Garrett

Storm clouds were brewing outside the Monastery. The air felt strange and ominous. The guards stationed at the walls were especially anxious. They were wary for every movement, sound or smell that seemed out of place.

The same routine is passed on to every orphan in the Monastery, when they come of age. All the orphans underwent labors and duties that they had to undertake as part of their training. Around the clock, there is always someone doing something together with someone else. This careful system was designed to train the orphans and to prevent isolation and indolence from festering, as it commonly did to orphans of war. The Monastery of Light, after all, promotes camaraderie and belongingness.

Garrett had been sleeping for a few hours when he awoke from his slumber. His sleep yielded no dreams, and the last thing he remembered was thinking of home. He rubbed his eyes and shifted on his bed, hoping to get back to sleep. Just as he was about to drift into dreamland, he heard the unmistakable deep sound of bells in the distance. A few moments later, people were shouting as they awoke from their slumber.

Garrett sat upright on his bed. He was unaware of what the bells signified. Curiosity overtook him, so he jumped out of his bed, landed unto the cold hard floor, and hurt his right foot in the process. "Ow…"

Limping slightly, he moved towards the window to get a view of what was happening outside. He saw men in black and gray holding weapons and torches moving about on the ground, on top of walls, and even on the rooftops. It was a strange sight to behold, especially for Garrett.

"I'd move away from that window if I were you," said a voice from behind him. Garrett was unsurprised that his roommate was awake, considering all the loud noises from outside.

Garrett looked at the other boy and asked, "Why? What is happening outside? Why are the bells ringing?"

His roommate sat up on his bed and ignored his questions. "You should really move away from the window," iterated the boy. "That was the very spot Danny died," he said in the most casual yet bored tone ever.

"Who?" Garrett asked, before realizing. "Someone just died here!?" he exclaimed. Shocked, Garrett immediately moved away from the window and stood by the door. "Why are the bells ringing? The man told me you were supposed to tell me things!"

The other boy merely shrugged. "I am telling you things." He yawned for a moment before continuing, "I'd move away from the door too. Demons could always come bursting in, you know."

"Demons?" asked Garrett in a soft voice, almost a whisper. He was shaking. "Demons still come this far north?"

"Yeah," his roommate replied. "The ringing– the Monastery is under attack. Worry not, the Nest is very protected."

Garrett furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "But you just said that someone was killed—"

"Danny was the one who used to sleep on the bed above mine," the boy interjected. There was almost a hint of sadness in his tone, but it was near-imperceptible. "About a week ago, a demon crawled up the window as Danny sharpened his sword." The boy stood up and walked towards the spot he warned Garrett not to stand on. "It was a small but feisty demon. Danny gutted it, split its stomach and caused its insides to scatter as demon blood flew about the room."

"Then how did he die?" asked Garrett. Silence hung around the room before the other boy continued to speak.

"The demon's claws were laced with deadly poison. Pig's Blood, they called it. The demon slashed wildly at Danny before taking its last breath. He was hit on his chest, and died shortly after." The boy walked towards Garrett with a face devoid of emotion. "Tell me, have you ever seen someone die before your very eyes?"

The other boy shook his head. Outside, the bells stopped ringing, replaced by the sound of a slow drizzle.

The boy continued walking past Garrett, towards the door. "I can see you shaking, and I don't care if you'll become the next Danny. Best leave it to the demonslayers." He walked for a few more steps, before he stopped. "In case the Raven comes looking for me, tell him I'm at the music room."

Garrett was both perplexed and mad at this young boy who acted so nonchalant about everything. Like he knew everything in the world, and was so tired about it. Before the boy could leave his sight, Garrett asked one last question. "Do you not care about anything?"

The question was left hanging in the air. Garrett never heard a response. It was early in the morning, demons were invading the Monastery, and all his roommate did was go to the music room, like any sane boy his age would do. Garrett shook his head.

