Aeric Dalia/Vol 2 Chapter 1
Three days had passed since the group began their journey into the lands Aeric so desperately wished to venture. The clear sky and cool breeze kissing his face through his tiny visor. Enjoying the simple beauty of life. The open fields and simple sounds of quiet travel. or at least the sounds of un- drowned conversations with the sounds of clamoring echoes from stone walls. His Acolyte and his companion getting along better than he'd hoped, are at least biting their tongues in the groups presence. Though one in particular took a great interest in the Succubus Dalia. The young and Inexperienced Paladin Voren. The other two initiates, Hale, and Jenis, would voice their fancy every now and then. Dalia enjoyed the attention she received, and would occasionally flirt and play, but was kept in check by her Adept. He rode his old warhorse listening to the conversation around him. The idealistic Voren droning about politics and religion, Faline adding her comment every now and then. Aeric content to let other talk about his least favorite subjects.
" So that's why The nations went to war and why the Empire is interested in these lands." Voren said to the group. Dalia pretending to understand what he is talking about. She'd been around for so many years, such an inconstant concept as political borders meant very little to her. A king one day would be a slave the next in her eyes. But she tried to play along. " What I don't get is why they'd even try to mount an invasion, aren't they on a different continent?" Jenis spoke up "Well yes, but the Empire's means to move its forces is legendary. There even rumors of such a thing as flying ships." Voren continued The chatter becoming little more than a dull roar to Aeric. He was lost in his thoughts. It was strange, he felt as if his mind was less restricted out in the world than in the Cathedral. He could think about Dalia, about his past sins, and even what he was going to do, with clarity. He wasn't too lost in his thoughts as he seemed to notice something odd about a small wooded crossing ahead of them on the road. He stopped his mount and held a hand in the air ordering the group to halt. Faline fell in beside him, then Dalia at his other side. "Whats the matter?" " Highwaymen."
The group scanning the horizon looking any signs of the bandits, but was hard pressed to find any signs. Aeric pointed to the trees ahead of them. The signs were subtle, but nothing a trained eye couldn't spot. The signs of camp, odd shapes in the foliage. When it was brought to her attention Faline noticed them immediately. "How many?" He turned towards Faline. " About twelve or twnety cant tell from here. Whats the plan boss?" She said in an almost sarcastic tone. " We find out how many they have. Forward." He kicked the sides of his horse ushering them on to the trap. The group gre closer and closer to the outcrop at the crossroads and sure enough a man popped out with a crude and battered breastplate, armed with a rusty sword. "HALT! you've entered the territory of the hidden blades, hand over your gear and your women, and we'll let you pass." Aeric laughed. Not just a chuckle, but a hearty deep laugh. Dalia had never seen Aeric act that way. With all her effort to cajole an emotional response, some lowly bandit did what took her days, in seconds. Faline had traveled with Aeric long enough to know what he was up to. "You can't be serious." He said still trailing a few laughs. "You are trying to rob five paladins and a demon!" The bandit growing worried but masked his emotion with anger, not to appear weak in front of his men. " I have with me eighteen men under my command! My men will take you by force!" "Since you the leader I assume if I kill you then your men stop getting paid?" The bandit backing up as Aeric encroached on him. "N-Nonsense! My archers will kill you before you can draw your sword!" Aeric Dismounted his horse, landing with a satisfying thud. He took a few steps towards the panicing bandit. As the frightened man was nearly tripping over himself, Aeric raised a fist and threw it down, the hard steel metal landing on the mans soft face.
The bandit fell to the ground, blood trailing him down. Voren was on edge thinking that Aeric was going on another murderous rampage and charged towards him. In the spur of the moment the initiates followed suit. Seeming as if the paladins charged headlong into the ambush. The bandits were confused as their leader lay unconscious on the ground. Many of the less heroic to their cause decided that this wasn't a fight they wanted to partake in, especially at the prospect of fighting for free. Before the fight could even start the bandits were routed. and a concerned Voren hovered over Aeric. " Are you mad! Is mindless violence all you are capable of? What happened to trying things diplomatically?" "Never heard of steel fist Diplomacy?" Faline chuckled. " It's pretty simple, Bandits kill for money, take away the money, they wont fight." "What if their payment was looting us and that their leadership didn't matter?" He said still shaken. " Least we're on the right path." Dalia said to lighten the mood. Aeric walked back to his horse and grabbed a length of rope. The group still hovering around him, except for Faline who left to watch the fleeing bandits. She could make out where the town of Halmar was off in the distance, but the bandits weren't running in that direction. They seemed to be heading to what she assumed would be an outpost of some sort. " Hey guys, stop bitching and come look at this." Clearly aware that the others couldn't see as far or as well as she could. Voren and the initiates showed up at her side, Dalia stayed behind with Aeric to help him secure the bandit. "Why keep him?" She asked. "We can use him." He said lifting the man onto his horse. The steed reluctant at first to take on the new weight. " How? Whats he going to tell us with a half crushed face?" Almost as soon as she said that Aeric placed a hand on the back of the mans head. A Pale light emanated from his hand which he curled into a fist and tapped the mans head. " Wake up."
