Epic Fantasy
Date Published: 07-05-2025
inhabiting species. The humans, who were once the mightiest force on Affer,
were massacred in droves, and the ones who survived the onslaught were reduced
to mere slaves. The five other species divided the humans amongst themselves
and returned to their respective kingdoms.
The years passed, turning into decades and centuries, without any change.
Eventually, the humans had accepted their fate as slaves. All except one. Four
hundred and seventy-three years later, Fletcher Rush starts his journey to
free his kind…and conquer the planet.
EXCERPT
PROLOGUE
Four hundred and seventy-three years ago, the planet Affer was a peaceful world, with six different species coexisting with each other: humans, demons, angels, elves, the dammed, and the hybrids. Even though the planet was peaceful, they weren’t on favorable terms with each other, but they all had enough respect to leave the others alone and mind their own business. Nevertheless, they worked together when necessary and traded goods between each other, not to mention that every road on the planet was built in a joint effort between all six species. On quite a few occasions they even lent each other aid. However, that all changed as the humans grew in numbers and strength. Even though they kept to their land and stayed peaceful with the other species, they were still viewed as a threat.
While nothing happened at first, the other species kept their eyes on the humans. As the humans continued to grow stronger in both size and skill, the others became threatened by them. In only one year, the humans had amassed the largest army out of any species on Affer. Once that happened, the leaders of the five other species joined together and planned against mankind. They agreed not to wipe them out completely, as they didn’t hate them, but were only worried about their power. Instead, they decided to enslave them, killing anyone who tried to resist and splitting the rest between them all, each kingdom taking its fair share to do with as they pleased.
Forming a temporary alliance, the demons, angels, elves, hybrids, and the dammed launched an attack on Admont, the humans’ capital city. In less than three weeks, the human population went from just over one million to less than one hundred thousand.
The surviving humans were captured and divided among the five species to be used as slaves, who were quickly put to work doing all the dirty work of the kingdoms. At first, they all treated the humans fairly and sometimes even with empathy, but that didn’t last a full year. As the other species started to become lax and lazy, they also started to abuse their power. Many times, the humans were beaten or even killed for little to no reason.
Very quickly, the humans started dying out, and the kingdoms noticed. Deciding that a change was needed if they wanted to keep their slaves, the kingdoms started to create laws to protect the humans. Each species had its own laws on how they were to be treated, but all of the laws protected them just enough to keep them as slaves for hundreds of years to come.
After that, things started to change. It wasn’t noticeable at first, but slowly, over time, the power started shifting. The angels rose to the top, becoming the undisputed leader in terms of both strength and size. Next were the demons, who, while far above anyone else, were still far below the angels. The dammed were in third place, and this time the difference wasn’t as substantial. However, they still couldn’t win a war against the angels or demons. The last two were the hybrids and the elves. While the hybrids grew strong enough to protect themselves, they weren’t capable of going to war with anyone besides the elves, who stayed complacent, not growing in power since the war with the humans. They had become a shell of their former selves, deciding to live a peaceful life away from war and its consequences.
Now, four hundred and seventy-three years later, the planet Affer had accepted its fate…or, at least, most of it had. One human, Fletcher Rush, decided he would change the world no matter the price. It didn’t matter how far he had to go, he was going to free his kin, even if he had to walk through hell and make a deal with the devil. He was going to make the other species regret the day they allied against his kind. Fletcher vowed to make it his life’s purpose to right the wrongs committed on his species.
Day after day, he trained for the sole purpose of escaping enslavement and going to war with all of Affer, until the day finally arrived for him to begin his conquest.
CHAPTER 1
“You’re insane!” Abe said to Fletcher as his friend was about to put his plan into action.
“No one normal is going to change the world,” Fletcher said, giving Abe a small smile as he walked over to his anvil.
Fletcher had thought about his plan to escape ever since he had been put to work at the age of ten. For the next eleven years, he had been devising a plan to escape and take back the rights of his species. Every single day he would train in some way, shape, or form, pushing himself to exhaustion time and time again.
There were many times when he passed out or threw up, but he didn’t give up. He kept going, even when he wanted to stop. At times, he wanted to just quit and die because it was better than being a slave, but he didn’t; he stood back up no matter how hard he got knocked down. It took years for him to see results, but eventually, he started to become more muscular, growing stronger in both body and mind.
He had become so strong that a sixteen-hour workday in the forge didn’t seem so bad. That is, until he started making the weapons instead of just helping the blacksmiths. It took him another three years to get used to crafting swords and working out every day, but eventually, he was the strongest human in Titanan, the third-biggest city in the demon kingdom.
Now, after all those years of training and planning, it was finally time for Fletcher to make his move, and it would all start here in the forge.
“Well, good luck, Fletcher. If you succeed, make sure to come free the rest of us,” Abe said, turning away from his friend and going back to crafting the axe he was working on.
“I don’t need luck, Abe. I’m going to succeed with pure skill, and once I build up an army strong enough, I’ll come free you all,” Fletcher said with a grin, grabbing a pair of tongs and taking a sword from the blazing-hot furnace.
Fletcher set the sword down on a heavy anvil next to him in a way that ensured it would fall. Making sure it stayed for at least a few seconds, he turned around and placed the tongs back on his workbench. Before he turned back, he heard the blade clatter to the ground, followed by Abe shouting.
“OW, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! YOU BURNED ME, ASSHOLE!” Abe shouted, provoking a fight with Fletcher exactly as they had planned.
“Hey, I’m sorry, man. I must have set that blade down too close to the edge,” Fletcher said, putting his hands in the air in mock surrender. “My bad, Abe.”
