The crowd that had been so overwhelming only a short time earlier was barely a trickle as they descended to the city gates. As they got closer, the path continued even farther into a small dip that then led steeply uphill to the city gates.
From the bottom of the dip, the walls seemed even more impressive than they had been from above. Any approaching armies would have had to contend with this steep approach before they even got to the walls.
Jason knew little about war, but he couldn't imagine having to try to take this city. It was likely all but impregnable to any normal assault.
Of course, the smoke that still rose over the city and the flames that came into view as they walked through the open gates made it clear that it was plenty vulnerable in other ways.
The once magnificent gates had become a gateway to chaos. The fires burning throughout the city were the least of the problems. The shouts of fighting and dying men had been muffled before, but from within the city walls they were amplified.
Jason could barely see the battle that was now being waged deep within the city, but the carnage leading up to it was incredible. Bodies were heaped three high in places, and it was impossible to traverse them without stepping in pools of blood.
Here and there the moans of dying men issued weakly, often from underneath the corpses of their compatriots or enemies. It was impossible to determine which was which.
There were plenty of armored soldiers, but the vast majority of the people looked to be civilians. There were even some women among them who had died with swords in hand.
Here, a man in a simple shirt and trousers had been run through with his hand still gripping the knife he had used to kill one of the soldiers. There, another soldier looked to have been killed by one of his compatriots.
Vanya didn't so much as pause at the sight. She stepped over bodies whenever possible, but had no qualms stepping on top of them when there was no free path. Nora followed right behind her doing her best to match the huge demon's footsteps.
Jason did his best to keep from gagging as he followed behind them. The smell was already incredible, and even were he to close his eyes and hold his breath, the sloshing sound of pooled blood made him want to empty his stomach. In places where the cobblestone road was particularly dusty, he ended up tracking through red tinted mud.
They were forced to follow as close to the center of the road as they could due to the heat of the still raging fires. Jason didn't pass a single person even attempting to fight the fires. The only people he saw aside from brief flashes of the battle ahead were crazy or desperate people dashing into burning buildings to steal whatever they could find.
The city street wasn't terribly wide, and despite its grandeur, the city itself wasn't large. It really did feel more like an outpost that had evolved into something more.
Vanya neared the end of the road and had to dodge back as an arrow came flying towards where she had been standing. The main road had opened up into a small plaza of sorts.
Mere hours ago, it had probably been meticulously manicured with flowers and plants of every color. Hints of a colorful mosaic design were barely visible beneath the bodies and gore.
To the right, a dwindling number of people clashed in front of a magnificent bonfire of a building. A skeleton of marble still stood, providing a glimpse of what had once been a large mansion.
A few of the fighters broke off as if they were going to attack the newcomers, but upon seeing Vanya, they all fled back to find a less intimidating opponent. Vanya paused, watching the fighting as if she wanted to go and take part. She would probably be happy to massacre both sides of whoever remained.
She did not walk towards the mansion, though, instead taking a smaller path ahead of them. Jason couldn't help looking back to watch the crowd of people fighting for their lives behind him. It was horrible, but also mesmerizing in a macabre sort of way. What could they possibly be fighting over that was worth this?
The road they descended was much smaller than the main road, and it snaked back and forth right up against the backside of the wall. Vanya kept a quick pace, and they made it to the bottom within minutes.
Despite their speed, the clangor of fighting had completely disappeared. Jason looked behind him to see a small group of men running down the path that they had just descended. They weren't coming after their small group were they? And what were they carrying? Large spears of some sort?
The group of men, three civilians and two soldiers based on their clothes, stared dumbfounded at Vanya and the others. Jason couldn't tell if it was her size or the nonchalance with which the two adults and a child walked through the fallen city.
One of the soldiers looked like he might try to stop them, but he thought better of it at the last moment, running past them with the others. Jason finally got a good glimpse of their strange spears.
They weren't spears at all actually. They were great poles, the smallest of them nearly twice his own height, and each of them had a bloody head on the end. The first was a teenage girl and presumably her two brothers. Then came what could only be the mother, face contorted eternally into an expression of pure terror.
Finally, can the head of an older man. He had graying hair, and unlike the others, there was no fear in his eyes. It was disgusting to look at, but Jason could feel the calm acceptance emanating from the dead man's head, even stuck as it was on the pole.
So it was a coup of some sort, Jason thought. His disgust and horror had mostly disappeared now, replaced with an even worse emptiness. The sparrow hadn't said a word, but he felt like he could sense her sorrow anyway. He looked towards the sky to try and spot her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Jason had no idea how she had known where to go, but the path Vanya had chosen suddenly joined a larger street even bigger than the road through which they had entered the city.
To their left, the road continued, digging into the side of the mountain on which the city had been built. It was impossible to tell how deep it went through the thick smoke inside. Unlike the rest of the city, there didn't seem to be any fires still burning inside. No doubt, without a hint of a breeze to blow air in, the fire had quickly run out of air.
He hoped that the looters he had seen earlier stayed a long ways away. The buildings inside would probably be far better off than any others, but that didn't make it any less deadly.
Jason was relieved to see that another large gate opened up onto the rugged hills that he had seen behind the city. The walls were still massive and there were still fortifications, but it was obvious that the defense of this gate wasn't taken nearly as seriously as the other.
Even the gate itself looked to be mostly for show, with gilded panels and intricate carvings. It definitely wouldn't stand up to any serious assault, unlike the other side.
Jason let out a quick cough at the smoke issuing from the cavernous entrance into the mountainside, and quickly followed Vanya out of the gate. He took a deep breath of the fresh air outside of the city, and did his best to ignore the five men outside setting up their bloody trophies.
"We've already wasted too much time, we'll take the next portion at a run." It was the first time any of them had spoken since entering the city, and it felt weird to Jason. The red city behind them had been so mortifyingly intense, that now that he was away from it, it felt more like a nightmare than something that had actually happened.
Vanya, of course, was unfazed, but he noticed Nora trembling slightly as they broke into a run. What must it be like for her to experience all of this as young as she was? She had already been through enough that he was sure that he would have broken when he was her age. How much more of this life could she take?
Jason offered Nora a ride on his back, and unbelievably, she looked like she might accept his offer. However, a glance at Vanya bounding ahead of them, and she turned away. Was whatever Vanya was doing for the girl helping or was it just making it worse?
Jason had been ready, even excited to become a father in his past life. He hadn't been without worries of course, but he had been sure that he would be able to meet whatever challenges came.
It was unrealistic to think that anything like this would have ever happened on earth, but what would he have done for Yoona if it had? Would he have just made things worse? Perhaps he hadn't ever been prepared in the first place.