Asher, Samantha, and Sefta all stared at the glowing sending stone as Audrey's words echoed around their table. It seemed that despite the fairly straightforward message, none of them could quite comprehend what was happening.

"Audrey? What do you mean?" Sefta asked, growing serious for once as she sat up and gave her sending stone her full attention. "What happened?"

"I don't know for certain, that's why I need your help!" Audrey snapped, clearly annoyed at having to explain herself. "All I can tell is that demons were involved in this somehow, of all things. But where they came from or why they chose to raid some random traveling caravan is beyond me!"

Asher's blood froze as he heard Audrey's explanation, and he saw Samantha still out of the corner of his eye as well. Their eyes met, and a silent understanding traveled between them while Sefta was still sputtering to reply to the truthseeker.

The Council of Death…

That attack was meant for me.

"Demons?!" Sefta finally got out, holding the sending stone up to her mouth and barely remembering to keep her voice low rather than risk terrifying their fellow taverngoers. "Are you serious?"

"Do you really think I could reach out to you if I wasn't?!" Audrey all but shouted. "You'll see for yourself soon enough. Get over here, now! There might be survivors for all we know, I need your skills!"

With that, Audrey appeared to perform this world's version of slamming a phone down, as the glowing symbol faded and their connection ended. Sefta stared at the silent stone for a few more seconds before jerking back as if prodded by a live wire.

"I have to go," she said, hurriedly getting to her feet and dropping a few shards on the table to cover all their meals. "I don't know what's going on, but demons are a big deal, and she needs my help."

"Let us come too," Asher said, jumping up and surprising Sefta with his next statement. "The two of us have experience killing demons. I even have the demon hunter class."

"Wait, what?" Sefta asked, his sudden declaration giving her pause. "Are you serious?"

"Asher's even faced off against a greater demon once before and lived to tell about it," Samantha added, wisely choosing not to mention how that experience had ended in him having his whole arm ripped off as he ran for his life. Her own knuckles turned white against the table as she realized what was quickly happening and that they very well might be going up against that powerful foe once again. "We can help."

"Damn, I knew you were strong, but a greater demon…" Sefta muttered, before shaking her head and trying to focus. "Okay, Audrey did technically say I could bring you guys, and I'm sure the more help the better. With most of my family's heavy hitters away at the capital, she can't exactly be all that picky."

"Give me thirty seconds to get Brian into our room and then we can go!" Samantha said, grabbing her sleeping brother by the arm and all but dragging him upstairs as he yawned and asked what was going on. While she did that, Asher turned to Sefta, a few things still not making sense to him.

"Why does Audrey need your help to figure out what happened? Shouldn't she be more than capable as a truthseeker to handle that?"

"Different truthseekers have different specialties," Sefta said, only half paying attention to him as her thoughts were elsewhere. "Audrey's origin element is Guilt. She's just about the best there is when it comes to solving crime, but not so effective when there's nobody to interrogate."

Guilt? Damn it, would that bypass my truth resistance?

Asher knew he was taking a massive risk by heading toward the new truthseeker rather than staying away from them. Even so, he had a sinking suspicion that the demon attack on the unsuspecting caravan had to be because of him. If the Council were the ones that had been spying on him before he shattered the scrying ability, then they would have known he was in Dormaul, and it wasn't a leap of logic to assume he'd keep fleeing even further into the kingdom. Brant's caravan must have made it out just fast enough to avoid the attack, but the caravan following right behind them hadn't been so lucky.

If all those innocent people died because of him…

Asher tried to shake the feeling of dread off his shoulders. It was more than the guilt of their deaths that was driving his decision to risk approaching this truthseeker, after all. He had no idea how the Council brought demons into this world, but if they could whittle down their forces even a little, or learn more about the enemies they'd be facing in the near future, then this risk would be worth it. And if another greater demon actually showed up, he'd have Sefta and a god damned truthseeker as back up this time around, which should be more than enough to tip the scales in their favor.

While he was busy imagining how a second round against the greater demon would go with Sefta and Audrey backing them up, Samantha bound back down the stairs and rejoined them, looking more ready than ever.

Stolen story; please report.

"Let's go," she said, her resolve clear in her eyes. Sefta needed no further encouragement, and she quickly led them out of the tavern and across the city. The noblewoman surprised them by grabbing a random barrel and dumping it over her head, soaking herself in the water within. Her actions made perfect sense, however, when her speed doubled in an instant, and Asher caught the look of shock on Samantha's face as she discovered someone else with her Wet Warrior skill. Soaking herself with her Fountain skill in order to keep up, Samantha darted forward as well. Throwing subtlety to the wayside, Asher was forced to begin using Distortion to maintain pace with the two of them. He took advantage of that distraction to retrieve Samantha's enchanted bow and quiver from his Personal Rift and return them to her, knowing she'd almost certainly need them where they were headed.

Sefta led them straight to a stable and commandeered three pegasi with barely a few words shared with the confused stable master.

"A wagon would be too slow," she told them as she jumped into her saddle and motioned for them to do the same. "Don't worry, they're trained to follow mine. So long as we travel in a fairly straight line, there shouldn't be any risk of you falling off."

