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Among the elves and humans in Mellara, few would believe that the one responsible for so many macabre deaths was a demon. Even elves, who give plenty of attention to superstition, have trouble believing in demons laid to rest beneath Protheka. These are creatures of fiction, not beings who manifest their wills in the realm.
I’d have better luck claiming somebody on the council committed the murders.
I chuckle to myself before ducking sideways to get a better view of the front gates.
Both dark elves watching the gates are seemingly gone, and the town gate is wide open. How I didn’t see or hear them leave is beyond me.
I feel my eyebrow raise.
“No,” I whisper. “Surely not.”
I crawl out from behind the bushel, turning to watch the gates one more time. There’s a very good chance they just walked away and are currently returning to their posts.
Suddenly, the two guards are standing at the city gates again, and I rub my eyes in disbelief. I am easily within sight of them, and my gut tells me to duck.
But instead, I stand up and begin casually walking toward the gates, where the two dark elf guards stand watch.
“Gonna put your feet up when you get home?” one of the guards asks the other.
“Yeah. Just got to get through another shift. Can’t believe what they’re asking of us,” Gray says.
I squint in confusion.
“I’ve seen this before,” I say aloud.
As I approach, the two guards show no signs of recognizing me. I stand close to one and bring my hand toward the guard’s torso.
And, as I suspected, I nearly fall through as my hand fails to connect with the programmed illusion.
“But surely,” I say aloud. “They’re not just leaving an illusion to guard their city?”
I move around the walls of the city, finding no signs of wards or alarms.
“If this is the best Mellara has to offer, they must be really losing touch.”
I return to the city entrance and stride between the eyes, closing my eyes as I anticipate some hidden alarm or ward that I failed to recognize.
But nothing.
Before me is a seemingly empty, dark city, completely devoid of any presence.
“Huh,” I say to myself.
As I find my way to the council hall, ducking behind houses as I find the occasional midnight straggler, I think about how badly I failed.
I might be out here looking for proof of the killer, but I know what I saw in the forest. That creature – whatever demonic presence he might be – was clearly responsible for the killings.
“But I don’t know that,” I whisper to myself, a shred of doubt still crossing my mind. He didn’t seem altogether malicious despite the very nature of what he was. In fact, once we got past our initial confrontation and began talking, he actually seemed kind of nice.
I reach the council hall, putting all thoughts of guilt and regret out of my mind. Even if I could have brought him in and convinced the elves that a demon was responsible for Mellara’s deaths, I had no way of subduing him.
I did everything I could.
Outside the council hall, a single solitary guard stands watch, a torch burning brightly in his outstretched hand.
“Illusion?”
I don’t know what comes over me as I speak aloud, my voice barely a whisper.
