A Shattered World

It was night, and the sky was burning.

Fire raced through the air like comets through the night. Cries of agony echoed across the battlefield along with the clashing of swords. The smell of blood permeated the air, filling up my lungs.

To my right, one man blocked the strike of a daemon’s claws whilst his partner counterattacked, stabbing the daemon in the chest and ending it. A third man ran forward and threw oil over the corpse before setting it on fire with flint and steel.

The daemon roared, even as a sword was stuck in its lung. It wasn’t done fighting.

Bird legs with wicked talons. Red skin, yellow eyes, long horns, and a forked tongue. Everything about them seemed to be as unnatural as physically possible.

It roared and raised its claws up.

This is where I came in, I supposed.

I stepped forward to aid in the charge when I caught a sight out of the corner of my eye.

A man was on his own, staring down a daemon. Behind him were the scattered bodies of a half dozen soldiers. His sword arm was trembling while his shield had long since been lost.

The daemon seemed almost amused by the man. It threw out a haphazard slash of its claws. The man tried to block. He flew to the ground like a rag doll from the attack.

The ground seemed to shake with each step of the daemon. The man was scrambling backward, crawling desperately in the other direction.

I twirled my staff. A spellcircle formed over my head.

A ball of water appeared before shooting out at max speed toward the daemon. The bolt of water stabbed through the daemon’s chest in a single blow. After a few moments, the daemon’s body fell to the ground in a dramatic fashion.

The man stared at the daemon’s ruptured body in shock.

I stepped over to the man and held out a hand.

“You alright?”

The man stared up at me.

“T-the White Hurricane?”

A sinking feeling in my stomach. I supposed that most would recognize me, given my distinct white robes on a battlefield dominated by silver armor.

“Um,” I said. “You plan to take my hand any time soon?”

The soldier looked at my hand like it was a solid gold block. After a moment, he reached out and grabbed it.

I grimaced at the blatant idolization, but quickly suppressed the expression. I pulled him to his feet.

“You killed it with a single spell,” he muttered. “How did you…? Heroes really are different.”

I pushed his shoulder gently. “Hey, give yourself some credit. You held out for some time. Listen, do you have a company?”

The man turned pale. His eyes flickered towards the bodies of the people I’d noticed earlier.

“I see,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

He gulped.

“Thank you, sir,” he said. “ I—“

He froze.

A shadow loomed over me. A monster twice the size of the lesser daemons.

I turned around.

An archdaemon. It held a long trident with jagged points at the end. Its horns were intricate and branching, not unlike those of a deer. Its tail was longer and thicker than the lesser daemons.

And it was staring down at me, a grin on its face.

“S-Sir!” he shouted. “An archdaemon!”

“I noticed,” I said dryly. “The High One is throwing his best at us, it seems.”

It grinned.

“Give me a moment,” I said. “I’ll resume this conversation with you shortly.”

“But sir, it’s an archdaemon!”

I shut my eyes and then took a deep breath.

“Do have a bit of faith, my friend.”

There was a beat of silence.

The archdaemon took the first strike, stabbing out with its trident in an attempt to skewer me.

Rather than stand there, I dodged to the left, allowing the trident to slide past me. I then converted my dodge into a swing of my staff. Blue light lit up from the tip. Behind me, three spellcircles materialized with icicles poking out.

As I moved, I caught the soldier’s wide-eyed stare, his breath catching in his throat. Ahead of me, the icicles shot out like crossbow bolts. The archdaemon dodged the first one, and blocked the second with his trident.

But the third it had no way to counter. The icicle flew forward and cut a deep gash across its side.

Behind me, the nameless soldier gasped. Ahead of me, the archdaemon roared with pain and swung its trident around like an animal. The trident smashed into a handful of soldiers and daemons alike.

I dodged the strike with ease, its movements far too predictable in its current state.

I growled. I couldn’t let it rampage for much longer.

It shook its head and glared at me, its eyes like liquid hate.

I frowned and pointed my staff at it. Showing off isn’t my style, but I figured I could make an exception, just this once.

One, six, twelve spellcircles materialized in quick succession around the archdaemon.

The thing barely had a moment to comprehend what was happening before a dozen icicles shot out and impaled it from every direction.

It stood for a moment before toppling to the ground.

