The Lost Heart {M}{IC}

[MidKnight]

"No, the clothes are not of a spy." He leans back in his chair. "Remember, I use to be the General in his Majesty's army. I had to use what I can to get an advantage at our enemies. Spies included." He touched his chin and groomed his long white beard. "After all, the Alliance was created nearly 5,000 years ago. There is no reason to try and break it now." He rubbed his eyes for a couple of seconds before finally speaking again. "It is as you said...muscle memory. Perhaps whatever or whoever taught her so much, must be when she was only a child, younger before we found her." He stood up from his chair and walked over to the window, next to Alessia. "Her sword is nothing like we had seen as well, and I seen all shapes and sizes, but this?" He shook his head. "I wonder if she had come from the border line?" He turned to look at the Kingdom map hanging on the wall behind his desk. "Our lands are next to that line, and we know nothing about those lands." He walked towards to a table that had beverages and some food, he poured himself a cup of wine. "I had heard stories and rumors. A explore team was sent and had never been heard from ever again, we even sent a team out to recover them, but even they were lost as well." He takes a sip from his cup, "It is possible that is where she had come from."

He takes a moment to think before his ears flinched, hearing the sounds of heavy foot steps walking to his door. The door bursts open quickly, the Captain walked in breathing heavy. "My Lord, I apologize for the intrusion, but we have a problem."

++++++

In the infirmary, nurses cleaned the wounds of a scarred soldiers, covered in blood, cuts and bruises. His armor was next to the bed, rant and battered. His sword broken in pieces. His helmet crushed like a piece of paper.

The Captain walked in the room with the Lord and Alessia including Velayna whom followed. The Captain stood next to the bed and kneels next to him. "Tell him your story son." The Captain said softly.

"We...were sent to the kill the beast, as ordered." The soldier groaned as he leans up a little to speak better. "Our tracker found a trail that led to the beast's lair, we lured it out with a trap and tried to kill it." His voice shook a little. "I never seen such a creature that can kill a whole platoon. Our mages couldn't hurt it, our weapons were...it did not care if it got stabbed. We hit it with arrows and it did not stopped."

The Lord listened while looking at the armor and sword on the counter. He picked up the sword, the blade was truly destroyed, shattered into pieces. His fingers traced over the marks where the beast had struck.

"Everyone was killed." He said finally.

The Lord looked over his shoulder, "What did it look like?" He asked.

"Four legged creature, with some kind of armored spikes on it's back."

The Lord hummed for a second. "Captain, gather your men in the armory and find this beast, I want it dead before tomorrow morning."

The Captain saluted, "I will lead the men myself." Then walked out of the room.

The Lord looked to his daughter, "I do not want to risk your life, but once you become a leader." He reached for the shattered sword and held it in his grip. "It is your duty to protect the innocent." His grip was tight as he squeezed firmly. "I will leave this choice up to you Alessia, if you wish to assist the Captain with this situation."

[Numbers]

Alessia watched her father. "Do not worry father. I know my job, I know my responsibilities. You've taught me to fight demons using my magic and there is not one that has survived me." Truthfully she was already thinking of many different ways to try and kill the demon. If its body on the outside was stronger than most normal defenses then she would simply have to go around the armor. She walked over to the poor soldier was who laying on the bed still.

She knelt next to him and took his hands on her own. "Rest now soldier. You survived and because of that, I will slay the demon. Now rest." As she spoke, runes appeared on her hands and moved over the body of the soldier, slowly easing him to sleep. After a second the runes disappeared and she stood up. "He should be asleep for a while and his wounds should quickly start to recover. He won't be able to move for a week still, but compared to the alternative, this is the better choice." She crossed her arms and closed her eyes as she started to think for a moment. Her tail swayed slightly side to side.

"Father, go the captain and tell him to stand down. If I am going to take over the house then I'll need to be able to solve problems my own way. I won't fail, but I don't plan on letting people die because they decided to go against my plan." She then turned to her servant. "Go and find the Sergeant as well as the soldiers who accompanied us against the bandits. Take them up to my room, if I am not there yet then have them wait. I need to stop by the vault to grab some artifacts." She said with a smile before leaving to head to the family vault.

[MidKnight]

The Lord smiled, but followed Alessia to the family vault. Wondering what her business and intentions were, and also was curious of what she wanted in the vault. "The Captain has made it clear he would take charge of this task by placing himself at risk. But I also need him here to continue securing our lands before the Emperor and the General arrives to our humble home." He placed his hands behind his back while walking. "The men that were tasked to destroy this monster was the best among our tanks, but if they were easily butchered by the demon." He stopped for a moment. "And if you think by taking the Sergeant and her men to accompany you on this dangerous mission. I will not deny it, I am sure that you have assessed these soldier's capabilities." He continued his walk. "I must admit, I will have several of our mages to follow as well. If this demon is armored and dangerous as they said, you will need every advantage you can get."

