The Calm

The daemon dissipated as the blade got pulled out of its chest, shattering its core. Martha leaned the bloody sword on her shoulder, wiping the black blood of her face with her other free hand.

"Sweet."

"Shut up, Kyler, you didn't help."

"Sure I did."

"Wasn't enough. Let's wrap things up and leave."

"Three daemon in one night. That's weird."

"Daemon sightings are starting to increase globally. Heck, Phantoms are showing up in Iraq."

"Yeah tell me about." Kyler stood to his feet, stretching. He patted the dust of him and walked over to Martha, the latter who sat on a stone. The two watched the river together in silence.

"Have you ever thought of leaving the inquisition?" Martha asked. Kyler looked at her surprised.

"Why would I want to leave?"

"You know what, forget I asked."

Kyler looked at her and grinned. She was fuming. Guess she was expecting a different answer. Seeing this side of her was quite amusing, considering that she rarely, rarely showed it to anyone.

"Well, if its with you, I would."

Martha turned to Kyler with a bland expression on her face. "Really? Wow, I am so flattered."

"Didn't expect you to be."

"Seriously, I'd like to hear your personal reasons. Take it that I was out of the equation."

"I wouldn't be here." Kyler said, "I joined because of you."

"No, you joined because Klaus said you should."

"Actually, no." Kyler corrected. "I was just passing by that day. Then I saw you."

"Haha." Martha said, "That kind of flattery doesn't work on me you know."

"It has before."

"Yesterday is gone,"

Barry lay down on the grass, watching the sky. It was a usual habit of his, it helped him cool down, helped him clear his thoughts to focus on more important matters. His spear was right beside him, as it always was, never leaving his side not even for a minute. It would have been hard to believe that some years back it had actually disgusted him once, considering the way it had been given to him. Ah, the past. Ever the drawback it always was.

"Another stargazer I see and I will puke." Diego said, standing over Barry.

"What are you doing here?"

"I have rights, I am your superior and I have had 20 hours of sleep."

"Yeah, right, perks of being a Prime, you never have to do anything. But why 20 hours? Isn't your usual 22 hours?"

"Yeah, I got a call. I have to go to Syria."

"The Phantoms?"

"Yeah."

"Thought Alderwolf could handle it."

"He can, but not simultaneously dealing with a white daemon."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, somebody thought it was a good idea to feed prisoners of war to a daemon, thinking that he could hypnotize the thing with his licht technique."

"Didn't work huh?"

"Yeah the guy's a corpse now, mate, and we have to deal with it."

"And the Shield."

"Still think they should deal with the civil war."

"What exactly is their deal?"

"Don't know mate, they think they've got everything under control. Don't know that they are only making things worse for themselves."

"Yeah," Barry said, "So you're saying your goodbyes then,"

"Yep."

"Great. Have fun."

Diego turned to leave.

"Oh and one more thing. That training strategy you gave me, wasn't that a bit too far?" Barry asked. "They're kids."

"The Second Daemon Incident. Remember that,"

"It's been 12 years,"

"I remember it well, I was a doctor then, and I saw firsthand what daemon could do. And so did you. So did Martha, Aaron, Rebecca, and Sakura. And everyone else. You guys were powerless. Heck if it wasn't for the current Prime Inquisitor and a few others, you'd all be dead. They're kids. But they brought this on themselves. If they want out, the door is always open."

"But Blake…"

"Yeah, the new rookie. Daring. But brave."

"He's not of age."

"No he isn't. But he wants to. So he will. Did you not see firsthand what he could do?"

"I did."

"Good. Then he's capable. Keep on throwing more obstacles like that their way and it will achieve the best results."

"Ok."