Hunters E-Book

Peter Kongsgaard

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 401

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

During a routine investigation into a demon attack, a hunter in training, Yadin, and his mentor, Ralf, come face to face with an unexpected, dangerous and powerful foe. After sustaining an injury, Yadin must come to terms with what line of work he is currently being trained for and the cost of it, while still investigating what really happened in that attack and what involvement a mysterious girl named Amelia had in all of it. Their investigation takes them deeper into an intricate plot with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. They must use all their power and training if they are to save it.

Leseprobe

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 1

Ablinding flash followed by a deafening explosion lit up the entire sixth floor in the lower street apartment complex. A moment later the front doors of the building burst open with panicked people rushing through.

“What was that?!” Shouted one of the women as she ran out the doors.

“I don’t know, but just keep runn...” Another answered.

A second explosion sounded from the floors above, followed by a figure coming flying out from one of the windows. It flew through the air, followed by a trail of smoke. It hit the ground a couple of meters in front of the fleeing crowd with a big thump, throwing up dirt and rocks. The crowd stopped, waiting in anticipation to see if anything was going to happen.

“Is... is it dead?” Said a man from the crowd a few moments later.

“I don’t know... why don’t you go check it out?” Said another man.

“fi.. fine.”

He started walking towards the small crater where the figure had landed. He stopped about a meter from it, looking down into the hole. The figure had a small humanoid shape, about the size of a child. It had long half droopy ears and a flat face with no visible nose. Its skin was mostly grey with a reddish tint. It had two arms, both ending in claw-like hands.

“I think it's a demon. But that doesn't make any sense, there haven't been any reports of demon sightings near here lately?”

“But is it dead?” Mumbled a few of the men.

“I think so,” the man answered as he turned, looking towards the window the creature had come from.

“What in the hells was it doing all the way up there?”

The demon suddenly moved behind him, jumping back onto its legs. It snarled at the crowd in front of it, with fury in its eyes.

“Where are they?!” The demon said in a deep raspy voice, drawing out all of the words as if needing time to think what the next word was.

“Where are the hunters?!”

As the demon finished speaking the last word, it turned its hands to the sides. Flames ignited around its hands. They concentrated into its palm turning into small fiery balls. The onlooking crowd realized that it was no longer safe and started to run again, away from the demon. The demon looked towards the fleeing group and found a woman who had tripped and was now trying to crawl away from it instead. It raised one of its hands preparing to throw one of the fireballs it had created.

“Noooo!” Screamed the woman, who had realized what was going to happen. She covered her face with her hands, bracing herself for what was coming.

A loud crack split the air as something swooped past the women, hitting the demon. The demon paused and looked down at its body with a puzzled expression. A huge gaping hole had appeared in its chest. Its eyes rolled back into its head, its arms going limp, dropping the two fireballs. They hit the ground and instantly surrounded it in flames. The woman looked back towards the building. She saw another figure standing in the window where the demon had fallen from. The figure held a handgun surrounded by glowing spells runes.

“Sorry about that!” The figure yelled. It was a man's voice.

“You best keep running away from here, before it gets too messy.”

The man gestured for her to keep running, before slipping away from the window and back inside the building. She looked around, confused as to what had just happened. Why was there a demon in their apartment complex and who was the mysterious man in the window? She decided that those questions could be answered later and started running away from the building.

Yadin went back into the apartment building and ran down the hallway on the 6th floor.

There was another man, sitting next to an open apartment door.

“Next time, Ralf. I think you should be the one to chase down the demons that you accidentally blast out of the window,” Yadin said to him as he walked closer.

“Well you know me; I never do anything half baked. But in my defense, I was pretty sure I had hit it straight on to kill it. Besides, someone had to stay here and keep an eye on our friends inside this apartment. But I assume you got him, right?” Ralf answered.

Ralf was a tall man. Built to endure whatever the world could throw at him. And in their line of work, the world threw a lot.

His face had a calm expression, yet his sharp blue eyes were the kind that could dissuade anyone looking for a confrontation, and shy away instead. Not that that really worked on demons. He wore full body armor, complete with bracers and shin guards. Each piece was engraved with red spell runes, enhancing the armor with various enchantments.

“Yes, straight on, right down onto the street,” Yadin retorted as he sat down next to Ralf.

“And, of course, I got him. You should have seen the shot; I think it’s in my top ten. How’s it going in here?”

“Oh, you know,” Ralf said, just as a fireball exploded about a few feet next to him like it had hit some sort of barrier.