The walk was long, but the two arrived to the vault built underneath the family home. A large door seal, with several soldier's guarding the entrance. They stood at attention once they noticed the Lord and his daughter to arrive. "What I am really curious is what you need out of the family vault." He chuckled softly. "It is filled with many ancient relics and family heirlooms." He sighs and walked towards the vault seal. "Is this about that young woman?" He asked over his shoulder. "I know what you need behind this door. That sword is unique and rare. Very rare. No sword like that exist within the regions of this kingdom." He placed his hand on the seal and spoke several words. The vault hummed with a sound and slowly opened on it's own. "But like I said before....you need every advantage you need against the demon. And if her skills are good as you witness, maybe she can help." He took a step back and started walking away, "I'll inform the Captain, and the armory to prepare something useful."

+++++

Velayna searched the training fields and found the soldier she was looking for. The Sergeant had finished removing the final piece of her armor, her ears perked up when she heard and smelled the human female approached her. "A little lost aren't you?" She asked softly as she turned around, setting her gauntlets on the table nearby. Velayna takes in a deep breath. "I was for a while." She admitted. "Lady Alessia had ordered me to look for you and informed you to prepare for another battle again'st a demon, and instructed you including the same soldiers to wait by her quarters. I think she wants to inform you personally about the situation."

The Sergeant gritted her teeth for a second, and shook her head. "I understand." She takes the gauntlets that was on the table and turned around once more, "Will you assist me by placing this armor back on?" She asked. "It was quite difficult getting it off, but easily to place back on." Velayna nodded and helped the soldier prepare once more.

Time passed and Velayna with the Sergeant and the other soldiers had waited as instructed.

[Numbers]

"Thank you, father. Tell them to ready a squads worth of crossbows." She said with a smile watching him leave. Her father was partially correct. The sword was one of the items she was pulling from the vault. It was not the only thing. What her father didn't know was that she had long figured out the password to the vault and had taken many looks around the inside of it. As soon as her magic came in, it was easy to make the guards sleep and forget that anything had happened.

As she entered the vault, the power that emanated from the very room itself was amazing. Lots of artifacts in the room gave off their own sense of power. The first thing she did was look for the sword and she found it with ease. She picked it up and looked it over for a moment before putting one hand on the blade. "I know not why you exist blade, but whatever reason you used to exist for you exist for a new reason. I name you Neriak, the demon slicer." As she spoke the new name runes shot out from every direction of her body. They filled the very room as high-level magic was being cast.

"You will have a new owner but it shall not be me. I know there is more to you, and I ask that you take care of your new owner. You will not be alone in protecting her. This spell I cast and embed into you now will activate when she is in danger. If she is in danger, this spell will teleport you to her hand. If you are stolen, you will return to her. If you are given away to someone else, you will return to her." As if by completion all the runes in the room from her spell shot down and started to wrap around the blade and the hilt of the sword. Once they disappeared a few more runes appeared along one side of the blade. The runes etched themselves into the strange sword, and they read the name Neriak. She smiled before setting it back down. "Wait here for now. Wait for your master to call you."

Her next job was to find the other artifacts. She knew exactly where they were. She went to a very old bookcase and grabbed a book from it. When she opened it, it was filled with spells and chants in it. A relic from the past, the book that was once used to fight larger demons than the one in the forest. The other artifacts she had already set the recall spell on in the past. So like Neriak, if she needed them in this battle they would come to her. She walked to the vault entrance and looked at the guards. Her magic had completely gone into battle mode. Her sword was at her side and runes gently moved throughout the air around her. The book that she had grabbed was simply floating in the air at eye level but off to the side.

She turned around to put her hand up to the door and chanted the locking spell, making the door close so that it locked itself once again. She then turned and made her way through the mansion, quickly getting to her room where everyone else was waiting inside. No doubt her own appearance would raise some questions. "Good, you're all here. As you may have heard, you have been called her by my order. Yesterday, a demon was spotting in the forests in our lands. Now as many of you know, these forests are already known for being deadly and dangerous to those who are not of our race. For us though, there is no better home. However, this demon is not a welcome addition to our home. A few hours ago we dispatched the demon hunting team to take down the beast." She walked over to the windows and looked out them. Right before she spoke a flash of lightning came and it started to rain.

