I. Exterminate demons and the forces of the Five Banes. Their influence directly threatens the existence of the world.

“Get up, Princess.” The sergeant’s rough voice pulled Raine out of sleep. “Time to hunt some witches.”

It was still dark outside. Snow was falling, cold seeping in through the ill-fitting frames. The last of the wood was burning down in the fireplace, filling the room with fading heat and the smell of smoke. Raine threw back the quilt. The cold bit into her skin before her feet even touched the floor.

They had the best room in the inn. People feared the Inquisition. The innkeeper wouldn’t even take payment. I wonder if he’s hiding something. Whether the generosity is meant to pull attention away from secrets that would see him dead. Everyone is a suspect. There is no other way to cleanse the Empire of the Bane.

The sergeant was already leaning over Gilbert. He’d taken the last watch himself and fatigue showed on him. People feared the Inquisition. There was always someone who decided it was better to stab them in the back. That it was better to cut their throats in their sleep. That was why, even here, someone kept watch until morning.

“What the fuck for, so early?” Gilbert cursed. He had stood the midnight watch and had barely a few hours of sleep behind him. “The Princess made her rounds yesterday, after all. There isn’t a trace of mages or magic in this whole village.”

Princess. She’d been given to the Order of the Radiant Five as a child. Since then, substantial sums had been paid for her upkeep. Anonymously. Someone wealthy cared about her. Raine still didn’t understand why her parents had chosen something like that. Instead of simply raising her.

“We need to make sure nothing nasty is lurking in the woods. And question the local peasants. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish.” The sergeant smiled at her, showing his chipped teeth.

They believed she brought good luck on missions. The Princess’s wealthy patron certainly wouldn’t let her be sent to her death, right?

They were here because of rumours of mages and demons. But this close to Solgang no demon had shown itself in generations. They were hoping for hedge-witches at worst, who without training would be no threat. No one wanted to come face to face with a demon. No one wanted to die a hero.

They got ready in silence, taking every weapon and what little travelling gear they had. As they mounted up, Gilbert broke the quiet, cursing the fucking weather.

II. Fight the mages. They have no souls: they are demons in human form. They have brought ruin upon us once before.

They rode through the village, proudly, the Inquisition’s crest on their chests. In black armour, fully armed. The sergeant with the long steel scythe on his shoulder. Bane of Demons. Villagers hid at the sight of them. Mothers pulled their children close. Raine could feel eyes watching her from behind half-closed shutters.

People feared the Inquisition. Everyone had heard of their ruthless methods. Everyone had heard the stories about families accused of witchcraft.

Raine set her hand on the hilt of her sword. They were the law here. Sent by the Emperor, consecrated by the Order of the Radiant Five, they could use any means necessary to root magic out of the Continent.

They rode to the outskirts of the village. Yesterday there hadn’t been time to question the people there.

Nobody had seen anything. Nobody had heard anything. An old beekeeper repeated the same sentence twice, as though he had learned it by heart. The blacksmith answered every question with I don’t know, even when asked what her own name was. The cold began to seep under their armour.

A small child was playing between the houses. Wrapped in layers of shawls and sheep’s wool, it danced in the falling snow.

“Go on, Princess, show us that maternal instinct of yours,” Gilbert laughed.

“Go fuck yourself,” Raine scoffed, dismounting.

But it was true, people trusted her more, especially women and children. She had no scars, she wouldn’t raise her voice. If she wanted, she could look like a friendly priestess, like someone the Inquisition had sent by mistake.

She knelt down by the child, who had only just noticed her. She opened her mouth, ready to ask hey, did you see any strange lights, did you hear about any rituals, is anyone here hiding anyone, but instead she looked at the child’s hands. Red from the frost, cracked at the knuckles.

“Terribly cold, isn’t it?”

The child nodded. Strands of blonde hair had slipped out from under the cap.

Raine pulled off her leather gloves and worked them onto the small hands.

“Better now, right?” she smiled. She felt a twinge in her chest. She gritted her teeth. She had to focus, she had a job to do. “And tell me, is there anyone here who helps people with the cold? Heals frostbite, so that it passes right away?”

The child thought for a moment, then pointed at one of the houses, standing off on its own. Raine’s medallion stirred faintly.

She rose and brushed the snow from her clothes. She wanted to say something more, ask for a name, ask anything at all. But the girl had already run off, vanishing between the buildings. The gloves didn’t fit. They were too big.

Gilbert kicked the door in. Raine blinked. Her eyes had to adjust to the gloom inside the hut. A young man sat there. He quickly hid his hands under the table, but Raine caught a glimpse of one of them. Chapped and marked by years of labour, save for two fingers where fresh pink skin stood out unnaturally bright. He didn’t move again as they came in, leaving snowy tracks on the packed earth floor.

