Preview: Today's Pleasure

Prologue.

And so the old world was in ruin, left behind for the buzzards to feast upon. Ravens swam in glorious black seas of dread upon the last day. Three days of resurrection became three days of destruction and three more days of repair. Men were left without body, flesh parted from flesh and transcended into soul. An eternal turmoil of unconscious quantization. Atoms dismantled into subatomic particles, particles became wavelengths of energetic dispersal and again, in three more days, with the word of God, came again a new world…

Matter sewn back together, two stars formed, bright and fresh, cleansed from their jealousy. Three worlds replaced the gaseous state of the former nebula, the firmament forced a world of water apart, giving instant conscious birth to continents.

All was anew; vows spoken, hearts broken, souls departed, crowns martyred and populations targeted. The old world was one of pure humanized evil and now it has been restored, perfectly balanced upon the axis of The Absolute Peak. Good and evil were in orbiting balance upon the back of a single sacred wish. Today's pleasure is a promise, yesterday's desire has been fulfilled.

Today's Pleasure.

Chapter One; Cleansed.

ARCINIUS THE ONSLAUGHT.

There was a silence in the mountains, snow blanketed trees like flesh on carcass, encasing an immovable, unalive essence. Snow crunched beneath him, something like a hymn at a funeral. An end was near, and a beginning soon to arrive. If this snow would ever cease. If this toxic death would ever leave him.

There was no loneliness like the abyss of the mountains. He rode the lifeless forests in the deep rocky terrain like a winding river. There were no apes, nor monkeys this far north in the lands of Gennesi. Nothing comforted him about nature, nor the world. He hated it all. It took everything from him, all of it. His parents, his belongings, his birthright…

It was evil, the world. All of it. That's why he hid in the dense forests, sheathed by dense mountains, protected by mythic death machines, like dragons, deer, and things that creepeth. Demons, some say. He feared them not, no need to when they were the ones like you. When they were the ones protecting you. He almost cared for them, in a sense, as if they were family. They seemed relatable. Dark, clothed in the night, engulfed in anger and jealousy that made a man crazy enough to seem sane. He wanted those things, the things kings had, the things rich men danced around. Hearths, gold chains, women and fruits. He lived on things he could kill with rocks and clubs. Savagery. Others dined on the things peasants grew, or herd. It didn't make sense. How did one make another man do his bidding? How did one obtain such power?

It was their birthright. He had something given to him at birth as well. It was taken. Like age, like life. The world had snatched it quickly, like a wolf to a lamb.

This world was beautiful no matter how much he despised it. It wasn’t the trees that had wronged him, rather the rest of the world; man. Beast and demon alike. Savages who walk the jungle as if they were born there. They were not. Neither was he, yet as he placed his cranium against the rough cool bark of the Alabaster Oak, embracing it smally, he felt as if he was. He felt like one of the beasts who roamed the wilderness like a native, stomping upon moss and snow silently. He was one of them. His birth name did not mark him as a beast, no, it marked him as a King.

Yet here he was, hidden between trees and beneath snow and frost. He was flesh of beast, and blood of royal. Yet here he was, alone and crestfallen...Arcinius continued walking until he returned to his compound.

It was a small hut of timber, which extended out from a minor cavern in the face of a crumbling stone wall. Moss overhang the top of his timber box, insulating it minorly. A tarp of moss and leaf overhung the front of it, acting as his entrance. Inside was a smoldering fire of coals and wet sticks. It wasn't very warm. In the cavern was a cot which was rotting down to the fine fiber mesh and in a small chest were his possessions. He knelt before the box and opened it with a creak he was all too familiar with. Inside was a dark brown cloak of Native skin, the cracks accustomed to leather were faintly purple, an underglow, typical of Native flesh. His grandfather had made it during his old ways of war. He passed it down to his father, Arcane, who wore it as a mark of the beast. It warded off monsters and the things that creepeth in the north. Arcinius never wore it. He didn't care whether the evil was warded off nor around. He removed the cloak and placed it on his cot and dug deeper. There was a paper card on the bottom, the inscription upon it was his name: Arcinius The Onslaught, Centurion. He flipped it over. ‘Befriend steel and stone, never flesh. Flesh betrays’. And that was all. All his possessions amounted to a single piece of paper and a cloak birthed from war. Ash and regret filled the air.

