After he was done killing them, he looked around again. There at the town hall, he could see the name of the town; Farmer's Bread.
What kind of a name is that? He asked himself but he needs to tuck in. The night was coming, and he needed a little rest before he moved on along to the next village tracing the Lion God's activities. Why the Demonlord had changed the people of Farmer's Bread into demons remained a mystery to him but then he really wondered if something that evil had a reason to do evil. He thought about his parents in Hillt. They would be worried sick that their son had been missing for three years, he couldn't go home. His destiny was different and his path did not lead through the same way his family wanted.
He searched through the town hall, a large building with two halls and found bones and broken accessories. Inside a small room, there was a bag of fruits and an unopened cask of ale. Grey nodded delightfully, he opened the bag of fruits and took out some. There was no cup to fetch the ale into so he lifted it with his supernatural strength and guzzled down through the small cover. His mind raced through the ways he could go about his mission. It was to be a long, lonely path but if he wasn't smart enough, he would fail even before he began.
Every Demonlord had their subordinates, lower demons who do all their dirty business, who provide them with their army and prepare the way for their conquest. The Lion God might be incredibly powerful but he couldn't tear through dimension by dimension except a demon was helping. The first step would be to go through his disciples, finding anyone of them who knew what their master was up to, and then he would confront it.
As dusk set, he drew his two pistols from their holsters and dropped them on the long table in the hall and sat. The pistols were a queer hybrid. The barrel was wooden, made of a special wood while the muzzle was silver. He had crafted it by himself and was yet to shoot one bullet from it.
One does not draw the gun lightly. In a scrap, Grey preferred the whip sword than his other tools, it had reach and could be used for close combat and parrying. Sadness and loneliness filled his heart as he looked through the only wide window in the abandoned town's hall. But, he shook it away. He needed sleep and the next day brought another challenge.
He locked all the wooden windows and put the large table against the door. He didn't need any surprises at all during his sleep.
He found some empty sacks and lay them on the floor, the town was so quiet he couldn't even hear the crickets.
He then lay down and tiredly went to sleep almost immediately.
He could see himself running and sweating in the dream. The cliffs were treacherous and he had to jump from rock to rock, avoiding the mushy in between soil, his teacher's voice echoing in the background "Don't slip, Grey."
He was tired but kept on going, as he turned to smile at his teacher, the sky turned dark and he slipped and fell into the marshy soil.
"Argh." He screamed.
He woke up with a start, the moonlight filtering into his sensitive eyes. He rolled away, breathing heavily.
What kind of dream was that? He looked up and realization dawned on him. He had shut the windows before sleeping, how were they open?
Relax. A deep voice spoke into his mind. He spun around, drawing a pistol from his holster.
A whip encircled his hand and drew back, flinging him across the room, when he stood, he saw his foes.
They were phantoms, shadow creatures who had no corporeal bodies. He waited and heard as they moved, and then launched himself at them. He wanted to buy enough time to get his other pistol. Only magic bullets could kill wraiths such as these. He swung his fists in a tight circle, but it only passed through them. A tendrils of darkness surrounded his fists and he found himself immobile.
"Shit." He shouted. He was dragged into the darkness and found himself on a dank floor. He raised his head up to see bars he rushed at them but some magical power repelled him and sent him crashing against the stone wall of the cell.
"Uh, that had to hurt." A childish voice said.
Grey out his fists up.
"Who's there?" He asked.
A boy came out from the dark part of the cell, face forlorn. He was a thin boy with a long face, green hair and big ears. He grinned at Grey weakly.
"I'm your cellmate. I've not had one for two weeks now." He said.
Grey sighed. This boy was emanating a weak source of magic, he sat on the floor and began to make plans.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"My name is Jay Sharkrider, and I was once an actor in the band of the famous Delcapio Steinberg." He said.
Grey chuckled.
"What do demons want with an actor?" He asked.
"I have the misfortunes of having an elfin father. It seems they're keeping me here for some kind of sacrifice." Jay said.
Grey looked around. The cell was high and the ceiling was a swirling mass of darkness.
"Other people have been thrown in here with you, right?" He asked.
Jay nodded.
"What did they do with them?" He asked next.
The half elf shrugged.
"Did you by chance see the demon running this place?" He asked.
"No. Only the shadows come, to give me food. They never open the doors, they just waltz in here." Jay explained.
Grey sighed. His mind was tired and raw and he'd found himself in a precarious situation.
"My name is Grey, I'm a Hunter." He said.
Jay whistled in surprise and came to sit near him.
"Hunter? No one has seen any Hunter in six months. And they say the Smoke Tower was destroyed." He said.
Grey nodded.
"Aye, it was destroyed. And I have lost my brothers and sisters, I am the last of my kind, Jay." He said. Emotions rushed over him again.
Jay sighed.
"I don't have a family, my mother left me to chase after her elf lover and I grew up a woodsman and Hunter before I left to join a troupe." He said.
