Yevelian stood between his two guard dog Tecril with a smug expression on his face.
"Oh, looky here. I only expected one, but I caught three more." His face twisted into confusion though as recognition flashed through his eyes.
"You three again..." He clicked his tongue and moved a hand forward, signaling his two pets to attack.
Just like Uvolia had said, the Tecril were blazingly fast. By the time the three had registered their movements they had halfway closed the gap. Uvolia though, was faster than they anticipated. She had already drawn her short cross bow and loaded an arrow. It glimmered in the lights of the Tecril.
She only said one word, but they already knew what it would be before it was spoken.
"Run." She spoke it assertively, leaving no questions to her judgement.
The three took off down a neighboring tunnel, slipping and tripping on the various sludge in the tunnel as they went. Alyssa and Rys both turned to look back at Uvolia as she fired an arrow at the ground in front of her. The arrow impacted just as tentacles wrapped around her. From the impact a teal sphere of energy erupted. Unlike an explosion it wrapped up the surrounding area, preventing them from seeing what was happening. It shimmered with power and energy, beginning to spin rapidly in place.
Alyssa and Rys looked at each other with guilt in their eyes. It was their fault. Cerone at the lead though pressed forward with her head down.
'I'm still too weak.' She thought.
They ran down the tunnel and the cold teal light eventually faded behind them. Cerone felt for the key in her pocket as they ran. The warbling she had felt earlier had started to diminish as they ran. Once they had put some serious distance, Rys took the lead, finding one of the branching paths of seeds and plant life he left down here to guide them home. Over the year they had explored a large amount of the sewers that had been mapped and finding an existing branch had not been too difficult after a bit of wandering.
Once they were on a path back, they paused to catch their breath. "Do you think Uvolia is alright?" Alyssa asked no one in particular.
Cerone didn't dignify a response though, simply shaking her head. Rys looked at her, a pained expression on his face.
"FUCK! God Damnit!" Cerone slammed a fist into the sewer wall. Her voice echoed down the tunnel. She knelt down into her knees. A small tear rolling down her cheek. "We will get stronger. For my goals and for yours, but mostly for survival here." Cerone boldly declared.
From deep in the tunnels a laugh could be heard. "You think simply declaring that will get you very far in this world? I scrapped, clawed, betrayed and murdered just to survive all because of this silly little mark." Yevelian walked down the tunnel. A now five limbed Tecril stumbled beside him. Uvolia nowhere to be seen. He pointed at the marking of the villain on himself. "People will die, you will kill and if you can't see that then you will perish along with that hero's idealistic plaything." He scowled and they could feel the tunnels starting to rumble.
From every crevice and direction behind Yevelian a horde of swarming creatures pushed forward. The three's eyes opened wide as they realized the true power Yevelian commanded. Individually he was weak, but he brought armies with him. The immediately turned to run.
"Rys, how far to the surface?" Cerone shouted over the thunders of claws behind them.
"We're about two minutes at this pace!" He shouted back. Cerone frowned. It was too far. The swarm would have caught up at the speed they were moving at.
"Alyssa try to slow them down." Cerone commanded while focusing mana into a sigil on her right hand. She turned slightly while still running and threw a fireball backwards. It exploded, making an impact on the crowd rushing at them, but failed to slow them in anyway.
Alyssa turned suddenly while taking in a massive breath, then yelled with all her might. The tunnels reverberated and created the perfect environment for her sound magic, but it was a double-edged sword as it did not distinguish friend from foe.
The blast of sound wrecked through the tunnel as Alyssa greedily fed her magic with mana. The swarm halted in their movement. The vibrations destabilizing them and the tunnel. It shook as brick and mortar started to fall from the ceiling. The swarm tried to push through it, but it only accelerated the collapse. Years of poor maintenance and neglect made the tunnel weak to vibrations and the swarm's clawing only furthered to destroy the keystones holding the structure together. The tunnel started a full collapse as the three left the swarm behind them.
Gaining distance they started to slow a bit, Alyssa urged them on, listening to the chitter of claws. "They are taking a different route. We need to get out soon or we will be cut off!" Rys nodded in affirmation and took the lead once more, leading them to an exit while they ran.
They saw the door leading out and quickly undid the latches holding it closed and exiting the sewers. Behind them thousands of creatures came from the opposite direction, threatening to breach the surface. The shadows of their bodies looked like a darkened tidal wave, twisting to seek their target. They slammed the entrance closed. A hushed rumble could the heard through the door as the guards rushed to see what had so suddenly emerged from the sewers.
