The Fall

The group travels through the hole and is met with long corridor, the walls and floor covered in a variety of bones and body parts.

"Man this place is a mess." Darius says disgusted.

"And a bit creepy," adds Hannah.

"Not helping you guys." Cyrus says rolling his eyes.

As they walk along, they are greeted with the occasional sound of a monster screeching.

"Sounds like the beast is getting closer," Darius says.

Cyrus nods in agreement. "We need to hurry and finish this."

Getting closer to the sound of the beast, the group comes to a large door made of stone.

Darius steps forward and attempts to open the door.

After a few moments of trying and failing, he gives up.

"It won't budge." Darius states.

"Maybe we should try another way." Cyrus suggests turning back when suddenly, the door slams open.

Startled, everyone turns to look through the doorway where the beast laid lying on the ground. Above the beast however was another figure.

"Well well well. What do we have here?" The figure asks as it takes a step towards the group. revealing a woman with blue hair and a red dress.

"So, this is the group that has been sent to save that poor town," the girl says looking at the group. "You must be very brave to come here."

"Who are you?" Darius asks curiously.

"I am the one who has been tasked with bringing about the end of this dull world. You may call me Akuji, and I guess you could say I'm a demon."

"Akuji?" Cyrus repeats.

"Well, I'm not quite sure what else to call myself. I've been called many things but this is the first time someone has actually asked for my name." She answers.

"Why would you want to destroy this world?" Darius asks.

"I'm not the kind of person to care about they why's. I just do as i'm told." Akuji says with a shrug.

"Hey! You can't just do whatever you please!" Cyrus says annoyed.

"I can do anything I wish, child. If you don't like it, how about you do something about it." Akuji says.

"That's enough!" Darius shouts.

"No need to shout." Akuji laughs. "Do you really think you three will make a difference? No one is capable of restraining the will of my master."

"I don't believe that for a second." Hannah says. "And I don't think anyone else does either. If what you say is the truth than you wouldn't be hiding out in some gross tree."

Akuji chuckles. "I am not hiding out in a tree. This is simply where I've chosen to run my little experiment."

"Experiment?" Darius asks.

Akuji nods as she flicks her wrist, followed by a loud thud.

"Oh shit!" Hannah shouts as the group turns to look behind them.

The door had been slammed shut.

"I think its about time to run a little test." Akuji says smirking.

pointing her finger at the beast laying dormant, she begins to chant.

Suddenly the beast begins to roar as it stands up, shaking the entire room.

"Lets see how well my little pet fares during its weakest moment. She says before vanishing from the room with a laugh.

The beast charges at the group with its fur blazing, forcing the group to scatter in every direction.

As the beast closes the distance towards Hannah, Cyrus uses his shadows to trip the beast.

missing its mark the beast, falls down hard onto its side.

"Nice shot." Hannah cheers. "Now its my turn."

Taking aim she fires off a couple of bolts from her staff

Each of them hit their target, But the beast shakes them off without much effort.

"Come on!" Cyrus says frustrated.

Hannah frowns as she continues to fire off bolts.

The beast ignores each bolt, and continues to charge towards Hannah.

"What?!" Hannah shouts as her bolts fail to harm the beast.

The beast swipes at Hannah as Darius steps in to block the blow.

But as it connects, Darius is sent flying across the room knocking over a nearby table.

Breathing heavily, Darius gets up and dusts himself off.

Turning around to face the beast once more, he sees it charging right at him.

"For such a small guy, you sure hit hard." Darius says.

Darius raises his blade, preparing for the attack.

Just as the beast is about to strike, Darius dodges and slides his blade through the beast's throat.

Blood pours out as the beast stumbles backwards. slowly the wound begins to heal as the beast stands up and looks up at Darius.

"You're not so tough now are you shorty?" Darius taunts.

The beast howls in anger as it rushes at Darius.

Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Cyrus stabs the beast chest with his blade.

"Your mine now!" Darius shouts as he Stabs his blade through the beast as well.

blood gushes from both wounds as the beast is held in place.

The beast begins to shake uncontrollably as blood drips from its wounds.

"It's over!" Cyrus yells as he begins to envelop the beast in a dark mist.

