This picture follow this one : She is alright ( https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/she-is-alright/2834264/?p ) Delphine regained consciousness a little after the sun had rise. Marina who spent the night, half sleeping, half watching on her, was so relieved to see her waking up. It took few minutes to Delphine to recall the events of the eve. She looked at Marina above her, she was still on her legs, and asked, "Are we still alive?" Marina laughed and responded, "Yes. Yes, we are all alive, all thanks to you." The poor Delphine, completely drained by the spell she launched, was so weak that she couldn't move any muscle. Only her head was able to move. She looked slowly left and right, the mind yet a little lost in mist. Then her eyes stumbled upon the rest of her destroyed staff. At this sight she started to cry, like a child would cry. The intensity of her cries was reinforced by her extreme weakness, but even though she was in good shape, she would have probably cried too. The staff is not a simple tool for a magician, it's the symbol of their rank. It's also what's allow them to use correctly their magic. It help for condense and malaxe the magic energy properly, to use at it low cost. It is said that a good staff make a good magician. And it was a good staff. It was also that much heartbreaking for her, because it was her first staff, given by her parents when they judged her worthy to be called Magician. Still in an state of extreme weakness, she fell again into unconsciousness while she was crying. When Delphine awoke several hours later, she realised she was moving. She opened her eyes to discover she was on Marina's back. Marina, Minalva and Romatzo had taken back their journey leading to the Guild of Adventurers, while she was asleep. They were walking silently. Delphine passed her eyes on her companions. Romatzo was marching a little in front, Marina and her in the middle and Minalva a little behind. Seeing she was awake, Minalva addressed her a smile, revealing her white teeth. It took some seconds to the sleepy mind of Delphine to realise, that Minalva was wearing her hat. Maybe it was yet again her fatigue, but at this vision, Delphine bursted into a laughter. First surprised, Minalva understood what made her laugh and started to laugh too. Romatzo and Marina stopped, surprised and not really understanding what made them laugh. But the two others was laughing so hard that it start to communicate to the dwarf and the nord woman. So here they were, all four, on the middle of the road, laughing with no real reasons. But it was nice to laugh after all theses days of tension. Then a big growling noise came from Delphine's stomach that stopped the laughters, who started again few seconds later. They decided to stop for eating, even if it was still early. Delphine ate more than their provision allowed them to eat per meal, but her friends were happy to eat less and share their portion with her. Delphine, after the meal, was still not capable to walk by herself, or even stand up in a matter of fact, but she was now capable to move her arms and be seated without help. Marina's will have to carry her on her back again, but it was not bothering her. But they did not leave right after diner, because things had to be asked. "How did you vanquished the creature ? asked Marina to Delphine. - Well... I can't say I vanquished such a demon, I'm far to be capable of doing that. Even if it's more complicated than that, I kind of broke the invocation spell." After a moment of silence, searching her words, she started her explanation again. "I don't know if you are aware of that, she said while passing her eyes on her friends, but it exist different demonic kingdoms. Some close to our, some far away. The more powerful demons are, the more far away from our world is their. Which means it also harder to them to come or to make them coming here. The one we have encountered was coming from one of the "deep" realm. The other thing you need to know is that, you can invoke a "tiny" demon without its permission, but you can't do it with a "Demon Lord", like we call them. It's more an invitation than a summoning in a way, and it demand a huge effort from both the mage and the demon to appear in our plan of existance. The one we have encountered was actually nothing more than a "shadow" of the real one. It took time too me to realised it, because... because of the terror I felt. But Romatzo's screaming of rage woke me up and I did what I did. - When you say it was a "shadow", do you mean it was not really capable to harm us ? wondered Minalva. - Oh no, it would had kill us. But what we saw and felt, was just a glimps of what really is the creature. It was a shadow, a distant echo, but it was there too. Like I said it's complicated. - And what did you do exactly ? asked Marina. - Actually, what I did was not properly a spell. It was a discharge of pur magical energy. It was the only thing that I could do that was potentially powerful enough to break the link between the creature and our world. It let me drained but it worked!" Delphine said it in way that showed how unpredictable it was. The group discussed for a little longer after that. They decided to not travel as fast as previously. There had being almost two weeks between the first and the second attack, presumably because their enemy had to recover in between too. So, even if it was just an assomption, they thought it would be the same this time. Not traveling as fast was not meaning they'll travel slowly either, but they'll walk fast instead of running. With their slower pace, it would take them one additional day to reach their destination. But they accepted the risk. The next day Delphine was mostly capable to walk alone, even if she was still a little weak and had to be cared to not stop the journey, once or twice. The following day, no need to carrying her at all. The rest of the trip passed without incident. And one day, finally, they reached the siege of the Guild. The Guild of Adventures was once a simple house in the middle of nowhere, where groups of adventurers was gathering to share information and experiences. But it was long time ago, now a whole city was there, one of the biggest of the known world, and at its middle was "The Fortress" 40 meter high bastion, relic of a less peaceful time and general quarter of the guild. Delphine already came here years ago, so she was not impressed, but the three others were stunned by the size of the city and by the overpowering presence of "The Fortress". They stayed motionless in awe, until Delphine, realizing she was walking alone call them to rejoin her. The group passed the gate of the city, with the hope they will be deliver soon of the troubles afflicting them. ____________________________________________________________ First, thank you for watching and reading. The text is very long this time, I usually try to make it relatively short, but a lot had to be said this time. And in fact about the Guild, I wanted to say more, about how it works, its history, etc, but it will be for a next picture, to not make the story any longer. I have "cheated" a little on the size of The Fortress (made by me) in the picture, making it 35% bigger than its real size, otherwise it was hide by the gate and walls of the city (the Fortress is placed at 200 meters of the walls). It do not look as impressive as I wanted to, but I have spent enough time on it, and I didn't wanted to get bored and nether finish the picture, because of that. I started to work on the next scene, I hope to render in the next days. ^^