The Devil's Bane: (slightly more than) a short story

Chapter XXIII: Prophetia Diaboli

After the group--well, half the group, anyway--got off the ship, they didn't really know what they were going to do. They decided to go to a nearby village. When they got there, Felix saw a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, there was nothing there. Weird, he thought. I must be seeing things.

Charlotte went up to a local townsperson and asked her where the restroom was. She pointed toward a shady building by the town hall. Charlotte started walking to the building with Dess and Felix when they heard a clap of thunder. When they looked up at the sky, on the other hand, there wasn't a cloud in sight.

"YAAAAA--WHY IS THERE FECES ON THE FLOOR?!" a familiar voice shouted.

Everyone's eyes widened, and they looked between each other.

"Mwa ha ha ha," a second voice laughed.

"Gerald, I'll get you back!"

"Oh, you know you won't because I'm a ghost."

"That's fair...BUT I'LL STILL FIND A WAY!!"

Dess, Charlotte, and Felix looked at each other and silently agreed on something. They started sneaking in.

First they saw Anthony chasing Gerald around. They were just silently crouch-walking to the bathroom stalls when Anthony turned around and saw them.

"We're sorry about this, guys," Dess apologized. "I just wanted to go to the bathroom, like geez."

Then he attacked.

Felix and Charlotte followed in his footsteps, kicking Anthony and Gerald into the wall behind them and knocking down the bricks. They all fell out into the grass, tumbling and tumbling down a hill until they finally came to a stop, where Cade was hunting.

The humans and the elves clashed. Dess went right to fight Cade, fire and lighting flashing. Felix fought Anthony, with the waterboy himself using his gauntlets to throw punches at Felix, but Felix kept dodging and rolling. Gerald fought Charlotte, who was pulling boulders out of the ground and throwing them at Gerald, but they went right through him since he was a ghost. Gerald was using his new khopesh to slice at her, but Charlotte blocked them with a wooden shield.

Eventually both groups got tired, and quietly, quickly, the elves left. But right before they opened the portal, Cade threw them a piece of torn paper. Dess picked it up. It read:

The Devil's Bane shall reach fourteen

And fight a spirit with a crimson sheen.

Both groups must stand united

Or all of Kaysalia shall be ignited.

I remembered this from an ancient text yesterday. It's called the "Prophetia Diaboli."

Dess thought this was extremely important. Prophetia Diaboli in Latin...was

"The Devil's Prophecy."

"Hey, I'm gonna go get a new weapon, since Gerald destroyed mine," Charlotte said awkwardly.

Around ten minutes later, she came back with a naginata, which is a type of spear but slightly curved and cooler. "It supposedly turns into something called a 'gun,'" she explained. "I have no idea what that is, but it sounds cool!"

But, turning to the elves' point of view...