A Long and Painful Night

After hearing his laughter die down, I started to feel sick. My weakened body slumped into Thelora who gently placed me on the ground. She pulled out a Healing Potion and held my head up enough for me to drink. I could feel the wound on my side begin to heal but the pain was only getting worse.

"Cedric get over here." Thelora yelled after inspecting my wound.

"I've got problems of my own." He was no longer in pain but his eyes were bloodshot to the point that there wasn't any white visible.

"Damn it, he needs you now." She said.

He grunted and with the help of Hrothgar made his way to my side. As he placed his hands on my wound a bright light encompassed my flesh and his damaged eyes opened wide.

"This is..." He began.

"Just do what you can." Thelora said.

As the intensity of the light strengthened so did the pain. There must have been some demonic energy in that last attack. I heard screaming but wasn't fully realizing that I was the one making the noise. Lariss was holding my hand as she wiped the sweat from my brow and tried to say comforting words that I couldn't hear. She made eye contact with Thelora before pulling out a pill from her Storage Bracelet. As it entered my mouth it dissolved and a warm tingle ran down my throat before everything went black.

Demons don't have physical bodies, they need to possess someone to live in and interact with the world. Many fools throughout history have summoned them to gain power. It's actually really hard to kill a demon outright. To get rid of them they are usually either banished to the darkness of hell or sealed away. Depending on who you ask, you'll get a different origin for them.

Followers of the Spirits believe they are the remnants of the evil that the first witches purged from their bodies. As such they have an exact number and their main purpose is the destruction of the natural order of the world.

If you ask Followers of the Holy Light, they'll say the first demons were those that turned their backs on the Holy Light when it first revealed itself to the world. Anyone that rejects the Holy Light or lives an evil life risks becoming a demon. To them the ranks of demons are ever growing and their purpose is to lead people away from the Holy Light.

I'm sure the Court of Masks has its own dogma on them and since one just called me little star, I'd bet theirs is closer to the truth than the others. I really needed to befriend a paladin to ask them about the Court.

Within the darkness that sleep gave me I was still in tremendous pain. It wasn't a physical pain but a spiritual one. When I focused on the pain I could see my spiritual body floating in an endless void of stars. Where his blade had struck me I saw a dark snake made of spiritual energy biting into my spirit. It was slowly fading and even without help it would dissipate eventually. Even so I was thankful for the Holy Light that was coming into my spirit from Cedric, as I could tell that it was speeding up the process. Otherwise I'd spend twice as long in excruciating pain.

This was the first time I had been in a state like this, one that allowed me to see my spirit. Beyond the snake that was biting into my side I was able to see a few other things about my spirit. There was a thin layer of orange energy that rippled like fire which surrounded my spirit, I recognized it as Floriana's spell that hid half my spiritual energy.

Within my spirit I also saw three balls of colored lights that were constantly changing color and were never the same color as each other. One was vibrant, while another was dull, and the last could only be described as deep. I recognized these as my blessings from the Court of Masks.

On the surface of the dull light I saw a black speck that was spreading at a rate that couldn't be comprehended outside of the spiritual sense. Whatever this was, it was what was causing my warning chill to constantly be active. Even though I didn't have a body I tried to pull it out of my spirit and as I did the speck began to expand at a quicker rate. I immediately stopped. Having only made it worse, I knew that I needed an expert before doing anything else reckless.

I didn't know how long I floated in this void, it felt like days and only seconds at the same time. Eventually I started to feel the physical pain of my body. I could hear the sound of a crackling fire, smelled the blood of the dead, and felt the humid air of the marsh on my skin. My side still hurt like crazy but the pain was a lot better than it was before I was knocked out. When I opened my eyes I was in a dark tent with someone beside me. Cedric was taking a drink from his flask and when he was finished he saw that I woke up.

"Oh, glad you made it. I'll get the others." He started to rise and I grabbed his wrist.

"Thank you." I said in a weak voice.

"I'm not really sure I did anything." He rose and in a few moments Lariss rushed in followed by Thelora.

