me.

Today would be different however. Our lesson with Anoir had finished for the day and, at my request, Sara had gone to the office of Calendis. She had spoken with the guard who had been far more amenable to her presence than he had my own, he had informed her that Calendis had gone to the library to perform some research and he would be happy to pass a message on to the man when he returned. That would not be necessary, I intended to ambush Calendis myself and **** him to divulge whatever it was that he was keeping from me.

I walked down the stone tiles, passed the shelves upon shelves of dusty books and crumbling pages that made up the greatest library in Alynthir. The sun was starting to set at that hour and the light that poured in through the glass dome above was an orange hue, like the final embers of a fire as it ate through the last of its fuel. I had scoured each floor as I walked through the rows of books and ascended to the next floor. I was on the fifth floor, passing a section of books devoted to anatomy when I saw the familiar robes and hooked nose with glasses standing at the end as he tried to find a book.

I walked closer silently, worried that he might try to run away if he saw me coming. It was a foolish thought, he was well regarded in the Citadel, and I was simply a new adventurer, there was no reason for him to feel the need to flee from me. “Calendis” I said when I was a few steps behind him.

At the sound of my voice he visibly jumped and almost dropped the book that he had pried from the shelves, he turned around and saw me. The expression on his face looked visibly uncomfortable but he remained in his position, not moving to run. “Aucus” he said at last with a sigh, “How did you find me?” he asked plainly.

There was no reason for me to hide my methods from him, they were unlikely to work a second time in any case. “I had one of my friends ask your guard if she could talk with you. He told her that you were in the library” I explained, seeing a look of annoyance flit across his face.

“Darin should know better” he murmured to himself before reverting his attention back to myself, “I suppose you wish to speak with me then” he said with a sigh and looked around. “Not here, there are ears everywhere. Frankly it’s disturbing. Let’s use one of the study rooms” he said gesturing to the doors that led to office-like rooms where the visitors of the library could take a book to study in peace.

It was a small room that felt a little cramped with two of us in there, there was a small table with a chair and a crystal mounted on the wall. As for other decoration, there was barely room to move around let alone house unnecessary furniture. Calendis entered first and I allowed him to take the chair as I stood wedged between the desk and the wall.

I stood expectantly and waited for him to speak as his eyes darted from me to searching the room for something else to hold his concentration. He sighed, “I suppose you want to know more about the full reading” he said with apprehension. I nodded my head and crossed my arms as I waited for him to continue. “To tell you the truth Aucus, there was little else we learned from each other after you left. We are pretty sure that your dark spirit is connected in some form to the devils, but we already knew that to an extent. However, now we know that it is different to the devils in some way. Ishtir did not know as much as I would have liked, he fought the devils hundreds of years ago, so he became familiar with how they felt in his mind” he sighed and laid his hands down on the table. “But no, he didn’t know much more than I did, and he didn’t see anything from the spirit’s past. I wish I knew more”

I furrowed my brow as I looked at him, I was confused as to why he had been avoiding me if he knew nothing more than what he had told me in that strange room. “So why have you been avoiding me then?” I asked him, “If you don’t know anything else, why haven’t you let me see you?”

“Ah” he rapped his fingers on the table and looked up to me. “Well, that’s because I’ve been very busy” he explained.

“Seriously?” I asked him, “you’ve been busy?” I asked, a little bit doubtful.

He gave me a soft smile, “Yes, there have been recent events in the east that have required my attention” he said. He saw me still looking doubtful and explained. “We thought it was a monster at first, there had been sightings reported by villages and in the end a party of adventurers were contracted to find it. They were all killed. Then we sent another party, these were better adventurers that had more powerful spirits and more combat experience. They were all killed as well” he told me sombrely. “Three parties of adventurers were killed in total, we thought that we should send one of the chosen three of the goddesses. It was one of the Paladin Spirits and his party, they were able to kill the monster though two of the party died. They brought back the head for us…” his hand trembled slightly, and he pushed it back down onto the desk.

