Who We Are

The campfire crackles under the voices of conversation as the night sky is in full view now. Many have gone off to bed themselves, but others manage to stay awake for the time-being. Some have shared their fears to sleep considering that the demon is about, but some have shown their own hubris by puffing out their chest and saying that they'll protect them.

Levi is distant from the fire. He picks at the grass, one blade at a time as he did not wish to partake in such conversations. Rather, he had his eyes fixed on a particular topic of interest. The demon rests against the wheel of the wagon. He isn't drifting in and out of sleep, nor does he occupy himself with anything to do. He just simply nods off in his own cognition. Levi knows that going over there will segregate him from the group, but he has this feeling that has been prodding him since before he revealed his true character. Something made him feel connected to him. Like they've met before. He looks over to the crowd as they call Francisco over to join them. Francisco laughs and hurriedly jogs over. A joke is said, laughter ensues.

His head inhabited with thoughts, the demon listly watches the forest with droning eyes. He snaps out of his trance when the sudden steps of rustling grass and dirt approaches him.

"May I?" Levi asks.

The demon does not say anything. But Levi takes this as neither a yes nor a no, so sit he shall. He posts up against the adjacent wagon's wheel.

At first, nothing is said, but Levi attempts to break the awkwardness with more awkwardness. "So… demon, huh?"

The demon once again does not communicate anything back.

"Must be tough, especially if you're on this side of the fence, haha," Levi weakly laughs.

"Is there something you want?" the demon finally speaks.

"Ah, well, a name perhaps?" Levi holds out his hand, "Levi."

"…Satari." He grabs ahold of Levi's hand. Satari's hand feels of a soft warmth and rugged like brimstone.

"I don't mean to be rude, I've found that I'm not very good at introductions," Levi says, but the honesty is left unanswered; thus, for a while a silence is left in the air. Eventually, Satari decides to amuse him.

"I'm usually not even given the chance to introduce myself, so this is different."

"Often getting the sharp end of the stick before you could, huh."

"You wouldn't believe…"

"So, why are you here? I heard the Wardens recruit far and wide, but I didn't think to your extent."

"Oh, for the company, of course," Satari says sarcastically.

"Plentiful of that, I'd say you hit the jackpot," Levi laughs.

Satari becomes distant for a moment. He prods the ground with his fingers as he tries to formulate his reasonings in his head. "There is someone I wish to find."

"To find? You didn't have to join the Wardens for all that, you know."

"On the contrary," Satari props his arms over his knees as he twists and bends a couple blades of grass in his hands. He readily explains himself, "I plan to go home."

"Home? Like Hell?"

"Yes. And a tad bit of vengeance as well, I won't lie."

"Against your own kind?"

"You say that as if you elves and humans didn't have a war just recently."

"Haha, you make a fair point."

His goals truly seem to align in some way with the Wardens. It might be more personal rather than to end the conflict, but every Warden has their own agendas in joining. Almost an organization without discrimination, soldiers, wizards, hired blades, and even mere peasants have banded together to overcome the disaster ahead. It was part of a treaty way back when the initial disaster had begun. It ended the last war prior, but tensions still remain.

The Wardens used to be a proud bunch. It was one of those honorifics that called for respect and authority because they were trained to fight the world's current biggest threat. Despite it being only a mere four years since its establishment, the Wardens have built a bad reputation overtime. Heroic knights and sages would voluntarily throw themselves towards the opportunity before and gain an enormous amount of glory and even good coin. But people began to use that title as leverage to get what they wanted. This leverage led to a large amount of unspeakable things to occur. Now, nobody wants to be associated with the order. The people who have nowhere else to go are the only ones seemingly wanting to join.

"Well, I hope you find them." Levi says soft-heartedly.

Satari looks at him, and for once, he smiles a bit. "I hope so too."

The moment is abruptly interrupted as a man approaches Levi from the corner of his eyes. Levi looks up to a seven foot tall half-orc. He doesn't wear any armor on his back nor does he wield any weapons on his person. Instead, he wears a tattered white apron over his ragged tunic and pants. Before him he holds out a bowl of what looked like some sort of noodle dish in broth. A dice hard-boiled egg, some raw meats being cooked to medium from the heat, and a mix blend of herbs and greens, all being bathed in the exuberant earthy-smelling juices. In his off-hand, he holds a three prong fork. He notions Levi to take it.

"Oh, wow, that smells delectable," Levi carefully takes a hold of the bowl, "Thank you."

"No problem," the half-orc said. He begins to depart, but Levi notices he did not give any to Satari.

"Chef mate," he calls out to the half-orc, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name."