The bandit twitched slowly coming to the realization that he was tied up and draped over a horse. He began to thrash, quickly halted by Aeric's hand on his head. The man became more complacent, but still twitched somewhat from the shock. Aeric walked to the side where the bandit captain was facing and knelt down beside him, forcing the man to painfully jerk his neck up to look at Aeric. "I-I'm alive?" His thought suddenly stopped with Aeric slapping him across the cheek, though notably softer than his ;previous strike. "Quiet." Aeric motioned for Dalia to join him at his side. " There wasn't a need to kill you." "And my me-?" Another slap. "You will only talk when I let you. Understood?" "..yes?" Another slap "How many men are we to face in the town of Halmar?" The bandit didn't reply, Aeric smiled discreetly. "Speak." "I- I don't know." He winced waiting for a slap that didn't come. " Maybe sixty, maybe twenty I can't remember!" "That's a shame." Aeric stood up tapping the hilt of his sword which was at eye level to the man. Aeric had no intentions of harming the bandit, or even slapping him around anymore, but that didn't mean that a well structured bluff wouldn't be useful. Dalia was starting to pick up on Aeric's actions and decided to start playing along. Near the treeline the rest watched the plains as the remaining bandits vanished from sight. "Aeric is a problem waiting to happen.." Vorren voicing his concern to an almost oblivious Faline. " His hot-headed impulsiveness will get us killed!" The elf just continued to scan the horizon letting the paladin vent his frustrations.
" You haven't been around him as long as I have, He usual has a plan, a hellishly straightforward and crude plan, but they've worked out so far."
Voren grew somewhat annoyed at the elf's lack of concern, worried about favoritism. Aeric was Faline's former acolyte, they knew each other well, the extent of how well Voren didn't know, nor would he want to. He gripped his reigns tighter.
" All I am saying is you are senior, take the lead. Aeric has gotten himself into enough trouble as is. No need for our blood to be on his hands...aswell." He barely whispered the last word, unfortunately it was audible just enough.
Faline shot a vile glare at Voren, obvious even through her metal face. She wasn't angry at Voren, she'd been around long enough to know the young and idealistic ones, like Voren, would be more rash than the veterans. Ironically in this case. Rather than press the issue, she let the young man vent his stress. She continued to scan the fields for something, anything at all. She felt that charge was too easy, even for untrained rabble.
" Oh look, they're coming back!" She said in a sarcastically playful tone as she pointed to a larger group heading their direction.
Aeric paced back and forth not saying a word, letting the silence do all the dirty work of torturing the bandit. Dalia was hovering around the man as well, though trying to keep out of his sight.
"If he won't talk, can I eat him?" She winked at Aeric from behind the mans head. Breathing hot breath on his neck.
"You're still hungry?" He was amused at Dalia picking up on his ploy so quickly. The bandit began to squirm unconsciously again toying in his mind what horrible fates he could get from the demon. His face started to sweat from his nerves more than the warm sun. Aeric slowly walked to the bandit, assuming the position he was in before. tilting the mans head back up. " I guess, such is the fate of the wicked." " I'm telling you I don't know, I just hold this road and take our earnings back to our outpost not too far from here!" This got Aeric's attention " Outpost? How far?" "It's about-" The bandit interrupted by Faline shouting about an imminent attack. Aeric jumped to his feet. He grabbed the bandit by his breastplate and hurled him off his horse, and almost with the same motion hopped on his horse. He barked an order at Dalia to remain with the man as he galloped to Faline and the rest. All the while smiling. He missed the thrill of a good adventure.
