DEMONIC NIGHTMARE

"I really miss those days, Jaxith, I'm getting old and my lovely wife died, the only thing that keeps me happy is the people around, we're like a family here, and also Emelia, by the way there's a good surprise that I'll let Emelia tell you about, I won't spoil it.", Said Miller before smiling, they were sitting outside the stable, Miller was drinking wine while Jaxith holding his orange juice, typical Jaxith.

"That's good for you, when is she coming by the way?", Asked Jaxith before taking a sip from the glass.

"She isn't married to someone from here, he's a merchant from a close town, lucky for you she always comes on Fridays to visit me before leaving on Saturday, you'll be seeing her tomorrow morning.", Said Miller.

"That's good.", Said Jaxith before taking another sip from his juice, Miller also drank from his wine glass.

"So, are you gonna tell me what's the story behind her?", Asked Miller while looking at Irene who was feeding Senka, Jaxith looked at him for a moment.

"I'm helping her.", Said Jaxith calmly.

"I know you're helping, that's what you always do, I mean helping her in what, you know better than me that she isn't a human Jaxith.", Said Miller.

"Half human Miller, she's not a demon.", Said Jaxith.

"Half human doesn't count as human Jax.", Said Miller.

"Look, she is totally harmless, a bit stubborn but kindhearted, she won't harm anyone Miller.", Said Jaxith seriously.

"I'm not saying that she's harmful, I'm just trying to understand how you ended up helping someone like her, maybe I can help you.", Said Miller, Jaxith put down his glass while leaning back to the chair and looking at Miller.

"I met her at Orstone.", Said Jaxith calmly, Miller paused for a moment while looking strangely at Jaxith.

"I heard that there was a strange attack at the upper hill, a demonic one precisely and a hunter stopped it, are you related to that?", Said Miller curiously.

"The demon was summoned to kidnap her, long story short, I met her by accident and found that she wasn't followed by the mayor's men only as she stole his ring before, but also another unknown group, I helped her and I'm going to get her to the west of the kingdom, she knows someone called Lance who might be able to help her.", Said Jaxith.

"I see, you know nothing about this group?", Said Miller.

"The only thing I know is there's someone called Blamore, looks like an important one if not the man in charge, do you know anyone by that name?", Said Jaxith, Miller thought for a moment.

"No, doesn't ring a bell, sorry, Jaxith.", Said Miller.

"Don't bother, I wasn't expecting you to know, at least now you know why I'm doing this now.", Said Jaxith.

"I get it, she doesn't know anything about those people?.", Said Miller.

"No, nor the strange dreams she gets and she started feeling strong pain two days ago with my encounter with the Onohly, it's like something is awakening in her and she really can't deal with.", Said Jaxith while looking worried about Irene.

"I see, but you will stumble across a lot of troubles, Jaxith, whatever is happening doesn't look good, please don't get me wrong but I got a sense that Irene will bring a lot of troubles, and I'm afraid that you won't be the only one to suffer from these troubles, cause it's obvious that what happened at Orstone wasn't planned randomly.", Said Miller, Jaxith silently looked at Miller while thinking about what he just said.

"Whatever, it's your choice, and I'm sure that you know what you're doing, you're a smart Legnican.", Said Miller while smiling, Jaxith smiled too before looking at Irene in the stable.

"You didn't go back, right?", Asked Miller.

"Legnica?", Said Jaxith.

"Yes.", Said Miller.

"No, it's better to earn a living here in Vidin.", Said Jaxith.

"I understand you, I just wanted to know if you missed your land, that's all, I've not been away from Vidin, not even Ebonmere, so didn't you miss your home, son?", Said Miller, Jaxith thought for a moment.

"No.", Said Jaxith.

"You're strange man Jaxith, someone with your abilities should have been of use in a kingdom like Legnica yet you came here seven years ago, I don't want to get involved in what doesn't concern me but I think there's something strange with that.", Said Miller, Jaxith kept looking silently.

"I think I need to stop now, sorry if my talk somehow affected you, I'm still trying to understand you more since I don't see you everyday.", Said Miller while smiling politely.

"Don't worry, you can say that there's nothing to get back to Miller.", Said Jaxith calmly, Miller paused for a moment.

"Whatever you want, how about getting back in the inn? It started getting cold and I think both of you need a good sleep after that travel and the meal.", Said Miller.

"you're pretty right, IRENE!", Said Jaxith before calling Irene.