The half-orc allows Levi a moment to catch up to him, still within earshot of Satari and the other campers. "Pefub."

"Yes, Pefub, uhh I think you forgot to give my friend over there some of your fabulous cooking."

"I didn't forget," Pefub crosses his arms.

"What're you doing befriending the likes of him anyways, huh?" A man among the banded recruits speaks up. He stands and walks over to the confrontation as Pefub moves aside. He's got better things to do than be a part of this. The man is youthful, his stature is strong like a fighter. His hair is a shaggy white and he wears a high quality blue tunic with a half-plate hugging his torso. Definitely some type of noble, perhaps a baronet. But regardless, he stands face to face with Levi, leaving no room for personal space.

"I'm simply making acquaintances with fellow Wardens, that's–"

The white-haired man spits at the remark. "He's no fellow Warden." One hand in his pocket, he unsheathes his sword. Levi backs up and goes into a combative stance.

"What are you doing?" Levi demands to know.

"You're being delusional, he must have charmed you with his wicked powers, so now I am going to put this demon in its place and release you from this turmoil." He smirks at Levi. Levi grits his teeth in response, knowing full well of what he is doing.

"Get his ass, Sven!"

"Beat him the fuck up!"

"Show him what's what!"

The crowd behind Sven are instigating the fight with chants and bellowing. Levi looks around Sven's shoulder at Francisco. Their eyes meet as Francisco lifts a glass of alcohol into the air. He remains seated by the fire whilst watching carefully with a smile. A test? Others start to emerge from their tents to see what the commotion is about. Satari stands up and is prepared to take this duel as he sighs deeply. But Levi continues to stand in between the two.

"Do you refuse to step aside?" Sven asks. Levi doesn't answer. Instead, he glares at him with eyes of determination. "Fine. Adkas!" Sven calls for the red-haired elf. Adkas stands with a wicked smile and waltzes over to Sven's side.

Levi grabs onto his spear that sat leaning against the wagon and positions himself in a battle-ready stance. Satari rests his hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to do this."

"Oh, I know."

Satari nods and acknowledges this, "very well." He flicks his wrists as two balls of fire appear in both his hands. A wicked smile stretches across his face as he lines himself up with Levi. The crowd backs up a distance after seeing the flames spark up in his hands. Sven and Adkas step up to the plate and stand at the ready.

Adkas calls out, "you've got one last chance to back the hell down, my guy." Adkas takes a strand of white string and forms a pattern with his hands. He pulls the string back onto a singular palm, and particles of snowy white ice form before Adkas' very hand. He grasps his forearm with the other hand firmly, almost like he is wielding a gun. "You have until the count of three, if you don't step away, this will only end badly for you."

Unwavering to the remark, Levi holds his ground with Satari.

"One…"

Sven holds his shield up to his face, and he digs his feet into the ground.

"Two…" Satari glances back and forth from the two, and finally at Levi, who has not broken eye contact with Sven this entire time.

A sudden burst of ice spikes blasts towards Satari while he was not looking. Satari scrawls in the air with his fire enveloped hands, forming a shield of scorching flames that hisses with the clashing of ice. The ice spikes explode from the impact and a cloud of fog and steam disperses into the air.

Sven dives in through the smoke with a strong downward slash. It does not connect with anything and his blade measly contacts the dirt, Sven looks around the fog and does not even see Levi. He frantically holds his shield up and latches his feet firmly to the ground. Only the sound of fire and ice being thrown back and forth fills the volume around him.

A spear emerges through the fog, catching Sven off-guard. Sven ducks under and the spear tip skids with a foul sound across his shield that covers his face. He twists around the spear as Levi now enters into view.

"Going for lethal blows, are we, Levi?" Sven says amusingly. Levi says nothing in return as Sven swings low with his blade. Levi jumps over it and twirls his spear to the buttend. He uses the momentum to bash the handle against his shield once more, knocking Sven back a few pegs. Levi thrusts his spear repeatedly against his shield to keep distance. A continuous stream of ping pang ping pang as metal collides with metal.

Satari rolls away from a torrent of icicles shearing at him like repeated crossbow bolts. Just the constant sounds of zzzsh has Satari vaulting over a bunch of crates. The ice fragments stab into the boxes as Satari takes a moment to breathe.

He overhears Francisco calling out, "oi, watch the supplies!" Satari envelops his hands in flames again. Despite Adkas' necessity to conjure spells with components, Satari's fire still is a slower projectile than Adkas' ice. He contemplates.

"Come out, boy!" Adkas taunts. "But nah, actually come out because dad said we can't play around the crates." Satari peeks around the corner, and sees Adkas still prepared to impale him with spikes. But he notices something else. The campfire is still roaring from Pefub's cooking.