“You’re going to answer a few questions.” Gilbert grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him against the wall. Kicked him down again when the boy tried to get up.

The sergeant closed his eyes and stretched out a hand towards the man, holding his medallion with the other. For a moment he spoke the words of the prayer. Radiant Five, shield me from bane, Radiant Five, help me root out the unclean mark, and Iaoth, pure Justice, show me the trace of demons. That I may destroy them.

“He has been exposed to magic,” he nodded.

Gilbert had been waiting for this.

“Where. Are. The mages.” He drove each word home with a deep punch. “Who. Helped. You.”

“You’re looking for… demons?” The man could barely speak. “Go… to the woods. To the abandoned…”

Gilbert kicked him again.

“To the abandoned manor,” he choked out. “There was a demon there. It really was there. Go there.”

The sergeant raised his scythe.

“For those touched by the mark of magic, death is the only mercy. May the Radiant Five receive your soul.”

Raine looked away. She focused on her own hands. She heard the whistle of air and the dull thud of a body hitting the floor.

She stepped out first. The air outside was sharp and cold. Snow was falling.

III. Be faithful to the Inquisition. Keep obedience to your superiors. The will of your superiors is absolute.

They tethered their horses in a nearby clearing. Passing through a ruined gate, they entered the manor grounds. Their boots left deep tracks in the untouched snow. Maybe it isn’t there, Raine thought. Maybe the demon has gone back to the Astral Sphere, maybe we won’t have to fight it.

She had been taught since childhood not to fear death. She tried to suppress her fear as best she could, yet it was always there, deep within her heart. It paralysed her in difficult moments. It wouldn’t let her think clearly when she needed to.

The manor was built of white marble. Once it must have belonged to a wealthy family. Maybe I’m walking onto my own parents’ grave, the thought crossed Raine’s mind. Yet, little remained of its former splendour. The wooden frame of the roof and the upper floor had burned and collapsed inward. The window panes were cracked, smashed outward. Walls that had once been snow-white were decorated now with tendrils of soot.

The snow muffled every sound. As they drew closer, Raine spotted brown marks on the walls and doors. She tightened her stiff fingers on the hilt of her sword. Felt her medallion vibrating. Looked round at her companions. They nodded. Magic. Demons.

Without a word, they stood back-to-back. They raised their weapons, ready to strike. For a moment they studied their surroundings closely, listening. In the silence, the only sound was the soft rustle of falling snow.

She was finding it hard to breathe. Every sound, every creak of the shutters, every clank of armour made her turn her head nervously.

“Well, nothing here for us,” the sergeant said. “Let’s go ba-”

He turned, parrying just in time the two blades that came flying at him out of the dark. Black sickles, each as long as a man’s arm.

The heap of rubble and snow beside them exploded in flames. From smoke and steam a figure emerged, woven from shadow. Tall, taller than a man. Black horns crowned its head. The sickles were its own, one in each hand.

The demon pressed the attack with fluid grace. A creature that big should not have been able to move that fast. One blade knocked the scythe aside, the other drove into the opening left in the guard.

The armour offered no resistance to the black blades. The sergeant stood a moment longer. Gore poured out onto the ash-grey snow. He could barely speak through clenched teeth.

“Run… That’s an order…”

Then he fell dead to the ground.

They did not obey. Together, they charged the monster. Unleashing a barrage of blows, they forced it onto the defensive. They had trained together for years and fought as one. Raine struck while Gilbert covered her. When she parried, Gilbert made the riposte.

Suddenly the demon’s sickles blazed with fire, heated red in an instant. The monster whirled, slashing again and again, wrapped in an explosion of fire. Metal shattered, blood sprayed. The force of the blast threw Raine and Gilbert back.

IV. Protect the Empire. The Empire is the order that shields us from the darkness. Without it there is no safety.

She saw her own eye, torn from its socket, staining the snow around it red. I always imagined you’d see a picture from an eye like that, once it came off, she thought. The blue iris stared up at the sky, snowflakes settling on the dilated pupil. A pretty colour. She had never thought about it before.

The demon’s steps in the snow snapped her back to reality.

Ignoring the protests of her body, ignoring the pain in her left side, Raine got up onto her knees. She had to suppress the urge to vomit and get the dizziness under control. Her ears were ringing. She looked around with her left eye. The world was flat, no depth to it. Her sword was no good for anything now. The blade had broken, burned through in half by the demon’s fire.

Gilbert lay wheezing in a spreading pool of blood. There was nothing more she could do for him.

