Rumble* Crackle*
Pittar* Splash*
The rain poured heavily, and the water splashed as the mayor dodged the cannon shots, but they were relentless, followed where he went, really wanted his life. He could only grit his teeth and keep on dodging from one cover to another, running in circles like a trapped mouse. He wanted nothing more than to get out of here, but the cannons and the soldiers kept getting in his way. His headache was also getting worse, making him curse under his breath, things couldn't get any worse and yet they did.
Finally, left with no choice, he took a talisman out of his pocket and tore it in half. The light talisman, both halves burned and a transparent dome enveloped him
Dumm*
The cannon shot struck him, or tried to but was reflected, hitting the tree next to him. The transparent dome did that. He ran toward one side of the soldier and brought out another talisman.
"Enemy!"
"Take cover."
Bam*
The talisman burned as sparks arose from it, enveloping everyone in the vicinity, and when the flames died down, three soldiers got incinerated into nothingness while one got heavily injured. The dome around the mayor also crumbled. The talisman didn't differentiate a friend from foe.
The mayor finally had an opening and a breather. He made a bee-line to the captain, didn't want to get caught by him and took out a scroll, but before he could use it.
Uhh!*
His head buzzed like someone hit him with a hammer; it got him disoriented and dizzy. Before, he had mana to help him keep these headaches at bay, but now he was running low on the reserves and could do nothing about it, and that was a terrible mistake. The scroll left his hand, but he didn't let it fall to the ground and unfurled it.
"Finally, I can--"
Bam* Crack*
He couldn't complete his word and was sent flying like a broken kite. The captain has caught up to him somehow. He didn't let the mayor take a breath and attacked once more. The mayor, meanwhile, wailed in pain as the attack broke his ribs.
'I have to get out of here,' he said to himself, and looked around. The scroll had fallen from his hand when the captain struck him. He was about to stand up but didn't need to as he was kicked up, making him leave the ground, but that was just temporary as a fist struck his back.
Bam*
And the body was laying back on the ground, coughing out blood. The captain didn't stop and kicked the mayor away, sending him tumbling back. He turned to his soldiers, who understood and dragged the unconscious mayor back to the captain.
The captain, meanwhile, oversaw the massacre taking place. There were 4 more intermediate realm artists, but he made quick work of them.
"Please…"
"..beg of you."
"Damn you…"
Many pleaded, begged and cursed, but the Alliance soldiers remained unperturbed, and other than intermediate realm artists, no one was spared.
Pitter* Patter*
The rain started picking up while the corpses littered the ground. Soon the voices died down. Only the sound of rain and thunder remained. There was no one left. Ten thousand people from Iron'Heits were massacred, and no one was left alive. Their eyes opened wide, one could see the unwillingness, despair, and fear in their eyes and face. Some had regrets about them, but it was too late for that.
The captain looked at this scene of carnage with a relaxed expression. It was like nothing would surprise him, but there was still something bugging him.
'What were these people running from?'
He heard and saw the explosions, but wasn't able to find the cause in that chaos. That was why he kept the intermediate realm artists alive. He wanted to interrogate them before disposing them as well.
After making sure that no one was left alive, the captain sent a scout to check the tunnel but was disappointed when the scout informed him of the tunnel collapsing. They left the scene, not even cleaning behind them and leaving something extremely dangerous behind.
They arrived back at the encampment, which welcomed them with a wave of applause and cheers. The captain grabbed the mayor by his neck and held him high, like a trophy. This boosted the morale of soldiers, but just as he let the mayor go, he opened his eyes.
The captain sensed that and kept his grip on the mayor, not letting him go, which was a mistake as his ears registered some words in this applause and cheers.
"It's watching you."
Boooom*
Boooom*
.
.
.
.....
Kolfel opened his eyes. He was knocked unconscious by an Alliance leader after he was done speaking and was taken somewhere. He looked around and found himself strapped to a table, a source of light hanging from the ceiling. Too close to him, it almost blinded him. He wanted to make it out of the situation, but couldn't. Other than his eyesight, he couldn't hear anything, smell anything, or even feel the taste, it was like he lost those senses suddenly.
He struggled, trying to get out of those straps, but couldn't. They were more resilient than expected, hellbent on not letting him go. This went on for a while before he gave up and tried to observe his surroundings. From the looks of it, he found a table next to him, with different apparatuses, a lot of blood, and maybe a shelf. He couldn't tell it apart because the light from the hanging source was too blinding.
Just as he was lost in thoughts, he felt a touch, and turned toward it. He saw a person, a familiar face. They have met before, he was saying something, maybe mumbling. Kolfel was deaf, so he could only see his lips parting, moving up and down.
Like he felt something, Tirlis looked toward Kolfel, his eyebrows furrowed like he didn't expect him to wake up or something. His lips moved up and down, but Kolfel couldn't make out what he was seeing. Upon getting no response, Tirlis eyebrows scrunched, maybe thinking something, and then he snapped his finger. What was that for? Kolfel wondered, and just before he could guess further, a person completely hidden by a black robe appeared in the room.