Satari maneuvers his hand as a snake-like flame wiggles its way out into existence behind Adkas. It grows in size and knocks over Pefub's Kettle pot, to which he curses, "the fuck, man." Many of the audience notices, but Adkas continues to press forward on Satari. Satari grasps his hand together, and in one steady motion flings it at Adkas from behind. Adkas yelps in pain and his hood is now burning as he frantically goes to pat it down.

Distracted now, Satari takes this opportunity to strike. He conjures a blade of fiery red from an empty hilt and closes the gap. Adkas notices in time and an ice shield crystalizes along his arm to block the blow. The hissing fire sizzles with the ice, but Satari keeps the momentum. Slashing repeatedly over and over again, he refuses to give Adkas any room; however, it is clear to Adkas that Satari does not have much close combat training. He looks for an opening and then WHACK, Adkas ice barrier bashes Satari, knocking Satari a few feet back. He bleeds.

Levi stabs the ground with his spear and vaults forward with his feet against Sven's shield. Sven is thrown onto his back where he rolls, leaving his shield behind. Levi steps forward and continues to thrust his spear forward. Sven dodges it and rolls to the right of Levi where he gets an attack of opportunity. He slices his sword through Levi's side, gashing a wound. Levi pulls back in pain, but Sven is going to keep the adrenaline pumping. He gives Levi no room to recover, closing the gap and swinging his sword wildly.

He leaves no openings as Levi waits like a cornered animal. At last, Sven goes for a powerful downward swing where Levi finds the most opportune moment. He propels his spear forward, but Sven narrowly dodges it. He catches the spear between his armpit and changes his downward swing into an elbow drop onto the shaft of the spear. CRRRRACK! The spear snaps in half. He takes his right boot and kicks Levi away. Levi stumbles, but maintains his balance. He is left with only a bit of the spear handle. Sven smiles at the thought of incoming victory.

Satari tumbles to the ground as his fire sword extinguishes. On his back, he uses his elbows to prop himself up. He spits a loogie of blood onto the ground beside him. Adkas stands over him with a palm of ice shards hovering before him. "It's over, demon." But in response, Satari simply grins. Adkas with a quizzical face, glances down at his feet where a snake-like flame has entangled his ankle. Satari grips his arm, and swings it. The flame tendril grasps tightly around Adkas' ankle and yanks him off balance. His face hits the floor where his ice shards shatter into pieces from the sudden pain. Satari stands up and engulfs one of his hands with fire. He sprints forward and takes his fist full of fire to go for a final blow on the now prone Adkas. Victory is within his grasp until he looks at the faces of everyone around him. Scared. This isn't something he wanted. It never was.

The sizzling of flame disappears as Adkas' head is met with a simple head pat instead. Satari leans low to his level and whispers to him. "Stay down." Satari returns to his feet, towering over the defeated Adkas when the sounds of combat interrupts his victory.

Levi and Sven are at their wits end. Sven's right eye is closed and bruised and his lip bleeds. Levi holds his waist as blood trickles over his clothing from the gash Sven landed earlier. Exhaustion has hit the two, and they are nearing their limit. But Sven has the upper hand. He grips his sword tightly as Levi grips nothing but a rock in his hand.

"Why do you protect him so, huh?" Sven interrogates, "he will just backstab you in the end."

Levi does not respond.

"The world is crueler than what you might think."

"You only perceive it that way because of your upbringing."

"I perceive what the rest of the world perceives, you are the blind one here. Look around you, nobody else agrees with you." The faces of the others tell the whole story. People are afraid, people hate the demons, and now they look at him with discontent.

"When will you open your eyes and see–" His proclamation of his beliefs are cut short when a rock smacks him across the face. Levi bolts forward and grabs ahold of the handle of the sword. He twists Sven's arm and breaks his grip of the hilt. He sweeps Sven by the legs to the ground in which Sven quickly gets to his feet, and finds himself backed up against a tree. Levi holds his sword horizontally above his head and goes for the final pierce when his focus is broken.

"Enough!" Francisco yells. A thud is heard when the sword stabs through the tree trunk just above Sven's head. Levi stares at Sven's eyes with ferocity. But that last burst of adrenaline gives way as he slouches and exhales deeply. He lets go of the sword and saunters away. "I believe this is settled, yes?" Francisco inquires.

Sven, a face of disbelief, shifts immediately to fearful anger. He rushes at Levi, tackling him and throwing him forward onto his face. Levi barrel rolls back to his feet when BANG… the ground before them erupts as a bullet digs a whole deep into the dirt.

"I didn't think I'd have to shoot into the air a second time," Francisco says as he downs a glass of bronze colored liquid.

