Zoe was at the outskirts of Flester fifteen minutes later, her chest heaving with each breath as she stared at the destruction. The towering gray walls that once stood as a testament to Flester’s might were nothing more than a pile of scorched stone.
The beautiful, mystic shops that lined the streets were shattered. Shards of crystal covered the ground, massive planks of wood burned with a brilliant white flame that reached up through the cloud of smoke billowing from the destruction.
Few buildings remained standing, their outsides scorched and charred from the flames. Inside of each, Zoe heard people crying and grimaced. She couldn’t help everybody, she was here for Joe, she reminded herself. If their houses were still fine, they might be better than Joe was.
In the distance, Zoe saw balls of flame that seemed to hop from building to building, leaving destruction in their wake. The bits of Fire Elemental that broke off from the main body, she supposed.
Zoe rushed towards where The Risen Cask should be, sending towering waves that crashed into each Fire Elemental she saw. Most were dark blue in the one forties, but some even made it up to one fifty. None survived the flood of water Zoe threw at them. Their flames extinguished in an explosion of steam. The first gave her a notification, but she dismissed it immediately.
The damage got worse as she continued south, and the heat began to creep through her defenses. Fewer and fewer buildings remained standing. Stone and wood fell to the ground in heaps around her as she dodged through the destruction. Fear rose within her.
If Zoe was feeling the heat through her Torrential Arsenal, with all her resistances, then the poor kids that stayed at Joe’s had no chance. Even Joe might struggle, if he survived the initial assault. She kept running through the destroyed city, images of Joe’s body amid a pile of wood with icy blue splinters embedded within raced through her mind.
“Please be alive, Joe. Please.” She whispered to herself as she turned the corner to Joe’s street.
The Risen Cask was destroyed. A mound of broken wood was left in its place, flames and smoke billowing out from it. Four Fire Elementals were bouncing around on taller section of the mound, and Zoe heard hushed voices coming from below the destruction.
——————
Jeffrey sat on the floor in the kitchen, gripping a translucent gray gem and pushing all the mana he could into it. Lauren had already run out, Kenzie and Sue were both physical builds so didn’t have enough to make a difference. And Peter was helping Joe defend the kitchen from the onslaught of flames and smoke that threatened to overrun their small hideaway.
Mana: 753/2420
He shook his head. Soon he would be out, too. Lauren would have recovered a bit by then, but it wouldn’t last. And without their mana, the stone wasn’t powerful enough to fight back against the smoke and ash that crept in.
Jeffrey scoffed. Not that Joe would even be able to keep the kitchen defended forever. Without Peter they probably would have been overtaken already. Hell, if Joe hadn’t just taken his new class the day before they probably wouldn’t have made it this long.
But maybe that would have been mercy. Maybe being taken early would be better than sitting in a cramped kitchen, suffering from heat while their health slowly drained away to their certain death. Maybe their final struggles would be for nothing and they could have gone out with happier final memories. Of promise, of a new job, a new life.
“Are you okay Jeffrey? Do you still have the buff? Do you need more food?” Joe asked him through gritted teeth.
The man was too nice for his own good. He could have escaped on his own, even if it was new, just having his fifth class would be enough. But he stayed behind and drained everything he had just to keep everybody safe a little longer.
Jeffrey took a breath. He was being too negative, he knew that. Life was looking up finally. If they survived, maybe one day it could look up again. The world doesn’t revolve around him, it’s not going to go to shit every time something goes well for him. One day, if he lived, he could be happy again.
The struggle wasn’t pointless, he knew. That’s why he kept pushing mana into the gem, that’s why he stayed in here with them and did his part, however small it may be. The city would still be okay. Flester would survive, his new job would still be there. Flester’s guards were competent, and the city was filled with powerful individuals who would jump in to help.
On the bright side, he might even thrive with how many potions Flester’s government would need after this, just to keep people safe. Things would be okay, he reminded himself.
