Byere's prize for winning my story raffle. It's basically what happens when a mostly apocalyptic writer does fantasy- Thus insect-like demons, portals, massive ruins, massive swords, and humor. Probably my favorite story I've written because of a raffle yet. Hope it works!

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It was a midsummer afternoon, and the wind was blowing through the trees, rustling their brightly green leaves. My sister and I had been traveling for the past many moons, almost aimlessly. We were young, fit, and knew how to use weapons. My sister Genna even had this new contraption- I think it was called a “Musket”. She has to carry about metal balls and a satchel of this sickly smelling powder for it to work, but it will put that ball through an attacker’s chest despite the armor at a hundred paces, despite the armor. I just used my old rapier.
We were twin black panthers, we had to defend ourselves well. A black panther meant royal blood, but only some knew of this fact.
'Gren, look down there, in the distance.’ Genna said to me as we reached the top of a large hill. The wind blew her blond hair about. It would’ve done the same with mine, but I had a helmet on over most of it.
I looked down the hill and far off. A good dozen miles down the path was a large town in the midst of the fields. It was a center of activity as far as I could tell.
'A... town. A big one too. Huh, we haven’t seen anything but ruins and trees for the past several days.’ I replied. Well, we were in Wales.
'Hey, we can stock up on supplies there!’ Genna replied, loudly. I tried to hush her when I heard a twig snap behind some large bushes. I drew my sword.
'Come out. We know you’re there.’ I said. Genna went quite and started loading her musket.
A small and quite harmless rabbit hopped out and away, scared. I sheathed my rapier and Genna fumbled with her musket. She had just started loading it when the rabbit hopped out.
'False alarm.’ I said. We reacted like that to about everything on the path; you never know when there would be a highwayman or a bandit lurking about.

We entered the town with a spring to our step. It was a nice day, we hadn’t seen a highwayman for miles, and we can now resupply. Perfectly good reason to be happy.
The town was reasonably sized with a small castle in the center. It was surrounded by some stone walls, and inside those walls was the town. It was a quant little town, with all the buildings clustered around the castle like chicks to a mother hen. There was a surprising variety of anthro species here. Odd for upper Wales.
We entered through a side gate, passing two reptilian guards on the way. They almost stood to attention- which was quite hilarious. Then they realized despite our oh-so-obvious royal blood, we were just vagabonds. Wanderers. Usually not worth a glance.
The side gate led into the marketplace. Perfect; the market was a large open air one full of anthros. They were selling things from artichokes to watermelons- and everything else besides.
'So, we’re doing the usual here, huh? Split up, meet back at the gate at dusk, find an inn?’ Genna asked.
'Seems most likely. Now, actually do it this time.’ I replied.
'Right!’ She replied before running off into the crowds in the direction of the jeweler’s stall. I sighed. She’ll probably be back at dawn.

I was browsing a food vendor’s wares.
'So, where’d these come from?’ I asked, picking up an orange.
'From the fields of India.’ He replied.
'And these?’ I continued, picking up an apple.
'Orchards in the New World.’
'And these?’ I picked up a tomato.
'Local fields.’ The canine vendor said, smiling. I have a feeling he was lying about each of the fruit’s locations, but I still bought an apple anyways. I walked away from the stall and towards a blacksmith near the gate. As I passed the gate, a wolf anthro staggered in. He was clad in light armor which looked much like the local guards’, and he was scratched all over. His left arm looked broken.
He fell into the gate, crying. The guards rushed over, but I was there first.
'Demons! Demons are coming! They’re already here!’ He cried. A crowd was gathering. And whispering.
'Someone get a damned doctor down here! Quickly, man!’ I shouted. One of the guards verged off towards the castle.
'The Demons... They’ll kill us all...’ The scout said before he slipped into unconsciousness.
'Where the hell’s that doctor?!’ I shouted. That guard came back with a doctor, two guards, and a bishop in tow. I handed the scout to the hawk doctor.
'Looks like he was attacked by something, doc.’ I said.
'Well that’s obvious, vagabond. Just stay out of the way.’ He said, inspecting the injured scout. I stepped back, a little insulted. Genna appeared from the crowd.
'What happened?’ She asked.
'I don’t know, that scout just ran in screaming.’ I replied.
'About what?’
'Demons.’