The sergeant still clutched the scythe in his dead hand. Bane of Demons. The weapon would have to earn its name now.

Gathering the last of her strength, Raine stood up and spat blood onto the snow.

“Let’s dance.” She drew the dagger from her belt.

Feint. The beast responded instantly, the sickles carving two long arcs through where her head had been a moment before. Leap back. Raine landed harder than she meant to. She threw the dagger aside and wrenched the scythe from the sergeant’s clenched fingers.

The cold metal shaft almost burned her hand. She backed away, swung the weapon once, twice, feeling out the balance.

The demon came at her. Years of training came back instinctively. Parry, once, then again. Sparks showered from the crossed blades. Raine deflected one attack after another. She could feel the adrenaline roaring in her veins. Her body knew what to do before she could think. The beast was fast, but predictable. It always started from the left.

She had a chance.

When the demon raised both sickles, Raine went in under them and put all her strength into the blow. The scythe’s blade lit up as it punched through the demon’s armour. Blood and thick black smoke burst from the wound. The monster staggered. She tore the scythe free and drew back to take its head off.

She had forgotten the second sickle. It came from the right, from the blind side. She heard metal scraping along her ribs. And then the pain went through her.

She fell on her back. The wet snow seemed warm.

V. Stand guard over the people. The faithful people of this world deserve protection from what they do not understand.

Through a haze, she saw a shadow and fire above her. They formed the shape of outspread wings, and a black sickle emerged from the swirling smoke.

“Radiant Five, receive my soul.” She could not even move her hand to press it against her chest in the religious gesture.

The demon only laughed, crushing her chest with its hoof, snapping more bones. She could not even feel the pain anymore.

So this is the end.

The sickle stopped halfway through its arc against a shield of light that suddenly enveloped Raine. Then, two violet fireballs struck the demon. She heard words spoken in a woman’s voice, clear, in the language of magic. More explosions tore the air apart around the beast. The incantations grew faster. The beast’s howl went through Raine’s ears. A quick crack. Then silence fell.

A figure stood over her, hooded, a scarf covering her face. For a moment she looked at the Inquisitor, tilting her head. Blood was pouring from Raine, her life slipping away with every heartbeat.

“Tell them in Auftrag that every mage in this region is dead,” the witch said, after a moment’s thought. “Tell them you don’t need to send patrols here anymore. You have to promise. And then I’ll save your life. Do you understand?”

She did not even have the strength to nod. She only looked at the masked figure. She hoped her look was saying yes, I promise. By the Radiant Five, I promise I’ll do anything for you. Just don’t let me die here. Don’t let me bleed out in the snow.

“I hope I won’t regret this. You’re human too, after all.”

The figure straightened up. She began to chant, and tongues of white light shot from her fingers, wrapping around Raine. She felt warmth spread through her body, and the roaring in her head subsided. The sight in her surviving eye sharpened, the black patches cleared from her vision. And then the pain returned. A sign that she was alive.

The sorceress was gone long before Raine had the strength to stand. The Inquisitor took the bodies of her companions, dragging them for hours to the horses left in the forest. They deserved a burial.

I. Exterminate demons and the forces of the Five Banes.

It took Raine several weeks to get back on her feet. The snow kept falling, and it grew colder and colder.

II. Fight the mages.

She rose before dawn. She grabbed her scythe and stepped out into the darkness.

She knew where to go. Over the past few days she had watched the people of the town carefully. She had asked no questions that might have raised suspicion.

III. Be faithful to the Inquisition.

I’ll tell them in Auftrag that I killed every mage, she thought. I’ll keep my promise to the letter.

She knew what they did to Inquisitors who doubted.

IV. Protect the Empire.

The dark forest was full of snow and silence. Only the faint vibrations of the medallion told her she was going the right way.

V. Stand guard over the people.

She was coming back as if in a fever, staggering.

That wasn’t a person, Raine told herself. That was a demon. A demon in human disguise. I had to do it. First. Exterminate demons.

She tripped over a root she hadn’t noticed, falling into the deep snow. The moment she closed her eyes, she saw her again. A slim woman with blonde hair. Dressed in white.

She saw the red—

No. She didn’t want to think about it.

I couldn’t let her… let that thing live. Even if she begged for her life.

Even if I promised I wouldn’t do anything to her.

From that time on they didn’t call her Princess.

Raine One-Eye rose to the rank of sergeant after displaying extraordinary heroism in battle against a demon, despite the loss of her entire squad. And for personally ensuring the extermination of the mages in the area. She now commanded missions herself. Bearing the steel scythe, Bane of Demons, she served the Inquisition and the Empire.