The moon’s brilliance softly blanketed my companions and me, Bear waiting under a large amount of beast skins. He looked more intimidating than usual a large battle axe strapped to his back its weight making his feet sink a bit into the soft soil. He was scowling, it was obvious that he had dealt with demons, or devils, whichever they were and didn’t like them. He looked back to me with a grim nod as he gripped at the handle of the axe, bringing it down in front of him the blade sinking two inches into the dirt. “Demons, they only respond to strength. You have to show them that you will bite them if they mess with you, and even if you don’t win they’ll be heavily injured.”

Nodding, I kneeled down lower pulling down a cloak given to me by bear made out of a black tiger creature that had twisting horns running down its head, and neck, making it look draconic. The horns had been filed down a bit, looking more like ivory semi-spheres, leaving a small white trail down my back, neck and head. My swords have been replaced, all three of them replaced by deep purple blades almost black in color. All of this was excessive to me, it made me seem like a goth version of a skeletal barbarian, Bear assured me that it added to the intimidation factor if someone notices me.

Red was in plain sight with bear, his large wooden shield was strapped along his arm with tendrils of necromantic energy, armor was given to him, given to him by bear also held on with the tendrils. I could barely tell that Red was a skeleton as he was covered in head and toe with metal, as someone who appreciated freedom of movement I thought it was excessive as well but Red loved it. Purple was like me, wrapped in leathers a large cloak draped around his shoulders it was a strange mixture of dark greens, and browns to blend into the forest around them which is what I’d rather have.

Breaking out of the vegetation I recognized the two demons that stepped forward, one was taller with an annoyed look on his face. His white skin looked slightly overstretched over his muscles as his growly voice was heard, “Yes, I saw him, he needed to grow before he was any use. He still isn’t any use to our Lord.”

The small one, if you can call six foot small, gave an angry look to the larger one, shaking his head a bit, “I bet if our Lord didn’t order us to capture him in ten days you’d let him progress until he was a threat.”

“That was the plan.” The bigger one gave out a smile filled with bloodlust, “That way it’d be far.”

The smaller one scoffed, pointing to Bear, “At least he gained an ally that looks slightly more powerful than an ant.” The demon shrugged a bit, “It’s unfortunate that he’s human or he might actually be powerful.”

There was a clash of metal on metal, the bigger of the two seemed to disappear in my vision. Bear stepped forward, the ground shattering like glass under his axe the demon moving back into his original position, a cut running down his chest. His eyes showed a look of surprise as he frowned at Bear. “He can’t be a human, maybe one of those ‘Heroes’ from the other world.”

Bear smiled a little bit, “No, just a simple druid.” He raised his axe again, letting it land on his shoulder as he smiled a bit.

The eyes of the smaller one turned to a glare, “Impossible, your kind are dead. We slaughtered your kind a thousand years ago. Shit, you got us into a problem you big bag of pus.” His glare moved from Bear, to the bigger demon, “Druids are a pain to deal with in the forest.”

Bear didn’t give them a moment after that, becoming a spinning tornado of metal, each clash smashing into the demons weapons. Two greatswords flashed with flames, bashing into the axe following a stream of clashes. My magic started to circulate as I watched the fight knowing I had to help, a crystal forming behind the smaller demon, it was all I could do to help.

The smaller demon started to move slower, Bear took advantage of this, his axe moving like a vengeful spirit hunting down the demon. The larger demon yelled out in shock, “He’s a damn necromancer already?” His broadsword was suddenly stopped by a large shield placed between him and Bear.

“You are not to hurt Bear, Master would not like that…” Red stepped forward, a gauntlet covered fist smashed into the demon’s face, making him stumble back, spitting up blood. Purple followed up, thousands of skeletal hands raising from the ground gripping at the demon’s legs making him quickly retreat.

Bear and the smaller demon exchanged blows, Bear gaining ground with each swing as the small demon tried to concentrate his magic to destroy the connection with the crystal behind him. The demon seemed desperate, the greatsword losing technique with each swing, “This is the legendary power of the druids?” The greatsword was struck hard by the axe, sending the sword flying backwards, and sinking into a tree behind him.

I smiled, this battle would be over soon. The crystal was almost fully formed behind him, and bear had him cornered, I was glad to have such a powerful ally at a time like this. Pouring more energy into the spell, something seemed off about the magic, it wasn’t that there was no resistance like I expected but a strong suction force, making my spell more powerful than it was.

“Pathetic…” The smaller demon rushed forward, his claws digging hard into Bear’s shoulders, tearing his flesh all the way to Bear’s chest. Blood poured freely out the wound, which hissed with black smoke that turned into small snakes, forcing themselves back into the wounds. “Your people were much stronger than this, what are you, you are not a druid.”

Bear brought down the axe once more, but his arm kept swinging down still clenched to the axe, but not his shoulder. The demon seemed bored at this point, his hand moving to the other arm, ripping that one from its shoulder as well. Without his arms, Bear went into a fury, leaning down and ripping a chunk out of the demon’s shoulder with his teeth before his head was broken open like an egg.

“BEAR!” I stretched out my hand shattering the crystal behind the demon in a rage, making the demon look in my direction.

“Don’t you know? Demons don’t have souls child…” With a grip of his hand into the invisible stream of magic from my spell, he pulled at it. A stream of darkness appeared like a string between me and him as he pulled, my mana pools depleting nearly by half before I broke the connection. “We’re here for you, the druid didn’t have to die…”

A crunching noise came from my right, the larger demon letting the body of Red fall to the ground. The skull of Red was crushed in the demon’s hand, Purple’s skull was impaled into the tree behind him, a greatsword running half way through that same tree. “Annoying little buggers, thought the other one was a very powerful mage, instead of a illusionist.”

“You’re getting rusty.” The smaller demon eyed the larger one, then looked over to me, sizing me up. “Since you insist on resisting us, we’ll have to take you in a more convenient way.” The demon quickly grabbed me by my neck, picking me up before jamming his claw into my chest. The demon pulled his fist out of my chest holding a deep green core, magical energy twisting around it before my vision went black.