“He killed it! He killed the archdaemon!” someone yelled.

The soldier was staring at me in shock.

I took a deep breath—

Then the air caught in my throat. My eyes shot toward the soldier.

“Move!” I shouted.

He looked at me with confusion. There was the sound of rushing wind, and then a trident stabbed through his chest. The trident continued, embedding itself into the hard dirt.

Five archdaemons had dropped to the ground.

The lead one—the one that had stabbed the soldier—tugged on the trident, pulling it out of the ground. With a quick shake of its wrist, the soldier’s body flew off to parts unknown.

I stared blankly at the lead archdaemon. A cold, familiar feeling of numbness washed over me.

“Right then. I suppose that this would justify extreme measures,” I muttered.

One archdaemon began to step forward.

I held out my stave towards the sky.

“Abyssi Diluvio.”

For a moment, there was quiet.

The creatures grimaced, more than one holding their hands over their ears. The pressure stinged at my ear as well, but I was far too used to it to have to cover my ears like them.

A cool wind washed over the battlefield.

Then an explosion of water erupted directly over my head. The first tendrils of the typhoon lashed out, whipping through the air. It fell onto the daemons, smashing two into the ground and sending the earth below them flying into the sky.

One attempted to flap its wings against the maelstrom. For a few split seconds, it looked like it would escape.

I turned my attention toward it and the force in that area doubled.

Instantly, the archdaemon was overpowered and swept up by the typhoon. They cried out in pain as rocks and water cut deep, gaping holes across their bodies. More than a few were reduced to limp rag dolls.

Overhead, the water spiraled upwards, moving toward the sky like a pillar.

Then the storm stopped.

One archdaemon was left, crawling away with its claws.

I stepped forward, pulled out my sword, and stabbed the creature in the head.

The urge to fall hit me like a wagon.

I gritted my teeth and stood up straight. It wouldn’t do for the soldiers to believe that I was fallible. It would hurt morale, as Lorelei always said.

A cheer rang out. On the other side, the daemons cried with something between fury and despair.

They were being pushed back. The line continued to move forward.

I turned my eyes toward the opponents. The staff I was holding dematerialized. I did not need it. Instead, I twirled my blade.

In the distance, I saw waves of light rolling over the enemy army. Lorelei at work, killing archdaemons by the legion, I suspected.

I grit my teeth and charged in.

It was a blur from that point. I fought with everything I had. I stabbed, cut, and cleaved daemons for every moment that I was fighting. When I lost my sword, I switched over to my dagger. At some point, I picked up a fallen comrade’s sword and started using that instead.

Then it was over.

Exhaustion tore at me. My chest heaved, sucking in great gulps of air with every movement.

I put my sword’s tip to the ground, using it as a support while my body shook.

“Already out of energy?”

I turned my head towards the voice and narrowed my eyes. The woman had long, straight black hair and tan skin. Her eyes were a dark brown, hard and steely. Black armor covered her body from neck to toe. There was also the black tail with a white tip—that was a pretty good indicator of who it was.

“…Lorelei?”

She shook her head, her wolf ears twitching atop her head.

“You pushed yourself too far again. You can’t even see straight, can you?”

I shut my eyes.

“I had to. I’m the only one other than you left. We need every last bit of strength we can get.”

She sighed and shook her head. A smirk appeared on her lips even as her eyebrows furrowed together.

“Imbecile,” she said. “Here. Wrap your arm around my shoulder. Let’s at least let you get some proper rest.”

I didn’t object as she maneuvered my arm around her and began to take me back to the castle where we’d taken up shop.

“How long do you think we have?”

“A few hours. If that. The High One knows this is the final battle. Once he’s mopped us up, there will be no one left to oppose him in the Midlands. As such, he’ll be coming in personally to finish the job.”

I groaned.

“I think I need more than a few hours,” I said.

Lorelei snorted, tossing her head back an inch.

“Well, that’s your own fault,” she said. “You shouldn’t have fought for as long as you did.”

I glared at her, though the effect was diminished by the fact that I couldn’t even stand straight.

“You wouldn’t have taken a break. I know for a fact that you didn’t.”

She gave a dry laugh.

“What a pair we make,” she said. “Hypocrites to the end.”