Aeric's horse halted kicking up a large cloud of dust. He looked off in the distance to see a relatively small war band, but defiantly a force beyond their means. He looked at the others and their worried expressions. Aside from Faline's. Helmet or not she knew she had the same grin he did. There was little time to sit and discuss, the group came to a quick consensus. Run. Pushing the thought that this was a retreat, from their minds. In Aeric's mind they weren't retreating, just advancing in a new direction. During the scramble Aeric rode up to Dalia, still hovering over the bandit. " Mount up, we are leaving. Don't worry about the bandit, his friends are coming." She needed no other words and darted as quickly as she could still not used to her armor, but yet still dexterous enough to leap onto her horse. They headed west towards a nearby treeline that would at least mask their movements and slow down the enemy, hopefully buying them enough time to reach a safe place to either hold-up or escape their pursuers. Dalia's heart raced. The demon's form's of excitement changed drastically. Though she was still debating in her head if the new ways were noisier. She fought off a grin as they party fled.
Minutes would pass and the area of the bloodless skirmish was now filled with bandits. The leader of which mounted on top of an armored horse. The man dismounted the horse, making his way slowly to the tied up bandit. He was an imposing man, Heavy, dark, bloodstained plate, covering him from head to toe. His face hidden under a horned helmet. He seemed unconcerned as his men looked for signs of the paladins. "Where is she?" The mans deep and coarse voice sending shivers down the captains spine. "They left!" He was trying to flip himself on his back "Where is the demon heading?" The armored man rest his hand on the handle of his great sword. "I-I Don't know! They said something about Halmar." He continued to struggle. " Can someone help me up?" The great sword fell, and the captain stopped moving. The Grim man grunted coward as he cut down the helpless man. His men stopped for a split second then continued to look for something, or to look busy so not to incur their leaders wrath. "Stop looking you fools, They are heading to Halmar!" His crackled voice snapping his men to attention as he went to mount his horse. "She's close." He grinned speaking quietly to himself. " Soon she'll be returned to you..."
Reaching the treeline the group slowed their pace for a moment. They looked behind them to see that they didn't have any followers. Taking it upon themselves they took a moment to rest their horses. Aeric briskly dismounted his. The other slowly following his example. " Ah nothing like stirring the hornets nest to get the ol' heart racing!" Faline blurted to the group. Voren seemed unimpressed. Hale and Jenis had a look of confusion and worry on their face. "This is your idea of run? I thought we were supposed to be training." Hale spoke up. Hale was somewhat stocky for his age, and strangely timid for his size. Jenis was almost a polar opposite being a tall and lanky fellow and somewhat pompous. Both were in good shape due to their training, but their complete lack of combat experience made them on edge for the whole ordeal. " The real world doesn't care." Aeric spoke petting his horse. " The moment you think you are safe, you aren't." Words of wisdom that were constantly drilled into their heads. The rookies simply nodded and tried to figure out what to do. The group tried to gather their baring. After a lengthy discussion about how to proceed Voren finally won, and persuaded the group to continue moving. although it was midday, they needed to find a secluded enough place to rest for the night. After many hours of wandering through the lightly wooded forest they happened upon some old ruins of a fort. After careful searching of the area it appeared to be deserted, and they began to set up camp. They broke off into teams working the camp. Faline and Hale went about gathering firewood, Voren and Jenis secured the horses and procured the ingredients for a meal, Aeric and Dalia were somehow tasked with sleeping arrangements.
Dalia enjoined the rare moment's she got to spend alone with Aeric, even if the rest of the group was a half room away. Three days worth of travel, and only a handful of moments she could watch Aeric relax his guard. He wasn't ashamed to be attracted to her, the whole group was; with the exception of Faline, Aeric hoped. Aeric just felt after the many transgressions he let her get away with he just needed to assert his authority. Didn't mean he couldn't enjoy her company or have fun with her every so often. " Helluva day? Eh Aeric?" She unrolled a bedmatt with a sharp whip. "I am still your adept, don't lose your head." In his usual stern tone. " But yes, this was rather enjoyable." "So... sir, beds are made, now what?" Purring in her usual manner. Aeric, playing to her usual seductions, tossed himself on a bedroll, landing on his back with his arms out, as if to invite her. Dalia approached and got down to her hands and knees crawling beside the paladin, swaying her hips each knee step. She fell beside Aeric squeezing as much of the small bedroll to her as she could, resting an arm across him, their armors clashing. "Comfortable?" Aeric joked as Dalia was trying to pry his helmet off. He wasn't protesting as the steel cover was removed, many hours in the sun with that armor on was brutal, to everyone. A sane man would wear armor only when he knew he would fight. Though Sane men don't stand up to demons and monster hoards like paladins. Looking Aeric in his eyes, Dalia, bit her lip. "What should we do now?" Her voice seductively warm. "Wait for supper." He said smuggly Aeric defiantly toyed with the idea, they would have had enough time,but he quickly worked to push those thoughts aside.
