All was hauntingly quiet as Ostrava made his way up the Boletarian Bridge, save for the racket of carrion birds whilst they feasted greedily upon the flesh of the dead. He took in the sights around him; below he could see directly into Taedmorden, a small village beneath Boletaria proper, built snuggly into the valley at the base of Esvern Rise, Boletaria's mountain range. As he studied the once cozy village, he found, to his dismay: buildings torn asunder, farmland burned, and large piles of wreckage where important monuments once stood. It appeared the demons had gotten there long ago as not a soul stirred in the once thriving village and trade post. An ominous fog had settled around the battered landscape, giving it a ghostly glow.

He clenched his sword and shield tightly in his hands, a rage and knightly pride building inside of him that he hadn't known he possessed. His mind wandered to the innocents; to all the women and children, to all the modest farmers, smiths, and miners trying to make an honest living off the land, mercilessly slaughtered. And for what purpose?

"This is not how it is supposed to be," he growled into the emptiness surrounding him. "We are the strongest country in all the known world. How is it that this has come to pass?"

Ostrava sighed to himself and let his hands fall. After a while and much effort, he was able to peel his eyes from the scene below and looked onwards towards the Boletarian Keep. The further up the path his eyes traveled, the thicker the fog grew. It was almost impossible to see the throne room from where he was currently standing, whereas any other time it would have been ever present, keeping proud sentinel over its vast and burgeoning kingdom.

"This is worse than I ever feared" he exclaimed anxiously to himself. "I must make haste, lest all be lost, and this have been for nothing…"

Ostrava cleared his mind and set forth towards the Keep, hoping that the rest of the way would be just as uneventful as the last few hours had been.

Alvira walked cautiously up the bridge, worrying her halberd in her hands as she went. Though all seemed lifeless and still, she stressed about what lurked around every corner. It wouldn't be the first time that she had been jumped whilst unsuspecting. Not to mention the threat of a very angry drake still loomed over her shoulder.

Pushing onward despite these circumstances, she kept her eyes sharp and ears strained for anything unusual. She soon picked up what sounded like metal repeatedly striking stone in the distance. She peered through the fog; on the other side of the bridge, she could barely make out a tall, black figure that appeared to be rising and falling. She frowned and urged herself into the fog, both curious and apprehensive about the figure. The further she went, the louder the noise became until it had become an almost deafening bang. The bridge began to quake beneath her feet, causing loose bits of stone railing to dislodge and plummet to the earth far below. With each step she took, the shaking turned more violent until even balance became difficult. Fragments of stone and wood cascaded down upon her head from the bridge's archways. She fought desperately to keep her composure each time the bridge shook and prayed that she would not get trapped beneath a pile of falling rubble.

The closer she got to the source, the stronger and more frequent the impacts became. Over the next archway she recognized the figure she had seen from afar towering high in the sky, but it quickly disappeared, and another barrage of shaking soon followed. Alvira made one last, quick dash, finally reaching the last archway, only to be blasted backwards by a forceful gust of wind. She landed hard on her back and wheezed, temporarily dazed. Another loud bang returned her to her senses, and she rose to her feet. Her blood ran cold as her gaze drifted skyward…

Endlessly onward her eyes seemed to climb, an atrocity of human and demon combined consuming all her vision: a knight swathed in heavy armor the color of midnight, standing some 40 feet above the ground. He held in his right hand a large, menacing black-steel lance, and in his left hand he wielded a giant, reinforced shield standing nearly as high as he himself. His eyes were glowing a lustrous blue out of the sockets of his helmet, the intent to kill evident even in their otherworldly guise. Trapped in the corner of the square in which the Tower Knight stood keeper was Ostrava, sword and shield dropped to his sides and arms against the wall. His chest heaved as he hyperventilated, and his head was frantically swiveling from side to side, searching for a means of escape. He found Alvira standing in the entryway and began helplessly flailing his arms at her.

"For God's sake, help me!" he screamed. "He is going to kill me!"

The Tower Knight's armor groaned as he lifted his heavy shield. He raised it above his head, and with a whoosh of the wind, it started to drop upon Ostrava.