 He pondered the card as he did every evening, before he returned it all back to the chest. Arcinius exited his tent to retrieve spare logs he had cut the night before, wet and slippery from ceaseless snow. A fire would be more difficult tonight. He stacked them next to the fire, trying to dry them before he smoked out the fire. He watched them dry for a moment, then he felt a spike in his heart, he quickly turned around. Fog was seeping into his tent like smoke. He parted the moss and returned outside a gentle fear like fingers on one's throat pounding through his guts.

He stopped dead in his tracks, not because he wanted to, but because he could no longer move. Barely could he breathe, think, or even shiver in fear.

Amongst the dense fog, like still smoke in the aftermath of a village raid, stood a creature of intense stature. Lanky, eyes like an owl, white over with a tiny black dot in the center, watching. It was draped in charcoal black linen and cloth which only outlined its emaciated limbs and figure. It did not breathe. Only stared. Not pondering, not wondering, not thinking, simply being. Its essence was fear. After a minute the creature finally breathed one long exhale, a breath like wind. The fog rolled off the compound and Arcinius could inhale once again. He choked on his own suffocation.

The creature stared with white eyes and a singular black dot of dread...It spoke within Arcinius' mind. ‘We are they whom creepth’, its voice was like a snake's slither, and a screeching vole. ‘Follow the fog and be enlightened...Sit and ponder and be crucified...Death comes for those who wait. Chase it and be relieved of it entirely…’ The creature reached out a slender arm, long black fingers like a tarantula and it rested them on Arcinius' head. ‘Arcinius The Onslaught...Centurion. You are Marked. Remember. Remember the Old World. Be renewed’, and the creature slashed down Arcinius' face, marking him with three thick wounds. Arcinius screamed in pain, he watched blood drip, staining sinless white snow in gore and evil. ‘You are Marked in Blood, follow the fog and He will Remember you. Go.’ And the creature vanished, with him went the fog he had summoned. Arcinius crashed to the floor, bleeding out his sin upon the sinless.

Today's Pleasure.

Chapter One; Cleansed.

ARCADIAN ALBUS.

The black blade gleamed under the bright orange light of the lantern; incarcerated fire. His eyes of ice reflected off them like the sun off a glacier. "...Wow", Arcadian was stunned at the five inch obsidian blade. As if charcoal was encased in glass. It seemed to keep someone's soul imprisoned within its glass walls. A beautiful soul.

Shopkeeper Vinny slid it off the wooden table. "You know where it's from, kid?"

"Heaven?"

Vinny snorted obnoxiously. "Heaven? No, no, kid. A real place."

Arcadian frowned. "The Natives?"

Vinny pointed the blade at him. "There ya go. The Natives. They had very unique-"

The shop door swung open, daylight flooded the room, dying in an instant as the intruder closed it. "Hey stupid", Dandelili said with a smile. She wore a light yellow linen dress over darkly stained leather padding. She had long tan hair and icy eyes, just like Arcadian’s. She punched the boy in the shoulder where she knew he wore no armor. He flinched, she was strong. She put her elbows on the counter, fists in her cheeks. "Whatcha doin'?"

Vinny blinked stupid eyes. "...They had very unique uses of magic. They had genetic capabilities to manipulate earth. Like fire-earth, regular earth and what not."

"Fire earth?" Arcadian questioned.

"He means magma and lava", Dandelili corrected.

"Huh?" Vinny said.

"It's the earth, but like...on fire- I don't know. The Texts explain it better."

"I didn't know they were letting women read again", Vinny insulted.

Dandelili smiled. "I didn't know they let chick's wear dicks that small." She looked him up and down. Vinny huffed.

"How much?" Arcadian asked.

Vinny slipped the black blade back in its sheath. "Not for sale." He tucked it on the very top of his shelf, behind a ceramic ape sculpture.

Dandelili rolled her eyes, looking at Arcadian. "Meet me at the Oak?" He nodded in agreement and she left.

"I have a few coppers to my name", Arcandian said. "Can't I work out the rest?"

Vinny chuckled. "Coppers? No. That piece is worth several golds…If it were for sale of course."

"How many golds to a copper?"

"A thousand."

"Oh."