"Ah, Francisco, that wasn't exactly into the air." Mardo says gently.

He exaggeratingly twirls in the direction of the voice. Doesn't see anything, then looks down. "Ah, Mardo, I didn't see you there." He hands her the glass to hold. He bites his lip a bit and walks over to break up the fight. "Alright, get your asses to sleep, we've got a long walk ahead of us tomorrow and I don't want to hear any complaining when we do it, capiche?" Nobody responds. All of them watch as Levi and Sven are in awe about the fact that they were almost shot just then. They look at the bullet wound in the ground and then at Francisco in disbelief.

"Oi, I didn't say all that for you all to just stand there," he utters as he twirls his gun in his hand. "YAH! YAH! GET GOING!"

"Yessir!" Almost in unison, the people begin to frantically scatter to bed.

The moon reaches high above the sky now, and the campsite is in full swing rest mode. The crickets indicate a safe environment as their chirps, the wind and rustling of nature, and the crackling of fire remain. Very few people are out. Mainly guards and the like as the majority of the tents no longer have a dim glow to them, except for one. Levi lies on his side atop a hill of warm blankets and furs. His tent isn't the largest tent, but he has plenty of space for his belongings, a bedroll, oil lantern, and a chair to sit on. If he had one.

He winces in pain as Mardo is next to him with a pin in her mouth. She sews away at the wound delivered by Sven. Mardo attempts to fill the air with a small chit-chat. "Sorry about your spear," Mardo apologizes.

"The spear meant nothing to me, it was just a disposable."

"Do you have another spear?"

"Uhh, yeah. But it is… elsewhere."

Normally Mardo would be intrigued with such a suspicious answer, but she is far too deeply into her medical work. It is a fair stitch, but not the most amazing work. "Unfortunately for you, I used up all my mana today during that goblin fight."

"Shit, did that really all happen in one day?"

"Get used to it," Azimuth states. She is a little too big for this tent, so it is rather alarming. "It will only get worse, I'm sure of it."

"Gee, that makes me feel spectacular…" He sarcastically jokes. "Why are you here, anyways?" Levi questions. The adrenaline and pain seems to have gotten to the best of him as his judgment is lacking and he is being awfully honest. Not in a good way. "I don't recall us befriending each other."

"You fared well in that fight, and strength respects strength."

"Umm, thank you?–ah! Fuck, Mardo."

"Sorry, sorry." Mardo says all muffled as the pin is back between her lips. "I haven't done this in a while, give me a break." The tent is quiet again. Levi buries his face in his hands to fight through the pain.

"Actually…I wanted to understand more about your motives." Azimuth speaks honestly.

"My motives?"

"Yes." Azimuth swallows, "why did you defend the demon?"

"Well, umm…" he goes silent as he wants to address her, but he realizes that he doesn't even know her name. "Uh, I don't think I quite caught your name."

"Lady Azimuth."

"Right–wait, Lady is your first name?"

"No, it is a formality."

"Are you royalty?"

"Is it because of the way I look?"

"No, no, you most certainly can be one, I-I just wasn't expecting royalty to be in the ranks is all."

"Well as for royalty, yes and no."

"What do you mean yes and no? How can it be both?"

Mardo interrupts by yanking one of the strings, this makes Levi grunt in pain. He hammer fists the ground repeatedly as she speaks, "my god are both your brains not functioning? Stay on the topic. Why are you defending him?"

He takes a moment to think before he answers. Not because he didn't have an answer, but because he didn't know how to word it. It felt like he needed to convince them here and now. "Because he's just like everyone else," Levi pauses for some time. "Lost."

Mardo and Azimuth both take this in. Mardo stops stitching Levi back together for a moment, and then continues softly.

"He has his own reasons to join like the rest of us, and he plans to fight them like the rest of us." Mardo finishes stitching Levi as she pats him on the shoulder and begins to put away her medic kit. Levi sits up. "And I think he is terrified of what's to come like everyone else. And I wouldn't want to face this alone with no one to have my back." Mardo seals her kit shut and waits for Levi to finish. "We're in this together, are we not?" He looks at both of them. They look at each other.

"You're right," Mardo confesses.

"I just want to break the norms. And bring back peace."

Mardo nods her head… but Azimuth. Azimuth stands awkwardly in the tent and heads for the flap to exit. "To be honest with you, I don't quite get it. demons have always been demons, and they've ruined my life up to this point." She opens the flap and a breeze of cool air enters. "I will remember this, though." She exits.

They both awkwardly sit there. Not sure what to think of how Azimuth responded, but Mardo just shrugs.

"Thanks again, Mardo."