“I’m holding on,” he said with a smile on his face while another blast hit the barrier.

“Now, put up your shields and tell me a little about what we are facing here.”

“Really, right now? You want me to go through this now?” Yadin answered looking dumbfounded. A rune on the left side of his chest started to glow, followed by some sort of wave that expanded outwards, forming a sort of bubble around him.

“Yup,” said Ralf, looking serious.

Yadin sighed, followed by a short “Fine”.

“Spitter demons. While not very powerful on their own, there is an incredibly high amount of them both on Lantia and in the different hell plains. They are short creatures, about 1 meter tall but very sturdy built. Their heads and face are one of the most unique features about them. Long half droopy ears, but with a flat face. Their powers include being able to make projectiles of one of three elements, fire, earth, and water. The projectiles are created in the palm of their hands, where they focus their magic…”

While Yadin explained the spitter demon and its features, the other demons’ bombardment continued to rain down on their magical shields. Ralf kept his eyes on the small demon horde in front of them while listening to Yadin explain the kind of demons they were facing. Of course, he already knew all of this, but he had to make sure his hunter in training would remember things like this, for when he was not around.

The blasts kept hammering down on the shields and he could feel the energy being drained from him with each hit. He extended his shield to cover Yadin’s so that he could focus on his little lesson. The effort was not that taxing for Ralf, after all, they were not the biggest or most powerful demons around. Still, it was time to wrap this up before the entire floor blew up… Well, more than it already was.

“Alright, time to get a move on. What are the most common abilities of an abnormal spitter?” Ralf finally said as he got up from the floor.

“Mixing of elemental abilities. This could be fire and earth which results in the spitter being able to make projectiles made of lava. Even if they do not have mixed elements, their projectiles are generally more powerful. They also have enhanced endurance, toughness and higher intelligence. Most often they tend to be the leaders of the spitter packs they are in…. Do you want me to go on?” Yadin responded with a look of anticipation in his eyes.

“No, no, that’s fine,” Ralf said as he took a glance inside the adjacent room.

“There are three on the right and two on the left, but there might be more elsewhere in the other rooms.”

“So how should we do this?”

“I'm thinking of an attack from the rear, then split off to the sides and take care of the main shooters.”

Ralf took another look into the room to confirm the number of spitters.

“I’ll take the three on the right, that leaves the other two for you. Keep your shields up and don’t let them corner you. When you're done, see if you can find some cover to stay low.”

Ralf put out one of his hands as he said this. He started drawing a blood-red magical rune in the air, the rune for a teleport spell. He finished it, and it immediately started glowing, pulsing with power, signaling that the spell was successful. He pulled his gun up next to it. The rune started stretching, pulled towards the gun and merged with it. The rune vanished and the gun started glowing and pulsing in the same red color as the rune. He looked towards Yadin.

“Well?” He said expectantly.

Yadin drew his gun and started drawing the same rune. However, unlike Ralf’s, Yadin’s rune was pulsing in a bright teal color. He finished the rune, and like Ralf’s, it was pulled into his gun, ready for use. He held out his free hand and a moment later a giant two-handed sword appeared, resting across his shoulders. The sword, much like Ralf’s and his own body armor, had engravings that gave it various magical enhancements. These could be activated by sending a little bit of magic into the weapon, instead of having to draw the runes every time it was needed. The main difference between the runes on the armor and the ones of the sword was that the ones on the armor were mostly for defensive purposes and would, for the most part, activate automatically should the need arise. The ones on the sword were offensive and required to be manually activated. However, every time a rune was activated in either the armor or the sword, it would rely on the user's magic and continuously drain them for as long as it was active. That is why, in general, it was best to only activate the runes when needed. Yadin looked back at Ralf, his own expectant look on his face.

Ralf made a dismissing gesture before he held out his free hand. As with Yadin, a sword appeared, however, this one was much smaller, clearly meant to be used with only one hand.

“Let’s go,” he said.

They both took a step out and walked through the door that led further into the apartment where the spitters had barricaded themselves. They both aimed their guns straight towards the back wall. Three of the spitters reacted and threw their prepared fireballs at them. An instant before they would have hit their shields, they pulled the triggers and fired their guns.

The fireballs passed the spot where Yadin and Ralf had been standing. They impacted the hallway behind it, engulfing it in fire and smoke. For a moment the spitter pack looked at each other with a mix of confusion and excitement.

“We did it!” One of the spitters exclaimed with its raspy voice.