I had never seen Calendis look scared before, he controlled it well, but the signs were still visible. “What was it?” I whispered

He was silent for a while longer and looked down at the desk, “It was a devil” he said in a quiet voice. My heart skipped a beat at the words. “One devil killed over a dozen adventurers and was only defeated by the Paladin spirit. Goddesses, what are we going to do” he brought his hands up to his face. It seemed like this may have been the first time that he vocalised the problems that he had been given to deal with over the past days.

He shook his head and persisted in the tale, “The first devil to be seen in nearly a millennium, not since the last of the remnant was exterminated. Why did it have to be in my lifetime” he muttered quietly. “The crack in the shadow gates is more than a temporary problem, devils have escaped. It is not something that can simply be patched up. If there was one, then surely there must be more out there” he said quietly, meeting my gaze, his face a pallid colour.

I was silent at this revelation; I didn’t know what there was to say at such a revelation. Devils were once more roaming the world; they had the power to decimate parties of adventurers and as far as we knew, only the most powerful adventurers could defeat them. There was only nine of them out there, goddesses only knew how many devils were on the other side of the shadow gates. How were they ever trapped in the first place?

“What-“ my voice caught in my mouth, and I started over. “What is being done about it? How are we going to survive?” I asked desperately, hearing the pounding in my chest. I was panicking at the idea of devils free to kill innocent people, would my friends be safe, would my mother?

He shook his head again, “I don’t know if we will” he said and sighed. “Celeste is preparing Karatir for an ****. The siege city will be our stronghold in the coming war, already men are being sent there to rebuild the ancient defences and renew the arcane seals on its walls. The elves and dwarves are doing likewise in their lands, maybe… maybe it will be enough” he lifted his face up to meet my eyes once more. “You have to train harder Aucus, you may be the only real weapon that we have to use against them” he said urgently.

I nodded my head, I didn’t know how I could possibly stand against them, even Orion could still defeat me in combat. How was I meant to defeat an army of devils. “I’ll try” I whispered.

Calendis nodded his head solemnly, “We’ll have to hope that that’s enough” he said as he placed his hands into the sleeves of his robes. “Aucus, do you promise not to repeat any of this? If people knew that there were devils in the world, there would be panic, riots in the street. Any hope that we have would be extinguished” I thought I could see tears welling in his eyes. He was truly terrified.

“Of course, I won’t tell anyone” I said, trying to reassure him.

He nodded his head, “Thank you Aucus”

I thought for a moment, “Just tell me one thing Calendis. You have access to the records of the thousand wars, you know what the devils were like then. Is there hope for us?” I asked, terrified of the answer.

He was silent for a while more and stood up, going to the door, and refusing to meet my gaze. “I don’t know, Aucus” he whispered. He opened the door and stepped out, “I just don’t know”

I left the library, picturing the monstrous faces of devils in my mind. Glowing red eyes, blood dripping from fangs, and curled and twisted horns stabbing upwards. Legions of these monsters swarmed my mind; I had never seen a devil before but that was how I imagined them in my mind. I walked past the training halls and heard a strange sound coming from one of them.

It sounded like two people fighting each other, it was strange as it was too late for training sessions. My curiosity overcame me, and I crept towards the door and cracked the door ajar. I looked in and saw a sight that shocked me. The grunts of what I thought we adventurers battling with each other were in fact coming from Crynthiel, the paladin spirit who had trained us, and Rayall.

They were not training. Both men were naked, Rayall bent over one of the benches as Crynthiel came from behind, thrusting himself into the half elf. Their toned bodies were on display, from where I stood, I could see Crynthiel’s muscular glutes as he ravaged Rayall. I just stared at the sight in shock, I hadn’t even suspected that he thought of men that way. I blushed at the sight; I hadn’t meant to intrude on them like that. I had no idea what to do, I couldn’t interrupt them, I didn’t even know if I should mention it to Rayall later.

Slowly I crept backwards, silently shutting the door as their grunts persisted to come from the training hall. I continued my walk through the Citadel to our rooms, why couldn’t my life just be simple? The servants in the Citadel didn’t seem to have as many concerns as I did. Maybe I should retire from adventuring and become a servant.