andrews-story

[andrews-story]

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Game is still in development so get ready for more updates! Typography design by MLE. 

[andrews-story]

The End.

Well, there it goes. Andrew’s Story: Retold has come to an end. But stick around because Andrew’s Story: Retold the RPG is currently in development and there will be frequent development updates on this very site!

[andrews-story]

Chapter Eighteen

One week after their victory, and the dust had settled, there was a huge celebration held in the castle ballroom. Prince Justin invited his friends inside. Crystal chandeliers hung down from the ceiling. Tables covered in silk cloth were arranged at the edge of the room, making way for rich men and women to dance together on the intricate marble floors.

The group found a particularly large table in the back for them to all sit down at. Within seconds, Hugo disappeared into the buffet. Justin sat down with Ethan.

“You and your friends can stay here in the castle if you want.” Justin offered.

“That’s nice.” Ethan said. “But I’m fine with where I am, and I’ m sure they’d tell you the same thing.”

Justin looked over to the rest of them. Anson and Aaron were talking and drinking. Emily and Carine seemed to be sharing a moment. Jady and Andrew walked up to him.

“Do you know where we can find a dress? Andrew wants to try wearing one.” She said.

“Uh… You can use whatever you find in the castle I suppose.”

They thanked him and ran off like children.

After an hour or two of talking and drinking, the lamps on the walls were all put out and musicians played a slower tune. The chandeliers and the moonlight illuminated the marble dance floor with a soft glow. Prince Justin knew what this meant.  The ball was coming to an end, but it cannot end without a dance from the Prince.  

He didn’t know which of his friends to ask for the dance. Does he ask Emily, who he took a stabbing through the arm for? Carine, for healing his wounds? Should he ask Andrew? He had some weird experiences with Andrew. He and Jady made holy fire, does that mean they had chemistry? Hugo seemed like a nice, down-to-earth guy. But he was always sexually attracted to Anson.

No, he had to follow his heart. Justin closed his eyes and extended his arm to the one he truly wanted to dance with. He opened his eyes to, at the end of his open palm, Ethan, with a confused look on his face. At that moment, Justin’s heart started beating twice as fast. He wanted to take it all back, but he owed it to himself not to.

“W-will you join me for this dance?” He asked. He asked this same string of words at every royal ball, but this time he had trouble getting each syllable out.

“Sure.” Ethan answered, and took the hand Justin extended.

Justin led Ethan into the center of the glowing marble dancefloor. The crowd cleared to make way for them.

“Do you know how to waltz?”

“Nope.” Ethan said.

“Then I’ll lead.” Justin held Ethan’s right hand in his left. He put his other hand under Ethan’s arm and on his back. Ethan had his hand on Justin’s shoulder. He followed Justin’s steps, but it just seemed like walking.

“Why did you ask me?” Ethan asked. He could feel Justin’s shoulder tense up.

“Well, everyone else has someone they’d rather dance with.” Justin smiled, it was a half-truth.

“But I am grateful to you. You rescued me.” Justin gave Ethan a twirl.

“I would have stopped Catherine even if you weren’t the target.” Ethan said, not meaning for it to be rude. Which was fine because Justin didn’t take it that way and pulled Ethan close to him again.

“I meant that you rescued me from being cooped up in the castle day in and day out. And I’ll never forget it.” Justin lowered Ethan into a graceful dip. Ethan smiled up at him. A dance between the Hero and the Prince. This was what fairy tales were made of. Justin noticed the glisten of light on Ethan’s lips, closed his eyes and leaned in.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Seventeen

Love. The most powerful human emotion. Anyone who’ve met Catherine knows just how terrifying that really is. Prince Justin walked into the battle. Catherine turned to see his fists clenched, head tilted just enough so that his hair covered his eyes.

Love? Catherine loves Justin? That notion is ridiculous to him. He reserved the word love for people like Grace, who was there for him when he came home, having lost both parents. He reserved that word for the team of warrior and friends who took him in. And Catherine has hurt all of them. Hurt the first person he ever loved. Now he can finally put a face behind the pain.

He lunged at her. He was vicious. Catherine had fear in her eyes. She didn’t recognize the man she loved. Justin was no better than the other fighters, maybe even less experienced. But in front of Catherine, he was the deadliest weapon.

“You violate my mind. You hurt my friends. All because you love me?” She could feel the words hit the side of her face.

“Listen to me. I’ll never love you. You’re no better than filth.”

Emily kicked her onto her knees once again. She was somehow unable to fight back. Knocked out was the breath she was holding in, and along with it her spirit. Ethan threw his sword to Justin. He caught it and reeled back with the blade raised behind him. Catherine closed her tearful eyes. Justin slammed the hilt of the sword against the side of her head, knocking her unconscious. It was over.

“I couldn’t have done what you did.” Emily said.

“Did what?” Justin said.

“Spare her. You could have killed her, why didn’t you?”

Justin thought back to it. “I wanted to.” He said.

“Her expression was so pitiful, weak and defeated. I don’t know.”

Everyone else in the castle woke up from Catherine’s control with no memory of what happened. Alex and J.L found themselves lying on the cold stone floor. J.L sat up, Alex helped him stand. Somehow J.L felt an aching soreness of his groin. He snarled with each step as they stumbled into the next room. They found Grace, who had just woken up as well. Guards were picking themselves up and returning to their positions.

That night, Prince Justin called for an audience in the throne room. Torches lit the walls. The fire gave the room a warm yellow light, nearly drowning out All the nobles, the knights, high-ranking guards, and handmaidens, they all gathered below to the stage that was the platform the throne was on. Prince Justin sat upon the golden throne, all powerful. Hugo, Emily, Jady, Andrew, on his right side. Ethan, Carine, Anson, Aaron, on his left side, like a lineup. Some of them were cheering in victory, others tried to behave themselves for the serious environment. The room fell into a hush as the grand doors opened before them. Guards walked Catherine down the aisle, past all the staring eyes and whispering lips, till she was at the foot of the Prince’s platform. Embarrassed, with her arms chained behind her back.

“The Torturess, Catherine.” Prince Justin announced. “You have been brought before us for the crimes you have committed against me, the royal family, and this kingdom. You are hereby sentenced to,”

Catherine didn’t know what to expect. Death, torture humiliation, she was prepared to face it all.

“House arrest.” This took everyone by surprise, but no one interjected. “There is an abandoned cottage near the forest lake. I came across it when I was travelling with these adventurers. You are to stay there, close enough for us to supervise.”

“Shouldn’t you have someone assigned to specially watch her, make sure she isn’t up to anything.” Grace advised.

“Of course. Do we have any volunteers?”

Ten seconds of silence went by and Prince Justin was ready to move on. That was when Alex stepped up.

“I volunteer.” He said.

Catherine turned her head to look and was caught in a moment of shock. Emily, finally taking the time to look closely, noticed it too. He was the mayor’s son from the village of Passerine. More importantly, he was the boy who asked Emily to dance during the spring festival. Fitting, Emily thought, the one who made Catherine this way has to pay the price.

“Very well.” Justin said. “You are to watch over her in the cottage. Make a life for yourselves.”

“But before that, Catherine, you are obligated to reveal where you have been keeping your prisoners.”

A guard put a sword under Catherine’s chin.

“They’re under the shed where my house was.” She fessed.

“I have to go, that’s where my parents are!” Aaron exclaimed.

“I’m going with you.” Anson said. The two immediately ran off to free the prisoners.

After that, everyone was dismissed. Catherine was brought to a holding cell and was to be relocated the next day. Justin approached Andrew as he was leaving and brought him to the side of the room for a private conversation.

“Is there any way of suppressing Catherine’s… magic abilities?” He whispered.

“Hm. Magic is rooted in her being, it would take a lot of power and a lot of pain for it to even have a chance of working.”

“I see.”

“But,” Andrew said. “She doesn’t have full control of her magic, it stems from her emotions. There might be a way for me to make that connection between her emotions and her magic weaker.”

“Can you get it done before tomorrow?”

“I can try.”

[andrews-story]

Chapter Sixteen

Ethan looked to his old friend Andrew as they were charging in. The feeling of his hands tightly around the shagreen leather. His fast steps, his quick breaths. Knowing that Carine and Hugo, and all his other teammates were right behind him. Having a quest, fighting an evil, the rush, the serenity. This feeling, it was the best feeling in the world.

Ethan swung against Catherine’s shots, bouncing them off. Andrew attacked from the right. Rapid fire. A shot hit Ethan in the leg. It didn’t slow him down, it was a part of what he loved.

He missed being a hero. Oh, he missed it so much. Not for the glory, not for the thanks. Not for anything but the adventure, the thrill, and the purpose. That journey he went on ten years ago was the best time of his life.

When he first took his little wooden sword, and snuck into the forest, dreaming to be a fighter, a hero, he got beat up by a monster. But before the monster could eat him, young Emily jumped in and killed it.

