"Quick, everyone! Pack your belongings before the defense breaks," a man's voice sounded, startling Riven awake. "Earth mages, keep reinforcing the walls and get ready to go under," the man's voice came again.
Standing up, Riven looked around to see people of both genders and varying ages running about with bags in hand, putting in their belongings. Looking further, he saw they were in a dome shaped building made of..
"Is that mud?" Riven muttered. "Where am I?"
"Riven! What are you doing just standing there? Pack your bags and get ready to evacuate. You know the drill already," the same voice that woke him up sounded.
Riven looked to the source to see a well-built man around the edge of the dome shaped building, along with a bunch of other people who seemed to be pushing the wall.
'Wait, they aren't just pushing..' Riven thought.
Looking closer, he noticed they would remove their hands from the wall sometimes and mud from their feet would rise up, then they'd push their hands forward and it'll join up with the dome's wall.
"Are those people controlling the earth?" He muttered.
While still fascinated by what he was seeing, a loud band resounded through the dome, and the dome suddenly started to have cracks all around.
"Time's up everyone, the earth mages can't keep it up anymore. Everyone, gather round."
Everyone who was in the dome rushed towards the man, and the crowd pushed Riven towards him too.
"Wind mages?" The man called out when everyone surrounded him.
Riven was surrounded by men and women, even kids of different ages, all looking tattered with bags under their eyes like they hadn't gotten a good night's rest in a long time.
A group stepped forward, and the earth mages channeled their focus. The loud bang sounded again, and the dome began to rumble, slowly breaking apart.
The man who was giving orders till now pointed his hand to another part of the dome and it opened up, revealing a cleared path with seemingly endless trees on either side.
"Now!" The man screamed.
The earth mages controlled the earth to push everyone forward, and Riven stumbled, fascinated by the scene.
As they ran, aided by the moving earth, the front part of the dome broke off, and monsters emerged. "Wind mages!" the man shouted. A gust of wind pushed the group forward, and Riven stumbled back.
Riven, who was being moved by the earth due to never having ran on moving earth before was stunned.
The group of people from before spread their hands and a gust of wind pushed the whole group of people forward, at the same time pushing Riven back.
"Riven, what the hell are you doing? Get up and start running before you get pushed away from the Earth mages range of power."
Riven got up and started running, but a blinding light forced him to close his eyes. He stumbled forward and fell, noticing the earth wasn't moving him anymore. As he looked up, he saw words written in a square before him, but his brain couldn't register them.
The group was far ahead, and Riven saw the beasts closing in. In a panic, he got up and started running, but then someone appeared and took his hand.
"What's wrong with you today? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" It was the man who was giving orders before.
"Start running now, or we'll be killed by those beasts," the man said. The earth began moving Riven forward again, but the blinding light and screeching sound disoriented him, making him fall, and the man he was holding on to also fell.
The man stood up and looked at Riven, then at the beasts closing in. "It doesn't seem like we can escape without something to hold the monsters back. We've delayed too long," Greg said.
Another man appeared from the group that had stopped to wait for them and said;
"Greg, we have to go now or the beasts would catch up. If he doesn't want to go then you leave him to die, or would you rather the whole group die instead?"
Greg, took his eyes away from the still confused Riven on the ground and looked at the beasts who were too close to them now.
"They're too close, they'll definitely catch up to us even if we start moving at full speed now," Greg said.
"So? What are you trying to say?" The other man asked.
"Go, Daniel, take Riven with you and get to the others. I'll hold off the monsters for everyone to get to safety," Greg said.
"But you can't hold them off alone, there's too many of them," Daniel protested.
"Go, now. I'd rather sacrifice myself than let the monsters reach the rest of the people," Greg said.
Daniel shot Riven a hateful look, as if saying 'It's your fault he had to turn back, you could've just died instead of him.'
Reluctantly, he lifted Riven up and the earth started moving them towards the others, while Greg stood waiting for the monsters that were now a few meters away, and soon Daniel got Riven to the others.
As they started moving again, Daniel told them about Greg's decision to hold off the monsters. The group sadly accepted the fact that Greg had laid his life down to save them.
Looking back, they saw Greg fighting against the beasts, but soon he was overwhelmed, and the group got too far to see him anymore. They all kept running in silence, grieving the dead as the earth and wind mages directed them to their destination.
Their thoughts moved to the one who somewhat caused the man's death, the one who made him have to go back to the beasts, the one who made the whole group have to stop and wait, allowing the beasts get closer to them.
Almost simultaneously, everyone's eyes was on Riven, who was just regaining composure to meet almost 50 pairs of
eyes looking at him with bloodlust.