“They are gone!” It continued, yelling out in joy.

A light suddenly lit up the wall. Two runes had appeared, one red and one teal. Ralf and Yadin came rushing out of each of their respective runes. Yadin immediately started heading for the two on the left. He grabbed his sword with both hands, ready for an overhead swing. As the nearest of the two spitters came within reach, he swung his blade in a downward motion. At the same time, he activated the spell piercing runes on his blade, making it flare up along the edges of the blade in the same teal color as his magic. Unfortunately, the spitter reacted just in time and managed to avoid a fatal hit. Yadin’s blade hit the demon in the upper arm that it had raised in order to try and defend itself from the blow. It had little effect against the enhanced sword. It cut through the demon’s flesh and bone, causing it to scream out in pain. It quickly turned into a snarl as it jumped back. The demon took a deep breath. Flames started gathering in the mouth of the spitter.

“Dammit!” Yadin thought as he braced himself. The spitter breathed out and a sea of flames sprayed out from it, engulfing him in flames. His shields were not very effective at this close range and did almost nothing against the heat that followed. He felt his skin heat up and blister, followed by intense pain. He screamed out.

A set of runes on his armor flared up and a protective shell emerged around him. the heat and pain dampened immediately. The armor had activated its fire resistance and regeneration runes. While extremely effective, they required a lot of his magical reserves when active and he felt the drain on him immediately. But still, he had more than enough left to take out these two. He leaped out of the fire, charging the demon. He held out his blade and rammed through its stomach and into the wall, pinning it against it. It had a stunned look of surprise as it realized what had happened. It started gathering flames in its mouth again, but this time Yadin was prepared.

“Oh no, you don’t!” He said, turning his body around, placing his sword over his shoulder. He pulled down and the sword started moving upwards, cleaving the upper body of the spitter in two, instantly killing it, and the flames in the two halves of its mouth vanished. Yadin took a quick glance towards Ralf and the three spitters he was fighting. He now had a sword in each hand, both glowing along the edges the same way as Yadin’s. Ralf had already taken care of two of the three spitters, their heads were lying a few feet away from their bodies and he was now preparing to take care of the third. The last spitter threw one of its fireballs at Ralf, but he had already anticipated the attack. He put his hand forward, strengthening his shield. The fireball impacted the shield a few feet in front of him, leaving him unharmed. Runes lit up on his boots and he dashed forward with inhuman speed. The demon came within reach of his two swords and he slashed up with both of them. The attack severed both of its arms from its body. The demon screamed out in pain, it didn’t last long, as Ralf followed up by swinging both blades again. This time cutting off its head.

Yadin was still watching Ralf take care of the last spitter when another fireball hit his own shield, that thankfully was still up. The blast knocked him into the wall next to the spitter he had killed a moment ago. He looked around, searching for the attacker. He spotted the last spitter standing in a doorway leading to another room. It had taken advantage of him being distracted and had gotten a clean hit in. It had prepared another set of fireballs that it threw at him and immediately created new ones to follow up. The hits forced him to his knees and he had to focus on strengthening his shield to withstand them. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ralf was standing and observing him. He appeared to be ready in case this became too much for himself to handle but otherwise did not move. Yadin dismissed his blade and drew his gun instead. He extended his free hand and a rune started appearing in front of it. The rune finished and, like the teleportation rune, it got pulled into the gun. His hand chilled and the gun became extremely cold to the touch. A thin layer of ice had encased it.

He tried to take aim against the attacking spitter, but the smoke and flames from the fireballs hitting his shield made it impossible to get a clean shot. In a last-ditch effort, he rolled to the side, hoping to clear the smoke. A few of the fireballs flew past him as he rolled, but he made it out long enough to get a clearer view. The way was still covered by smoke, but he could just make out the legs of his opponent from the angle that he had. He aimed a few feet above the legs and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flared, as the bullet left the gun. It flew towards the spitter through the smoke. A cry of pain and a flashing blue light broke through the room and the bombardment stopped. The smoke began to clear and a figure emerged from it. His shot had hit his foe, although it was not a deadly shot. The spell he had cast had done its job. The spitter was now standing encased in a shell of ice, with only the head being able to move. It gave him a sharp look and hissed at him in obvious annoyance.

“Curse you hunters! You will not stop us. Just wait until I get out of this thi..” The spitter was interrupted mid-sentence, as its head suddenly rolled off its body. Ralf was standing behind it, his blade pointing out to the side after his cut.