A few seconds later, The beast begins to let out an agonizing groan that grew louder by the second.

Finally the beasts cry's end as it had been fully melted by the mist.

"Well that wasn't too bad." Cyrus says as he holsters his blade

"I know right?" Darius agrees as he wipes his sword. "It was much more manageable than when it was rampaging through town.

Looking at the beast which had become nothing but a pile of mushy flesh and bone, Cyrus sighs.

Appearing beside Cyrus Akuji begins clapping.

"A job well done kids!" Akuji cheers. "I never expected you three to be able to deal with a task like that so easily."

"That was child's play, We've seen worse," Cyrus claims before turning his blade on her. "And as you can see we're still standing. So don't ever underestimate us again!"

Akuji stares down at Cyrus before letting out a chuckle. "Heh, I see. I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated you after all."

As much as i would like to personally test that bravado of yours, I'm going to have to take my leave. I have a few more tasks to perform.

After hearing her words, Darius' expression turns serious.

"Wait, what do you mean you have more work to do?" Darius asks.

"Oh, you don't be so impatient. You will see what I have in store soon enough. You three are going to be very useful in my plan." Akuji says in amusement before vanishing.

The group looks at each other, unsure of what to do next.

"Well at least the beast has been taken care of." Darius says.

"Yeah but now we have even bigger problems to deal with now," Cyrus adds.

"I wasn't really planning to attract the interest of a demon today." Hannah complains with a sigh.

"I guess we should head back to the town and tell them about everything." Cyrus says.

Hannah nods in agreement.

***

Hannah and Darius wait outside the mayor's house while Cyrus enters and tells them the news.

"The beast is gone and no longer a threat," Cyrus says as he sits down.

"Thank goodness, although I'm surprised you were able to beat it." she comments

"Well it did get a bit dicey, as you probably saw, we were no match for it during the night. Luckily the beast was much less capable during the day. We managed to defeat it pretty quickly."

"That's good to hear," She replies. "Although I'm curious as to where you fought the beast. No one else knows where its lair is located. At least as far as I know."

Cyrus explains the situation with the tree and the demon inside.

"That's quite concerning. Do you have any idea what her plan is?"

"I honestly don't know." Cyrus says shaking his head.

"Well, if she's a true demon as you claim she is, then I don't doubt that her intentions are impure.

"What will you do about the townspeople?" Cyrus asks.

"For now we need to focus our efforts on rebuilding our home. There is no need to cause any more distress with this news. I know its not right to withhold this kind of info from the residents but I don't think they could take another tragedy. Especially not so soon after last nights."

"I agree. It's best to keep this quiet for now." Cyrus says.

"Alright then, I'll try to put together a plan for the town. I thank you for all the work you've done for my town."

Cyrus stands up and bows before leaving to meet with the others.

Over the course of the next few days, Darius and Hannah help the townsfolk with their repairs, while Cyrus tries to come up with a plan alongside the mayor on how to capture the demon.

Hearing a knock on the door, She motions for the guards to allow the visitor entrance.

A Blonde haired woman with tanned skin steps through the doorway carrying a satchel.

Cyrus notices that she is the same woman who had saved him previously.

"Hello, My name is Eryn. I'm the a member of the royals sent to assist you alongside my team. I apologize for the short notice, but I figured it would be best to get started as soon as possible."

Eryn greets the group as she steps into the room.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, I appreciate it." The Mayor says.

"Don't mention it. We weren't aware of the situation until a few days ago." Eryn responds.

"It's alright, we understand. I'm just glad you were willing to come all this way to help us out. Honestly, we're lucky to have you." The Mayor says.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you." Eryn says politely.

"Now, to business. Currently My team is setting a trap for the demon. We wanted to make sure we could take advantage of the time before the demon has a chance realize whats happening.. As such, I ask that you follow me." Eryn says.

"Sure thing," Cyrus says.

With that, the group leaves the building and follows Eryn to the outskirts of town, where they see several men digging a hole.

" We are under the assumption the the demon is most likely hiding amongst your people so our goal is simple. We will trap the demon within the town by setting up a barrier of sorts. Once it is set, there will be little that she can do to escape before we capture her. Afterwards, we can deal with her however you desire." Eryn explains.

