"So what's your decision?" High Elf Archer looked back toward the two young women before her.
Both Priestess and Half-Demon Thief sat on the bed, sighing as the tension in the small room was so thick it could be cut with a sword, across from them was High Elf Archer on the other bed, beside her was the ever imposing Lizard Priest.
"If we are to find any way of fixing what has been lost, we will have to find that human wizard." Half-Demon Thief replied as she looked the eleven ranger in the eye.
"So, you're in agreement of undoing this spell?" Lizard Priest looked toward the two young girls with a look of uncertainty.
"Yes, but if all possible I want to refrain from disrupting Goblin…I mean his life." Priestess frowned as she clutched at her clothing. "Even if he is no longer an adventurer when things have been fixed, I want for him to remain happy."
Both Lizard Priest and High Elf Archer looked at this girl, there they could see the look of determination upon the small face, whatever she had endured in her time had indeed made her stronger.
"Rest assured my dear, we will do all in our power to restore what has been lost but avoid changing the good that has been found here in this world." Lizard Priest smiled as he nodded his head toward the young girl.
"It's like he said, let's go save the world!" High Elf Archer smiled and nodded toward Priestess as well.
Both Priestess and Half-Demon Thief could not help but smile as the familiar joyous sounds were very comforting to them.
"So what's the first step to finding this wizard? Do you know where he could be?" High Elf Archer had to wonder just how they would find this one man.
"I'm not sure, the other night was the first time we had seen him. Perhaps we will find some clues at that altar near the village, and if not that, then maybe the Sword Maiden."
Upon the mere mentioning of Sword Maiden, both High Elf Archer and Lizard Priest both tensed up and looked toward one another which put both Half-Demon Thief and Priestess at unease.
"What…don't tell me the Sword Maiden is also gone in this world?" Priestess had a panicked expression across her face.
"No…she's still alive, but I'm not sure just how much help she'll be." High Elf Archer sighed as she massaged her right temple. "Water Town…was attacked some time ago, it received quite a bit of damage."
"Was it goblins?" Priestess asked, though she had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
"Yes…I take it then that if you knew that, you're Goblin Slayer already dealt with it?"
"That's correct, we had dealt with it, a massive nest under the city."
"I take it this was before I joined up with you?"
"That's correct." Priestess turned back toward High Elf Archer. "So what happened?"
"The small army of goblins emerged from the sewers at multiple locations and attacked. The Temple of Law was greatly damaged in the attack and many acolytes were lost, but the adventurers eventually managed to stop them. Sword Maiden…barricaded herself in her room, refusing to exit until all goblins had been dealt with."
"The Sword Maiden's actions…have brought a lot of doubt in her capabilities." Lizard Priest sighed as he too thought about what he had heard.
"Regardless, she's our best chance of finding this wizard. Tomorrow morning, we should head for the sacrificial altar."
xxxx
The next day, Priestess and the others departed from the guild hall to make their way toward altar, meanwhile on the farm Farmer and his family were bidding farewell to his older sister.
"Do you really have to leave?" the young daughter did her best to pout and guilt her aunt to stay longer.
"As painful as it will be to leave, I have to go back to check on my house." Elder Sister knelt to pat the young child atop her head then looked back toward her parents. "I should be back in a few days, I can't be away from the school for too long."
"Be sure to send my parents my regards…and all the love of their grandchild." Cow Girl smiled as she looked down at her daughter.
"Seeing those two yesterday made me really yearn to head back to our old village and see how things are that much sooner." Elder Sister looked over toward her brother and smiled. "You take care of yourself and them too."
"I will. You worry too much." He leaned forward to hug his sister. "You be safe as well, be sure to watch the roads."
"Now who's worrying? I see you all very soon."
Elder Sister gave them all one final hug before loading up in the small wagon and gave the reigns a crack and started down the road toward the village. She turned back and waved goodbye toward her family then returned her gaze toward the road. A frown crossed her face as the wagon continued, she felt she should not have said that final comment to the two young adventurers but wanted to make sure that her brother would be happy. She gave her head a slight shake, dismissing the notion that something terrible was going to happen, those two would keep their distance and he would continue to raise his family.