After some time Irene and Jaxith were in a wide room with two beds in the inn, Jaxith was checking the windows and closing them tightly before pulling the curtains to hide them from anyone outside, Miller entered the room after a while and noticed how Jaxith was making sure that everything was safe, the windows closed tightly and curtains cover them.

"Don't worry, it's safe in the village.", Said Miller.

"Better safe than sorry .", Said Jaxith before looking back to Miller who smiled calmly after hearing Jaxith's reply, always a cautious person.

"Anyway, I'm sleeping in the room beside you, if you need anything don't hesitate on calling me.", Said Miller.

"I'll, thanks, Miller.", Said Jaxith.

"It's your second home, Jaxith.", Said Miller with a wide smile before he went out and closed the door after him.

"So, I guess it's the end for tonight.", Said Irene while sitting on one of the beds.

"Yeah, I guess, unless you want to talk about anything.", Said Jaxith while turning to her after checking the door, Irene stayed silent for a moment, it's like she is thinking about something, Jaxith left her in her thoughts and went to put his coat on the couch, the room was warm and comfy.

"Actually I wanted to ask you about something and I think it's important to know about them now since the demon that we fought was one of them.", Said Irene, Jaxith looked to her.

"Do you mean the scarlet army?", Asked Jaxith.

"Yes, that's the name, I forget it easily.", Said Irene in a clumsy way.

"What do you want to know about them?", Asked Jaxith as he walked closer to Irene then sat on the bed opposite to her while looking at her.

"Whatever you know, I think that I should know more, at least try to understand more about what's happening.", Said Irene.

"I'm afraid that they don't have anything to do with the people after you.", Said Jaxith.

"What do you mean?", Asked Irene.

"I'll tell you what I know, I don't know much actually cause it's more religious than I'm like, it kind of interfering with the gods, my mother used to tell me this story when I was a kid, it's a known story actually, are you sure that you didn't hear it before?", Said Jaxith.

"No, I didn't have a mom to tell me bedtime stories.", Said Irene sarcastically.

"Guess I'm telling you a one now, so be grateful about it.", Said Jaxith while smiling, Irene Shyly smiled while stroking her red hair strands.

"Fine, mommy, tell me your bedtime story.", Said Irene while smirking, Jaxith let out a faint laugh while looking to the side.

"I'm sure that she can even rob the king himself with slyness like that.", Thought Jaxith.

"Fine, they say that during the creation of humans there was a huge war between the gods and the demons in the realm of the gods.", Said Jaxith.

"The realm of the gods? What about Plistura? Wasn't it there?", Asked Irene.

"It was created by the gods just for the humans, the demons didn't like it and wanted control over Plistura and the gods realm, both of them.", Said Jaxith.

"Where were the demons living during that?", Asked Irene.

"They were sharing the same realm with the gods, looks like they didn't like sharing and over centuries they decided to declare war over the gods for power and control, the war between them continued for ages, and by the time the gods gradually appeared to be stronger although their numbers were lower than the demons who were known for their fast breeding.", Said Jaxith.

"That's it? So the gods were able to claim victory at the end but that doesn't answer my question, what is the scarlet army?", Said Irene impatiently.

"Patience, girl, the gods appeared to be victorious and it looked like they could end the demons easily in a few decades but something strange happened, a new demon was born and that demon grow gradually to become the strongest demon ever, he was powerful enough to create special beings from his enormous dark energy, those beings were called the scarlet demons before they became a whole army under his command beside the other demon hordes, he became the demon lord and because of him a lot of the gods died and it appeared that they were going to lose, they say he was in the strength of the great god himself but that was before the great god ended this theory and defeated him, but still they couldn't destroy him so the gods decided to use all the divine energy they could produce to create a realm just to contain him, his army and the remaining demons and they succeeded, all the demons were locked up in a prison like realm that they couldn't break themselves out.", Said Jaxith.

"Then how are there still demons?", Asked Irene.

"Of course some have escaped, not all were imprisoned, but all the scarlet army were imprisoned, and that was the most dangerous.", Said Jaxith.

"Then how did we fight one of them?", Asked Irene.

"That's another complicated matter, do you remember that black gem with the assassin?", Said Jaxith.

"Yes.", Said Irene.