Dalia didn't want to wait. With a devilish grin, she moved herself over Aeric,straddling him. Though to his surprise she didn't make any effort to remove either of their armor. When she took her position atop Aeric she leaned in for a kiss, which he didn't refuse. "This will help pass the time." Before their lips pressed together, Aeric pushed them apart. " So will sleeping." Aeric turned away blocking Dalia. Her lip quivered fro a second as she was rejected by the object of her desire. Almost becoming routine, feeling as though she had gotten all she could out of him. Rather than brood as she normally would, she thought she might as well get some rest, but her body didn't want to let her. She got up from the bedroll and wandered off to a more secluded part of the ruins. She sat down, leaning against the wall, she started to undo bits of her armor, starting to run her hands along her body. Her breath getting heavy as she continued. Voren and Jenis struggled to set up the tripod to hold the pot. Voren was no means a cook, but Jenis knew a thing or two, having been put on a kitchen detail once or twice. He wasn't used to such rough conditions. They continued to prepare food and fight to set up, waiting for the firewood. "When are we going to eat, Ma'am?" Hale spoke carrying a large bundle of logs and twigs. " I don't know but I hope soon. Gods only know if Voren and Jenis can cook even a simple stew..." Faline complained in a similar fashion to the short man.
The fire was set up and the meal was being prepared. While the group was sitting around the fire, slowly creeping closer as the sun began to lose it influence, Faline broke from the group to look for the two members that were missing. She immediately suspected mischief from the two. She wasn't a jealous person, and didn't really care much what the two decided to do; she thought they'd like to know dinner was almost ready. After a quick survey of the area she happened upon a napping Aeric, though the succubus was no where to be found. With a light kick to the back she woke the slumbering man. "Get up you lazy ass." She chuckled. Aeric almost shot up from the surprise resting his hand on the handle of his blade. " Where's the demon?" Aeric looked around the dark room, his eyesight slowly coming back to him. " I don't know, off sulking." His tone less than respectful for his aggressive disturber. "Aww... trouble in paradise?" Her sarcastic tone doing little to calm Aeric. Aeric scoffed off her comment and got to his feet, casually brushing invisible dust off his armor in an almost involuntary manner. Looking around the room again he grabbed his sword and sheathed it walking out of the room searching for his acolyte. Faline shrugged and departed for a warm meal. Dalia let out a heavy sigh with a large satisfied grin on her face, relaxing on the stone wall. Her moment of peace disturbed by a strange rustling sound. At first she paid no heed, rationalizing it off as the typical bumps and sounds of the old fort. But the noise refused to stop. Getting up she noticed a figure walking in the distance, far to 'thin' to be one of the others. Grabbing her weapon, and strapping her loosened armor she went to investigate.
She walked an an incredibly slow pace hoping to catch whatever she was stalking off guard. Stealth was more her style rather than a frontal fight. She was reminded of days long past where she'd find a man in a crowd as her mark, following him and learning him before she 'struck'. Those days were gone, now her stalking consisted of enemies that would fight back, instead of give in to her Wiley charms. She was on guard slowly pointing her spear. The closer she got to the shuffling the more she could tell what she was stalking wasn't human. The light was poor and she had to rely on her other senses, keen as they were, they wouldn't cut it if a fight broke out. She took another pained step, the creature continued to shuffle near aimlessly. Another step, she was careful not to let her armor collide harshly making a sound. Soon she could tell that the creature was humanoid, but it wasn't living. A skeleton, walking aimlessly in the darkness. She was surprised that they missed it, but her dealings with supernatural creatures inadvertently made her lax. In the nether a material demon would hold more status than a random undead creature. In her moment of lapsed judgment she called out to the skeleton as a person would to a lost dog. " Well, who's your master lost one?" She said softly Its head turned violently to the Succubus. For a brief moment its eyes glowed red, then subsided as it tilted back and let out an unearthly screech that would have sent shivers down Dalia's spine if she were a mortal. As soon as it screamed, the skeleton fell apart falling into a pile of bones. A strong gust of wind picked up and blew out the fire under the cooking pot.