He went back inside the room to grab his haversack that contained all of the very few objects that he owned. Outside, it was drizzling, and thunder was rumbling. There were occasional flashes of light. He shut the windows before heading out. His body was truly shaking, just as the other boy described. But not because of fear, but rather, because of anticipation.

He took to the stairs and began to ascend to higher levels to get a better view atop the Monastery, exploring and learning the lay of the Nest as he went. The stairwell was lined with cobwebs as torches occupied the nooks carved into the walls. There were slits on the walls, wide enough for arrows to pass through. He noticed a small and dark alcove hidden in one of the crannies, but continued to ascend until he reached his destination.

The topmost floor of the Bird's Nest was soaked with rainwater. It was an open area, and the wind and rain buffeted his clothes the moment he stepped foot on it. There were two passageways that lead to other buildings, with some armed men overlooking the area. They were holding bows and readied their arrows from their quiver as they scanned the air for any signs of intruders. There were a couple of dead demons on the rooftops.

Immediately, one of the men noticed the boy. "What are ye doin' here, ye fool? Didn't ye hear the bells?" He motioned for the boy to turn. "Get back to yer room!"

Garrett hurriedly walked to the edge of one of the passageways. "But I want to watch," he said.

The man, clearly annoyed, said, "Are ye daft?" He was covered in black armor, and there was the sigil of the Monastery carved above his breastplate: a white pillar surrounded by golden rays amidst a black field. From his posture, he seemed to command authority amongst the others. He motioned for the other men to keep watch as he approached the boy. He squinted at the boy's clothes. "Are ye new here, lad?"

Instinctively, the boy replied, "Yes, sir."

"Well, boy, the bells rang seventeen times. Three times fer an invasion, and each succeeding ring is fer how many demons." He looked back and scanned the dark and hazy horizons. "The rain makes fer good cover. There might be 'nother one of 'em beasts. If yer lookin' for trouble, then stay here."

The boy joined the men as they looked amidst the rain, to the utter disappointment of the man. Yet, he made no complaint as he continued his watch. The rain got heavier and stronger with each passing moment.

Seeing a dead demon's body nearby, the boy kicked it on one side, revealing a set of claws laced with a purple liquid. He shuddered. Then, Garrett spotted something flying around the spires, a winged creature bolting towards him at an alarming velocity. It was a snake-like beast with wicked-looking fangs that lined its mouth as it gaped at him.

He tried to run, but before he even got the chance to scream, a few archers had already fired at the creature with surprising accuracy despite the weather. But this did not stop the demon from flying towards the boy. He ran, but slipped on the slippery slabs of the floor, causing the now-enraged demon to miss his head by a few inches.

As it neared the ground, one of the men hacked at the demon's head with his sword, cutting through its scaled body like butter. Demon blood splattered against the cold slabs of stone, and some even reached Garrett's face. The boy blinked. His heart was beating so fast. He stood up and was about to take a closer look at the demon when the man from earlier shouted, "Step away, ye basterd!"

He quickly stepped to the side, as he remembered how Danny died. However, this demon had no claws. He imagined it must possess some form of incapacitating bite, though. Nonetheless, he took a few steps away from the carcass.

When the men had already made sure that the demon was definitely dead, he then asked, "Do demons invade this place often?"

The man looked grim. "No, 'tis as new to me as it is to you," he replied as he examined the dead demon's body. "Wait, there's something strange here. These lots are weaklin's." Then he faced the rest of the men. "These demons are scouts! Scatter 'round the perimeter, and take someone with ye," he barked, then faced the young lad as he spoke again, "Ye go crawl back to yer room. It's 'bout to get messy in here."

Having faced the possibility of death, the boy did as told without hesitation. There were sounds of battle raging and men shouting. Below, down in the Monastery grounds, there were demonslayers fighting a few demons in various forms, some looking big and strong, while others looked slender and agile. There were already five disfigured corpses that laid on the dirt that belonged to felled demons. A few men were injured, some were maimed, but none were killed. At least, not yet.