“MY BAD?! FUCK YOU! YOU’VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR HOW MANY YEARS, AND YOU STILL SUCK! THIS IS WHY YOU CAN’T EVEN FORGE ARMOR BY YOURSELF, YOU WORTHLESS DUMBASS!” Abe said, grabbing a heavy hammer off his workbench and walking over to Fletcher.
“Whoa, there’s no need to go that far! It was just a simple mistake,” Fletcher said, taking a few steps back.
“MISTAKE—” Abe started to say, but was interrupted by one of the demons walking over to them.
“What’s going on here?” the demon asked in an uncaring tone, his dark red eyes looking at the two in annoyance.
“The blade I was working on fell and burned Abe.”
“IT DIDN’T JUST BURN ME, IT CUT ME AS WELL!” Abe yelled, pulling up his pant leg and showing the demon. “PLUS, YOU WERE BEING AN ASSHOLE ABOUT IT TOO!”
“Quit making a big deal out of it and bandage up your leg, then go back to work,” the demon said, turning away from the two.
“See, it’s no big deal,” Fletcher said, walking away from Abe. “Just stop being a little bitch.”
“YOU—” Abe shouted, taking a large step toward Fletcher and swinging his hammer right at his head. The hot, heavy steel slammed into the left side of his head, and a moment later, everything went black.
CHAPTER 2
Fletcher opened his eyes before quickly closing them, blinded by a bright white light shining in his eyes. His head still hurt badly, and he could feel a bandage wrapped around it. Opening his eyes again, he let them adjust and then sat up. He saw that he was in the infirmary, which was exactly where he wanted to be. This wasn’t the first time he had been sent to the hospital; in fact, most of the slaves in Titanan had been here dozens of times. However, Fletcher planned for this to be his last time.
So far, everything was going just as he had planned, although he wished Abe hadn’t hit him so hard.
“Man, Abe really did a number on me,” Fletcher groaned, touching the spot where he had been hit.
I can’t waste time though; I need to get to work, he thought, getting off the crappy stone bed and looking around.
At the moment, no demons were in the room, and only a few other humans were present, all of them passed out or sleeping in one of the beds. Walking down the small makeshift aisle between the other beds, Fletcher stopped at the only door in the room and put his right ear against it. After he didn’t hear anything, he slowly turned the handle and opened it a sliver. Peering out into the hallway, he saw two demon guards keeping watch at the far end.
Eyeing them both for a minute, he realized they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Needing to readjust his plan, he slowly closed the door and turned around.
“AH—” Fletcher shouted before getting ahold of himself. “You scared the shit out of me, Ji!” he scolded the man standing in front of him.
“Oh, sorry… What the hell are you doing though? Is today the day you escape?” Ji asked in an excited and worried tone.
“Yeah, it is. The plan is going good so far, but right now I need to get past those two guards.”
“Ha, you’re going to need to get past a lot more than just that,” Ji said, letting out a small laugh.
“I know that, I have everything planned out… Well, at least everything that’s in my control.”
“Look, you should know better than anyone how hard it is to escape. I mean, all I’ve ever heard you talk about is getting the hell out of here and freeing our kind.”
“I don’t care how hard it might be or how much the odds are stacked against me. I’d rather die a free man, or at least perish while trying, than live as a slave.”
“I’ll help you escape…but I want to come with you.”
“Sure, why would I be opposed to that?” Fletcher asked, gladly accepting Ji’s offer. “I mean, I’m going to need to build up an army anyway. It’s not like I can do this alone.”
“Well, I wasn’t sure… I mean, I don’t want to make it too easy to free our kind.”
“If you could single-handedly change the tide of battle to the point where taking over Affer was easy, I would definitely want you to escape with me.”
“I guess you’ll just have to wait and witness my unrivaled fighting prowess for yourself,” Ji said, taking a fighting stance and pretending to swing a sword.
“Damn, I’m sure our enemies are already shaking in fear with those sword skills,” Fletcher said in a serious tone while looking at Ji. The two of them were quiet for a second before they burst out laughing. “Alright, jokes aside, we need to get out of here.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We wait for a demon to come in here and then I’ll kill them.”
“Alright, well, take this then,” Ji said, reaching into his pocket and handing Fletcher a screwdriver. “It should make killing them a bit easier.”
Fletcher looked at the tool before he shoved it into his pocket. “Now go lay down in a bed and don’t move until you give me the signal.”
“Me?!” Ji turned to look at the other man. “So…what’s the signal?” he asked as he walked over to the same bed he had been in before.
“When you’re ready, say, ‘angel,’” Fletcher said, lying down in bed. “But while we wait, we might as well plan our next move.”
***
It was almost two hours later when they heard the doorknob to the room turn. Before the doctor could open the door, Ji started coughing like he was dying. The demon opened the door and looked around before his eyes stopped on Ji.
“What the hell’s wrong with you? You don’t even work in the fucking mines,” the doctor said in an irritated voice. Nonetheless, he came over to Ji and pulled out his stethoscope.
“I’m…not sure,” Ji wheezed out, rolling over on his side and curling up into a ball. “I just…know it…hurts.”
“I swear, sometimes you humans are so weak it’s repulsive,” the doctor said with a look of disgust. “Now sit up so I can see what’s wrong.”
Ji sat up, still doing his fake cough, and the demon placed the cold metal of the stethoscope against his chest. “Your lungs sound fine. What happened?”
“I woke up…and, I felt dizzy…then I started coughing…and that’s when I…I thought I saw an angel,” Ji said in between coughs.
Fletcher quickly rose out of bed. The demon turned back to look at what the noise was, but it was too late.
