As if on cue, *something* alerted me. My intuition must have been right. There had to be something coming from the sky. But what?
I kept my head on a swivel as my heart rate steadily increased. With a heightened sense of hearing, I could practically hear it beating within me.
...
...
...
*swish*
"There!"
One of the trees in the distance swayed strangely.
And...
My body moved on its own. Somehow, subconsciously, I knew what was happening. Before I could even think, I raised my sword horizontally, directing the flat of my blade outwards.
*Something* collided with it, pushing me backwards into the ground. I held my stance and kept my balance, but the force was incredible. It pushed me so far backwards that it almost looked like my feet were creating tire tracks in loose soil.
Then...
*WHOOSH*
A mysterious object jetted so quickly overhead that its wind pressure was unbelievable.
My long, translucent, cyan hair - which I only just realized I had - aggressively pulled at my scalp.
Any sand and loose soil lying on the ground was tossed into the air.
The carriage rattled violently, and the outer fabric rippled relentlessly.
The ashy remnants of the bonfire swirled around violently.
All of this debris almost consumed us in a miniature dust devil.
Even some of the armor pieces that the guards had dismantled to sleep comfortably began tumbling around.
Obviously, this alerted everyone on site. All the guard members and wyrms had opened their eyes. But before they could even move...
*BOOM*
An explosion so loud that I clearly heard glass shatter from the singular carriage window.
Then... silence.
*>System Quest: Defend the carriage - Complete!*
All of this had happened in less than a second.
"WHAT WAS THAT? Ugh... *cough*..."
Riche was the first one that bolted out of the carriage, only to eat a mouthful of the debris that was slowly floating towards the ground.
Despite missing some armor pieces, all of the guard members were in position to fight. The wyrms screeched and thrashed relentlessly, and there was no hope of calming them down right away. The guard members seemed to know what to do in this situation - just ignore them and get in formation.
But, at this point there was nothing they could hope to accomplish. The chaos was long over.
By now, I'd slid back over 5 meters, so this was pretty noticeable.
The guard captain took one look at me and asked the same question as Riche.
"What on Aeth was that?"
"I... don't know," I said as I dusted myself off.
*How am I supposed to know? It's all dark and stuff.*
"You there! You hear me???" Riche yelled, pointing his sword at me. "You better get ready to fight! Don't be a wuss!"
*So he has a knife as well as a sword. That's convenient... I've only got a sword. I need to get at least something for close combat, right?*
Seeing as I didn't respond, Riche's face turned red as he stomped towards me.
The guard captain quickly grabbed his collar, and with one arm, dragged him and threw him back in the carriage.
"I've never heard anything like it," he said like nothing just happened.
"Me neither," I nonchalantly replied.
"All I can assume is that you've saved us again. Perhaps you're a guardian angel sent by-"
"I'm not."
"But-"
"I'm not."
"..."
"I'm not."
"I didn't even speak."
"I'm not."
*I don't know who I am, but I'm 100% sure I'm not an angel.*
"Alright, alright! You're not," he says, waving his arms at me in a flustered manner. "Please have a seat inside."
"... Okay."
The captain began organizing cleanup efforts and presumably the process required to start moving again. Nobody felt safe here anymore, so they worked as quickly as possible to get moving.
The carriage driver had apparently been hiding underneath, but he reemerged as soon as he decided it was safe and resumed his position.
I entered the carriage, stepped over the still-sleeping Ruby, and plopped down onto my bed attempting to go to sleep.
"You!"
An unmistakeable snobby voice entered my ears.
*Seriously, what does he want?*
I get up with my very disheveled hair and stare at him.
"You! Apologize! Now!"
"Brother!" Emma hissed.
"No! I will not back down!" Riche said, tossing his sister aside.
*Dang, he's really mad. Emma's shaking, too. She seemed pretty brazen earlier, but is she actually scared of her brother?*
"Tell me what you did, and apologize!"
Riche angrily shakes his knife at me. Unsurprisingly, after what I'd just went through, he did not seem very threatening. So, I attempted to go back to sleep.
I almost closed my eyes, but immediately felt someone dragging me by my shirt. Naturally, I come face-to-face with someone familiar.
*Oh, his eyes are the same color as one of Emma's. Light gray... Looks a bit strange, but they're actually kind of pretty?*
Maybe it was because of my reduced stress, but I finally took the time to acknowledge the finer details of their beings.
Emma's eyes were equally pretty, and...
*Oh, what?*
I thought she had heterochromia, but apparently she didn't.
Her wavy dark brown hair reached down to her waist, and her olive skin sported sparse freckles of nearly the same color.
Her attire was rather plain - just a white gown with silver hemming and some rose-like embroidery on the collar.
Several bracelets of various exotic crystals adorned her wrists, and she even wore multiple rings.
*Those things easily make her a target. I wouldn't be surprised if someone planned a robbery... but what do I know?*
Riche, on the other hand, strangely had shorter lighter hair and smoother darker skin. If you didn't consider their facial structure or eye color, they were different in every way.
He wore a bright red uniform adorned with several black patches on each shoulder. A matching black tie contrasted the white shirt underneath.
I wasn't sure if it was because of the uniform or what, but he seemed substantially bigger than me, which was actually quite surprising. His shoulders were broader, and he was around 10 centimeters taller. He was holding my collar with both hands and easily lifting me up to his eye level, and my feet did not reach the ground.
"Brother, stop!"
Emma was increasingly panicking with every moment. She shook her brother in an attempt to get him to drop me to no avail.
At this point, he began yelling some more things at me, but I couldn't bring myself to pay attention. Perhaps it was because of the action, but I was finally starting to get sleepy.
I stopped struggling and let my eyelids close. I couldn't care less about where I fell asleep, as I knew that I would be safe at the very least until morning.
But, before I fell asleep, one thing bothered me.
When the guard captain said he'd never heard anything like it, I'd responded in kind.
However, I lied.
I couldn't remember if I'd personally experienced such a sound before, but I definitely recognized it from somewhere. The problem was, recognizing this sound brought on all sorts of different questions.
*How advanced is magic? Is there some non-magical advanced technology here? The guard captain seems like a pretty capable and experienced guy, but he's never heard it before, so... I don't know.*
Sonic booms didn't just happen for no reason.
*Whatever.*
I was struggling to hold on to a train of thought.
*I'll deal with whatever comes up tomorrow.*