"How old are you?" Grey asked.
Jay chuckled.
"Thirteen odd years." He said.
Grey ruffled the boy's green hair.
"You seem to know a lot for that age." He said.
Jay smiled.
"I guess that's what happens when you have no one around to stop you. What brought you here?" He asked.
Grey looked at the boy.
"I am on a mission, one of great import. I am travelling to find the creature that was responsible for wiping out my kind and for all the atrocities that goes on now." He said.
Jay looked serious.
"You mean the Lion God." He said.
Grey was surprised.
"Where did you hear that?" He asked.
Jay shrugged.
"I should tell you, I can shapeshift and change size and form. I hear a lot of things with these ears." He said.
Grey began to think.
"So these demons work for the Lion God." He said, he turned to Jay.
"Did you see the exterior of this place when you were brought in?" He asked.
The boy thought for a moment.
"No, I was teleported inside. But, I can hear the water flowing in these walls. I think this is a tower on an island." He said.
"Yes, we are in a powerpoint. This tower is a temple to the Lion God. All those people been brought here are sacrifices. We have to leave here." Grey realised.
Shit. Just one night of lack of surveillance and he was in a sacrifice hotspot.
"But, these bars are strong and I can't use magic here. I'm guessing you can't too." He said.
"Yeah." Grey said.
Suddenly, there was a whoosh and one of those phantoms were inside. Grey stood, tightening his fists. He rushed at it, and threw a fist but he fell into the darkness and was teleported again, this time falling onto a harder floor.
"Shit." He exclaimed, the fall had knocked wind out of him. Tendrils of darkness grasped both hands and held him up. He was inside some kind of office and a woman was sitting on a table, looking at him intently. She was old and looked so evil he had to avert his eyes for a second.
"Who are you? I thought you were all dead." She said. She wore a man's overcoat on a gown and shoes. Three phantoms guarded her, and two held him, five in all. He looked around.
The ceiling wasn't a mass of darkness like the prison, but made of stained glass.
"Fine tower you have here." He said. The tendrils held his wrist tighter, causing him to wince. He could feel his power returning and smiled.
"My name is Grey, and thanks to your master, I am short of company, friends and family." He replied her.
The woman had venom in her voice.
"He is not my master, Hunter. He is my god, the god of a new age, he is Father of Darkness and all demons and man kneel before him." She said and added "even an abomination like you."
Grey chuckled.
"Me, an abomination. I'm a guardian, a force of nature. I gave up my former life willingly to save people from things like you. The Bringer of Death is no god, no matter what he likes to think. He will die one day." He said.
The woman chuckled, a dry rasp.
"And you fancy yourself the one to kill him? I could see you were tracking his power into that blessed town." She said.
Grey growled.
"Blessed. Your master destroyed that town and twisted those people into beasts." He said.
The woman smiled.
"Their final form, the Lord wants everyone to be powerful. You, a Hunter has but a taste of the great power our God can give. Will you stand in his way, in the way of his great power." She asked.
Grey looked at her ugly face.
"Fuck you, fuck your god and fuck his power. If he believes himself unstoppable, then he should rethink. Cause I'm coming for him and I want him. I'm going to come like a wild pig in the night and fuck both him and his followers in the bloody arse." He said.
The woman's face twisted in anger. One of the tendrils left his arm and slapped him hard and into the wall. The impact didn't jar him at all and Grey smiled.
"You will die here, Hunter. Your species will be washed away and the Lord will have free rein over the dimensions. He will subvert everyone to his will, he will bring the last stage of evolution to the world. Everyone will hear his gospel and tremble." She proclaimed.
Grey stood and the phantoms turned to face him.
"No, demon. I'm going to move like a cleansing storm and wherever his goddamn tentacles have been, I will clean. Then I'm going to find wherever hellpit he's roosting and end him, once and for all." He said.
"You're a boaster, Hunter. For a man about to die, you talk smoothly." She said.
Grey cocked his head. From his brain, magical energy flowed into everywhere, adrenaline was rushing and he could see through everything now.
"No, demon. You shouldn't have freed my hands." He said. The woman must have sensed something because the phantoms rushed at him. He clasped his hand, forming a sign of Fire and blasting them into pieces, one by one. One rushed at him from the side and he somersaulted, vaulting into the air. He summoned his whip sword and saw it rip from the woman's table and reach his hand. He leapt into the air, slicing through the last phantom.
"Who's about to die, now?" He asked.
The woman screeched and something above them answered in a rapsing screech.
Glass broke out as a cartoi, an insect monster jumped down from the ceiling. It was about twenty feet long and seven feet high with claws on each of its legs with a strong tail that coiled around its abdomen.
"God, it's ugly." He said. He could feel the rest of his weapons and his coat coming back. He sheathed the whip sword and drew out a pistol. The cartoi shot at him unbelievably fast and he dodged a slash. The tail came from another angle, and slightly missed him.
It's on. He thought.