The beam of white light slowly faded. Tristan blinked away the image burned into his eyes. He had felt metal essence in that blast, so much of it that it eclipsed the amount of essence that the Lord of the Underworld possessed multiple times over. There were multiple forces wrapped up in the attack, letting Tristan know that a person caused this. He could not recognize the forces by feeling, but there was so much of them that it could be a force of warm hugs and cotton balls while still retaining the requisite power to end him.
“What or who was that!” Tristan yelled.
Luke for the first time had a shocked look on his face. He took a step back from the blast. Even Fluffy had her spines raised in an effort to look bigger. Some of the drunkest partygoers cheered at the spectacle, thinking it was part of the performance. Those who were less inebriated stared in awe as light bathed their faces.
Vulcan groaned, “No time, just flee.”
“Flee from what!” Tristan shouted.
An image was sent over. It had the flavor of a comparison that was not quite truthful but prioritized communicating a point over technical accuracy. An image of a man with green eyes and hair that crackled with lightning, coupled with the feeling of him being a lesser threat. Tristan blinked, that was Vent, the god of lightning and the skies. The Caldera was under assault from a god.
“Luke, grab Conni and the miners and take them to the Temple. I’ll get Eve and a few others and meet you there,” Tristan said. He had always planned to use the temple’s basement this way, but now he was not sure that any amount of stone would be enough of a barrier.
Trembling, Luke nodded, “Yeah, I can go get Conni.”
Lightning curled around his feet before he launched himself off the top of the wall. Tristan followed Luke off the side a few seconds later. Unlike Luke, he had to choose his landing more carefully, the ground cratered slightly where he landed and a cloud of dust rose into the air. They took off in separate directions, heading to different cliques of people.
Thankfully, he already knew where Eve was. All the aristocrats were looking open mouthed to the east. At least until Tristan shoved them aside. Anyone, not in the bunker would be dead in the near future, so he prioritized speed. Several people cursed at him and the golden guards attempted to stop Tristan. He did not slow down, reinforcing his body until anything short of an artifact would do little.
“Tristan, what are you doing?” Eve asked.
“No time, we need to go,” Tristan swept her over his shoulder and took off running.
There were several calls for help, but the other tier fours were the only ones able to keep up with him. Fortunately, there were two nearby.
“What are you doing!” Merrick yelled, barely keeping pace with Tristan.
Both Merrick and Kerri were base tier fours while Tristan was three-quarters of the way through tier four. Kerri was unable to both sprint and keep up his natural stream of insults. Tristan did not feel that he had time to explain, but he also knew that if he tossed Eve in a hole, she would simply be pulled out by her father. He did not want to explain it twice, so he kept his mouth shut.
No one was guarding the temple, though they might have fled when a human lightning bolt smashed the door in. Tristan arrived at the same time as Conni and a few miners. He wondered how Luke had gotten them all to follow so easily.
“Blind gods! Luke, put my wife down!” Conni yelled. Luke had grabbed Grace and ran, giving no explanation. Tristan was surprised that the move had worked so well.
“Tristan, explain yourself,” Eve shouted.
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Tristan skidded to a stop behind the altar. Luke was already inside the office, inspecting the room for the access point. His metal sense flared, taking only a moment to find the hidden metal hinges. Setting Eve down, Tristan drew his knife and cut through the wall. He lacked the time to find the well hidden switches.
Merrick and Kerri drew weapons, startling Conni who was in the middle of catching his breath. Tristan frowned as he had the points of two knives pointed at him.
“Explain yourself now, what you did just now is a pretty big crime,” Merrick said.
“Kidnapping an Elder carries the death penalty,” Kerri snarled.
Tristan paraphrased, “That pillar of light was from something more dangerous than Vent. It also had a mountain of metal essence.”
“You mean the Silver Demon Lord?” One of the miners exclaimed.
“No, I don’t know, Vulcan says it’s bad and that's enough for me,” Tristan said, “Now climb down that ladder before we die!”
Kerri folded his arms, “I’m going to need more proof than that.”
