Chapter 22: Perspective

"The Warden, Huh." Tilus put a spoonful of a stringed meat-like porridge into his mouth.

"Yeah. That's what he said." Kalika played around with her food, spacing out the different ingredients visible to her as she consumed any semblance of meat from the bowl.

Both Kalika and Tilus were eating in a mess hall on a wide wooden table along with some other prisoners. The focus of everyone in the room was to simply feast and gossip among other things.

Tilus crossed his arms. "Hmmm… This is a surprising turn of events. And If I'm not mistaken the warden's also a general for the demon army. Definitely no slouch either." Tilus glanced at Kalika, who's still playing with her food. "The warden around here has a reputation for being an iron wall. Nobody around here is able to lay a scratch on him, aside from you."

Kalika cringed at Tilus as he ate another spoonful of his meal. "I'm finding that very hard to believe. It's starting to feel like you're just trying to sing my praises or something."

"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. I'm just telling you what I know. Look, according to a lot of those demon guards, you apparently killed some of the guards with him, and almost sliced half his face off after the last escape attempt you made. "

"Yeah, okay." She was doubtful. "I still don't buy this whole, me going on a rampage thing you keep spouting on about. I'm a woman. I can't do that. There's no way a person like me can ever go head on with demons!"

Kalika started to flick some of the ingredients from her bowl. "Would be a nice dream to have though. Going around. Killing every demon in sight." She smiled a little at the open thought. "I don't know, maybe my best chance at winning would be a strength of will. See who can outlast the other. What do you think, Tilus?"

"You can't rely on your immortality alone. Even if you can't die, if you're unable to retaliate, you'll just find yourself as useful as the wind" Tilus pushed the remainder of his half eaten meal away.

"Yeah, perhaps you're right…" Kalika took the last bite from her stringy meat, then turned her attention to Tilus's bowl of half eaten meat porridge. "Hey, you mind if I can have the rest of that?"

Tilus glanced back at Kalika bewildered by her question. He peeked at her bowl to find she ate around the vegetables, He promptly glared back at her.

"W-what?" Kalika defended.

She looked away. "I'm still a little hungry…"

Tilus could only sigh from the response, before pushing his bowl to her. "Fine, but in exchange you have to give another ten laps today."

Kalika immediately tensed up from the request, reluctantly accepting it. She took a spoonful of the meat porridge, delighting in its taste.

"How can this be so good!?"

"I still don't understand how you can still eat this stuff… and you're not even eating the vegetables in it." Tilus remarked.

"Vegetables? I don't know anything about those but this stuff is much better than the bread and meat we would just get." Kalika moved in for another bite, expertly dodging the vegetables in the bowl.

After a moment she was finally done eating from Tilus's food. She wiped her lips with her arms. "Anyways do you know if the Warden has any weak points that I can work off of?"

"I wouldn't know a thing. I think the past you would probably have a better Idea than me honestly speaking. The warden had to catch you so many times you two practically referred to each other by name."

"Is that really that uncommon?" she asked.

"Have you heard any of the guards here call me by my name once?"

Kalika ponders Tilus's question. "O-okay fine, I get the point. Still, I can't imagine ever being that close to him. I feel so annoyed when I'm around him than anything I've felt before. And aside from that, he and his brother seem to think I still want to escape. It's all dumb."

Tilus looked at Kalika, surprised. "You finally gave up on escape? That's surprising to hear."

"You too!?"She was taken aback by his statement.

"The last ten years all you did was scheme of ways to escape. A lot of them were very ambitious and almost worked too. If it wasn't you trying to escape during the night, it was you scheming and making connections with the other prisoners. Although all of them are dead now."

Kalika became silent upon hearing this. "I-is that so..."

"Y-yeah. That sounds like something I'd do… wouldn't it..."

Kalika looked back at the bowls filled with broth covered vegetables. She spooned up a piece of chopped up onions and carrots. The thought of tasting them, but she quickly changed her mind. She dropped the spoon leaving the bowls behind.

"You're not going to finish?"

She stared at the bowls blankly. "It's too loud in here. I'd like to get back to training if you don't mind."

"Sure…" Tilus got up, following right along Kalika back into the arena to resume her training session.

Kel watches closely from the corner of the hall as Kalika leaves with Tilus to the arena. Ek approaches Kel from his side, disappointed to see him spying.

"Still spying?" Ek asked.

"You've always been too relaxed with her. Someone needs to keep an eye on her and you're obviously not doing it." 

Ek grabbed Kel by his horns. "I'm not watching her because she's not planning anything! Dumbass!!"

The brother butted heads. "Who you calling a dumbass? Scarface!"

"Oh, you wanna play this game again!" Ek yelled.

"AHEM!!"

Bjorn was right behind them. "Rakon wants to talk to you Ek."

Ek became annoyed. "Seriously? What is it now?"

Ek starts to follow behind Bjorn, but then is suddenly called by his brother Kel. 

"Are you really not concerned about what the queen's toy will do?" Kel asked angrily.

"C'mon. The girls already lost hope of escaping. You really think she's gonna run away now, especially with all the traps we've installed. At this point she's already resigned to her fate."

Kel rolled his eyes at his brother's statement. "What about you Bjorn, what do you think?"

Bjorn stopped and turned around. "I think the girl is starting to learn…" he turned back to walk away. "But only time will tell if she accepts her life as it is."

Kel watches on as Ek follows behind Bjorn to report to their acting king. "Sheesh. I guess I'm by myself on this, aren't I…"

Kel looked back down the hall where Kalika and Tilus were a moment ago. "Dumbasses. They're too laid back with this girl. I know she's human, but still…"

Kel leans himself against the wall crossing his arms. "There's something strange going on...."

