By unspoken agreement, we had all stopped at the border between the slums and the city. Unlike the real thing, there is a clear border between the end of the slum and the start of the city. Rather than a gradient, skyscrapers simply start appearing where slum housing had been. The roads also look nicer, going from pitted and filled with potholes to clearly well-maintained asphalt. It’s almost like this place is a mockery of the outside world or a model city not planned all the way out. How curious. I wonder if I’ll ever learn why incursion zones look the way they do. I’d heard that all of them look different, but many appear to be distorted versions of the reality around them.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I adjust my grip on my bow and study the streets in front of me. We hadn’t been attacked since we left our shelter, but some instinctual part of me tells me that is about to change. Looking at the border between city and slum, the hair on the back of my neck begins to rise.
“Is it just me, or is this place worse than before,” one of the soldiers remarks from where he stands just inside the border of the city.
“The stygis level is likely higher within the city than it is outside of it,” Haruto comments, stepping inside the city himself. “You are more sensitive to it, as you aren’t a sentinel.” He looks around at the rest of our team, “It’s something we must make sure to keep aware of, given that we will not feel the difference ourselves.”
Had that been what I was feeling? An increased stygis level? I’d almost forgotten that the soldiers among us are much more susceptible to that kind of thing than we are. I wonder if that’s part of the reason we bring soldiers into these spaces at all. If there is a spike in stygis level, even an experienced sentinel would likely only chalk up the feeling to nerves. Not that it strictly isn’t nerves; I’m plenty nervous as it is. In fact, I’m sure I’d be sweating if I wasn’t soaked in freezing rain. Even then, my nerves feel like a taunt bowstring, ready to snap.
Absently, I look down at my new bow. On a normal bow, this rain would make me worried about the performance of the string. I’m not sure if this inscribed bow would have the same limitations. In fact, it might just have different ones; I’ll need to make sure I stay conscious of how the electricity on the arrows will jump with all of the water everywhere. It’s possible that I could give myself or my teammates a jolt if I’m not careful.
Baylee looks towards Margret, who gives us a nod. Squaring her shoulders, Baylee gives the command, “Let’s move out. Keep your eyes sharp, and try to keep someone looking in every direction. Just because we haven’t been attacked in a while doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.”
All around us, the soldiers nod and move into what looks like a pre-practiced formation where every angle around us has at least someone looking that way. It looks like it will be slower to move as some people will have to walk backward, but if that’s the price for safety, then it’s one we will gladly pay.
So, with slow inexorability, we begin moving forward once more into the city. While the terrain is significantly smoother here, there are also fewer twisting turns and random junctions to provide cover. Like the real Shinara, this place is laid out in a grid, and with no significant impediments, it’s possible to see quite far down the street.
The end result of this has me feeling exposed, and I wonder how wise it is to be moving directly down a street. I’m not sure how else we would move in an environment like this, but I get the keen sense that something is watching us from the buildings stretching far above.
Glancing at Baylee to distract myself, I consider for a moment how well she’d taken to a leadership position. From the moment I’d known she was on my team, it had been clear she would be the one ending up in charge. I’m surprised at how well she commands even the soldiers. She must spend whatever free time she has left studying how to lead a sentinel team. Maybe she even got study materials from Prof.
That’s something I should be doing, too, in fact. While I do like to think I’m good at helping people, I am in no way a trained medical professional. Despite this, I’d found myself in charge of the mental and physical health of my team and whatever soldiers happen to be with us during each operation. I do know some first aid — Dad would have never let me go anywhere without learning it — but I still feel as if I have a long way to go.
With any luck, upon reaching a new sub-rank, I’ll be able to get a healing ability that I can use to help people. To be honest, it’s something I covet. I’d been able to help people with mental problems, but when it came to actually helping Akari heal her physical wounds, I couldn’t do anything but give her some bandages and worry.
What if someone gets seriously hurt or if someone gets sick like my mom had. I need to be able to heal them; I need to be able to heal them all, no matter the malady.
Besides, I wonder how much good I can do in the world if I can heal people? Maybe, one day, I can walk into a hospital, infuse my healing spell into my mist, and let it flow in and fix everyone up. How strong would I need to get to be able to do that? Is there any price not worth paying to help that many people?
As we walk slowly down the road, I find myself lost in daydreams of moving through Shinara’s hospitals like a miracle healer. Flowing from hospital to hospital as I raised the sick and dying off their beds. Perhaps, one day, even sending healing mist through an entire city! Are these daydreams practical? Of course not; even from my limited knowledge, I know I’d pass out from mana toxicity long before any of the feats I’d imagined could take place. Still, it takes my mind off my fear, and that’s what I need right now.
Thus, it’s while I’m lost in my daydreams that the attack takes place. Things happen so fast that it would have been impossible for me to react, even if I had been properly on alert. As it is, all I see are glimpses: a flash of dark scales from one of the broken windows of a skyscraper, a flair of emerald green as Haruto’s barrier blocks an attack from gleaming white claws, and finally, a soldier’s scream as the volcora changes target and latches on to him.
