Chapter 28 Inferno

“This is General Wieser. You are hearing a recorded message. The monster populations that have appeared earlier this week all over the world have dealt devastating blows against our military and civil facilities. We are in a state of emergency. Larger monster concentrations throughout Austria will be destroyed with our remaining air force. Air strikes will occur at 2100 tonight. No nuclear grade weapons will be used within the region of the Maar Valley and Falstadt. Supply lines are cut but we will do everything in our power to fight this emerging chaos. Surviving inhabitants are advised to seek shelter, if possible inside of an air-raid bunker. I repeat, air strikes will occur at 2100 tonight. No nuclear grade weapons will be used against the monster populations inside of the Maar Valley and Falstadt. Inform other survivors and vacate the area as fast as you can. May god be with you.”

They listened as the static riddled recording started yet again, dulled impacts resounding in the far distance, light flaring up in the already red skies.

“The region is inserted with another voice,” Logan said. “Which means they are using nuclear strikes.”

Kate felt her hammer slip out of her hand. She caught it at the last moment and gulped.

Logan looked at each of them in turn. “They won’t come to help us. This is a last effort to destroy the enemy, going as far as striking our own cities. All out war.”

Kate opened her mouth and closed it again. “We have to move. The others are somewhere in the forest, on their way back to the castle.”

Logan nodded, as did Grey.

“Give me your spare shirts,” Kate said and crouched down, opening her pack as she looked at the surrounding forests. The fire wasn’t close, and still she could smell it in the air. This was like nothing she had ever experienced. “We try to stay out of the trees as well as we can,” she said, wetting her spare shirt before she folded it up. She covered her mouth and nose, knotting it tightly around the back of her head.

“The fires will spread,” she said, quickly wetting and folding the other shirts and handing them back, making sure the two men tightened them enough. “We move to Keilberg, then north until we reach the Willow. It should be the closest natural barrier against the flames. If we can contact them with the radios, we move up into the forest, otherwise we meet back at the castle.”

Logan put his helmet back on over the wet shirt. “One moment… forth, warriors. Let us fight until dawn. Let us fight, until the enemy is slain.” A dim white glow lit up through some of the cracks of his armor, an invisible pulse passing through Kate as she watched him.

She took in a deep breath. And felt ready. “I don’t think we’re equipped to slay a forest fire.”

“Let’s focus on surviving first,” Logan said as they all put on their packs and readied their weapons.

Kate took the lead, jogging around the nearby copse of trees as she kept her eyes and ears open for any dangerous creatures they might come across. Logan and Grey followed close behind.

She moved up and towards the bench they had stopped at before, wondering if it was a good idea to use the radios yet. For now she decided not to. If Jon and the others needed help, they would use them, otherwise sending something through might alert monsters near them of their presence. Kate glanced left where she heard fast steps, crouching low when she saw three enormous wolves run out of the treeline.

The creatures slowed and glanced their way, growling. Sharp and bloodied teeth were bared, their heads larger than those of a lion, muscles shifting under their brown and gray fur. It smelled of burnt hair, a few cuts showing on their large bodies as they watched the three humans with their black eyes, taking tentative steps. The largest one of the wolves nearly reached the height of Kate’s chest.

“They’re not backing off,” Grey said as he readied his weapon.

“Wolves don’t attack humans,” Logan said. “Not if they’re not desperate.”

“These aren’t wolves,” Kate said and growled back at the creatures. She raised her hammer and took a step towards the creatures, her magic taking hold. She could tell it had an impact by the way their bodies shifted. “Fuck off!” she shouted, taking another step forward on the dirt covered section of the mountain slope while waving her hammer.

One of the wolves whimpered before another ran away, southwards and up towards the distant peaks dimly illuminated by the red light on the horizon. The other two followed a split second later.

“You two alright?” she asked.

Logan shook his head for a few seconds, hitting the side of his helmet with one hand before he nodded. “That’s some… strange magic you have. Almost felt it,” he said.