"I'll be back and all will be well."
xxxx
"Now this feels more like what we're used to." Half-Demon Thief smiled as the four of them continued on toward the village they had seen just a short while ago.
"I agree, this and the lunch yesterday have been the most pleasant part of this tribulation." Priestess too smiled happily as she walked with the others.
"I too must agree, for some odd reason it is most pleasant to be traveling with you. It feels like this is what we should have been doing this entire time." Lizard Priest mused. "I must also add, you suggesting that I try the cheese this morning was pure genius. Such sweet nectar and right under my very nose this whole time!"
"I have to say that's the happiest I've seen you in such a long time." High Elf Archer too smiled as she enjoyed adventuring with these two young girls.
Ever since their ordeal with the ogre, her perception of what an adventure should be had greatly changed, but now as they walked toward this village and the prospect of changing things for the better, she felt like a true adventurer once again.
"Could, could you tell us what we're like from your time?" High Elf Archer looked over toward the young women, partly worried if she would not like what she was going to hear.
"I've only been with you all for a couple months, but I've never had friends like you all before. I was so readily accepted, despite being part demon, it made me feel so happy and so lucky to have met you. I shudder to think what my counterpart is experiencing."
"Like her, I've been truly fortunate to have met such fine friends as you all. In our party, Goblin Slayer is very quiet, you and I are always trying to get him to say more than just two words and try quests that are not solely focused on goblins. On every quest, you and the dwarf shaman are constantly arguing, but it's friendly banter between two comrades." Priestess smiled as she thought about all they had gone through.
"That does sound like fun. What would we argue about?"
"He…he would refer to you as an anvil, due to the…lack of meat on your body, primarily your chest." Priestess struggled to say all of that with a blush on her face. "You would immediately get mad and refer to him as nothing more than a walking barrel."
"That fat…I would have loved to have had those kind of arguments."
"You, like Goblin Slayer, are one that we lean on for strength, the most level headed of the group, and a delightful individual to speak with."
"Such praise, surely I am not worthy of it."
"In the short amount of time I've been traveling with you, I can say she is not exaggerating on anything." Half-Demon Thief added with a smile but soon saw something that put a frown upon her face. "Up ahead of us, I see smoke in the distance."
Priestess and the others saw what she was talking about, above the tree line they could see the dark plumes of smoke rising, and it was then that Priestess realized it was in the direction of the village. The group of adventurers rushed forward at full speed and in a short while reached the village, only to discover the horror before them. The village had been razed; the bodies of the villagers lay scattered around the area in various stages of trauma. Priestess was distraught as she looked around the area at the carnage that surrounded them and to her horror discovered the bodies of the young girl and her older sister atop her, apparently she had died trying to protect her young sibling.
"Oh Earth Mother why…why must so many suffer?"
"Is this the work of your wizard?" Lizard Priest closed his eyes and bowed his head to pray for those lost.
"I don't think so." Half-Demon Thief cautiously looked over the area, particularly the footprints along the ground.
"How can you tell?" High Elf archer followed the young demoness as she studied the ground.
"I'm seeing multiple footprints, but none of them are heading back towards the forest. The group that attacked took captives with them when we were last here, but this…this is just senseless slaughter." Half-Demon Thief continued to follow the footprints until she saw they led out of the village toward the forest further away from the village. "This group left here…away from the village…away from the altar."
"Over here." Priestess called as she waved her arms to get their attention.
The others moved to her position, at her feet was another human body, but this one was not one of the villages but a man dressed in black robes.
"He's different from the bandits we saw the other night." Half-Demon Thief noted as she looked over the body. "It would seem the villagers managed to put up some sort of fight against their attackers."
"I've seen him before, or rather recognized the robes he dressed in." Priestess frowned as she looked over the corpse. "He was a member of some group led by a demon priest, when I last encountered them, they were assaulting a padfoot village until our party stopped them."
For Priestess this meant that the village must have fallen without aid, just another event they would have to rectify once they found this wizard.
"It looks like this group came from further ahead…Priestess, it looks like they came from the forest where we found the altar." Half-Demon Thief had a worried look about her face as she came to this conclusion.