“I’m fine, still have the buff Joe. It lasts for four hours. I’m running low though.” Jeffrey checked his mana again.
Mana: 737/2420
“Seven thirty seven mana left. How much do you have, Lauren?” Jeffrey asked.
Lauren shook her head. “Only two fifty four. I don’t have much wisdom, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay!” Joe said. “You’re doing your best and that’s fine. We’ll live through this, it’ll be okay.”
“I’m almost out of mana too.” Peter said with a pale, sickly looking face.
Joe grimaced, only barely visible to Jeffrey’s keen eyes. “That’s fine. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine for a while.”
The kitchen shook as an explosion outside rattled the room. The pots and pans that lined the walls clanged against each other and soot fell from the ceiling. Soon after, water followed behind. Dripping from the ceiling and pouring in from the walls.
“What’s happening?” Sue cried.
“I don’t know. It’s okay. We’re fine.” Joe said, scrambling to keep the water away as pulses of blue light washed out from him to destroy the puddles of water and ash.
The wooden walls creaked and splintered. Fragments of wood broke off and fell to the ground, to be washed away by Joe’s skill.
Jeffrey looked up as the ceiling groaned and bent, then lifted off the walls to reveal a plume of dark smoke that covered the sky. A familiar head looked down at them from above — Zoe, one of Joe’s friends.
She jumped in and hugged Joe. “Oh my god I was so worried. I’m so glad you’re okay.” She looked around at the group. “Is everybody okay? Does anybody need healing?”
“We’re okay, I don’t think anybody got injured badly. The heat is draining us all though.” Joe said.
Zoe nodded and ran around the kitchen, pressing her hand into people’s shoulders. Jeffrey felt her magic surge through him when she touched him and watched his health recover quicker than he’d ever seen before. In moments he went from sore and worn to feeling right as rain.
“How’s the city doing? Is everybody okay?” Kenzie asked.
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Zoe’s face dropped. “You haven’t seen outside?”
Joe shook his head. “We’ve been in here since the attack. Do you know what happened?”
Zoe nodded her head and gestured to the walls. The wood and ash lifted away to reveal the ruins of The Risen Cask. None of the neighbours fared better, the ruins of their buildings only just visible through the dense cloud of smoke that blanketed Flester.
“Fire elemental attacked, from what I’ve heard. Don’t think it’s dealt with, we need to go. We can all stay at my place.” Zoe said.
“Okay,” Joe turned to Jeffrey and the others. “Anybody who wants to can come with us to Zoe’s.”
Everybody stood, and followed Zoe as she jogged through the town. Kenzie and Sue’s quiet sobbing was the only noise that broke through the crackling of flames around them. Sometimes they’d encounter a small Fire Elemental, but in a moment a towering tsunami of rushing water would appear and slam through it.
Jeffrey shook his head at the sheer display of power. He’d been near high levels before, hell even Joe had another class on her. But the sheer quantity of mana she could spew at a moment’s notice was incredible. If Jeffrey had that kind of power, they wouldn’t have been stuck in a kitchen on death’s edge. They wouldn’t have had to rely on a fragment of her power embedded into a crystal to be able to breathe.
Soon they were on the outskirts of the city, and Zoe stopped to turn around to look at Joe.
“I’ve been thinking about whether I should mention it, and I’m not sure if I should or not. So I’m just going to, and let you decide. But if you attack a small Fire Elemental before I kill it, then you’ll get the Slayer of Fire feat, and the Fire skill. I know this super sucks and it would be better if it never happened. But the options there.” She said.
Joe sighed. “Thanks, Zoe.” He looked at the rest of the group. “You all heard her. If we go back and help her kill one of the fire elementals, we can get a feat and a skill. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but does anybody want to?"
Jeffrey’s hand shot up. All he had to do was attack one of the fire elementals that were nothing more than pests to Zoe, and he’d get a new skill? That was a no brainer, to him.
Peter and Lauren’s hands went up not long after.
“You two don’t want to? It’s okay if you don’t.” Joe asked Kenzie and Sue.
