Owen frowned as he walked into the darkness. A few stones glowed with a dim blue light along the walls, barely illuminating the contours of the cave. His nose wrinkled as the smell of rotting meat assaulted him. He placed his hand in his leather bag and gripped the cloth pouch containing Palan’s poison as he continued forward, tiptoeing. After rounding a bend, he entered a circular room with a single green orb hanging from the ceiling, faintly illuminating the darkness, but not enough to see clearly.Owen squinted and peered into the room. “Hello?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper, as he took a single step forward. There was no response. He took another step forward while holding his breath, his hand clenched the cloth sack which was now in front of his chest. He took another step forward, causing his foot to sink downwards. He inhaled sharply and leapt back, casting his gaze to the ground. A suspiciously humanoid object lay on the floor in the fetal position.“A lizardman?” Owe
Owen’s eyes opened, red sunlight shining on his face. He groaned and touched a bump on his temple. A splotch of blood appeared on his palm as he withdrew his hand. He stretched his legs out in front of himself, finding manacles attached to his ankles, binding him to the wall. He looked around at the room he was trapped in: The walls were made of dirt, the ground was made of dirt, the ceiling was made of dirt. A metal grate with the width of a person was embedded in the ceiling, letting sunlight in through its slits. Owen sighed as he stretched his neck while staring out of the grate. His lips contorted into a bitter smile as he dragged himself to his feet. He glanced at a corner of his prison; an image of five frightened children huddling next to each other appeared in his vision. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He exhaled and opened his eyes, the children disappearing. He clenched his hands and muttered, “Just like old times, huh?” Owen’s face hardened as he placed his
“Is it really okay to let your demon do as he wishes?” Owen asked as he dropped a dead boar onto the ground. The two suns shone overhead, illuminating a glade with a shoddy shelter made of leaves and branches. Raea sat next to a sleeping Palan underneath it, leaves blocking out the sun overhead. Gerome was tending to a small fire beneath a tree in an attempt to create as little smoke as possible.“It should be fine, right?” Carmella asked in return. She was sitting on top of a tree’s branch, keeping watch of the group’s surroundings. The lizardmen city could easily be seen from her vantage point.“But he will not even tell us what he is doing!” Owen said as he pulled out a knife and proceeded to butcher the boar.“Hey!” Gerome said and snapped his head towards Owen. “Stop! You’re doing it all wrong.” He walked over to Owen and snatched the knife out of his hands. “Give me that.”Owen frowned. “That is not how you address your superior,” he said and furrowed his brow. Carmella burst ou
Palan smiled as he strolled through the lizardmen’s city. The streets were deserted and dark, the only source of light coming from the moon. The houses seemed empty with no candles or orbs to illuminate the buildings, but Palan could tell that they weren’t: he heard the lizardmen breathing in the darkness, sensed their beating hearts, smelled their fear. His eyes inspected the doors of the houses as he walked by, large crosses painted in blood decorated their exterior.Palan chuckled as he sauntered past a house with an open window, heading towards the more affluent area of the city. A child screamed inside the house before it was cut short and muffled, most likely due to its parents. Palan smirked as he started to whistle, his eyes scanning the buildings ahead. His gaze stopped on a mud-brick house, its door pristine and unmarked by blood. He smiled as he walked up to it and pressed the red blade of his dagger into the doorframe before sliding it do
A green lizardman sat on a bed with its backed pressed against a wall. A blue orb rested on the bedside table next to it, illuminating the room with a faint blue glow. A scratching sound came from the door as a red blade sank through the wooden latch holding it in place. The hinges creaked as the door slowly opened. A humanoid outline stepped into the house, the blue light framing its face, revealing a smile that contained too many teeth.“I followed your orders,” the lizardman said and hissed. “Why are you here?”Palan didn’t say a word as he pulled a chair out from underneath the table in the room and sat on it, resting his arms along the backrest. “I just wanted to make sure you remembered what’s going to happen tomorrow.”The lizardman’s head bobbed up and down rapidly. “Of course,” it said. “You will send messenger angels and the killings will s
The first sun was beginning to rise by the time Palan returned to the camp. The four angels were sitting around a small fire underneath their shelter with bleary eyes, boiling a pot of soup in a metal cauldron. Owen had gone back to bury the dead throughout the previous week and salvaged some supplies. Emergency Victuals raised its head, ears swiveling towards the approaching footsteps. Raea rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and followed the dire wolf’s line of sight. “Palan!” she said as the demon’s figure came into view. She frowned and crawled out of the shelter before standing. “You were injured?”“No,” Palan said as he yawned and took Raea’s spot in the shelter. “Let me sleep until noon.”Raea frowned as she nudged Emergency Victuals away and sat next to Palan, her hands glowing white. Palan’s body shuddered as she placed her hands on his chest—the region with
The first sun rose to its zenith, shining its red light directly onto the glade below. Palan’s body stirred, causing Emergency Victuals’ head to perk up. His nictitating membrane flickered and cleared his vision as he tilted his head to the side, cracking his neck. His muscles were sore and burned in protest as he leaned forward. He frowned as he saw an orange-scaled blob clinging to his shin. “What is this thing doing on my leg?”“I think she is sleeping,” Owen said. He was sitting on a rock, polishing a new set of armor since his old one was taken away by the lizardmen. White stubble had begun to grow along his chin and jawline, framing his face.Palan snorted and used his free foot to push Cleo off of his leg. She hissed as she fell onto her back and scrambled to her feet, her cheeks puffing outwards. Her beady black eyes blinked a few times before she frowned and tilted her head, staring at the purple
Raea and company walked down the streets under the gaze of all the sitting lizardmen. Most of them were thin and scrawny compared to the lizardmen in the army that had arrived under the banner of the greater demon. Raea frowned as she saw goblins and branded lizardmen kneeling in the mud beyond the general crowd. Their faces were dirty and flies buzzed around them. “Are those slaves?” she asked the chieftain. The bulky green lizardman’s tongue flickered as he turned his head to the side.“Yes,” the chieftain said and nodded. “They come from the tribes we’ve defeated. The weak submit to the strong and we grow together.”“There are children among them,” Raea said, blinking at a blue lizardman who was even tinier than Cleo. Its face was smudged and mud caked its legs, coming up to its thighs. Its eyes were glassy as it stared at the armored angels passing through, its mouth slightly parted. A grown lizardman smacked the back of its head, causing it to kneel and stare at the ground.The c