We were led into the castle by some of the guards. They obviously recognized that we had skill in combat from our traveling.
The inside of the castle was larger than we expected. It was made in a Gothic style, decorated in arches, pillars, and statues. The main hall had the statues of past kings under the side arches. These kings somehow varied in species, even though they were all the same linage. Crossbred? Odd. There must have been serious turmoil around this family before.
We were brought in front of the lone king. He was a dark blue reptile; not a common royalty. He was wearing the usual royal outfit- cape, robes, pointy shoes, and holding a golden leaf staff.
'You are travelersss, yesss?’ He asked. A forked tongue flicked in and out.
'Just vagabonds. Not really worth being brought in here, your majesty.’ I replied. I bowed, Genna curtsied.
'May I ask though; why were we brought here?’ Genna asked. I gave her a stern look. 'Er- your majesty.’ She added quickly.
'I have learned that travelersss like yourssselvesss have ssskillsss in combat. I can sssee even the lady has an odd weapon.’
'Oh, my musket?’ She asked, pulling it out. It was loaded.
'How doesss it work...?’ The king asked.
'Simple, really. You load it up, and it fires a metal ball at really fast speeds wehn you press this trigger-’ Genna was holding it directly upwards when she was pointing towards the trigger. She incidentally hit it, and the area was full of smoke and bits of stone from the roof.
'You alright?’ I asked the king. He coughed.
'Yesss, I’m fine. I’m glad to sssee that you can knock a hole in ssstone from 100 pacesss. That weapon ssshall be helpful for what isss to come.’
'What’s that, you majesty?’ Genna asked, cleaning her musket barrel.
'You remember the ssscout, yesss? I sssent a sssmall party to where he came from- the ruinsss of a much larger and much more dead city- and they found thossse sssaid Demons.’
'So what are we talking here? Dragons?’ I asked.
'Worssse.’

The king (One Jacques the third) gave us some armor and sent us with the attacking party. We would be getting a rather sizable reward for this, so Genna and I took it.
Our attack party had ten miles to go towards the old city. It used to be called Nirvania, of all things. It was abandoned a couple dozen years before Genna and I were born, and the fully stone buildings have fallen apart. It was said to be the largest city in Wales at the time, if not Europe.
Our party was another five anthros all clad in armor. Each one was a different, varying species and each one was very different. We had a trio of crows; each one of them with light armor, a lithe build, and long-bows. They spoke in high pitched, cackling voices. We called them the Poes; they looked exactly alike. There was a weary looking grey wolf carrying a claymore, we later learned that he was a royal guard. His name was Whitehall.
The last member was a big and rare naga-like beast from the far east. He had no legs but a large tail. He was clad in brightly red scales, massive heavy armor, and he carried a sword that was several times larger than a claymore that only this creature could wield. It looked like it could chop a large pine in half with one swing; it was 7 feet long and two feet wide, after all. He spoke with a low voice, but was actually quite friendly. He also wore a helmet that had ceramic horns attached. He as well, apparently, had deadly venom in his fangs. No one wanted to test that theory.
Oh, and his name was Ping.
We camped up on a hilltop that overlooked the city. Nirvania was a massive city; now just a massive wreck. It was built in a valley and filled up with massive rock and stone towers much larger than a normal castle. Most of the towers had fallen over, shattered on the ground.
Of all the towers, only one was still standing- the massive clock tower. The clock face was partially shattered and some of the gear-work was sticking out from a large hole in the east wall, but it was there. More than that, it just chimed 9:00 PM.
'How can that tower still work?’ I asked.
'It shouldn’t. Nirvania’s been empty for 50 years, if not more.’ Whitehall said. 'I don’t even remember when the city was lost; I must of been a small pup.’
One of the Poes landed in a treetop above us, laughing about something. The other two landed next to the first. 'It’s the Demons! It’s gotta be!’ The first Poe screeched.
'The bird’s right.’ Whitehall said. 'Probably. Genna, would you take first watch?’ He asked. Genna nodded.
'I can try. How long I can do it for is the question, though.’ She responded.
'There’s seven of us. Watches should be pretty short, unless the Poes think of themselves as one creature...’ Whitehall gave the Poes a menacing glance.
'We do! We do!’ They squawked in unison.
'Ugh... I’ll take watch after you, Genna. Get some sleep, people. We attack at dawn.’

