The news of the destruction that ravaged the port town of Gurbarra spread throughout the Kingdom. The entire place had been destroyed, killing everyone who had seen anything.
Upon arrival the next day, the royal investigators accessed the entire area and sent word back to the capital. The death toll was well over four thousand.
Moreover, a lot of people had been completely incinerated, especially those who had been close to the heart of the battlefield.
As for the knight, his ashes remained.
"He...burnt himself to dust" the chief investigator muttered to himself, in a pitiful tone.
Just around the knight's ashes, he noticed the faint outline of a person's figure on the cinders. But then, the shape had almost disappeared as the wind shifted the ashes.
He observed a bit more keenly before he was distracted.
"Sir Dvan" one of his companions called out to him. "The entire area has been burnt to the ground. Don't you think this is the work of the Sun realm?"
Wearing royal livery, his demeanor was gentlemanly. This was Dvan, an official of the royal house who took care of investigating matters of treason.
He was summoned only when there were plots against the throne or during incidents like this, capable of harming the welfare of the kingdom at large.
"It is very likely" he said, replying to the investigator who spoke with him.
"If that is the case, they must have been able to summon the Sun realm's most powerful aera in order to stand against Sir Regel" the reporting investigator said. "They are not ordinary"
"They?" Dvan asked. "You suppose one person isn't responsible for this?"
Dvan asked from a perspective no one would see from normally. The knight Regel was regarded as the strongest of the Divine Knights of Playes.
'Of course, a single person couldn't possibly bring him down'. That was this investigators perspective and a respectable one. But Dvan wouldn't just assume that.
"Don't worry. You may be right" he said, seeming to agree with the reporting investigators assumption. He didn't want to create unnecessary confusion as he might as well be correct.
"The Sun realm is the only aerealm capable of this much destruction by fire" the investigator continued. "Perhaps, a group of insurgents, possibly from outside Playes...we should search the kingdom thoroughly"
Dvan thought hard for a while.
Assuming those responsible for this used the Sun realm aera, they had been up against a knight of the Divine realm which was widely regarded as a superior to the Sun realm.
And yet, they could see only the remains of their own. Was it numbers? Or strength? Or both? Or perhaps, they weren't many. Perhaps, it was just a single person.
Dvan kept that thought to himself.
The heart of the battlefield where their hero had fought and fallen was all ashes. There wasn't much they could see here.
"Gurbarra is all dust" Dvan said to his subordinates. "We should head back"
"But sir" another of his subordinates said. "There is an ore mine near the port. Shouldn't we inspect there as well"
Dvan hadn't known of an ore mine in Gurbarra as he barely left the capital. But if that were the case, they could definitely find answers there.
A mine burrowed into the earth would not burn to ashes like the rest of the town. There had to be survivors there and maybe, witnesses.
Eagerly, they left for the mines immediately, expectant to uncover more. However, what Dvan expected was just not the case.
Even the mines reeked strongly of death, in the most terrible way; a terrifying scene dominated by bodies savagely mutilated and utterly unrecognizable, each one marred further by a precise, small hole burrowed into the forehead like a horrifying ritualistic signature.
This was something he was able to recognize instantly.
"They weren't burnt" one of the investigators said, suppressing his nausea. "Something else did this. I can sense -- demon aera"
"We can't find any survivors, sir" another investigator reported to Dvan. "Should we keep searching the mines?"
"You can" Dvan said. But then, he had seen enough already and needed to return to the capital immediately.
---
Back at Dexront, the capital of the Great Kingdom of Playes where the royal palace stood; there in the king's courtroom, several important figures gathered in council.
They all sat at a table, before the king, who reclined somberly on his throne, built on a platform elevated from the rest of the courtroom.
While he overlooked the courtroom, they all overlooked the entire Dexront capital from an outlook.
They discussed matters of urgency, having been summoned hastily from around the kingdom. There were empty seats there though, meaning some of them were yet to arrive.