They shook their heads, their faces covered in tears.
Joe nodded. “That’s okay.” He turned to Zoe. “Can you take these three to get the feat? I’ll stay here with Kenzie and Sue.”
“Sure. We’ll be quick.” Zoe turned to Jeffrey. “Lets go, we can’t keep them waiting.”
Jeffrey and the two others took off after Zoe. She ran far quicker than before and Jeffrey struggled to keep up, but the rubble in front flew off to the side as she barrelled through it and she slowed down whenever somebody fell too far behind.
They found a group of three fire elementals in a few minutes. One was destroyed in an instant by a flood of water that Zoe created. Earth rose up around the other two and trapped them.
Zoe summoned three spheres of ice and handed them to everybody. One of the gray stone boxes floated over towards the group. “I’ll open up a hole on the top, you just drop these balls into it and then I’ll kill it. Hopefully that gets you the feat, but we can try again with the other one if it doesn’t.”
A tube of gray rock extended from the top of the box, and deafening crashes accompanied with a dense cloud of smoke flew out from it.
“Here, just toss it in and it’ll hit the fire elemental. You don’t have to do much damage. I know I didn’t with my first elemental.” Zoe chuckled dryly.
Jeffrey was the first to drop his frozen sphere in. The tube closed up behind it, and he heard the ball roll down then a crash rattled the box as it must have impacted the elemental.
Zoe repeated the process for Peter and Lauren, and then dumped an enormous amount of water down the tube. Steam flooded out from the tube, and in moments Jeffrey was awarded with a notification.
*Ding* For assisting in the destruction of a fire elemental, you have been awarded with the [Slayer of Fire] feat.
“Did you all get it?" Zoe asked.
“Yeah, I did.” Jeffrey said. Peter and Lauren agreed.
“Great, lets get back to Joe and the sisters then.” Zoe said and started pulling the other stone box over to her.
“What are you going to do with the other elemental?” Lauren asked.
“I was going to kill it, why?" Zoe asked.
“I was just thinking you could bring it with us, and maybe the others could get the skill too since it was really easy?" Lauren suggested.
“Ah! Now that is a smart idea. I should have done that in the first place actually, huh?” Zoe shrugged. “What’s done is done. Lets get going.”
When they got back to Joe, he looked at the stone box that floated next to Zoe. “What’s in the box?" He asked.
Zoe grinned from ear to ear for a moment, then shook her head. “Just a fire elemental.”
Joe shook his head. “You’re insane, you know that?”
“They’re weak, Joe. And I thought you and Emma might be interested in the feat.” She shrugged and started leading them through the forest towards wherever her home was.
———————
“Why is it so dark in here?" Nora asked, lighting another candle she had stored away in her storage item.
Emma and her mom were sitting in Zoe’s kitchen, the fireplace was burning and the cats were both hiding in different corners. The rest of the cave was too dark to find their away around in, and Emma wasn’t comfortable letting the cats run wild with all the junk Zoe might have lying around.
“You know why, mom.” Emma answered.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Nora asked.
“Zoe? She’ll be fine, probably. She’s strong. I’m worried about Joe, though. I don’t know if she could handle him dying.” Emma said.
“He’s a high level innkeeper, they usually have skills to protect their inn. I’m sure he’s fine.” Nora smiled.
Their conversation was interrupted by a cool breeze that brushed across their legs.
“Hello? Emma?” Zoe’s voice called out.
“We’re in the kitchen!” Nora shouted back.
“Are you busy? Could you come out?" Zoe shouted back.
Emma looked to the two cats cowering in the corners.
“It’s okay, I’ll watch them. Go see what Zoe’s got.” Nora said.
“Okay, thanks mom.” Emma said.
Emma left the cave and saw a crowd of people standing outside, with a stone box floating in the air next to Zoe. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Joe. “Is everything okay?”
“Got a fire elemental here. Want a new feat and a new skill?” Zoe asked.