I only see the attacking volcora for a moment before it launches into the sky, its prey clutched in its talons. The creature looks almost like a velociraptor — if a velociraptor had massive bat-like wings and huge talons rather than feet. The volcora had latched itself to the shoulders of one of our soldiers, whose name I’d never learned. Its talons puncture so deep into the man’s shoulders and neck that I know he would need immediate emergency surgery to have a hope of survival. Even then, from the spraying blood around one of the talons in his neck, I’m almost certain his carotid artery had been severed. Maybe the use of my regenerative serum injector could save him, but even then, I doubt it.
Just as my eyes are widening in fright, the still screaming man is dragged up into the air. Almost as fast as it had arrived, the volcora is gone, having taken its pray with it. I hadn’t even had time to see the rank of the volcora. I turn towards Baylee, trying to figure out what I should be doing, but almost as soon as I turn my back, my own barrier flashes blue.
Whirling, I see a second volcora had tried to perform the same attack on me as the other had on the soldier! It flaps above me, its wings nearly silent in the pounding rain as it seems startled at the fact that I’m not dead in its talons. This time, I do manage to see the rank of the creature. It flashes with the letter E, and the letter is greener than the smaller wolf volcora’s had been.
The surviving soldiers, having been trained for situations such as this, are the first to react. After being alerted to the presence of flying threats due to the death of their comrade, they had already been scanning the skies for more volcora. And more volcora there were. The already dark skies had darkened further as a swarm of the strange creatures dive at us from the building windows. As they fall towards us, the assault rifles of our accompanying soldiers begin to thunder, many of them targeting the volcora hovering just over my head.
While the volcora seem bothered by the bullets, even injured by them, they aren’t deterred. More soldiers scream, and in the chaos, it’s hard to make out voices. I see flashes of light as more barriers flair up, my own appearing to save my life more than once. While it takes me a second to react, eventually, I get my own bow up and firing as well.
I draw and fire as quickly as I can, driven more by panic than anything else as I try and often fail to hit the fast-moving targets these flying volcora present. When an arrow does hit, however, it hits hard. The lightning arrows work incredibly well on flying targets, as the volcora can’t just shrug off the hit and keep flying. The second the volcora fall to the ground, they are easy targets for the soldiers and are riddled with bullets.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Akari stands beside me, slashing at any volcora that gets too close, even as Claire does the same for Baylee. Haruto moves from soldier to soldier in a blur, jumping into the air and knocking away volcora with conjured shields just before their talons plunged into their victims. Even still, he isn’t fast enough to save everyone. Most of the screaming is the high-pitched screeches of the volcora being injured; some, however, are normal human screams.
The attack lasts for less than two minutes. Two minutes of pure chaos as dozens of the volcora dive-bomb us. Just as fast as they had come, though, they’re gone, leaving only bodies in their wake. Despite trying to fly off with their victims, only the first had gotten away with it. Carrying the heavy body of a soldier slowed the creatures down enough for them to be shot out of the air.
As soon as the fighting is done, I look around, taking in the carnage that had just occurred with wide eyes. Bodies litter the ground, most of them volcora, but many of them aren’t. I do a quick head count of our group, and I am happy to find that all of Team Picnic had made it through the attack alive. Our barriers had protected us marvelously against the occasional attack.
Our soldier contingent, however, hadn’t faired nearly so well. Of the fourteen soldiers that had been with us, I only see nine still standing. That means that five are either dead or missing, including Margret.
For a tense moment, we all watch the buildings the surviving volcora had disappeared into. But, after a minute passes with nothing happening, Baylee starts calling out orders.
“Serena,” Baylee starts, her voice rough, “start moving through downed soldiers to see if we have any survivors. Haruto, protect her while she works. The rest of you keep your eyes on those windows; the second any of you sees the hint of a wing, you open fire.”
A chorus of “Yes, ma’am’s” comes from the soldiers, although I know they can’t be feeling good right now. Still, the extra eyes and firepower they had provided likely saved our lives. I’m incredibly thankful for each and every one of them. Now, it’s time to see if I can save any of their friends.
Wait, shouldn’t I have gotten-
Through training, your soul gem has undergone a minor refinement. You have advanced from Rank E-2 to Rank E-3.
Almost the second I think of it, the notification pops up. I look at the message and frown. Really? Still no ability? That’s going to make this a lot harder. I just hope I’ll be able to save some of the downed soldiers.
Clenching my fists in frustration at still not having a healing ability with which to properly fill my role on the team. Haruto and I move in the direction of the nearest downed soldier. I have to clamber over and around the corpses of the dead volcora to reach the first person I see. Haruto keeps up with me easily; he moves deftly, all while constantly scanning the buildings and keeping his hammer raised. From his poise and the earlier fight, I know he’s positioning himself so he can knock a diving volcora away from me before it hits.