“The Forest Caldera was destroyed!” Tristan had no proof, but the force of the blast was enough to shatter windows from almost fifty miles away. Anyone in the vicinity should have perished instantly.
Kerri opened his mouth to keep arguing. The urgency from Vulcan was building, and that was enough for Tristan to make a decision. He did not have the time to argue. Grabbing Eve around the waist he jumped into the shaft. She screamed at the abrupt change in pace and her father cursed before chasing after him.
Tristan pushed off the nearest wall with a foot. When he hit the opposite side, Tristan shoved off again. This process did not do much to slow him down, but it did redirect his momentum. Hitting the floor at an angle, Eve started coughing as the sudden stop put pressure on her guts. Tristan used some infusion alloy to push some healing alloy into her, before setting her down.
“Have you gone insane?” She asked.
“No, but I don’t have time to argue. The time I spend talking, I could be spending on retrieving another person,” Tristan growled, readying himself to fight Kerri and Merrick.
A task that proved unnecessary. They both had started climbing down, but halfway, Luke decided that he was done waiting. He jumped down while holding Grace. The two on the ladder were both bowled off when Luke slammed into them carrying his hefty cargo. They both hit the ground dazed, but unharmed.
Luke pulsed his conductivity at impact, stopping any of the force from reaching Grace. She blinked in surprise, her scream dying down at how anticlimactic the hundred and fifty foot drop was. Lightning danced between Luke’s fingers, illuminating the room. It was identical to the one that Tristan had found in the Forest Caldera, though most of the equipment had been removed. A secret base that was not secret lost its value.
“What now,” Luke asked.
“I’m going to go get more people,” Tristan said, “I did not see Chase. I also want to get Jenna too.”
“What do I do,” Luke asked.
Tristan had not seen him like this before. Though the only reason Tristan was stable, was the visions he had experienced. This was not the first time he had felt the mind boggling powers of a high tier person. He carried one around with him and talked to him like a friend.
“Stop the ceiling from collapsing if you can,” Tristan looked up and grimaced, “And if I don’t get back take care of them.”
Luke nodded but Tristan was already running. He climbed the ladder, weaving around people going in the opposite direction. He popped out of the hole, startling one of Eve’s guards who was contemplating what actions needed to be taken.
“Bruce?” Tristan said in surprise.
“Sage?” Bruce asked, “What the hell are you thinking?”
Lesley, Bruce, and three other gold armored individuals glared at Tristan, “No time to explain, go down and protect Eve.”
Again he did not wait around for their response. Sprinting through the sanctuary and out of the temple took him less than three seconds. Reaching the city wall a few minutes. He charged right through the gates and into pandemonium.
Tristan had not considered what kidnapping a wartime leader and half her support staff would do when an attack occurred. The people saw an explosion and turned to their leaders for answers. When no leader was present they broke down into areas of influence. Acolytes and religious people flocked to the Guiders. Soldiers gathered around Siren. Smaller groups were present too, though Tristan was not familiar with any of them.
None of these groups were willing to submit to any other further adding to the confusion. Tristan had no idea where to find any of the people he needed to in this mess. Turning around, he scaled the wall to get an overhead view of the party.
He scanned the crowd from atop the battlements, wishing he had the eyesight granted by light and dark kerns. Jenna should have been with Siren, but she was absent. Tristan felt an obligation to help her, due to him recklessly threatening her life before.
A flash of prismatic light caught his attention. He glanced over and found her holding a young boy in her arms. They were so similar that they had to be related. The little boy was playing with a prism in the shape of a forearm length sword.
Jenna frowned when Tristan approached, “What do you want.”
“Follow me, that thing is coming this way and we can’t beat it,” Tristan was worried that he would have to argue with her as well. Unlike Merrick and Kerri, she had a force and was in the same tier. It would not be possible to force her to go.
She looked like she was about to argue when a light bloomed in the north. Tristan turned in time to see a starburst of white light and a column of dust and smoke. The River Caldera had just been attacked. Then the wave of metal essence hit. It was at least twice as strong as the previous explosion and dyed everything a metallic color for a moment before dissipating.
Tristan turned back to Jenna who asked, “So where is this safe place.”