Inside the fifth ward, the sounds of battle echoed throughout the night. Hours had passed since the first undead had risen and yet like a never-ending dream the battle against the undead had no end in sight.
"Kalit get those people to the barrier!" Yelled Brom while he sidestepped a claw that was aiming for his head.
With a quick horizontal thrust, the undead's head fell to the earth while it's body followed after.
"Six hundred and thirty-three!" Shouted Zorin as he lopped another of the walking corpse's heads high into the sky.
With a grunt, he killed another six in the span of a moment before flashing Brom a huge grin. "I think you will be losing this bet brother." Proclaimed Zorin as he continued to wreak havoc amongst the undead, constantly switching between powerful earth spells and flashy sword skills.
Brom shook his head as he killed another group of undead before responding to his muscle brained brother. "Dumbass I have already said ten times I am not going to compete with you, this is not the time for games Zorin."
"Ha just admit defeat and I will drop the matter altogether, don't try to play me as a fool. We both know you have not stopped keeping track of your kills." Barked Zorin in reply while not missing a beat during his battle.
Brom had no way of refuting that statement, it was a bit of a habit he had made from his earlier years. Back when he was full of piss and iron and cocky beyond measure. During his younger years, he had always made a competition out of killing his enemies. Zorin was always his hardest competitor with both of them neck and neck with wins and losses.
But this was seriously not the time for those types of games. This was their city that was in danger and their families that would be affected. Brom had no desire to play any game, all he cared about was wiping out this damn never-ending horde and saving as many people as he could.
Though if he was to tell this prideful bastard that he already reached the mid-eight hundred in kills he knew he would only ignite the fire under Zorin's ass.
Ignoring the fool of a brother Brom continued to move through the horde killing all in his path while he searched for survivors. Thankfully shortly after the two had entered five more masters had arrived, though there were a few more, some still needed to stay out to keep the peace in the city and in the worst-case scenario act as a second shield.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
From the graveyard, the old man's body began to light up with all sorts of magical symbols. They glowed with a dull green glow reflecting off the fog casting frightful shadows into the eerie night. Mana converged on the glowing dead body and like a piece of tinder the mana ignited the spark invoking the corrupted spell.
All around the body shadows from every direction converged toward the dead man's body. Each shadow slithered and wormed their way into the corpse. More shadows melted with the body and with each new one the lifeless body started to twitch erratically.
With a sudden jerk, the body reanimated and now stood silently in the shadows. The man's features were no longer distinguishable as he now had a body covered in shadows.
"Harani sen fearli leacex no..." A grinding voice echoed from the man's mouth as he recited a unique spell. Its incantation called forth more shadows from the night though this time they did not reach toward the man. Instead, they began to glue themselves together while forming a spinning circular formation.
With the last part of the incantation the formation solidified, a large dark vortex hovered before the man.
"Tap, tap, tap."
Footsteps rang out from the vortex bringing with them a sense of dread. As they grew louder a multitude of hooded figures appeared from the vortex.
"Spread out and destroy this city, we must collect enough souls for the master!"
Echos of agreement replied to the hooded figure at the front. Without further discussion, the rest of the hood figures departed into the dark world to wreak havoc on the city.
The last remaining figure looked toward the shadow puppet and a soft sigh escaped his mouth.
"You have done a great job so far my old friend, the master would be pleased. Its time for you to set off for your next mission!" The hooded figure spoke softly to the shadow puppet that was the old man. While he gathered mana, once enough mana was gathered the hooded man spoke a quick incantation towards the shadow puppet.
The mana twisted and contorted, transforming and shaping itself based off of the man's command before colliding with the shadow puppet.
With the spell activated the shadow puppet's eyes flashed red before the puppet disappeared into the shadows.
"Let the games begin!" Hissed the man before he too turned and left to do his masters bidding.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Dawn was approaching and yet half the city was still submerged and eerie darkness. Sunlight was blocked by the ever-growing fog. Though Eziek tried his best to keep everything trapped in his barrier, the fog was unable to be contained but it was a minor issue that at the moment had not bothered him.
Now though he had many experts helping inside the barrier the situation was barely being contained. From the reports, he had gathered from those who brought back survivers the undead seemed to be growing like weeds from the ground. This was unfathomable to the powerful inquisitor who knew the limits of those nasty necros. Usually, they could produce a few hundred undead but they needed enough power to perform while also needing enough corpses to unleash the spell on.
Yet, even with a graveyard, there should not be this many undead it was to the point that all the experts needed to take shifts while the others regained their strength.
At the same time, Eziek was begging to weaken himself, for the past few hours he had been maintaining the barrier by himself. It was not that he did not want help but that no one else could maintain such a large barrier, but the issue was that even though he should be able to hold on for a few more hours.
About three hours ago there have been concentrated attacks on different parts of his barrier. He had sent Brom and Zorin to check out the attacks but they had reported nothing more than a few extra undead in the area.