He was at the stairwell, peeking at the outside world from the arrow slits on the walls. Garrett counted the demons, and he thought that he definitely saw more than fourteen demons that still battled the demonslayers, but the demons were still outnumbered three to one.

He saw a young boy dressed in gray rags joining the battle, much to Garrett's surprise. The boy was older than Garrett than maybe four or five years, but a boy all the same. He was wielding a sword, hacking and slashing at two demons at the same time as he continuously leapt around to dodge their assault.

Nearby, a girl of similar age was also fighting a demon by herself, tossing fireballs at her target. It was raining, and her attacks looked weak. The demon who faced her was big and burly, but it moved fast. In a few breaths, the demon dodged two fireballs and closed in on the girl, with its deadly claws outstretched.

Surprised, the girl immediately clapped her hands and created a small explosion directly in front of her. It seemed like it did nothing to the demon, but it gave her enough momentum to fall back and dodge the demon's claws. A second too late and the girl would have been dead.

She conjured more fireballs between her hands, but she already looked spent and tired. The flames she produced were being doused by the rain. The demon laughed as it lunged for the girl a second time, before its body was cut in half by a man clad in black armor. The man shouted something to the girl, and she quickly ran back to the safety of the Keep.

Garrett was fascinated by the battles below, and desperately wanted to join. However, he knew that he was no match to the demons as of yet, and if he was not careful, he could end up dead before even becoming a demonslayer himself. He walked back and arrived at the fifth floor, where his room was in. He was looking at the room numbers on one side as he went.

501. 503. 505. 507. 509.

He sensed an odd feeling as he passed by the room marked 511. A few seconds later, he heard a scream coming from within it.

Soon after, the wooden door burst open to reveal a wide-eyed girl, no more than eleven years old. She wore the same gray rags as every other orphan, except for a red ribbon tied along the base of her long ponytail. There was a small gash that freshly marred her cheek, and she carried a satchel with her, looking surprised to find Garrett right outside her room. He still had demon's blood on his face. Then, as if remembering that she was in a hurry, she pushed past Garrett and bolted in the same direction he had come from.

But Garrett's attention was focused elsewhere. Inside room 511, there was a little girl that held a sword against a demon almost ten times her size.

The demon was a beast that resembled a centipede. It was huge and terrifying, with sharp-looking legs attached to each segment of its long, scaly body. There was viscous liquid dangling from the pincer-like appendages in its mouth. It arched its back and spat on the little girl. The girl side-stepped, but her little wooden weapon was caught in the liquid, and she watched in horror as it corroded before her wide-eyes.

Garrett froze at the sight, then came back to his sense. He screamed, "Run!"

The little girl looked back at Garrett and got distracted for a short moment. The demon seized the opportunity to lunge at her. However, the girl was quick on her feet. The demon only managed to graze the girl's sleeve as she leapt for the door. She sustained a small gash above her right elbow, but continued to run as she clutched her wounded limb with a red face and tears in her eyes. She was heading in the direction of the Black Keep.

All that was left on the scene was Garrett.

The demon roared at the scrawny boy. Like clockwork, it scuttled with its many legs heading straight at him. Having no time to think, Garrett ran back towards the stairwell, hoping to ask help from the men in black on the rooftop. Fortunately for the other orphans, they were wise enough not to open their doors.

The demon was fast, but not as fast as a child running on adrenaline. It weaved across the carpeted hallway and tried to run across the wall to try and intercept the boy, but it fell as it moved across a loosely-placed painting, the heavy frame momentarily pinning the demon on its back. It was enough to slow down the demon.

Garrett climbed up the flight of stairs, as quickly as his legs would permit. Outside, the rain got heavier and made the steps slick as rainwater penetrated the stone walls through the arrow slits. Due to his fast ascent, he tripped on his right foot and hit his face on one of the steps. Hard. It took him all his willpower not to black out. The pain was excruciating, but he managed to stand back up.