"I tell you, these are the works of the Urigeans" one of the kings cabinet said decisively and fiercely. "And we must retaliate immediately!"
Urige was a neighbouring country that had been on bad terms with Playes since the war six years ago.
It was a war in which the Urigeans lost a bit of their territories to Playean control for a brief time period after the war ended, leaving the villages in those areas and their inhabitants subject to Playes.
All that created very bad blood between Urige and Playes.
"We cannot move against Urige, Guka. We don't have enough evidence that points to such conclusions" Imrus, a well known scholar and advisor to the royal house, opposed strongly.
"Imrus is right" said Tynu, a well respected elder and royal advisor. "We don't want unnecessary war with the Night tyrant"
The Night tyrant was king of Urige and the single most powerful figure in his kingdom rumored to rival the strongest warriors of Playes.
A conflict with him will incur significant damage.
The king listened to them and would eventually decide on a ruling. But even he could tell that he needed more proof, before doing something like declaring war on the Night tyrant.
"We must wait for Dvan" he said. "We must have a clearer understanding of what all this is before acting"
And so, the king and his cabinet continued their discussions for hours, awaiting Dvan and the results of his primary investigation.
And soon enough, he returned later that day.
"Your highness" he said with a chest bow upon arriving before the king.
"How much do we know now, Dvan?" The king asked, expectancy in his tone.
There wasn't much to see in the heart of the battlefield where their heroes had fallen. But at that mine, it was different.
"We have not been able to ascertain who or what exactly it was that fell Sir Regel and destroyed Gurbarra. But we were able to find something else" Dvan said.
"Something else? Related to the incident?" Imrus asked.
"I don't know for sure. All we know is that the slaves at an ore mine in Gurbarra were all killed, and so were their taskmasters" Dvan said. "But then, the manner in which they were killed suggests - demon realm aera"
"Demon aera?"
A quiet susurration ensued in the courtroom amongst the cabinet members. There was unrest building up amongst the councillors.
"And what about the incident itself?" The king asked.
"Your highness, while we were able to deduce demon aera in the mines, it wasn't the same for the battlefield" Dvan explained. "Judging from an excessive use of fire, we think his opponents may have been of the Sun realm"
But Dvan also thought of something else, something that wasn't so farfetched but would mean that the threat would be much more terrifying than they were anticipating.
Dvan wanted more time to be able to confirm it before telling the council but he had to let them know now. To let them prepare.
"However" Dvan began. "If it were the same party responsible for both the deaths at the mines and the destruction of Gurbarra, it would mean that the party who attacked them was able to use flame from the demon realm"
There was a brief pause in the courtroom.
"Don't tell me you think..." Imrus said, alarmed as he realised.
"Yes. For the enlivened, mastering the channeling of aera from the lowest to the highest tiers of their respective realms is a path that cannot be achieved by all" Dvan said. This wasn't new information to them.
"But there are some who are able to go beyond the highest tiers. A feat that is very rare" Dvan continued.
"And those who are able to achieve that become vessels strong enough to channel not just the aera, but also the inhabitants of those realms" Imrus said, following Dvan's deduction carefully, sweat building up on his face.
"So, you're saying someone of the demon aera is already capable of channeling a demon" the king asked.
"Only the _*ranks*_ of the demon realm can use great fires capable of this much destruction, my king" Dvan replied.
The king reclined again, sighing deeply upon realisation.
"The demon realm again" he said in thought.
They all knew what this meant. The silence in the room was heavy, with the minds of the councillors flashing back to a certain past which scarred humanity deeply.
A nightmare that struck fear into each of them.
"It is a forbidden existence" the king continued. "A demon enlivened cannot be allowed to go beyond the tiers. It is a taboo we must wipe out completely before history repeats itself"
The king was resolute in his words. Although it was just speculation, he wasn't taking any chances and the council concurred, willing to go to dire lengths to prevent such a threat from looming ever again.
"Strengthen our defences greatly and round up the demon enliveneds. We must purge them again!"