Ji wrapped his right arm around the demon’s throat and leaned back, using all his body weight to keep him from moving. Fletcher wasted no time in attacking and plunged the screwdriver straight into the demon’s left ear canal. Black blood spurted out, spraying all over Ji and Fletcher. Pulling the tool out, the demon’s heavy body instantly went limp, and Ji let go, shoving him to the side and letting his head slam against the hard concrete floor.
“Well, that takes care of one of them,” Ji said, his shirt and face now covered in blood.
“Alright, you ready for the next part?” Fletcher asked, handing the screwdriver back to Ji.
“I’m waiting on you, slowpoke,” Ji said, pocketing the tool and running out the door.
“Well, I didn’t expect him to do that without hesitation,” Fletcher muttered to himself as he watched Ji leave.
CHAPTER 3
“HELP, HE’S GONE INSANE! HE KILLED THE DOCTOR, AND HE TRIED TO KILL ME AS WELL!” Ji yelled, running at the two guards stationed at the end of the hallway.
“HEY, JI, GET BACK HERE, YOU ASSHOLE!” Fletcher yelled, running out into the hallway, his hands, face, torso, and pants covered in blood.
The two guards looked at each other before looking at a scared-looking Ji and then turning their attention to a crazy-looking Fletcher. Silently agreeing to eliminate the psychotic man, the two demons walked toward Fletcher.
However, they didn’t get very far. As soon as they passed Ji, he grabbed his screwdriver and stabbed the guard on the right in his left thigh, bringing him to his knee. Before either of the demons had a chance to respond, Fletcher had sprinted down the hallway and drop-kicked the other guard in the stomach. Meanwhile, Ji threw a left hook at his foe, breaking his nose. Fletcher came over a second later, quickly following up with a right kick to his face, knocking the demon to the floor.
Pulling the tool out from the demon’s thigh, Ji stabbed the other guard in the ribs, missing the bone and going straight into his liver. Fletcher brought his leg back and rammed his heel into the demon’s rib, right where Ji had just stabbed him, causing the guard to keel over in pain and drop entirely to the floor. Meanwhile, the other guard had gotten back up and hit Fletcher in the face. As the demon’s large fist slammed into him, Fletcher stumbled back but didn’t fall. He felt dizzy, and his vision became blurry for a second, but with all the adrenaline rushing through his veins, he hardly felt it. In fact, he was sure the only way to stop him now was to kill him.
“FLETCHER!” Ji shouted, throwing him the screwdriver.
Fletcher caught the tool and took a big step forward, stabbing the screwdriver into the demon’s right eye. The demon roared out in pain before Fletcher stabbed him again and again.
While Fletcher stabbed the guard repeatedly in the face, Ji tackled the remaining guard before he could unsheathe his sword. He wrapped his arms around the back of the demon’s knees, but as soon as he did, he realized his mistake. The demon’s legs instantly buckled, and the guard fell back; the seven-foot-tall demon pinning Ji to the ground with all his weight. Ji tried to get out from under the guard, but it was no use; the demon was too heavy. Before he could move, the demon squeezed his legs together, pressing his knees against Ji’s head with immense force. Ji wrapped his hands around the demon’s legs and tried to lessen the pressure on his skull, but the demon was just too strong. He felt himself becoming faint and light-headed as his consciousness slowly ebbed away, and the pressure became more intense. Just before he passed out, he felt the pressure completely vanish, and the weight of the demon disappeared.
“Ahhhh!” Ji gasped for air as the pounding in his head stopped, and his blood started flowing again. “Took you long enough!” He stood up and looked at Fletcher.
“Yeah, sorry about that… I got a bit carried away,” Fletcher said, giving Ji a hand up.
Ji took a second to recuperate before assessing the situation. Right away, he noticed that Fletcher was somehow covered in more blood than before, and the demon he had killed wasn’t even recognizable. Fletcher had made at least three dozen holes in his face, and the tile under his head was soaked in blood. A massive puddle had formed around his head as well, and it was growing bigger as Ji watched.
Looking away, he turned his attention to the other guard and saw Fletcher removing a sword from his chest.
“Here, catch,” Fletcher said, tossing him the sword.
Instead of catching it, Ji panicked and jumped back. “What the hell! What’s wrong with you?!”
“Me? That’s your fault! You should have caught it.”
“Screw that! I’m not a fucking blacksmith!” Ji said, bending down to pick up the sword.
“What does that have to do with anything? What, you think we toss around weapons to each other?!”
“I don’t know, and guess what? I don’t want to know. You can keep whatever goes on in the room of terror to yourself.”
The two looked at each other before they both burst into laughter.
“Room of terror, huh? To be honest, that’s a pretty great way of putting it,” Fletcher said, grabbing the sword from the other demon.
“Well, now I really don’t want to know what happens in the forge… But seriously, thanks for the save,” Ji said, showing his gratitude to the other man. “I would’ve died there if it wasn’t for you.”
“We’re in this together now. Your life is just as important to me as mine. That’s what it means to be allies,” Fletcher said, walking down the hallway.
“Alright, what’s next?” Ji asked, falling into step next to Fletcher.
“We need to get to the garage. Right now, we’re on the fourth floor of the hospital, so we need to get to the basement and take the tunnels to the military post, which connects to the garage. That’s the closest building we can get to from the tunnels,” Fletcher said, knowing the layout of the city like the back of his hand, at least the parts he and the other slaves had been to.
“Alright, and then?” Ji asked, curious as to the man’s plan.
“Patience, Ji. Don’t try to climb steps you haven’t reached yet; you’ll end up falling,” Fletcher said.