I woke to to a cry. We were under attack!
One of the Poes was screeching and slashing at... something. I couldn’t see it, the area was dark. Genna fell asleep, but she was pushing herself up. Of course she didn’t follow that command.
I heard Ping scream at something just before there was the loud clang of metal, mixed with a wet noise. One of the creatures jumped on top of me.
It was insect like in the least. Four dagger-like legs, a thorax, a group of six insect like wings, and a head with a three-part mouth that split apart and a multi-faceted eye on each part of the jaw. It was about the size of a common grey wolf. It raised its long thorax to sting me- but Genna shot off its head first. It crumpled to the ground, bleeding blue blood.
'What in god’s name are those things?!’ I shouted, stumbling up and grabbing my rapier from the ground next to me.
'The Demons.’ Whitehall said, shooting an arrow at one. It wedged in, but stuck there as the Demon struggled on.
'Rraawwk! Kill all the Demons! Kill!’ One of the Poes screamed. He (Or she, we couldn’t tell) flung a log at a Demon’s head. The Demon slumped down, knocked out. Another Poe was bleeding slightly from the left arm, injured. The third Poe was helping the second one.
Ping smashed out of the forest, swinging his massive cleaver of a sword. Two Demons jumped at him; he slashed them out of the air like they were twigs. Both of the Demons fell down in two parts each.
Genna finally reloaded, and blasted another Demon in the head. It got flung into a tree behind it.
Whitehall took out the last one with a well-placed swing with his claymore. It sliced the Demon’s thorax open, spilling its organs.
I stopped. The others took out the Demons before I had a chance.
'Ssso, thossse are the Demonsss, huh?’ Ping asked.
'I’d bet my retirement that they were. Screw plans for the morning attack, they know we’re here. We attack. Now.’ Whitehall said. Genna and myself followed in the back of the group.
'Why didn’t you stay awake, exactly?’ I asked her as she reloaded.
'Hey, I was tired! Can you blame me for doing something natural?’ Genna responded.
'Eh, nevermind. You best be ready to fight.’