“Hey.” She helped him up.

“Hey.”

“You’re probably wondering what I’m doing alone in the forest.” She said.

That thought hadn’t crossed his mind at all. Ethan was in awe at how she fought. Not to mention, he was a child alone in the forest too.

“Do you know how I can get to the Kingdom of Landia from here?” She asked.

“Yeah, that’s where I live. I’ll show you how to sneak past the gate guard.” Ethan brought Emily to the edge of the fence, about twenty metres away from the main gate. The gates were tall and strong, even a thousand bulls wouldn’t be able to break through. But it was just wide enough for the two children to squeeze between the posts. Ethan took Emily to his friends to introduce them.

“So, you’re not from our town? Where’d you come from then?” Hugo asked.

Emily was a bit shy with talking about herself. “There was a small village, it was pretty far from here, but it…. It burned down about four months ago.”

“What?” Carine asked, hanging onto her every word.

“Yeah. It-it took my family. I’m here for a fresh start.”

“That’s crazy! You can stay with us if you want.” Carine offered.

“No, that’s not necessary. Some of the other survivors gave me enough gold to buy a place here and sort myself out.”

“Other survivors? Where are they now?” Hugo asked.

“They’re trying to build a new village from the ground up. They named it after some bird I guess.”

“Teach us how to fight!” Said Ethan, who was impatiently waiting to interject the whole time. After some convincing, Emily agreed. She taught them how to throw punches, kicks, and how to properly wield a sword. Carine found it a little hard to follow, but she had a great time nonetheless. After they were all tired, and Emily left to find a place, the three walked back to their homes together.

“Why do you want to learn how to fight anyways?” Carine asked.

“It just feels like what I want to do.” Ethan said.

Carine looked to Hugo. “I have idea what he’s on about either.” Hugo said.

Ethan went to bed that night dreaming before he was even asleep. He wanted to be a hero, he wanted to go on a journey. He just needed a villain. As if god had answered his prayers, Catherine showed up in town the next morning.

Ethan and Andrew attacked Catherine in turns, but it didn’t seem to do much. Perhaps she used a spell to make herself stronger. This wasn’t nearly as easy as the first time.

When Catherine first arrived at the Kingdom of Landia, she was seized by guards at the town gates and brought to the King and Queen where she told her sob story about the burned down village. Despite King Jason’s concerns, the compassionate Queen decided to take her in. The King went along with it, knowing that she was having a hard time because their son Justin had been sent to live with the young duchess Grace in Airia for some time now. This might help her cope. 

Catherine had her own room in the castle, it was the room they were in right now, fighting her. She was thankful of the Queen at first, but she couldn’t help but fall in love with the King. Hearing everyone talk about how kind the Queen was, seeing her be with the King like that, she couldn’t help but lash out.

Catherine forced Ethan away mid-swing. Andrew knocked her onto her knees. Ethan recovered and gave a hearty strike to Catherine’s side.

Ethan still remembered waking up to townspeople yelling. He pushed passed the crowd and saw the poster on the shop window. Queen Justine was missing. As horrible as it was, Ethan was excited. He finally had his quest, his adventure.

After meeting Andrew and Jady, after meeting Merl-Bob, finding out about Catherine, they went to the castle. The guards didn’t let them in, didn’t believe their story. They were just kids after all. To their luck, they met Anna, a young knight in training. Anna believed in their cause, and liked Carine, and decided to help them through the castle. When they ran into the King, he had no choice but to follow them in search for his wife. They found her crudely chained up, the beautiful Queen Justine. Cut up, then mended together just to be cut up again. The cruel torture of the Torturess Catherine. King Jason was horrified, in shock, probably traumatized for life. Seeing the King this way hurt Catherine too. She wanted Queen Justine to be hurt, not Jason, she couldn’t stand it. She shouted something.

“Close your eyes!” Andrew commanded.

There was a flash of light. Catherine erased her. To the rest of the world, it was like Queen Justine had never existed. No one outside of that room remembers there ever being a Queen of Landia. Sometimes King Jason would be unsure if there was either, and slipped into madness. The King banished Catherine away, the clerics shielded the kingdom from her presence.

Catherine was on the floor. She shot out a string of magic bullets, giving her time to pick herself back up. Ethan dodged them. One hit Andrew in the waist, knocking him down. Ethan swung at her. There was an opening. He hesitated. This, this was the end. Once this battle’s over, this journey is too, his being a hero. This was likely his last adventure. It has to end, but. Just a little bit longer.

Catherine blasted him away.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Fifteen

Andrew’s magic was calculated, controlled, studied, and refined after years and years. Catherine’s magic was the complete opposite. Her lack of dedicated training makes her spells messy and loose. But that doesn’t make her a weak opponent, god no. The power behind Catherine’s magic was her emotions. Her love could bring back entire armies from the brink of death. Her rage could damn them all to hell.

Emily charged in headfirst. In terms of raw power, she knew that she couldn’t take on Catherine. But in physical combat, Emily could rip her a new one. Before Catherine had time to prepare a magical attack, Emily went in, throwing fast punches and kicks. All she ever fought and trained for led to this.

She still remembered meeting Catherine in grade school. It was all so vivid. Catherine had a crush on some boy, but when it came to their village’s annual spring dance, he asked Emily to dance with him. What made Catherine even angrier was the fact Emily turned him down.

After that, Catherine never stopped harassing her with cruel words and other petty nuisances. Although Emily wasn’t too bothered by it, her hotheaded sister, older than her by a year, always came to her defense and hated Catherine.

One day, a massive inferno set their humble village of Passerine ablaze and burned it to ashes. Only about twenty villagers survived the fire, Emily lost her parents. At the camp they set up, survivors mourned and discussed how unnatural the fire was, like witchcraft. Emily’s sister immediately accused Catherine.

She could hear the yelling between them.

“It was her! I bet Catherine did it!”

“It was not, why would I do something like that? That fire took my parents too!” Emily couldn’t remember if Catherine teared up just then or a little while before.

“It couldn’t have been anyone else. There’s only two people with magic in our village and you can’t expect us to believe it was Father Edward.”

“Why not? It wasn’t me!”

“He’s seventy-eight and he runs the church! You did do it, stop lying. You owe everyone here an apology at best. Just because you can’t control your magic or your emotions doesn’t mean people should lose their lives!”

“Shut up! I hate you! Just, just go to hell!” Catherine yelled with her hands balled into fists and arms stiff beside her, closing her eyes shut to stop the tears. Everyone took a step back, Emily did too, and never forgave herself for it. Her sister was burning up where she stood like a piece of paper, ashes blown away little by little.

“She’s actually doing it, going to hell.” Father Edward said. “What have you done?”

Catherine opened her eyes and was horrified.

“You think they’ll believe you now?” The eleven-year-old spat at her as she faded away. And that was the last time Emily saw her sister.

“Get away from us you sick witch!” A woman who lost her fiancé yelled.

“That ugly little skank did do it!” A man who lost his sons yelled.

“You better leave.” Father Edward said.

“But Father, you said you’d teach me how to control this.”

“There is no controlling you. I can see your future, you Torturess. Save our people from your torment and just go.”

Emily remembered how Catherine was banished by her village. It brought her a little bit of satisfaction, seeing as she took everything away from her.

Since then on, Emily started training, teaching herself martial arts. She never imagined that she would use it to fight Catherine, but it helped her cope. Now she’s swinging at Catherine with everything she’s practiced.

She wasn’t doing much health damage to Catherine, but she was wearing away at Catherine’s energy, forcing her to block each strike with her staff.

Emily wanted to lean in and ask if Catherine still remembered her. She wanted to ask how Catherine felt, the man she loved was going to have a hand in destroying her right now. Those awful thoughts fueled her more and she kicked right through Catherine’s staff, breaking it into splinters.

“Why you…!” Catherine blasted Emily away with a flash of magic from her anger. As she tried to mend her staff back together again, it gave time for Ethan and Andrew to take the lead.

Ethan and Andrew went in with their swords and spells ready just as Catherine pieced back together her magic staff.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Fourteen

“Be honest,” Not-really-Grace said. “What do you think of me?”

“Well, miss, I-” Jady started. The pointy icicle spikes grew out longer, pointing at their necks where they were chained.

“I don’t want to hear it from you. You’re a liar.” She walked in front of Emily. “You.” She said.

Emily looked her dead in the eyes. “To be honest, you seem like another one of those snooty royals who had everything handed to them from birth.”

Not-really-Grace laughed, she laughed a lot. She hugged Emily. If this was Catherine’s doing, she’s insane. Carine glared at them.

She looked away when Grace turned her attention to her.

“What’s your problem?” She said. The tip of the ice was grazing the skin of their necks now.

“Hey.” Anson called her over. He whispered something in her ear and all the ice around them shattered. She just stood there, clutching that ear gently.

