Continuum

On a cold winter night, after finishing his 3 months of intense sword training, Jack Eclair was returning to Hopestead, which is the capital city of the Eclairian Kingdom. “Cold... It is very cold, unusually cold even for a place near snowy mountains.” “Something is off-putting”, Jack said as he continued downhill on his motorcycle. He noticed a cloud of smoke coming from the bottom of the valley. Jack immediately redirected his course towards the smoke. “It is not a forest fire, definitely not possible here.” As he was advancing through the harsh terrain of the hill slopes, he noticed settlements on both sides of the river. “A Village? In this ice-cold region? It really blends with the terrain”. Jack reached the entrance of the village, which had a signboard, carved out of wood saying ‘Welcome to Kambe Valley’. The village was fortified by a stake wall. While Jack was observing the village structure, a kid was running towards him yelling, “Help! The Monsters are here! Somebody help!”. Jack stopped the kid and asked,” Calm down kid. Take a deep breath and answer me, “What happened here?”. After, the kid relaxed and started speaking ,” There are… Black Monsters… Attacking the villagers and tearing down the huts. My parents… They are fighting the demons. Please help us, sir”. Jack replied,” Don’t worry, I’ll find your parents. Now go and hide behind those bushes”. The boy went into hiding as Jack said. Jack touched his right temporal ridge using his right hand’s index finger and middle finger and established a communication link with the Anti-Demon League (ADL). “This is the Anti-Demon League’s emergency comms. What is the emergency?”, asked a woman. “This is Jack Eclair, I need MedSupport immediately to my current coordinates.” “ Your coordinates are Identified and sending MedSupport right away, sir.” said the woman After requesting medical support, Jack advanced through the village. It was not long after the demons showed up. After beating the demons, Jack observed them as their bodies faded into thin air. “Those were very unusual from what I had been facing for the past few years. I need to be careful.” Jack continued through the village and reached the river. On the opposite side of the river, he saw a lot of demons holding the villagers. “Why are the demons holding the villagers as hostages? But Why? In any case, I have to save them in complete silence or else I might put the villagers’ lives in danger.” While Jack was crossing the river in complete silence, A rather unusual demon with armor that appeared to belong to a knight appeared and all the other demons seemed to make way for him. “Now, that is a very rare demon. What is going on here?”Jack wondered. The Knight demon interacted with other demons. “What is taking you so long? Find the Head Chief and bring him to me now”. The Demon’s voice was very low-pitched but clear enough to understand what he was speaking. “ He can speak? And judging by the way he interacts, I think he is in-command here. I can find more info on this attack from him, if I nab him alive.” After reaching the other side of the river, Jack continued to eliminate all the demons in complete silence. “What do you want from us, you monsters?” asked one of the young villager. “That i***t, What does he think he’s doing”, jack said stressfully. “Monsters?” said the demon with an eerie voice “Ahhh yes, Monsters”, the demon in knight armor said and laughed. “What are you laughing for? ” asked the same young man “I was just thinking of all kinds of ways to kill you and most of them….” “.... Tickled”, the demon laughed and pulled out his sword. “This is bad, I need to intervene now”, Jack rushed towards the knight demon. As the demon was about to swing its sword, Jack blocked it inches away from the villager’s neck. “Who might you be?” asked the demon as he was in a stalemate. “Someone who is about to kick your ass,” Jack replied with a confident voice. “We’ll see about that” the demon said as he moved backward. The knight demon came at Jack at full speed. Jack blocked the attack but the impulse pushed him a few feet backward. “Falling behind already? I expected more. For all the heroic talks”, the demon taunted “This is not good. He is significantly stronger than all the undead demons I faced, fighting him at my full strength might put the villagers’ lives at risk.” Jack’s inner thoughts ran. The armored undead demon rushed in for a strike while Jack was strategizing. Jack evaded and stunned the demon using an Aatral light flash. Jack turned towards the young villager and said,” Listen carefully, free the villagers and head towards the other side of the river while I keep him occupied”. “Got it, sir” the villager replied. Jack kept the knight demon occupied by mocking him while the villagers made a run for the other side of the river. The young villager gave a signal to jack indicating that everyone had made it. “Now… ” Jack said with a confident and subtle laugh. “Now I kick your ass for real”. Jack held his sword handle in his left hand and made a blood sacrifice using his right hand, saying, “Aatral Fusion...”. The Epedelum(Aatral Sword) in his hand continued to glow even brighter. “What is this immense light? It is blinding my vision”, said the demon with a confused and scared voice. After fighting with full power, the knight demon didn’t stand a chance and tried to flee. “Where do you think you’re going, huh?”, said Jack with a detesting smile. The knight demon tripped and crawled away for his life towards the broken stakewall, but the Anti-Demon League’s nearby garrison had arrived and surrounded the entire village. “There’s nowhere for you to run.” While Jack was focused on the downed demon, a black sphere appeared a few feet behind the demon. From the black sphere, Came a demon’s hand which pulled the downed knight demon into the sphere. Jack ran to stop the demon from reaching the sphere, but the entire place was soon swarmed by countless undead and Jack was outnumbered. The black sphere vanished and all the undead evaporated into thin air. “What is that thing?” [To be Continued]