“You got distracted. You shouldn't have given it that opportunity to attack you like that,” Ralf said as he dismissed his blades.

“Always, always keep your focus on your opponent. If you don’t, you’re just another corpse.”

“... I know,” Yadin answered with a hint of shame in his voice.

“I don't need you to know; I need you to do it,” Ralf said with a serious expression.

“These were just low-ranking demons and not that powerful, but if it had been another type you might very well be dead,” he continued, but lightening his tone a little.

“Now, are you still in pain?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I asked, get over here and let me have a look at you,” Ralf gestured for him to get closer.

He walked over to him and Ralf looked him over.

“Hmm, well, your armor needs some repair. It has taken some damage from the fire,” Ralf said as he inspected him.

“We also need to re-etch some of the runes. They aren’t complete anymore and won’t work properly, plus they will drain more energy from you when activated. Regarding you, you just need a healing bath when we get home for a few hours and you will be fine.”

Ralf suddenly turned his head up, looking behind Yadin, towards one of the closed doors.

“Something's not right,” he said in a serious tone.

“A lot of magic is being concentrated behind that door.”

He walked over to the door in question, stopped a few steps in front of it.

He held up his hand and a small rune started to draw itself in the air in front of it. Mist gathered in his hand, forming into a small floating eye. He walked the last few steps up to the door and cracked it open. He flicked his hand and the eye floated into the room.

“Well, fuck,” he turned around and started running towards Yadin.

“Get behind cover, now!”

Ralf passed him and grabbed his shoulder, taking him along. Both of them jumped the hallway and to the sides.

The door burst open. The force of the blast forced the door off its hinges. Blue fire soared out of the room, followed by intense heat.

“What in the hells is that?!” Yadin cried out.

“A hellfire demon. Activate your fire resistance and pour everything you have into it. This is not going to be pleasant.”

A set of repeating runes lit up on Ralf’s armor, but they had a more intense glow than usual.

“How bad are we looking?” Yadin asked as he activated a set of identical runes on his own armor.

“Bad, really, really bad. This entire building won’t be able to hold in a fight against that.”

Yadin could sense just a hint of worry in Ralf’s voice, but his expression was as confident and firm as it always was. Ralf was the kind of man that even though facing a dangerous enemy or problem, he would always keep his head and mind focused and do what needed to be done. The fact that Ralf was worried, left him with an uneasy feeling.

A voice bellowed from the room where the hellfire demon had appeared.

“Ahh, thank you human, your help was much appreciated in getting me to your realm.” The voice spoke with an eerie calmness and self-confidence, like it knew very well just how powerful it was.

“As your reward, I shall keep you alive, at least until after I dispose of these hunters.”

“But that was not what we agreed upon! You told me you could teach me and help me become powerful. I never wanted any of this!” A female voice screamed from inside the room.

“Ahh, but I did make you powerful, powerful enough to summon me and my brethren. That is not an easy task, especially for someone on your current level of magic,” the demon answered.

“Now, be quiet little one; I have work to do.”

A massive figure could be seen emerging from behind the doorway. Its body consisted entirely of flames but somehow appeared more solid than normal. The flames protruding from its back gave it the appearance of having fiery wings, with the edges being blue, instead of the normal red and orange.

The demon reached the door. Yadin could see that it was at least a head taller than the doorway. Its body touched the door frame, it immediately caught fire, turning to ash an instant later. The demon did not appear to even notice it.

“Hunters, my name is Laress, and I will be your executioner tonight.” The demon said again, continuing with that regal, better than the rest, tone of voice.

“Tell me, what are your names? I wish to know my opponents.”

Yadin looked at Ralf, confused.

“Well, this is new,” Yadin said in a hushed voice.

“The higher ranked demons are known to have more… pompous attitudes, but I was not expecting this. Stay low.” Ralf Answered.

“Well, I’m not in the habit of telling my name to strangers, especially not to hellfire demons such as yourself. So, if it is all the same, I would rather not tell,” Ralf said.

“I don't suppose there is any way we can just ignore each other and go our separate ways.”

“Disappointing, I did expect more from your kind, and no, there is no turning back now for you. However, unlike you, I will show a sign of respect towards you and the ancient organization you belong to. You have one minute to prepare yourselves, for your death before I burn you and this entire building down to the ground,” Laress had a hint of excitement in his voice like he was looking forward to what would come next.

“Please do not try to run, face me with honor in combat.”

“What do we do, Ralf?” Yadin asked, concerned.