"It's a rare type of gems that are used as a way to store dark energy to perform different acts, you should be an expert in using it to be able to use strong spells, one of the spells is summoning demons from the realm in which they're imprisoned, they could be the simple hounds or even ones from the scarlet army like the scarlet giant, the stronger the demon the harder the summoning and the more energy is required from both the gem and the dark caster using it.", Said Jaxith.

"So even after all what the gods did there is a way for the demons to get out of their realm.", Said Irene.

"Actually the scarlet summoners are the one getting them out, they can't do it on their own, although they can't summon anything much stronger than the scarlet giant, I think that's the best they could reach, you can't imagine how unstable the dark energy is and how easily it can even kill its user.", Said Jaxith seriously.

"You don't need to tell me, I've seen what it does to you.", Said Irene while looking worried at Jaxith, Jaxith looked at her carefully.

"Don't worry, I don't use it much and also I'm not a dark caster, I just channel it physically, and I promised you that I won't overdo it.", Said Jaxith.

"I know I know, whatever, so what I understand is the ones after me can use dark magic and the demon we fought was just a creation of them, it doesn't have anything to do with my parents.", Said Irene.

"Of course no, the demons that escaped to Plistura were so few and all of them were lesser demons, they have nothing to do with the scarlet demons, your demonic parent shouldn't be that dangerous Irene.", Said Jaxith.

"I guess I should be thankful that my kind didn't cause all of that destruction.", Said Irene sadly.

"You're nothing compared to them, you're a human whatever the blood you're carrying, you're even kinder than a lot of humans.", Said Jaxith calmly.

"Thanks, Jax.", Said Irene in a quiet manner.

"Hey what's wrong?", Asked Jaxith while putting both his hands over Irene's shoulders in a calming manner.

"I just don't know what do they want? If I don't carry a strong blood then why do they chase me, I'm not the only hybrid, sometimes I keep thinking about that and so I asked you but now that I understand that scarlet army part the questions increased.", Said Irene before laying back in the bed and looked at the ceiling.

"look, we will reach the bottom of this together, just trust yourself more, okay?", Said Jaxith.

"I'm trusting you more than I'm trusting myself actually.", Said Irene calmly while looking at the ceiling, Jaxith listened to her words and felt some sort of nostalgia before she turned and slept on her side.

"Good night, Jax.", Said Irene calmly, Jaxith stood up and took a blanket from the wardrobe before turning to Irene and spreading the blanket over her.

"Looks like someone is taking his mommy duties seriously.", Said Irene in a sarcastic manner without turning to look at Jaxith.

"And you're taking your dumb role seriously too, we're in an inn not in the forest to sleep without a blanket that even in the forest you used to cover with one.", Said Jaxith seriously.

"Fine fine, old man, don't make a scene out of it, it's just a joke.", Said Irene while pouting but still looking away, Jaxith smiled and finally covered her well.

"If you wanted anything don't hesitate on waking me up, okay?", Said Jaxith while stepping back.

"Okay.", Said Irene, Jaxith looked at her for a moment before he sighed and laid back on his bed and started closing his eyes slowly.

Irene closed her eyes while smiling and grasping the heim of the blanket happily before drifting off too while thinking about what Jaxith has just told her about the scarlet army, questions, a lot of them and yet no answers.

"ROAHHHHHH", The roars were filling the atmosphere, Irene opened her eyes suddenly in fear reacting to the sound, it became hotter in the room, she gradually realized that all of the room was burning in flames!

She immediately stood up and looked around, Jaxith's bed was burning too but he wasn't in the room, it became harder to breathe so Irene didn't waste time and moved fast towards the door carefully across the hungry flames before she stopped against the door.

"Come on Irene, you need to find Jaxith, if he's not here then something must have happened and he went out to protect the people in the inn, but it looks like his efforts weren't enough and the inn started burning from something, come on, don't be afraid.", Said Irene before taking a deep breath then she opened the door quickly.

She was expecting dead bodies but there were no bodies, just fire everywhere, her heartbeats were fast from fear, she took another deep breath before taking a step forward and suddenly a wooden log fell from the ceiling of the main hall of the inn in front of her! Looks like the inn can't keep its integrity much longer.

Irene started sprinting as fast as she could while calling Jaxith loudly but there was no answer, she stopped at the front door and before opening it she called again for Jaxith before coughing from the smoke around her, then again no answer, it's like all of the people have disappeared, another log fell from the ceiling which made Irene quickly open the door and exit the inn hurriedly that she didn't notice the stairs and tripped over the stairs.