The battlefield gave way to the castle. It was quiet. Nothing could be heard but our footsteps treading the stone floor. Around us, ripped-up banners lined the walls. There were no valuables left, as they’d all been stolen ages ago.

After a few minutes, Lorelei opened her mouth.

“The contingency is almost finished?”

I didn’t respond.

She looked at me.

“Alexander?”

I shook my head.

“Not yet,” I said. “It’s still gathering mana. On top of that, there are a million little issues with it that take ages to iron out—especially because I’m not the intellectual type. It would’ve been easier if Cedric—“

“—it would’ve been easier if Cedric was the one doing it,” she said. “I know. But we don’t have that option. Not only that, but the High One will be arriving soon, anyway.”

I bit my lip and turned my eyes away from her.

“Are you certain that this is what you want to do?” I said. “There might be another way.”

A mournful smile crossed Lorelei’s face. She shook her head.

“Look at us, Alexander.” She waved her hand around us, pointing out how beaten the handful of men around us looked. “We’re done. The High One won long ago. All of this has been for naught. Even if we held out forever, we’d be alone in a hostile world. This is the only way.”

I closed my eyes.

Then I nodded.

“You’re right,” I said. “This is the only way. Once you use it, everything will be set right.”

At my words, there was a beat of silence from Lorelei.

I looked up at her to see a curious smile playing across her lips.

“Lorelei?” I said.

“Once I use it, hm?” she said. “Yes, it may be for the best.”

I nodded.

“We’ll buy you all the time you need, Lorelei.”

We were in our room now. Lorelei laid me down on my mat.

“That’s enough talk,” she said. “Rest.”

I nodded, and she stepped out of the room, leaving me in darkness.

I was on top of the walls. From here, I had the perfect vantage point to see what was happening. It was an ocean of red and silver. From a distance, they seemed impenetrable and unmovable.

A flicker of brown caught my attention.

I groaned.

“Ah, they’ve obtained siege weapons. We can’t have nice things, can we?” I said.

A soft chuckle echoed out to my side.

“Looks like we’re in for a bit of fun, doesn’t it?”

Lorelei stood to my right, dressed in her armor. Her long black hair fell gracefully against her back.

“More like a disaster waiting to happen,” I said.

“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?”

I snorted. “Probably buried under one of those daemons you killed earlier.”

A horn blew out. Our archers raised their bows and launched, sending thousands of arrows into the sky.

A tidal wave of steel crashed into the army. From a distance, it looked devastating.

I knew better, however. They’d trained for this situation, and had simply raised their shields.

“Alexander,” Lorelei said. “Do you mind doing something?”

I chuckled. I suppose that’s where I step in.

My staff lifted towards the sky, its tip lighting up with a dark blue.

“Tempesti Reguma!”

Immediately, the clouds overhead began to swirl together. Energy crackled in the air. Flashes of lightning lit up the sky.

The daemons paused and looked up.

I allowed myself a smirk.

Lightning raced through the air, slamming into the siege towers with unerring accuracy. Fire and smoke raged across the legions of hell that now bordered our walls.

I looked up.

The clouds were already dissipating.

“Think you can pull that one off again?”

I snorted.

“Not today, unfortunately.”

The daemons, of course, were undeterred. I could already see siege ladders being carried by them in the crowds below.

I drew my sword. I needed to conserve my mana for when the archdaemons strike.

They were on us in a moment.

I swung my sword, slashing through one in a single movement. Another one came and I repeated the motion.

Instinctively, I stabbed out at one that was about sneak up on Lorelei.

Lorelei did the same, flying forward and slashing one behind me.

We went back to back.

“Now how do we keep ending up in this position?” I muttered.

Lorelei snickered for a moment before she suppressed the noise.

I lunged forward, my blade cutting through the air with precision as I intercepted a daemon’s attack aimed at Lorelei’s flank. She rewarded my quick thinking with a nod of gratitude before seamlessly transitioning into a spinning kick, her boot connecting with the jaw of another daemon attempting to flank me.

Around me, other soldiers were doing their best to hold back the hordes. We kept on like this for ten or so minutes.

Then the wall to my right exploded into a pile of rubble.

Lorelei’s eyes widened, then something stabbed toward her and she returned her focus back toward the fight.

“Stay there!” I shouted. “I’ll take care of it!”

She nodded even as she blocked a strike.