“What’d you do?” Jady asked.

Anson winked. “If there’s one weakness to Catherine’s mindset, it’s inane masculine charm.”

They all rolled their eyes.

Justin was teleported into a candlelit room adorned with honeymoon furniture. Catherine stood at the center of it all, waiting for this moment. When he saw her, he backed all the way up against a silk curtain on the wall. Catherine did a step-pause-step runway model strut towards him. Her face powdered. Her hair done with a flower in it. Her eyes full of love met Justin’s, full of fear.

“Finally.” She said in that higher pitched than her normal voice, voice. “I can see you in person.”

She got closer. “I see someone undone my curse, pity.”

“I’ll just have to put something new back in place.” She said.

Catherine cast an incantation in the air and placed her hand on Justin’s chest. The touch sent shivers through her spine. With the last word of the new spell, Justin’s hips jolted forward, followed by his chest. He gasped.

“Consider my feelings for once.” She said. “You mean the world to me. What do I mean to you?”

Justin embraced her. His hands on her back pressing her into him.

Ethan and the King were still neck and neck in their chess game. But there was a difference. Ethan took five minutes to think of the perfect move, King Jason took two seconds. The King. The most useless piece. Doesn’t do jack shit but still gets all the attention. Dammit. King Jason just took his queen. His mind wandered.

The seven others busted into the room as well. Ethan got out of his chair.

“Where’s Justin?” He asked.

“We don’t know.” Hugo replied. “Why are you playing chess with the King?”

“He has the location of Catherine.” Ethan said.

Aaron quickly had the King at knife point. He put his hands in the air.

“Okay, okay! Out through the door and up the stairs to the right. That’s where she is.” Jason confessed.

Sparing no time, the eight of them ran after her and busted into her room with all the silk and candles. Prince Justin and Catherine were still there.

“Why are you guys here?” An entranced Justin asked.

“What?” Hugo said, confused like everyone else.

“Catherine and I are in love.” He said. “There’s nothing to fight about anymore. We’ll be getting married soon. She will be in charge of the kingdom for my priority will forever be loving her.”

“Permission to slap him?” Anson asked.

“Granted.” Emily answered.

Anson slapped Justin across the face, one of those loud slap, the ones that sting. Justin didn’t budge.

“Why would you want someone ugly like her when you could have someone as beautiful as me.” Andrew thrusted towards him with one hand at his head and the other at his waist. He blew a kiss.

“I thought we had something special. Tsk.” Jady said.

Carine started to cry. “Please don’t leave us for her.” She wiped her eyes.

The others caught on. Appealing to his true emotions, would that really work?

“When you said that you didn’t want to leave this kingdom like your father, didn’t that mean something to you?” Ethan asked him.

Andrew hurriedly prepared something in the background. Catherine was watching everything unfold like a TV sitcom, trying to hold in laughter.

Anson put his hand on Justin’s shoulder and just stared into his eyes for a long time.

“It’s not like we need you with us anyways.” Hugo said out the side of his mouth.

Aaron glared at him for a second, felt bad, then looked away. The performances were getting a little stale.

Emily didn’t have a clue what she would do. Over thinking and panicking. Andrew was still secretly working, using the time he bought with this distraction. Emily, a little faint headed, stumbled up to Justin and pulled his arm forward. She slid a knife across her own arm and dripped the blood onto his.

“What the hell is this?” Catherine said, this dramatic display too intense for sitcom television. Tears started rolling down the Prince’s eyes.

“Thank you for the best distraction yet.” Andrew whispered to himself.

Before anyone could take their attention off the bloody arms and the crying Prince, Andrew pulled Justin around and kissed him.

“Eeeek! What is wrong with you?” Catherine screamed.

Regaining consciousness in Andrew’s arms, Justin came back to his senses again. His eyes were still sparkling when he looked up at him.

“It felt so wrong having someone go into my head like that.” He clung onto Andrew’s shirt. “Please. Fix me.”

Everyone was spinning out of control in their confusion.

“How did th-, what was he-, what the hell was that?” Hugo cried out.

Andrew was too busy in his anime romance scene with Justin so Jady did the explaining.

“Well you see,” She started the explanatory flashback. “From the second we entered the room, Andrew sensed that something wasn’t right with Justin’s magic aura. Then he had to come up with some sort of distraction that could buy him time to prepare countermeasures. Knowing that Carine would naturally pull some emotional act, and the rest of you are emotionally awkward, it would make for some embarrassing performances, so that’s the direction we went in. While that was going on, Andrew secretly prepared the antidote for the seduction spell. It was easy enough to make, but there was no way to get Justin to willingly consume it, still under its effects. So, he applied it to his own lips and tongue and you know the rest.”

“Eugh.” Aaron said, not wanting to think about the details.

Catherine was pouting, doing that face she does when she’s angry. Behind her eyes was the fury of a thousand suns. “I hate you! Why do you have to meddle in my romantic life?”

“The Prince’s holy beauty and kind spirit is what raised this Kingdom back from the ashes after you destroyed it ten years ago. Prince Justin is not yours to take, especially when he doesn’t love you.” Ethan said.

“Shut up! I don’t care what you have to say.  Prince Justin belongs to me and me alone!” She yells.

“I’m sure we can all object to that.” Emily said.

“I don’t care!” Catherine charged up her staff.

They took the cue and prepared for a fight.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Thirteen

“Prince Justin, you are our rival.” Alex drew his sword.

“Catherine will love me, not you.” J.L sneered.

“Let us show our devotion to her!” With their swords held in front of them, they inched closer.

“Gross.” Emily said.

Andrew threw his head to the side. “She couldn’t just have them bring the Prince to her. Not before she’s had her fun”

Ethan took his place at the front of the pack. Anson twirled his sword in his hands.

“Don’t kill them, they’re two of my best.” Justin called.

“No promises.” Emily said.

As they fought, they realized some things. J.L hits hard and his attacks are powerful. His hits are fast, vicious but they leave him open and weak. Shortly into the battle, they were already worn out. But if they could land a hit on him. Andrew dueled him one on one. Andrew held his ground at first but he was slipping. J.L gained on him. One wrong move and J.L swung down on him. It was a fake. When the image faded away J.L turned around to see Ethan and Andrew ready to strike.

The rest of them were fighting knight Alex. He didn’t go down as easy. He wasn’t a fighting powerhouse like J.L. Hits landed but they didn’t slow him down. J.L was the sword and he was the shield. He seemed hesitant when facing Emily for whatever reason. To be honest, it kind of pissed her off. With Emily fighting in the front lines, Justin, now uninhibited by the curse, right beside her. Everyone else scattered around. They slowly chipped away at the titanium-hard knight. With Alex held back just a little, the yin-yang tag team duo, the Prince and the demon had time to charge up their holy fire canon of destruction. Alex went boom. Still in one piece albeit scorched and sprawled across the floor.

Emily kicked J.L as they walked past the knocked-out knights. Further into the castle they ventured, fighting more guards, sentries, noblemen. They followed a long hallway into a large room with a fountain. A woman in white silk was sitting with her back to them, watching the water fall. On the other side of the room was a gateway to a spiral staircase. Seeing as the metal gate was quickly lowering, Ethan darted across the room and made it to the other side. When he looked back, he saw that the others were still a long ways behind him. The woman got up now.

“Go!” Hugo motioned to him. “We’ll find another way.”

Ethan took his word for it and ran up the stairs.

“Grace.” Justin said through gritted teeth, getting angrier at Catherine by the minute.

Justin stood in front of his friends, who were all on edge. “Don’t hurt her.” He ordered.

“What are we supposed to do then?” Anson asked.

“Let’s… talk.”

“Is that going to work?” He turned to Andrew. Andrew shrugged.

Grace stumbled over to Justin and he held her by the arms.

“I’m pathetic.” She said.

“No. You’re one of the strongest people I know.” Justin tried to comfort her.

“Such nice things. Would you still say them to me if you knew? I love you too, but not like how Catherine loves you. My love isn’t as pure or passionate as Catherine’s.” She said.

Justin shook his head. “These aren’t your words. Catherine’s making things up to mess with me.”

“These might not be my words, but this is my heart. And the saddest part, I knew that you would never be mine right from the beginning” She put a delicate hand on Justin’s temple. Before anyone could react, she teleported Justin god knows where.

Anson reached for his sword. Carine stopped him. “Justin told us to talk.”

“But-”

“We have to try.”

Grace was facing them now. It wasn’t really Grace, though. She was just a puppet, Catherine’s little theatre performance. Not-Grace had ice magic, maybe real Grace had it too. She made the ground freeze over and tall icy spikes rose around them. They branched into more spikes like thin icy trees

“Tell me, why did you come here?” She asked.

“To defeat the Torturess Catherine.” Hugo blurted out.