"Ya. I mean, if you really wanted one, your best bet is to go to Kyttaroo yourself and have a Native forge-work one from scratch”, Vinny laughed with crossed arms at the impossibility. 

"Wheres that?"

"It's another planet, kid."

"Oh. Like Kardia?"

"Ya, except closer to Baldwin and his twin."

"Huh. How do I get there?"

"A spaceship. Or portal."

"Hm?"

Vinny sighed. "I thought you were getting taught this shit in class."

"Class is not important, my brother says."

"Your brother is a twat."

"According to the virgin twink in a vending shop." Arcadian smiled.

Vinny blinked. "Dick."

"Betchu like that."

Vinny pursed his lips. "Whatever. Hey, don't you have the interview for the peacekeepers?"

"It's the watchguard, stupid."

"Well yes or no?"

"Later." Arcadian thought about that black blade. "I'll be needing a sword."

Vinny smiled. "I have a real big kitchen knife."

"Shit."

"Whatever happened to your grandfather's sword?"

"Tarvin has it."

"Did he make watchguard?"

"On the third attempt."

Vinny laughed. "Loser."

Arcadian agreed with a smile and a faint nod. "I'll be going now."

"Without a sword?"

"Have anything else worth more than a damned kitchen knife?"

Vinny tossed his head about. "Maybe. Hey for you, sure. Come on back."

The sword, in the sun, was in worse condition than it seemed in the dark of the shop. It had been sitting in a barrel for centuries it seemed, rotting down to the wood of its hilt. No fabric covered the handle, the guard had fallen out, rust spots lined the entire fuller. It appeared like a katana model, short and swooping. It was even chipped at its tip. "What a piece of shit", Arcadian cursed the blade. It was all he had.

He walked down the dusty road which parted his town in two. The world was designed just like this; little towns or cities with high stone walls and little wooden buildings for homes. He had never left Tarmak, nor did he feel compelled to. He wanted to protect this place from the monsters and evils which lurked just beyond the walls. He had heard stories of the creeping things. Slender, long armed giants wrapped in black smoke and bloodied velvet. His brother Tarvin had killed one by his own hand, and Arcadian could only imagine how many that sword had killed. He bore the legacy of his father and his grandfather with his right hand...Arcadian wish he had possessed such responsibility. Instead he was left with a blade of rust and wood. A poor man's blade.

In time he reached a posse of young boys, dressed in black linens and armored in stained black leathers, each with similar silver swords at their hips. They towered over Arcadian by a foot. They seemed like giants, their weight and strength easily double that of the small boy.

They turned to face him. "Arcadian Albus", Rover, the largest of them, greeted the boy with a voice like a roaring river, yet he was not over the age of seventeen.

"Gleaming at the hip I see", Adder, a thinner yet taller guardian than the rest, mocked his rusted blade.

"It's all Vinny had available."

"Let me hold Excalibur than", Smeeli, a thin and lanky boy, chuckled. Arcadian handed it over and Smeeli’s hand dropped to the dust in the imaginary weight of the poor sword. "Oh dear! A mighty weapon indeed!" He joked as he picked his hand back up, examining the poorly conditioned blade. He returned the sword to Arcadian as the others laughed. Tarvin, Arcadian's elder brother, stood further from the group, his gaze set on the only entrance and exit of the town-state. He was waiting for something.

"What's my first task?" Arcadian asked, slipping his blade into its hilt upon his side.

They looked at him in confusion. "Oh, that's right", Smeeli nodded. "Counselor said you need no interview."

"As the brother of Tarvin, son of Albus, grandson of Albus The White, you are well ranked by the blood and bones of your relatives", Rover communicated with thick, crossed arms. "You are initiated by name. Congratulations."

Arcadian was joyful. "That's amazing, thank you."

"Not many to choose from", Adder shrugged. "Town is too small. Talent pool is practically nonexistent." Arcadian stopped smiling.

"What are you waiting for over there?" Smeeli asked Tarvin with some sass.

Arcadian's brother did not stand out like the rest of them. His sword gleamed a bright silver just like the rest of theirs, his height was average, his shoulders just as broad as theirs. Yet something about his eyes, their darkness, their radiant boldness. Unlike anything he had ever seen.

Tarvin entered their circle. "Sticks."

"All that attitude for a damn stick?" Rover asked.