I rushed over, stabbing and cleaving my way through the daemons. My staff materialized in my hand and I pointed it at the hole in the wall.

If they got through this early, we were done. We needed more time.

I grit my teeth.

My staff lit up blue.

An inferno washed over the daemons in one fell swoop like a tidal wave. Cries of agony and screeches like cats slammed into my ears. A chilling sensation washed down my spine. I’d used up a quarter of my mana in one go.

My staff lit up once more. The sound of a high-pitched crack echoed out before a wall of ice materialized into existence, blocking the daemons.

Half of my mana was used up in one go.

I was definitely off to a good start.

“Move!” I said. “Retreat to the inner keep!”

A handful of soldiers were staying behind to cover our retreat, continuing to block the siege ladders.

I turned my eyes away, focusing on moving.

The air was thick with the acrid scent of blood. The clash of metal on metal reverberated through the air.

Then I heard the sound of the wind, and my heart skipped a beat.

Archdaemons. Multiple.

“Damn it!” I said.

I stopped running, turned around, and lined up my staff.

I pumped another quarter into the spell. They would be fast. The fastest projectile spell I’d ever attempted.

A dozen icicles appeared behind me and shot into the air like ballista arrows, slamming into the chests of a dozen of the bastards. They dropped like flies, crashing into the daemons and swarming the ground.

The aftereffects hit me in a moment. My muscles burned and seized up. Blood pounded against my head like a drum.

I grit my teeth. Got to keep moving. We didn’t have much time.

Soon enough, everyone was inside the inner keep. Me and a handful of soldiers slammed the door shut.

I raced to the courtyard as the castle shook. They’d probably already breached the wall.

It was time for the final contingency.

Lorelei was already waiting.

She nodded.

“It’s time,” she said.

I nodded back at her.

The spell had just finished its preparations. It was now time for me to set the final parameters. I walked forward and set my arm down on the spellcircle.

The spellcircle flashed intermittently, sigils changing and shifting in response to my actions. The translucent clock at the center of the circle began to move its arms backward.

The flapping of wings echoed from above.

I looked up.

Overhead, a horde of archdaemons were circling us.

Lorelei smirked, her wolf ears twitching in response to the sound.

I twirled my staff.

The contingency must be activated, at all costs.

The horde surged forward.

Lorelei stepped forward. The ground cracked and she shot into the air.

She was like a beam of light, hopping from archdaemon to archdaemon like a frog on lilypads.

I wonder, would she take offense to that comparison?

I dropped my staff and drew my blade. A spellcircle appeared under my feet and I shot into the air like a rocket. I rolled in midair, then threw my sword out, slashing through an archdaemon’s head.

Sword in hand, I lunged towards another, dodging the claws of one daemon while my blade sliced through the neck of another. A daemon lunged, its claws missing me by inches. I retaliated, thrusting my blade into its chest. The creature howled in agony.

Another daemon charged at me, and I sidestepped, driving my blade into its side. It roared in pain, but more were coming.

A sudden strike sent me flying.

The air rushed past me, filling my ears.

Then I crashed.

Spikes of pain stabbed into my back.

“Alexander!”

Lorelei fell to the ground, using an archdaemon as a makeshift glider. Once she was close enough to the ground, she stabbed the archdaemon in the chest and let go, falling onto the floor in front of me. She stared at me with worried eyes.

I pushed myself up and nodded.

“I’m alright,” I said. My eyes were drawn towards the speeding figures. “But it appears we have company.”

Lorelei shot her head back toward the enemies and growled. Her sword went back to a guard stance.

“Alexander,” she muttered. “He’s coming. I can sense it in the air. Please tell me that it’s almost done.”

I nodded.

“We just need to hold out a little longer.”

They were on us in seconds.

Steel clashed against steel as the daemons surged toward us. A daemon threw out its claws, fangs bared. Around me, another was coming from my side.

I sidestepped, dodging the first blow. With a quick flick of my wrist, steel cleaved through the flesh and bone of the daemon.

The other daemon charged, its fangs aimed at my neck.

I leaped back, dodging the blow. I could feel the fight draining my strength, each swing heavier than the last.

To the side, Lorelei somersaulted over a daemon’s strike, landing behind it and driving her blade through its spine.

I glanced back. The spellcircle was finished.

“Lorelei!” I called out. “It’s time! We must go back!”

