The rest of the corridors weren’t in better shape.
Everywhere he went, he saw the remnants of battles, massacres, and destruction. Though, he wasn’t surprised to see the complete lack of bodies. More than likely they went into the blood pool he had just transformed into life energy.
Still, that didn’t mean the city was safe. This was only one entrance to the labyrinthian underground beneath the city and Sam had no doubt that the rest of the entrances were used in similar ways. There was a small flicker of hope that some other people managed to resist the insidious assault, but knowing his luck, he was planning for the complete opposite.
With luck, he would be able to save at least part of the city. Hopefully, the part where he had to deliver his letter.
As he neared the entrance from where he descended into the abyss with the late Asa, he could hear voices and the sound of battle.
Sharpening his ears, he made sure to listen as Lucky began to slow down a little without Sam prompting him to do so. He was so proud of the wolf!
As he listened, he could now distinguish some cries and sounds from the cacophony.
“…hold the…”
“…aaaaaargh…”
“…let…blood…”
“…crush them!”
Deciding that he didn’t really want to be bogged down, he signaled Lucky to stop and return to his shadow before also vanishing into the shadows while also sending out clones of his to distract the fighters.
As he entered stealth, his spells and affinity with shadow cloaking him from discovery – though he was realistic enough to realize that the only reason nobody saw through his frankly weak stealth was because they were rather occupied – he began heading toward the exit, his eyes on the battle unfolding there.
On one side, their backs toward the underground were people dressed in either red or drenched in blood. From his position, he could see both NPCs and players doing their best to keep the people of the city out. On the other side, were NPCs from Sunspot, some players (though not many), and a suspicious lack of the elite warriors. The Sunwarriors should have been on the blood mages and their minions like a fat kid on a cake.
Yet, they were nowhere to be seen…
Ordinarily, some would be suspicious that they were either in league with the attackers or were already eliminated. Sam knew better. They were currently protecting the ‘important’ part of the city.
The temples, harbor, military locations, and the leaders of the city.
Just as he finished his thought, his Mirage clones slammed into the backs of the blood mages, causing chaos.
“It’s stabbing me! It’s stabbing me!”
“Get it off! Get it off!”
“My knees!”
He made sure his clones didn’t use any of his identifying spells to make sure nobody could react to him. GrindHog and his friend were undoubtedly already telling their bosses that he was in the city, but it would take time for that information to trickle down to the people on the ground. He was going to make sure to use that time wisely. And maybe a little chaotically…
Grinning savagely, he slinked past the battle to emerge into the ruined city.
Just as he was about to head toward the Temple of Sun, he was interrupted by something rather unwelcome.
BAMMMMMM
He was far enough that he could stay on his feat, but the shockwave carried enough dust and debris with it that he was momentarily deafened, and only his wind magic allowed him to escape unscathed. With a wave of his hand, he created a small window in the dust cloud settling in over the city, ignoring the shocked cries for help around him while the people began to stand up after they were blown off their feet.
Devastation was all around him. Previously still untouched buildings were covered in cracks, most of the decorations had been blown off, and everything was covered by a rather substantial layer of dust and who knows what else. People, at least those who didn’t have the skill or power to resist, were also covered in the same substance, evoking pictures he had seen of earthquake survivors in the past.
Here and there, he could see visible shields of magic over certain buildings. Some visibly holding back the tide of debris, some shattered by the shockwave of the explosion, some merrily existing as if advertising the competence of their creators before slowly fading away, once again ready to protect the homes they covered.
Looking in the distance he saw six columns of smoke rising up in the air, tinted a bit reddish, while entire sections of the city seemed to be caved in, releasing horrendous noise as the underground caverns and corridors began to fill with the destroyed remains.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Cries of pain, dismay, devastation, and general shock rang through the city as people realized what was happening. However, as he watched the destroyed building sink even deeper, he saw that the few blood fanatics still on the surface were looking around either distractedly or worriedly.
‘No doubt worried why the seventh place didn’t explode…’ he mused.
However, he didn’t have time to idle around. He had to deliver the symbol he was ‘given’.
Turning around, he located the Temple of the Sun – a surprisingly, humble building with a giant hole in the top of the roof to allow the sun to illuminate the congregations – and began running toward it.
Thankfully, the part of the city that wasn’t currently sinking into the depths of unknown darkness (and devoured by the same darkness) was the part where most of the officials, nobles, and other high rollers lived.
Barely any sign of fights. What he saw were a few smears of people who tried something, but even those were in the process of being cleaned up by stone-faced servants laboring while ignoring the chaos in other parts of the city.
It seems Sunspot was indeed a lawless city…
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It took him only a minute or two to reach the first roadblock protected by Sunwarriors, their head hidden by gleaming helmets, nonetheless radiating fury and absolute demand for obedience as lesser soldiers and other auxiliary people moved around them.