"They were all wiped out except one survivor who was extremely wounded. He'll live, but only because I cast some healing magic on him. Thanks to his survival though we have been given some clues to the beast itself. The creature's back appears to be made of some kind of demonic armor that prevents normal means of penetration as well as medium level magic that is found among our mages." She turned back around and looked at the scared faces of the soldiers. "I understand your fear. Do not worry though, none of you will be fighting this demon. I have called you here for many reasons. The first reason is that with the demon hunting squad killed, we are going to need to train a new one. Sergeant. You will act as the second in command of the squad while I will be the first in command. Now, none of you have been trained to fight a demon, nor have you ever seen one before. So as I said you will not be fighting it. You will be running the recover part of the operation. That monster killed our soldiers and besides killing the demon we also need to recover the bodies of the fallen. Your jobs will be to grab the remains of the fallen. To make it easier for you though." She went to her desk and opened it and pulled out some slips of paper with runes on them. "These are recall markers. Stick them when you find a body, dead or injured. This will teleport them back to the infirmary." She handed them to the Sergeant. "I'll let you decide who are the fastest and most agile runners in the squad. The rest of you will be outfitted with crossbows. Some more mages will be joining us. They'll enchant your bolts as you fire that will make it so that a medium level gust of wind will strike the spot the bolt hits. If the demon for some reason starts to get too close to one of the soldiers, strike one of its other sides with the bolts to grab its attention. However, if everything goes according to plan you shouldn't have to worry about that."

Alessia then looked to her servant. "Time to make sure the spell activated correctly." She said with a sly smile as she pulled her sword from her hip and swung for a kill shot at her servant's neck. If the spell worked then the sword would appear in the girl's hand and in the position needed to block the blow.

[MidKnight]

Once the group and the Sergeant had been informed about the situation. The Sergeant took the papers and handed them quickly to the fastest runners she know. The soldiers took the papers and placed them in their pocket. She even picked out the best archers among them to convert their bows to crossbows. "We will need to go to the armory then ma'am." The Sergeant suggested, she gives a slight nod, but stopped when they noticed what Alessia had done. The soldiers even the Sergeant reached for their swords on their hips.

Velayna sees the blade coming to her, but her instincts took over once more. She reached for the hilt of the blade while maneuvering, but something felt odd. Like the sword had come to her, moving into the palm of her hand. She spun in a circle and moved the sword back towards Alessia's own neck. But stopped when she came back to her own mind, a few inches from the skin. Vivid memories filled her head, a image of a small children. Attacking each other with wooden blades. They all shouted in unison as they each strike at one another. A tall man had his arms crossed as he watched the children continued hitting one another and defended themselves. She even saw a young boy who failed to defend himself from his opponent.

The tall man shouted a word and everyone stopped. The tall man approached the young boy, he took the wooden blade from his hand. He used the end of the hilt to strike a blow to his stomach, the boy fell on the ground and groaned in pain. "Again!" The words echoed in her head as she finally shakes off the feeling.

Reopening her eyes, she looked at the sword in her hand. The feeling of it was so familiar, as though it was right. She slowly moved the sword away from her neck and held the blade in both her hands. Her eyes glowed brightly as if she used some kind of magic, but slowly faded away. Her eyes still latched on the sword. "Neriak..." The engraved words shined bright as if she could see them. "...what does it mean?" She asked, only her eyes looking up to Alessia. She touched her head again when she felt another ping. "Ow." She shook the feeling off, "I'm okay, I'm fine." She rubbed her head as she closed her eyes shut, seeing the images behind her eyes.

"Ma'am?" The Sergeant approached slowly, her hand still on her swords' hilt. "Everything...okay?" She gives a quick glance to her servant, then back to Alessia.

[Numbers]

Alessia smiled. "Neriak, the sword who shall slay demons. We found him when we found you. Secretly over time, I have been studying the sword more and more. As I do with all artifacts." The blade that was by her own neck was resting against a tiny rune in the air in between the blade and the neck. "You said you wanted to see the sword we found you with, there it is. I've enchanted him with a special recall spell. When your life is in danger, or when you call the sword, it will appear in your hands. It belongs to you, answers to you." Another flash of lightning and the loud crack of thunder followed after she spoke.

Alessia had a smile on her face. "If I am leading the demon hunting squad you have to follow me, and I can't very well have you going in unable to kill a demon. So welcome to the demon hunting squad little robin." She took her sword and put it back on her hip in its sheath made of ice. She turned to the Sergeant. "Ready the men at once. The armory is already preparing crossbows and armor for you and your men. The infirmary has been notified of our magic as well so they're on standby waiting to receive those we recover." She then turned back to Velayna. "Well, how long you gonna stand there. Go and get my horse ready." She said with a smile before leaving them all there.