"How are you feeling? I wanted to be here when you wake up but she insisted that only Cedric stay with you." Lariss said.

"You were being clingy and he needs his rest." Thelora said.

"I was not." Lariss said.

Thelora had a sly smile that made it hard for me to know if what she said was true.

"How are you feeling?" Thelora asked.

"Better. How long was I out?" I replied.

"Only a few hours. That's why I didn't argue to stay with you, since I thought it would be well past morning by the time you woke up." Lariss said.

"Really, it felt longer." I said.

"We're a little surprised as well. I'm going to check your wound again." Thelora said.

She didn't wait for my permission. As she lifted the sheet more than necessary, I realized I was completely naked. Luckily I didn't have enough blood flowing to blush. After running her finger over the wound she let out a sigh of relief. I could see that Lariss also looked relieved upon seeing the state of my wound.

"For a few moments what looked like a Demon Mark was forming on the area around the wound. It went away as Cedric poured his spiritual power into you but we couldn't be sure it didn't take hold." Thelora said.

"What? How did that happen?" I said.

"Your guess is as good as ours. It's possible the Demon Mark knew its master was about to die and it was trying to attach itself to you. It might be best if you visit your friend as soon as you get back to Torinheim." Thelora said.

"I don't think Wilmaer needs to get her help. We can visit Svanhildr if need be." Lariss said.

There was a brief look of confusion on Thelora's face before she gave a knowing smile. "I didn't mean the adventuring priestess."

"What friend is she talking about then?" Lariss asked.

"Well talk about it later, I'm starting to feel tired." I didn't want to get into who Floriana was to me. Lariss gave me a slight scowl as Thelora's knowing smile deepened.

"Before we let you sleep again I have to ask, do you feel like yourself or do you feel like something else might be in there with you?" Thelora asked.

"Whatever was attacking me is gone." That wasn't completely true. Before I woke up there was still a remnant of the dark spirit snake but it had mostly faded away.

It didn't take long for me to fall back asleep. This time I didn't see my spirit but relived the memory of the time I broke my leg in elementary school. I had to stay in bed for a few days and had been bored out of my mind. The dream gave me the same feeling of endless boredom.

The next time I woke up, the sun was shining through the open tent and Lariss was curled up next to me. I wanted to get up and stretch my worn body but the fact that I was naked and could wake her up gave me pause. Once again Cedric was sitting at the end of the tent nursing his flask. When he saw me awake he gave Lariss' legs a good shake.

"Hey sleepy head, he's awake. How about you get him breakfast while I take another look at him?" He said.

As Lariss came to she frowned at him but did leave the tent. Cedric lowered the flap once she was gone and came to my side to check my wound. When he placed his hand on my side a bright light surrounded them.

"I don't sense any of the corruption I felt last night so hopefully you're in the clear. But if you don't know a good witch that you can trust, you're going to need to head to the Cathedral when you get back to the city. It's best if someone a little more skilled has a chance to look you over." He said.

"Thank you for all your help." I started to sit up and pulled some clothes out of my Storage Ring.

"You should be thankful." He gave me a wry smile as he took another drink from his flask.

"There's something I want to ask you. I've been told that you don't have to be a Follower of the Holy Light to learn their spiritual magic. Would you be willing to teach me the basics?" I asked.

"I have no problem spilling the secret rites of the Church. The problem will be that you already have a mana core. The two don't usually mix well unless you start them at the same time and even then there can be complications." He replied.

"Even if I'm only able to use the basics, having that skill might help in situations like this in the future." I said.

"What, are you going to make it a habit of fighting those with Demon Marks?" He joked.

I smiled as if that was a ridiculous notion. I wasn't about to tell him that whatever demon gave Torfredr that Mark would now be hunting me and my friends.

"An adventurer can never have too many tricks up their sleeves." I said.

"Ha that they can't. Well my young pupil, we'll start after you get a hearty breakfast in you." He then waited till I stood up to put on my pants before throwing back the tent flap and walked out, giving everyone outside a good view as he left. The two women being the closest to the tent.