“Give me a few seconds,” Ralf answered.

He closed his eyes, thinking, going over the situation.

“Okay, I got it.” Ralf started.

“First, we need to get whoever is in that other room out and get out of this building. Laress is not kidding when he says he is going to burn it to the ground and secondly,” he paused for a moment.

“We need an elemental... I need you to contact Gena.”

Yadin nodded in understanding.

“I will hold off Laress. Get whoever is in that room out, we need her for questioning. Summoning a hellfire demon is not something that should be possible under normal circumstances, so there might be more going on than it seems.” He finished and got up from the floor.

“Remember, shields and fire resistance must be active at all times. You only need enough magic to get through this fight, so just burn through your reserves if you have to. Go!”

Yadin got up from the floor and slipped away, out towards the hallway. Ralf walked out, into the room where Laress was waiting patiently.

“Ahh, ready already?” Laress said, turning towards him.

Ralf held out his hands to each side, his swords appearing a moment later in each of his hands.

“Let’s do it,” Ralf answered and charged Laress.

Chapter 2

Laress clasped his hands together. A wave of fire erupted from him, setting fire to everything it touched. Ralf raised both of his swords with a set of their runes flaring. He swung down just before the wave would have hit him, cutting through the flames and separating the wave, making sure that it would not get through the door behind him. Laress came charging at him through the flames. A giant flame sword sprouted from the demon's hand, striking down towards him. He caught the flaming blade with his own two swords. When the blades met, another wave of fire erupted from Laress’s sword, setting fire to whatever was left around him. Laress pushed Ralf away from him and gripped his sword with both of his hands. He swung out against Ralf again but he managed to dodge it by jumping a few steps back. His back hit the wall. Laress seized the opening and kicked Ralf in the chest. The wall shattered, sending him flying through the room behind it. He lost his breath and felt bones break, but he managed to turn himself around, landing on his legs instead of his back. His armor runes began flaring. Regeneration had activated and started mending some of the fractures in his bones. His mouth had filled with blood; he spat it out, wiping his mouth with one of his hands.

“Damn, he is a hard hitter, even after just being summoned,” he thought to himself.

Ralf didn't have much time to think before Laress burst through the hole in the wall, striking down once again. Ralf barely just blocked it. He felt the heat rising around him. He had to act fast before the heat would become too much to handle.

“Come now hunter, this can’t be all that you have to offer. You certainly have to do better than this if you want to last longer than a few minutes against me,” Laress said with a condescending tone.

“Actually, I’m a little disappointed, I expected more of a fight from you. The last time I fought a hunter, it was a glorious battle against an extremely skilled opponent.”

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint,” Ralf groaned as he was trying to hold Laress back.

“But tell me, why did you even want to get summoned here in the first place? There is nothing of magical value in this area,” he continued.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. You won’t live long enough to do anything with that information anyway,” Laress answered.

He pulled his sword back and struck down again, forcing Ralf down to one knee.

“Here I thought that we were starting to get along,” Ralf said with some strain in his voice.

“But at least I know that there is a reason and not just some random interference.”

A new set of runes on Ralf’s arms and legs started glowing. He could instantly feel the enhanced strength now coursing through his body. He started pushing back against Laress’s blade. He pushed it away enough for him to be able to stand up. The moment he had a solid footing, he turned one of his blades, freeing it and swung it upwards, towards Laress’s right arm. Laress roared as his arm was severed and burned out, leaving only a short smoke trail.

“You insolent little insect!” Laress roared.

Laress held out what was left of his arm to the side. The flames from his body started to creep upwards, expanding, before finally coming together and forming a new arm. He looked down on Ralf with a confident smile on his face. He clenched the fist of his new arm and struck down towards Ralf’s head. Ralf dismissed one of his blades. He made a few twists with his hand and a rune started appearing in front of it. It finished an instant later and he slammed into the rune with his palm. The air around the rune buzzed and a gust of wind sprang forth from the rune, launched itself directly towards Laress. The gust impacted Laress. Flames trailed after him as he was hurled backward through the hole that he had slammed Ralf through earlier. Ralf took a deep breath. Another rune started appearing in front of him. The rune expanded, growing in size until it was the same size as he was, hovering in the air. He took a step forward, walking through it. He emerged from the other side and his entire body was now covered in a thin layer of ice, pulsing with a faint magical glow. He summoned his second blade again and entered the room that Laress had been hurled into. Laress burst out from a pile of rubble that had been swooped up by the same wind that had sent him into the room. He had a very hateful look on his face.