Priestess too was worried as the implication of what Half-Demon Thief played over in her mind. The party quickly rushed forward, though it took some time, they eventually came upon the clearing they had seen only a short while ago, but now found the stone altar destroyed.
"No." Priestess tightly gripped her sound staff and used it to keep herself from collapsing to her knees.
"Does…does this mean we are too late?" Lizard Priest looked toward the two girls, but one look on their faces confirmed his suspicions.
"Damn it! All this wasted time…for nothing!" High Elf Archer spat as she looked at the ruins before her.
"Maybe…maybe not."
All eyes turned toward Half-Demon Thief who looked over the ruined altar then back toward her party members.
"What the hell do you mean? This is now nothing more than a pile of rubble!" High Elf Archer glared at the young demon, feeling angry and frustrated at the thought of not being able to change things.
"This altar is ruined yes, but there may be another one we can use." Half-Demon Thief looked back at the ruined altar as if confirming her theory. "I should have recognized it before, but I've seen something like this. My brother told it me it had been used for human sacrifices, but I didn't think it had any magical properties to it."
"Then there's still a chance of undoing thing?" High-Elf Archer's face lightened as she heard this.
"Don't celebrate just yet, if it's the same kind of structure, then it's in a very dangerous place…especially if things are different from when we last left it."
"Where?" Priestess too was hopeful about the possibility of fining an altar that might aid them.
"The Lich Queen's castle."
xxxx
Within the Temple of Law she stood in the brightest part of the room; in the light they could not reach her, but in the darkness…that is where they lurked. Sword Maiden shuddered as she held herself tightly, though her eyes could no longer see everything they used to, she could tell about the changes in light, and even the slightest bit of shadow terrified her. She could still hear the screams of the people, of her acolytes from that night so long ago, and she could hear the goblins cackling. She knew of goblins under the city, and had hoped that the adventurers would deal with the matter, but had not expected them to practically overrun the city.
"They're only goblins…we'll assign some rookies to go after them in the sewers."
Those sentiments had been shared by the guild manger, but now he too was dead. Her familiar had been within the sewers and had managed to devour many of the goblins, but was no match for the monstrous eye that attacked. The roar of the goblin champion leading the goblin forces echoed from the streets, as her acolytes looked back toward the town from the temple, she immediately ran for her quarters, making sure to barricade the door. She did not care about saving face before these people, in that moment she only cared about avoiding that same fate again.
She could hear the cries of the young girls pounding on her doors, seeking her guidance and aid, but she would not answer them. By the time the monsters had been dealt with, much of the city had been destroyed and more than half the population had been wiped out. When the doors to her chamber had been finally forced open, the soldiers found her sitting in the corner of her room sobbing like a child. The respect of being one of the adventurers who had defeated the demon lord was gone in that moment, there were several rumors about her cowardice and what she had truly done on the quest with the other heroes, all of this added to her discomfort and depression.
"If…if only I had the courage that night to help them."
"What's in the past can't be changed, we can only push forward." A feminine voice called out to her.
Sword Maiden turned toward the voice, her eyes could make out the shape of a young woman walking toward her. This young, shapely woman had short blonde hair and behind her red glasses were dark green eyes.
"Arc Mage."
This young woman had been summoned by the king since her knowledge of monsters had been quite extensive, she along with Sword Maiden and the King made up the council that would dictate directions toward the other leaders of the military forces.
"It's been more than a year now since then hasn't it?" Arc Mage asked as she noticed the Sword Maiden's distraught face.
"Yes…for more than ten years they have frightened me."
"It is not wise to dwell on the past, there are no heroes for heroes."
"I am well aware of that, but you have not been put through their torture have you?" Sword Maiden frowned behind her blindfold at the woman who was judging her.
"No, I have not."
"Then who are you to tell me what I should do or not do?"
"Just an observer. The king is requesting our presence."
