Chapter 15.5: The price of survival.
Gray (Veri) aka. "Raven" POV.
"GRAAOOUUUHH!!!"
Whipping my head up from the now falling giant that I just sniped in the left eye, I once again spot the high demon, who is now practically shining like a second sun in the sky as it gathers an absolutely massive amount of mana to launch a absolutely huge and without doubt, devastating spell.
'Shit!'
"The demon!! Target the demon! We can't let it finish that spell!" I shout as loudly as I can; and can only hope that my fellow soldiers heard me over the sounds of fighting as I notch an arrow and take aim and start firing at the demon as fast as my strengthened and quickened arms let me.
The few surrounding soldiers who heard me quickly follow my lead and start bombarding the demon with their respective method of attack; most using a bow or crossbow, but a few mages also join in and start throwing spells at the demon.
Narrowing all focus on my target, I notch an arrow and take careful aim. As my chi art kicks in, the demon in my sights explodes into clarity.
Taking aim at his right eye, I take a deep breath, and hold it as I account for the wind and other intervening factors.
Letting my breath out, I release the arrow just as I release the last of my held breath.
Flying straight and true, the arrow hits the demon straight in its right eye and a high pitched roar sounds as the demon roars in pain and anger; and for a moment, its spell falters.
It is only for a moment, however, as the now rather badly hurt and pissed off demon seemingly gives up defence in favour of finishing its spell; even at the cost of its life.
"GRAAAAAOUUHTH!" It roars as it resumes its spell with increased speed; pouring everything it has into the spell, even going as far as fueling its own lifeforce to hurry the spell along.
"Hurry!! We must stop it!" I yell, panic audible even in my own ears as I desperately shoot arrow after arrow at the demon in a frenzy to stop its spell from completing.
Unfortunately, the demon refuses to die.
Even though it is now more arrow and bolt than flesh; burned, sliced and mutilated by magic and looking more like a burned porcupine than anything, it still stubbornly clings to life; All for the sake of completing its goal.
After weathering another moment of furious assault, the demon reaches the completion of its spell and roars triumphantly as it throws the spell towards the centre of the city. Immediately after it breathes its last breath and begins to fall limply towards the ground, its purpose fulfilled.
"Awoooouuuu!"
The beasts howl as one, as they turn tail and start a mad rush away from the city, utterly abandoning the fighting.
They are quickly followed by the other remaining monsters that are still alive, as they break away from combat and quickly rush after their comrades.
Left without enemies, I can only turn and stare dumbly in awe at the miniature sun of a spell that is falling towards the center of the city.
"Soldiers!!" a booming voice snaps me out of my stupor.
Belatedly, I realize it is Corporal Kal that is using a voice amplifying technique.
A thick silence descends on the former battlefield as the remaining soldiers all stand frozen, waiting.
"Take cover!!!"
All at once, everyone quickly scrambles to find sufficient cover in a mayhem of movement.
Glancing around, I spot Aya and Jacen and quickly run over towards them.
"Aya! Jacen!" I yell as I run to catch up to them.
Hearing my call, they look over at me and quickly indicate for me to follow.
After a few seconds of running, I catch up to them as we reach a stairway leading down from the gate wall to the ground.
After a quick sprint towards a particularly sturdy looking red brick building with a slanted roof, we quickly slip in and slam the solid steel door closed behind us.
Not a second later, the very earth starts shaking so violently that I can't stay on my feet but a moment later a wave of force and the accompanying sound of a horribly loud explosion follows.
While the house shakes violently from the force, thankfully, it seems able to weather it without collapsing in on itself on top of us.
The tremors continue for another few seconds or so, but it quickly loses its potency until it is barely perceivable unless one focuses on it.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, I look towards Aya and Jacen. Both look tired and worn, with nicks and scuffs everywhere, but otherwise seemingly unhurt.
"Are you two ok? No major injury?"
Jacen takes on a grim expression as he stares down at the floor.
Aya looks towards Jacen with a grimace for a moment, staying unnervingly quiet for a long moment. But then she starts speaking, slowly.
"We're fine… thanks to Jana. She… sacrificed herself to save us." Aya says weakly.
Like a broken dam, she continues speaking quickly, barely taking the time to even breathe.
"We were pinned down by 2 red ogres. Just then a flight of Harrowers came diving down at our exposed flanks.
I… I didn't notice them until they were upon us." She says, head falling, as if her strength is suddenly failing her.
"Jana… She used a shadow net spell to harass the Harrowers, to buy us time to finish off the ogres… But, we…" Aya says slowly, falling quiet mid sentence.
After a moment of silence, Jacen abruptly speaks up, grim faced and bitter of tongue.