He reached the end of the hallway and looked around the corner. Just as he thought, no one else was there. Quickly heading down the hall with Ji right behind him, Fletcher arrived at the stairwell. Reaching for the door handle, he stopped as it started to turn. Getting ready to attack, they came face to face with a six-and-a-half-foot-tall demon. His light gray skin was stretched tight over his large muscular body, and his black horns were huge, even by demon standards. They could tell he’d been in many fights by the scars littering his body. Not to mention the fact that his exoskeleton, which covered his collarbones, sternum, knuckles, and spine, showed considerable damage.
Fletcher wasted no time stabbing the demon in the stomach, ducking as soon as he did to give Ji a chance to attack as well. Ji moved a second after Fletcher ducked, seizing his chance to deal some damage to the demon. He slashed across the demon’s throat just enough to damage his vocal cords, rending any chance for him to call for help null and void. Fletcher slashed across both the demon’s legs, right over his kneecaps, and rammed into him with his right shoulder, pushing the demon back a few feet out of the doorway, giving him and Ji more room to fight.
The fight had been pretty one-sided, and the two of them weren’t intending for that to change anytime soon. Ji moved to the left of the demon and drove his sword straight into his hip, twisting the blade when he couldn’t go any deeper. The demon tried to let out a scream but only succeeded in making more blood pour from the wound in his throat. Ji kicked the demon in his left leg with the flat of his foot, then grabbed the sword that was still sticking inside the demon’s hip. Putting all his weight on the sword, his body suspended in the air as he grabbed the sword as tightly as he could. The demon fell to his knees, a screeching sound coming from him as he opened his mouth to scream, the pain far too much to bear, even for his kind. Once on his knees, Fletcher stuck his sword into the demon’s gaping mouth, straight through the roof and into his brain. A moment later, the demon’s pupils faded to black, and his body went limp, slamming into the metal floor of the stairwell.
“That’s four!” Fletcher said with a large grin.
“Only about one to two hundred thousand more to go, and we can free the humans from slavery,” Ji half-joked.
“Keep counting down, Ji, and before you know it, we humans will be back at the top of the world,” Fletcher said, heading down the stairs.
The two moved as silently as they could, trying not to get caught up in any unnecessary fights. Reaching the lowest level, Fletcher stopped and placed his ear against the door.
“Do you hear anything?”
“No, but there are always two guards standing watch at the tunnel entrance. Luckily, there aren’t any guards in the basement…at least, there aren’t supposed to be. However, there’s no way around the ones at the tunnels, so we’ll have to kill them. But let’s try to do it quickly and get out of the tunnels and into the garage as fast as possible,” Fletcher said, removing his ear from the door and slowly twisting the handle.
Before Fletcher could open it, they heard the door on the floor above them open.
“Hey… There’s demon blood, and a lot of it. SOUND THE ALARM; WE HAVE A KILLER IN HERE!”
Fletcher and Ji looked at each other before quickly opening the door and rushing through it.
“We need to get into the tunnels as quickly as possible!” Fletcher said as they sprinted down one of the long hallways in the basement.
There were three large rooms in the basement; two of them housed medical supplies, while the third connected to the tunnel system that ran underneath the city. The tunnels weren’t used much in the summer, but in the harsh, cold winter, they were used more than the streets. The winters got bad on the north side of Affer, but Titanan had it the worst of all the cities. At the worst part of the year, there would be up to four feet of snow on the ground, and temperatures would drop as low as negative sixty degrees. To minimize going outside, almost every city in the north had tunnel systems connecting to each building.
“When we get to the guards, just attack right away!” Fletcher said, looking over at Ji, who nodded in response.
As the two burst through the doors to the room connecting to the tunnels, they were surprised to find the guards in the middle of changing shifts.
Four pairs of eyes locked on the two men as they ran in with their swords drawn and eyes filled with killing intent. But neither Fletcher nor Ji stopped their charge, even when they saw four guards instead of the two they were expecting.
The startled demons stood in place for a second, thrown off by the humans running straight at them. But they quickly got into gear and drew their swords. However, Ji and Fletcher managed to stab one demon each before they got their bearings.
Fletcher blocked an attack from his left side with his sword and countered with a quick light jab to the demon’s face. Bringing his arm back, he turned his sword and blocked an attack from the other guard, the flat of his blade shielding him. Taking a step to his right, Fletcher narrowly avoided getting stabbed, but the blade still nicked him pretty badly. Blood fell down his left shoulder, mixing with the black blood of the demons that covered his body. The injury should have hurt a lot, but Fletcher paid it no heed. The pain he was experiencing was nothing compared to the pain he had endured to get here. Day after day, training again and again, slaving away, making weapons for a species that had brought his kind nothing but misery. That stung far worse than any physical pain he could ever endure.
Fletcher stepped forward, dodging an attack and stabbing the demon right in the throat, causing him to stumble backward. However, he wasn’t dead yet, but before Fletcher could land the finishing blow, he heard a sword whooshing toward the back of his head. Fletcher dropped to the floor as fast as he possibly could, accidentally letting go of his sword but managing to avoid the blade.
Hitting the rough gravel and sand floor, Fletcher cut his knuckles on all the small rocks. Clenching his teeth, he quickly rolled to the left, putting as much power into it as he could. He managed to knock the second guard over. Fletcher wasted no time and took the screwdriver out of his pocket, pressing down on the guard’s sword with his right hand to keep him from attacking while he stabbed him in the eye with his left.
“DIE, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” Fletcher shouted as he stabbed the demon in the face over and over.
He could have done that all day, but stopped when he was sure the demon was dead and turned his attention back to the other guard, who had wrapped a strand of cloth around his neck to slow the bleeding.