[MidKnight]

An hour or so had gone by, the group of soldier were led by Alessia to the location of where their fallen soldiers would be. Velayna made sure Alessia had a raincoat and one for herself as she followed. Velayna had the opportunity to prepare herself with armor since she was now given a sword. The Smithy apparently had a set to wear, and it fits perfectly. She followed close to Alessia, riding on her own horse, a chestnut bay. She tugged on the collar of the neck area, fidgeting around.

The group stopped when the Sergeant rode ahead to meet with a scout. The scout reported he had found the bodies, or what was left of them. He led the group and shows the bodies of the dead on the ground. Decapitated, mutilated, torn to shreds. Their armor was crushed, much like the survivor. How he managed to live and survive was considered to be luck. Velayna sighs softly and looked to the ground. Knowing the soldiers had gave their lives to destroy a creature that would be a threat to their lands.

The Sergeant looked around, keeping an eye on any signs of motion or the beast. "The Captain said there was a total of thirty men..." She looked around on the ground. "I only see ten." She looked to the scout, "Did you see the demon?" She asked, the scout replied no. She nudged her horse further to take a look, examining the grounds, she could see multiple large steps. The storm washed most of it away, and it almost became impossible to see. She looked over her shoulder, "I think the demon-" There was a sudden roar and the demon appeared from a nearby bushes. Lashing out like a trap, the demon gripped it's teeth into the Sergeant's horses neck. Pulling and swung it like a rag doll. The Sergeant was thrown off and rolled on the ground hard. The demon roared fiercely.

[Numbers]

Alessia watched as the sergeant got thrown to the ground as the horse was just decimated in one attack. Alessia jumped off her horse and landed on the ground in a crouched position. Her sword was already drawn in one hand and her other hand was glowing a bright blue as runes were flying off of it in different directions. "Soldiers!" Alessia shouted. "Begin the operation! Velayna, get to the sergeant and get her away from the beast. Check her for wounds." Alessia shouted to her servant who was near her.

Alessia turned her attention back to the demon who was in front of her. She stabbed her sword into the ground for a moment and threw off the raincoat that was on her. She rolled her soldiers, popping the joints. She then quickly popped her neck and knuckles before bringing her hands together. She kept her sword in the ground for now because she needed two hands to cast her next spell. "You killed those under my protection. Now you shall face divine punishment demon." As she spoke runes that were moving around her suddenly shot into the air.

Lightning struck the ground in multiple spots around her. Then a ball of lightning appeared above her head and shot out toward the demon, hitting it right in the face. It left a black mark but obviously no damage. Which was fine. Its purpose was just to piss it off and draw its attention to her. Before it could make any moves Alessia was already moving her hands and chanting words in the ancient language of magic. Circles and pentagrams formed quickly in the air as runes made their shapes. The shapes appeared around the demon and chains shot out at it, aiming for its legs. Upon connecting, they then shot chains out in opposite directions to mount themselves onto the ground.

It easily broke the chains but Alessia kept casting her spells, one right after the next. Slowly more chains shot out. The purpose was to slow the beast down for now until it got closer to her. The longer it took for it to get to her, the more bodies that could be saved. Once it was finally close to her Alessia smiled and gave off one last huge spell. Lightning shot down from the sky again and formed a barrier that trapped her and the demon inside while the others were outside of it. No doubt the demon could escape the barrier, but if it tried, it would leave itself open to a world of pain. Not to mention the barrier was made out of arcing lightning and other enchantment effects. Just crossing it without killing Alessia could do enough damage to kill the demon.

"Well now if it just isn't the two of us." She said with a sly smile, finally using one hand to pick up the sword that she had in the ground. She pulled it out and it held it in the air. "Bad luck for you, pissing me off when it's a downpour." Inside the barrier, the raindrops quickly turned to small falling sharp ice. As it neared Alessia it turned back to water, but it continually rained down upon the demon. Not piercing it's skin but certainly being enough to force it to pay extra attention to it's surroundings. If there was any soft flesh on it at all, the raining ice would find it and slice it.