“It shouldn’t affect allies,” Kate said, watching the wolves vanish into the dark treeline about forty meters above.

“It doesn’t, but I could feel it too, just not directed at me. Those wolves were injured. Cuts and burns,” Grey said.

“Let’s hope that means they won’t follow us,” Logan said. “Those were bigger than tigers.”

“Yeah, and probably what made those prints Allison found,” Kate said as they pushed onward and up the slope.

They reached the lookout a few minutes later, moving in a slight jog as various creatures rushed through the forest. Kate could hear far more of them than she could see. Moving up towards the bench, she looked out onto the Maar Valley with wide eyes.

Entire sections were covered in flames. Kilometers of land set alight, the fires clinging to trees and houses, to fields and roads alike. Lines showed where creeks and rivers sneaked through the valley, splitting the sea of burning chaos. There were creatures moving throughout, their forms shrouded in smoke and flickering flames. She could hear them. Screams and shouts, dying cries from the midst of the destruction.

Kate watched as one of the fiery red lines moved through the skies, impacting the ground on the other side of the valley, a streak of red flame enveloping a horde of monsters briefly illuminated by the aerial strike. “This is insanity…”

Mere moments stood between the calm night and a sea of fire and death.

“We have to move,” Grey said, tapping both Logan and Kate.

She nodded, the trio moving down towards the fires. The smell of burning forests and fields was permeating now, Kate occasionally spotting tumbling figures of flame clad creatures between the line of trees.

They crouched low when the sound of a fighter jet roared past above. Heavy machine gun fire could be heard before an inhuman shriek filled the night. Kate looked up to see the plane take a sharp turn to the left. Light flared up as it fired at something she did not see. She glimpsed several sets of wings following the plane at a far slower speed.

Kate winced when the machine impacted something far up in the air above the valley, the bright explosion inaudible at the distance. The winged creature it must’ve struck fell in a burning tumble, surrounded by flame clad metal debris and shrapnel.

She gulped and moved onward, towards where she knew the Willow to be. They were getting closer to the fires now, entire trees set ablaze in the distance. Certain sections had already burnt down entirely, nothing but black stumps and ash remaining. Keilberg had been hit too, heavy smoke rising above the town, fires raging in a few of the buildings she could see from afar. Not a direct hit it seemed, but it was close enough. She hoped the flames didn’t move to everything.

Kate heard a cough and turned to see Grey putting a hand before his face. He looked at her with bloodshot and dry eyes, shaking his head when he saw her watching him.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“It’s not…” she looked at the forest floor and raised her brows, flames clinging to leaves floating through the visible air around them. This is. It’s too hot. Why…

She shook her head and continued moving. She knew turning back now was a mistake. “Tell me when you can’t go on! We’re close to the river!” Kate could tell by now that she should’ve at least needed her full gear to walk through this kind of heat but she barely noticed. Her hammer was warm, as were her clothes, but it didn’t match with what she saw around her. The magic stats then, she concluded, the bonuses the only thing she could think of.

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A few minutes passed before they reached the Willow, the river moving down the mountain slope and towards Keilberg before it made a turn eastward and towards Falstadt. The water moved fast, ice cold at this time of year.

Logan and Grey moved down the slope and got into the water, splashing their faces. Steam rose where Logan’s armor entered the water. He took off his helmet and dunked his head down.

Melusine will have to check them. She grit her teeth, annoyed that she hadn’t noticed the true extent of the heat. She trusted her senses too much, what she assumed to be her high Vitality messing with her perception of the danger. It was good at least that it was them, both Logan and Grey having invested considerable stat points into Vitality. She had no idea how a human without those increases would’ve handled the heat they had just walked through.

Brushing off sword attacks, arrows, and punches was one thing, but she couldn’t put it into relation to anything. Kate had never had to deal with such injuries. Heat, she knew. Her hands fumbled with the pack before she managed to open it. Jesus fuck. Without protective clothes and masks. We should all be dead.

