Alice hears screams, sounds of things breaking and also notices shadows inside the city, one of the biggest buildings slowly collapses in the center of the city.
It's a shame, that city had an enviable architecture, Alice didn't know much about politics of the world, but as far as she knows, Riverin was a neutral zone, it even hosted some peace agreements, despite being an exporter of weapons.
Riverin didn't exists to just produce weapons, it was also rich in the production of artistic pieces and utensils in general. Alice would like to have reached this town before this abrupt end, she is annoyed that she missed this opportunity, but as usual she is not shaken by it.
The shadows are lit by the little light generated by the flames burning what's left of the city, the fire shouldn't last more than a few hours now, only what is made of stone and wasn't targeted by acid thrown on the city, no is destroyed.
There are still some ornaments that were strewn around the streets, as witnesses of the opulence this city supported, Alice sneaks into the city to look for groceries, things of value and to investigate what is there, is what caused Riverin destruction.
Alice collects some intact jewels lying among the rubble, there are many bodies lying around, some stink too much already, but only the ones that haven't been charred or melted by acid completely.
This city in addition of being very large, it was very populated, Alice notes that many must not have died here, many of those buildings could easily house hundreds, she did not find as many bodies as Revein's size indicates there should be.
Near where the center of town should be, there's considerable noise, Alice notices that's where there's a lot of shadows, but some smaller creatures seem to concentrate in the middle of it, huddled together, they're moving.
Alice gets as close as she can without needing to expose herself, it's still hard to see, even with more flames around, he can't see straight. It's as if a twilight accompanied those figures, she could see something at least.
Like the survivors she encountered before, there are beasts there, ferals and soldiers. They seem to gather those people, she can't be sure, but they must be dwarves who inhabited the place, and maybe some visitors, they survived hell, but why? Alice asks herself.
Alice notice runes in neon accompanying some of those creatures, she had never seen such an example of magic outside magic pockets. All runes share a trait, they are necromagic runes, and they all have a dark or red hue.
Those creatures are powerful for sure, much more than her ogre friend taken by necroreality magic. Perhaps she could face one or two and survive, but there are dozens of them, in addition to the lesser creatures, who with such a large contingent could overcome Alice's superiority.
Alice's backpack is heavy, if she can negotiate well what she got, she can be calm about money for a while.
Alice sees those people are being brutalized, endless monstrosities are practiced on them, Alice who is normally not shaken or comotted, she feels a twinge from her coin, she runs her hand over her clothes over the top of the coin.
It had never happened, but she had never come across such scene either, there is no creature with a conscience and decency that is unscathed watching it, she needs to do something, but she would not be able to protect so many.
She thinks for a few minutes, opens her backpack and takes out her notes, where she had copied the inscriptions from the last magic pocket, a parchment is glowing purple, now she is able to read and understand it.
A necromagic, Alice is amazed by that possibility, it is very powerful, it demands to be recited and it is considerably long, for sure, those creatures will attack her as soon as shee reveals herself.
Alice sees the colossal range of the magic and thinks, I just need to see the target, she thinks of hiding among the rubble where there's a hole to see people being brutalized, but surely that would fall apart on her head when the spell is cast, wouldn't it, she knows she needs something better.
Looking around, she sees the silhouette of one of the few tall buildings that hasn't collapsed yet, it shouldn't be even a hundred meters away, surely it should have a full view from the top of it to the center of the city.
She sneaks in again and slowly scales the building, so she doesn't make a noise or accidentally knock something over, it shouldn't be long before dawn, she needs to finish this and run away while it's still dark.
She also thinks that if act is all she can do to be thankful for the items she has looted, there is no claim for those people, all she can bestow now is mercy.
Alice re-unfolds the parchment that floats in the air by itself, immune to the high wind from that altitude, to the morning dew that begins to pile up on everything, immune to gravity.
"Flames from the abyss that revolt nature, hellish flames that corrupt the world, nefarious desire that burns within creation, I give you these offerings, consume their souls, consume their bodies"
Three flaming spheres appear orbiting around Alice, she is not even halfway through and already realized that that was a bad idea, the spheres have a dark red glow, absurdly intense, they light up almost the entire city there.
Everyone in town notices that, now Alice can clearly see those creatures, some are scarier and seemingly more powerful versions of creatures she has faced and killed, and those surrounded by runes are, of course, demons.
"Flames also take away those I hate, flames take away what does not serve me, may the fury of the offerings fall on those I got to curse"
Those monsters erupt in a furious collective attack against Alice, the people being huddled or brutalized combust and the flames are engulfed into the spheres orbiting Alice at a speed far beyond what Alice can perceive.
"Flames that burn with hate, flames that destroy with pleasure, flames consume everything at my command, disperse! Secularized Flames of the Abyss!"
A sea of fire spreads from the spheres surrounding Alice, the flames engulf everything, the lesser creatures are pulverized with the flames, but the demons take little damage and are only blown away by the flames.
The flames also consume everything that ever had life, but it leaves the rock and metal parts of the city intact, even the ashes are consumed by the flames.
Alice sees that the demons have gotten a bit scattered and stunned by her attack, she doesn't waste any time and runs away as fast as she can.
The rest of the city ends up collapsing as she flees, some things fall around her, the flames may not consume the metal and stone, but they certainly impacted those buildings, there are no significant traces left of what happened here because of that magic.
Maybe if those survivors meet someone along the way, they can tell what happened here, so this hell doesn't repeat another time.
Alice keeps running without stopping after leaving the city, she saw there is an old trail leaving the city towards the red mountain of Zackar, it may be just a coincidence, but she won't stop until she gets there.
She doesn't know what she has to find there, but she won't be there anymore if the creatures that followed that march are going there.
The demons who were the only ones who survived the attack don't seem to be interested in chasing Alice, she gets annoyed, is it because of the direction she's going? Alice feels another twinge coming from the coin.