Something In The Air

The giant worm lunged at Artoria as she swiftly drew her blade, slashing against its rough, leathery skin.

I unsheathed mine and dashed forward, piercing its side. 

Just as I reached for my grimoire, the lower end of its massive body swung at me, slamming into my ribs.

The impact sent me stumbling against the ground while Artoria was pushed back slightly. 

Taking advantage of the brief moment, I quickly grabbed my grimoire, flipping through its pages.

I didn't need to open it to cast spells, I knew that much. But I wasn't skilled enough to use them confidently without seeing the incantations first.

I pointed my blade at the worm as Artoria continued dodging its snapping jaws, attempting to carve through its thick hide.

Gathering moisture in the air, I formed bubbles of water, compacting them layer by layer, making the liquid denser and denser.

Then, with a sharp thrust of my sword, I unleashed a powerful torrent.

The concentrated stream tore into the worm's side, peeling its flesh apart.

A wave of green blood splattered onto the ground, sizzling slightly as it reacted with the air.

The worm screeched in agony, its deafening cry vibrating through my bones. 

Desperate, it shot past Artoria, ramming its massive body into her and slamming her against the base of the hill.

Then, it turned toward me.

As it lunged, I swung my sword downward, slicing its grotesque face clean down the middle.

The beast convulsed violently, but before it could recover, I kicked it back and slashed again, ripping three jagged teeth from its maw.

The worm reeled, writhing in pain.

Then, Artoria descended from above, her blade lodging deep into the top of its skull.

A final, piercing scream filled the night.

Then, silence.

Its grotesque body went still, its enormous frame slumping against the dirt.

Artoria exhaled, pulling her blade free. "Let's hurry and get to the ruins. I'm tired of fighting."

I wiped the green blood from my blade and nodded. "Not gonna argue with you there. Come on."

Stepping over the worm's corpse, Artoria made sure to pry its teeth out before moving on.

Its skin was useless, tough, sure, but not tougher than anything we didn't already have.

But its teeth? Those had value. They could be used for a variety of things, curses, potions, and even weapons. Not that either of us had the skills for that.

As we made our way toward the ruins, I felt the air grow warmer with each step.

The ruins themselves weren't much, just crumbling stone buildings and broken ballistas, remnants of a forgotten age.

We climbed over scattered debris, making our way toward the source of the fire.

But as we drew closer, I realized the flames weren't from an abandoned camp.

They were the remnants of a fire raid, likely from two days ago.

The flames flickered over a pile of old, half-burned arrows.

Artoria smirked, nudging me lightly. "See? You don't always have to be so cautious, Astrea."

I took off my satchel and leaned against the stone wall. "Would you rather us be dead?"

She groaned, dropping beside me. "Why do you always say that?"

"Because you always question me. Don't forget, I've saved your life countless times."

She sighed again, reaching over to tug at my hair. That reminded me, I needed to cut it once we got back.

It was dark blue, thick, and unbearably curly.

And honestly? It was starting to get annoying.

I had tan skin, with black eyes, and I had on some light iron armor.

Artoria liked playing with my hair, she claimed it calmed her nerves.

"Astrea, do you think that giant worm was the monster everyone was talking about?"

"Nah, it was too weak and too young, odds are there is something in the air."

Judging from the lack of signs of anything being here it's either one, not these ruins, or two, a flying monster.

She let out a small breath. "Should we wait for something to show? We already have a shit ton of kills under our belt, what's the harm?"

"If you want to. I'd rather be hunting something else." I said slightly uninterested.

She gave me an annoyed look. "Fine, we can just leave, it's not like we don't have anything else to report."

"Why do you sound offended?" I said, feeling her pull more on my hair.

"Oh, no reason other than the fact you've been complaining this whole time."

"Hey now I wasn't the one who loss the map."

She let go of my hair and sighed. "I was being chased by a giant wolf, it's not my fault!"

"Listen there's no point in arguing, let's just wait here until dawn and head back to camp."

She straightened her back against the stone wall and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll take the first watch."

I sighed internally at her actions and leaned my head back, she's acting like I'm the one at fault.

I'm just trying to keep us both alive, I'm not letting her get hurt, not after what happened.

She's my responsibility, I made a promise to her brother, and I plan to keep it.

Everyone died in that attack, all to save us. I don't want to waste their sacrifice.

I let my mind wander to the darkness, the embrace of sleep gripping onto me.

Within moments I was asleep.

Usually, my dreams are filled with nightmares, mainly because of my curse, but this time, they were oddly peaceful.

That's never a good sign.

The sounds of steel clashing and yelling are what wake me, I reach for my sword, getting up quickly.

"Art!?" I yell, running towards the sound. 

I leaped over the broken stone walls and saw her.

She was fighting with a group of people barely holding her own against the onslaught of attackers. 

They had polished steel armor, with swords definitely sharpened every night.

I wasted no time and charged at the one coming up behind her, I kicked him back and turned to her.

"What's going on, why didn't you wake me?"

She parried a slash aiming for her neck and spoke back. "I went to go check out a noise and these bastards ambushed me."

There were five men, all armed with swords from their posture and looks. They were trained.

Most likely soldiers from Osalsia, these damned mutts, killing anyone for the sake of their corrupted empire.

They circled us, none of them even granting us the mercy of speaking,

They were always so arrogant, yet they praised their god as righteous and kind.

One of them took off their helm, revealing shiny blonde hair. Green eyes and light skin.

When he spoke the others stopped. " Wait. What are you two doing out here?"

Artoria, gave me a digested glare. 'Trying not to be killed by mutts apparently."

The blonde-haired man scowled at her. "Have you any idea what was ordered by the council, the only reason I don't kill you now is because of the sigil on his chest."

He was referring to Novastia's crest, a circular ring around a sword.

I lowered my blade slightly. 'What did the council say?"

The blonde, one spoke again this time sheathing his blade. "There was a notice of demons, we were ordered to kill anyone we saw."

The council is in reference to the group of people leading the alliance, Novastia and Osalsia were in one.

As well as Purline which rested just under Novastia on the far east side of the central continent.

We are currently on the eastern one, Osalsia is the empire controlling most of the western side of the central continent.

"If the council ordered something like that we weren't there to hear it," Artoria said in a very annoyed voice.

"My name is Castor, I'm a knight from Osalsia, I humbly suggest you go back to the archipelago."

"Couldn't you have questioned us first, you know demons can't lie," I said, sheathing my blade.

I motioned for Artoira to follow and after shooting me a glare she did the same.

Castor shrugged. "No, now leave, we have a mission to fulfill."

With that they just left, leaving me to really want to kill them, but I managed to hold back as that would be disgraceful.

I turned to Artoria and sighed. "Let's just go back, it's already day anyway."

"Astrea, one of these days I really am going to kill one of them."

I chuckled. "Save it for when the war starts."

If I'm being honest it's clear what's going to happen. And once it does she can do all the killing she wants.

I just want her to enjoy her life before all that, before we were plagued with war.