Cliff awoke to the blinding light of the sun. He thought it was especially bright this morning as he rubbed his eyes. Only a moment later he immediately shot up in bed, fearing he had slept in. His head hit the beam above him with a resounding crack. It really was too bright.

He slowly got out of bed, already wincing at his landlady’s seemingly favorite pastime. Shouting at him.

“Cliff, keep that racket down!” yelled Ms. Dayton. Grumbling, he half stumbled into his clothes for the day.

Sure, the landlady was a grouch, but she meant well. That and the fact that she was an old family friend were the only reasons why he tolerated living there. The prices for rent were cheaper when you personally knew the owner.

No, the only thing Cliff regretted was never really getting close with Ms. Dayton. He could never get past her prickly attitude and knowing demeanor. This is why it was really surprising to him to see how concerned she was of his approaching departure.

“So, you're leaving town tomorrow, no turning back,” she said matter-of-factly. Cliff turned to her, surprised by how direct the her statement was.”

“Yup, I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. I’ve even planned out most of the details with one of the smaller trade vessels.”

Ms. Dayton stared intently at him, almost to an uncomfortable degree. She broke the silence with a question he didn’t think she would ask.

“Are you sure?”

He took a breath, and confidently looked at his landlady and replied.

“I really am.”

Cliff had been sure about his decision to leave for adventure for months now, but his short conversation with Ms. Dayton made him already miss his dear hometown. Cliff decided to get an early start on the day, to at least properly say goodbye to his home from the past 19 years.

He walked the silent streets with a touch of remorse in his every step. He would miss all of it. From the bustling market stalls, to the quiet hallways of their small local library.

But he also felt a rising feeling of excitement. The thought of going on adventures in far away lands. His first step was leaving his dear island home.

Cliff made his first stop at the church. He knew the place pretty well, considering he didn’t follow it’s patron god, Osca. His reason for knowing the place well was because he worked there.

Cliff turned up earlier than he usually did. He walked through the doorway and into the church’s confines.

The front of the church had two branching hallways, the one on the right marked for service, the other on the left for medicinal purposes. He quickly went down the left hallway and was greeted by the familiar sight.

He went into the back room to be greeted by the sight of Raymond. Raymond was the man in charge of the healing facilities in the church, and was the man who had taught him his meager healing capabilities.

Too bad Cliff wasn’t all that great at healing. He even had a natural affinity for healing magic, but lacked in the amount of mana he possessed. In fact, his affinity was the only reason why Raymond decided to train him without him joining the church.

“Ah, Cliff, how are you doing?” Raymond quietly asked. He always talked quietly, but Cliff always felt the authority behind it.

“I’m doing pretty well sir. How about you?” Cliff replied.

“Didn’t get much sleep last night, but I did manage to get you a goodbye present.”

Cliff was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t been expecting a gift. What would Raymond even give him?

“I know you have been struggling with your healing spells, so I got you a spell book for your other affinity,” Raymond quickly clarified.

Cliff was excited, but it was subdued. Him having two magic affinities was a bit rare among humans, but the affinities he had were healing and illusion magic.

His small mana pool wasn’t actually much of a hindrance for illusion magic, seeing as it was one of the least mana intensive magics. The real problem was that illusion magic wasn’t that highly developed, with advanced spell books being harder to find. Most people just learned the light cantrip.

It was hard to fight monsters with illusions. As such, it was common consensus that there was no reason to master illusion magic. Unless you were a spy, but no one admits to that.

It was the complete opposite with healing magic. It was very mana intensive, but very useful to master. Even the paltry amount of healing spells Cliff already knew were pretty useful. Cliff forced himself to keep his expectations low.

Raymond withdrew a small leather bound book from behind the chair he was sitting on. Cliff almost reverently accepted the spell book. He held his very own copy of Deaden Steps.

All he could think of were the endless possibilities it gave him. Maybe he could even sneak out of the house without alerting Ms. Dayton! More probably, it will be useful on his future adventures.

After thanking Raymond profusely, Cliff decided he had spent enough time there. He said his goodbyes and left the slightly busier church and walked down to the pier.

He quickly found Josephine on her ship. It wasn’t too big, but could easily fit an extra passenger or two. They finalized the deal. They were to meet back at her boat at noon the next day. He finally felt like he did all he could to prepare for the next day.

That is, until he remembered he still hadn’t packed. A small oversight as far as he was concerned, but probably something that shouldn’t be held until the last second.

He quickly returned to Ms. Dayton’s house and packed all of his stuff into a couple of leather bags. It was mostly clothes, but he also planned to pack a few other necessities. Namely food and drink.

He went into town and bought some dried meat, dried fruit, and stale biscuits. More than enough to last the voyage to the mainland. He also picked up a few waterskins. After all this he finally felt done packing.

Now he could finally focus on his most pressing concern, learning Deaden Steps. He opened the spell book and felt the magic within trying to help him learn the spell.

He suddenly stopped learning the spell when he realized it was very late. It seemed that learning the spell was better put off for the long journey. He really did need his rest for the start of his adventure.

He woke up the next morning excited and ready. He quickly got his stuff ready, and ate a large breakfast of eggs and fresh bread courtesy of Ms. Dayton. Seeing that there was no more reason to put off his departure, he got ready to leave.

“Goodbye Ms. Dayton, and thank you for all your hospitality.”

“Goodbye Cliff, and be careful!” If not for your own sake, do it for me,” replied the now slightly sad Ms. Dayton.

“Of course I’ll be careful.” And with those final words Cliff left the house and set out towards the pier.

He arrived at the pier with a bit more time before noon. He spotted Josephine and joined her on the deck.

“Lovely day to sail, the weather is great today,” Josephine said.

“I don’t have much experience sailing, but it does look like a nice day,” he replied while looking out at the horizon.

“We can head out to sea now if you don’t want to wait.”

With no reason to refuse, he agreed. This was it, his adventure was finally starting.

He decided to go into his cramped quarters for a reprieve from the rocking waves. Hours had gone by, and so had his initial excitement for travel at sea. He decided to leave the stuffy room, hopeful in striking up conversation with some of the crew. But, what he really wanted was something exiting to happen.

It seemed that the universe agreed, because the sky was getting steadily darker. Dense grey clouds materialized, covering nearly all traces of the sun. They left only small motes of light seeping through. Cliff watched in shock as the grey smoke became darker, and darker.

And then the sun went out. Completely enveloped by the strange darkness.

All of the crew stopped what they were doing to stare.

It seems that the Demon Days had started early this decade