Demons. Aimee didn’t fight demons. For that matter, she didn’t fight anything. She spent her days sitting at a workbench, carefully constructing the next device she was assigned to make. Yet here she was, heart thudding painfully in her chest and sweat starting to drip off the tip of her nose. On the other side of the wall, she could hear the heavy footsteps of whatever had killed at least a half dozen soldiers.
Something sniffed like an hungry animal hunting prey. Aimee looked nervously ten feet down the wall where the doorway to the other room was. Laying limply in the doorway she saw the grisly torso of a soldier. The slashes of giant claws ran down the left side of the man’s chest. Despite the blood, she could clearly see the dark blue tunic with the image of crossed swords in silver. She wore the same design on her tunic. The dead man’s name was Gaston, one of the men she had came to the town with. Aimee’s felt relief, at least it wasn’t her best friend Curtis. Guilt followed. How could she allow herself to feel relief at the sight of the body of a fellow Imperial Guard member?
Another heavy footstep sounded. The demon on the other side of the wall was moving again. As she moved toward the doorway, Aimee gripped the device in her hand. What appeared to be a rune covered copper tube with a wooden handle, was five years of work for her. It was the most powerful magical artifact Aimee had ever Crafted. Of course, it had never really been tested in the field. Well, it will be now.
Clanking footsteps came from behind her. A man in heavy armor ran her way. He brandished a broad-bladed longsword in one hand. The other arm carried a shield emblazoned with a white sword over a golden circle, the symbol of the Holy Order of the Sword. “Get out of here! This is a matter for the Order!”
The sounds caught the attention of the beast on the other side of the wall. Aimee could hear it start to charge. This idiot might get them both killed. The creature burst into the hallway from the doorway ahead, one massive paw slipping a little on the pool of blood around the mutilated body in the doorway.
Aimee noticed the fangs first. Massive bloody fangs the size of daggers curved down from the beast’s snout. The rest of the creature looked liked a horrible parody of a mange-afflicted hound immensely scaled up in size. Tufts of gray fur mixed raggedly with bare hide studded by tiny bone plates. She could smell it’s fetid breath as it panted. Malevolent yellow eyes fixed on Aimee as the beast regarded her like prey.
The knight from the Order charged forward as Aimee brought up her copper-tubed device. As the man ran in front of her to attack the beast, he blocked her shot. “Clear out!” she shouted.
The demonic hound took care of the matter for her. With surprising quickness, a huge clawed paw slashed at the knight. He managed to raise his shield to take the blow, but the force still slammed him into the wall. Wooden lattice splintered and a deluge of shattered plaster came pouring down as the impact of the man’s armored body destroyed the wall behind him. He did not get back to his feet. Through the fog of plaster dust, the beast’s yellow eyes fixed their murderous gaze on Aimee again.
Aimee lined up the demon’s head through the copper tube and willed the it to unleash its magic as she closed her eyes. Inside the handle, a specially designed matrix crystal released every bit of the pent up magical energy it possessed. The device transformed the surge of mystic energy into lightning. A searing white line connected copper tube to demonic flesh for a fraction of a second.
The lightning flashed so intensely that Aimee could see it through her closed eyelids. A deafening thunderclap shook the walls and sent a rain of plaster down from the ceiling. A noxious smell of burned fur and flesh greeted Aimee as she opened her eyes to see the great beast laying dead before her. Field test complete.
Something else came through the doorway before she managed to take more than a single step toward the armored man. It looked vaguely like a woman, long straggly white hair hung loosely around a face of bone white skin mottled with pale green. Dirty and ragged clothes revealed more of the mottled skin beneath the tears. The demon’s eyes transfixed Aimee. Solid black eyes with no whites gazed unblinkingly at her. Aimee froze as she looked into those pitch black eyes.
“Where is it?” the voice hissed at Aimee. With her ears still ringing, Aimee realized that she couldn’t be hearing the demon, the voice was in her head.
“Where is it, Human?” the voice was louder, burrowing into her mind. As Aimee heard the voice in her head, the creature walked toward her. There was a sword in its hand.
“Where is it, Aimee?”
The sound of her name brought Aimee back into the moment. She had no great skill with a sword, but at least she had some training. Aimee dropped her copper device, and stepped backwards while she put her hand on the handle of her slim sword. With a shaky hand, she pulled the blade from its sheath. Unfortunately, she tried to move the sword up defensively before the tip cleared the sheath. The sword clattered to the floor at Aimee’s feet.
“You don’t know,” the voice stated as the demonic woman brought up her sword to strike.
From behind the creature, Aimee saw the knight had starting to get to his feet.
“I do know where it is.” Aimee said, hoping to distract the demon woman.
“You lie.”
Aimee managed to jump to the side and avoid the first swing. That was all she needed as the knight charged toward the demon woman. It turned toward him too late. He brought his broad bladed sword down in an instantly lethal blow that nearly split the creature’s torso in two.
The knight loomed over Aimee. At all of five feet three inches, Aimee was quite used to people having to look down to talk to her. He was handsome with a strong chin, bright blue eyes, and shoulder length blond hair. However, the handsome face regarded her with a look of distinct annoyance.
“What are you doing in here?” he demanded.