A faint, oppressive unease blankets the city, noticeable only to the supernaturally sensitive: a whisper of dread and discomfort. To the amplified awareness of the Hierarchy’s agents, however, the source is unmistakable - a colossal, shapeless demon of fire and shadow lurking above the skyscrapers. Though invisible to the ordinary eye, its effects are evident: people collapsing from panic attacks, glass windows cracking under unseen pressure, and a general sense of chaos brewing.
Raine lands at the scene, her arrival marked by a strong gust of wind that sweeps the debris from her immediate path. She wears the Hierarchy’s battle garb - sleek, white, lightly armored, and adorned with divine symbols. Three other agents follow close behind, wielding various charms and talismans, scanning for threats.
Raine narrows her eyes, scanning the skyline. To her enhanced senses, the demon’s form is clear - a writhing mass of molten shadows, flickering with bursts of crimson flame, crawling along the sides of buildings and wrapping itself around them like a parasite. Its presence sucks the warmth from the air despite its fiery core.
The four warriors look at the massive demon and then at each other, Raine steps forward, her voice cutting through their conversation.
“It’s feeding on their fear,” she says, pointing toward the pedestrians stumbling and clutching their chests below. “We need to isolate it before this entire block turns into a panic-induced stampede.”
With that, Raine raises her hand, summoning a fierce gale. Wind whips around her in a vortex, rising to the rooftops and creating an invisible barrier that muffles sound and shields the area from further contamination. Her fellow agents glance at each other, clearly surprised by her ability to manipulate divine energy with such precision.
Raine leaps to the top of a nearby building with a burst of wind beneath her feet. From this vantage point, she channels her energy into a bow-like construct, pulling back a glowing, wind-forged arrow. The shot flies straight into the demon's core, exploding in a sharp burst of light and wind. The creature roars - a soundless vibration that rattles glass and shakes the ground.
The demon twists and lunges toward her, fiery tendrils extending in whip-like appendages. Raine deftly dodges, her movements fluid and deliberate, manipulating the wind to carry her above the fray. She counters with quick, calculated strikes, each gust slicing through the demon’s form, momentarily dispersing it before it reconstitutes itself.
At this point, the rest of the team moves in, their arcane implements glowing with ethereal energy as they unleash a torrent of spells, carving into the demon’s writhing mass. They’re experienced soldiers, moving with precision and teamwork, but their attacks feel measured compared to Raine’s raw, unrestrained power. She isn’t just containing the creature - she’s overpowering it.
One of the agents, a stoic figure named Seriel, calls out sharply as Raine’s winds nearly knock over a crumbling water tower.
“Control your power, Solara! You’re creating more hazards!”
Raine shoots him a glare but adjusts her strikes to avoid collateral damage. The momentary distraction, however, gives the demon an opening. A tendril lashes out, and Raine barely escapes with a quick burst of wind, landing on a rooftop several blocks away. The demon shifts its focus to her entirely, leaving the rest of the team struggling to keep up.
Raine steadies herself on the rooftop, her chest rising and falling with controlled breaths. The demon looms above her, its fiery tendrils flaring in agitation as it senses her growing power. The air around her crackles with energy, the wind twisting and bending to her will.
“Come on, then,” she mutters, drawing another arrow of wind and energy. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The demon surges forward, its form undulating and expanding as if consuming the very shadows of the buildings it touches. A tendril lashes out, molten fire sparking along its edge. Raine meets it head-on, releasing her arrow and leaping into the air with a burst of wind. The arrow strikes true, ripping through the tendril and dispersing part of the demon’s mass in a flash of light.
But the creature doesn’t slow. Instead, it adapts, pulling its fragmented form together and shifting its strategy. It launches a barrage of tendrils, forcing Raine to weave and dodge mid-air. Her movements are fluid but intense, the wind beneath her feet carrying her in sharp, precise arcs. Each strike she lands tears away a piece of the demon, but its defiance pushes back against her relentless assault. Its massive size and power are overwhelming. She needs to find another way to defeat the monster.
As Raine fights, a sudden, guttural voice cuts through her mind - not spoken aloud but resonating deeply within her. It’s the demon, speaking directly to her through some unseen connection.
“You are the Sacred Wind, the Power of the Storm, Pawn of the Oppressive Light. Why do you serve those who fear what they cannot control?”
The words catch her off guard. Her focus wavers, and a tendril grazes her side, sending her crashing onto a nearby rooftop. She rolls to her feet, clutching her ribs but refusing to falter.
Are these the demon’s words? Raine had been a Jaeger for five years and had studied hard under the tutelage of the Celestial hierarchy for all that time. She had never before heard of, much less encountered, a demon who could… communicate. Is this even possible?
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“Shut up and fight,” she snaps, more as an admonition to herself than as a response, drawing another arrow.
But the voice doesn’t relent.
“You destroy us because they command it. You destroy you because they command it. They know nothing because they feel nothing… Do you?”
The words hit a nerve. For the briefest moment, Raine hesitates, her mind flashing back to the whispers of doubt she’s felt since her ascension - how the Hierarchy’s agents watch her with unease, how their leaders caution her about overstepping her bounds.
And now, facing this demon, its words feel… calculated. Manipulative, perhaps, but not entirely wrong.