Before he knew it, the sharp scuttling of legs started up below him, and he knew that he won't reach the top in time. Garrett's heart was beating faster by the second. Distinctively, he remembered that alcove he previously saw as he was climbing up the same stairwell some time ago.

Acting decisively, he took a sharp turn as he tried his best to dash for the dark alcove, hoping to get the demon off his trail. It was carefully concealed, like it was the darkest part of the Nest.

However, the moment he stepped on the alcove, everything went dead silent. All the sounds—from the clanging of weapons to the heavy pounding of the storm—vanished, as if his ears were suddenly ripped apart from his head.

To be sure, he did touch his head, and felt his ears. His whole body was wet with both sweat and rainwater, and there were still traces of demon's blood on his face.

However, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed that he was stepping on a slightly glowing symbol on the ground. He knelt down and inspected it. It was a near-perfect circle, with a diagonal line slashing over it.

Suddenly, he felt something move from the corner of the alcove. He looked up to see a figure standing over him. Recoiling instinctively, he fell on his back and moved away from the figure in the shadows as he screamed.

Just as quickly as the sounds vanished, all the sounds returned once more the moment his head got out of the alcove. The rain sounded stronger than ever, and the ever-haunting sound of scuttling feet came back. He felt something grab his feet, and he screamed in panic a second time.

As he was being pulled back into the alcove, all the sounds vanished once again. His head was aching so much from disorientation that he stopped screaming and just closed his eyes.

"Hush," said the figure in the shadows. "How did you find this place?"

Confused, Garrett opened back his eyes to see the same girl from earlier, recognizing her as the one who opened the door and ran away. In the darkness, her visage looked dark and menacing. She held her satchel in her hands and her hair was no longer kept in a ponytail. "Answer me," she said.

He ignored the question and whimpered instead. "Please don't kill me," whispered the boy, his voice filled with despair. As he said this, the girl just laughed.

"Are you stupid?" the girl replied as she motioned for the boy to come closer. "I just wanted you to stop making noises before the demon finds us, that's all."

"Huh?" the boy said, not making sense of anything. His headache was slowly subsiding, but the disorientation was still troubling his senses. He did as he was told and moved nearer towards the girl. "Why can't I hear anything from outside?"

The girl held up a small piece of chalk and pointed at the glowing symbol on the floor that slowly dimmed with each passing second. "I drew a basic rune of silence."

"A what?"

"It's a basic rune that blocks all incoming sound from both directions. I'm a runesmith in training," she clarified.

Relieved, the boy stood back up and faced the girl. As if on cue, the demon passed by them, and moved its antennae around in search of prey. Alarmed, Garrett's eyes widened, but he was surprised that the demon ignored them. "What did you do? Why didn't it attack us?" he whispered.

"It's a chilopodaemon," she said as she rolled her eyes. "They hunt by sound. Didn't you know?" The girl walked closer and examined the rune she drew. "Chilos are deadly, but they are practically blind," she explained as if it were common knowledge. Then, she looked at his clothes, and it dawned on her. "Oh, you're new here?"

The boy nodded, relief slowly rushing in. "Thanks for saving me," he said, then extended her hands towards the girl. "I'm Garrett, what's yours?'

The girl accepted his hand and shook it. "Circe, pleasured to meet you on such lovely circumstances," she said and laughed.

Garrett laughed too, as if there weren't any deadly beast a few meters from his position. His laughter stopped when he noticed that the symbol Circe drew was close to being very dim. "How long does it last?"

"A few more minutes," she replied. "Or maybe less than a minute, I couldn't tell for sure."

"Wait, if it's fading, doesn't that mean…?"

"Yeah, we could be dead in a few minutes, really," she said casually.

Panic rushed back into Garrett again. "Well, draw another rune!"

The girl shook her head. "Didn't you know? Beginner runesmiths can only draw one basic rune every few hours, and even then, basic runes don't last that long." She sat on the cold stone floor. "It's not that I don't want to draw another one. It's just that I simply can't."

After a few more moments, sound rushed back inside the alcove as the rune finally faded away into the darkness.