From The Abyss

Alice went rigid as she felt the large sword slice the divide through her flesh even wider, the crunch her ribs made as the blade cleaved them from her spine was almost worse than what was undeniably the cat's dying, sputtering breath as Aster watched on in shock. As the entire arena watched on in shock.

The demon withdrew his blade, catching the cat by the nape of her neck. Her body was entirely limp now. The monster raised his sword high into the air, and Aster braced for impact as the demon sliced open another large scar upon the very earth below itself.

Within the scar was some terrible type of void or abyss, with writhing figures barely in view, begging to be freed. There was no mistaking that gut feeling, this was something truly, terrifyingly evil at work. The demon raised the defeated cat above the scar, and dropped her body inside, commanding the hidden creatures in a hollow, raspy voice that carried far further than it should have as he disposed of the most powerful mage in Alora within seconds.

"Feast on flesh. Sate your hate and hunger with the breaking of bones. Consume this kingdom." With a horrible screech, fiends began emerging from within the scar, charging whatever living thing that fell in it's sights. Chaos truly erupted then, and Aster found his own mind on overdrive as two of the beasts plummeted towards him.

Fiends, as they are called in Alora, are creatures born of hate, disaster, and tragedy. They can bear many forms, but all seemed to consist of mouths full of sharp teeth, and claws and appendages combined seemingly at random. It is said after every great trial faced by the living, the number of fiends nearly doubles.

Constantly fending off those fiends often falls to the military of Alora, with the Elite King's Guard often lending soldiers to assist. However, on rare occurrence, a tragedy so powerful can take place, that the immeasurable amounts of negative energy and emotions of the dead that lingers in the wake of such destruction and loss forms into an especially powerful fiend known as a demon.

Demons could have many powers, and were almost always behind the greatest losses suffered in Alora's battles. Many have been dispatched over the years, but many have eluded defeat. In this case, the one before the kingdom of beasts was an unknown demon, but still a demon that had come knocking on their front door.

Aster lunged forward at the first fiend to arrive, piercing through what he assumed was the creature's head and dropping it instantly. With practiced precision. He pulled it free and swatted the next one away that was already lunging towards him.

He didn't have long, but he was able to get a small peak at what was in his field of view then. The crowd was panicking, badly. Beastmen were pushing, trampling, and climbing over each other desperately trying to make it to the exits that were quickly clogging up.

Some of the fiends were almost upon them, but Aster couldn't focus on them yet. Him and the humanoid dragon were the only two presently available to hold the big guy in place at the time. There were a number of knights rushing down from their seating to take up arms while some stayed near the king. All Aster and Straga had to do was buy them some time.

The demon slashed the air, opening up another rip as he stepped through it and out of sight. The scar closed behind him this time. Aster noticed he had more fiends almost upon him, but was relieved to see Stahl safe and standing beside him a moment later, speaking quickly.

"We need to cover Prince Tyfin, NOW, Oust is getting overwhelmed over there by himself."

The human gave the she-wolf a nod, and they began carving their way through the fiends. Stahl was slashing a path forward, and Aster was shielding for whoever he saw that needed it as he ran behind the she-wolf, always keeping an eye on their destination.

Suddenly, the imposing sword reappeared in the air above Stahl, and Aster was once more brought to his knees by the sheer weight of catching it to protect his friend.

Stahl had started to stop, but Aster just shouted for her to go. The prince needed help, Aster could at least hold the demon in place. The she-wolf gave a solemn nod, and disdainfully continued on as the human struggled to hold the monster until help could arrive.

It took almost eight seconds for another fiend to reach the human, buying plenty of time for Stahl to make it to the young prince's side. Aster just closed his eyes and turned his head while the fiend leapt at him with gnashing teeth.

He would stay where he was and hold the demon as long as he could, no matter what. That was all that was important in that moment. A spear slammed into the airborne fiend, pinning it to the ground in a writhing squeal of pain. The human felt waves of relief despite the crushing weight on his shoulders as help had finally appeared in view.

"You've done well my son, please hold on just a moment longer. Brutus!" His father's call was answered by the large black minotaur from Aster's trial, Brutus Rixator, leaning over the human and wrapping his thick fingers around the boy's forearms, giving him much needed support.

Aster watched as the owner of the spear that had just saved his life stepped into his sight to reclaim his weapon, only to thrust it into another nearby fiend. To Aster's surprise, it was his oldest brother Talan who had rescued him, and now spoke.

"The human will only slow you down against that thing, I'll drag him with me to Tyfin's side. Can you handle this, Father?" The older panther nodded once, and began speaking to his youngest son.

"Me and Brutus are going to kill that thing, when you drop your shield, I want you to go protect your prince with Talan. Focus on defense, everyone is getting overwhelmed here. Don't engage this demon if you can help it, we will try to finish this quickly. Cortist, clear a path for them, then work on helping to cover the civilians while they flee."

As the panther shouted the last part, lightning fell all around the warriors, striking down over a dozen of the nearby creatures as the magic that once dazzled Aster as a child now came to his rescue. The human felt the bull release his grip, and his father shouted for him to go. Aster immediately dropped the weight, and shifted into a full on sprint behind Talan to reach their prince.

Prince Tyfin had his back against the arena wall, Stahl, Oust, and a few other beastmen were in a formation surrounding him, repelling any fiend that got within range. Stahl and a humanoid bat fighting beside her parted just enough for Talan and Aster to pass through.

The human struggled to catch his breath for a second while his brother joined in the ranks of the formation. Aster felt a hand resting on his back, followed by a surge of strength that seemed to come from nowhere.

The surprised boy looked up to see Prince Tyfin himself as the one responsible. The lion spoke shortly, turning his attention back to those around him and the situation at hand.

"Thank you. He would have killed me."

Aster, feeling a bit recovered, turned to face the foe bearing down on them with the others. It was then that he witnessed the clash of the demon with the bull and his father.

***