Flee, her mind screamed as she stood cemented in place, immobilized by dread creeping up her spine. Run away. This is a foe you cannot face.

Ostrava threw himself forward as hard as he could, rolling awkwardly underneath the demon's legs. His shield hit the stone, creating another wind blast and rattling the ground, momentarily throwing both Alvira and Ostrava off-kilter. The Tower Knight shifted focus to Alvira as she regained her poise and thrust his lance forward at her. Fear became panic, adding weight to her otherwise fluid movements. She side-stepped the attack but was still grazed by the sharp tip of his weapon, which easily shredded through her armor and into her left shoulder. She cried out in pain and grabbed the wound; it had cut deep and was bleeding profusely down her arm.

Ostrava took the opportunity while the demon was distracted to collect his sword and shield. Then he ran to Alvira's side, clutching his breast in a feeble attempt to quell the rapid beating of his heart. His breathing was rigid and heavy. He had not been paying attention to the demon and was unaware that he had been winding up for another attack; the demon pulled his lance back and it began to glow bluish-white in his hand. He released it and a spear of magic flew fast towards them. Alvira seized Ostrava none too gently and pulled him backwards out of the archway to avoid the blow. The Tower Knight's attack impacted against the square's walls hard enough to collapse the archway entirely, making the square inaccessible to them. However, their moment of respite was short-lived as the Tower Knight easily traversed the broken walls, crushing them beneath his boot as he made his way towards them. A deep growl thundered in his chest and his blue eyes glinted eagerly as they found Ostrava, anticipating the kill.

"Come here, boy," the Tower Knight taunted in a low, rumbling voice that roiled them both to the core. "This is a world for the weak-willed no longer. Come to me and I will end your miserable existence mercifully."

He made another step towards them, then another, slowly walking out onto the bridge and causing it to convulse beneath his weight. Both Ostrava and Alvira backed away instinctively as the massive knight encroached upon them, weapons bared uselessly against the armored giant. Ostrava held his shield up in a quivering fist as if it could somehow be useful against such a foe. He was whimpering and muttering incoherently to himself; Alvira's mind was sent racing, searching for a weakness, a solution, anything she could use against this demon as they were now cornered, but she was drawing a blank.

Are all demons this powerful?

Another mighty step, another booming echo.

If so, all is lost…

Alvira reached into her pocket and weakly held her inert talisman in hand.

God, save us…

Then, as if the demon knew what she was thinking, the Tower Knight's eyes flicked to her, and he stopped moving. He glared at her and chuckled darkly, saying, "A Temple Knight. Such a trifling thing." He pounded the bottom of his shield on the ground, causing Alvira and Ostrava to teeter and stumble forward. Only Alvira fell, landing on her hands and knees.

"Tell me, why are you here when your God is not?" the demon mocked.

Something kindled in her when the demon spoke those words. Demons always lie. Alvira bristled, clutching her talisman tighter and feeling a strange power flowing through it. She looked the demon straight in the eye, anger seeming to radiate from every pore, her fear eroding to ash and courage being born amongst the embers. "God is here," she shouted, rising to her feet, back completely straight, the picture of defiance. "He is the very light and wind around us, and I am His will! By His divine power you shall be smitten on this very spot!"

At this, the Tower Knight laughed raucously, and the sound wrung in her ears, but no longer afeared her. "Your order is built upon a foundation of hypocrisy!"

Alvira's fury rose at this insult, and she charged the Tower Knight blindly. He held up his shield, and when she was within his range, thrust it out to his side and sent her flying into the bridge's eastern wall so hard that it knocked the helmet from her head. The wind was taken from her lungs on impact, and she slid uselessly to the ground, coughing and sputtering violently. Satisfied that she was out of the way for the moment, the Tower Knight turned his attention back to Ostrava, who was gaping at Alvira's prone form. The demon made a step towards him, and his attention immediately snapped back to the colossus quickly approaching.