“That’s foolish.” Ice cuffs restrained them by the wrists, chaining them to the spikes. “Catherine cannot be stopped by the likes of you.”

What waited for Ethan at the top of the staircase was a face he hadn’t seen for years. A face he barely remembers. King Jason was in his 40s now, but still good-looking, young.

“You can’t win.” He said, taking a seat at the chess table. This is where he locked himself up for all that time. Ethan sat down too, instinctively. He noticed that this area was clear of any black smoke.

“Did Catherine come by here?” He asked.

“I know where she is. I’ll tell you if you win this game.” Jason made the first move.

Ethan followed suit. “We won last time, what makes this time so different?”

“Won? The Torturess erased my wife from existence. The only evidence left that she was ever alive was the son she left behind.” Jason said.

“Your wife, what was she like?” Ethan asked, trying to get him talking, distracted.

“I know that I loved her, I know that she was beautiful. We named our son after her, her name was... My wife, her name was… I can’t remember.” He was crying now.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Twelve

Ethan and the others awoke in the town’s hospital. “What’s going on? How did we get here?”

“I brought your asses here.” Hugo said. “You can thank me later.”

“What happened?” Carine asked.

“Well, after the house collapsed, y’all were knocked out like a bunch of idiots. I had to wait two hours before a cart man came by and helped me pile you up get you guys here. It was the funniest damn thing he’d ever seen.”

The small infirmary was packed tightly with five beds. There was a large couch outside the room covered with a bedsheet, where Andrew and Jady were laying.

“Prince, lover-boy.” Andrew called. “Come here.”

Justin buttoned up his shirt and went over to Andrew’s couch. “Hm?”

Andrew pulled out the diary he took from Catherine’s lair. Justin flipped through it a bit and handed it back. “These writings, I’ve seen them in my hallucinations.”

“I’ve been reading through this.” He opened the book to a recent page. “Here.”

“Journal entry 17; Objective: Get him to notice me. It has been roughly three weeks since I started watching Prince Justin through my mirror. I can’t just keep watching, I must pursue him further. Seeing him talk to all those royal girls is killing me. I just want to reach through the mirror and grab him for myself, but I can’t. I’ve made a plan. Tomorrow I shall send my minions to plant the hex bags I have prepared so that I can once again enter the castle, they shall let him know of me. In the meantime, I will try this spell on him, I hope it works, I’ve been working on it for a long time.”

Andrew pointed to a small paragraph written beside it. “She wrote the spell she used on you here. I think I can reverse engineer it to lift the curse.”

He grabbed the bowl from the coffee table beside him. “I’m going to need some pine, salmonberries, poppy seeds, and a beer.”

“They probably have those things here. I’ll find them.” Justin said, rushing out of the room.

Ethan was pacing back and forth in the hallway. Carine and Aaron got out of their beds. Anson put on his jacket. Justin rushed back beside the couch carrying a tray full of the items Andrew requested.

Andrew put the salmonberries, pine needles, and poppy seeds in the bowl and started to crush them up.

“What’s the beer for then?” Justin asked.

“It’s for me.” Andrew chugged down the whole thing. “My spells work better when I’m intoxicated.”

He put on hand over the bowl and three fingers on Justin’s forehead. He started to chant as both of his hands started to glow with magic energy. The magic travelled through and encased Justin. With the final word of Andrew’s spell, he felt as if the chains inside of him tying him to Catherine have finally broken.

“Can you believe that this was supposed to be a seduction spell. What a sa-” Andrew’s words were cut short by Justin’s sudden embrace.

“I can’t thank you enough.”

Emily watched through the doorframe. The rest of them piled out the infirmary. Ethan was still pacing in the hall.

“Set out for her love. But Prince Justin’s been with us the whole time. Unless she thought he was still at the…” He looked out the window.

In the distance, black smoke rose from all around the castle. It must be Catherine’s doing. The people in the town below noticed this too. Some stood to watch, others rushed back into their houses. The rest of the nine rushed to the window.

“Yikes.” Emily said, being ironic perhaps.

Ethan started to walk off. “That’s where Catherine is.”

“Are you sure?” The others followed.

“I’m certain.”

The team, lead by Ethan marched to the castle gates once again. As they were about to step through, the two guards crossed their axes.

“They’re with me.” Prince Justin said.

The guards did not respond to that and engaged in combat with them.

“Do we fight them?” Aaron asked.

Justin looked confused. “They are technically committing treason so I don’t see why not.”

Working as a group, they knocked out the castle guards. Justin was able to fight once again, thus they easily made their way through waves of aggravated guardsmen. Once they nearly reached the inside of the building, a larger, stronger looking armored soldier appeared in front of them. They took off their helmet.

“Anna.” Carine breathed.

“Halt. Mistress Catherine has warned me about you.” The soldier spoke with glazed over eyes. “The Prince may come through, but I ask for the rest of you to turn back now.”

“No way in hell.” Hugo said.

The soldier pointed the edge of their sword towards them. “Very well then.”

“What’s going on?” Carine asked.

Andrew squinted his eyes at the black smoke around them. “This, this is the smoke of rhetological fallacy. It makes everyone who breathes it susceptible to Catherine’s mental manipulation.” He turned to Emily. “You must be the one purifying the air around us.”

“Me?” She pointed to herself.

“Few can resist this dark magic. I suppose you are one of them.”

“How do we break this?” Ethan asked.

“We’d have to render Catherine unconscious. She’s the source of all of this.”

The soldier gained on them and they prepared to fight.

“I can’t, I can’t do this.” Carine said.

Ethan put a hand on her shoulder. “I understand. Sit this one out.”

Carine watched from behind as the team slowly but surely took down Anna. When it was over, Carine healed as many external wounds on her friend as she could before they moved on. Fighting through the royal guards was tedious and tiresome, but they found many valuable items in the castle.

The amount of guards they ran into suspiciously decreased. As they turned the next corner, two knights with crossed arms were waiting for them.

“They look familiar.” Ethan said.

Justin pursed his lips. “Knights Alex and J.L. Shit, this will be difficult.”

[andrews-story]

Chapter Eleven

The group split up in all directions once they reached a seemingly blind spot of the attacks. Aaron and Anson charged in first. Aaron dashed in with his knife, but his speed wasn’t much compared to her. When she saw his movements, she raised hand and the energy was enough to throw him back and pin him against the wall. Anson saw the opening and gave a slashing with his sword. Once he got her attention, she kicked him in the chest, knocking him onto the floor. She put a foot on his shoulder, slowly crushing down.

Justin jumped on her from behind, trying to restrain her. Jady yanked at his frail arms, one of them injured, with a chilling grin. She pressed down on his chest, holding his back against her front. The touch induced the effects of his curse, making him limp, dizzy, and weak. She trailed her fingers down his arm and intertwined them with his hand. She put her other hand on his waist, as if beginning a waltz. In the space between their hands, a white glow appeared.

“What’s that?” Ethan looked to Andrew.

They rushed out of the way when the glow built up and shot out at them. “It’s holy fire!” Andrew cried out. “A cocktail mixture of demon magic and someone pure of heart.” The shot was strong enough to make a small crater in the stone floor.

They tried to find cover from the makeshift human cannon. With the time it took to charge up the next shot, Andrew mustered the spell to split the two apart. Emily picked Justin off of the ground and propped him against a wall for a chance to breathe. Carine hurried to his side to heal him, letting Emily return to battle.

The line up was as follows; Ethan, Hugo, Anson, Andrew, Aaron, Emily. Their dear, weaponized friend had just gotten up too. They looked to each other.

“Together.”

They charged in. The shots came and they stung, but the six kept fighting. Andrew got close. With one hand in front of his eye and the other powering up his sword, he struck her from the side. She attacked, Hugo took it for the others. Emily kicked her down. Ethan slashed her across the chest. Andrew fell to his knees as well.

To the melody of their gasping and the rhythm of their beating hearts, Andrew crawled over to her. She was unconscious on the ground. He sat down beside her and laid her in his arms. “You can win this fight, you can do it.” He whispered, exasperated. He counted her chest rise and fall about five times before she opened her eyes, they were normal again. “Is it over?” She pulled herself off of him just a little. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“You know we’re not.”

As the spell broke, the pentagram on the ceiling started to crumble. Pieces of stone started to rain down.

“We have to get out of here.” Ethan said turning to the exit. He looked back at Jady and Andrew, still sitting there, they were starting to fade like dust in the morning light.

“What’s happening?” Anson asked.

Andrew looked at his now translucent hand. “Our magic is wearing away.”

The building was caving in around them.

“Leave us behind!” Jady yelled at them with the last of her breath. They stared at them though the falling rocks, not liking their options.