A part of her wanted to freak out. Monsters and swords were new and strange. Something she just had to deal with. Perhaps she needed to see something familiar to understand the true extent of this new magic coursing through her veins. My veins, skin, mind, or wherever it really is. Do I go into the water too? She didn’t know. Looking behind herself, she could see wisps of fire clinging to the autumn leaves of oaks and beeches. She understood in theory how hot the air was but her body didn’t register it.

Kate looked down and opened her jacket, sure to find horrible burns that had destroyed her nerves. And yet there was nothing. She was uninjured. Sweaty, sure. It was warm after all. Fucking hell. She focused and closed her jacket, remembering that she had used her rope in the cavern. “Grey, your pack,” she said, looking up and down the river to see if there were any monsters.

All she saw were a few animals, rabbits, deer, and a fox cowering near the riverbank, trying to stay hidden from the humans they had surely heard. She couldn’t see far beyond, this side of the river mostly in the dark, the other side shrouded in smoke and fire. The sky remained lit in dim red, though the evening had quieted. No more impacts or flashes of light.

She caught the wet backpack and quickly found the rope, tying one end around her left upper arm before she climbed down into the river herself. The cold came as a bit of a shock, Kate gasping as she felt the contrast, slowing her breathing to get used to it.

The current was noticeable at the edge of the river but not particularly strong yet. She handed Grey the pack and bound the rope around his arm, moving on to Logan before she added him in turn.

Kate pulled on both to check. “You two ready?”

“Yes,” Grey said in a raspy voice before he coughed.

Logan nodded.

“You two stay in the water if you have to. We move close to the riverbank,” she said and started eastward, her hammer held in her right hand, the left one keeping the rope close, to make sure she would be ready if the others were taken by the current.

It proved quite difficult to wade through the undergrowth but they managed it with some time, Kate using a hunting knife from time to time to get rid of particularly annoying shrubbery. She kept glancing behind her to check for monsters, despite her excellent hearing. It just felt wrong, to know the heat and smoke wasn’t bothering her. She considered being in shock or simply being pumped full of adrenaline but the symptoms just weren’t there. Her body was calm, her senses alert. She could see, hear, and smell. Very well even.

About twenty minutes of careful walking later, she crouched, signaling to the others to stop, both of them in the river up to their waist, close to each other and often dowsing themselves with the cold water. She waited, hearing the strange cracking sound from ahead. Logan and Grey moved up behind, getting closer to the bank as they readied their weapons.

Kate motioned them to wait, her eyes widening as a massive creature reared up its antlered head. Its entire form was made up of roots and leaves. Two vague arms and legs moved into the river, parts of its torso burnt and blackened. Roots linked through an antlered skull, the creature’s eye sockets hollow. The nearly four meter tall being lowered itself into the water before it stood up once more. Kate heard the sound of rustling leaves despite the creature being wet from top to bottom. She could hear strange patterns in the sound before it stopped entirely.

The creature spread out its massive arms, its empty eye sockets aimed towards the spreading fires on the other side of the river. Wood ground and splintered as its root-like hands grew larger, fingers interlinking before the creature submerged them in the water. And pulled up. The motion raised hundreds of liters of cold water, the impact on the other side resounding in a loud splash as the flames were pushed back. The being made another sound, wind moving through autumn leaves as it walked deeper into the river, submerged now to its waist.

Kate motioned to the others, walking onward along the riverbank whilst keeping an eye on the being. She felt the creature was far more concerned about the raging fires than a few humans sneaking past behind it. A kindred spirit, she thought with a slight smile. Strangely, the sight of the inhuman tree creature calmed her. Far less strange than her apparent resistance to heat. Fight the fires, friend.