Time seemed to stop.

Lorelei was in front of me in a moment, parrying an attack and slicing through a daemon about to gut me.

All of a sudden, the archdaemons flew off. I could see the fear in their eyes. They could sense the power flowing off of Lorelei.

She raised her blade, a purple glow coming off of the steel. Time slowed to a crawl. The destruction, the rain—it had all stopped. She turned back towards me.

I narrowed my eyes.

She wouldn’t be able to maintain this spell for long. What was she thinking?

“Lorelei, what are you doing?” I said. “This is what we’ve been planning, right?”

She smirked.

“I do believe that there’s something you’ve neglected to inform me of, Alexander.”

My mouth was dry.

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that there’s only room for one, isn’t there?”

“…Fine,” I said. “There’s only room for one. So go. You’re the best chance we have.”

Lorelei smiled and turned her head toward the sky.

“You know, when we started this journey, I was truly just a girl,” she said.

I blinked. Where was she going with this?

“Back then, I’d never been outside of my hometown,” she said. “The farthest I’d traveled was to a nearby forest.”

She looked into the distance.

“Then that emissary arrived, and everything changed,” she said.

Time hung suspended around us, frozen in an eerie tableau. The raindrops were halted in mid-air, glistening like crystalline jewels. Lorelei’s blade shimmered with the faintest ethereal glow, casting a surreal light upon her face.

“I’ve learned much, Alexander,” she said. “I’ve seen civilizations fall, tasted victory and defeat, and stood at the precipice of darkness. I’ve trained, honed my skills, and gathered knowledge. But…”

I shook my head, my face twisted in confusion.

“What are you talking about?! Lorelei, we don’t have time for this! You told me that he’s coming any second now—”

She looked back at me.

“Alexander, you are the key,” she said. “You possess a resilience and a power that surpasses even my own. I can sense it. Destiny hangs about you like a thick cloud right now. This is what our entire journey has been leading up to. It was all so that you could be sent back. Not me.”

I gritted my teeth together.

“You’re wrong!” I said. “You’re the strongest! You know you are! You’re the best chance we have!”

She didn’t say a word.

I shifted my left foot back, gripping my staff like it would fly out of my hands. “I won’t let you do this.”

Lorelei’s eyes flickered with a purple light. “You’re strong, Alexander, but you’re not seeing the bigger picture.”

She moved with a speed I couldn’t track, lunging at me. Our blades clashed, and for a moment, time seemed to resume its natural flow. The raindrops fell, the wind whispered through the trees, and the distant sounds of the daemonic army preparing for their final assault filled the air.

Her strikes were precise, every movement a testament to her years of training. I parried, dodged, and countered, struggling to keep up. She wasn’t fighting with her full strength, but it was more than enough to push me on the defensive.

“Lorelei, damn it!” I said. “Think about this objectively! If you send me back, I’ll doom us all!”

Her strikes paused, our blades locked in a tense standoff.

“That isn’t true,” she said. “You’re amazing, Alexander. Stronger than even me in the ways that truly count.”

I gritted my teeth, struggling to find words that would convince her.

“I don’t care about strength!” I snapped out my blade, parrying another of her strikes. “I care about you. I can’t let you sacrifice yourself!”

She countered with a swift kick to my chest, sending me stumbling backward. Her gaze never left mine, her tail flickering back and forth.

“And yet you want me to let you sacrifice yourself?” She smiled, as if this was nothing more than a casual spar between friends. “How cruel of you.”

I lunged, aiming to disarm her, but she parried and countered, disarming me instead. My blade clattered to the ground, and she held her sword at my throat.

My breath came in ragged gasps. I’d lost.

She sheathed her blade and stepped close to me.

Her hand gently cupped my cheek, a touch that sent shivers down my spine.

“Goodbye, Alexander.”

I wasn’t sure what happened then. My mind blanked for a moment. My heart was pounding. There was something wet streaming down my cheeks. She’d mouthed something, but I couldn’t hear it.

And then, without a word, she pushed me toward the spellcircle.

My feet stumbled, my mind racing to process what had just happened. I glanced back at her, but she had already turned away.

A man dressed in gleaming black armor stepped forward out of the keep doors to meet her. Behind him was a legion of archdaemons.