"You never were worthy," the demonic knight growled. "Unskilled with both fist and sword. You are an affront to the pride of Boletaria; one that I will gladly vanquish…"

Ostrava was paralyzed with fear as the Tower Knight encroached upon him. A petrified squeak escaped his throat as the demon once more raised his shield. Alvira came to then but was too far away to assist Ostrava in his moment of need. "Ostrava, get away! Run!" Her concerned voice jolted him out of his stupor, and he did just as she said: he ran. He was thrown off his feet as the demon's shield collided with the bridge, which cracked and shifted slightly beneath the pressure. The Tower Knight released a frustrated roar as Ostrava shuffled beneath him, forcing himself quickly to rise and retreat from the monstrous figure. The demon knight whirled around and blindly slammed his shield down where Ostrava had been, and the stone beneath his feet split even more.

The Tower Knight growled and ground his teeth together, irritated that Ostrava had eluded him once more. He jabbed at Ostrava a few times with his lance, but he managed to avoid every single hit. While Ostrava wasn't a particularly skilled fighter, he was rather quick-footed, something that the demon knight clearly had not foreseen. The Tower Knight stamped his foot angrily; the bridge cracked more beneath his tremendous form, though in his rage he failed to notice. All his ire was directed towards the insolent boy as he turned and made to run again. The Tower Knight again pulled back his lance and fired a bolt of magic, however he sent it over Ostrava's head at the archway he was running towards, easily destroying it. Ostrava stopped dead in his tracks and stared helplessly at the pile of debris, far too large for him to reasonably scale. He was trapped once again between a wall and a demon, only this time he knew his luck had run dry.

The demon threw another magic lance at Ostrava, prompting him to jump back. He spun around and faced his impossibly powerful foe. The Tower Knight was glaring daggers at him, all humor gone from his gaze as the grasp on his lance stiffened. Yet a spark of hope blossomed in Ostrava's chest as he saw Alvira slowly rising behind the demon, even as he swept his lance at him in a wide arc that would have taken off his head had he not ducked. The demon tried again but got the same result. Alvira was sneaking up behind him now, holding her halberd in both hands.

I just have to keep his attention a little longer, Ostrava mused. Alvira, please hurry; I do not know if I can keep this up!

The Tower Knight swung his lance again, however this time, expecting Ostrava to evade, he followed it up with a quick jab that pierced his breastplate. Though it did not go past his chainmail, the momentum from the attack drove him backwards and onto his buttocks. Alvira was in position now behind the Tower Knight and Ostrava breathed a sigh of relief. She lunged the honed tip of her halberd forward into his Achille's tendon. A loud yell ripped from the demon's throat as the halberd pierced through the most susceptible point of his armor and into the skin, eliciting a violent spray of blood forth from the wound. However, to Alvira's detriment, the Tower Knight managed to remain on his feet, and before she could strike again, he kicked his foot back, propelling her backwards several yards.

"Impudent wench!" the Tower Knight roared. He twisted around and stared icily at Alvira, seething silently as she struggled weakly to stand again. Finally, he said, "Enough of you. I have suffered your presence too long as it is." Ostrava could only watch in horror as the demon raised his shield and brought it down. Alvira managed to slink far enough away on her knees that the Tower Knight missed, though the surge of wind knocked her away. Panic-stricken, Ostrava rushed underneath the Tower Knight's legs as he lifted his shield off the ground and knelt by Alvira.

"Oh no, oh no no no," he babbled as he looked down upon her unconscious face. She was their one hope of survival, and now that she was out cold, there was no way that Ostrava was going to be able to fend off the Tower Knight alone. His quest was going to end so shortly after it had begun. There was naught to do but accept his fate.

Then, suddenly, a loud crack caught his attention. The Tower Knight noticed as well, but far too late, as another crack sounded from the bridge, and it gave beneath his feet. The Tower Knight lost his footing and fell heavily backwards; this last bit of duress on the broken structure was all it took to send a portion of the bridge collapsing into the ocean below. The resulting shockwave dislodged the remainder of the damaged stone beneath his massive form and sent him crashing down into the ocean, the water eagerly engulfing him as he thrashed about before sinking to the aquatic depths.