Sword Maiden and Arc Mage made their way down the halls of the Temple of Law, many parts of it were still damaged from the goblin assault, but much had been repaired as per the lord's orders. As the two made their way down they passed many individuals from soldiers to magic user, every one of them would look toward the two women with suspicious eyes and would then begin whispering to themselves, both women were already used to the rumors that were being said about them. For Sword Maiden, people spoke about her cowardice and even suggested that she had thrown people out of her way to get away from the goblins. For Arc Mage, people would whisper about her constantly offering her body to others for the simplest of requests and being crazy for thinking that this world was no different than a board game and it was possible to leave the "board" as it were.
"Let them think what they want, we know better." Arc Mage only looked ahead, not giving those that stared at them any sense of satisfaction.
"That may be, but there is some truth to their rumors." Sword Maiden walked along with Arc Mage, thankful that her blindfold shielded her from directly looking at these people. "For them…it is odd to see one of the heroes afraid of mere goblins."
"A demon lord is simple to understand, they only wish to rule the world. Goblins…goblins don't seek to control the world, they only wish to indulge in their basest of pleasures." Arc Mage replied as she remembered what research she had done on them.
"They should be wiped out of existence."
Sword Maiden and Arc Mage finally entered the war room to meet with the other council members, members of the elves, dwarves, lizard men and human race saw them enter and take their seat by king. Once everyone had been assembled, they began their discussion over the most recent turn of events across the land.
"To the far north, the Lich Queen's horde goes larger, the dwarven fortress has been overrun and their moving southward toward the nearest human settlement."
"The eleven kingdom nearest here has reports of their people being poisoned by something in the water supply. A horde of goblins have taken up an old fortress and have been apparently dumping a mixture of blood and…waste into the river. Attempts to drive them out have not been successful due to the appearance of the river guardian Mokele-mbembe."
"The capital has all but fallen to the demon lord's army, two-thirds of the city have been abandoned by the military to regroup and hold off the demons until help arrives in the remaining sections. Due to the lack of trained soldiers, we've conscripted all abled bodied men and children to take up arms against the demons."
The King heard all of the grim news and frowned as he stared at the large map that showed him all regions of the land. Various pieces were placed around the map to represent the forces of chaos, many major settlements were under siege with various smaller towns and villages being assaulted by various monsters.
"What of the Lich Queen, is her force moving to meet with the Demon Lord?" The King looked at the map concerned with the size of the undead numbering in the thousands.
"By our accounts, there is no evidence to suggest that, but once that human settlement has been destroyed she may move to join him." Arc Mage replied as she looked over the map with concern as well.
"Then what is our best option, we can't fight on two fronts engaging the Demon Lord's army and the Lich Queen's as well." The King turned toward the others seeking their advice before giving out any sort of command.
"What of the other heroes from our party?" Sword Maiden asked as she looked toward the King.
The King was silent as he sat there looking at Sword Maiden then back towards the others around him and sighed as he closed his eyes.
"My scouts have tried to locate them, but…they have all fallen in separate battle with the Demon Lord's generals. Right now, this room contains the wisest and most powerful or individuals left to govern the free lands."
The council erupted into panicked discussions over what had just been said, many of them were hopeful the other members of the King's party would return to aid in this darkest of times, but now found that this would not be the case. Before the King could restore order in the room, an attendant entered and rushed toward the Sword Maiden.
"My Lady, you have visitors."
"We are in council, send them away."
"I apologize for this interruption my Lady, but this party of adventurers says they have traveled over several days to meet with you, they claim they may have a way of fixing the timeline."
"Timeline? What are you saying?"
"I did not press them any further my Lady, but their party itself is rather unusual. There is a lizard man, elven ranger, a human priestess and the last one…is a demon."
All eyes fell upon the attendant as soon as they heard the mention of a demon with this party of adventurers.
"A demon? And he is a registered adventurer?" The King was confused by what he was hearing.
" "She" my King, and yes, she bears a guild tag clearly identifying her."
Sword Maiden turned toward the King and Arc Mage, confused by everything that had been said, not sure herself how to go about dealing with this, but soon decided on the best course of action available to them.
"We can at least speak with them and see if they are indeed telling the truth." Sword Maiden then turned toward her attendant. "You know the miracle Sense Lie yes?"
"Indeed my Lady."
"Then let us see this group of adventurers, if there is any truth to their claim it may be the key to defeating the Demon Lord, if they are lying they shall be thrown into the dungeons until I have time to deal with them." The King stood from his seat and turned to face the rest of the council. "We shall reconvene after I've had a chance to speak with these individuals."
