The fire had consumed most of the town and was continuing inwards. One of the liveliest towns in the country, completely destroyed... just like that. Nearly 99% of the people had died. Some had met instant demise, some died due to the extreme heat, some due to the suffocating smoke and some due to the falling debris.
However those who were alive were still hopeful that they will survive the fire. It was because they were being protected by the adventurers who belong to this very town. They had no way to contribute. So, they requested the priest to cast '[Light Magic]
It had a very simple use, yet effective. It could steal a target's energy and transfer it to the caster, within the effective range. At the same time, the caster could transfer their own energy to the target. Here energy refers to Mana, Astra and another kind of energy which allow you to cast spells and Stamina which allows you to toil and work. The survivors inside the earthen dome were ready to give their energy if it helped their saviours.
The priest started chanting,
"Steal from you, come to me, let me pillage your energy, you are my enemy, end of strife...;
Force of gods, bless our kind, revitalise the mind, lead and live your life."
A circle of light spread out, a albeit a small one. The people inside the circle as well as the caster himself clutched their foreheads. It was natural, getting drained wasn't a very good feeling. Also, draining energy using this spell which is generally used for giving your energy to others was quite hard for the caster too. That was the last circle. Even after absorbing the energy of nearly a hundred, a comparatively small amount was obtained. But that only went to show how tired they were.
"That was all. Let's hope you will succeed. We put our lives in your hands and out faith in you. Mac, Lea, Ford, Fiel. Go my children, shield your home town from the hellfire."
The priest stopped his spell and collapsed, as expected it was an extremely heavy burden.
""""WE WILL!!!""""
Four loud shouts echoed.
They had already framed their plan. It was now time to put it to use.
The earth magic users, Fiel and Ford, would cast another dome, a concentric one when the fire closes in. The aim was simple, to deprive the fire of oxygen by trapping it in a closed space. The twins would then cast repairs every time cracks formed on the domes to prevent air from coming in. They were skilled enough to do that. Having received the maximum amount of energy, they would be able to pull it off.
This time, using the wet mud as a heat insulator would be plain foolish. The fire would instantly vaporize the water, leading to a steam explosion. It would destroy the dome and in the worst case scenario, may even injure them and the survivors. Lea would be drenching everyone in water and Mac would be using the cool wind to bring down their temperature, i.e. the role of a table fan.
Also, he would gather any smoke which may leak in to prevent the people from inhaling it. Since the whole event would take only a few seconds, there wouldn't be much smoke seeping in to take care of. Finally, after they dispelled the domes, he would blow the smoke trapped in the dome prison radially outwards. A crude plan but seemingly effective.
"Mom...Dad...please be safe..."
A boy, about five years old, was crouching down and was praying for the safety of his parents. He was none other than Gruffold.
"Okay... a few moments left..."
"We are ready..."
"Hah! Our victory has already been set in stone!"
"Hn... all now's left to put the plan into action..."
The four people, Mac, Fiel, Lea and Ford [in the order of speaking] were waiting. Every moment was stretched out. The sizzling heat was draining their focus. And then....
"NOW!!!"
With Mac's shout as the trigger, Ford and Fiel set into action.
"[Earth Magic] Mother, I beg your shelter, your earthly embrace. Give us the haven we direly need!
Everyone felt an intense rumbling, the vibrations clear because of the particles of sand and rocks jumping about. You might think these vibrations may damage and crack the inner dome, but they won't. The inner dome was quite resistant to vibrations and impacts even if it wasn't a fan of uneven expansions and contractions (which was something intense heat would trigger). You would need a modified version of this spell to create a dome out of heat withstanding material.
"Now start the repairs!"
The inner dome wall had already started to crack. But they were being deftly repaired by the twins using [Earth Magic]
"Oh shit!"
Mac started blowing small gusts of wind using [Wind Magic]
However things were not looking good for the twins. They had been assigned with an intensely heavy duty. Doing precision work over a large area was certainly no laughing matter. Fiel was sweating like hell, her hands were quivering. On the other hand, tiny droplets of blood were trickling down Ford's nose. The strain of fine tuning the mana so that his sister could use it for fine grained transmutation was immense.
"Please! Only for a few seconds more! The fire's nearly out!"
Mac prayed for things to work out.
Another two seconds passed. The amount of smoke seeping in through the cracks had definitely increased.
Everybody looked at Ford with looks of apprehension. Ford's condition was really pitiable. Tears were leaking from his eyes, his face was contorted in pain, his lips and chin were smeared in blood. He was biting his tongue to prevent losing focus. Such intense spirit.
One moment passed...
Another moment passed...
And then...
And then... a strange sound came out of his throat. It was like he was having the urge to puke but he was desperately holding it in while also holding his breath at the same time.