"I've never even ridden a horse before," Samantha muttered, her face pale as she stared at her mount.

"Me neither," Asher said, warily eyeing up his own steed. Still, time was of the essence, and Sefta looked more than ready to leave without them if they took too long. Luckily, the pegasi proved to be remarkably well trained, and the two of them managed to awkwardly clamber up onto their respective steeds without issue.

"Hold on tight!" Sefta said, before urging her pegasus forward and taking off into the sky. Asher was about to ask if there was any chance they could slow down just a tiny bit before his ride tensed under him like a coiled spring and launched into the air behind the leader with a powerful flap of its wings.

Asher couldn't help but shout as the ground fell away beneath them and he shot into the sky as if strapped to a rocket. He'd known pegasi were fast from watching the nobles zip across the sky far above them, but knowing they were fast and experiencing it for himself were two different things. He heard Samantha screaming behind him, but he was far too busy gripping his own reins and trying to hold on to worry about her at the moment. He could tell from Eternal Mark she hadn't fallen off, at the very least.

Asher had been on a roller coaster or two in his time, so the sensation of wind whipping past his face as he shot forward at speeds humans weren't meant to travel at wasn't entirely foreign to him. Even so, such a feeling was normally accompanied by the reassuring sensation of a safety harness firmly locked in place around his chest, ensuring he wouldn't be flung off of the ride with any sudden twist or turn.

Pegasi didn't have a safety harness. Hell, his feet were barely even in the stirrups at this point.

As the ground shot by beneath them, the lake quickly turned back into dry land as Sefta followed the beacon Audrey had shared with her, and Asher held onto the reins for dear life. He tried not to imagine if his body would still be 'mostly intact' if he fell from his current height and splattered all across the ground.

After a few minutes of flying, he started as he realized Samantha's screams had been replaced with cries of what sounded like enjoyment, and he risked a turn of his head.

Sure enough, Samantha was a far cry from how he must have looked hanging on for dear life. The hunter appeared to have finally gotten her wings under her, as she had a massive grin on her face and was leaning forward over her pegasus, urging it to go even faster from what he could see.

"Are you insane?!" he called out as she pulled up beside him, somehow managing to convey to her ride that they should match pace. The wind ripped the words straight out of his mouth, but she must have gotten the gist, as she laughed and gave him a teasing look. She shouted something back at him, but her words were lost in the violent winds as well.

Once they realized attempting to talk was pointless, they returned their attention back to Sefta and focused solely on staying on their pegasi. Despite the incredible speeds they were traveling at, it still took them a few hours to actually make it all the way to the site of the attacked caravan that had been a couple of days away from the city when it was hit. By the time they finally arrived and their pegasi touched down, Asher was a good bit more confident in his ability to remain on his steed without falling to his death.

That said, he wouldn't be looking to purchase his own pegasus anytime soon. Already he was trying to think of a way to Recall back to Poltar without informing Sefta of his skill.

But any thoughts of his newfound fear of heights were quickly dashed as they landed and he took in the scene or wreckage all around them. Shattered wagons lay in pieces all around the crater-filled road, and corpses were scattered all over the place. Fire still clung unnaturally to some of the mogrant bodies, their burning hair letting out a sickening, stomach-churning smell.

It looked as though a tornado filled with flaming, rabid wolves had touched down in the center of the caravan, and based on the level of destruction, Asher would have been shocked to learn that there were any survivors.

It seemed as though the caravan hadn't gone down without a fight, however, as lying beside a few heavily armored bodies that looked like caravan guards were the bodies of two lesser demons. Near the front of the caravan they spotted three more lesser demons and a good full dozen imps that had been lacerated to the point that Asher almost felt bad for them. He didn't know what element the caravan leader had held, but it seemed Stokes had done everything in her power to protect her caravan before giving up her own life.

Unfortunately, it hadn't been enough.

Standing over the caravan leader's body was a tall woman in gleaming armor that covered her from the neck down. Her armor looked like an almost identical match to Bordan's own, other than the soft blue gilding decorating hers. She had a long, jagged blade held at the ready in her hand, and a large shield strapped to her back. The aura surrounding her was like a slow-moving glacier, unchangeable and unyielding as it continued ever forward over all who were deemed problems in her eyes. A single look was all Asher needed to tell this was Audrey, even if his Identify hadn't confirmed it.

[Truthseeker] - 3/3 Elements

"By the realms! Audrey, what happened?" Sefta asked, hopping off her pegasus and approaching the truthseeker as her gaze swept over the scene of carnage. Asher and Samantha were right behind her, hanging back slightly out of caution. "Why would demons attack a random caravan of all things?"

"I'd like to know as well," Audrey replied, her voice cold as she glanced over Sefta's shoulder. In a single motion, she lowered her serrated blade until the tip was pointing directly at Asher. The very air seemed to lower about ten degrees, and Asher swore he could see frost start to accumulate on the wreckage around them.

"Why don't we ask your friends who appear to be radiating guilt at the sight of this carnage?"

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