"No problem." She stands up and holds the kit to her small torso like a bear hug. "I'll come check on it before we hit the road tomorrow, ok?"

"Sounds good, doc."

"Goodnight!"

"Goodnight."

Mardo leaves Levi alone in the tent. He lays back down on his fur paddings and stares toward the roof. It will be long days ahead, it seems. And as much as he wanted to tap into his own thoughts, his body shuts down on him and readies him for a long needed rest.

The sun shines bright the next day, beating down on their tired and aching bodies. The caravan started its journey once again across the goblin territory of Gnah. After the events of the previous night, the morning had a rocky start. People began to form cliques within the recruits, and others continued to feel weary. But after some time, it became business as usual. Ever since the first initial ambush, the goblins strayed away from attacking them in a full frontal assault. Here and there they would run into a goblin or two, but the group would make quick work of them.

Throughout their travels they ran into many strange landmarks and events. A geyser that erupted 50 feet high into the air with many water puddles that people enjoyed splashing each other with. A little friendly goblin merchant man who sold peculiar items. Pefub got a new pan for what was actually a flat shiny rock he made claims about being a defaced silver coin. Faralai strayed off course with Azimuth and they found an abandoned chest in a merchant carriage accident. Within, Faralai found a magical bag to which she pulled out a magical girdle from within. To what extent is its magic? She had no idea nor did the wizard, Mardo. But the bag certainly carries a significant magic about it! Whilst on the road, Satari found a messenger bag along the side of the bank. Within, a book clasped shut by metallic angel wings. At first, he wanted to ask Mardo about it, but he decided not to. He plans to keep it to himself.

"Are we there yet?" A female orc complains to Francisco who isn't as tired as everyone else. He sits on the back of a horse, leading the rest of the pack.

"Almost there, wouldya quit askin'?" Everyone moans at his response and he simply rolls his eyes.

Dazed, Levi isn't exactly focused on anything in front of him. He is tired from last night and wants a warm bath and bed. But everyone else was probably thinking the same. He rubs his eyes and his vision blurs back in. In the distance, he sees improvement. Mardo walks alongside Satari. He seemingly isn't sure what to say at first, but Mardo led the conversation the whole way with a happy grin. This made Levi smile, and he regained the energy needed to rally him back to the march. He briskly jogs forward to join in on their conversation.

People begin to sense that the keep drew near. Their legs quickly picked up pace and their last bit of energy shined through. Finally, a place where they can relax and do exactly what they signed up for. The glorious tower, the glorious village that surrounded it, everything was in arms reach. Despite the training that will commence, the rumored luxuries involved provided by the Church of the Flame are apparently to die for.

Mardo stretches toward the sky as she is just within arms reach of the vast library provided by the Flame. "I heard the selection is far better than the library at the capital!"

"All you gonna do is read when you're there, huh." Satari asks.

"Of course! You're a spellcaster, aren't you–" her face turns sour as she swallows her words, "nevermind, screw you. I forgot you are an innate spellcaster."

"Heh," Satari laughs in amusement. Mardo flips him off. She huffs and pouts as she hurriedly speeds her little legs forward, leaving Levi and Satari behind.

"You know…" Satari begins, but stops. He has Levi's full attention. "I haven't thanked you yet for–"

"Ah, don't want to hear any of it!"

"But–"

"Shh, zip it. I did it for myself, not for you," Levi jokes, "besides, someone had to put them in their place, right?"

Amazed by his good nature, Satari is taken quickly aback. He softly smiles at the thought of a friend.

Levi raises his arms and rests them around the back of his neck. "Whatever, I don't want to think of any of that right now, I'm just thinking about the hot bath."

Satari scoffs a laugh, "if it has running water."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

At last, the group rounds the corner of thick trees and beholds the mighty keep in all of its glory. Or more like its lack of glory. The rumored magnificent color takes a dull gray shade and half of it is destroyed and turned to rubble. The buildings are worn and not fit for repair, the windows are serrated or not-existent of glass and cover, the wildlife has welcomed itself in with vines and moss growing on everything, and the rest of the road there is bumpy and cracked. It just looks downright depressing.

"That's the Keep?" A recruit asks aloud as others begin to make comments as well.

"Ain't it look like shit?"

"This is not what I signed up for."

"We're gon' be living in that?"

"Fuck it look all flaccid for, ain't it 'appy to see us? Bahaha!"

Many of the recruits laugh at its astoundingly underwhelming appearance. Others begin to mutter and question their decisions on joining. Levi drops to all fours and cries in defeat, "my hot bath…"

Unlike everybody else, Satari looks at the promising tower with his lone eyes. "It's home."