You stagger on.
And on.
And on for what seems like weeks. There was no sun, nor moon, just unrelenting snow and harsh winds that you became oh so familliar with on your exile. You think back to that day and fight off tears. They'd freeze up on your cheek anyway, no one needed that.
You mind was filled with questions, doubts and general depressing thoughts. It was that tiny beacon of hope that your mother would realize who was who, come and save you and return you to your perfect life that gave you the strength to trudge on through this icy, white desert.
The wind changes direction, your scarf blows into your eyes. You sigh as stinging specks of ice bounce off your face, and try to keep your attention on your scarf. You really did like it, though you aren't sure why. The enticing peppermint like pattern maybe? But you prefer cinnamon over peppermint, and vanilla to cinnamon. Your mind plays with the ideas of different spices and flavors before they all lead down to the fact that you haven't eaten in ages. That was probably the only real indicator that any time had passed at all- you were positively famished. Demons were built to survive, go weeks, even months without food, but due to the 1,400 years of pampered treatment, you had the same eating needs as a human. A human!
And you'd die like one out here, too.
Some random adventurer would find your carcass encased in ice, curled up in some pathetic attempt and finding heat. You'd look so worthless if you were found dead here.
Or were you already worthless?
You silently continue fourth.
"There!" Pecora's sword cut through the air before meeting with and tearing enemy flesh. She swung her body around and slashed another foe across the chest. She sensed and attack closing in on her and turned to greet her would be assailant with a blast of ice shards to the face.
3 down, and she still had an entire rowdy bar to cleave though.
Her two cohorts weren't just standing around either. Luke was waving off a group of six with his flame engulfed staff, and Eithan was blissfully sending demon after demon into oblivion with his beloved Demon Lord's Vigor attack.
The band of orcs were dropping like flies, really. Pecora failed to understand why they would launch a completely random attack on a local bar for no real reason, but it gave her and her crew the perfect chance to gain a few levels. Other demons loved the commotion and came into the bar as well, punching the nearest person around. It wasn't soon before a massive free for all brawl started and stemmed from the bar into the nighttime streets of Minonsia City.
Pecora faced off with an axe wielding warrior, her light feet slipping past his slow and heavy swings before she finally threw a punch into his stomach before replacing her fist with her blade.
The warrior feel to the ground, defeated, and Pecora got the glorious leveling sensation once again that night. She exhaled, moving on to the next group to spill so more blood. This wasn't her thing, but she could get into it if need be.
Besides, if she just stood around, she'd be long dead.
Eithan was engaging a member of the gunner class, attempting to use his spear to block bullets and mostly failing as he took hits to his right arm. Luckily, the Wannabe Demon Lord was left handed, and lunged at the Sniper, thrusting his spear in for the kill. Luke was quick on restoring his friend and twice as fast to hide behind him when a giant, hulking wood golem tromped into the bar.
Pecora bit her lip at the sight of it, and the fact that there was no more fighting going on in the streets. Oh. It killed everyone else, that's why. A bundle of bloodied, crushed bodies created the backdrop of the well oversized 'forest guardian' and all eyes were upon it.
The wood golem was quickly attacked by the 8 or so remaining orcs, but what did they hope to achieve? Their bodies were tossed around like toys, flying into the walls of the bar before sliding to the floor never to rise again.
Any other fighters left in the vicinity were either dead or looking for a means to escape. A mage jumped through the window, followed closely by a thief and archer. Eithan grabbed Luke by the wrist, "Maaadmmee! We should get out! This guy seems a bit too high leveled for us!"
The wood golem's eyes scanned the rest of the room before falling on the librarian, and lumbered its way to her, the intent to kill evident.
She weighed her options. The sheer amount of levels this beast could provide would be more than enough for her. But she had to defeat him first. Pecora glanced to her allies, both of them beaten and bloodied. They both would have died if they were working separately.
But..