The King, Sword Maiden, Arc Mage and the attendant made their way down the hall toward the great hall to meet with the adventurers. There by the ruined shrine of the Supreme God was the party of four waiting patiently, for Priestess it was both odd and comforting to see Sword Maiden once again.
"Thank you for seeing us." Priestess bowed her head toward the Sword Maiden and the others.
"How polite? Yet you have a demon in your party, not the wisest of ideas given how we are at war with the Demon Lord." The King was rather cold in his demeanor as he addressed the group. "Our time is very precious to us, explain yourselves."
"I understand that my being a demon is reason for suspect, but I assure I am not a follower of the Demon Lord."
"Then can you prove that we can trust you and what you've come to tell us?" Sword Maiden was very suspicious of this group, but knew that with Sense Lie in effect, they could easily determine if this group was here to help or hurt.
"This is not the first time you and I have met. In the bath, you revealed to me that your body is covered in faded scars, you said it was the result of a foolish mistake on an earlier quest more than ten years ago."
Sword Maiden stood there stunned by what she heard, this young girl knew about her and the scars from the goblins, something she had not shared with anyone.
"She is telling the truth my Lady."
Sword Maiden turned toward the acolyte, stunned to hear that all that was being said was true, but she had never met this girl before. The King and Arc Mage too were surprised by what they heard and all three turned back toward the party members.
"Just who are you exactly? What did you mean by timeline?" The King wondered what these four could tell him that would help with the demon lord.
"The Thief and I are not from the particular timeline, our party had gone to rescue some captives from a wizard and bandits and accidently interrupted the spell and were sent back to the past." Priestess explained to the king and the others around him.
"Wait are you saying you're from the future? Is our time the past? You're not making much sense." Arc Mage was trying to come up with a possible theory but needed more information.
Before Priestess could continue, a new voice drew their attention away toward the right. A human male in white robes with red trimming and a large staff in his hand walking toward the group. Priestess and Half-Demon Thief's faces widened as they saw him and instantly recognized his face from the previous night.
"My King, I've been trying to find you all. Far too many of our younger graduates are not faring well against the caliber of monster they're encountering. At the rate we're going we need to take other professors from the schools to engage the Demon Lord's forces." Light Wizard, clean shaven with short dark hair then caught sight of the four adventurers. "My apologies, I did not mean to interrupt."
"It's you! You're the one we saw that night!" Priestess frowned as she tightly gripped her staff while staring at this man.
"What are you talking about? I don't even know who you are."
"You damn idiot, your spell sent us back and changed everything! You're the reason we've lost so much and now you'll pay for what you've done!" Half-Demon Thief drew out her daggers and prepared to attack the wizard.
xxxx
"Our master must be pleased with the sacrifices we gave him." The Demon Priest smiled as he raised his hands towards to sky and looked down toward his followers. "We shall continue with our righteous mission and shed more blood in the name of the dark gods!"
"Praise the dark gods!" The followers chanted in unison.
The Demon Priest and his followers hid within the forest, they were less than a day away from the Frontier Town, but before they moved to take the town, they would take the farm. He looked from the tree line as saw the framer and the dire wolf moving away from the field toward the main house. Though he did not understand why the dark gods wanted him to destroy the sacrificial altar, he would not disobey their commands, surely slaughtering the family would bring them even greater satisfaction.
"We strike the farm tonight."
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I'll be looking to get back onto a more consistent time frame and get back towards our main timeline. You know, it was captaindickscratcher who pointed it out to me, this is just like the Flashpoint. I never got around to reading the comic and only saw bits and pieces on youtube, I might have been originally going with an Endgame thought process, but ended up going with Flashpoint instead. It does however give me some ideas on how to end the arc.
In the next chapter:
we going to see the meeting with this world's wizard and how his reaction will be when he find out what he's done
if they are going to assault the Lich Queen's castle they're going to need an army, but with the forces spread so thin, who and where can they turn to, hint think about the change in the timeline and who is still alive?
and the unfortunate attack on Farmer's home