"Sounds good to me. I wouldn't want to see anyone else get hurt." Cyrus says.

"Good, Now we have a small matter to discuss. What do you plan on doing with the demon once we catch her?" Eryn asks.

"Well, From what we've heard, She seems to be working under some. The best choice of option for now would be to take her back to the capital for interrogation." Cyrus says.

"That sounds like a logical choice." Eryn says.

The group begins discussing their plans further when they hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

They turn to see Darius and Hannah heading towards them in a hurry.

"What's wrong?" Cyrus asks.

"Cyrus!" Hannah shouts with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"The Townspeople!" Hannah starts. "They've gone crazy!"

Cyrus and the group rush to the outskirts of town to find a large number of townsfolk gathered around a building as a large cloud of smoke rises from from them.

"What's going on here?" Cyrus asks.

" While we were cleaning up the villagers just started smoking and acting strange. Something is seriously wrong with them!"

"Do any of them seem to be injured?" Cyrus asks.

"None of them are displaying any signs of injury, although it's hard to tell since they're all moving so erratically.

Cyrus and the others move to help the confused residents calm down and return to normal. but are stopped when a wall of fire erupts separating the group from the crowd.

"This isn't good!" Darius says worriedly.

"Have you been waiting for me," a voice rings out from behind the wall of flame.

"Who are you!?" Cyrus calls out.

"Oh don't tell me that you've forgotten me in just a few days. I'm hurt"

The wall of flames breaks down revealing Akuji, the Demon standing before them.

And look at the spread you've brought for me. There's quite a few new faces among you. I'm impressed."

"It looks like You've been busy." Cyrus says.

"I just figured that I shouldn't keep you waiting for too long." Akuji says with a laugh before raising her hand.

Eryn Had jumped in the air with a silver coated rapier striking against the demon.

Akuji was able to deflect the attack with ease however, sending the sword flying out of Eryn's hands and grabbing her by the neck.

"Are you really that confident in your abilities? You must have no idea what I am capable of." Akuji says laughing.

"Let her go!" Cyrus orders.

"Now why would I do that? I haven't even showed you my presents yet." Akuji laughs.

Akuji then raises her other hand into the air and lets loose a massive wave of energy.

As the energy spreads out, The towns people below all begin to let out loud screams as they begin to burn.

"Whats going on!?" Cyrus shouts.

Slowly the towns people all begin to rapidly grow fur across their bodies.

Then, one by one, their hair begins burn a bright red. Within seconds, all of the towns people had been transformed into humanoid wolves. with glowing red eyes and fangs dripping with blood.

"What in the-!" Cyrus exclaims in horror.

"Oh, Don't be too alarmed. These creatures very similar to the one you faced previously." Akuji chuckles.

"You've done this to them!?"

"Don't worry, I only turned them into these things temporarily. I will be sure to help them reach their true forms once night comes." Akuji laughs cruelly.

"How dare you!" Darius yells angrily.

"If want to kill me, I suggest you hurry up and strike now. I'm getting bored." Akuji says.

Darius then rushes forward and strikes Akuji with his sword. However, he was unable land a clean blow against her.

"Try again!" Akuji laughs.

Darius attempts to strike Akuji again but the demon easily dodges the attack.

Throwing Eryn at Darius, Akuji then uses her magic to force him back.

"How dare you!" Darius shouts furiously.

"I wouldn't worry about about me if I were you. Don't you have more important matters to take care of." She snickers gesturing to the pack of beast below her.

Cyrus then appears behind her and slashes Akuji across the chest. The Demon falls back flustered for a bit, but manages to grab hold of Cyrus's shoulder and throw him backwards.

"Hmph! So you are finally showing your skills. That's more like it." Akuji says mockingly. "But I must be on my way. Go ahead and show your guests a good time." She says as she vanishes into thin air.

"We have to stop this!" Cyrus says facing the horde of beasts running towards them.

"That's exactly what I intend to do." Eryn says picking up her rapier.

"I suggest that you back up," She says before a bright light erupts from the tip of her blade.

With a swing of her blade cuts through the mass of wolf creatures.

