Temeran Dulac hurried down the avenue, darting beneath a pair of gentlemen carrying a crate and waving apologetically as he passed. He had to hurry, he was already late enough as it was. Not many times did you see the highest-ranked adventurers get a sendoff from the King himself! He stumbled as he came upon a crowd, shouts carrying over the gathering. Some kind of blockage it sounded like. He hopped a few steps to the right and turned down the nearest alley, racing towards the next street over and out past yet another crowd clogging the way back to the outskirts.

Katal was overcrowded, as usual, people from all over having traveled to the home continent over the past few years. The gleaming off-white buildings that marked the oldest structures in the city had been cluttered with new construction as the city experienced its first boom in centuries. Not only in ordinary people, soldiers, and more importantly, adventurers. People from another world who had come to Orum for only one reason, the Demon Lord herself, Teyva Akura. Temeran shuddered a little bit as the name crossed his mind, chewing his lip as he hopped over a few crates and over a low wall.

He slid to a stop and caught his breath, the image of his elder sister going off to subjugate Demon Lord Thrake five years ago. Eager to make her name and rise in the ranks of the military. The look on his mother’s face when the messenger came with word from the front, almost the entire subjugation force had been lost. Ulia hadn’t been one of the survivors. The Demon Lord’s daughter had laid waste to the rear guard and had all but annihilated the vanguard. It had been catastrophic. He thought back to the message that had flashed in front of his face. A message that everyone in the world had seen.

The King is Dead, Long live the Queen

After a harrowing battle, the King of the Azar and his Four have died at the hands of Katali attackers.

His daughter, Teyva Akura, has chosen to ascend to the throne of Osan.

In her grief, she has sworn vengeance upon the human nations of the west with the bodies of their defeated ascendants as her witness. May the gods have mercy upon the people of Katal, because she shall not.

Come, you heroes, when the cycle begins anew. I will be waiting.

The kingdoms heroes were slain, he had a signed statuette of Abel Diones in his room. Now the man he had idolized was dead and lost to the demons of the east. The mourning period had been long, painful, but worse was the fear. The entire month that passed after the rise of Teyva Akura had been punctuated with silence. No one left their homes, no one dared breathe a word to one another, families huddled together for what felt like their last moments. Yet she never came, the Demon Lord was content to linger in the east, what she was waiting for no one knew.

It was pretty obvious now. She hadn’t meant the people of Orum when she had called for the heroes to come at her. She had been waiting for the adventurers, the outsiders. The first ones had appeared in a flash of light, in the middle of the town square in the capital. Panic had ensued, of course, folk thinking that the Demon Lord was finally on the march. Instead, these new people had come blessed with aspects of their own and had been given a mission from mysterious beings to grow strong and wage war against the Demon Lord.

The atmosphere in Katal had changed overnight, and more and more outsiders came. Some had become incredible people, some had fallen by the wayside, some, Temeran heard, had died. But the ones that had risen to the peak were a group of five that called themselves the Raiding Party. They had traveled across the eastern part of the continent, solving problems, helping people, and slaying monsters. From the stories he’d heard they had even been involved in several skirmishes with the Demon Lord’s troops. Today, however, was going to be something different.

Temeran finished catching his breath and hurried down the walkway, trumpets were beginning to sound and he needed a good vantage point if he was going to get to see the Raiding Party and the King. He whipped his head left and right before glancing up the side of a small building to his left. There was a pile of crates labeled ‘salt’ in the back. Butcher shop? He rubbed his jaw and rushed to the crates, scanning the wall until he spotted a few spots he could grab on to. He started to climb, racing from one spot to another and nearly slipping about half-way up the building.

When he crested the top he hurried to the edge and peered out over the town square where a statue of the combined party that had been lead by Abel Diones was erected among a circle of spraying fountains. Temeran felt his chest tighten a little as he looked at his dead hero’s face before turning to the gathered group standing on an elegant looking podium far to the north side of the square. He narrowed his eyes, spotting Exark, the group’s leader and proficient swordsman. With him was Nina, the Raiding Party’s master spellcaster and her sister, Lucia Squared, who was apparently a knife fighter with a mysterious past. Then there was Brick, the self-proclaimed ‘king of tanks’ and smallest among them was Tycho, who had brought his genius to Orum.

“The whole damn group,” He breathed. He whipped his head about looking for the King but couldn’t spot him. Instead, a tall, severe, gray-haired man stood adjacent to the Raiding Party. The man raised his hand to his throat and suddenly his voice spread throughout the growing crowd of people. Temeran took it all in, there had to be thousands of people here! He ran his fingers over his thin, stubbled face and leaned as far forward as he dared without falling off the building.

“People of Katal! I am your Archduke, Bertrand Otel!” The thin man said, his voice silencing the growing rumble of conversation. “Please forgive my presumptuous presence, his Majesty’s health is our primary concern and this morning we had reason to ask him to remain at the palace. We assure you, the nation’s finest healers are seeing to him as we speak. Long live the King!”

A chorus of ‘long live the king’ came back in response. Temeran frowned, wasn’t Bertrand Otel the one who had organized the ill-fated subjugation of Demon Lord Thrake? That’s what his sister had told him, anyway. He was an Archduke now? How had that happened? He shook his head and refocused on the thin man’s words, not wanting to miss a moment of the event.

“Five Years ago, the Demon Lord Teyva Akura issued a challenge to the entire world, five years ago a great movement took hold across Orum. People of every race, creed, and nation had reached out to their homeland, to holy Katal, to offer their support. Over these past five years our nation has grown stronger than it ever was before and it is not only thanks to those who honor us as their mother nation. No. Five years ago the Adventurers came to us, sent by the gods themselves to support us!” The Archduke carried on, the crowd erupting into cheers as he gestured to the Raiding Party.