“Ready for round two?” Ralf said tauntingly.

“I may have underestimated you, but it will not happen again!” Laress answered with fury in his voice as he once again charged Ralf.

Their blades clashed, but this time, with the aid of his strength enhancement runes, Ralf was better able to withstand the power behind Laress’s blows. The heat caused the ice on his armor to melt and evaporate, but new ice quickly formed to replace it, keeping up the extra protection. Ralf pulled the sword in his left hand away and made a swing toward the side of Laress. It connected. For a brief moment ice spread out from where his sword had hit, but it quickly melted away as flames once again covered the wound. Laress responded by grabbing Ralf by the side. He felt a sharp pain, even as the ice and armor tried to withstand Laress’s grip. He tried to wriggle his body free, but Laress’s hold was too strong. Laress roared as he lifted Ralf from the floor and threw him towards the ceiling. He went straight through and was tossed into the apartment above them, landed on the floor. He took a quick look around. The flames had spread to this apartment but were not as wild as the apartment below. A light flickered from the hole in the floor. He rolled to the side and scrambled to his feet, just before Laress came crashing up through the floor. He hurled a fireball towards him. Ralf dodged and the ball hit the wall behind him, incinerating a huge chunk of it.

“You had better got a move on, Yadin.” Ralf thought as he engaged Laress yet again.

Yadin scrambled out of the apartment and into the hallway, where he started running towards the next-door apartment. A shockwave shook the entire floor and he almost lost his footing. He looked back towards the door he came from. Smoke and fire were rising fast.

“They are really going at it,” he thought to himself, continuing towards the apartment. He reached the door, putting his ear up to it. The fighting in the background made it had to determine, but from what he could tell, no one was in the apartment. He gently pushed the door and it slit open. He pulled out his gun from his side before slowly entering the apartment. The apartment was dark and strangely quiet.

“Anyone here?” He said, keeping his gun forward as he searched the different rooms. No response.

“Guess not,” he thought and headed towards a room in the back of the apartment.

He reached the room and turned to the wall on the left side.

“This should be it,” he said to himself and held out his hand. His greatsword appeared a moment later. The edges of the sword started glowing, and he made four swings with the sword against the wall, cutting out a square section. He drew a rune on the piece he had just cut and another one on the opposite wall. A line formed between the two runes and he stepped to the side. The piece he had cut flew out of its place, towards the wall on the other side and slammed into it. Flames burst out from the newly made hole as it found a new source of oxygen. Yadin had to hold his arm up to his head to cover from the sudden bright light and heat. He dismissed his sword again before carefully stepping over the bottom of the hole and into the room. The room was filled with smoke and fire. Ralf and Laress were still fighting, they would probably tear down this whole building before long. He had to find the woman and get out. He looked around. It seemed to be a bedroom, or what was left of it, the thick smoke made it difficult to make out anything. He walked towards what looked like a bed. He pulled out his gun and pointed it in front of him, just in case any stragglers might try to get a jump on him. He reached the side of it and saw a figure laying on the floor, a female. He could hear some soft whimpering moans coming from her as he knelt down beside her.

“By the ten divine lords,” he whispered as he carefully leaned forward and turned her over. She was badly burned. Her hair was gone and so were most of her clothes, exposing blistered and charred skin. Yadin figured she was about her early twenties, about the same age as he was. He felt a wave of pity towards her, though he knew that she was actually the one who had summoned the demon that Ralf was currently fighting. There had to be more to it than that, it was not common to be able to summon a demon that powerful.

The woman's eyes suddenly burst open, flickering around, until she noticed him. Her eyes focused, as their gazes met. They were bright green and somehow still had a sort of fire in them, a will to survive this.

“Help me,” she said in a soft quivering voice, tears falling down her face.

“It just hurts so much.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” Yadin answered.

Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell back, passed out.

“Dammit,” he thought to himself.

The fire continued to spread in the apartment and it was getting difficult to breathe. He had to get them out of there now. He touched one of the runes of healing on his armor with the palm of his hand. The rune started to glow and a copy of the rune appeared in his palm along with a magical line connecting the two runes, pulsing in the same soft beating rhythm. He placed his hand on her forehead and the rune expanded to about the size of her head. A sort of shell composed of Yadin’s teal-colored magic began to form and cover her entire body. The tether between the healing rune on his armor and the one he had just placed on her stayed in place between them. He felt the energy being drained from him and being used to begin healing her. New skin formed to replace the burned areas, but he knew it would not be enough. It would take too long and some of the areas were far too damaged by the burns for the spell to handle.