She wanted to keep fighting. Her natural urges as a demon cried out for it, it was what was spurring her on this whole time and kept her mind off those dusty books. The golem drew closer, its massive body picked up speed, wrecking apart any tables or bodies its path crossed.
Pecora held up her bloodied blade with a sickening smile. This is why demons even existed; this is what they lived to do. Murder, pillage, ravage, it was all the ideal life of a demon. Live or die, she would see this fight to the death solely because that's what demons were made fo-
"Madame! We need to GO!"
"...Shit!" The foolhardy demonic logic was ousted from her brain in an instant- that thing would absolutely destroy her! And what would happen to her library then? The whole reason she was even out here was to protect it, and unbalanced fights like this one would not help a thing. She was not going to die today.
The beast gave a roar, its boulder sized fists were engulfed in mana power that was meant to smash her skull. Pecora turned tail, bounding away as the golem's fist collided with the ground, making a pseudo earthquake that rocked the entire foundation of the already ruined bar.
"Giga Fire!" in her palm gathered a white hot glowing sphere of energy. She leaped off a fallen heavy knight and fired the ball of magic into the nearest wall, blasting it open and creating the perfect means for escape.
Eithan and Luke bounded to freedom, but the golem wouldn't be having its prey escape. It pounded the floor, creating a massive shockwave that knocked the duo off their feet. It tore after them, another bloodthirsty cry echoed from its throat.
"Mega Ice!" Pecora launched another ball of magic, this time aimed at the monster, successfully getting its attention off the two kids and back on its original target. The golem seemed quite annoyed now, charging at the librarian like a train. She tried to run, but stumbled over a body, ironically the fallen warrior she defeated minutes before.
'Dammit, dammit, dammit..!' her mind screamed as she tried to pick herself off the floor. The monster was upon her now, rearing back its body to finally smash this annoying girl into pieces.
"Bind!"
The ever so constant curse now saved her life as the golem was restrained by the white rings of light. Eithan was now at Pecora's side, helping her to her feet before dashing off, dragging her by her wrist. Luke, who was already heavily fatigued, dropped his staff and fell to his knees, completely worn out. Eithan somehow hoisted the cleric onto his shoulder and the trio escaped the wrath of the tyrannical forest guardian, who threw a rampage and tore down the entire bar behind them.
"It was mostly a success, right?" Eithan asked as he nursed some of his wounds.
"Around 78%. We were doing good till that thing came in," Luke casted small healing spells over the three of them, getting the biggest wounds first and treating the smaller ones with a first aid kit.
"Please don't remind me," Pecora groaned and slumped against her desk. She mentally scorned herself for letting those foolish thoughts cloud her mind and almost get her killed. She was a librarian, her job was to assist and educate, not swing her sword around and lop off heads.
She almost died back there, and for what? The thrill of the battle? Uhg.
Pecora wrapped her wrist with a bandage. She wasn't properly clothed for casting that Giga Fire, and it had caused mild burns to her palm and wrist. She made the mental note to obtain magician's gloves later on. Or maybe a brawler's gauntlet...? She couldn't let her fist mastery go to waste...
"I still wonder where it even came from, I mean, you'd think Wood Golem's like that were only found in, uhm, like forest and stuff—Oooowwwchh...," Eithan winced as Luke poured a healing potion over his bullet wounds.
"I'm curious myself. Ms. Atal, have you any idea why such a demon was present?"
Pecora didn't even want to think of that kind of demon right now, she sighed, "Probably dispatched from the Nether-Prison."
"Like Hades?"
"There are billions of demon criminals, and such, many more prison facilities than the popular Hades," Pecora explained. She paused, "Though, considering its strength, Hades is a possibility."
Eithan, now bandaging his gun wounds, cocked his head, "Why would they send that thing out?"
"To do exactly what it did, calm down the situation."
"But it killed everyone!"
"That counts as calming, technically."
Eithan huffed, "That's so ridiculous."
"It's the netherworld, my dear Demon Lord, it's simply how it works."
There was silence for a while as they all completed healing themselves.
"Hey, madame, I was thinking..."
