Continued from here. (The story begins here.)
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Sometime later, David crested a hill and found himself at an oasis, where a group of adventurers sat around a campfire. Their leader, a pale young man with short, black curly hair, wearing the leather armour of a rogue, greeted him and invited him to join them. They ate and drank, chatted and joked, and David found his morale boosted.
He journeyed with the adventurers for a while, fighting alongside them against the lesser monsters that roamed the desert. Eventually, they reached the gates of the city and their leader turned to David.
“I wish you well in your quest,” he said. “But we must go our separate ways. We all have our own battles to fight.” David felt disheartened, but the Rogue put a hand on his shoulder. “When the time comes, summon us and we will answer.” The group dispersed and headed out into the desert as David turned and made his way into the city.
Night had fallen and much of the city seemed to have crumbled and collapsed. Hundreds of demons roamed the ruins.
“You can’t win, you know,” said a voice. The fiery-eyed demon had reappeared.
“Didn’t I kill you already?” David snarled, raising the sword. “I told you, I’m not angry at them anymore.”
“Really?” hissed another figure. The violet-eyed demon had also appeared. “What about her?” The broken picture frame appeared again.
“After everything you did for her, she discarded you when you needed her the most!” snarled the first.
“Probably because she never really loved you at all,” added the second.
David stared at the photo for several seconds. He felt the familiar icy sharpness in his chest, but he took a deep, calming breath and tore his gaze away.
“As you pointed out,” David said, gesturing at Purple-eyes. “She never really loved me, not like I loved her.” Both demons recoiled at this. “It sucks, but I’m better off without her.” A swing of the sword and orange-eyes dissolved into the darkness.
“You’re still pathetic,” purple-eyes hissed, but there was desperation in its voice now. “That’s why she could never love you.” David shrugged.
“I can’t control how she feels, so I’m not going to let it bother me anymore.” The demon retreated as if it had been struck, then it froze and looked down to where the tip of a blade was sticking out through its chest. The light faded from its eyes as it turned to dust, which sped away towards the centre of the city.
Behind where the demon had been standing was a young woman in the armour of a knight. She wore glasses and had long brown hair. Her armour was unusually practical for a fantasy heroine, with its share of dents and scratches, and her hair was a mess, but David still thought she was beautiful. She picked up the violet gemstone that had fallen to the ground and handed it to David.
The swarm was still pouring into the city, but David and the Knight fought their way through, doing their best to repair the walls and defences as they went.
“I think we’ve done all we can for now,” the Knight said after a while. “But we still have to retake the citadel.” She pointed to the tall stone structure at the centre of the city.
Together, they battled their way to the main square. The repaired defences were beginning to stem the tide of enemy reinforcements, but there were still hundreds of creatures between them and the gates of the citadel. There was no way they were going to make it; there were just too many of them!
David began to feel hopeless again, but the Knight handed him a flaming torch and pointed towards the unlit beacon in the centre of the square. David ignited it and flames rose high into the air.
It was not long before they heard a commotion. From one side of the square came the adventurers from the oasis, charging on horseback through the swarm to where David and the Knight were standing. Working together, they carved their way along the promenade to the base of the citadel tower.
David ran up the stairs towards the main gate but stopped when he realised that the others weren’t following him. He turned and saw the adventurers taking up defensive positions at the foot of the steps.
“Go,” said one of them. “Do what you gotta do. We’ll hold them off.” David held up the sword; the gems were glowing brighter than ever.
Accompanied by the Rogue and the Knight, David pushed aside the heavy wooden door and began to climb the stairs.
As they reached the first landing, the green-eyed demon appeared again, but David wasn’t having any of it.
“It’s all an illusion,” he snapped. “These,” he pointed at the swirling, taunting images, “don’t reflect peoples’ real lives, only what they choose to share.” This time he threw the sword at the demon, then ran past, retrieving the sword from the creature’s chest as it turned to dust and swirled away. Another gemstone, this one brilliant green, fell to the ground.
Similar encounters awaited them on each level of the tower, but the demons seemed to have lost some of their power and were barely slowing David and his companions down.
Finally, they reached the top of the stairs and made their way out onto the roof of the keep. From here, they could see across the city to the surrounding desert. From far below, they could hear the sound of battle as the adventurers fought to keep the invaders at bay.
The human-form demons were standing together around the central dais. As David approached, they each dissolved into smoke and coalesced to form a single entity. A crown of black spikes circled the new demon’s head and several smoky black tendrils extended from its back, like snakes ready to strike.
David raised his sword and stepped forward to face the demon king, but it stretched out his hand towards him and the dark tendrils speared through the air, burying themselves into David’s chest. All the warmth and happiness began to drain away. The ascent up the tower had clearly taken more of a toll than he had realised. He fell to his knees and the sword clattered to the ground, the light in the gems beginning to fade.
But then the Knight and the Rogue each placed a hand on David’s shoulder. As he felt the warmth of their touch, the gems began to glow brightly again. He grabbed the sword, and as he did, the tiredness and numbness seemed to fade. The demon recoiled as the sword sliced through the air, severing the smoky tendrils.
David got to his feet and ran towards the demon king, ducking and dodging its flailing limbs. Then he swung the sword again, one last time. The demon’s head screamed as it rolled across the flagstones and fell from the parapet, plummeting into the city below. The headless body slumped to its knees, then fell forward, crumbling to dust and drifting away on the breeze.
As the creature vanished, David thought he heard a voice. “This isn’t over,” it said. “We will return.” But it was little more than a barely audible whisper.
David and his companions approached the altar. He noticed a slot in its centre. He took the sword and slid it into place. A shaft of bright white light shone down from the sky and a bubble expanded outward from the altar. The cannon fire from the towers below intensified and the demons surrounding the city were forced to retreat.
They turned and watched as the sun rose over the horizon. Beyond the bubble, life was beginning to return to the land around the city. The desert was still there, but even the sand seemed more vibrant than before. The demons had not disappeared altogether; shadows still hung over parts of the city as the swarm probed the edge of the bubble, but they were contained, at least for now.
The Rogue shook David’s hand and departed, returning to his own quest once again. Cleansing rain began to fall as the Knight leaned in and kissed David on the cheek. Then, hand in hand, they descended the tower together.
– – – – –
David woke to find himself in his familiar, warm, comfy bed. He rolled over to see his wife lying beside him. She had fallen asleep with her glasses on, and her long, brown hair was a mess, but she still looked beautiful to him.
His phone pinged. He picked it up and squinted at the bright screen. He had a notification; someone had tagged him in a picture. He opened the link and saw himself, standing in his cap and gown after his graduation ceremony, with his wife on one side of him and his best friend – a pale man with short, black curly hair – on the other. Stood behind them was his mother, next to his father, who had his arm around her. Next to them, the small, stout figure of his therapist – who had turned up to congratulate him – was smiling kindly at the camera. As much as the achievement may have been his, he could not have done it without each and every one of them.
David stared at the picture for a while. He was surrounded by friends and family and, for the first time in a very long time, he looked genuinely happy.
He smiled, put down the phone, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
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THE END
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For more about how and why I wrote the story, click here.
For more posts on mental health, click here or, check out my Muggle’s Guide to Dementor Defence.
As always, if you need more information or support I can recommend Mind, the mental health charity and the NHS campaign Every Mind Matters, or talk to your GP.