Safehaven

2 hours after sunrise

“Stay close to the buildings with awnings, hon. It’s starting to rain.”

Jaina shot Stegran a don’t call me ‘hon’ while we’re working look, but otherwise did as he suggested. It was warm despite the drizzle, but most of the folks of Brightholme who were already out and about had seen the skies just as she had that morning, and dressed for rain. Hooded cloaks were everywhere, including on herself and Stegran. Camdyn, again walking between them, had refused their offer of a cloak.

Camdyn’s spirits were low. Lower, even, than they had been on their first try for Adjudication. He’d been sitting and waiting for five extra days, left alone with nothing but his thoughts. He’d been visited once by his wife and kids, and his spirit had soared that day. But as they left the room, he had called his wife back and demanded they not return. He didn’t want to be remembered this way; in a jail cell or in shackles.

His wife had argued, insisting she would come to his adjudication to support him. The kids could stay with her sister. Camdyn had repeated his request. He wanted to do this last part alone and spare them any further pain.

He had, in essence, already said his last goodbyes.

Jaina and Stegran couldn’t help but notice Camdyn’s despondence and exchanged somber glances. Jaina would probably deny it, but they had grown fond of the big man. There were no winners in this situation.

And then…

A thunderous crack echoed in the distance, the reverberations causing everyone in the streets to flinch or turn their heads.

Jaina flinched at the sound and let out a startled and meek “ee” sound. She glanced at Stegran, felling a little embarrassed. And maybe a little concerned.

He frowned and shrugged. “Probably just the Godknight doing Godknight things.”

Jaina turned her attention back to the cloudy skies, the dark mass of a storm still slowly moving in. Maybe it had been just what it sounded like. Thunder.

But then there was another crack, with no flash of lightning preceded it.

Then another. Louder. She looked again at Stegran; now he looked concerned.

Another crack, even louder than the rest. And, for the first time… screams?

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Getting louder. Getting closer.

Stegran grabbed Jaina by the upper arm—hard—and began pulling her backwards. He had released his grip on Camdyn, who had come out of his funk and was now as alert as they were.

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Murmurs began making their way through the streets, growing in volume. People began pointing. A few of them screamed—for no reason Jaina could yet see—and burst into panicked sprints, running frantically and without direction.

Jaina started to see movement from the space between buildings. More people running and screaming. Horses dragging flipped over, empty carriages.

Then she saw something big. Something very, very big.

“Jaina!” Stegran shouted. She had been frozen in place and hadn’t even realized it, too focused on trying to decipher what was happening to have the sense to take cover.

He yanked her roughly, quickly dragging her down a nearby staircase. The stairs descended below street level and led to The Sands of Time, an old clockmaker’s shop. The stairs themselves, as well as the walls on either side, were built from sturdy stone and might offer some protection from whatever was approaching. Camdyn followed close behind, the chains connecting his wrist shackles rattling wildly.

“Stay down!” Stegran commanded. He shoved Jaina to the bottom stair below him. She compacted her body into a tight ball, hands over her head as Stegran draped his body over hers.

Even from under cover, she could make out some of the chaos happening on the streets above. See, hear, and feel. The thundering booms were getting closer now. Louder. The screams became increasingly more terrified, and the very ground beneath her feet vibrated and shook.

Without warning, one of the buildings they had just been walking next to exploded in a cloud of shattered marble and stone. Debris of varying sizes were hurled in every direction before coming crashing down. A split second later, Jaina finally spotted the source of all this madness.

An animal—a monster, maybe—bigger than anything she had ever seen or imagined. As tall as a three story building and just as thick. It was running at high speed through the city, not slowing down one bit as it smashed and bashed into everything in its path. Buildings crumbled and towers two centuries old snapped off of their bases and toppled in the beast’s wake.

Jaina watched with horror as the people who hadn’t been able to get to cover in time were either knocked aside like rag dolls, crushed beneath the monster’s legs, or flattened by flying pieces of debris.

The monster kept running, never slowing, until it had mercifully passed. It disappeared deeper into the city, the sounds of its destruction receding as it got farther away.

“Are you okay?” Stegran asked Jaina. She tried to shake herself out of her shock. Looking at her soon-to-be husband, she saw the same thing in him. Shock and disbelief.

She nodded frantically, as much to reassure herself as him. Stegran did a quick check on Camdyn, who was equally unharmed and equally shocked.

Stegran was the first to rise and take a step up the staircase. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“Stegran?” Jaina asked, rising alongside him.

Then she saw what he saw.

The thing that stood out to Jaina, more than anything else, was the blood. For whatever reason, all her attention focused on that. So much blood. She didn’t know there could be that much blood. It was everywhere. In pools on the ground. Splattered against the few walls that remained standing.

Stegran rushed out, ignoring the dead bodies around him and focusing on a crying child. The toddler was covered in blood and howling with heartbreaking despair. The child’s hands were clinging on to a woman’s hand, which was extending out from beneath a pile of rubble. But that was all Jaina could see of the woman: her hand. The rest was completely covered by the mountain of rock and stone.

She heard more screams and more cries and started to scan the area. But what she saw was too much to bear, and she had to stop. There were people lying everywhere, some badly wounded. Some dying. Many already dead.

She covered her eyes like a child, shaking her head frantically back and forth, chanting, “No, no, no,” over and over.

A voice she didn’t know shouted out from somewhere she couldn’t see. Asking the question that was on everyone’s minds.

“Where is the Godknight?”