Enchantyon, Enter The Arcane: The Jörd In The Ice

Chapter Six: Bandle's Deal

Bandle lost track of how much time had passed by since the Muses had left to fight his battle. Time seemed to blur as one after another, villagers began pouring in through the temple doors in desperate need of shelter from the monster outside.

"No, get away from me!" screamed one woman when he tried to help one of the medics tend to her wounds. "Don't touch me! I saw you, Bandle. I saw you haul that thing into town. The monster that's out there destroying our village was brought here on your wagon!"

A series of gasps and other sounds of outrage filled the temple as everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention to their scene.

"It...it was an accident." Said Bandle. "I didn't know that the man in the ice would turn into—"

"It's always an accident with you, isn't it?" came a man's voice from the crowd. "That's all you seem to be good for you big oaf! Accidents and apologies!"

This remark was met with a lot of "yeahs" and "hear hears" from those in the crowd.

"I wasn't trying to get anyone hurt alright! Please, has anyone seen my brother? Where's Kroff? Where's my family?"

"Your family's probably out there busy cleaning up your mess, again, with the rest of the village guard! And those muses too! If you want to make up for this mess, then why don't you go out and join them, huh?"

"Yea, stop hiding away in here like a coward and go fight."

"Alright, get a grip!" Bandle barked back. "If only cowards are in here then why aren't some of you out there either? I see plenty of able-bodied men in here! Why am I the only one getting shown the door? And the muses told me to stay put here! No, please!"

It was no use. The men who weren't injured—as well as a few of the women in the temple—began crowding Bandle and shoving him towards the door. With one large, final push, they shoved him out the door and down the steps where he rolled into the village streets.

The village was in chaos. Bandle's heart sank. If his family was still out there in the streets somewhere, he didn't like their odds anymore. The darkness wasn't as thick as it was before, as Bandle could now see what the village as a whole looked like. However, what he could now see was a village in flames, muses in the sky taking on monstrous shadow beings and the same fleshy tentacles that were eating people beforehand, and the air itself was filled with the gut-wrenching screams of women, children, and grown men. How did things descend into madness so quickly?

"Kroff!" Bandle shouted out into the chaos. "Kroff, where are you?! Kroff!"

Bandle's cries were heard, though. "There you are little jordling." It was the voice of the Black Broker. "I was beginning to think I had killed you already and just didn't notice. Thought I might have stepped on you by accident when I was battling the muses you begged to come help you. Well, no matter."

The Black Broker stepped out of the darkness with his writing tentacles on full display as they sprouted out of his neck once more.

"Where's my family, monster?" said Bandle.

"I've stored them away. Many of my brethren will need hosts of their own once I have revived them, and they'll be a suitable crop."

"But you promised Kroff! You made him a contract! He gave you his magic and you said he'd be able to protect his family."

"I said he would be strong enough to do so. That doesn't mean I was going to let him stay here so that he could defend his family. Big difference." And while Bandle couldn't see it, he knew by the tone of the Broker's voice that he was grinning from ear to ear.