"Shit, I could use one too", Smeeli said.

Arcadian realized quickly that a stick referred to a small wrapped tobacco joint which they smoked, making them more cognizant. Most watchguards had a large supply of them.

"Such a fiend for the green, Tarvin", Adder insulted.

Arcadian knew Tarvin was waiting for something else. His pace indicated it. The way his head was low and his arms were crossed. Something was bothering him. Not the sticks.

Rover tapped Arcadians shoulder. "Free to go little man. Meet back here by sundown for a ride-along." 

Arcadian nodded.

"Ya go see your little girlfriend now", Adder joked with him. “Get’on, geet.”

"She's just a friend."

"She does seem oddly gay for her age", Smeeli joshed.

"I’ve never seen her leave or enter from anywhere", Adder said. "She's like a ghost."

"Or a thief", Smeeli said.

"Too poor to be a good thief", Rover said.

Arcadian was long gone, too ill-concerned with their badmouthing conversation. He exited the small city-state and entered the wide field between the sanctity of his home and the dangers of the wilderness. A large oak stood proud beside the city’s walls, as if a secondary city of sanctity, keeping young ones away from the terrors of the true wilderness. And locals. Under its shade was a girl standing like a dandelion, sitting amongst the grass, body bulky with a poor man's armor, face delicate like a flower. She smiled, leaping off the trunk, reaching a low hanging branch, and climbing it like an ape. He watched her before he followed up.

She sat on a thick branch and ate a fig, Arcadian perched on a nearby branch, overlooking the town with its high wooden walls and many homes of simple structure.

"You know some city-states have manors bigger than our whole town", Dandelili said as she tossed the fig seed at his head, nailing his dome.

He ignored it. "I've never been far enough to see."

"I've heard of those places...Not far away either."

He looked at Lilly. "Why don't you leave then?"

She stared at him for a moment, thinking of something to replace the words in her head. "No map”, she shrugged the deeper thought away.

"Hm. Very true." He looked away.

She kept staring. "How'd the interview go?"

"Didn't have one. Basically said that I'm not good, but I'm all they got." He shrugged. "I wanted to prove myself. Guess I didn't need to."

"...You could go to another city-state", Dandelili offered. "More opportunities."

"I need experience first."

"And a sword that cuts flesh, not butter."

He chuckled. "Yeah. That would be helpful, wouldn't it?"

She hesitated. "I can get you that Native blade. The black one."

"I can't afford it. He wants multiple golds for it. I barely have these coppers." He jostled his coin purse on his side.

"What if you didn't have to buy it...?"

He snapped his neck at her. "Lilly. You will not be stealing from Vinny."

She smirked. "I could."

"You won't."

She leaned forward. "What if he never even knew I took it?"

"Vinny knows the whereabouts of everything in his shop. Especially that blade."

She rolled her eyes and retrieved a black knife out of a sheath upon her side. "It's not the Native blade, but it looks just like it. I would simply swap it out while he's sleeping and you would have exactly what you want. There's no risk, Arcadian." She put away the blade. "I see that look in your eye, you're considering it."

"I am not", he said sternly. "That isn’t right."

Dandelili huffed. "Who cares if it benefits us?"

"Us?"

"You", she corrected and blushed. "Or me. I don't care, I just want one of us to have it."

"We don't need it, Lilly."

"It would be nice, Arcadian", Dandelili countered. "Multiple golds. Don't you understand what that buys a man in the big city? A manor, a cart, shop, apes and food for a year! It should not be sitting there collecting dust!"

"Gold is irrelevant."

"Irrelevant? Money makes the world go round."

"It doesn't embolden me to do anything, Lilly. I'm sorry you feel that way, but you will not be taking that blade under my watch. I refuse it."

"You're not my father."

Arcadian opened his mouth, and closed it again. "Goodnight, Lilly." And he left, returning home before his night out with the watchguard.

Today's Pleasure.

Chapter Two; Cursed.

ARCADIAN ALBUS.

Dusk settled on the horizon. Day turned to evening, evening into night, the forest, once vibrant with conversations of birds, became whispers of things which creepeth. The night seemed hazardous. Dangerous. Insidious. Arcane. It was a wild life to live on the brink of the wilderness. Nothing else like it. Not much at least.