Something crashed into the wall from the adjacent room where Ralf and Laress were fighting.

“Ready for round two?” He heard Ralf say.

“I may have underestimated you, but it will not happen again!” Laress answered back.

“Time to go,” Yadin thought. He touched the side of his helmet, activating the communication spell and focused on the target he wanted to get in contact with. With no time to wait, he picked up the woman, being as careful as he could. He quickly climbed back through the hole that he had cut into the wall and started running towards the main stairs. The hallway was filled with flames and thick smoke making it difficult to see ahead. He slowly neared the stairway. He saw that the flames were already consuming them. It would be too risky to go through without knowing how far the fire had spread. He backed away, looking for another way out. The floor creaked beneath his feet and he barely had time to register what was happening, before the floor gave way and the two of them fell through. He braced himself and the woman, keeping his back towards the floor so that he would take most of the blow as they crashed into the floor in the hallway below.

The air left his lungs and he almost lost focus on the healing spell but managed to keep his concentration so that it would not fizzle away. He stayed on the floor, trying to normalize his breath. A female voice suddenly spoke inside his head.

“Hello, Yadin,” the voice said.

“Gena, thank the lords. Gena, I need you to...” Yadin responded, but was interrupted before he could finish.

“Do you have any idea what time it is? It’s three-thirty in the morning!” She answered, clearly not happy that she had been woken up in the middle of the night.

“Well yes, but we kinda need...”

“I don’t want to hear it!” She interrupted again.

“I need my sleep; I have lots of stuff I need to do tomorrow.”

“GENA! I need you to listen for a moment,” Yadin finally said.

“We have a situation in downtown Kitalen, in a residential area, a hellfire demon has been summoned. we really need your help.” He finished and pulled himself up from the floor, still holding the woman. The fire was not as bad on this floor as it was above, but thick smoke still filled the air, making it difficult to see and get a bearing.

“A hellfire demon?! Who in the hells would be stupid enough to summon a hellfire demon in a residential area no less?”

Yadin looked at the woman, concerned.

“That is a good question, but right now it does not matter. We need to contain and banish him back to whatever hell plane he came from.”

“So, what do you need me for? I am not even near Kitalen at the moment.”

“We need you to hold him off and immobilize him long enough for us to create a banishment circle for him.”

“Really, that’s all?” Her voice was filled with sarcasm.

“I know it’s asking a lot, but you are the only elemental with the right affinity we can get a hold of right now.”

“You really know how to sweet talk a lady don’t you,” there was a short pause. “I’ll be ready in five minutes. You owe me a huge one.”

“Prepare yourself, this is going to be rough. I’ll set up the summoning rune as soon as I find a safe place.”

“I’ll be ready,” she answered and broke the connection.

Yadin felt a sort of pop inside his head. He could suddenly feel Gena’s presence. Not close by, but distant and yet it was still somehow just within reach. Like he could just pull out and grasp, and make it appear before him. It was the bond required for the summoning.

“That’s one item off the list at least,” he thought.

He finally examined the area around him and saw that the fire was much worse than he had first realized. Flames were roaring through every room and corridor he turned to. To make matters worse, he could feel his magical reserves running dangerously low and he still needed to actually summon Gena.

“There has to be a way out!” He thought to himself as he ran through the floor, searching for some way out, some way to escape the flames.

He came to the disappointing conclusion that he only had two options. He could either try to run down the burning stairs without knowing how far down the fire had gone, or how stable the stairs were. The other option was to just hope for the best and take the jump out of the nearest window. In the end, he decided that the jump was the “safest” way to go.

He knelt down, lowered the woman and touched the active healing rune. Its glow immediately dimmed, before fading away. The shell surrounding her vanished as the link to the rune on his armor broke. She started stirring as the pain returned, but thankfully she did not wake. He felt another wave of pity as he saw her like this. He would probably never get used to seeing others in pain like this. If there was a way to take her pain onto himself, he would do it in a heartbeat, just to be able to spare this one person.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to need all the extra magic I can get,” he said to her before picking her up again.