None of the group heard the screech, but they felt something itching at the back of their minds all of a sudden. A strong sense of unease. Aeric was making his way back to the group. As he walked through a small hallway to the others, he heard the creek of a door slowly opening. He turned thinking it was Dalia and started to call out to her. There was nothing in any direction. He pressed on to the group. He was standing in what was left of a doorway looking at the group trying to light another fire. "Is the wind picking up?" He said in a still groggy tone. "Yeah, it was strange it was a big puff, then it stopped." Faline said looking up to Aeric. Her eyes widened as she looked past Aeric and behind him was a large shadow. She blinked and it was gone. She though her eyes played a trick on her, that one of the strikes on the flint made his shadow appear larger than it was. " Something wrong?" Faline shook her head. " Where's Dalia?" Voren said standing up. Aeric turned around and grunted heading off to look for her. Faline shot up. Something was strange about this place, and she didn't feel right letting Aeric wander the ruins alone. Especially if what she saw wasn't Aeric. Aeric was beginning to feel uneasy as well. They had made a mistake searching this place. Aeric didn't complain about having Faline walk so close to him, he felt more secure having her around, mainly for her slightly better ability to see in the dark, even if it was only marginally better. Though it was her sharper sight that kept her on edge. Every so often she'd only catch a glimpse of something turning a corner, or popping out briefly. She wasn't scared, she told herself, just uneasy. Aeric caught himself looking over his shoulder every so often.
Dalia was confused to say the least. 'Why was it frightened of me?' Remembering that she had spent the last few weeks in a holy institution. She thought that maybe the taint of her demon-hood faded to the undead. She hastily made her exit of the room, when the door flew shut on her. "Oh come on!" She pounded on the door, forcing it open. She became alarmed and hurried down the way she came, hoping she'd meet up with the others. 'Last time I skulk off for some 'me' time' she thought. Aeric stopped dead in his tracks when he felt breath on his neck. He looked back at Faline, but she was too far from him for it to be hers. "Maybe we should head back? She probably is back at the camp." She voice held the slightest hint of fear. She tried to hide it with a forced smile. "You can head back." At that moment they both heard a moan off in the distance. They turned to face that direction. When they did they both caught a glimpse of a white head shoot behind a corner. Then another moan from behind. Aeric turned resting his hand on his blade. He saw a lanky gray figure hunched over on all fours in down the dark hallway. They only characteristics he could make out were two large black sunken eye sockets. It slowly crept away from them in an inhuman fashion then disappeared into the darkens. Dalia hurried back towards the room with the bedrolls where she split up from Aeric. She looked in the room and over the bedroll where Aeric was sleeping was a black apparition that was looking down at the bedroll. She leveled her spear at the entity. "Don't you dare harm him!" She yelled at the figure. It walked into the wall. She knew what the spirits haunting this place were up to. She awoke an elemental spirit. She knew it would go after her friends before it would go after her.
Voren heard Dalia scream, he went to go investigate. She wasn't all that far from the camp. Maybe twenty feet from Voren. He saw her dart from the room and down the hall. He cried out to her but she ignored him. Against his better judgment he hurried after her. Hale and Jenis continued oblivious to the world around them. "Hey! Wait up!" He finnaly got through to the demon and she stopped. " We have to find the others NOW! Did they head in here?" She said panting "Yes, they went looking for you. Whats going on?" "This place is haunted by a demon!" Voren looked at her in disbelief. "We would have noticed if there was something as powerful as a demon here." Dalia turned away from Voren not walking to waste time on idle chatter. " Maybe it's not the best term, but this place is possessed by a malevolent spirit that feeds off emotion, kinda like a demon." Voren followed her still in disbelief that they could have missed something that significant. He was a paladin like the others, he could sense evil. Almost as if his mind were the trigger, he began to sense it. As did the two trapped inside. Aeric started moving backwards keeping his eyes down the corridor, Faline did the same looking down hers. They traveled down the way they came. A crash came from the direction they were heading. They drew their weapons. They picked up the pace. Right as Aeric turned he saw the lanky creature again, this time it was moving towards them quickly; its mouth open impossibly wide. He felt a surge of adrenaline kick in as the two began running down the hallway. The creature catching up to them in is unnatural bounding leaps. Aeric turned to the apparition right as it was about to pounce on him, he let his sword swing free, as it struck the ghostly figure, it let out a bright white light. The creature withdrew into the darkness dissipating into the walls. " Is it gone?" Faline blurted out with fear in her voice. " Not in the slightest."