“In just a few short years these people from another world organized themselves into the Adventurer’s Guild and took responsibility for their great power, using it to aid Katal and the rest of Orum. Among this most revered guild a certain group rose to prominence! I would like to introduce to you, the Raiding Party!” He bellowed, nodding to Exark who returned the gesture. The swordsman nodded to Nina who held her hands out to Exark for a moment. The swordsman glowed for a moment before stepping out to face the enormous crowd and raising his fist to his chest.

“That was great, what a guy! Everyone please take a moment and give the Archduke your applause, if it wasn’t for him the Guild would just be a pipe-dream!” Exark shouted, his voice carrying as well as the old man’s had. The crowd exploded again, and after a moment the swordsman raised his hands to silence the crowd. “The Raiding Party has been working closely with the Archduke ever since we arrived here as part of the first wave of adventurers five years ago. It’s been one hell of a journey. We’ve crossed seas and fought terrible beasts and even an evil aspect being!”

The crowd bellowed its approval. Temeran nodded thoughtfully, he’d heard about the Raiding Party’s battle against the Lord of Droughts in the south. It had apparently almost cost Brick his life. He leaned forward a bit more and tried to get a good look at Exark’s face. The man was ridiculously handsome in that carved-statue kind of way. He smiled with too-white teeth and his blonde hair flowed over one shoulder in rivulets. He raised a gauntleted fist into the air and clenched it once to silence the crowd again. Temeran marveled at his stage presence.

“Today, we set out on our greatest challenge yet! We have heard word that the Demon Lord has sent one of the mysterious Four, the Devil, into the Balthin Sea!” The crowd grew quiet and he shook his fist once, laughing, “She’s practically handing him to us on a silver platter!”

A nervous laugh rippled through the crowd. Temeran winced, the Devil was called the Lord of Fear by some people. The monsters that had once plagued the Green Sea years ago had fallen under his control as his own wicked private army. Even worse, apparently he had once been a man of Katal himself. How someone could turn on their own homeland like that was just horrible. Among the Four, the Devil was also thought to be one of the Demon Lord’s most powerful agents second only to her mysterious Shadow General. There were only whispers and legends about that latter person.

“I can tell you all are nervous, and why shouldn’t you be? This is one of the most dangerous foes our group has ever faced, if not the most dangerous!” Exark put his hands on his hips, “But we won’t be going alone! Twenty of the finest the Guild has to offer have volunteered to make this thing a twenty-five man raid! We will show that monster no mercy!”

There was a rumbling of excitement as the crowd realized that this wasn’t just a possible victory, this was the kingdom bringing its might to bare against a hated enemy. Temeran felt a chill run up his spine. Was this really the beginning of a new war against the Demon Lord? He’d been waiting so long. He had volunteered for the army over and over but they’d kept rejecting him from service. They weren’t desperate enough to take on a one-time pickpocket. Temeran sighed, rubbing his chin, if only he could join them. He would do anything for the opportunity to bloody that wicked bitch’s nose.

“Now, before I go on and on, the Archduke has a few more words,” The swordsman laughed, stepping aside for the Archduke to step back up.

“You have my gratitude, Exark, or should I say Lord Exark?” The Archduke corrected himself with a bit of amusement in his voice. The crowd quieted a little as a rumble of confusion passed over it.

The swordsman clapped his hand to the side of his head and gave a hearty laugh, “Oh right! Would you mind explaining to everyone, sir?”

“I would be honored,” The Archduke replied. Temeran couldn’t help but feel that this part felt a little scripted, not that the average person would notice. “The Raiding Party has earned accolade over accolade over the past five years and have truly become a part of the lifeblood of Katal. During these years, the Adventurers and people of Orum have been apart in many ways. Their origins foreign to us, strange. Yet they are people of Orum now as much as we are and it is time they are honored properly as people of Katal would be!”

The Archduke paused for effect and then continued, “It is my pleasure to introduce the five newest nobles of the Kingdom of Katal, the Raiding Party! Formal citizens of the nation and people holding noble titles. Truly, our land is one of opportunity! Where merit can earn even a person from another world a high rank in society!” The Archduke crowed, extending a hand to Exark who took it. They both shook hands and the crowd went ballistic, shouts and cheers carrying on so much that Temeran had to cover his ears.

“Thank you, people of Katal! We will not fail you in this endeavor! One way or another we shall strike our first true blow against the Demon Lord!” Exark shouted and stepped away from the edge of the podium. Cheers and chants continued as the party descended the platform with the Archduke and were escorted away by guards.

Temeran sat down on the ledge of the building, watching them go. Something twisted in his gut along with the excitement of the moment. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something felt wrong. He shivered and rubbed his arms, the wind picking up with a cold chill. Was winter already that close? He chewed his lip and glanced to the left, spotting a man on horseback riding frantically towards the podium. He was waving a sheet of parchment in his hands and shouting at the Archduke and the Raiding Party. The old man paused and turned to listen to what the man had to say before turning to Exark who nodded, raising his fist to his chest. He hurried back up to the podium and raised his hand over his head.

“People of Katal! It seems that the Demon Lord has made her first move! Her creatures march on the edge of Balthin as we speak! We, the Raiding Party, will go right now to meet them!”

A cheer rose up even as the clouds began to gather overhead, Temeran looked up into the dark shapes and felt unease settle in the pit of his stomach. A flash of lightning rumbled through the clouds, the sound drowned out by the crowd below. He tilted his head, was that lightning purple?