The Knight captain had been raised by the Order of Light since his parents passed away and his uncle took him and his twin in. They had been about 7 years old and didn't remember much from outside a life of prayer and duty. The captain had always been more gifted toward the martial teachings than the prayers and learning, so he followed the path of the Light Knight. A life of duty, combat and training. When he was called to help investigate a village where people had started disappearing, he didn't question his orders. If evil activity was responsible for the disappearances, he would neutralize the threat, if a human was responsible, he would bring them to justice and if animals were, he would kill them to feed the family of the victims. He prepared his team who had been with him since they had all been cadets. He had been more than honored to become their Captain after their first training mission with a Senior Knight, he knew part of it was because of his uncle that was high in the clerical hierarchy, but he also knew his people trusted him and that was what mattered. They set out at dawn the next morning, for it was a very long road to the limits of the realm of humanity. Even more so since it wasn't to the elven lands, their allies, but toward a dark forest full of evil. The remnant of the Dark Forest that was tamed by the Order of Light when the Demon King attempted to enslave them all a thousand years ago.
It took them almost a month to get to their target village, a quaint little place, about 100 people living around an Inn and general store. They took room at the calm and quiet inn, and started asking around. Women and men alike had disappeared, but no children yet. The missing were both couples, single or even with children. One woman who had disappeared was pregnant, her husband went missing looking for her. Half the group went to look at the surrounding woods during light time to avoid the monsters and try to find where the people disappeared. All of them came back empty handed, traces found indicated very few people went into the woods and those that did, the traces slowly faded. Rumors had it, some even disappeared during the night from the town's limits. Having found nothing more when the sun started going down, the Captain decided to recall his people and regroup. Since the Inn was mostly empty they took a table in a far corner and put their knowledge in common. Despite their lack of true progress, the Captain wasn't deterred, not everything would be easy to solve. They would find more clues the more they looked, so he told his ten men to get to their rooms and get ready for the next morning.
He did his nightly prayer before going to bed, but he had strange dreams, not the first time, but it had been a while since his body tried to wake through his dreams, he had trained himself well enough to wake from it before he got too deep. His flesh was aroused, but while he was breathing to get his body to cool off he heard strange noises from downstairs, and it sounded like his men were wounded or something. He would recognise their voice anywhere, he got up and took his unsheathed sword from where he had placed it, next to his bed. He didn't have time to don armor so he went to the stairs and tried to silently get down to spy on what was going on. It wasn't what he thought at all, it was much worse.
In the main room of the Inn, demons had his people chained to the roof and suspended, naked, while they were raped from the front or back and he would have thought their moans of his men were of pain, but they were all from pleasure, he could see their glassy eyes full of lust. There were 2 to the side that were bound, gagged and naked. It was clear even from his point of view they were very aroused, their shaft red and leaking. They were making pleading noises to the demons. He counted height demons, 5 females and 2 males, he couldn't take those numbers alone and likely was the only unaffected because, despite the slight uncomfort, he slept with his gorget, which was part of his blessed armor, when he was in the field, even in an inn. He could feel the cold of the gorget protecting his mind and flesh from their powers. He slowly tried to make his way toward the back to flee, but a strong male stepped from a side door in his path.
"If you want your people to live, you would do well to bargain with us instead of fleeing like a coward... Or do those people mean nothing to you?"
He gritted his teeth, took his sword up, ready to attack until a female voice came from behind, and he heard one of his men grunt.
"They will even take their own lives if I ask of them, letting me eat their soul to give to our Queen. Each Knight soul can then be remade into a nightmare Knight for you to fight... would you fight your brother's soul or try to save them?"
The fact was, tactically he should kill the male demon and flee, but Honor demanded he attempt to save his men since he was given the chance.
"What are your terms?"
He walked back to the main room, standing tall in front of the affront to his men.
"They are simple, my Queen wants to see if your knights are still as strong as during the Great War. If you pass our test, you can leave with all your men and their souls. I will free them of our influence and magic for each day you succeed, one of your men will go free. The last two will be free if you free them all, if you fail they will be our messenger to your people that we are coming. You and your men will be ours."
He had never been closer to cursing in his life, this was not a mission for young Knights and a new Captain... but no one cared about these small villages, since no big demon had been seen for hundreds of years in this section of the land.
"And what, pray tell, is that challenge."
She chuckles and brushes her finger on his best friend's face, making him turn toward her for a soul searing kiss, raising the Captain's rage, making his breathing harder from holding himself in check, trying to keep his mind calm enough to think.
"You must resist me for one hour without leaving the room we are in, each night you do, one of your men will be freed, each time you fail, one of them will be ours permanently. To seal the deal, a kiss will be done. If you plead to come, you lose."
He was well and truly trapped, but he had been trained all his life for the rigor of his path. He could do it. His faith and training were strong. He didn't have a choice. Even so, he still had his gorget, he would be fine, it had been blessed by his uncle to protect him against dark magic.