Even then, that time was an eternity in a battle like this. The reddish-tinted smoke wasn’t vanishing, instead, it was starting to join together into a giant cloud about the city, radiating the same disgusting magic that Sam faced not long ago.
As Sam got near the roadblock, he was instantly spotted by warriors, their helmeted heads snapping in his direction (not that he was hiding from them), so he jumped down from the rooftops where he was making use of his previous practice to shorten the travel distance and approached the official standing next to one of the Sunwarriors.
“HALT!” cried the man, looking Sam over. “Turn away or be destroyed! This area is prohibited from entering!”
Sam stopped and raised his hand to show it was empty. “Greetings! I have business at the Temple of the Sun!”
The official frowned and began to berate Sam.
“Now see here! I said no entry, then no en---” however, he was interrupted by the Sunwarrior holding a metal gloved hand in front of his face.
The face hidden behind the helmet watched Sam for a moment, and then they heard a low, rumbling sound.
“Speak!”
Sam smiled a little and slowly to not spook the people warily watching him, reaching into his inventory and retrieving the symbol.
Instantly, the entire street was bathed in warm sunlight, while several lines on the nearest Sunwarrior’s armor began shining with the same light.
There were several cries of surprise and wonder, and Sam also spotted a person breaking into tears.
The giant warrior spent a moment scrutinizing the item shining in Sam’s hand before nodding. Then, to everyone’s surprise, he opened the roadblock for Sam to enter, then he physically picked up the official and put him out of the way.
“Go!” he rumbled, and Sam was off.
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Once inside the area protected by the famed warriors, countless soldiers, and servants, it was rather peaceful. Hell, there were even magical enchantments in place that filtered out of the cries of the dying people.
Even then, as he approached the temple, he immediately noticed he wasn’t alone. Countless people, in very expensive clothing, were gathering around the entrance as one of the priestesses was trying to keep them calm.
As he slowly approached the crowd, he mostly heard prayers for salvation, doom on the attackers, and everything in between.
Not wanting to go through a crowd of rich and entitled people, he simply took out the shining symbol from his inventory, held it high, and began to walk forward.
Instantly, people began to back up as soon as the light touched them, some out of fear but some out of awe. A few people even fell to their knees and rapidly began to pray.
It didn’t take long for the priestess to notice him, not with him playing the part of a mobile lighthouse and barely another second to recognize the item. Her face fell, and tears began to fall from her eyes as she watched Sam approach.
He stopped in front of her, a step lower and very aware of the people watching them, he bowed a little and held out the symbol silently.
The priestess opened her mouth and gently reached for it, before stopping herself and shaking her head.
Instead, she gave Sam a weak smile and motioned inside the temple.
“Come with me,” she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
He nodded and followed her inside while another priestess, this one much meaner looking with some impressive muscles, showed up and took the previous one’s place.
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Sam was led inside, the light shining from the artifact in his palm reflecting perfectly from the walls of the temple, fully illuminating the entire space with the warm light of the sun, chasing away the gray melancholy.
They were soon joined by other sad-looking priestesses, and the one who escorted him stepped next to one of the older women and spoke up.
“Sister, he has brought…”
“Shh…sister. I know what he has brought,” she shushed the first one and then looked into Sam’s eyes. “The only one who is missing and not dead is Asa. Did she…?” she asked without being able to finish the sentence.
Sam nodded and quietly explained what happened under the city, then his actions with the blood pool.
There were gasps of surprise and admiration around, interspersed with a few cries of Asa’s and her disciples’ names.
However, the artifact was still in his hand as none of the priestesses were seemingly willing to take it from him.
Then, as he was about to inquire about some possibilities, they were interrupted by a fearful cry.
“Look! The sky!” came from one of the women in attendance who was looking out of one of the windows.
Instantly, he felt a burst of magic emerging from the elder priestess, and the hole in the roof was covered by an invisible magical membrane. He gave her a quiet thumbs up and also started to look to see what the other priestess saw.
The dark cloud of reddish-black smoke that was created by the almost complete destruction of the city had evolved into a giant black cloud, that occasionally flashed dark blood. The worst was, however, that Sam could see small droplets of reddish liquid falling from it.
Sam watched curiously as the priestesses began to herd the crowd inside under cover, but still, they weren’t fast enough, so one of the droplets landed on an uncovered patch of skin.
“AARGH!” came the pained yell as Sam and the others watched as the affected skin began to turn dark red then black. “I can’t feel my arm! I can’t feel my arm!” the man cried as his arm indeed uselessly flopped around while his face was etched with worry.
Sam threw up a quick shield to protect those not under cover and watched worriedly as the red rain began its deadly concert over the city of the sun.