We climbed down a hill and fell on top of one of the massive towers. This one had fallen over, making a path through the rubble.
'So, who thinks that these things are coming from the clock-tower?’ Genna asked.
'Us, us!’ The Poes cackled.
'Well, it doesss ssseem likely.’ Ping said. The clock chimed 11:00 PM as in response.
'Got an idea for a plan, Whitehall?’ I asked.
'Cross these ruins, fight Demons, get into the clock-tower, stop-’ He was cut off because a bone-spike was suddenly sticking through his chest! He looked down at it in horror before sliding off the thing, dead. He tumbled off the side of the tower, leaving a trail of blood.
The thing that killed him was much larger than the Demons we fought. It was bipedal, standing on two legs that were as thick as tree trunks. It was insect-like, with resemblance to a normal demon. It had a massive carapace on its back, and four arms that each ended in a massive spike. The head was more insect like than a normal Demon’s, but it was still frightening. It was an iridescent blue, of all things.
Ping charged at it with his massive cleaver, but the Beetle dodged by flying right up into the air. Four massive wings came out from the carapace.
'I’ve got it!’ Genna shouted, taking aim. She fired, and tore a hole in two of its wings. It fell, but still alive. Ping chopped it right down the center before it could attack again.
'Who else is going to die...?’ Genna asked in despair.
'Not us, not us!’ The Poes screeched before flying off in a small group.
'You cowardly bastards!’ I shouted at them. They disappeared into the trees.
'I should of expected that to happen.’ Ping said, watching them go.
'You’re staying with us, right?’ Genna asked.
'Of courssse. Our reasonsss are the sssame. And now, with the Poesss gone, all the better.’ Ping said oddly. Before either Genna or myself could react, two Demons flew down at us from above. Ping swung down one, I sliced another. Genna loaded afterwards.
We ran down the side of the tower, jumping to another and running along a patch of flat ground. This ground was tiled with an odd design; seemed to be depicting a part of the city’s history. Most of that was lost now, under the rubble.
We hack, slashed, and shot down any Beetles or Demons that got in our ways with nothing more than a few scratches and bruises. We cracked down the door to the clock-tower, and Ping slithered on ahead.
The inside was tall and open, full of massive gears. Stairs went up to the top near the clock’s face, negotiating the massive mechanism. The gears clanked against each other, the sound echoing through the tall tower. We climbed up behind Ping, who was a good deal ahead.
'Look!’ Genna cried, pointing upwards. There was... something behind the clock face, almost on the platform that was behind the clock face. It was a perfect sphere, just floating there. It seemed to be made of a massive mirror, and it reflected something else. While we were watching, a Demon fluttered out. Genna blasted it with her musket and reloaded.
'It’s a doorway. But to where?’ I added. We climbed up the stairs, watching out for rotten planks. Ping must of weighed 300 pounds or more; if he could cross these, Genna and myself could.
'Gren, watch out!’ Genna shouted as a small gear fell our way. It shattered some of the stairs behind us. We looked up to the top platform to see Ping laughing. He knocked off that gear!
'You know, if I ssslay you and sssay that the creaturesss did it, I would get your ssshare of the reward asss well, you know.’
'What if the Demons manage to kill you, though?!’ I shouted back. We were 30 feet under his platform, and racing up. Genna was reloading her musket.
'Sssimple; they won’t.’ Ping responded before chopping off the axel that held on a massive gear. It tumbled down and took out the stairs behind us. It fell to the floor with a crash, and the hour hand on the clock stopped working.
We dashed up the steps as the crazed snake anthro smashed the inner workings of this ancient tower. As we neared him, we also neared the doorway. It was about 10 feet around; and it didn’t actually seem to be reflecting our world, but another. It was the same inside of the tower, but with a bright red hue. The walls were lined with webs and cocoons- massive ones. Ones that could encase a creature of Ping’s size easily. The gears on the other side were still, halted by the webbing that was winding through the gears. Beetles and Demons could be seen crawling about inside, along with other creatures.
'My god...’ I muttered as we watched the hell inside the doorway.
'How are you going to close that, huh?’ Genna shouted at Ping. He started slithering towards us.
'I don’t know yet; but I ssshall find out.’ He said before swinging his cleaver at us. We ducked and I slashed at his chest. Genna was still trying to load her musket. My rapier bounced off his thick armor- the armor must of been an inch thick!
He swung at my neck, and I ducked and blocked at the same time. His sword sliced off the top three fourths of my blade! I threw the handle away.
'Lord help me...’ I muttered. Genna had ducked down behind the stairs, her musket almost loaded. I heard a crash. Three arrows had crashed through the fragile clock face, thumping into the wooden floors! I recognized the three crows that crashed through the face after their arrows. The Poes!
Ping was distracted enough to where Genna could put a musket shot into his head. The ball actually bounced off his thick helmet, knocking a massive dent in it and knocking him over- right off the side of the platform! He fell into the doorway.
'I thought you didn’t seem like the type that would run away.’ I said. Genna started reloading.
'That’s not for us! Anyhow, there’s a reward to be had!’ One of them said.
'Very true. Good job, you birds!’ Genna shouted.
'Thank’s missus!’ The trio cawed at once. The doorway under us started warping around where Ping fell in, and the tower started shaking. The doorway closed for a second before opening again, in an even worse shape.
'Is it...?’ One Poe asked.
'It seems to be closing, yeah.’ I replied. A few planks fell off of the walls and one large gear came off of its bearing, crashing through the others. There was a loud creak.
'Can you men/ladies hold us, by any chance?’ I asked.
'You’d have to abandon as much weight as possible.’ One said. Genna and myself threw off our armor. Genna looked at her old musket, but she handed it plus her ammunition to the Poe not carrying either of us.
One of the Poes offered me a talon-hand.
'Let’s fly!’ They squawked together, picking us up. We flew through the glass clock-face, but out lower bodies didn’t fit in the holes already there. It stung a bit as we smashed through. A large gear crashed out of the wall behind us, falling into the rubble of Nirvania.
'That doorway must of been keeping the tower stable somehow...’ I said.
'Maybe it linked the two towers on either side of it?’ The Poe holding me asked.
'Good theory.’ I replied. 'Any ideas, Genna?’ I asked her.
'Not a clue.’ She replied. We were silent. There was not a sound apart from the wind and the Poes’ flapping. Thne the whole tower collapsed behind us with a thunderous CRASH!
'And thus goes the last remnant of Nirvania... We did it!’ The Poe that was carrying Genna’s musket squawked. We all cheered.
'Promise us this though, Gren; Genna.’ The Poe with the musket said.
'Go on.’ Genna and myself said.
'Buy us lunch.’
We laughed into the dawn.