Her hesitation doesn’t go unnoticed. The rest of the team, still locked in battle with the demon’s other tendrils, notices her pause. Seriel’s voice rings out.
“Raine! Focus! We still have a job to do!” he yells, slashing through a flailing limb.
But Raine doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, she takes a steadying breath, her eyes narrowing as she looks at the demon - not with anger, but with curiosity. She fires a volley of arrows, not to destroy, but to test, aiming for parts of its body where the flames burn brightest. Each hit yields a small revelation: its form flickers, revealing glimpses of something beneath the fire and shadow. Not a monster, but an intricate web of human faces, twisted in fear and anguish, calling out for release.
Raine lands on a nearby rooftop, lowering her bow. “You’re feeding off of them,” she says, her voice quieter now, tinged with understanding. “Off their fear. That’s what gives you strength.”
“Fear is the only offering your kind gives freely.”
Raine closes her eyes, her mind racing. She remembers her training, the countless lectures about the nature of demons - mindless beings born to destroy. Yet this one doesn’t feel mindless. There is a direction in its chaos.
She takes a deep breath, her hands glowing with wind energy. Instead of aiming another arrow, she lifts her hands skyward, summoning a storm. A vortex of wind and light begins to form, not to strike, but to pull. The demon writhes, its tendrils flailing, but Raine’s voice cuts through its protest.
“If you feed on fear, then I’ll take it away. Let's see what remains!"
The vortex shifts, becoming a siphon that begins to drain the fear-fueled energy from the demon. At first, it resists, its form flickering violently. But as the oppressive aura fades, its size begins to shrink, the fire dimming, the shadows receding. What’s left is not a hulking beast, but a smaller, trembling figure - a pale, translucent wraith-like form, human in shape but ethereal.
The other agents regroup, their weapons drawn, but they hesitate at the sight of the diminished demon. Seriel steps forward, his voice sharp. “What are you doing, Raine? Destroy it while it’s weak!”
Raine stands between the wraith and her team, her hand raised to halt them. “No,” she says firmly. “It’s not what we thought it was.”
“What are you saying?” Seriel demands.
Raine looks over her shoulder at the wraith, now motionless and unthreatening. “I don’t know yet. But it needs to go back to the Hierarchy. This is something new. Our war may be changing.”
Raine turned back towards the demon. She drew the vortex into a compact sphere of wind that encased the creature. With the demon now subdued, she turned to the others. “Let’s move.”
The Jaegers fell into formation as Raine led the way back to the Celestial Hierarchy’s citadel. The creature hovered within its prison of swirling air, silent but seething.
---
The grand hall of the Celestial Hierarchy loomed ahead, its towering marble columns and golden inlays casting an imposing air. Raine always found the place suffocating, its sanctity marred by the rigid bureaucracy and unyielding laws that governed their order. She had barely crossed the threshold when a senior adjudicator intercepted her.
“You brought it back alive?” the man sneered, his tone brimming with disdain. “Why not destroy it outright?”
Raine straightened, keeping her voice measured. “Because we need answers. It’s not just another feral demon - it spoke during the fight. Not words, but it was able to communicate directly to my mind.’”
The adjudicator’s eyes narrowed, his lips pressing into a thin line. “Hmm. Follow me.”
She and her team were led to the containment chamber, a sterile room lined with sigils and protective wards. The adjudicator gestured sharply, and Raine released the vortex. The wraith-like demon collapsed onto the warded floor, its shadowy form flickering.
Two Jaegers flanked the creature, their expressions cold and unforgiving. One produced a glowing chain of runed silver and snapped it around the demon’s ethereal body. The demon hissed, writhing as the chains constricted it further. Raine winced at the harsh treatment but said nothing.
“Identify yourself,” one of the Jaeger inquisitors commanded, his voice sharp as steel.
The demon snarled but said nothing.
The adjudicator stepped forward, raising a hand. The runes on the chain flared, eliciting a scream from the creature.
“Enough!” Raine said sharply, her voice echoing in the chamber. The inquisitors turned to her, their expressions unreadable. “You want answers? Maybe try something other than brute force. It was ready to talk in the field.”
The adjudicator’s gaze hardened. “Your concern for a demon is misplaced, mage. It’s our methods that keep the Hierarchy, and by extension, the rest of the world, safe.”
The demon’s form wavered, cutting in and out like static on television set. In her mind she heard it speak to her again.
You have turned the key to the cell. The shackles have been loosened by your hand. that which must not awake stirs within its cell. Doom comes for us all.
The creature shuddered, its form dimming further. “He's speaking again, can you all hear it?
Raine looks around to see the shocked looks and hurried nods of consent as she realizes that everyone in the room is receiving the message.
Raine frowned. “What does it mean?”
The adjudicator snapped his fingers, and the chains flared again, silencing the creature with a howl. Raine stood abruptly, anger flashing in her eyes.
“You’re silencing it when we’re finally getting somewhere?” she asked.
The adjudicator waved her off. “We’ve heard enough. This thing is a deceiver trying to manipulate us, we will deal with it. You’ve done your duty, Raine. Leave the rest to us.”
As they hauled the weakened wraith away, Raine’s hands clenched into fists. Something about this whole situation felt wrong. The rigidity of the Hierarchy - their refusal to even consider what the demon might reveal - gnawed at her.
But she is a soldier and this soldier had been given orders. She'll drop the issue - for now