Tirlis said something to which at which the black robe respectfully bowed and then moved closer to Kolfel's face. Upon approaching it, he extended his arm and touched Kolfel with his skinny fingers. The skin was stuck to the bones, flesh almost missing. He mumbled something as well and before Kolfel could speak, that was if he had the voice. The skinny finger shone and the black robe person started glowing in bright light.
Kolfel squinted his eyes, trying to wonder what was going on with him, but had to close them as the light became too bright.
Tiiinnnn*
His ears started ringing, like he was a severe tinnitus patient.
"…is…something."
"….tell me…."
Voices started getting registered in his ears, but because of the ringing, he couldn't completely make out of them. But it didn't last long, as the ringing finally stopped and he could hear again normally. He heard Tirlis Kusk's voice, asking, "Who are you?"
Kolfel didn't answer or couldn't answer, his voice was still missing, just as he thought of this Tirlis may have as well and he looked at the black robe guy. The blinding light flashed once more and finally Kolfel could speak again and then, like his work was done, the black robe left the room, or whatever it was. He still looked at Kolfel for a long time before he said, "I'm Kol…fel, the captain of…. the Vioa ban...dits."
"Hmmm, there's still some problem with his voice. Inherited it? Unlikely. What can it be, then?" Tirlis mumbled to himself and vanished before arriving next to Kolfel, his hands grabbed his lower jaw and with one fell swoop, yanked it off from his face, and threw it away, blood flowed like a fountain, dyeing everything in its color but Tirlis didn't seem to care and pulled his tongue before using his other hand and shoving it down his throat.
Kolfel gagged, a reflex, but with some magic, it was held back and he couldn't vomit. Tirlis' doing, Kolfel's eyes were wide open while Tirlis was not paying him any attention, fully focused on finding the problem. The black robe guy's magic should've been able to heal him completely, but it didn't and that made him question and he wanted to see it up close.
"No problem with the voice box, then it must be..."
He took his hand out, and before Kolfel could say anything. Tirlis used a small blade and cut him open, not caring if he was even unconscious or not. Kolfel's mystery intrigued him, and he wanted to know what it was like that. If he was some strong being, Tirlis wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on him, but he never cared about those below him.
And just like that, Erik observed the view of Orinthal's leader toward human life. He had seen his face before, so he knew who he was, but seeing who he was treating a human being did repulse him. He didn't want to see anymore and cut his connection with him. He was there to see and know about what the Alliance had done to the nobles and the residents, but was introduced to this horror.
"He should just die." He said under his breath as he connected, but stopped as he observed something happening to the red thread.
Meanwhile, the moment Erik let go of Kolfel, he regained clarity for a moment, which didn't go unnoticed by Tirlis, he was holding onto his spine now as he looked at Kolfel with scrunched eyebrows and heard him say, "It's watching you."
"Who?" Tirlis asked, and wanted to ask further, but then he vanished and...
Boom*
Kolfel blew up, his body parts flowing in all directions. Dyeing the confines while taking the light source out, plunging the room into darkness. The only source of light now was the glowing Tirlis, whose eyebrows were scrunched more than before.
"How did he do that?" He asked, but there was no one to answer. He contemplated for a while before asking once more, "Who is watching me?"
He looked around, but all he got in return was silence.
.....
Erik's attention was on the threads, more specifically on the tendrils that formed and then vanished like they were in constant creation and destruction sequence, more like a program that created them than destroyed them. His eyebrow was raised when he saw the tendril, that he just disconnected, to fade away as well.
'Maybe he died?'
He kept looking at the ever-changing tendril for a while, and their fading and coming into existence made him a little confused. He wanted to connect to one and see what was going on but they were too fast for his non-existent mana control and he didn't want to connect to that many people together once again.
He just observed them, maybe trying to find what was going on, when a certain thought came to his mind, 'How were these people created?'
He knew Senva was created when that strange heart creature infected him, with some sort of virus, maybe. He didn't know what it did, but it made a person just a husk, a puppet, left nothing of his formal self.
Kolfel and his band, plus some soldiers who were still unconscious, were infected with Senva's blood when he "exploded," and Erik didn't know how and why Senva exploded.
'Maybe some sort of way to transfer the virus to others? But why so extreme?' He thought, trying to get some answers but was drawing blank. The questions just kept on piling with no answer in sight. He even wondered if these powers were natural and as if to answer his question.
Rumble* Rumble*
Crackle*
The sky rumbled, and rain poured heavily, drenching the world. Erik could feel the solemnity of the atmosphere and felt a sense of loss. Just then...
Knock* Knock*
He heard a knock and then Collum walked in, his expression solemn and mood heavy. He held tightly onto a slip of paper that he presented to Erik, who unfurled it and read it.
[Everyone that left through the tunnel has been massacred.]
He kept staring at the paper for a long time, his mood took several swings. His face contorted as his grip on the slip tightened before he took a deep breath and said, "Dismissed."
Collum abided and left. He knew it was heavy for Erik. Even if they had deserted him, they were still his people, his responsibility, and just like that, they were massacred.
If only Erik knew that most of the people died to his cursed power, what would his expression have been, how would Valcroy have responded?