They spotted the trio of kids, instantly relaxing. The guards around the sewers had grown used to seeing the odd group adventuring into the sewers over the last year. They helped them to their feet as they tried to catch their breath. Rys shouted at them. "We need to see the manager immediately." They needed to tell the manager of the location, but also Rys had understood that they needed to leave the city immediately. Yevelian was a bigger threat to the entire city than any of them knew. Cerone pawed at the now silent form of the key.
Yevelian stood where he was when he spotted the three kids. A looming figure shrouded in fungal growths moved next to him. "You honored our agreement. She lived, though I'm surprised you let the other two live." The fungal brood mind spoke.
Yevelian turned to it, looking at it with a sad expression. "I never wanted to be the villain you know. I only do what I have to. Letting those three warn the city is the best way to prevent more death than needed." He walked back deeply into the tunnels, flipping a metallic object in his hand, leaving the fungal brood mind to stare at his back.
Back on the surface the guards at the sewers had let the trio go and they rushed to the manager's house. Pushing past the startled gate guard and rushing to the room they found the manager asleep on his desk. Alyssa rushed over shaking him awake.
"Manager, manager. We found Yevelian." Alyssa spoke.
The manager groggily woke up. Looking at the three. "Oh, did you find proof?" He yawned and stretched.
They looked guiltily at the manager. "No we weren't able to." Cerone answered. I only found this. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a dark brown key. Cerone frowned at the different color of it, but the manager suddenly gained full alertness as he took it and looked at it.
He clicked his tongue as he looked at the key. "It's a replica. Did you find this in the sewers?" He asked.
Cerone nodded her head. "Yes, it was in the location that Yevelian frequently camps out. Rys mapped it out. We met a friend down there and she could be in..." Cerone paused biting her lip. "She took Yevelian's attention and if she's still alive she needs help. Can you gather a group to fight Yevelian?" Cerone asked with a quiver in her voice.
The manager sighed, while Rys placed the messily drawn, but still legible maps on his desk. The manager took them in his hands looking through them. "That key you gave me is a replica of the mayor's original. My guess is Yevelian was trying to recreate it, failed and kidnapped the mayor for the real thing. I don't know what that key does, but it was a special enchantment in it that no blacksmith I know of could ever replicate." He flipped to the next page of maps. "Only the mayor ever knew what it's purpose was and while I don't have proof, I now have a location to attack. I doubt your friend is alive, most groups that encounter him don't, but some do make it back. I will have the attack group keep an eye out for her." He continued to thumb at the maps.
"Thank you manager." Alyssa gave a half smile, hearing he would be sending a group in. Cerone gripped her fist tightly though.
"How soon can we get off this continent?" Rys asked bluntly.
The manager looked startled for a second, clearing his throat. "Three days. I'll send the papers to you three at the warehouse. Thank you three, I mean that. This may give the city an option to bring us back on a path to recovery."
The trio returned to the warehouse with Uvolia's parents. Ever since they had been found by Yevelian they had been running without much of a break. Once they are sunk into their beds the emotions that had been pushed aside released. They didn't have the heart to let Uvolia's parents know about the plausible demise of their only daughter.
Rys curled up into a ball. Once again someone close to them had gotten hurt, all because they kept diving into danger headfirst. Sure the church had been at fault, but they weren't taking this seriously. He blamed himself thinking. 'Maybe if I had trained seriously people wouldn't get hurt.'
Alyssa buried her head under her pillow, trying to shut out the noise of Rys sniffling. Her own sadness had enveloped her. Death was so much more common here. On Earth a relative or friend might die, but it wasn't a common occurrence. People didn't die left and right unless it was a war zone. But here, even in a major city, people could still die so quickly. It was predatory. Alyssa wasn't sure if this second life was much of a blessing anymore.
Cerone sat on her bed. Her hand white knuckling the frame. 'I'm too weak, I'm too scared. Maybe if I had been willing to activate my blessing.' She repeated over and over, driving herself into a cycle. Ever since she had blessed the rats against the fungal brood mind, Cerone feared activating her blessing. The thoughts of revenge and death plagued her mind. The marking on her arm thrumbed and she looked at it with stained red eyes. 'I'll kill you, then the church, and then I'll be free.'
Castus sat in a classroom with Shi, he looked out a window on the side wall, through a small crack in the curtains. 'I wonder how those three are doing.' A sharp crack on his hands brought him back to the lesson though.
"You must never let your eyes wander while serving nobles. To them you are a replaceable component, do not give them a reason to replace you. Always keep a firm....." The instuctor droned on. Castus let out a sigh in his head. 'I bet it's better than this.'