Fire.
Balls of fire descended from the heavens.
One moment there was only clouds, and in the very next, a scorched red.
Those things descended and crashed into the crowd below. Arten watched it all from the veranda with a curious gaze. He was two years old. To him this was nothing more than just a fun time.
His mother was yet to return from the pub, a little late considering she came back almost on time every day. Though lately, she'd been coming back looking more and more disheveled and near the evening rather than the afternoon. Arten couldn't tell what happened to her, but he could tell, his mother was going through a tough time. Even as a toddler he could understand that.
The balls of fire slammed into a distant big building. It was the biggest building in the city.
He saw a spectacle, the light, the huge cloud of fire and then… all the buildings around him went flying. The sound nearly tore his eardrum as it slammed him against the wall behind.
Knocked out of his breath, Arten barely managed to hold his head when the next fireballs descended. This time, they were headed straight for this sector of the city.
Perhaps this wasn't as fun as he thought.
***
"Done yet Zarba?" The large woman yawned. Leaning against a tree, legs spread out, she lay in a suggested pose. Tight short pants, a suggested mini bulge-
However, none dared to look at her, not a single one of the unit.
"I guess I am," the smaller woman by the cliff, Zarba said. Big hat, a staff pointed. "Should do it," she yawned herself. "I guess we can go now?"
Smoke and screams coming from below; muted. Rather far away.
"Not yet," the big woman got right back up, a big grin on her face. Her muscular arms and thighs were on full display as she picked up the big sword from the ground and swung.
Something or someone intercepted her and as he pushed down, the big woman's feet dug into the ground as though it was mud. "Interesting," the man said.
Meanwhile, "You're the one who attacked the city?" A woman, no, a young girl said, before slamming her feet into Zarba's abdomen. She crashed into the men behind her, spitting blood.
The big woman grunted, barely able to hold her ground. Her boundless confidence from a minute ago vanished. "Who are you!" She managed.
"Death," the man in black said, forcing his weight down and jumping up. He spun and then slashed at the woman, cleanly splitting her huge sword in two. She jumped back at the last second and avoided 'death'.
The men were too confused but they quickly formed a formation and were ready to charge at the intruders.
Were they from the city? They had to be the enemy, right?
"I'm tired of this," the girl said. "Just kill them all already," she said.
"No, we need information," the man in black said. "We need-"
"Damn you!" The large woman shimmied her fist into the man's face. But the fist never connected.
"Too emotional," he said, moving behind her and whacking her with the flat of his sword. The woman smacked her head on the ground, passing out. "Now," he said, eyeing the smaller woman on the ground, who was a bleeding mess. "We can either talk, or I can kill you all."
"T-talk, we'll talk." Blood leaked out of her nose and mouth.
The unit quickly surrounded the young woman Zarba, and struck defensive poses. But they already knew, they couldn't beat the monsters before them.
"Alright then," the man said. "We've just landed on this island nation. It wasn't on the map. What is this place called?"
"That's impossible. We never get outsiders-"
"Shipwrecked," the man said. "Well?"
"You're in Jelbouth. We're from Halfat."
"They seem human," The girl said. "So maybe we crashed into somewhere in the Western continent?"
"No, we were too far into the sea. I'd say, we're near the forbidden continent or maybe the Southern Continent. This doesn't look like the Southern continent," the man said. "There's a chance we might be in the forbidden continent."
"If you say so," the girl said.
"If you're outsiders, stay out of this," Zarba said. "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into."
"Why did you attack the city?"
"We're at war-"
"Fair enough. Did you have to murder everyone, the whole city?"
"Everything's fair in war. They destroyed our cities; we're only returning the favor!" Zarba spoke with blind hatred in her eyes.
"Patriotism," the man spoke.
"WE call that indoctrination," the young girl said. "People use borders to divide each other and kill each other in the name of petty differences," she snickered. "So, I suppose it's only fair? Kill them."
"First of all, I don't take orders from you, or the Barack family anymore," the man said. "Secondly-"
"Yap yap," She made a mouth with her hand, mocking the man. "Quit your whining and just fucking kill them. I've had enough of this crap. Sol's missing and you're acting like an idiot. We need to find him and we can't waste time here with these idiots. You're the one who wanted to ask questions, since we're done. Fix your shit and let's go!"
The man, sighed. A rare sigh, but lately it hadn't been so rare. Ever since Sol had fallen off to the sea, the young miss was becoming more and more unhinged.
"We are terribly sorry," he said.
"No, that's fine," the woman managed. "Let's pretend we didn't see each other…" she tried to say but she knew… even though the man wasn't saying he would kill her or the rest… she knew, she knew those eyes. Those murderous eyes.
And just as her gut had predicted, reality warped, spun around as she heard a thud and everything went black.
***
"You know," Shia said. "Maybe you aren't so useless after all."
Alustur sighed again. "I really wish it was you who fell into the sea, not him."
"Me too," she said. "At least I'd get to fondle some mermaids before drowning," she spat sarcastically.
Alustur rolled his eyes and used some oil to light the bodies on fire.
"Why're we burning them? Let them rot here!"
"There's already too much meat here," he said. "Would imbalance the fauna even more. This place is crawling with fiends who're looking for opportunities."
"Fine…" she mumbled. "Since this is the forbidden continent and all, does this mean we can't go back?"
"In theory," he said. "We knew there was no civilization in the forbidden continent. But here we are. Although it's entirely possible, we're just at the opposite side of the world and no one has ever explored these parts. Either way, we're lucky."
"I guess? Wait, Sol said he wanted to search the forbidden continent, maybe we can explore this place before he arrives." Shia sighed. "I'm gonna slap him silly when I find him."
"Assuming he's alive."
"He'll be fine," Shia shrugged. "Did you forget how he came back to life?"
"I didn't. But we shouldn't count on it. The Deity Rexen is infamous for corrupting its bearer and turning them into lizards. You saw those scales, yes?" He looked up. Evening. Red sky. "I wonder if he's even alive…"
Shia didn't say anything. Instead, she yawned and started walking. "You coming."
For the third time… Alustur sighed. "I'm coming!"
[A/N]
He's indeed coming!
Okay so, this is the end (the literal end) of Vol 4.
Vol 5 starts Sunday.
Thanks for reading.
Give me ALL YOUR MONEY!
MUAHAHAHAHAHAH
(You know what, I think I'll keep that kekw)