“COME ON, YOU UGLY MOTHERFUCKER! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!” Fletcher shouted while he moved to pick his sword back up.
The demon rushed at Fletcher, and instead of swinging his sword at him, he threw it right at him. Fletcher knocked the weapon away but didn’t have time to do anything else before the demon slammed into him. He felt the air leave his lungs just before he hit the ground hard. The demon rammed him into the ground as hard as he could, with enough force to kill most fully grown men.
The demon put his hands together, making a large fist, and raised it above his head, aiming to bring it down on Fletcher. Before he could, Fletcher stabbed the demon right in the cock, causing him to scream out in a great deal of pain. He wasn’t done yet; he twisted the screwdriver back and forth, trying to cause as much pain as possible. The demon wailed out in pain but mustered enough composure to grab Fletcher and throw him away from him, pulling the screwdriver out right after.
“You know, that armor you all wear is great,” Fletcher said, walking over and grabbing his sword again. “But here’s the thing: I’ve helped make thousands of them for you all. Do you know what that means?” He smirked as he stopped and looked down at the demon. The guard looked up to see the human standing in front of him with a sick, sadistic smile on his face. “It means I know the weak spots better than you fuckers do. See you in hell, buddy.” Fletcher grabbed the demon by the top of his head and shoved the sword into his face, piercing all the way through his skull.
Pulling his sword out of the demon’s head, Fletcher looked over at Ji and saw him fighting one-on-one. This guard seemed to be giving him some trouble, as he was covered in sweat and breathing hard, not to mention, he had already been wounded a few times.
Well, I guess I should help him out, Fletcher thought, making his way over to his ally.
CHAPTER 4
Damn, this guy’s different. He’s not a higher rank, but he’s definitely stronger than all the other demons we’ve killed up till now, Ji thought as he tried to get his breathing under control.
He had been panting for most of the fight, trying to keep up with this demon. He had managed to land a good cut across the back of both of his legs, which allowed him to take care of the other guard, but he felt as if his adrenaline was wearing out while the demon’s was just starting to kick in.
Ji knew he wasn’t going to win this fight, but he needed to buy enough time till Fletcher took care of his opponents and came to help. There was a small chance that Fletcher wouldn’t win, but in that case, Ji was dead no matter what.
He blocked a slow attack on his right, just for the guard to throw him off and immediately bring his sword straight down at a blinding speed. The weapon cut into Ji’s right thigh, going in at least three inches. He let out a painful grunt and bit his lip to keep from screaming. The pain was greater than anything the man had ever felt, and he had felt a great deal working as a slave for the demons.
Once the blade had driven into his leg, Ji was done; his leg slowly gave out, and when he blinked, he was on his knees. The guard grabbed him by his hair a second later and said something he wasn’t conscious enough to catch. All he felt was his heavy breathing, the pounding of his heart, and the burning sensation in his leg. Then everything went black.
CHAPTER 5
“JI!” Fletcher yelled as he saw the guard cut into his friend’s leg.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Ji fell to the ground, and the demon grabbed him and swung his sword back, ready to lop off his head. Fletcher had two choices: get an easy kill on the demon or block his attack and save Ji. With no time to think he acted purely on instinct.
The sound of metal hitting metal rang throughout the room as Fletcher blocked the demon’s attack. The two of them stood there for a second, the human and demon looking at each other, neither moving an inch.
“You could have killed me… Instead, you chose to save this human. Why?” the guard asked.
“I don’t expect a demon to understand. BUT THAT’S WHY YOU’LL NEVER KEEP US ENSLAVED!” Fletcher shouted, twisting around so that his back was pressed up against the guard’s sword. As he spun around, he brought his blade up as hard as he could, slicing into the demon’s bicep. The sword dug deep into his flesh but stopped completely when it hit bone.
At the same time, the demon pressed his sword into Fletcher’s back and brought the weapon toward him, the cold metal of the blade cutting deep into his back. Fletcher clenched his teeth, trying to stay conscious as his vision went dark and pain shot through his body.
With a grunt, he pulled his sword out of the demon’s arm and spun it around quickly so that the hilt was facing away from the demon. He then drove the blade into his stomach, right above his right hip. Instead of pulling it out, Fletcher let go and dodged an attack from his left aimed at his neck.
A second later, the demon drove his left knee into Fletcher’s head, which he managed to block with his arms, crossing them in an X over his face. Fletcher rushed forward, scaling the eight-foot-tall demon like a wall, putting his left foot on the blade he had driven into his stomach and pushing off as hard as he could. The demon let out a cry of pain, dropping his weapon and grabbing Fletcher in a tight bear hug. But it was too late; Fletcher was already where he wanted to be.
He drove his right thumb into the demon’s left eye so deep he felt the bone of his skull. The demon screamed again but still held on, squeezing Fletcher even tighter, trying to kill him as fast as possible. Fletcher felt a great deal of pressure as the demon’s strong arms wrapped around him, crushing him and forcing the air out of his lungs. His face started to go blue, and he began to feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. Refusing to give up, he twisted his head and bit the demon’s nose, biting down so hard his teeth scraped against bone. This time, the pain was too much, and the demon dropped Fletcher and brought his hands to his nose, blood gushing out, spilling onto his fingers and staining the floor under him.
“I have to say, you gave me quite a run for my money. But at the end of the day, you still lost,” Fletcher said, pulling his sword out of the demon and bringing it down on his head.
The demon turned his body right before the weapon made contact, and instead of cutting into his head, it ended up cutting his left forearm.
“Fuck,” Fletcher said before he was punched in the stomach.
He gasped for breath as he was thrown to the floor by the force of the punch. The back of his head slammed into the hard floor, causing his vision to blur. After a few seconds, he was able to see somewhat, and he saw the demon falling toward him.