But he couldn't hold it back for long.
"Ack! Bleurgh...! Ahem! Ahem! Fweh!!"
Letting a sharp sound escape from his throat, he crouched down in a position as if he would vomit any moment. Coughing violently, he snorted and a lot of blood escaped his nostrils once again. He fell down unconscious.
Losing her spell casting support, the cracks got harder to detect in nascent form. Only when they widened, she was able to locate and fix them. Combined with the shock of seeing her brother pass out like that, her work grew even more imperfect. Large amounts of smoke started billowing in.
"Fiel! Fucking Focus!!!"
Mac shouted these words now, even though he was aware that he was being extremely irrational and merciless. Surely she didn't deserve it, but there was no way they could stop after coming this far! Even Mac was aware Fiel won't be able to do the work of two people at once.
Gritting her teeth, she once again focused on transmuting. But it was not at all comparable to the one earlier. The fire died down, but the inner dome started caving in. Fiel also collapsed from the exhaustion. Not only that, but the outer dome was also intact with nobody to dismantle it with earth magic.
"Fuuuuuck!!"
But a sudden idea came to his mind.
"Lea! Secure the twins and quickly go to the back door of the town hall before the town hall collapse completely! Use [Water Magic]
The survivors were feeling nauseous and suffocating because of the ash laden smoke.
"How exactly are you gonna 'take care' of the smoke!?"
"Trust me!"
Lea bit her tongue. She also prioritized the safety of the survivors. Dragging the unconscious bodies of the duo by the scruff of their necks, she yelled to the survivors, "Follow me!"
She saw that the smoke was starting to thin out, albeit the suffocating feeling was not going away, showing that no fresh air was entering. She wondered how, but didn't care to think about it since she also had an important job to do. "
Entrusting Ford to another person, she muttered this word and yelled out stretching her palm towards the dome wall. She had been protecting herself and the survivors from the falling debris with a water dome (This time it was being correctly used, for shielding purposes.) After using this rupturing jet, she would be drained of mana. Narrowing her eyes to focus, she moved her index finger in a semicircular motion. The compressed jet of water took its sweet time to cut through, a testimony to show how durable the twins' magical earthen dome was.
"Push!"
They pushed the part around which she had cut. It fell off easily, the cut as clean as if someone had used a knife to cut out a semicircular portion from a piece of paper.
Following that, they started running out of that congested space. Coming out and taking a breath of relatively fresh air, the cogs in Lea's mind started turning. At the same time, a horrible realization surfaced.
"Maaaaaaaac!!!" She screamed while heading towards that place again, shaking her head as if to reject her unfounded fears.
"Mom no!!!" She heard the shout of a familiar voice. It was her son's. But she didn't waver.
[Please son, let your mom be selfish for at least once!] Thinking this in her head, she headed into the rubble filled dome again. There was no smoke, only dust. And amidst all that...
"Gruhh... ahem ahem... Haaaa....huuuuuu....ahhhhem"
A figure was lying down on the ground coughing and wheezing. It was Mac. Lea's fears were confirmed. Mac had used wind magic to draw all the smoke towards itself. Not only that, but he had also breathed it in, to prevent others from breathing it. Such a suicidal thing could only be performed by him.
"Nooooooo!"
Lea screamed as she knelt by his side. He was coughing, black smoke was coming out of his nose and mouth. It was of no use. Even if he was brought to fresh air and his respiratory tract was purified, he would die. The poison had entered his blood already. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Dissolving in the blood and preventing proper distribution of oxygen, giving the victim a excruciating pain till they fell unconscious, then finally granting death.
"Lea... ahem ahem... please go... our son.... for... ahem him...haaaa.... he shouldn't be left.... haaaa.... alone..."
As he was continuously pleading his wife to leave, he heard a sound. His wife did too. And immediately, the outer dome started caving in too.
"Mugh...ngh... RUUUUUUNNNN!!!" Shouting as loudly as he could, he urged his wife to run and fainted. It was actually good that he did, because he couldn't have retained his sanity if he saw what was going to happen.
Lea understood the need to run too. Tears leaking out of her eyes, she started dashing towards the opening as fast as she could.
As she was about to reach the exit... a large slab of rock fell on her. "Gah!"
She wasn't strong enough to push the slab of rock away. She didn't have any mana to use water magic either. It was extremely foolish and selfish of her to go to her husband.
[Shit! Why didn't I listen to Gruff! What.. will... happen... to him... now... when this failure of a mother couldn't comfort her son...] As she was berating herself, tears streaming out of her face without limit, even more slabs of rock stacked on the one under she was trapped.
And just like that, Lea was crushed to her death, filled with sorrow, regret and self hatred.