"What are we waiting for?" Rover called out. "The beasts are waking."

Tarvin gave him a deep stare with eyes of cold, eyes of charcoal ice, yet he spoke not. He turned and faced the gates of the city with vexation. With arms crossed, draped in midnight, he was like the true Gatekeepers of the ancient portals. He looked important, yet was not. Not in this little town of Tarmak. No one was. Not even the Counselor.

An arm crashed into Arcadians shoulder, it was Adder, a smile crossed his thin face. "You scared boy?"

"Never." A lie of course.

"Sure. Fear is useful in these woods. Fear has a scent, it brings the beasts closer. They taste the air and feast on sweat and the piss in your britches." He laughed. "Fun. Nothing else like it."

Rover was growing frustrated. "Tarvin, this is getting ridiculous."

"Just hold your horses, Rover", Smeeli reasoned.

"I oughta punch you", Rover countered.

Smeeli pointed a thin finger at him with a shallow face. "That's a good point you've made. I'll shut the fuck up now." Adder laughed. Adder always laughed. They were hunting monsters in the dark and he was in the most cheerful mood! Arcadian couldn't even fake such a disposition. Rover paced, Adder cracked a joke, Smeeli kept his distance from the large man, and Tarvin...waited. Waited for what? The same thing he had been waiting for early this evening? It seemed-

A crack erupted in the wilderness, followed by an eerie thud, the same thud a corpse would make. Not any ordinary thud. Moments after the sound, and the silence, a figure began to appear from beyond the open gates of Tarmak. A shadow of a man, or a beast. Arcadian took a step back, the watchguards drew their silver and Tarvin, again, waited. Arms folded, chest high, draped in midnight.

Gravel scraped in the distance, a shadow of a man became clear as the outline of one. As dark turned to light. He was tall, a black furry ape pelt clung to his chest and down his back, like a cape. He drug something with his fist. Something dead.

When the man arrived Arcadian could see the deep lines in his face, like trenches on a battlefield. Hair long, black and oil-slicked. Bronze jewelry clung to his wrists and forearms, a sword at his waist, a pike on his back and a twitch in his cold silent eyes. He smiled. Arcadian frowned. Tarvin embraced him, and slowly slivers of swords disappeared beneath sheaths. "Good to see you boy!" The intruder announced with a bold voice.

"You as well", Tarvin exclaimed.

The watchguards looked amongst each other. Arcadian watched with disdain. Who was this visitor?

Tarvin looked back to the watchguard, his smile dropped instantly. "Kneel you imbeciles. This is Romilion The Red, my uncle, the Counselor’s own watchdog." The watchguard slowly knelt out of demanded respect. Arcadian did not kneel and Romilion lowered his eyes upon him, like a setting sun. Tarvin looked to his younger brother next, yet the boy was not compelled to kneel.

"You're my father's brother?" Arcadian asked.

"I am. I've been gone since before you were born." Romilion stepped forward, leaving the dead ape in the gravel. He towered over Arcadian, staring at him awhile before he extended his hand, the size of his face. "Nice to meet you."

He did not shake the man's hand. "How come I've never heard of you?"

Romilion backhanded Arcadian. "How dare you disrespect me, not once, but twice." Tarvin merrily watched, and the watchguard remained on their knees. "I will be telling your father about this boy."

Arcadian looked back up at Romilion, and with a stiff face, spoke. "Apologies, sir. My tongue gets the best of me." He knelt before the senior watchdog.

"Oh how that is obvious." Romilion walked away. "Stand guardians." They stood, Arcadian remained on his knee.

"If I may sir", Adder inclined himself, "What kept you away from Tarmak for so long?"

"Well if it wasn't the women, it was certainly the mead", Romilion joked. "But truly it was the Counselor. As his watchdog I'm intended to run errands for him. My last errand was quite the task."

"May I ask what it was?" Added pestered.

Romilion placed his hands on his hips, speaking after a prolonged sigh. "I'd have to kill you if I told such secrets." Silence fell on them. "...Night is falling, let us hunt."

"Finally, someone with some sense", Rover exclaimed, practically running to the gates. The others followed and Arcadian took a step forward, but then suddenly was yanked from the streets and disappeared into a dim alley. He was slammed against a wall, Dandelili pressed against him, making sure he did not move. "You can't go out there. There's something monstrous in the woods tonight."