********

Back with Kalika and Tilus in the arena. Kalika is doing the exercise she dreads most. Push-ups.

Kalika gives her best fight with each following push-up she does. All the while, Tilus stood by, watching over her to ensure she followed through with the full exercise of fifty push-ups.

"Alright, and tomorrow we'll aim to do a hundred push-ups," Tilus said.

"Y-you're a monster!" Kalika complained.

"You're the one that insisted on going harder, so no complaining. And after this we'll do twenty-five laps around the arena."

"I hope this war ends soon…" Kel said to himself.

********

A battlefield is laced with the bodies of many soldiers with many different torn off limbs and body parts. Alongside a blazing fire scorched and stretched out far beyond the once lush plains and beautiful villages. Among the chaos the army of demons continue to march on leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Further ahead of the army lies a never-ending pile of corpses along with the fleeing human army.

"N- Nooooooo-!!"

The ripping of flesh and bones are heard. Lillian looks at the now headless man's expression as she holds his head with a single hand. Giving a sigh, she tosses the head behind her into the pile of bodies she sits on.

"They must be getting desperate if now they're using villagers. My country sure has fallen far…" Lillian looked on, into the battlefield of their one-sided massacre.

"If they're desperate, that only means that the war is close to its end." Lillian found that Lucius was now behind her on the pile. He continues. "Once we've conquered the last of this country's major cities, this war will finally be over and the country will be ours. Then it'll only be a matter of dealing with the small pockets of rebellion."

"I see…" Lillian didn't find much interest in the last part of Lucius Statement. "Lucius, what do you plan on doing with the humans after this war finishes?"

Lucius came to Lillian's side, sitting himself down. He scratched his chin pondering. "That's a very good question…"

Lucius looked beyond the battlefield. "I've had a few suggestions. Some say we should keep them as slaves while others think it's better deporting them out of the country..."

Lucius glanced at Lillian. "Me. The humans left can do what they want." Lucius gets up. "Just as long as they don't cause trouble."

"Quite the gracious king aren't you." Lillian joked.

"Gracious? No. Regardless. Whatever we do, I have my doubts that the other human countries will play along, but as long as my people can prosper unlike what we had in the Pit, I'll be satisfied."

Lillian's eyes softened a little. "Yeah… Down there was devoid of any hope. Honestly, it's a miracle that the demon race was able to survive in such a dark place…" with a much sadder expression looking back at her blue hands. "It makes me a little envious of my little sister… since I'm no longer human…"

"Life is such a weird thing isn't it." Lillian gave a bitter smile. She got up, watching the demon army continuing to march forth.

"Life is certainly a strange thing sometimes. I'm sure your sister would agree…," Lucius said.

"Yeah… I wonder how she's doing now… Hopefully she's not causing any trouble this time."

Lillian hopped down the large pile of corpses she was on, alongside Lucius. She then gave a big stretch. "Alright, so what do we do now Lucius?"

From their side, both general Azar and Jala approached them.

"Sorry to interrupt, but our scouts are reporting that the confederation's army is approaching from the southeast." Azar said.

Both Lillian and Lucius became alert upon hearing this.

Jala followed up. "There's also an interesting rumor going around with the soldiers we just captured."

"Rumors? Of what" Lucius became curious.

"There are some among them saying the Celestine empire is supposedly going to join in as reinforcements to the confederations. Also, by the look of things, they seem to be under the belief that we don't understand their language."

Azar held in a slight chuckle listening to Jala's last statement. "I never knew a human could be so cocky." Azar said, as she was trying to hold back any semblance of laughter.

"He was a very cocky man until I spoke to him personally. Needless to say, he was no longer useful to us."

"Hmm… So, after all this time, they're finally making a move…" Lucius looks over the horizon in the direction of mountains.

"Do you really think the empire will send reinforcements?" Jala questioned.

"If news of the death of the heroes reached them, perhaps. It's likely they underestimated us, thinking the Heroes of Prophecy would fix the problem." Lucius then gave a smile. "Hmph."

"I can send out a few of our-" Azar was interrupted seeing Lucius hands being raised.

"No, need."

Lucius starts to leave. "Azar you're with me. I'll be needing your earth magic. Lillian, Jala. We'll meet up later."

Both women were a little stunned to hear this. Azar shook herself quickly following Lucius from behind. "A-as you command," Azar said.

Lillian just watched on pouting, as she is left behind with Jala. "No fair. He just wants to hog all the fun." Lillian became disappointed. "Alright let's get going. We should probably get the troops ready to intercept that army in the southeast."

"Your Majesty."

Lillian stopped upon hearing Jala. She turned to look at Jala with curiosity immediately realizing that wanted to talk. "You may speak. What is it?"

"Back when you saved me from the Heroes of Prophecy. That girl that you'd torture frequently… you called her your sister…"

Lillian became silent upon hearing Jala. The crackles of the flames in the burning battlefield gets louder with each passing second.

"I did say that. Didn't I?"

Lillian crossed her arms, glaring at her general. "You're not going to pester me too about her, are you?"

"No. I don't plan on it. I'm just curious about your relations."

"If you're curious, I'm not the one to ask. But if you're concerned, rest assured that we are far from being related in blood. And that's all you need to know."

Lillian starts to take her leave. "If you don't have any more questions, then we should prepare our forces."

Jala could only watch on as Lillian takes off with her demonic wings. He gave a scrutinizing look staying silent. "Was she really born in the pit too?" Jala became suspicious.

He thinks about the time when a purging barrier appeared before him as soon as he left the area with the heroes and Lillian.

"I wonder…"

Jala quickly put his thoughts aside. War was no place for trivial thoughts especially with another new battle over the horizon.

Jala became much more serious. "I mustn't forget the mission," He quietly said to himself.