[MidKnight]

The demon roared in both fierce and pain as it drew closer and closer to Alessia, but when it noticed the trap. It looked up to the sky and lets out another fierce howl. Shattering the ice shards coming down on it hard. Finally, the demon looked at Alessia and spun in a circle, whipping it's spike tail around like a mace with a chain, though the demon controlled the swings and thus breaking Alessia's barrier. It stopped once it felt something new trying to piece it's flesh. Looking over to the soldiers, the archers fired their cross bows and the mages cast their spells. The demon howls once more before forming into a ball and rolled towards the group that tried to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades. The soldiers stopped firing as the demon had gotten closer, dodging the oncoming attack. The demon runs into a tree and shatters it into splinters.

It uncurled and swings it's tail once more, hitting a few of the mages as they tried to cast a shield or some kind of defense power. The mages flew in the air and landed on the ground hard, their robes covered in blood and screamed in pain. The soldiers tried to rush the demon, only to get hit by it's tail as well.

Velayna runs to the Sergeant who laid on the ground, she was on her stomach. Kneeling next to the Sergeant, she noticed she was wounded badly. Broken ribs, fractured elbow, and possibly a heavy concussion. Blood poured down on her face, but washed away from the rain. "Sergeant?" She turned her body over and examined her wounds. "I'm...alright." The Sergeant says in pain. Velayna heard the screaming and looked up to see the demon attacking the soldiers. "It must have figured Alessia is too much to handle and is targeting the soldiers." She gritted her teeth once she sees the mages fly in the sky and land. The Sergeant shouted an order, but stopped when her lungs couldn't handle it. "Get out of there!"

The demon swings it's tail once again and hits a few more soldiers. Lashes forward and latches it's teeth into a mage and shook him hard and lets go. The arrows hits the body, but couldn't pierce through the flesh. The hide of the demon must have gotten stronger since it had it's fill from eating the dead soldiers. Then it's eyes glared at Alessia, it did what it had done before. Forming into a ball and dashes forward like a rolling boulder.

Velayna leaves the Sergeant in care of another soldier who used the paper that was given to him. Charging between the demon and Alessia, she reached for her sword. Eyes glowing brightly as she pulled it out of the sheath. Her mind filled with yet another vivid image.

"Children, when you see a demon...explore it's weakness...look for a pattern...even the strongest has a fault." There was a tall man, long white beard, long white hair. "You will study and fight every demon out there...and you will become stronger."

She stood between Alessia and the demon. It's strongest point was rolling towards it's targets. She turned her sword upside down and struck the ground as hard as she could. The ground shook like an earthquake and the demon stopped rolling. Now it was stood on it's four legs and stared down on Velayna. Her eyes searched around the beast, looking for a possible way to attack. She stopped to think, Alessia had used her magic mainly on the body, though it had little effect and there was no blood or wound. The surface was tough, and the spikes were sharp. "Alessia, once I get it to lay on it's back, cast a lighting bolt spell." She had no time to explain as the demon charged. Velayna charged quickly and waited for it to strike. The tail came swinging at her, she dodges by going under the tail and slices underneath. The demon howled in pain. "Hard on top, but soft on the bottom." Velayna muttered to herself. "Like a crab." She quickly moved under the demon and cuts one of the legs, blood spurted out and the demon falls on the side and kicks around, howling in pain.

[Numbers]

Alessia grumbled about learning something else about her new servant. "Apparently she also has an advanced knowledge of demons. At least that will make it easier having her by my side." Alessia knew the plan of her servant and started to chant in an ancient language. Her hands moved lightly through the air and as they moved throughout the air a stream of water followed her hands. As her hands moved the river that was sitting in the air slowly started to form a floating rune of water.

The water rune exploded in the air and as it did a roar of thunder so loud is completely covered the battlefield in a constant sound that blanketed the whole area. As the sound was going on a large spear of ice that was easily four stories tall fell from the sky and pierced into the stomach of the demon. The ice spike fell with such a force that it broke through the hard shell from the inside, and piercing into the ground.

With the spell used, Alessia fell to one knee and and put her hands down to the ground and mud. Thankfully her magic kept her from actually getting dirty. However, her breathing had grown heavier as the spell she had used was one of her extremely high spells. Thankfully she had the artifact with her. However, if she knew that she was going to be using such a high spell she would have brought a few more artifacts. She didn't even have time to recall the other artifacts in storage that she had prepared before hand.

She put one hand in the air. "Recall." As she shouted it a bright light flashed and a blue crystal orb appeared in her hand. It went from being a deep blue to an almost pale white. She was then able to stand up and put a recall sticker onto the orb before teleporting it back to the vault. Now that all of it was taken care of she called out. "Damage Report!" She shouted in order to get the reports from everyone.

Meanwhile she moved over to the beast and fired a few small ice spears into the soft part of it's head in order to make sure that it stayed down. "Velayna. Come to my side. I need your assistance."