Lorelei twirled her sword, looking for all the world as if she were completely unconcerned with what was about to happen.

I desperately reached out to her but instead plunged into the ethereal clock. A surge of energy washed over me as time began to shift and warp.

“What the hell!?” I said.

Clocks surrounded me. I was falling backward and there were clocks everywhere. A white void of infinite nothingness with nothing but black, translucent clocks narrowing toward a point below me.

Panic clawed at my chest. What was happening? Was this part of the plan? Was this how the spell worked?

Memories flashed before my eyes—memories of Lorelei, of our comrades, of the battles we had fought together. I remembered their faces, their laughter, their sacrifices.

I shut my eyes, trying to force the images away.

A blast of cold air slammed into me. Rushing wind beat against my ears.

I unfolded my eyes. Blue sky stretched over my head, surrounding me. My heart quickened in my chest and I flailed around. In the process, I caught a glimpse of the ground.

The ground that was very far away but still speeding toward me.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

A whoosh overhead caught my attention. I glanced up. The portal was still swirling, though it was on the verge of closing.

Could it be? Was Lorelei coming for me?

Then I saw what came through.

An archdaemon. Red skin and long, sharp talons. Oh, and wings.

I muffled a scream. Of course. I can’t have nice things, can I?

As soon as it caught sight of me, it let out an infernal screech and rushed towards me.

Thinking quickly, I tried to draw on my mana as I’d done many times before to engage in aerial combat with my foe—

A sharp pain shot through my chest at my attempt and nothing happened.

My breath quickened. Why wasn’t my magic working? I’d done this spell dozens of times before! It should’ve worked!

Air was being displaced. The daemon was approaching.

I readied my sword, only to do a double-take once I saw what I was holding. I wasn’t holding my sword, but a staff I’d not used in the past four years.

I grunted. It would have to do.

The daemon slammed into a hastily cast mana shield, breaking it with ease and reaching out its long talons toward my body.

One second, I was falling. The next, the daemon had grabbed me and was taking me up and down and to the side, trying to make me lose consciousness.

Pain registered as its talons pressed across my back. Bad. As a cursed wound, I wouldn’t be able to use healing magic to take care of that later.

I was going to lose consciousness if I didn’t kill this guy.

I grit my teeth and winded my staff back, then swung it like a club towards the archdaemon’s head.

The head should’ve been blown off, or at least damaged. Instead, the staff bounced off the creature’s head with a dull thump.

I gripped my staff tightly. What the hell was going on? I’m weak, but not that weak. Perhaps the portal travel sapped my strength?

Blackness crawled at the edges of my vision. I didn’t have much time. I needed to think of something quick.

I forced my eyes open and looked at the daemon’s wings even as we darted back and forth through the air at random intervals.

I narrowed my eyes.

There it was, a pattern.

A small twitch right before it turned left.

I waited, and waited, then…

An Aqua Fulgara, or aqua bolt, a dead-simple spell with a surprisingly high attack value, appeared and launched towards the daemon’s head right as it turned to the left.

The event seemed to happen in slow motion. Inch by inch the Aqua Fulgara approached the daemon’s head.

The archdaemon’s eyes widened. It desperately tried to throw itself out of the way—

And just barely made it, the Aqua Fulgara shaving off the daemon’s long red ear instead of crushing its face.

It cried in anger and clenched its talons tighter, drawing more blood from my back and creating more unhealable cursed wounds.

I grunted from the pain. If this daemon didn’t kill me after I was unconscious, the blood loss would.

What could I do? My powers were too weakened right now. I couldn’t slice this thing apart. I couldn’t beat it with my staff. I couldn’t cast magic fast enough or strong enough to do any real damage.

A half-remembered spell clawed at the back of my head. Something that I’d used back when my only job was to ward off the stray goblin or two. Something I’d used when I was nothing more than a glorified well for my village.

I thrust the tip of my staff toward the thing’s face.

I couldn’t even remember what this spell did, but if I’d used it so often, it must be good, right?

The tip of my staff lit up with a brilliant white light, instantly blinding me. Judging from the sounds the daemon was making, it had also been blinded.

We began to dive uncontrollably. The daemon was flapping its wings in a desperate attempt to regain control, but it seemed like it was unable to.

The ground was rushing toward us.

I cussed out loud.

This was going to sting.

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