"We weren't fast enough...
I... I wasn't fast enough!! Damn it! God damn it all!! " He yells, slamming his fist hard into the floor, the floorboards creak dangerously but except for a few cracks, holds together. "I wasn't fast enough!!!"
Unable to find any words to console the man, I can only mutter a soft: "I'm sorry…" to Jacen as he breaks down and starts sobbing quietly while slamming his fists into the floor, cursing his inability to save his own sister.
Aya looks awkwardly between me and Jacen, unsure how to act in this situation.
Nodding towards Jacen, I say: "Stay with him. You don't need to do anything, just be here. I'm going to go take a quick look at the damage to the city, then I'll be right back."
Nodding weakly, Aya turns towards Jacen and sits down, leaving some space in between them but still being relatively close.
Nodding slowly to myself, I turn and walk to the steel door. Right as I reach for the door, Ayas voice stops me.
"Raven… Could… could you keep an eye out for Ray? I know the odds of him surviving are extremely low… but…"
Still facing forward, I nod slowly.
"I'll keep an eye out."
Opening the door, I quickly walk out and quickly close it again.
After a quick glance around, I make for the tallest hill around, one to the southwest of me.
Climbing the hill, I quickly make my way to the tallest building, a wooden 3 story building, and start climbing as quickly as I can while making sure it is safe, and won't come falling down.
As I reach the roof of the building, I forcefully take a deep breath to keep a scream from slipping out as I take in the state of the city;
All that remains of the former glorious center of the city with its awe inspiring guild houses and impressive academy is but a giant, burned, crater.
Similarly the former buildings in the outskirts of the center have been all but reduced to rubble, as the shockwave of the blast levelled everything within 300m of the blast epicentre.
Depending on the quality of buildings in a district, the degree of damage caused by the shockwave changed drastically depending on the district; as it seems that at the poorer districts the shockwave made it all the way to the wall in certain parts while in the richer parts only half a dozen or so houses width got razed.
At particularly bad parts, it seemingly even managed to break off and throw chunks of the walls down onto the ground below.
Swallowing my emotions that want to run wild, I turn my attention instead towards finding a commanding officer to report to.
After a few slow minutes of watching the city for movement, I finally spot someone of rank, over by the main gate.
Quickly climbing down, I hurriedly make my way towards the main gate.
Once at the gate, I quickly find the person I am searching for, as he stands tall, battered and bruised, but not broken while yelling orders to a few dozen or so soldiers that are hurrying away to fulfill their missions of rescuing and aiding as many citizens as possible.
"Ah, Raven!" Corporal Kal says loudly over the buzz of the soldiers that are hurrying along.
"It is good to see that you made it. Have you surveyed the damage done?"
"Sir!" Saluting the Corporal, I promptly relayed what I saw to him.
Frowning, he takes a moment to process the information.
"Then it is as I feared… We have no way of contacting the king and can only rely on ourselves, until our plight is made known by messenger…" Shaking his head, he refocuses his gaze on me.
"I need you to take a look at the surroundings; see if the monsters are gathering to finish us off or if they have left us to our fates." The Corporal says before quickly adding:
"No going off into the wilds mind you, a simple survey from the walls should suffice, given your ability with sight enhancement."
Nodding affirmative, I salute the Corporal before quickly scrambling up the staircase onto the walls proper and start scanning the horizon for threats.
End of chapter 15.5
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Chapter 16: Stuck.
Rayder White P.O.V.
Awaking with a start, I try to sit up by sheer reflex; Only to get stopped short almost immediately as I hit my head painfully on a solid surface barely a decimeter into the movement.
"Argh!! Dammit!"
Falling back down, I try to take deep breaths to fight back the pain, only to choke up on the first breath.
It takes all my effort to keep me from heaving what little sustenance I have left in my stomach.
"My god! The smell is... horrible beyond all reason! It's so bad I can literally taste it!" I exclaim after forcefully breathing the foul tasting air.
Finally breathing semi-normally, my head pain makes itself known again as it flares up and vyes for my attention.
Seconds pass as I take deep breaths as the pain slowly recedes. Opening my eyes and gingerly looking around, I realize it is almost completely pitch black here; Wherever here is.
As the pain from my face bump finally fades to an ignorable level, other sources of pain dully make themselves known and assault my mind one after the other, vying for my attention.
It seems my body has taken quite a bit of a beating while I was unconscious.
'I wonder how long I was out for…' I ponder absentmindedly as I try to make sense of the jumbled sensations.
After taking a moment to process the information dump from my body, I then decide to try using my hands to explore my surroundings; only to realise I can't move my left arm.