"Hm?
"We were pretty outnumbered back there. We should try to recuit a few more allies to join our cause!"
Luke nodded, "I'm in favor of that. We three can't do everything. Today was proof of that,"
Pecora winced at that last comment, but ultimately agreed.
"I suppose you're correct, however, who would join the cause of protecting a library?"
More silence.
"Why not summon something, Ms. Atal? Summoned beings are bound to your law, right?"
"Oh?" Oh. Right. Pecora had an...entire library of books at her disposal. It was time to utilize some of them.
She returned to the duo with a series of hefty texts in her hands and placed them all on the table before them. "Well, what kind of ally would you two prefer? The most common choice is Dragon."
Eithan's eyes lit up, "I'm so okay with a dragon! They're so cool!"
"Dragons seem nice. A massive wall of destruction would keep our enemies busy," Luke put much more thought into his answer.
"Dragon it is," Pecora got half of those books for nothing then, regardless, she opened up the first book on summoning.
The boys were looking at her rather eagerly, "Tell us what we can do to help madame!"
"R..right."
Most people wouldn't believe this, but she was actually a terrible summoness. Her mind travelled back to her days in school, where she failed countless summoning tests. ...But she was a fully grown woman now! She could do anything she put her mind to, and today, she would summon the best possible dragon to work for her.
Much like the recipe for the Dimensional Gate, the trio scurried around the library, gathering various requirements for her summon and placed them all into a pot that seemed older than even the library itself.
All the ingredients were present; all that was left was to actually summon the thing. Eithan and Luke stood by, watching their boss expectantly and awaiting their grand new servant.
Pecora gulped uneasily, her hand traced over the text in her book before it hovered above the ancient pot.
Inhale.
Exhale.
You can do this.
"Oh, living creature from the distant land to where you may be,
I am calling upon you to aid us, and protect us,
Winged beast; man's true foe!
We summon you, dragon! To us, you fly!
Unleash your wrath into the sky! "
...
...
Nothing?
Pecora hung her head. She knew she was bad at this, but she at least expected SOMETHING to happen. Even a little smoke or flames or..ice shards?
"Madame? What did you do..?"
"Wha.." Pecora opened her eyes to see the pot was gradually becoming engulfed in shards of ice, the ingredients completely frozen over.
"Th..this is completly normal, Eithan. I..simply summoned an ice element dragon," she was lying, obviously, and took a few steps back, as even she didn't know what was going on.
Then it all seemed to stop.
"A dud?"
"Ms. Atal, did you do it right?"
"I mus-"
CRASH.
There was an explosion of ice, mist and seemingly snow, completely blinding the members of the library and scaring all of them out of their wits.
Eithan coughed, thinking it was smoke, "L..Luke? Madame? You two okay..?"
"I'm..I'm alright, Eithan!" Luke called through the thick fog, "Ms. Atal, how are you doing?"
"H..help!"
That voice didn't belong to any of them, "Wind!" Pecora lifted her hand and blew apart all of the fog.
What lie before them wasn't a dragon. It wasn't even an intimidating monster of any kind.
"Madame..you summoned a little girl."
"...I apologize."
This 'little girl' was in shock, her body visibly shaking, "Wh—who are you? Please don't hurt me, please! I need help!"
Pecora stepped to her, and the girl leapt back with a squeal, "D..Don't come any closer! I'm..the..the Princess to the Ice Kingdom! My mother will destroy any who harm me!"
Luke now stepped to her, the simple fact that he was a cleric kept the girl from running away even more, "Please, miss. Calm down. We all seem to be experiencing a great misunderstanding. Please, tell us your name."
"..My name is...Y..Yttri Eirlys."
{{Yeaaahhh the main cast is finally together!
And I'm FINALLY on summer break! No more late chapters, yippeeee
Also, with my tablet, I've gotten to drawing~ I might as well link you guys to my DA, as there's some art of Pecora and Yttri, and hopefully I can also draw Eithan and Luke too.