During the demon’s flight, he heaved a heavy sigh and took in the silence he was finally given.

Alright, he thought. How did she teleport me here? And why?

The vision of the bright, green eyes he’d seen just moments ago flashed briefly in his mind. He grumbled and recollected his thoughts, reminding himself of the boring scenery around him.

“First of all, how do I get back?”

Elven territories were known to have barrier magic to prevent unwanted demons from getting in. Or in this case, out. The only way demons could cross the barrier is with an elven guard as escort.

“She found a way to teleport me in, but didn’t give me a way to come back out. Did that witch want to trap me or is she just dumb?” he said aloud, furrowing his eyebrows. “I could,” the demon snickered, “borrow a guard.”

It took an hour of flying to finally see stone buildings instead of all the tall, green grass that covered the view along the way. The buildings stood proud, elegant. The sides were draped in vines and flowers introduced every window. Lanterns had been lit to illuminate the doorsteps and stoneways.

The demon made his way down to a small, dark corner of an alleyway and hid within the shadows. Although it was still early in the day, the walkways were mostly empty. The elven folk chattered indoors while protecting themselves from the threatening weather.

The demon stared at the sky and waited. “Looks like it’ll be a heavy storm,” he thought. Perfect.

Not long after, droplets of rain started wetting his rough horns. And then as if someone had poured water from the heavens, the walkways started to flood. The small chatters that could be heard before had all been muted by the strong showers.

The demon removed the knot that tied his cape and brought the cape in front of him. He slowly creeped his way from the dark alleyway towards the walkway, his back flushed against the side of a building. His long ears perked, observing for any change in sound. He knew elven folk did not like to get dirty in the rain if they could help it, and the only ones who had to be willing were... the guards.

Finally, the demon heard a pause in the pouring rain to his right. The pause grew louder, closer. It was time. With his right hand, he conjured dark energy, and with his left, he quickly threw his cape in front of the guard who was about to cross in front of him. In strong reflex, the guard immediately shoved it away, preparing for a fight. But the slight second of distraction was all the demon needed.

By the time the guard could take a breath, the demon shot the dark energy and let it cover the guard’s mouth and nose. The guard ignored that he could no longer breathe and shot slices of sharp air at the demon, swinging his arms as if he was clawing the air. The first shot cut through the demon’s left arm, but the subsequent ones were deflected by balls of dark energy thrown from the demon.

The guard, realizing he’s out of time and air, knew he needed to call for backup. But he couldn’t yell and the sounds of battle were muffled in the rain and couldn’t alert anyone. All the windows were closed to prevent the rain from slipping in, and knocking on doors could target and endanger innocent families. In rapid succession, his left foot turned to the side and he pushed off, launching him back. His only choice was to run and find help fast.

“They chose a single air elementalist to guard on a rainy day. This part of town must have it easy, huh?” the demon mocked while running towards the guard. He’d already managed to close more than half the distance when he continued, “At least they didn’t choose a fire one.”

At the last word, the demon gathered large amounts of dark energy on the palms of both hands. Purple aura surrounded the tar colored orbs. He flung both orbs towards the back of the guard who had just prepared to launch again. The impact blew out any remaining air his lungs desperately held, and he lost the energy to get up again. As the guard’s vision slowly darkened, the demon whispered in his ear, “I just need to borrow you for a bit. No hard feelings, right?”

The demon bore his wings, deciding that flying would get him out of the town and towards the barrier the fastest. The guard dangled between the demon’s arms as if he were a towel on a clothesline. With a weighted swing, he lifted them both into the air. The rain coated his wings, and with each flap, the wings sprayed the liquid off to the sides.

“Wouldn’t have hurt if you bulked up less,” stated the demon while struggling to hold onto the long, muscular body. “Or, you know, were shorter or something…,” he trailed off as the small stature of the green eyed elf came to his memory. “Ha. A leaf could probably lift him up,” he snorted and vanished the elf from his memory again to focus on moving forward.

In just a couple minutes, he was only a few miles away from the town. The unending green fields had revealed themselves once more below him. How far is the barrier, exactly? he thought, already exhausted from carrying a body and pushing his wings through the heavy rain.

Though, exhaustion soon became the least of his worries when suddenly a few arrows made of water tore through his right wing. “Shit,” he cursed and plummeted to the ground.