Panic rising, I try to keep calm and reassure myself that it is, probably, nothing major, seeing as I am still alive; and begin exploring for the reason of my nonmoving limb.
Carefully probing my left arm with my right, I let out a sigh of relief that I at least still have a left arm. It takes me almost a minute of further probing for me to realize I have a pretty badly dislocated shoulder.
Fortunately, that seems to be about the extent of the damage, as I can still move my fingers, feel pain, etc.
'Shit… Hopefully there is someone around to help out it back in place. If I have to do something about it myself…'
Shuddering, I shake my head to clear the image from my mind.
'I don't even want to think about it.'
Considering the state of my left arm, I decided that a quick check of my body would be needed. Just to make sure it's all there and in the place it's supposed to be. Moving my feet reveals no problems, thankfully, and except a few nicks, scratches and painful bruises, I seem to be mostly ok. For the most part, at least.
That out of the way, I instead turn my attention towards the current biggest problem; My location and surroundings. In particular, the solid object seemingly on top of me.
Pulling some mana, I conjure a small flame above my right hand. With the light from the small flame, I quickly realize what I am trapped under, but I can barely believe it.
'No way… Did the explosion break off portions of the wall? And it actually managed to send pieces of the wall flying off? Just how strong was that explosion!?'
Upon closer inspection, I realize I am left alive through sheer dumb luck, as the section that fell on top of me was a lookout hole in the wall.
If I were a meter or two further in any direction, I would have been squished into tomato paste.
Not a pretty sight, I'd imagine.
The space I am currently in is, or was rather, an almost perfect rectangle hole in the wall, its size being 2x2 meters on the inside with only a long thin line with about half a decimeter for an opening towards the enemies.
It was mostly used by archers to rain down arrows, so it didn't need large openings.
Now however, it is not quite so rectangular and said hole is practically non-existent.
The "ceiling" is only a decimeter or two above me, so I can't stand up, but with a little wiggling and awkward twisting, I think I can manage to turn unto my stomach.
Its previous rectangular shape has become more of a haphazard mess of a rectangle, as if it was made by a bunch of totally wasted halflings; As there are more bricks that juts out at strange angles than the few ones that are still set as they were originally intended.
'I just hope it holds long enough for me to get out of here, otherwise... Tomato paste.'
Making a brighter flame, I start inspecting the former wall carefully for a way out of this stone tomb I never asked for.
After searching for a while, and awkwardly rotating and twisting my body a few times because of the lack of space; I notice a weak light which is filtering in through a small opening in the ceiling to my far right, where the structure has partially collapsed in a heap of broken bricks and mortar.
Awkwardly crawling with my one good arm and my legs, I make my way towards the opening while trying to avoid further injury to my already battered body and dislocated shoulder.
Easier said than done when you crawl through partially crushed stones where sharp pieces are mixed in randomly.
After what feels like a few minutes of carefully crawling through the makeshift stone caltrop field, I finally reach the small opening and its accompanying pile of debris.
Upon closer inspection, the hole is about a hands width across, so I can't get out that way.
"Unless, of course, I blow it apart." I mutter to myself beneath my breath.
'Not sure if that is a very good idea though; Seeing as I am underneath it all, should it all collapse.'
As I look up through the small opening I see the source of the light; the emerald green moon.
'So it's night, huh. I must have been out of it for a few hours at least then… That explains why I am so damn hungry too.' I ponder loosely as I try to spot something, anything, through the crack.
Unable to spot anything of note in the night sky outside, I lay down to ponder my options.
'1. Blow it apart with magic. Likely conclusion: It all collapses onto me.
… yeah, no.
2. Try to widen the hole through manual labor. Likely conclusion: Might work, if right conditions exist. Small risk of it collapsing unto me.
… Maybe, let's see if I can get some bricks loose.'
Reaching up, I grab the closest brick around the hole and try to wiggle it out. No such luck, it is wedged stuck.
'Well shit. Next then…
3. Wait for/call for help. Likely conclusion: Improbable to get help, may even call beasts to me. If they are still around, that is. Pretty sure that if they were, I'd already be dead.
But on the bright side of things, no risk of getting crushed. ... I think.
... Worth a shot.'
"Hello!? Anybody out there? ... I could use some help here!" I yell as loudly as I can manage.
Pausing, I focus all my attention on listening for any kind of response.
Seconds pass… nothing. A minute passes, yet still nothing.
Sighing, I slump back down on the ground as I stare up the moon through the hole above me.
'Well that's a no go... What now…' I ponder as I stare absently at the emerald-green moon above.
Minutes pass in silence as I lose myself in the limited sight of the moon above I can see through the small hole; The combined glow from the moon paints the world in a hue of green.