Now as the sun reached the midway mark in the sky Eziek felt the familiar disturbance against his barrier.
"Ah, here they go again." Moaned Eziek has reinforced his mana in that area. Exhaustion was showing on his face, yet there was no other solution for him.
However, as he moved more mana to quell the disturbance and even stronger one appeared on the other side of his barrier. With a worried expression appearing on his face he tried to gather more mana toward that area, but it was too late and he was too exhausted.
The barrier began to crack and before a loud eruption happened that shook the city. The barrier had been breached and with a gap in its defense, the rest of the barrier began to crumble as Eziek fell to the floor with sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Quick depart and inform the rest of those on standby and also get the city guard to evacuate the rest of the city!" Huffed Eziek to his aid that had shown up later in the night.
With a quick bow, the aid disappeared to follow his master's instructions.
----
Trint huddled together with his family and friends as they waited all through the night. With no new news, they were beginning to grow worried. Trint knew his father was strong but that feeling earlier had only grown stronger and his worries only grew larger as the time passed.
Though this was his second life and he had parents from his previous life. These new parents to him were his one and only in his heart. They were very important to him. At first, he had been hesitant to open up his heart to this new family. But as the days and years passed all he could feel from them was love.
Without even noticing it his heart began to open up and before he knew it they had become an important part of his life. Parental love was something he never had before and now he could truly cherish it and the thought of losing his father scared him.
No matter how strong his father was there would always be someone stronger and that was he was worried about. As the hours passed the anxiety only worsened but there was nothing he could do but sit and wait.
"Grrr..."
Off to his right sat Melody whos face was a bright red as her stomach continued to growl in protest.
"Mommy how much longer do you think this will last?" Questioned Melody as she held her stomach.
They had not eaten anything since the night before and now with breakfast missed and lunch on the way the whole group was starting to grow hungry and frustrated at the situation.
The only thing Trint was happy about was that this safe room had at least a toilet else this situation would have been a lot worse for the group.
"Ahhhh!!!"
Just as Melody's mom was going to answer her daughter a sharp cry came from outside the manor. Followed shortly after with many more screams.
Before the group could begin to worry and question what was going on. A loud knocking came from the safe room's door, " Madam the city is being overrun, I was informed to take you and the rest to safety outside of the city."
Hearing one of the house guards Wallace shouting from the outside the group looked at each other in fright. 'Has the city really fallen and if so what of Brom and Zorin.' This thought rang out in everyone's mind, but now was not the time and so the group left with Wallace and Hartley the guard who Trint had met at their house the other day.
Exiting the manor Trint watched as fires reached for the sky seeking to devour the world in chaos. Then all he could see was the inside of the coach, they had been rushed into a wagon ready to depart the city. But even without the ability to see the city, they could still hear the chaos that surrounded them.
Their windows were covered in wood planks not only to help them not see the devastation but to keep those unwanted from gaining easy access inside.
Wallace and Hartley guarded the wagon while the driver raced through the streets like a madman.
Trint was not sure how far they had gone and how far they were from the city gates, but as they drove haphazardly through the streets an odd resonance seemed to stir in him.
Look up the creature shrouded in shadows stopped its attack on the helpless citizens. It had felt something enticing yet it had passed by in a blink causing the beast to stare out at the masses in confusion. Realizing that the feeling was gone it turned back to those who were trying to escape and resumed its fun.
-----
Night began to fall as Trint and the rest of the survivors settled down in an open field an hour's ride from the city. Knights, and mages along with city guards patrolled throughout the tent city that was rudely constructed, keeping the peace while also keeping an eye out for danger.
The city had not yet fallen thanks to the brave men and women who were even now still risking their lives against the horde. But all seemed lost, Trint still had not heard any news about his father but no news was better than bad news and that was what was keeping his family's hope together.
As the moons reached higher into the night the camp began to settle into sleep, it seemed that the trouble of the city was not chasing them. Trint however, was not able to rest so as his brother snored Trint sat quietly searching his body he had felt a weird feeling earlier yet now it seemed to be nowhere to be found.
Looking out into the night sky at the darkness that shrouded the world the feeling he felt earlier in the day was echoed in the night.
Frustrated and tired Trint closed his eyes and forced himself to fall asleep.
"Fifty-six sheep jumped over the fence..." Mumbled Trint before silence finally pervaded his tent.
While he slept his dream from the other day resurfaced in his mind. Its mystical call lulled his mind into a deeper sleep, as the song echoed around him the woman who before was only a beautiful blur before was a vivid angle now.
Her eyes a crystal blue dazed him even in his dream world, she smiled sweetly before opening her soft lips to speak.
"Awake great sage..."
The soothing voice woke him from his slumber to the sun creeping over the horizon inching its way into his tent.
What the dream meant was a mystery to him but for now, it seemed that was all it was. Getting up to go relieve himself Trint froze after leaving his tent.