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The door slammed open. Wood cracked against the wall.
The bell rattled with the man's urgency. Reen jumped from the sudden arrival of a new guest.
Heat from the morning sun poured through the entryway as an older man stepped inside—a forester by look, someone who knew the woods like the back of his hand. His face was stricken with horror and unease.
Laughter and chatter thinned to murmurs as he entered—the crackle of the hearth flickered from the morning breeze.
He stumbled across the floorboards, eyes scanning high, as though searching for a giant.
He spotted an unusually tall woman lifting tables as if they were branches.
"Judy... Judy, I-I saw it! It's real, It's real! The demon! All of it!"
The words came in broken bursts, a truth he'd been choking on since yesterday's gathering.
His breath rasped loud enough to fill the room—all eyes fixed on him.
Mrs Lasen spun round, surprise bright in her eyes.
"Wha- Warren? You old fool, why are you in such an uproar so early? Come here, take a seat."
She pulled out a chair and sat opposite him.
"Reen love! Go fetch Warren a cup of ale to calm his spirit." She said looking over to her daughter.
"Uh…yes, Mum." Reen replied as she walked over to the bar, unsure about the latest guest.
From upstairs came the thud of boots on wood. The steps stopped; four off-duty guards emerged down the staircase.
"Mrs Lasen, is everything alright? Kalv asked, tone alert.
"Aw Kalv, were you worried about me~?"
She couldn't resist teasing him.
Kalv flustered.
"Mrs Lasen, what was that commotion just now? We heard ramblings of a demon" Yulan stepped in, unwilling to let the suspense stretch.
"Ah, don't mind him, love—it's just old Warren here" She said, nodding to the man opposite her.
"He seems quite traumatised, saying the demon is real. Apparently he saw it all."
Reen returned with a fresh cup of ale and set it beside Warren.
The smell of malt and spice rising from the cup.
"There you go sir–"
BANG!
The echo bounced off the rafters as a fist slammed against the polished wooden table.
"Kyaa!" Reen stumbled back in fright, unprepared for the unstable man's outburst.
"It's REAL! I saw it with my own two eyes!" Warren shouted.
Kalv came up and stood next to the shaken Reen.
"You alright, Reen?" he said quietly,
"Mm… y-yeah."
Her ears flushed pink as she nodded, the tension fading beneath his steady hand.
Mrs Lasen smiled at the sight, but it faded as she turned back to Warren.
Vitalis flared—an old, powerful muscle waking. The air seemed to thicken; motes of light bent faintly toward her like iron to a magnet.
"Warren."
A master's aura seeped from her being, raising goosebumps on everyone nearby.
"You need to calm down."
Each word carried weight. To him, it felt less like advice from a friend, but more like a command. His body obeyed instinctively, goosebumps prickling his arms as he stilled under the pressure of a Blademasters aura.
Even as Swordsworns, the four off-duty guards felt their own Vitalis flicker in reflex.
The tavern fell still; even the mugs stopped clinking.
"I'm… I'm sorry Judy." His voice cracked halfway through the sentence, a man worn thin by fear and sleepless nights.
He turned to Reen.
"I don't mean to scare you, young lass."
"But this isn't like them other times, I swear it."
Whether he liked it or not, calm had returned to him.
Yulan stepped closer, curiosity sharpening his tone.
"Mr Warren, may we join you for a drink? I'd be interested in hearing what you saw."
Warren turned to Yulan, with uncertainty.
He looked at the four of them,
"Ain't you lot town guards? Saw you with that captain, goin' door to door." He shook his head.
"Why would I bother with you lot? The sweet young lass, Trine's daughter, saw it as well. Poor girl was traumatised, but the council decided she was 'delirious.' You think I'd waste my breath with their dogs, just to be called crazy as well?"
He looked away, uncooperative.
"Mr Warren, we're not the council. They govern the town, yes—but we serve the people, we protect them. That includes you." He said, setting a hand on Warren's shoulder.
A tinge of guilt crossed the old man's face.
He sighed.
"...Fine"
The word settled heavy in the quiet room—like a verdict.
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They settled again; Warren drew a shaking breath, eyes fixed on the table as the guards leaned in.
The four off duty guards and one tall Tavern owner sat around the table, all listening intently. Reen did not want any part of it.
"After I arrived at the tip's location, I managed to find a very unique spring, a small river flowing through the forest, but that wasn't the strange thing, there were clear signs of human activity. My eyes aren't easily tricked, ya know!"
Warren pointed to his eyes, proud of his own personal triumph.
"So… I followed the signs, many times, someone had to go back and forth, naturally creating a path, hard to see but if you know ya stuff, it's actually obvious. When I got towards the tree line, I could see a small clearing. At first I thought it was a Cohort…"
He took an intermission swig of his ale.
"B-but when I reached the clearing, what I saw disturbed me"
The listeners slowly inched forward, half-rising from their seats.
" A pitch black scar, bit into the land, the ground, grass and trees turned to black glass—obsidian and lifeless. But the scar paled to the centre piece… A frozen skeletal tree—it pulsed with essence, rippling inside. There was burnt meat everywhere, too many for a cook, burning that much meat made no sense. It was like a corpse was cut apart and burnt by magic, I think—"
Yulan's mouth twitched open.
"Did you say it rippled?! Did you have a good look at it?"
"Ah… no I never dared to get close to it, but I know what you are insinuating… that it contained an Opening."
The room silenced, everyone present knew the devastation brought by these distortions of reality.
"I believe it was! It had to be where the demon crawled from and entered our world! The black scar was the damage that leaked from the Opening, it makes sense!"
The four guards turned to one another, they couldn't be sure of this testimony, unless they saw it for themselves.
"We can put the opening to the side for now… Mr Warren, what else did you see?" Yulan said.
"Pah! You young'uns. Fine. When I looked further I saw the landscape beyond was torn apart, as if it had been tunnelled through by some big creature. Clean sharp cuts were left in the earth, no Freeblade I've met could accomplish that. But I never had time to really think about it until I got to the end of the destruction."
His stomach churned at the memory, with a fist towards his mouth, he just about steeled himself.
"There lay a demonic beast—one I've never laid my eyes on before, nor heard of. I'm not sure, but what I am sure about is that whatever fought that thing completely ripped it apart; its body parts were sprawled across the ground, some bits twitched, reacting to essence in the air."
He took an even deeper swig of his ale, rushing the alcohol to hit his system faster.
"So… If there wasn't a second demon, then what ripped that monster apart?"
Silence snatched the voices of the five listeners, even the bustling regulars quietened down, watching like frightened mice.
The four of them glanced at each other, conflicting fears haunted their minds. It was an instinctive act to challenge such a horrific reality, they refused to accept the reality of a demon stalking their lands.
…demon.
"Something tells me we'll learn sooner than later"
Kael spoke up, ending the tense atmosphere.
…
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