Twisted Destiny

-We return to the other side of the portal- 

We are making good time as we fly over the barren landscape towards the mountain in the distance. It takes us about two to three hours to reach the mountain’s ridge where I decided to set the party down for a little bit so I can stretch my muscles and so we can get a visual on the enemy stronghold. 

“You said the devils were on the other side, right?” Gamma asks as she stretches her own legs just a bit. 

“Yes, right in between us and a volcano. They should still be quite the distance away but we should be able to get a clear view of them from here.” I reply. @@novelbin@@

Gamma sneaks up to the ridge and lays down so she can just barely peak over. 

At the same time Sid looks back at the way we came from. “We didn’t meet a single devil patrol again.”

“Mhmm.” I nod. “Odd isn’t it?” 

“It is.” Sid nods back. “Back on Haurchefaud they knew we were coming, hell, I think we all felt that. But now that they have us on their territory, they aren’t paying any attention to us at all.” 

“Mhmm.” I nod once more. “It’s a strange situation. But hopefully it will play to our advantage.” 

“I can definitely see a lot of movement in the distance.” Gamma comments as she continues peeking over the ridge. “There’s a lot of devils down there on the plains.” 

Sid and I decided to join our catgirl buddy and crawl up to the ridge as well. It may or may not be so that they know where we are, but putting ourselves as a bigger silhouette against the sky is still not advisable, just in case we can keep hidden. Once we are able to peek over it is instantly clear what Gamma was talking about. Way off in the distance, right where I expected the devil’s portal to be, a giant mass of devils is moving. From this distance it looks more like a mass of oil or water, but it’s still rather obvious what we are actually looking at. 

“That’s a lot of them, and they don’t seem to be moving towards us.” 

“They are mainly funneling into the portal.” Gamma replies. 

“But where are they coming from?” I say as I look around. Apart from a sizeable area around the temple complex where the crystal is supposedly buried under, there’s not a devil in sight on the dusty plains. Yet even after watching the devils funnel through for five minutes, their mass doesn’t seem to be decreasing and it’s not because they are funneling through at a slow pace. 

“I don’t think we will be able to tell from over here.” Sid crawls back down, away from the ridge. “So what’s our plan, Amicia? Do we land at the edge and make our way to the temple?” 

“Going at it from the edge is risky if we don’t know where the devils come from, no?” Gamma looks back at Sid. 

“I’d rather try landing right at the foot of the complex and immediately starting to lift that temple out of the ground…” 

“But we will be surrounded.” Sid retorts. 

“We will be surrounded anyway if we start fighting them from the edge.” I reply. “I think the best shot we have at this is to blitz them, get the crystal and wipe them out like that. I’ll create a bit of an opening with my AoE holy magic and you just need to keep them off me while I use my earth magic on the ground.” I roll over to look back at Sid as well. “I would rather not take such a risk but I think it’s the only plan that has the possibility of working.”

“They will just swamp us if we try it the conventional way. We will be just bogged down before we even reach the edge of that temple.” Gamma pretty much parrots my argument but from the look in her eyes I can see that she’s not doing so blindly. 

 Sid takes a deep breath and then nods. “Alright. Then us two will keep those pesky devils away from Amicia the best we can.” He then looks back at me. “You look terribly calm about this all, Amicia. I have to say.” 

“I guess I am.” I admit as I put my hand on my chest. I definitely had some doubts earlier but my breathing now is calm, my heart rate is normal and I’m not even that emotional about it all. Logically that kind of feeling should scare me, or at least alert me, but even that… I’m just feeling as if I’m going to the bakery for a loaf of bread. “While this is disconcerting… I rather feel like this than be scared out of my mind about our prospects…” I admit to my friends. 

“I suppose…” Gamma replies, looking at me quizzically. “We can draw some confidence from your calmness.” 

“Make sure not to take any unnecessary risks though. Being fearless is good up to a point, but don’t make fearless become reckless in the process.” 

I nod. “I’ll keep an eye out for that.” 

Gamma smiles. “Let me do a quick final inventory of everything I have before we leave.” 

“Take your time.” I reply. “I rather you have every bomb you can use at the ready rather than forgetting about any.” 

Sid and I take a short time taking inventory of our own gear as well, dropping pretty much everything that can slow us down in combat. We don’t really cover our stuff up with gear as there’s no enemy nearby anyway and if we don’t make it it won’t matter much anyway. 

Gamma does the same after having completed her inventory and then waits for me to take her up into the sky. 

“Okay, are you all ready to head out?” I ask for a final time, disappearing my summoned shield in the progress and brandishing my sword in my left hand. 

“I’m ready.” Sid replies, holding his hammer in one hand and taking Gamma by the collar in his other. 

“Me too.” Gamma the Gremlin replies as she sneers, two guns in her hands. “I don’t have much left but let’s give these devils all we got.” 

Sid laughs. “I see you have found your courage too.” 

“I’m completely pretending, don’t call me out on it or I’ll crumble.” Gamma laughs back. “I can’t let Amicia have all the bravery for herself.” 

Sid smiles and gives me a nod. “Let’s go, Amicia.” 

I nod with a smile in return. “Hold on tight, it might be a bumpy ride.” I take Sid by his armored backplate and fly the three of us up in the air. before I dive over the ridge towards the devil camp a couple of kilometers away. Now is the time for heroics and my body definitely feels like it’s up for the task. That last piece of bread is keeping my furnace hot and ready to rumble. 

My dive brings us up to quite a high speed without me needing to put any extra effort into my wings, making us approach the portal at break-neck speed. That’s when an obvious fact pops into my mind. “Wait… why don’t we just fly through the portal?” 

“Oh shit.” Gamma calls out with a high pitched voice. “Do it, Ami! Do it!” 

“I completely missed that as well…” Sid admits. “Go for it, Amicia, if you think we can make it. We’ll get help to push for the crystal.” 

Without saying anything more I swap my sword out for my shield, just summoning it in its place. Changing plans, literally on the fly, is generally not advised, but in this case, arguably extremely warranted. 

Nevertheless, the change of plans still makes us go in the same direction as the enemy force seemingly gets bigger and bigger the closer we get. 

When we are about two kilometers away, it also becomes obvious why we didn’t see the group of devils diminish in size from our lookout position at the ridge. A thin veil of purple miasma circles the devil forces from which new small devil's spawn at a rate similar to how fast they are draining through the portal. At places with higher concentrations of miasma it’s the bigger devils who form but at a way slower rate than their little brethren. It’s still unclear where the miasma originates from though. 

I don’t let this distract me too much however as we are now getting really close to the devil’s lines. And it’s only now that a big chunk of the devil forces turn around to face us. Instantly we are greeted by a couple of bolts that get fired in our direction. Gamma returns that fire with fire of her own with remarkable precision, with every shot downing one of the bigger devil’s that engaged us. 

We then sheer over the devil’s heads, making a beeline towards the portal. We are so terribly close when a big devil bars our way, he must have jumped in from behind the portal. I’m too slow to react as it points its spear directly at me, set on impaling me moments later…

Only one thought blinks into my mind. 

-Is this… the end?-