Ethan took out the Mira Band. He snapped it in half and slid it to them. Andrew grabbed onto it with what was left of his hand. After the blinding light the first thing they saw were wings that shielded them from the rest of the building’s collapse.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Ten

His arm was raised to shield himself where he stood in front of Emily. The man’s surprise was cut short when Anson swiftly delivered a solid punch to the side of his head. Justin pulled the knife out of his now bloodied arm, numb from the adrenaline. Emily was still behind him, in shock, with her hands covering her mouth. Anson took out some bandage wrap from somewhere concerningly convenient. He tightly wrapped up Justin’s wound to stop the bleeding as much as he could.

Hugo walked over to them, seeing the damage. “Yikes. Well, you don’t have to worry too much, Carine can probably fix that up in a couple days.”

Justin thanked him and said that he needed to sit down for a while.

Ethan started scavenging the equipment of their defeated opponents. “I never get used to seeing you do this, it’s just not right.” Carine said.

“They’ve got some good stuff though.” Ethan looked through the armor and weapons he found. “This nose guy even has a crown. I wonder if he’s someone important or something.”

Andrew looked at what he was holding. “That’s no crown. That’s the fabled artifact of old. The Mira Band.”

“Wow, sounds like it would sell for a fortune.”

“Sell?” Andrew asked in disbelief. “The Mira Band is far more precious than anything money can buy. It’s bursting with magic energy and is said to grant the wearer holy magic if they are to be pure of heart. That probably explains why that man couldn’t harness its full potential.”

“Cool, I guess I’ll hang onto it then.”

Emily sat down beside Justin. Carine was starting to mend his arm slowly. He winced, it stung pretty bad given his injury. Emily searched for the right words, any words.

“You don’t owe me anything.” He said to her surprise. “Like I said, I was the one who chose to come along.”

The exhausted team of seven walked for another mile and a half before calling it quits and settling down for the night. Their fire was small that night. It let them see the stars crystal clear. Polaris, the one they needed to follow to reach Catherine. They were all still awake when a man walked into their line of sight, the fast one.

He saw them reach for their weapons and put his hands up. “Wait, wait, wait! I’m not here for a fight.” He said. “That would be stupid, there’s seven of you and one of me, and I have nothing. Hear me out.”

Ethan checked in with the rest of the group. They all agreed that he was pretty harmless and let him talk.

“M-my name is Aaron. I want to join you guys, I’m serious,” The others grew suspicious.

“How do we know you won’t backstab us?” Hugo asked.

“Why would I?” Aaron gazed at them with sad eyes. “Look, Catherine has my parents. She has Harry and Damien’s sisters. I only agreed to be one of her pawns because she held their lives against me. But after seeing you guys today, I believe you have the power to actually stop her.”

Anson looked around at them. “I think we shou-”

“You’re kidding me.” Emily interrupted.

“What?”

“He tried to kill me.” She reasoned.

Anson raised an eyebrow. “You all overlooked my past actions.”

Ethan mulled it over. “It’s only fair.”

Anson lean over to Aaron. “You’ll see them again, I’ll make sure of it.”

“We’re getting close, I can feel it.” Ethan said with childlike excitement. Carine was still healing Justin’s arm as they walked. After about twenty minutes, they spotted an opening out of the forest. The trees and grass around it appeared to be dead or contaminated with evil.

“That’s it, that’s it!” Ethan exclaimed, scoping out the creepy house behind branches.

“What do we do, just barge right on in?” Hugo asked.

Ethan shrugged. “That’s a good enough plan as any.”

They kicked down the front door and went into the house back to back.

“What’s this?” Andrew found a book spread open on the dining table. “It looks like a diary or something. Guess I’ll just take it.” He put the book into his bag.

They searched through the rest of the house but it appeared to be empty.

“No, no, no, this isn’t right.” Ethan said. “She’s always here. She only ever leaves her lair when… she has a finale in mind. We ne-” He sees a note attached to the end of the hallway. Catherine handwrote it, he could tell by the terrible cursive. “Come to find me have you?” It read. “I’m disappointed to say that I can’t properly greet you for I have already set out for my love. But to make it up to my dear house guests, I’ve taught you pet some new tricks.”

Ethan turned around to see that Jady was stuck at the midway point in the hall. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Gah, I can’t,” She struggles. “I can’t move.” Purple liquid dripped from above her and they lifted their heads to see some kind of pentagram drawn on the ceiling. Light started to pour down from the pentagram. Her hands started to turn a dark purple color, wings grew out of her back, a tail followed, horns too.  

Andrew gripped onto his sword and started mumbling something with two fingers held to his lips.

“What are you doing?” Ethan asked.

He finished his spell and drew his sword. “She’s losing control.”

Her eyes closed then fluttered open, fully black. She laid her palm down onto the stone floor and a circle of fire enveloped the eight of them. Ethan drew his sword now, and the others followed suit.

“I really don’t want to do this.” Hugo said.

“You think?” Andrew muttered.

Jady shot a string of dark arrows from the wave of a hand. Ethan went in, bouncing the arrows off the turn of his sword. When he was close enough he tried to take a hit. She caught the blade between her fingers Ethan pushed forward as much as he could and hopped back.

“What’s the plan here?” Ethan asked.

Andrew pushed up the bridge of his glasses, glinting off the light of the demon’s magic energy. “We have to weaken her physical strength as much as we can. After that we’ll have to hope that her mental strength can surpass this spell of Catherine’s. No, I’m sure of it.”

“Makes enough sense to me.” Emily said.

“Well, this is a weird way for me to prove myself to you guys.”  Aaron tried to get closer to the target but the rapid fire kept pushing him back.

“Get behind me. I’ll tank the hits and when I give the word, split.” Hugo commanded. They all piled behind his big shield and push forward slowly through the projectiles. “Now!”

[andrews-story]

Chapter Nine

After another day and a half of travelling, they reached where they left off at the lake. “How do we get past this?” Ethan asked.

“I would suggest we swim, but with all the stuff we’re carrying that wouldn’t be possible, would it?” Emily said.

“There’s an old man in my village who’s got a small boat.” Anson suggested.

“Yeah but that’s like three miles back.” Carine said.

Jady lightly punched Andrew on the arm. “I bet you could freeze the surface of the lake.”

“I can try, but it would take almost all of my energy.” Andrew considered it.

“It would be the fastest way.” Ethan said.

Andrew agreed. He opened his satchel and pulled out a tattered book with papers crudely stuffed between it. He flipped through the book, pulling out pages here and there. Spreading everything on the ground, Andrew organized his own grander version of a simple freeze spell. He read it over, reread it, mumbled it several times. Then he closed his eyes and walked to the very edge of the water.

“You don’t have to do this.” Jady told him.

Andrew smiled. “You’re just worried cause you’ll feel some of it too… Don’t worry, I have the strength of both of us.”

Andrew stood there with his thin legs together and straight, holding his posture. He raised his arms outstretched on both sides of him. The words flowed out from his mouth. They didn’t seem like incantations, they pieced together like song. Frost crept in from the sides of the lake, they spread thick ice on the surface of the water. Andrew was slowly closing his arms as the ice spread more and more. Jady felt it in her chest what it was doing to Andrew’s body. Andrew brought his arms tightly together, holding the pose with all of his will. He held that last note of the incantation. The last half of the lake froze over completely.

Andrew collapsed.

“Hey!” Was the first thing Andrew heard when he opened his eyes again. His vision started to shift back into focus. “Hey!”

“Wake up.” He was being carried on the back of Jady as they crossed the frozen lake. “Why do you get to pass out?”

She let him down when they reached the other side. The soreness he felt in his legs took him by surprise when his feet landed on the ground. He was okay for the most part, just drained.

They kept walking. About an hour in, Justin had trouble again. He pressed his back onto a tree for support and tried to focus on breathing in and out. Everyone stopped when they realized what had happened again. Carine rushed over to him and put her hand on his sweating forehead. Emily looked away.

“You’re burning up.” She said. “Here,” Carine twisted her fingers in the air a little. “Does this help?”

“Yeah. My heartrate slowed down now. But I can still feel her- gah!” He cried out. His back hunched over in pain as he clutched his sides.

“Do you need to rest for a bit?” Carine asked.

Justin shook his head. “I’ll manage.”

He slowly pulled himself along, trailing behind everyone else. After a few minutes, his grunting and panting turned a couple heads.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Carine checked with him.

“I’m fine.” He said through clenched teeth. “I chose to come along, anything that happens to me is my responsibility to deal with.”

“Why the hell did you come if you knew that it would be like this.” Emily said.

“Why did you?”

Emily confronted him. “I’m here because Catherine killed my sister.”

Justin stepped closer to her, fighting through the pain. “You’re not the only one who wants revenge.”

As the group continued their trek through the forest, a slime jumped out at them again. Before Ethan could even draw his sword from it’s sheath, a large foot stepped on the slime, obliterating it. The foot belonged to an equally bulky man. Half of them turned when they heard two more sets of footsteps, one of the thin man, and the one with the nose.