Fletcher barely had time to roll to the right before the demon landed where he was moments ago, slamming to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. Sitting up, Fletcher spit out a mouthful of blood and wiped the sweat and blood from his eyes. He was feeling the pain and exhaustion now. His breathing had grown frantic, and his limbs had become heavy as fatigue crept up on him.
“I have to admit, I’m impressed, human. I’m a rank-six guard and have bested many of my kind. For a human, you—”
“SHUT UP! IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER I DO GOOD OR NOT… IF I DON’T WIN, IF I DON’T KILL YOU, THEN IT DOESN’T MATTER! THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS GETTING OUT OF HERE AND FREEING MY SPECIES!”
Fletcher ran at the demon, slowing down slightly and squatting like he was about to jump at him, but instead, he picked up his pace at the last second and slid right between the demon’s legs. Standing up as quick as he could, he turned around and grabbed the demon in a chokehold.
“Foolish human, you really think that will work?” the demon said with a laugh. Jumping up, he leaned backward, landing on his back and slamming Fletcher into the ground.
“Argh,” Fletcher groaned as he spit out a mouthful of blood.
At this point, he was surprised he was alive. With everything he had gone through already, and then being slammed into the ground with the full force of a demon—if he made it out of here alive, it would make for one hell of a story later.
Just a bit more! he thought as he felt the demon’s strength ebb away.
The demon rolled over and started to stand back up, getting ready to slam Fletcher into the ground again. But Fletcher brought his right foot down as hard as he could behind the demon’s knee, jamming it into the popliteal fossa, effectively forcing the demon to his knees. A few seconds later, the demon’s body went limp, but Fletcher held on to be certain he was knocked out.
“ARH… DAMN!” Fletcher shouted as he let go of the unconscious demon.
Pushing the heavy demon to the ground, he walked over to his ally and tied his shirt tightly around his right leg. Unable to carry both him and the swords, Fletcher was forced to drop the weapons. “Damn, Ji, what the hell have you been eating? You need to lose some weight, man,” Fletcher joked as he struggled to lift the full-grown man.
Walking toward the mouth of the tunnel, he stopped before he went in and turned to look back at the demon he left alive. “Man, I wish had I time to kill you…but I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
CHAPTER 6
Ji woke up with a pounding headache that only became worse a second later when he felt his head slam into a hard surface.
“OW!” he shouted, opening his eyes all the way.
“Oh, hey, you’re finally awake!”
“What the hell’s going on?! Who hit me? Are we under attack?!” Ji asked, still gathering his bearings.
“Hm? Oh…no, that was me. I accidentally hit your head against the wall… My bad, man,” Fletcher admitted, not telling him that he had already done that two other times as well.
“Asshole,” Ji said, now fully awake and realizing he was being carried on Fletcher’s back.
“Hey, I saved you back there! I could have left you, I could have let you get killed by that demon! I had a perfect chance to kill him, but I decided to save you instead.”
“Thanks… I appreciate you saving my life, especially if it could have cost you yours as well,” Ji said, grateful to have a man like Fletcher as his friend.
“Don’t mention it,” Fletcher said, standing by his choice to save Ji. “Anyway, what’s the point of winning if we end up sacrificing our own like it’s no big deal? I’m sure I wouldn’t have made it this far without you…even after spending years planning for this moment.”
“So where are we right now exactly?” Ji asked, looking around at the brick walls. “Is this the tunnels?”
“Yep, we should be close to the military post about now. I had to make some— ARGH!” Fletcher yelled out, stopping in his tracks and wincing.
“What’s wrong?!”
“Nothing… Hey, do you think you can walk?” Fletcher asked, desperate to get Ji off the painful cut on his back.
“Yeah, I should be fine,” Ji said, putting his right leg on the ground. “Mh… Oh, that’s worse than I thought it would be.”
“Never mind, it’s fine. Just stay on my back.”
“Were you hurt?” Ji asked, knowing the only reason Fletcher would ask him to get off in the first place would be a bad injury.
“My back,” Fletcher said, not bothering to hide it.
“What the hell?! Fletcher, this is bad!” Ji said, looking at the large wound on the man’s muscular back. “And you had me resting my whole weight right on top of it.”
“Ji, it’s—” Fletcher started, but went silent when he heard the sound of footsteps close by. “Just get the fuck back on my back or we are both going to die down here!” he whispered in an urgent and demanding tone.
Ji didn’t argue and got on his back, trying his best not to move at all. Fletcher slowly walked down the tunnel, and both he and Ji listened to the footsteps, trying to make sure they didn’t run into any guards down here. Knowing that if they did their chance of success would be very, very small.
After a stressful eight minutes, the footsteps faded away, and the two of them were just down the hall from the military post.
“We’re close. It’s just partway down this hall and then through a door on the left,” Fletcher said, picking up the pace slightly.
“Will there be any guards there?” Ji asked.
“No, at least there shouldn’t be. There will be four to six in the main weapons room, but we don’t need to go in there, even though I would like to grab some weapons.”
“Okay, so the plan is to get to the garage, and then what?”
“We camp in the back of one of the cars,” Fletcher said, stopping at a turn and peering down the hall. Seeing that it was clear, he moved on, closer to the door. “We stay hidden and out of sight until the patrol goes out to scout the borders.”
“How do we know that they’ll leave soon though? I mean, what if we have to stay there for days? I don’t want to be stuck with you in a cramped space for that long,” Ji said, only half-joking.
