Chapter 12: Awakening
Ren Gardenchild worked at his desk silently. There was a lot of paper to sort since the invasions and being an official of the Church of the Sleeping God, it meant his next few nights weren't going to be easy. The half elf and half beastkin man sighed as he stared at the endless amount of words before him. They were reports from all over the world and most where the same, a plea for help. Even as large as the Church was, there was no possible way to assist everyone. He could only imagine how hard it was for the Mercenaries of the Ever-Garden who raised him.
A soft click alerted his ears causing them to twitch. He quickly scanned the room for anything strange. It was quite late in the night and aside from himself there should have been no one nearby. Slowly as if nothing was wrong his hand reached towards the loaded crossbow hidden beneath his desk. Before he could touch it however a warm voice sounded.
"Whoa there kid no need to get twitchy." The shadow beside the cabinet shifted forming into a dark clothed man.
"Riften?" Ren's eyes were wide with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
The door opened revealing a familiar white haired girl, "Giving you a fright that's what. The idiot can't use a door like a normal person."
Riften smirked, "We, Estile, are not normal people. Besides giving Ren a good old scare brings me back to when he was just a bub."
As much as he was happy to see them Ren's eye twitched at their comments. He relaxed back into his chair, "There's some tea in the pot over there. Help yourself."
"Don't mind if I do," Estile cheerfully moved across the room serving them each a cup.
"Seems like you're pretty busy," Riften gestured to the pile of documents on his desk. "Arvel and Lav are in the same predicament. Though their pile is about this high." He pointed to his waist. "Thankfully I'm not great in the whole bookkeeping thing so I wasn't dragged in."
"I know," Ren smiled and took the cup poured for him. "Now I really am glad to see you but I'm guessing you're not here just to make sure I'm fine."
"Actually that's what I'm here for," Estile smiled warmly. "Making sure our kids are all safe and sound. Riften on the other hand has some questions."
"I'm guessing these are about the demons?"
"Demons?" both Estile and Riften said at the same time.
"Oh sorry that's just what we've ended up calling them. No one really knows who or where they came from so the old legend stuck."
Riften nodded, "In that case yes. We've been really busy since they first came. Your mother here got practically burnt to a crisp during the battle for Ardentgrad."
"Are you okay?" Ren had to ask.
"Of course I am," Estile laughed. "If I couldn't survive a single annihilation spell then I would have died a long time ago. Figuratively speaking."
Riften continued, "Point is we need your help. We've got all our contacts running information but we're coming short. It's been three days and no one knows a damn thing. Most countries are still trying to build up their defences but the Church of the Sleeping God already has eyes and ears practically in every city, even those that wouldn't welcome us."
"I see," Ren paused to think. "Of course I'll help but why wouldn't you go visit the head priests yourself? I'm just an official and not that close to the top either."
"But we trust you," Estile said as she sipped at her cup. "Information from you is reliable. The Church could tell us anything as long it would help them."
"Exactly," Riften agreed. "So do you have anything at the moment? Any clues at all? At this point we don't even have a who, when or why. Top suspects are the pro-human nations, the devils and Hellix. Though really I can think of quite a few organisations that would just love to have done this."
Ren scratched his chin, "Our churches in the pro-human nations are a bit different to us with the whole human supremacy thing. That and majority of those cities have their own religions like the Human God, but we do have our spies. I'll see what I can get. I'll contact you the usual way."
"Thanks, any bit is appreciated," Riften clapped him on the shoulder with a grin. "You really are doing good work here."
"Thanks, it's a little tiring but I try." He frowned, "About Hellix though, you probably haven't heard. It was only clarified a few hours ago."
"Heard what?"
"It wasn't just the Alliance nations that were hit by the demons. The ogre state of Hellix was destroyed."
"What?" Estile almost spat out her tea. She glanced at Riften and the two shared a look. "We've been at odds with them for centuries and just like that they're gone?"
"I wouldn't say it was just like that...," Ren leafed through his documents and handed them a stack of paper. "Our reports say the battle must have been huge, bigger than any of the others in the Alliance. The only survivors were the human slaves."
"No kidding," Riften flipped through the pages. "Prideful bastards wouldn't call for help either. It's no wonder we didn't hear a thing."
Estile's grip on her cup tightened, "Still they weren't all bad. There would have been plenty of innocents as well." A roll of paper knocked against her head. "Hey!"
Riften looked down at her frowning, "Remember we're focusing on what we can do not what we can't. We're already in over our heads on this one. Kind of reminds me of the real old days."
"Back then we had a clear enemy," Estile sighed and stood from her chair. "We should get going. Try get some sleep Ren. Don't worry we-." A sudden loud gong resounded across the city flooding in from the nearby window.
Ren stood up, "That's the alarm."
"Riften go!" Estile commanded.
"On it," the man blurred into shadow and vanished.
"Estile you don't think that it's them do you?" Ren looked out the window full of concern. The city had become as much a home as the Ever-Garden was.
"We'll find out soon but it won't be like last time." She glared out to the direction of the wall. "We're ready now. It's not just the Ever-Garden. All the forces of the Alliance have readied their armies."
He nodded firmly, "I should head out. It's part of my duties to keep the people safe."
"Same here," Estile smiled. "Try stay out of trouble."
Ren laughed, "You just asked me to get you information. Trouble is the best way to do it."
Estile pursed her lips, "You took way too much after Riften. Speaking of which I'd better go find him."
"Good luck."
"We don't need luck," a confident smile split her lips and a moment later the window threw itself open and she leapt into the night.
Estile went straight for the wall which had been lit alive with activity. Though it was dark she could still make out something in the distance past the wall. Like a shifting tide it steadily came closer. Demons. As her feet landed on the stone rampant the surrounding guards jumped in fright, even more so when a shadow rose and formed the shape of a man.
"It's them again," Riften frowned. "And here I thought we'd get at least a few more days reprieve. Standard formation just like last time."
"Well at least we know it doesn't take them long to get back up on their feet," Estile drew her sword. "I'll hold them back. Go and contact the City Commander then find me their entry point. We'll break it and get moving. This isn't going to be the only incident." A sudden ring sprang inside both their minds. "See Arvel's already calling."
Reften answered, "Yeah Arvel we know. We've got one here. Yep. Okay. I'll tell her." He turned to Estile, "Arvel says not to die. Also that he knows you're the one who ate all Lav's snacks."
"...." Estile cleared her throat. "That's not important at the moment."
"Not right now but when Lav finds out you're going to have to make it up to her."
"Let's just handle one thing at a time," Estile waved the topic away.
"Yeah you're right," Riften squatted stretching his legs. "At this rate, who knows, these demons could destroy the world as we know it." A sudden blunt smack collided with his head. "Ouch!"
"Don't joke about that," Estile glared at him angrily.
"Sorry," the black haired man apologised readily. The two were ready to share a joke but not one that hit too close to home.