“You.” Justin said under his breath.

“They must have been following us.” Hugo told Ethan.

Ethan nodded. “And they match Nicole’s descriptions.”

The large one was the first to act and charged at Ethan, Hugo and Carine. Ethan swung forward to counter while Hugo took the defensive stance shielding Carine.

The other two men prepared for attack as well. Anson and Emily tried to fight off the lanky one. He was fast, agile, and dodged everything they threw at him. Anson started predicting his movements and grabbed him by the arm, giving Emily the chance to land a couple of hits.

The nosed one was strange. He also possessed magic to some degree. He began to chant something in an ancient tongue as Andrew also prepared his magic energy. Jady took her usual place from a distance, shooting ranged attacks where she saw fit.

Ethan’s group fought off their opponent quite easily, with his sharp attacks, Hugo’s strong defense, and Carine keeping them all in perfect health.

Anson and Emily had a harder time, but they managed. The one with the nose was a wild card. His chanting made ancient runes appear in the air that swirled around him. As Andrew approached with his attack, the runes formed into the shape of a sword on command, which the man used to block Andrew. Jady tried to attack from each side but every time the magic would shield it. Anson turned his attention to their fight, seeing as Andrew’s already low energy was quickly wearing away. Anson left the skinny one to Emily and started attacking the one with the nose. His vicious attacks got the man’s attention. As he used the combination of all of his runes to form a pouncing tiger, Anson jumped back.

“Now!” He yelled.

Taking the cue, Jady decided to try something new. A purple flame engulfed her hand, but more importantly, a large demonic claw made out of dark magic pressed down from above. The hand smashed into the nosed one, and as he rolled over, his runes fell with him.

Emily, at that moment, was left to fend for herself. She managed to hold her own, but as the man dashed and jumped around her, it became harder for her to keep track of where he was. Once the man managed to trap her against a tree, he stood still for a second with his small knife raised well above his head, aimed at Emily.

Justin stood just a yard away, watching in terror as this unfolded. He started running. The man seemed to have closed his eyes before thrusting his blade down upon her.

The knife stabbed right through Justin’s forearm.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Eight

Guards rushed to his side but he brushed them off. Justin took a moment to collect himself and slowly wobbled towards them. He managed to reach where Ethan stood and only then did he start to tilt over. Ethan instinctively caught him and supported him over to face the rest of them.

Anson dropped down on one knee. “Forgive me, Prince. I failed your orders.”

It took a moment for Justin to process. “Those were never my orders.” He said.

“Prince!” Nicole called out.

Justin stumbled past the others to the edge of the pond. He smelled of lilac flowers and medicine, he was a sight to behold.

“What do we have here? What is it you wish to tell me?” He bent over to say.

Nicole nearly melted. “Prince, my Prince! I have something important to tell you!”

“Yes?”

“Three men. One broad, one thin, and one with a magnificent nose. They were rafting across my lake and I listened to their conversation. They were servants of the Torturess!”

Justin grew concerned. “Those men, it must be them. That nose is one in a million. They said they were volunteers and I trusted them, god. How naïve could I be?”

“Not only that. They said the Torturess, they said she was in love with you.”

“In love?”

Ethan pushed his hair back. “Oh no.” He grimaced to the sky.

Justin turned. “What?”

Hugo put his hand on the Prince’s shoulder. “The last man she loved was King Jason.”

“My father? She loved him? That can’t be, she would have been far too young.”

“Indeed she was. And because of that, no one took her seriously. She took away his wife, and he became…” Hugo didn’t want to say it.

“He became mad.” Justin held the side of his face. “Good lord. What is she going to make of me?”

“Nothing.” Ethan said.

Emily stepped up. “We’re not going to let her.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“We’re going to her lair.” Ethan said with a serious look.

Jady drew a line across her neck. “And we’re gonna slay her where she stands.”

Justin leaned over to Ethan, his hand on his collar now. “Take me with you.”

“What?”

“Please, this castle feels like a prison. Do you suppose I stay here and do nothing as I wait for my fate to be decided? These are my people, they’re my responsibility. I can’t just leave them like my father. I can’t be just as helpless as him.”

Ethan closed his eyes, not liking what he was about to say. “Fine.”

“What about Nicole then?” Hugo asked. “Do you need us to bring you back.”

“Can’t I just stay here?” He looked to Prince Justin.

“Sure, you can stay here, you remind me of a pet I had as a child. Thank you for telling me what you heard.” Justin said.

Nicole smiled. “I’ll wait here for you then.”

“Let’s go.” Ethan said, already prepared to head off.

“Wait.” Justin stopped him. “We need to be careful. There’s guards everywhere and I know they’re not going to let me go out.”

They snuck through the castle, hiding behind corners and dashing through when the guards turned their backs. They saw the front gates, there was one guard standing in their way, marching back and forth. They hid behind him waiting for an opening but none appeared. An idea suddenly came to Ethan. He reached into his pocket for a gold coin and threw it down the hall. As the guard went to inspect the coin, they made a dash for it.

Prince Justin, getting lightheaded again, tripped and fell. The guard suddenly snapped back.

“Hey! What are you doing with the Prince? He is strictly forbidden from leaving his room!”

“Whoops.” Ethan said, twirling his blade. He took a swing at the guard, prompting him to block it with his own sword. The two were locked in a battle of swing, block, repeat. While the guard was focused on Ethan’s movements, Carine came from behind and put him to sleep.

Hugo picked Justin up off the floor and carried him as they ran for the exit. Finally, they reached the town. Justin found the power to stand once again and they strode down the path into the forest once again.

As they walked onto the dirt path of the thick woods, the young prince took in his surroundings, wide-eyed.

“Excuse me, your highness?” Carine addressed.

“Just call me Justin.”

“Okay… What did you mean when you said Nicole reminded you of your pet?”

“The merman? Oh. When I was young, my father would have many meetings with the rulers of neighboring lands. One of these times, a nobleman from Seaia brought me a small fish as a gift. He said that it was lucky so I kept the fish for a few years. Being who I am, I didn’t have many friends. I’m embarrassed to say that I… grew pretty attached to this fish. When my father found out, he made me throw the fish into the lake, he said that having silly attachments to things was a sign of weakness.”

“That’s not true.” Ethan said.

Justin stopped in his tracks. “How so?”

“Because,” Ethan turned back to look at him. “You fight the hardest when you’re fighting for someone else.”

The group of seven made their way through the forest till night fall. Wolves, boars, and slimes came out again, but this time they breezed through it. Prince Justin waited behind them, too weak to fight. When the moon rose overhead they decided to stop for the night and make a campfire. The group dropped their bags and supplies and started laying down straw rolls to sleep on.

“Is this where we’re going to sleep?” Justin asked.

Emily glared at him. “Do you have a problem with it, Prince boy?”

“Emily!” Carine snapped at her. “Mind what you say.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t like the higher class, you know this. They feel like they’re entitled to everything because they were born richer.”

“I didn’t have a choice in the matter either.” Justin said.

Emily was livid. “Excuse me?”

“I wouldn’t have chosen to be born into this if I had the choice.”

“You have no idea how-”

“Guys, stop it!” Carine intervened. “Emily, can you get more wood for the fire.”

Emily reluctantly agreed. As she disappeared into the dark, Justin found the courage to ask.

“Um, I don’t have one of those… bed things.” He fidgeted, looking down at his lap.

“Prince Justin, you can use mine.” Anson offered.

“But where will you sleep?”

Anson scratched his head. “Well, I’m kind of used to sleeping on the grass.”

“If you insist.”

Emily returned with the firewood and tossed them into the fire. The embers danced around the new logs. They slept in shifts, Emily took the first. She watched over the tortured Prince as he tossed and turned in his nightmares. She sighed.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Seven

“He’s so majestic!” Carine gasped.

Emily looked away. “Eh, I’m not that into it.”

Nicole swam up to the water’s edge. “Travellers, do you perchance come from the Kingdom of Landia?”

“Yes, why do you ask?” Ethan responded.

“I must ask something of you.” Nicole looked up at them. “And I insist, it is dire.”

“What is it?”

“The Prince is in danger!” He drew a worried expression. “Please, take me to him!”

“Woah, woah, woah. Is it because of Catherine?” Hugo asked.

Nicole turned his head away. “I’m sorry but, I don’t know if I can trust you before you take me to the Prince.”

Ethan looked back at the rest of the group as if asking “should we do it?”.

“We’d have to go all the way back.” He said

Emily crossed her arms. “We would be traitors if we did otherwise. And aren’t we fighting for the sake of the people?”

“I guess. Fine.”

“Many thanks. I knew I sensed kindness in your life spirits.” Nicole said.

Hugo paused. “How are we supposed to take you with us when you’re-” He gestured to all of Nicole’s body.