“They leave daily, I can see it from the blacksmith. And I found out from Abe that they head over to the kingdom’s borders. Why they go out so often, or what they’re looking for, I’m not sure. But I know they leave the city, and as long as we get past the city walls, that’s all that matters.”
“Alright, I trust you. I mean, the worst that happens is we die anyway… Right?” Ji said, trying not to think about all the ways they could punish them.
“Ha, I’d like to see them try and kill us!” Fletcher said as they arrived at the door to the military post. “Not even Hell itself could stop me from reaching my goal.”
Making his way up the stairs, Fletcher squatted down, trying to make himself look smaller and draw less attention. The post wasn’t fully lit up since it was night, but it was still bright enough to see someone walking around.
Stopping and listening closely, Fletcher and Ji heard banter coming from their left. “It sounds like there are a lot of guards or soldiers in there,” Ji whispered, not wanting to run into either right now.
“Ew, you spit in my ear!” Fletcher complained, making a look of disgust.
“Sorry… My bad,” Ji whispered, this time farther from his ear.
Fletcher made his way toward the garage, sneaking across the floor as quietly as he could, and stopped at the door. Twisting the handle, he opened it as softly as he could and went inside.
As soon as Fletcher opened the door, they were met with loud voices filled with laughter, and glasses being slammed onto a metal surface. They assumed a few of the soldiers had started drinking. But peering in the direction of the noise, they saw over a dozen demons. There were six guards, two of them high-ranking ones, and nine soldiers, all of them rank-three or under.
“Just our luck, they’re having a fucking party the night we try and escape!” Fletcher angrily whispered, closing the door behind him.
“Calm down and just continue as planned. Once we get inside the car, we’re fine,” Ji whispered, trying to keep the other man from losing his nerve.6
Fletcher let out a small grunt and started heading toward the other side of the room, away from the demons. He slowly made his way past the large red military vehicles, passing one after another, until he was halfway down the hanger and the voices had faded away slightly. After passing another two dozen cars, he stopped and said, “I’m going to put you down now. Will you be fine?”
“Yeah,” Ji said, putting his right leg on the ground. He bit his tongue as he put his entire weight on the leg, but kept himself from screaming and blowing their cover.
Fletcher got up and opened the trunk of the car. He grabbed a med kit to bandage themselves while they waited, then took out the emergency blanket and unfolded it. “Get in and I’ll cover us with this.”
Ji managed to climb inside the car with a bit of help from Fletcher, who climbed inside right after. Closing the trunk, Fletcher opened the blanket and draped it over them, hiding them as best as he could.
“How long do we have to wait?” Ji asked in a quiet tone.
“I don’t know. Just be patient and hope luck shines down on us,” Fletcher said. “In the meantime, bandage up your leg and anywhere else you might need. Make sure to leave some for me though.”
“You know, it would really suck if we ended up just starving to death in here.”
“That’s not helping, Ji! Just worry about taking care of your leg!”
CHAPTER 7
After almost four hours, the doors to the car opened and three demons stepped inside. A second later, the engine roared to life and one of the garage doors started to open.
“Where da fuck’s Kazagal, that lazy-ass fucker?!” asked the guard in the back seat.
“Huh, didn’t you hear? He got his fucking nose bitten off and was stabbed by some damn human,” the guard in the driver’s seat said, starting to drive off.
Oh, that was me! Fletcher thought.
“When I found out, I couldn’t stop laughing! That piece of shit was always going on about how tough he was, and then he goes and gets his ass beaten by a slave!” the demon in the passenger seat said. “All I can say is it made my damn day, that’s for sure.”
A second later, the car stopped and they heard a window roll down.
“Stupid piece of shit! When the fuck are they going to fix this?!” the guard in the driver’s seat said. “I’m telling you, I put in a request to have this damned scanner fixed at least three dozen times, and I know I’m not the only one.”
“They won’t fix it until it completely breaks.”
“I don’t get why it’s so hard to fix the fucking thing. I mean, just send one of the slaves to fix it. We have plenty of them,” the guard in the driver’s seat said.
Fletcher balled his fist up after hearing that, wanting to kill the demon so badly but stopping himself. He knew it wasn’t time yet, and if he sprang into action too soon, he would only end up getting both him and Ji killed.
Soon… I’ll kill them all soon.
***
It was about forty minutes before Fletcher and Ji felt safe enough to start their attack, figuring they were far enough away from the city that they wouldn’t have to deal with any backup coming their way.
With no words exchanged between them, they nodded to each other and started the fight.
Ji threw the blanket off them and Fletcher instantly moved, grabbing the demon in the back seat in a chokehold. The demon let out a choking noise and grabbed Fletcher’s arms, trying to pry them off him. Looking in the rearview mirror and seeing his kin being choked, the driver slammed on the brakes. The car came to a sudden and hard stop, causing all of them to jolt forward. Slamming against the back of the trunk, Ji quickly climbed over the rear seats. He grabbed the short sword from the demon Fletcher was still choking and stabbed him in the chest, going underneath the rib cage for less resistance. The demon convulsed for a second before blood poured out of his mouth and he stopped moving entirely.
Before the two of them could do anything else, the gate to the trunk opened. Fletcher saw one of the demons grab his right leg just before he was thrown out of the car.
“IT’S FUCKING HUMANS!” the guard yelled as Fletcher hit the ground.
The other demon went to kick Fletcher in the back, but he rolled away and managed to evade the attack. Getting up as soon as he could, he backed off and brought his guard up. Both demons drew their swords and locked onto him, advancing at the same time.
