tw: lots of gore...0o0
It was like he had run through a waterfall of it and rubbed it all over his body. Everything from his hair to his black boots had been dipped in a dark crimson that stank unmistakably of metallic blood.
"Lead Guard Cai," he choked, voice trembling like a thin sheet of paper in the wind.. "Outside…they're all…already…dead…"
With that, he crumpled to the ground, staining the courtyard stones red, and didn't move again.
As generally happens when a lot of people are close together and a terrifying, imminent threat appears, everything promptly devolved into chaos.
About half of the guards immediately rushed towards the open gates, stampeding to escape with their faces white like ghosts from terror. The other half stood their ground, shouting shaky insults at those who ran for their lives and ordering them to stop and fight like men were supposed to, dammit!
"EVERYONE HALT!"