With a splash into the water, Nicole transformed into a shimmering magic fish. “Do you have a bowl or something?”

“Hm…” Hugo tried to recall. “I remember bringing a jar of olives with me. But we would have to…” He dug around in his large backpack. “Wait, it’s empty!”

“I wonder how that could have happened.” Jady said.

Hugo bent down and put jar to the water. As the water poured into it, Nicole swam in as well. Carrying Nicole in the jar, they head back to where they came from.

“Hey?” Carine asked as they were walking. “How do you know the Prince if you’re a merman who lives in this lake right here?”

“I guess I do owe you guys an explanation.” He said, as everyone curiously waited for the answer.

Nicole sighed. “When I was… young, I didn’t have the power to transform out of my fish form. I don’t remember much from that age. But what I do remember is that your Prince, Prince Justin, took care of me. He kept me in his room, fed me well, put these magnificently shiny stones in my glass bowl, and he said to me things they he never told anyone else. Even though I didn’t have the courage to say anything back. One day, several years ago, he tossed me into this lake. I could tell it was hard for him, but I still don’t know why he did it. Yet, I still care for him greatly, for everything he did for me.”

And the travellers left it at that. Not knowing what more to say, they simply said nothing at all.

It was a long way back, but the time passed faster than when they came. A certain feeling came through them when they saw the gates of their town again. Some things changed, the guard that stopped them once before has left his post. As they strolled down the neat cobblestone path, neighbors and familiar faces waved at them and exchanged short greetings. They felt slightly out of place, in their large group, equipped with weaponry, drawing glances and turning heads. They were on a mission. When they reached where the town met the castle grounds, guards promptly stopped them.

“Halt.” One of the guards instructed.

This got the attention of the squadron leader, a knight perhaps. The lower level guards parted. The captain marched towards them, armor rattling in a symphony. They raised their helmet.

“Carine?” They said. “What have you been up to?” They smiled.

“Please, let us through.” Hugo said, clutching the jar. “We have important business to attend to.”

“Alright. But only for my old friend. Don’t cause any trouble.”

As they proceeded, Carine hugged the armor-clad knight. “Thanks, Anna.”

The group wandered into the castle aimlessly. There were countless guards roaming about but none seemed interested in stopping nor assisting them. They eventually found their way into the royal gardens. It was so lush, bright, and gentle. It was hard to believe it came from the same ground as the harsh forest they traversed through. Right at the entrance to the gardens, there was a lovely pond. Hugo slowly poured Nicole into the water and he gracefully transformed into his more-or-less human size.

“Excuse me?” They called out to passing guards. “We ask to see the Prince.”

None of them seemed to pay much attention to them. After they tried calling out for a while, a man who seemed like higher status came by.

Ethan stepped up to him. “Sir, we’re here to see Prince Justin, where might he be?”

“The Prince will not be seeing anyone today. He is in a situation far too grave to be entertaining the wishes of commoners.” He said with his nose in the air and arms folded behind him.

As the man walked off, they chattered amongst themselves as to what they were going to do.

“You heard what he said,” Ethan said, turning back to the castle archway. “We should just go-”

His words trailed off as he saw what caught everyone else’s attention as well. Prince Justin, still in his casual sleep clothes, looking faint and sweaty, clutching tightly at the side of the archway to keep himself from collapsing. Looking out at them.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Six

After hours and hours of adventuring through the forest, between failed conversation starters, Ethan and his team came across an open clearing of land between the trees. Upon closer inspection, they realized that it was a tiny village that was framed behind the leaves.

“Hey,” Ethan looked back. “Is this the village you were talking about?”

“Yeah.” Anson paused, his eyes lit up seeing his home again. “Yeah, it is. Come on.” He brushed past the branches and sprinted down the tiny dirt trail as if with muscle memory.

Ethan ran to catch up. “I guess we can stop here to rest or something.”

When they reached the village, they saw that most of the cleared-out land was used for farming, with a few cottages here and there. The population was around twenty people, at max.

Anson immediately knocked on the door of the first house. They waited silently, all clearly hearing the footsteps of someone rushing to the door. When the door opened, a middle-aged woman with graying brown hair tied back in a loose pony tail, and wide eyes, stood in the doorway.

“Honey?” She wasted not a second more and they embraced.

They pulled away and the woman looked up at her sons eyes, then behind him to the group of six standing awkwardly.

“What’s wrong?” She asked him, those wide eyes aflutter.

“Why-” He tried to meet her gaze. “Why would anything be wrong.”

She was stared down at the grass. “It’s just, you haven’t been back for ages.” She looked back up at him. “And you never bring people with you.” Her voice was a whisper now.

“They’re fine, trust me.” He checked back at the group. Half of them had their hands in their pockets looking down. The others were pretending to whistle and staring at a fencepost as if it were fine art.

The woman giggled a little seeing this and invited them all inside for a hot meal and a place to rest. They all gathered around a small wooden round table, like some kind of messed up interspecies, homoerotic family. Carine stared at Emily in long, drawn out pauses before she quickly shifted her eyes.

“You guys are adventurers huh?” The lady smiles down at the cup in her hands. “I always believed in fighting for a cause.”

Ethan drummed his fingers on the table. “Some of us just fight for the sake of fighting.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you the money.” Anson said.

She put her hand on his. “It’s fine, I’m okay with what I have. Really.”

He looked away like a moody teenager.

“So, tell us about your village. It seems nice.” Hugo asked.

“Well,” She started. “As you can tell, we specialize in our farming. But we also have some decent craftsmanship. It’s nicer out here, quiet, you know?”

They nodded along, to be polite at least. After the meal, they slept like pigs on the living room floor. The next morning, they head off back on their journey right away. “Stay safe!” The woman waved to them. “You can come back to rest up anytime!”

It took some sweet talking, but they convinced the local blacksmith to gift them a new shield. Back on track once again, with good spirits and a good night’s sleep, the team set off for Catherine’s lair.

As they walked deeper in the forest, the sounds of the wildlife engulfed them. Chirping of the birds, rustling of the leaves, the crunching of boots on the coarse dirt. In the distance, it appeared to be a gentle voice. Calling to them in the form of song. They brushed it off as nothing at first, but it became louder and they went.

“Do you guys hear that?” Ethan asked.

They nodded “Yeah.”

“Should we follow it?”

“Why not?” Carine replied cheerfully.

“Yeah why not follow the strange noise. It’s not like everything in this forest has tried to kill us.” Hugo said. “Oh wait.”

“We don’t have time for your sass.” Ethan kept moving, curious about the source of the music.

They followed the sound all the way to the edge of a shimmering lake. A person was up to their chest in the water, with hair an inch above their shoulders, and no sign of clothing to be worn.

“Oh my god.” Andrew exclaimed.

Jady looked to the skies with a dramatic expression. “So the legends are true.”

“It’s a,” Andrew started

“Merman!” Back to back, they both pointed to the person in the lake.

As if on cue, the Merman did a flip in the water, his tail beautifully glistening in the sunlight.

“You heard my call.” He said with the smoothest, gentlest voice. “I’m glad.”

“My name,” He flipped his wet hair back. “Is Nicole.”

[andrews-story]

Chapter Five

“You idiots are finally back? What took you so long?” Catherine snarled at the three men kneeling in front of her. “Speak!”

The largest of the men stood. “I lead the mission while Harry and Aaron were off messing around like always. And because of my impeccable display of responsibility, the mission was a success.” The other two rolled their eyes.

“The Prince has foolishly given his trust to us and we planted the hexed charm like you asked.”

“The Prince is all but foolish. But very well Damien, what was his reaction?” Catherine raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”

“His reaction! Please tell me you incompetent vermin stuck around to see how he reacted to my seduction hexes.” She barks.

The three looked around at each other nervously before Harry, the one with the enormous nose, spoke up. “H-he was enamoured with you! Your spell truly put him in a trance!”

“Really?” The Torturess put her hands on her cheeks, smiling wildly at the thought. “You didn’t fail too bad I guess. Your families get to live another day.”

As Prince Justin strolled through his castle halls, he runs into his two head knights. “What are you two up to?” He called to them.

“Your Majesty, Sir JL and I were just going out hunting in the gardens. I-if that is all right with you, I understand that with the Tor-”

“No need to be so formal. Hunting you say?” Prince Justin gazed out the castle window. Two birds flew across the lush green landscape.

“Yeah, I’m getting tense. It’s days like these when I just have to kill something you know?” JL made the motion of shooting a bow with his hands.

“You want to come, Justin?” He asks.

“Yeah, why not?” The Prince responds.

Ethan woke up to his group of friends all gathered around their hostage mercenary. Andrew and Jady poked him with sticks in retribution as he hissed at them.

“Guys, stop it.” Carine insisted, to no avail.

Hugo turned to Ethan who was still groggy from waking up. “Hey, you’re the leader. What do you think we should do with him?”

