After the Battle
Rex's eyes fluttered open to unfamiliar surroundings. The small, broken room told him everything about how these people lived - cracked walls, a sagging ceiling, furniture held together by hope and string. His wounds had fully healed, sealed by the divine power he'd channeled before losing consciousness.
Curiosity drove him to explore. He slipped out of the room and found the girl he'd saved sleeping peacefully beside her mother on a dilapidated bed. The old wall clock told him it was well past midnight. Rex moved carefully, trying not to wake anyone in the tiny house.
As he crept toward the exit, his foot caught in a narrow fissure in the broken floor. He stumbled forward, arms windmilling, just inches from crashing into the wall. The noise would wake the entire settlement. But at the last second, something new kicked in - a floatation ability he'd never felt before. Rex found himself hovering in midair for a heartbeat before gently setting down on solid ground.
That's new, he thought, steadying himself.
Outside, Hollowvale lay in ruins, but the people hadn't given up. Despite the late hour, villagers worked by torchlight to clear debris and patch what could be salvaged. The sight stirred something in Rex's chest - these people had lost everything, yet they kept fighting.
He approached a man dumping rubble into a large pit. "Hey there."
The villager looked up, and his face transformed. The debris slipped from his hands, crushing his foot, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes filled with tears as he took in Rex's appearance - the dim protective light that surrounded him, the oceanic blue of his eyes.
"The being of light!" the man exclaimed, his voice breaking. "Our savior! Thank you for saving us from those demons. Your divine intervention restored hope when we had none left. We were drowning in darkness, and then you came."
Rex felt warmth spread through his chest at the gratitude, though part of him still remembered the insults these same people had hurled at him before - useless, burden, weak.
"Not a problem," Rex said, noticing the man's crushed foot. "But you need treatment first." He channeled healing energy into the injury, surprised at how much stronger his healing had become since the battle with the Archdemon.
"What happened after I passed out?" Rex asked.
The villager wiped sweat from his brow. "After you defeated the Archdemon, his entire army just... crumbled to dust. Like they were powered directly by him. Once he was gone, they couldn't exist anymore. We lost many, but victory was finally ours."
Rex nodded, processing this information. At least now they knew the demons had a hierarchy, a chain of command that could be broken.
As he walked deeper into the village, Rex noticed the change in how people looked at him. The same faces that had once sneered now showed respect, even awe. Whispers of gratitude replaced the old taunts. Yet Rex couldn't quite forget the past insults.
Deciding to scout the area, Rex activated his Divine Vision. His power had definitely grown - while he still couldn't access his full potential, he could draw from a much larger well than before.
What he saw troubled him. Groups of people were leaving the settlement under cover of darkness, escorted by low-ranking Protectors. The guards moved with paranoid caution, constantly checking their surroundings. Most disturbing of all, many of the villagers appeared to be in restraints.
What the hell is going on?
Rex followed at a distance, grumbling under his breath. "Great, now I'm playing hide and seek with our own people." At one point he tripped over a root, his divine armor clanking as he hit the ground. "At least this thing's good for something besides combat," he muttered, dusting himself off.
Several kilometers from Hollowvale, the group stopped in a dense forest. Rex positioned himself behind a cluster of trees, studying the scene. The Protectors seemed nervous, weapons ready, eyes darting at every shadow. The villagers - because that's what they were, Rex realized, people from Hollowvale - looked exhausted and terrified.
And they were definitely prisoners.
Rex's jaw clenched as he watched. He'd just saved these people from demons, only to find their own protectors treating them like criminals. Whatever was happening here, it wasn't right.
The question was: what was he going to do about it?