"That should do it." Eryn sighs.

"I don't think that's going to cut it." Cyrus says looking over at the rapidly regenerating mass.

"We need to find something that can create enough of an explosion to destroy them all in one hit. Otherwise they will just keep getting back up." Darius says.

"Cant you do what you did last time, Cyrus?" Hannah asks before she begins to chant.

"I don't think so. There's far too many of them. Besides, I would need all of them to be still" Cyrus says.

"There has to be another way!" Darius says slashing at the beast closing in around the group.

"I don't know if we have a lot of time, but I can try something. Stay here and keep the beasts away."

Hannah retreats to the back and starts a chant.

"You heard the lady, lets hold these guys back!" Darius says.

The group then moves forward to defend themselves while Hannah finishes her spell.

Slamming his hand down to the ground, Cyrus expands his shadow out.

Within seconds the ground beneath the group is covered in a black mist.

The shadows begin to thrash around at the beast standing within the boundary.

"You alright?" Darius asks as the beasts continue to attack.

"I'll be fine. It may not be able to kill them but it should slow them down a bit." Cyrus says.

"Alright, We'll wait here until you've finished your spell." Darius says.

Cyrus closes his eyes to concentrate and continues to summon his shadows.

Defending the two supports Darius and Eryn cut down wave after wave of beasts with no end in sight. all the while the sky begins to grow darker by the minute increasing the beasts size as the sun falls.

"Hows that spell going, Hannah?!" Darius shouts as he fights off a charging beast.

"Almost done!" Hannah shouts back.

Hannah continues to chant until she stops with a deep breath.

"Alright, That should work." Hannah says before raising her hands and letting loose her spell.

An intense flash of light erupts from Hannah's staff followed by a deep rumble.

Sending A ball of energy into the crowd she orders everyone to back out of range.

The energy bursts forth, engulfing all the beasts in the area and causing them to burst.

However, the blast doesn't last long before it begins to dissipate.

"Oh no, I don't think this is going to work." Darius says taking a step back.

The beasts were slowly regaining their strength and quickly closing in on the group.

"Hannah! Get back here!" Cyrus shouts pushing his friends out of the way to parry the incoming beast.

Taking advantage of Cyrus's distraction, Darius rushes toward him and cuts the creature open with his sword.

While the group fights off the beasts, Cyrus watches the sky closely.

The last ray of sunlight disappears over the horizon as the beasts begin to howl.

The darkness of night shrouding the world as the beast rapidly increase in size and their fur begins to shine brightly setting fire to their surroundings.

Hannah, noticing the change in the beasts and quickly begins to cast a spell to protect the group.

"Its almost time!" Cyrus shouts as he continues to fight off the beasts.

"We need to retreat right now!" Darius shouts as he continues to slash at the creatures.

"Not without finishing what we started!" Cyrus shouts back.

Cyrus takes aim with the rest of his shadows and sends a barrage of blasts at the beasts.

Each of the attacks hits home and causes them to explode in a shower of sparks and ash.

However, the beasts didn't seem to care too much as they continued to close in.

"This is it!" Cyrus says as he draws his sword and lunges forward only to be held back by Eryn.

"Forget about this fight. We need to evacuate as many people as we can. We are fighting an uphill battle." Eryn shouts. This town may be lost but its inhabitants still need our help."

After a bit of contemplating Cyrus agrees."Your right. Let's get everyone out of here!" Cyrus says turning to the others.

The group then begins to flee back towards town as fast as they can.

The beasts now ignoring the group begin to rampage through the town.

Most of the nearby buildings were destroyed by the battle.

Fires burning within the rubble, along with the large number of corpses scattered throughout.

"Come on, Come on!" Cyrus shouts as he helps the remaining towns folk to escape.

The group makes their way threw the town gathering everyone they can and leading them out away from the beasts gathering any wagons or horses they could find.

"I cant believe this happened," Hannah says looking around.

"I know, I can't believe it either."

"At least we managed to save some people." Darius says.

"That's the a thing, right?" Hannah asks.

"Yeah, I guess so." Darius says.

They continue Leading the group further out as they watch the town being torn apart behind them.