Ethan yawned and walked towards the mystery mercenary man, who was sitting on the ground tied to a tree. Ethan crouched down in front of him, bedhead in full glory.

“So.” He looked the man in the eyes. “You want to come with us or what?”

“I assume precautions will be taken.” Andrew said, with things already in mind.

The man looked away bitterly. “Oh yeah? And why would I agree to go with you?”

Ethan sighed. “Well, you can take me up on my offer…” He looked back at Jady, who’s flame was already in hand. “Or, I’ll just let these guys decide what to do with you.”

“No, no, no, no wait!” The man said, squirming in the magic rope. “I’ll go with you.” He wheezed.

Ethan gave Andrew a look and Andrew got right down to business. Stepping behind the man, he rubbed his hands together and prepared for an incantation.

“I’m going to supress your… murderous tendencies. Which means that you won’t be able to attack unless one of us gives you clearance.”

“Tch.”

“Now, it might sting a little bit.” Andrew bore the tiniest smile. “Repressing the violence of someone like you is not an easy task. In the mean time, entertain the rest of them with some personal trivia.”

The man didn’t want to comply, but after he looked up and saw their five faces all peering at him, he started to talk.

“My name is Anson, of Cardinal village, a small group of families living on the outskirts of the kingdom, most of us are farmers. I work as a mercenary for hire to bring gold back home for my mother. I have no allegiance to your Prince but when his lady offered-” His story was cut short by the sniffs of Carine as she teared up.

“Oh, come on! What a lousy sob story, oh boohoo. I was in Hell, beat that.” Jady heckled with her tongue out and thumb down.

“Yeah, it was kind of cheesy.” Emily agreed and they high-fived.

“Anyways,” Anson continued with the harshest tone possible. “So, I -agh!”

“I said it would sting, but now we’re done.” Andrew said, undoing the ropes. “You can take it big boy.” Andrew patted him on the arm and they stood up with the others.

“What now?” Anson asked.

Ethan cleaned up his supplies and eyed his surroundings. “We go North.” He said, pointing in front of him, and he walked off with the others trailing behind him.

“After all these years you still remember the way?” Hugo asked in disbelief.

“Couldn’t forget it.”

Prince Justin and the knights traverse through the trees of the castle gardens, spotting game along the way. He knew that he was supposed to see Grace at that moment, but he couldn’t with all the stress he was bearing. All Grace ever did was worry him about his health or his responsibilities, which he knew was proof that she cared for him, but it became too much.

Justin found comfort in spending time with his two knights. They treated him colloquially, for the most part.

“Look ahead, there’s a rabbit between the bushes.” Knight Alex whispered to them. “Your Majest- Justin do you want to try shooting it?” He offered his bow and an arrow.

Prince Justin took his offer and aimed the bow as best he could at the rabbit. He took the shot and missed, scaring the rabbit off deeper into the undergrowth.

“I’m sorry, I’m not used to these things.” Justin tried to explain.

“That’s okay, we can teach you.” Alex said, going behind him. He placed his hands on Justin’s arms, guiding his form and movement. The Prince felt uncomfortable with this at first, for no one but his servant had done anything like this.

“You have to pull the string all the way back,” Alex said. “And make sure to aim it just right.” He slowly turned Justin’s aim until it was straight towards JL.

“Hey! What the hell dude!” JL exclaimed, and they shared a moment’s laughter.

JL folded his arms behind his head. “Be careful with that crap okay? Especially cause I’m not feeling the best right now.” He whined, trying to guilt trip them.

“What’s wrong?” Justin asked, falling for it.

JL pouted. “Oh, it’s just you know, some girl turned me down. A peasant girl at that, and I’m a knight, she should’ve been begging to be asked out by me.”

“Which girl?” Alex rolled his eyes, playing along as if he didn’t know.

“The pretty one.” JL said in a small voice. “I’m pathetic.” He whimpered, not actually believing it.

“Aw come on. You’re a very handsome, sexy, charming, muscular, and sexy man!”

“I know, right?”

Prince Justin chuckled to the banter. Suddenly, he felt woozy again and started to lose his balance.

“Hey dude, are you okay?” JL interrupts his spotlight performance to check in on the Prince.

Justin catches his balance, but his vision starts to fade out and his speech is slurred. “Yeah, I’m fine. This just happens sometimes.”

“We have to get him some help or something. Protecting him is our job, we have to do something!” Justin couldn’t make out who’s voice it was. He felt as though the world was collapsing in on him.

“Justin? Justin!” He fainted.

[andrews-story]

Chapter Four

“Justin!” Grace called him into the throne room. “Great news, we have a lead.”

“What is it?” Justin responded.

“I spoke to our cleric, they say that a demon roams the grounds outside of here.” She said. “Right outside the town gates. It must be working for Catherine.”

“And?”

“I’ve hired a mercenary to hunt the creature down. Sir Anson you may rise.”

A darkly clad, towering young man knelt before them. “My liege, pleasure working with you.” He stood before them.

Grace handed him a cross on a chain. “Take this, the long end will always point to the demon. The cleric enchanted it this way.”

“Are you sure you can handle this?” Justin asked.

“I’ve dealt with worse.” He boasted.

Ethan and his team make their way through the forest in hopes of reaching Catherine’s lair, fighting small enemies along the way. Overly aggressive wolves, wild boars, living slime, all results of Catherine’s dark magic affecting the nature. Finally, they find shelter by a fire and set up for the night. Andrew and Jady stayed awake for the first shift to guard the rest. A shuffling between trees put them on edge. Suddenly, a man jumped out in front of them.

“Which one of you is the demon?”

“Shit.” Andrew glances back at Jady.

“What do you want with me.” She spat.

The man chuckled. “The Torturess’s demon talks back eh? I’m here to cleanse this land of your dirty presence, per the Prince’s request.”

“The Torturess’s demon? That little girl doesn’t have what it takes to own me.” Jady looks back at Andrew. “So, what is he, a knight?”

“No, he doesn’t look like one. He’s a mercenary.”

The man spent no expense and threw a dagger between them. Andrew charged forward and meets the man’s blade with his own, muttering incantations. Jady stepped back, getting ready to use her ranged attacks.

“You don’t want to do this, boy. I have no intentions of hurting you, unless you get in my way.” The mercenary meets his eyes behind the swords.

“You don’t understand.” Andrew finished the incantations, drew his sword back, and punched the man, sending him flying backwards. “She dies, I die.”

“This loser doesn’t even know how contracts work.” Jady mocked as she threw pellets of fire at the mercenary as he works his way towards her.  As he got closer, Jady signalled Andrew to attack from the side. The man noticed this, and as Andrew came in with the attack, the man jumped into a low kick, tripping Andrew, and he smashed him down onto the dirt. With Andew knocked out, Jady became panicked and lost power in her magic.

As the mercenary drew closer, dodging every attack, Carine woke up and regained her senses. She propped herself up from her sleep just as the man grabbed Jady by the neck and reared in for the kill.

“Say your prayers, demon.”

“No!” The man only had a second to look to Carine before she knocked him out with her magic.

“So, what was that all about?” Carine asked as the group all gathered by the fire.

“Man, I can’t believe we slept through all that.” Hugo said to Ethan, who was still snoring.

“My magic isn’t very strong, so he’s only in a deep sleep right now. He should be harmless enough though.” Carine said, eyeing the man.

“Thanks.” Jady said, rubbing her neck.

“Say, why did he mention “demon”?” Carine asked.

Andrew sighed. “Ever since I was little I was obsessed with dark magic. Runes, dark spells, you name it.” The sleepy group of friends closely listened to him as the fire crackled.

“And as I worked my way through this magic spell book, there it was ‘Summoning A Demon Slave’, pentagrams, blood contracts, all the stuff I loved.” He explained. “I carried out every last one of the steps in the book, but the spell, the spell worked on life energy. And because I was only ten at the time,” Jady laughed.

“Because I was only a kid, I summoned a demon, my size, Jady.” He continued. “And given my size, she didn’t listen to my commands well either, obviously.”

“Damn, I was small when that happened. How long was that? Ten years ago?” Jady said.

“Same year we went on that first adventure.” Ethan added.

“Same year my sister was taken.” Emily spoke to herself.

“You’re a demon?” Carine said, in shock.

Hugo ran his hand through his hair. “That… explains a lot actually.” They all sat around the fire silently for what seemed like ages, just thinking their own thoughts on the events that transpired.

“What are we going to do about him?” Emily nodded towards the mercenary who was out cold.

“We’re gonna tie him up and deal with him in the morning.” Andrew answered.

“Aren’t you worried he’ll get out of whatever rope you have?”

“We have magic remember?” Andrew pointed his thumb at himself and winked.

“So, we’re all just okay with this demon thing?” Carine exclaimed, livid. Everyone shrugged and went to sleep as Andrew tied the man up.