He walked towards the nearest apartment that should have both windows facing the courtyard and the main entrance. He entered with caution and did a quick search through the apartment. Thankfully, the apartment was empty. It was a nice apartment, three separate rooms with a nice big living room. It appeared to have been a family of three who lived here, toys and stuffed animals were scattered everywhere. Half-eaten dinner was still set on the table. He took comfort in the fact that despite being interrupted in their evening dinner, it did appear as if they had gotten out of the building without getting mixed up with any of the demons. He turned towards the windows in the living room. The fire was crawling all over the wall, but he had to get through. He pulled out his gun, took aim and fired out one of the windows.

“Well, I guess this is it. I hope you are ready.”

He tightened his grip around the woman and ran towards the open window. They emerged through the flames that were burning away at the building front. He knew he had to act fast. He turned himself around in the air, making sure that his back would hit the ground first. His shield flared around him, hoping it would be enough to slow them down and survive the fall, despite the fact that the spell was not designed for this.

They impacted the ground; a cloud of dust and debris rose around them. For a split second, a glass-like sphere surrounded the two of them, before breaking apart. The wind was punched out of Yadin and he struggled to breathe, unable to pull new air into his lungs, but at least they were alive. He laid on the ground trying to catch his breath, allowing himself a little time to gather before they had to move on.

“This was not how I thought the day was going to play out,” he said to himself. He checked on the woman. She appeared to be unharmed from the fall, but because of her general condition, he could not be certain of that. He looked towards the apartment building. It was completely engulfed in flames, and he wondered how the building had even lasted that long.

He looked away again, he had other work to do. He carefully placed the woman in the grass, some distance from the building and started preparing the summoning rune. He poured his magic into the rune as he drew it. He felt the magic leaving his body. This would be his last spell, before being completely drained. A summoning rune was extremely complex to draw, with not much room for error. Therefore, it would also take a longer time to finish than most of the other runes he normally used.

He had almost finished the rune when he heard a crash coming from the building. He turned around and saw two figures flying out of the flames. Ralf and Laress were still fighting each other in midair, as they fell towards the ground. Laress somehow looked smaller, but still more than able to put up a fight. Ralf however, was more visibly worn down. His armor was broken in several places and other parts of it were completely missing.

Ralf took a swing towards Laress with one of his swords, but Laress deflected with his own, pushing Ralf to the side. With his open fist, Laress punched Ralf in his side, sending him away. They both hit the ground, the accompanying dust cloud obscured them from Yadin’s view.

“This is it,” he said as he turned around to finish the summoning rune.

Laress rose up from the ground, looking unharmed from the fall. He charged towards Ralf again but stopped as he noticed Yadin, turning towards him instead.

“What are you doing hunter?!” He yelled, holding out his hand to the side preparing to attack. Yadin panicked, he knew that it was not or never. He reached out to activate the rune when something flew past him, followed by a sharp pain in his left side. He looked down in front of him and saw a flaming spear sticking out of the ground.

“That’s odd,” he thought to himself. He reached over with his right hand to where the sharp pain was coming from. He could not feel anything there. He looked to his left side and to his horror, he saw that his left arm was no longer attached to him, but was lying on the ground in front of him in flames. He screamed out in pain, realizing what had just happened and fell to the ground, clutching his left side.

Ralf emerged from inside the dust cloud, trying to get a bearing. His eyes widened as he noticed what had happened.

“Nooo!” He yelled, frantically shooting towards Laress to draw his attention away from Yadin.

Laress turned towards Ralf.

“Enough of this!” He snarled as fire gathered in his hand again and threw it at Ralf.

It exploded in front of him, sending him flying backward, away from Laress.

“Pathetic,” he said as he prepared another blast.

A bright light flashed behind Laress. He turned around and froze for a moment at what he saw. The woman who had summoned Laress and his small spitter demon army, now lay next to Yadin and had formed a link between him and his summoning rune. She looked at Laress, fiery defiance in her eyes. Anger seethed from the demon, and he roared as he hurled another flaming spear towards the two of them.

The spear came closer. Yadin tried to push the searing pain away, trying to find a way out of this, but there was nothing he could do. He closed his eyes, waiting for the spear to hit.

“Don’t you dare!” A female voice shouted.

Something heavy slammed into the ground in front of him, followed by a sort of cracking sound.

He opened his eyes again. A block of ice now towered before him. The block was cracked outwards from the middle where the spear had impacted and almost gotten through the ice. He looked behind him and saw a glowing circle hovering over the summoning rune. A figure emerging from it.

“Gena,” Yadin thought to himself.

Gena was a tall woman. But her human-like shape was just about all that she and her kind had in common with normal humans. Her hair was composed of long thin ice crystals that swayed along with