The young elf was sitting on the cart, bouncing up and down as the cart went through the old unmaintained road. Five cultists sat all around, blabbering while vigilantly observing the forest around them. She felt comfortable with the live energy present in the air after they entered the thick green forest.
‘We have been travelling for so long, and I still don’t even know where we are going.’
Suddenly one of the cultists broke her thoughts, “Alesia, we are entering enemy territory now. So be quiet from now on, and don’t speak unless necessary.”
She nodded, not wanting to provoke the cultists, ‘Should I shout? Maybe they are guards around or something…’
All six of them jumped down from the cart, with the five cultists dressed in their mantles and masks surrounding the small elf from all directions, preventing her from any escape attempt.
No one was speaking. The forest around them was quiet except for distant animal sounds.
Suddenly a whistling sound came from the side. One of the cultists with flamberge fell to the ground, his skull split in half, with his brain leaking on the ground, an arrow sticking from the tree behind him.
Alesia instinctively threw herself to the ground, covering her head while looking around, ‘This is insane, so many attacks in the last days.’
The air shivered in the distance as an illusion vanished, revealing a small group of people.
There were six of them, wearing various mismatched equipment, with the one in the middle wearing pristine white priest robes, “Just as I thought, it was only a matter of time until we catch someone trying to sneak into the mountains.” Then the priest pointed at a shield-shaped medallion hanging from his neck, “You see this medallion. We were now officially employed by the barony and have the right to punish you for your crimes.”
‘Damn, they must be really cultist when they are getting attacked by the priest on sight.’
“I am here, help me!” she opened her mouth and shouted with new hope in her voice. The cultists looked at her, their masks sending shivers through her body, causing her to close her mouth.
“Now you are kidnapping children? You are truly evil. I knew it.” the priest gave them a judging look before he burst into a laugh, together with his goons. “Hahaha, more of us are already on the way. You have nowhere to escape.”.
At that exact moment, priest’s soldiers wielding melee weapons launched forwards, dry leaves rising behind them as they moved at an inhuman speed. The female cultist rose her staff, pointing it at the incoming group. The crystal on top of the staff glowed in orange light, and a wave of magma erupted out, splashing towards the incoming fighters.
Their bodies radiated in life force, creating barriers around their skin. Droplets of magma hit them, sizzling as the barrier covering them dissipated after absorbing a few droplets of magma. The disgusting smell of burned skin filled the air as their skin reddened with a portion of it carbonised and turned black.
The priest rose his staff, and bright white light erupted out, enveloping the injured, their skin regrowing at a visible rate, replacing their burned one.
In the meantime, the cultist with the bow nocked an arrow into it and pulled the string before releasing it. The arrow launched whistling through the air as it ignited in bright orange flames, flying towards the priest in the back.
A shieldman standing next to the priest jumped forwards, his kite shield facing the incoming arrow. Loud ding echoed through the forest as the arrow impacted the shield, creating a big dent in it and exploding in flames.
At that exact moment, something whistled again, and the second cultist in the iron mask fell to the ground with an arrow sticking out of his skull.
“Shit, they have a strong archer hidden somewhere in the forest!”
“Hahaha, one more down. Our reinforcements are coming, and your numbers are dropping!” the priest in the back erupted in laughter once again.
New hope filled the young elf even though she started questioning the priest’s mental health.
She started to look around, searching for an opportunity to run away, ‘They are occupied in the fight, and their numbers have already dropped; maybe now is my chance to escape… No, that mage and archer could easily kill me before I got away. What is even the elven mage doing with these cultists? Also, their weird behaviour… are they immortals?’
A huge sphere of magma started to grow on the tip of the cultist mage’s staff, its bright orange light illuminating the forest around. Arrow whistles again through the air, but the last cultist with the huge sword moves forward and slashes his sword vertically, cutting an arrow in flight.
The priest’s melee fighters kept sprinting towards them, getting closer and closer to them with each second. Dry leaves rustling under their legs and dry twigs cracking.
Suddenly the massive sphere of magma launched from the mage, flying towards them and setting dry leaves behind on the fire. Three melee attackers stopped, their eyes growing in panic as they rolled to the side.
The sphere of magma hit the middle fighter, blazing hot magma splashing on him and covering his whole body in glowing and bubbling liquid. He fell to the ground, dying instantly as he turned into a charred black body covered in orange liquid.
Suddenly steps came from behind them. She turned her head, her blond hair waving behind her from the sudden movement.
A group consisting of twenty people with small shield-shaped medallions hanging from their necks arrived.
The priest erupted into another laughing session, but Alesia had no time to think about it as she jumped from the ground, ‘This is my opportunity. They are too distracted now.’
As she wanted to run, she suddenly froze as a strong magical aura filled her surroundings.
“Grahhh!” a loud growl passed through the forest, all leaves on the trees waving. Her legs froze and turned wobbly, refusing to move as the sound of loud flapping came from a distance.
This time the cultist with the bow erupted into laughter, “Hahaha, we have our own reinforcements!”