Arcadian was going to resist, but the girl seemed genuine with her terror. He held her wrists so the weight was off his chest and looked her in the eye. "Because Romilion is back?"

"He's the watchdog. watchdog keep demons at bay- they slay monsters. There's something serious in the dark tonight."

Arcadian considered it, he raised his chin and looked her square in the eye. "I have to go." They stared at one another for a moment before he pushed her off and gave her a hug before he returned to the street. Off into the night he went. Dandelili watched.

The woods at night was a gruesome place, filled with terror, particularly in his heart. He could not step without crunching leaves and having some spotted eyes looking at him from across the way. In all reality those eyes were of a squirrel or a deer, but without the full understanding of what lurked in the night, Arcadian’s mind wondered.

Romilion led the way, followed by Tarvin, Adder, Rover, Smeeli and finally Arcadian. Although not in a straight line, more or less a half moon, a strategic counter defense to most monster rushes. That meant when a monster felt in danger it charged without strategy only to meet a giant snake which can move with unpredictability and engulf an attack from either side.

Everything was frightening to Arcadian. He hardly came to the woods, other than to the oak, or down the hill to collect wild berries. They were so far from his village he didn't even recognize the trees anymore. Something about the thick layers of moss and how it swayed in the wind...It was the material of his nightmares. The odd thick layers of bark and how the torch threw queer shadows on its surface. The crunch of dead autumn leaves beneath their feet. Night birds screeching at their babies in nests. Rats scurrying across the ground, foxes digging holes and screaming when they catch a rat. The worst sounds in the dark were the ones he could not identify. Screams, aches, pains, hollers, whispers, knocks, whistles, whines, groans, and even talking. Arcadian thought it was in his head, but no. He was hearing it all and it was real. From where?

Romilion stopped, Rover and Adder moved to the back, making a circle momentarily. "Clear", they agreed together. Rover looked down at the boy. "You scared yet, boy?" He chuckled. Arcadian nodded, eyes wide, stomach crisscross. "Good, good. It's only just begun. With our watchdog here tonight we'll see real monsters, not just some deer or foxes with red eyes."

"This gets worse?" Arcadian was nervous.

"Oh boy. You're in for an awakening, I'll tell you what."

"Three coppers says he vomits", Adder wagered.

"Five says he shits himself", Rover added.

"Oh I got that action. Easy", Adder said as they shook hands. They joined up with Romilion and Tarvin, forming a safety circle. They both smoked sticks, tobacco wrapped in a thin brown leaf, which was soaked in mint before being wrapped. Romilion and Tarvin were already talking before they had arrived, Arcadian only caught the end of the conversation.

"Here", Romilion said.

"The cave is further up the way", Tarvin said.

"I'm aware. We sit here. She'll be here."

"Certainly."

"...What?" Rover asked.

"Nothing", they said together.

After a moment of silence, Tarvin spoke. "Be prepared. Shadow Level. No half measures."

"Shit", Adder cursed.

"Hell ya", Rover cheered. "Finally some adventure."

"That's the spirit, kid", Romilion agreed. There was a break of silence, which was more terrifying than any sound imaginable in the woods...Something like a cassowary's throaty gloat exploded through the woods. More silence...Another sound, similar to a cassowary's calling, with an intense reverb that shook leaves off the trees...More silence followed.

Rover leaned over Arcadian's shoulder and whispered. "Did you shit yourself?"

"I'll kill you", Arcadian placed his hand on his rusted steel.

"Don't draw", Tarvin commanded. "Shadow level."

"I don't know what that means", Arcadian said angrily.

"Don't draw", Adder said.

Everything went silent, like life after death. Leaves rustled in the woods before them, the sound drawing closer, like scampering feet. Romilion spoke quickly. "Don't touch it."

"Don't touch what?" Arcadian asked in a panic.

"Watch twelve", Romilion commanded. "This one's complicated."

