The smell of blood and ashes set the air ablaze. The night sky, once studded with stars, was now engulfed in thick black smoke, pierced by the infernal glow of the fires consuming the city.
Vollua was dying.
Lïanna ran through the cobbled streets, her lungs burning with the effort, her dress torn and sticky with blood. She could still hear the cries of women and children, the broken pleas of old men begging for help that would never come.
The Obscurus were everywhere.
Filthy creatures, halfway between beasts and nightmares, poured into the city like a breaking wave. There were hundreds, thousands of them. Their deformed bodies, covered in chitinous growths, their fangs dripping with slime, and above all, their total lack of reason. They were nothing but rage and destruction.
A howl tore through the night, followed by the sound of flesh being torn apart. Lianna glanced behind her to see a noblewoman she knew well, Lady Alendria, having her leg crushed by a reptilian creature with empty eyes. The woman fell to the ground screaming as the Obscurus grabbed her, and with a sickening sound, plunged its snout into her belly, ripping her insides open in a geyser of hot blood.
Lïanna looked away and continued to run for her life, nausea on the edge of her lips and tears in her eyes.
It was a massacre.
Giovanni was fighting like hell.
His sword was dripping a blackish liquid, his breathing was heavy and his vision blurred by the blood on his forehead. There was no training, no strategy. Just a desperate fight for survival.
All around him, the soldiers of the Royal Guard were falling one by one. The creatures were not only numerous, they were powerful. A single Obscurus could dismember an elf in an instant.
He had seen one rip the head off a knight in full armour with a simple flick of its claws.
- Giovanni, there are too many of them!' shouted a sergeant as he brought his axe down on the skull of a bipedal monstrosity.
He knew it. But there was no escape.
Their only hope was to reach the northern exit, where the royal family and nobles were trying to flee under the protection of the elite knights.
But the horde wouldn't stop.
Then he appeared.
A cold shiver ran down Giovanni's spine as he felt a monstrous pressure bearing down on the city. He looked up at the ramparts that were still standing... and saw him.
A colossus, clad in armour as black as night, towered over the ruins, a huge halberd in his hand. His skin seemed to melt and reform, as if it were not entirely material. His eyes shone with an evil crimson light.
A deep, cavernous voice rang out, echoing throughout the city:
- Burn everything. Leave no life behind. Let chaos reign.
The Obscurus howled in unison, their frenzy reaching a new peak.
- Oh fuck!' shouted Giovanni
- RUN YOU FOOL!!!
Giovanni turned round to see a familiar silhouette.
- Liana!
- SHUT UP AND RUN!
Liana and Giovanni finally reached the northern gates. Ahead of them, the last ramparts of the city were crumbling under the onslaught of the creatures. The royal family, protected by a contingent of elite knights, were preparing to flee.
- We must leave!' shouted Giovanni.
But a monstrous roar cut him off.
General Obscurus leapt from the top of the ramparts and landed heavily in front of them, his huge halberd carving a crater in the ground. The shockwave knocked several soldiers to the ground.
- Wretched insects...' he squeaked. You dare to flee?
He raised his halberd and, in a movement that was impossible to follow, sliced an entire line in half, separating the ground into a huge crevasse and missing the duo by a hair's breadth.
- We're in big trouble now, Lïanna, and this time there's no Foster to save you!' shouted Giovanni over the surrounding din.
- Don't talk to me about that traitor and come up with some stupid plan or we won't last long.
Amazingly, they managed to cross the last line of defence, joining the knights protecting the royal family. Behind them, the city was collapsing. Screams of agony rose up like a funeral litany, mingling with the demented laughter of the Obscurus feasting on the corpses.
As they finally cleared the exit, a final glance towards Vollua revealed the extent of the disaster.
The city was lost.
The flames danced, devouring every house, every building. The earth was littered with mutilated corpses. And atop the ruins, General Obscurus watched them go, a toothy grin on his demonic face.
He was letting them get away.
Change of viewpoint:
A cold shiver ran down Foster's spine.
A moment earlier, he was still hunting in the depths of the forest, stalking the remnants of the Obscurus horde he'd just wiped out. Then, suddenly, the air itself changed. A wave of dark, colossal power swept through the region, vibrating every fibre of his being.
He stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze lifting to the horizon. Something had just happened.
And then he felt it.
A monster. A walking abyss.
This was no mere corrupt creature like the ones he had eliminated before. It was much worse.
Foster's face took on an unpleasant expression. His heart clenched in his chest with worry.
He frowned.
- How long had such power existed in this forest?
He suddenly ran towards the direction of the aura and the closer he got, the more familiar it seemed.
- DAMN
Flashbacks suddenly rose to the surface of his memory, and the traumas of his past life resurfaced.
A general.
One of Hell's ten generals.
His fist clenched on the hilt of his devouring katana. His blood was already boiling in his veins, his Ki resonating violently, trying to expel itself from his body.
But it was a familiar smell that made him lose all semblance of an already non-existent smile.
A breath of ash and blood. The scent of death, carried on the howling easterly winds.
A thought entered his mind, cruel and sharp.
Vollua.
The image of the elven city came to him. The elegant houses, the bustling squares, his home... reduced to ashes. He could already see the cobbled streets transformed into mass graves, the silent slaughter of the innocent, the nobility on the run, leaving the rabble to be butchered. An orgy of death and fire.
His jaw clenched so hard he could almost feel his teeth crack.
The Lords of the Apocalypse were moving their pawns at last, and Vollua was only the first step.
He had to go.
His body moved before his thoughts had fully formed. His Ki exploded beneath his feet. A shockwave split the ground around him, hurling earth and rock in all directions. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, his body propelling at inhuman speed towards the east.
The trees around him became blurred shadows, swallowed up by his frantic race. Each leap propelled him dozens of metres. His Ki screamed in his wake, vibrating through his body as he pushed his abilities to their absolute limits.
He no longer felt pain, only urgency.
Every second counted.
Every moment lost was a life snatched from him.
The minutes stretched into a hellish eternity as his instincts told him what he didn't want to hear. He wouldn't make it in time.
- Lïanna. Giovanni, Yähnn!!!
The wind bit at his skin, the friction tore at his clothes, but he didn't care. He crossed rivers, hills and plains in record time. He could feel the catastrophe approaching.
Then at last he saw the horizon.
A red sky.
No...
A sky in flames.
Vollua was burning.