Fletcher stepped back, avoiding one attack, but he had to use his arms to shield himself from the other guard. The blade cut deep into Fletcher’s forearms, causing fresh blood to gush out and coat the dried blood all over his body. Luckily, the blade wasn’t too sharp and only cut about an inch deep. Nonetheless, the pain was borderline unbearable, so much so that Fletcher didn’t move for a good five seconds. Trying to ignore the pain, he pulled his arms away from the blade and scurried back, putting a good seven feet between them.
The demon looked over at him with a look of shock, stunned that he had not only blocked the attack but went back to fighting like it was no big deal. Taking a step toward Fletcher, the demon stopped when he heard his ally scream.
Looking over, the demon saw Ji stabbing the other guard in the chest, his body falling to the ground shortly after.
Turning his attention toward Ji, the demon charged at him, but only traversed a few feet before being dropkicked by Fletcher. The demon felt one of his ribs break, and he heard a snap followed by pain surging through his right side. Hitting the ground, the guard quickly tried to get back up, but before he could he felt a sharp blade pierce into his neck.
“ARRRRRH!” Ji yelled as he drove his weapon deeper, pushing the sword in until he couldn’t anymore.
Panting hard, Ji pulled the blade out and looked over at Fletcher, who was panting just as hard.
“Thanks for the save… I couldn’t have done it without you today,” Fletcher said, nodding to Ji.
“No problem,” Ji said, wiping the blade on his bloodied shirt. “Thanks for taking me with you. I hated it there so much, and I would have died living my whole life as a slave if it wasn’t for you… Seriously, thank you.”
“I think we all were in that boat…but that’s going to change,” Fletcher said, putting a hand on Ji’s shoulder. “It’s going to change because of us.”
“You’re damn right! But first I think we should take care of our injuries.”
“Did you save me any gauze to wrap my arms?”
“Whoa, hold on. You’re the one who used the med kit last!” Ji said, pointing his finger at Fletcher.
“If I bleed out, it’s your fault,” Fletcher joked, ripping two strips of cloth from one of the demons’ shirts and wrapping it around both arms. “There, that will have to do. I want to get out of here as fast as possible, so let’s grab what we need and leave.”
The two of them grabbed any weapons the guards had and a few more strips of cloth. Searching them for anything else that might be useful but finding nothing, they got in the car.
“Okay, let’s see, how the hell do you drive?” Fletcher asked, turning to look at Ji in the passenger seat.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”
“I would love for you to drive, but how are you going to do that with that huge cut on your leg? I mean, I’m surprised you moved so well in the fight we just had.”
“When it’s life or death, pain takes a backseat,” Ji said, leaning over and pointing to the gas pedal. “Okay, that’s the gas. You don’t have to press it very hard. The one next to it is the brake.” Ji pointed to the brake, then moved to the steering wheel. “This is the wheel, you just move it back and forth like so, and you can spin it around a few rotations.”
“Wait, what?! Why? Shouldn’t it just be ninety degrees to completely turn?” Fletcher asked, already not liking this.
“Look, that’s just how it is. Now start driving, and if you crash, I’ll take over.”
“Gee, thanks for the confidence boost.” Fletcher started to drive, surprising both himself and Ji when he was able to stay on the road. “Hey, this driving thing isn’t so hard. Why the hell did you complain all the time about your job?”
“Okay, first of all, I didn’t complain all the time, and second, it wasn’t driving the cars that I didn’t like, it was working on them,” Ji said. “There’s a big difference.”
The two fell into silence for a couple minutes before Ji spoke up. “Where are we going?”
“The ruined human capital: Admont.”
“Why? Also, do you know where you’re going?” Ji asked, wanting to know what the plan was.
“A few reasons actually. The first is that we need somewhere to heal up. Right now, both me and you are pretty beat-up, and a few weeks, or even months, is crucial to our success in conquering our first city. The second is so I can forge weapons and try to make armor. Although I’m not sure how well the latter will go. The third is that I’m hoping to gather some intel from there. Lastly, we need to train, and no one goes there, so it will be perfect.”
“Alright, well, I have to say, those are some valid points you make,” Ji said, impressed with how well thought-out Fletcher’s plan was.
“You make it sound like you doubted me,” Fletcher said, glancing at the other man.
“Well, to be honest, I thought you were going to say, ‘I’ll drive straight to the demon capital and declare war on them’.”
“Now that you mention it, that might not be a bad idea,” Fletcher joked with a light smile on his face.
“I don’t know who would be more surprised, the demons or me,” Ji said, letting out a laugh.
“I would love to see their faces if we pulled up to the capital’s main gate like this,” Fletcher said, letting out a loud laugh. “Just two beat-up humans waging war on one of the largest and most powerful cities in all of Affer.”
Ji started cracking up at that, feeling great now that he was able to live as he wanted. “Oh man… Being free feels so good.”
“And it’s only going to get better from here on out.”
“You never answered my second question though,” Ji said, changing the subject, as he still wanted a response.
“Huh, which one?
“I asked if you knew where you were going.”
“Oh yeah, right, that one. I know. I was paying attention to which way the car turned and when. If I’m correct, we should eventually end up at the entrance to the Forest of the Dammed, better known as Yoxtoll. We just need to take this down until we see a dirt path on the right.”
“How long will it take to get there?” Ji asked, looking out the window at the night sky.
“We haven’t crossed the river yet, so I can’t be a hundred percent sure…but I would say twelve to thirteen hours.”
“Then I’m to go to sleep,” Ji said, leaning back in the seat and closing his eyes. “Wake me up if you need me.”
“Let’s hope I don’t,” Fletcher muttered.
Inheritance Cycle remain some of my favorite books. There are limitless
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picture-perfect world, or a medieval wasteland. Time, technology, and magic
are all there for the taking, and as a writer, you get to choose what defines
your story.
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