Ostrava stared in bewilderment off the jagged edge of the bridge as the waves dispersed and the water's surface smoothed over. Alvira awoke shortly after and finally managed to rise; the force with which she had hit the stone had been none too kind to her damaged shoulder, and she was sure more than a few bones were broken. She clutched her bleeding wound tightly as she limped over to Ostrava, only to fall when she put too much weight on her newly shattered leg. Ostrava jumped when he saw her out the corner of his eye, demon and ocean alike forgotten. Alvira sighed as he scrambled to help her, eyes drawn out into the infinite abyss of the ocean and the colorless fog that lingered on the horizon. Ostrava fawned over her, trying to evaluate the severity of her injuries, and driveling nonsense that she couldn't keep up with. His tirade ended abruptly when the odd ornament hanging from her belt began to glow.

She was silent, he realized. She should be screaming in pain; it was clear her injuries were serious, but she seemed lost in thought, as if she was simply pondering the weather or something equally trivial. Having the opportunity now to truly look upon her face, Ostrava found her to be quite beautiful. Her eyes were a bright, fluorescent green speckled with bits of brown. Her silver-blonde hair was cut to her jawline and neatly framed her face. Her lips were full and had a light pink color to them; she had high cheekbones and her jaw was rather thin. It was only after Alvira spoke again that he realized that he had been gawking.

"Hypocrisy?" she murmured, nearly inaudible. Then, before Ostrava had time to process what was happening, she was driving herself to her feet. "Whoa, whoa, hey!" he shouted as she stood, dragging her broken leg behind her as she stumbled around the bridge, continuing on as if he were mute. "Hey!" he tried again, vying for her attention. "Stop! You are in no position to be walking right now!"

Alvira turned her back to him and began sifting through the rubble. Against his better judgment, Ostrava reached for her arm, grabbing her, and attempting to hold her in place. Pain blurred her vision, and she screamed, collapsing to her knees and clamping a hand over her shoulder. Ostrava immediately dropped her arm and skidded to her, falling to one knee himself to be eye level with her. "Alvira? Gods, what do I do, what do I do?"

Her breathing became labored and a sheen of sweat settled on her forehead as the pain took hold. Ignoring Ostrava's anxious rambling, she rummaged around in her pocket until she felt the familiar, tiny stone. She produced it, hunching over and holding the crystalline rock to her chest.

"My helmet," she wheezed. "Ostrava…"

He couldn't hear her. He was panicking.

Better to do it herself.

She tried to crawl, but the weight of her armor and her growing agony caused her entire body to buckle. She gasped, still holding the archstone shard to her chest as she propelled herself forward with everything she could muster. It was excruciating, and soon, she was on the brink of unconsciousness. It was only then that Ostrava took notice.

"Alvira, what are you doing…?" His voice was strained, as if he was on the verge of tears. Alvira's head hit the stone when she tried to push herself forward once more, her body going numb.

I'm dying again.

"My helmet," she rasped. "Please…"

Ostrava shook his head, trying to swallow the lump in his throat even as his panic arose again. "Forget that; I need to find someone who can help you or we will both die here."

"I will not perish here," she said, the conviction in her words making them almost believable. "Give me my helmet… I won't leave this place without it…"

Though he wanted to argue, Ostrava conceded and retrieved her lost armor, setting it down beside her head. Despite everything, she smiled, pulling it underneath her arm. She reached out to Ostrava with the other, wincing as her shoulder burned, palm up and shard in hand.

"What is that…?" he asked.

"There's no time. Please, just trust me."

He did. He did trust her. She'd saved his life twice in the same afternoon; he truly had no reason to suspect malice from her now. Silently, he took her hand, his palm encompassing hers as she made a fist around the crystal in her hand. Light erupted through the cracks in their fingers, enveloping them, and whisking them away to a foreign place.

Author's note: To those who have taken an interest in this story prior to this repost, you may notice that several chapters are missing. They are not gone, but I am going through each of them and making changes (some minor, some major) as I found myself dissatisfied with this story overall. I want it to be more mysterious, more brutal, more gripping and dramatic. The changes I've made thus far are much more on par with my (probably too high) standards.

The older, revised chapters should be up within the week if all goes according to plan. Then, afterwards, new chapters.

Thank you to every single one of my readers! I apologize that I've left this hanging for so long.