Irene raised her body slowly while putting her hand over her head, looks like she hit her head hard, the air still dense around her and the roar voices become louder, Irene started looking around to notice that fire was everywhere around her, all the village was burning and that wasn't the only strange thing around, she looked at the sky to find it completely red!

"What's going on?", Said Irene in fear, before standing up, she wasn't understanding anything, there were loud voices and pain grunts around her but she wasn't seeing anything, also the sound of swords was heard, fear started creeping up to her but she pushed all of these negative thoughts out of her mind.

"Don't get tensioned, remember what Jaxith used to do in situations like these, all I need to do is to find him without drawing much attention, you're a brave one, just focus.", Thought Irene before she started walking forward.

Irene kept moving between the burning houses, everything was going to be ashes, how many could be dead by now?

"Could all of this be due to my stalkers? Did other people lose their lives because of me?", Thought Irene in fear, these negative thoughts were heaving her and while she was walking and thinking about all of the possible ways for what happened she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck then the pain reached her head and her left eye again!

Irene fell on her knees while crying from pain before quickly the pain disappeared, she raised her head slowly to find that everything around her disappeared!

Now she is in some sort of an open sand field like a desert with a lot of weapons scattered around and also a lot of strange dead creatures.

Irene's fear was getting higher but she remained steady and didn't panic, looks like her time with Jaxith gradually affected her bravery.

"Are those demons? Did Jaxith kill all of those? But they look different than the scarlet giant and the hounds, there's a scarlet giant over there but there are numerous other species that I don't know anything about, anyway I should keep looking for Jaxith, he must be close by now.", Said Irene before walking again.

After a few moments Irene noticed a familiar sword stabbed in the ground, she ran to it, that's Jaxith's sword! It's stained with a lot of blood but there was something strange, Irene tried hard to pull the heavy black sword from the ground before she finally succeeded but what she found didn't calm her down, the other end was completely broken! She dropped the sword immediately.

"Oh god no, JAXITH, JAXITH.", Shouted Irene, she starts feeling horrified, that sword was so rigid, what could have done that to it? And more importantly, what happened to Jaxith?

"JAXITH, JAXITH, IF YOU'RE HEARING ME PLEASE REPLY, THE VILLAGE IS ALL BURNING, JAXITH AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.", Shouted Irene as loud as she could before the same terrifying familiar voice started echoing around her, the same voice in her nightmares, she started looking around her to notice that there's a close strong wind causing the sand to curl around heavily in a specific direction like a small sand storm.

Irene didn't have much of a choice and decided to run towards it, after a few moments she was inside the sand storm and was covering her nose and mouth, barely seeing anything.

Just after a moment she started recognizing a humanoid form at the end of the storm, she could feel the danger emitting from him but she needed any help to be able to find Jaxith.

"HELLO, PLEASE I NEED HELP AND I LOST MY ELDER BROTHER, CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED?", Shouted Irene but whatever was there didn't move a muscle and suddenly the ground started shaking and numerous thunderous roars echoed through the air, they were all terrifying and could even lead to death just from the sounds, but they were different from each other, like there were more than a source for these voices.

Irene tried to maintain her fear before she noticed several large creatures standing behind that strange human over there, they weren't clear though, there was something like a large dragon with wings and other unclear creatures, they were about 5 or 6, the strange human slowly extended his hand, Irene looked at him and started recognizing him, it's the same cloud in her nightmares!

"Come on, Irene, get over your fear, Jaxith needs your help now.", Thought Irene before she started walking slowly towards that thing, she looked behind her but it looks like the sand storm was getting stronger and she was literally seeing nothing around except the thing in front of her.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?", Shouted Irene but the humanoid thing didn't react and he kept his hand extended, Irene didn't find anything to do except stepping closer as she was getting braver, it's now or never, maybe he knows what happened to Jaxith, although she's afraid but she was acting just like Jaxith told her to do.

A few steps and Irene noticed something in front of the strange thing, she looked closer and noticed a familiar coat, that was Jaxith!

"JAXITH.", Shouted Irene as she started getting closer to Jaxith but then she suddenly stopped, she started noticing blood all around him!

"No no no, please no, not you too.", Said Irene in a quiet tone before she fell to her knees in front of Jaxith's body.

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS? I TOLD YOU THAT YOU WILL DIE BECAUSE OF ME, WHY WHY?.", Shouted Irene while crying over him.