'So here I am, trapped alone under who knows how many tonnes of stone; all of which is likely to come crashing down on me without much more than a moment's notice.
Let's not forget that my group and everyone else I knew here are probably hurt or worse; dead. The city where I lived is most likely badly crippled, if not outright destroyed by the blast…
Even if I manage to get out of here, how am I supposed to stay alive? For what purpose am I even here to begin with…?'
Staring up at the dully glowing moon, I absently ponder the fate of my acquaintances while I soul search in hopes of finding some answers, or a sign, or... Something.
As the minutes pass, no divine message or signs descend; Not even a reasonable plan of escape comes to mind. But then something catches my attention; A faint sound. Or at least, I think I heard something…
… ...
Was it just my imagination?
… …
... Oh god. Am I going crazy already?
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Aya Grey P.O.V.
Looking out over the burning piles of monsters and beasts, I can't help but sweep my gaze over the surrounding plains, searching for a sign. A hint. Anything.
'He can't be dead, right?
I mean, he's like a zombie. No matter how many times I beat him down while we were sparring, he would just stand right back up again and keep going...'
Looking back out over the dark fields I see nothing of note, the same as the last 6 or 7 hours since I started tending the pyres.
The fields that are now only dimly illuminated by the light of the fires and the moon in the sky show little of what may be hidden in among the rubble and corpses littering the ground.
The dark is thick, as the wispy mint green light of the moon doesn't give enough light to see anything but hazy shapes; Not surprising as it is probably well past midnight already and it's not a clear night, as a light haze hangs in the air and casts a haze on the surroundings.
I let out a long sigh as I feel the fatigue and sleepiness from the long and exerting day flow through me once again, threatening to bring me away to the land of sleep even as I stand.
Gathering my will, I slap my face hard with both of my hands to regain clarity.
"Not yet." I murmur quietly to myself. "There is still a chance..."
Returning my gaze to the pyers, I watch as the wretched beasts and monsters ever so slowly turn to ash until something catches my attention.
"…! Co… h..lp!"
"It couldn't be…" I mutter quietly to myself as I try to locate the source of the voice.
Having only a vague sense of where the voice came from, I tentatively and slowly sneak towards the approximate direction of the sound with shield raised and clutching my sword tightly.
After walking slowly and quietly for a few minutes, I notice a particularly large part of the wall which lays surrounded by monsters and beasts. After a quick check to see if any monsters are still alive I start approaching ever so carefully while being ready to act immediately, should anything dangerous appear.
'It is not only monsters and beasts that I have to be wary of, after all… bandits and similar ilk are not unheard of after all. Especially given our current plight and weakness. I bet there are more than a few bands of 'em who would try to exploit us or even straight up try to force us into slavery, or worse... No, Aya, focus!' I mumble to myself quietly.
Shaking my head to clear my errant thoughts, I refocus on the task: finding the source of the voice.
Quietly stalking closer to the former part of the wall, I lose my footing on a piece of rubble that crumbles under my weight and sets me falling to ground. Reflexes quickly kick in and do a quick roll to regain my footing.
The drastic movement however, causes a ruckus as my metal rivets in my armor and shield meets the ground with dull clanging sounds.
Standing perfectly still, I watch for movement. Nothing happens however, even after a long and tense 30 seconds of waiting.
Breathing out quietly, I relax slightly and after readjusting my gear I restart my quiet stalking as I search for the source of the voice.
As I reach the large block of stone that was, formerly, part of the wall, I hear a quiet murmur. It seems to be coming from inside of the wall block…
Following the voice I realise it is coming from a small hole in the top of the wall block.
"… I mean, what's up with that? Giant freakin' dog! And he can speak?! I mean, like, how!?"
'He's alive!'
Butterflies rush through my stomach and my knees give out at the realization and I slump down on the cold stone.
Trying to call out to him, I get interrupted as he continues his monolog.
"Ra...!"
"I mean… forget the talking part, magic yadda yadda but; Why a dog?? Could've been something cool instead. Like... a dragon! Yeah! a dragon would've been way cooler!"
…
… …
"Uhm Ray?" I ask bluntly.
"Oh… ... … Uhm, hey Aya, what's up?"
"... What exactly are you doing?" I ask, voice coming out sharper than I had intended.
"Oh.. well, see, I… am trying to think of a way out of here." He replies incoherently. "Wanna, uhh, give me a hand? I only have one that is usable at the moment. Which sucks by the way. It really does."
Unable to stop myself from chuckling at the sheer absurdness that is Rayder White, I reply with a simple "Sure" and start working to widen the hole enough to get him out of there.
End of chapter 16.