Through the turns and twists they were doing their best to retrace their steps. Aeric wouldn't admit it, but he was starting to feel startled. He thought that as long as she appeared strong to the frightened elf, she would maintain her composure. Breaking in terror would surely result in death at this point. Whatever was here didn't want to scare them away anymore. They stumbled over unidentifiable objects that felt as it it were grabbing their ankles. 'Its reforming itself.' Aeric thought. He stopped. "What are you doing! We need to keep moving." "This thing wants us to be scared. It isn't strong enough to attack us outright yet." He said walking at a brisk pace. Faline was unsure of how to proceed. Despite her age, she had hardly come in contact with the supernatural. It was more a mental fight, she was a brute despite her elven nature. She bit her lip as they walked down the dilapidated twists and turns. Dalia came to a 'T' section of the hallway. She didn't know which way to go. She started crying out for Aeric hoping he'd hear her, and possibly attract the attention to her letting Aeric escape. She didn't quite concern herself for Faline. Though her plan worked as Aeric heard her yelling and they changed their path towards the yelling. Her plan wasn't without consequence. Whatever entity was haunting the place wasn't happy about another demon in its domain. The initiates had gotten the fire going and were enjoying the warmth and good smell of food being cooked. They couldn't help but notice the lack of people though. They looked back into the dark hallways and back to the fire. "Where the hell are they?" Hale said licking his lips waiting for the food to be ready. " I bet you they are up to no good..." " What do you mean? " Well think about it, two men, two women, ones a succubus? You do the math." They two chuckled.
The apparition appeared behind Voren. Dalia saw it in the corner of her eye, the dark shadow looming over the young Paladin. Before she could warn him, it got hold of Voren by the collar and dragged him off into a nearby room slamming the door as he passed. Dalia charged after her comrade, and battered through the door to rescue Voren, who was fighting the darkness, thrusting his sword at where he through the shadow person was. Dalia reached for him, and he instinctively struck at her in his panic. She was frozen for a moment as her body refused to move. She felt a surge of energy flow through her body, sending her to the ground. Voren saw what he did, and shot up to catch his would be rescuer. She fell into his arms shaking. She started to mouth something nearly inaudible making Voren lean in to hear her. "fuck......you." He suppressed a smile picking her up and trying to get them out of the room as fast as possible. The tension was alleviated temporarily as Aeric and Faline finally met up with Voren and the recovering Dalia. As much as they would have liked to exchange words they hurried their way out, Aeric taking Dalia from Voren holding her close as he assisted her on the way out. " They aren't up to that... We would have noticed something by now." Hale said " You seen how Voren acts around the succubus, and Aeric and Faline are 'old friends'. Doesn't take a scribe to get whats going on in a dark and secluded place." Jenis joked with the portly initiate. They could see the light of the fire. They began to slow their pace uncontentiously. Slowly emerging from the darkness into the camp. They were breathing heavily from the excitement setting their minds at ease for a moment as they were free of the confines of that evil place. Jenis nudged Hale with his elbow as they looked at the group. " Voren... what you did to me, hurt." Dalia spoke between her recovering breaths. "I'll watch my aim next time." Jenis busted out laughing
They all had a moment to rest and recover. Gather their minds what was happening. when the two that were left out were informed of the situation they quickly stopped laughing. They had to gather their wits as Dalia explained more about the behavior of the demon. " Unlike me, this creature is essence that has to manifest itself in order for it to maintain in the physical world. Usually by gathering enough strength to posses a being." "An elemental..." Aeric said with disdain. They all had been taught through their travels and academic study about demons and demonology, but very few Paladins would come out alive after contact with a demon. Aeric being one of the few, but he faced a demon that was material, and could be hit with weaponry. "Can it be killed?" He said gruffly " Well.." she trailed off thinking about it for a moment. "It could manifest itself physically, and while it's doing so, its vulnerable enough that it may be kill able." " That settles it, then." Aeric stood up and donned his helmet. " Where are you going?" Faline asked, fearing he answer. "Back in."
END CHAPTER ONE