The rustling got louder, fear grew thicker in their blood. Something was panting as the leaves were being kicked around. Someone was crying. There it was, a little girl, dressed in a white linen romper. A sleeping dress. Tears streaming from blue eyes, golden hair dancing in the night and Arcadian opened his arms unconsciously, ready to embrace the frightened little girl. Then something yanked him clean off his feet and hurled him away. From the pile of leaves he landed in, he watched Romilion cast fire upon the girl and she disappeared into blue mist. Arcadian tried to catch his breath. Why had he behaved that way? He didn't understand it. He stood, suddenly so tired, he felt sluggish. His brother Tarvin looked at him and saw his state immediately. He came over with a stick in-between his fingers. "She's wearing down on you. Here, inhale", Tarvin blew a cloud of tobacco into his face and Arcadian did as he was told. He only coughed a little. As the smoke cleared from his eyes and out of his mouth, he felt wide awake and almost as if he could see further into the night.

"What's happening?" Arcadian asked.

Tarvin nodded, then spoke. "A demon approaches."

His stomach dropped. "This is no beast."

"No. Something much worse."

"What will we do?"

"Kill it."

"You can't kill a demon."

"No, but we can take away its power."

"How?"

Tarvin did not know. "Just be ready. Be observant. When it arrives you'll know. You'll feel it, right here", he placed his finger in the center of his eyes. "It'll sting."

Romilion dropped the torch on the ground and slowly it began to eat away at the dead autumn leaves. It spread quickly.

"Full-guard", Romilion commanded and the watchguard fell into a perfect circle formation. Everyone watched around them. No one drew their silver. Silence fell on them like a blanket, and fire spread throughout the woods, consuming leaves. It crackled and consumed the frightful night around them.

"Eyes on me", Smeeli spoke and the watchguards shifted to the left. The dots of embers illuminated by the spreading flame dissipated as they all began to look. "Gone..."

"Right-guard", Romilion commanded and they all shifted to the right. There was nothing to the right, as far as Arcadian could observe. In that moment there was a wet squish and a feminine gasp. Arcadian shifted to observe and Romilion had plunged a bronze katana into the bowels of a demonic looking woman. Her flesh was green and scaled in random areas, like a spreading rash, like a lizard, her eyes black, hair long and oily, her feminine figure cloaked by a red stained cloth and fangs like a dragon hung from her mouth, stalagmites on a cavern ceiling.

She was gone the moment Arcadian laid eyes on her. Disappearing into blue mist. Romilion stuck his blade in-between his forearm and bicep, cleansing the bronze of its crimson blood. "Cross-guard", Romilion commanded, and the watchguards formed an X. "Silver", he commanded and they withdrew their swords all in one motion. Arcadian mimicked, revealing rust and iron in the flame-lit night. The darkness exploded with the grunting of a demon, like a cassowary's call. Goosebumps crawled up his skin and tickled his brain. He then felt the white hot pain form between his eyes and in the distance he saw the two dots reflecting the flame of the roaring leaves. "Eyes on me", Arcadian called out, sword directed forward, both hands rattling in fear, yet he remained composed.

"Remain", Romilion commanded, and the watchguards waited.

"Gone", Arcadian spoke, feeling the weight of iron lift off his brain and the eyes disappear.

"Eyes", Tarvin spoke and the watchguard shifted toward the rear and there she was, staring down Tarvin with a bleeding belly. He did not flinch, nor waver. He simply took a drag of his stick, sword in hand and waited for his next command. The demon reached out a feminine hand, soft and beautiful, unlike the rest of her body and before she could touch Tarvin, Romilion leapt forward and sliced it clean off. She dissipated into blue mist and the cassowary call screamed in the night.

Rover whispered under his breath, a slur, " Demonos." Which meant 'demon sought' or 'demon possessed'.

Chills went up Arcadian’s spine and he swung his blade into a whirlwind without guidance or firm decision. He felt the demon's presence and attacked without seeing or hearing. He just felt, and that persuaded him enough to act. She then appeared before him, his blade merrily nicking the demon's neck as she appeared. She was gone in a second the moment she felt the rusted blades sting. Silence fell upon them. Something began to thump in the darkness. It was rhythmic, Arcadian was counting to the beat. Eight.

"Spider form. Free to engage", Romilion commanded. In an instant the watchguard moved forward, forming a horizontal line. Romilion and Tarvin leading. Then they stopped at the edge of the fire line. Tarvin hit the last of his stick and flicked it into the darkness. It struck something, not a tree...The leg of the spider.

"Fuck", Rover whispered.