They sneaked past without the creature so much as turning around, soon back to the methodical walk along the riverbank. The radios remained silent through it all, though Kate didn’t know if the heat and water had damaged them. A few minutes later, they saw a group of orcs moving through the forest in the distance, some of them limping as they looked for a way through the raging fires. None of them seemed to see the group, soon past as they moved southwards.

It took longer than usual but Kate soon saw the elevated outline of the burg. The sky had darkened considerably. She couldn’t see any smoke or fire rising from the structures, but most of it lay in shadow. She crouched when she heard wings flapping, a large winged creature landing on their side of the river, just about twenty meters ahead.

Two bird-like legs dug into the dirt, yellow scales covering most of its lithe body. Leathery wings flapped once, the wingspan at least five meters wide, then retracted snugly on the creature’s back. Its head was long and covered in scales, two small horns growing out towards the back, sharp teeth in its mouth as it lowered itself down to drink from the water. The creature was at least two meters tall, nearly twice as long including its tail.

Kate waited in silence, watching from behind the bushes as the being drank. She heard each gulp, heard the flowing water, the cowering critters about ten meters to her right, and the crackling of burning wood on the other side of the river, farther away now.

The winged creature looked up and spread its wings. Wind brushed against the grass, bushes, and trees as it lifted itself off the ground, flying northwards and into the valley.

“Wyvern,” Grey whispered.

Kate motioned for him to be quiet as she pushed on, glancing to their right from time to time. She could no longer hear any movements from the creatures that had hidden there. Nothing came and attacked as the others moved out of the water, Kate helping them with the rope. She opened the knots and put the thing back into Grey’s pack. The forest here seemed fine, the smell of burning wood still present but less pronounced. She couldn’t feel the heat at all.

Hammer in hand, she moved ahead and up the steep slope, soon seeing the castle walls in the darkness. A wisp of fire lit up on the battlements. “It’s us!” she called out, raising her weapon as she walked closer. The fire vanished again.

They made it.

“Go and open the gate,” she said, checking on her companions. They seemed fine, though exhausted. Kate checked the forest behind them as the gate opened, going towards the burg when she couldn’t hear or see anything else. She made sure to look up too, though the sky had darkened considerably. I would hear the wings, she thought, shouldering her hammer as she entered.

“Melusine is in the armory,” Ethan said with an agitated voice. “What happened out there? We heard the planes and the… the bombs.”

“Air strikes against the monsters. I’ll take over once we’re checked up,” she said. “Everyone here and well?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes. We were nearly here when it started.”

“Good. Come on, you two,” Kate said as she made for the armory. “And Ethan, check the skies for Wyverns.”

“What?” he asked.

“Flying monsters. Yellow scales. Little dragons basically,” she said.

He looked at her and gulped, nodding before he made for the stairs.

Grey coughed. “N… not dragons… dragons have four-” he coughed again.

“Don’t talk,” Kate said, giving him a slightly worried look as she grabbed his arm to support him.

Kate Lindgren

Unspent stat points: 0

Class: Berserker – lvl 13

- Active: Mindless Ferocity – lvl 17

- Active: Furious Dance – lvl 16

- Active: Reckless Charge – lvl 13

- Active: Hunting Leap – lvl 4

- Active: Shattering Step – lvl 2

- Passive: Toll for the Living – lvl 14

- Passive: Courage of the Unarmored – lvl 13

- Passive: Two Handed Weapon Fighting – lvl 13

- Passive: Unrelenting Carnage – lvl 4

- Passive: Intimidating Presence – lvl 4

Support class: Silent Striker – lvl 6

- Active: Frightening Growl – lvl 3

- Active: Bewildering Wave – lvl 2

- Active:

- Passive: Heightened Hearing – lvl 8

- Passive:

- Passive:

Status:

Vitality: 23

Endurance: 17

Perseverance: 13

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 10

Serenity: 6

Equipment:

Torso: -

Legs: -

Trinket: -

Food: -