My breath catches when I see the corpse of the first soldier clearly, for it could not be described as anything else. As I had seen with the first soldier attacked, his carotid artery had clearly been severed. The ground is soaked with blood, and the man is unnaturally pale. His eyes are still wide with terror, although the expression that must have gone with it had faded as he died.
“Can you help him?” Haruto asks, his voice carefully hopeful.
I shake my head, falling to my knees beside the soldier whose name I’d never learned. In fact, I hadn’t learned any of their names other than Margret. Now, he’s dead. A brave man who had risked his life for Shinara… just gone in an instant.
“I-It… it isn’t supposed to work like this,” I choke out; I hadn’t realized I’d started crying. With the rain still pouring down, mixing with the soldier’s blood in the street, it was pouring down my face in rivulets. I don’t care, laying a hand on the clearly dead man. The fallen hero.
Something seems distinctly wrong looking at the dead soldier, and it takes me a moment to realize what it is. I had become so used to seeing the life forces of others in the past few days that the lack of a cheery color burning in someone’s center feels antithetical. It feels like the thing that made this man human, his very essence, had been snatched away.
Haruto kneels down beside me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We need to keep moving, Serena,” he says over the sound of the pouring rain pinging off of his armor. “There are still four more missing soldiers, and some of them might still be alive.”
Jerkily, I nod; I know that Haruto is right. We need to keep going. Yet, my forced upbeat attitude I’d been using to keep myself going had shattered upon looking at the man. “This is my fault,” I whisper. “I was the one who wanted to keep going. If we had sheltered in that building… he’d still be alive. This is my fault.”
I look up at Haruto; he had been one of the ones who opposed coming here, who had wanted us to live to fight another day. “You were right,” I say softly, my voice trembling. “I’m so sorry. You were right.”
Haruto leaves his hand on my shoulder, peering down into my eyes through the slits in his helmet. “Serena. We all chose to try and save lives, this man included. He did not have to come with us nor follow Baylee’s orders. None of them do. We aren’t their superior officers. They decided to come with us anyway, to try and do something for the greater good. Everyone here had a choice to stay in that apartment building and wait out the storm. Instead, we all decided to follow your decision because, deep down, we agree. Even if it costs all of us our lives, it is worth it if we stop that mind flayer from appearing in Shinara’s outskirts. There has always been a very slim chance of success, yet we must grasp that chance and force it to become reality. There is no other choice.”
Hesitantly, I reach over to the dead soldier’s face and close his eyes for the last time. Then, seeing a dog tag around the man’s neck, I grab it and put it into my medical bag. I would read his name later, read it again and again, and remember it for the rest of my life. For now, though, he needs to stay nameless. If I think about how he is someone’s son, someone’s husband, someone’s father, I will break. I know myself well enough to know that if I allow myself to continue dwelling on these deaths, it will create a downward spiral into an abyss.
Haruto stands as I finish up and offers me a gauntleted hand. I take it, allowing him to pull me to my feet. “Whatever it takes?” I ask, looking up into emerald green eyes.
Haruto nods, his stance firm and strong, the picture of a knight of old. “Whatever it takes,” he agrees.
With that, we move on to the next soldier… and then the next. Despair threatens to overcome me as we find corpse after corpse. The smell of rain and the metallic scent of blood chokes my nose. We hadn’t found Margret yet, but I don’t have a lot of hope for her. From what I’ve seen, those flying volcora were consistent in their attack pattern. They knew right where to strike a person to make sure they stayed dead. I know that well now that my medical bag is three dog tags heavier.
Finally, we come to Margret. She had been carried rather far compared to the other dead soldiers; clearly, though, the initial wounds that she’d taken hadn’t been kill shots. Maybe that’s why the volcora had torn her in half. I stare at the gruesome sight, tears rapidly welling in my eyes. As I look at the woman’s entrails spread bare across the concrete, I just can’t take it anymore. The bowstring within me snaps.
I don’t even consciously realize it when I collapse, but I find myself curled on the freezing, wet asphalt, simply trembling. This… this is not what it was supposed to be like. I know Audrey had warned me, but… how could I have known how it would feel. It’s one thing to hear about death, but it’s another thing entirely to walk between the corpses of people you’d just spent the last few hours with. See their beautiful life forces wink out in just a moment.
They had all been people, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. They had kids who were waiting for their parents to come home. Instead, they would receive a phone call and a cold metal dog tag that was the only recoverable piece of the person they loved. I know well the hole that kind of loss leaves in a person’s heart. The loss of my mother had already left a similar one in mine.
“Serena,” Haruto says, his own voice unsteady. “We need to keep moving. It’s what they would have wanted. Find the mind flayer and kill it. If we don’t, this will happen to hundreds, maybe thousands of other people. Innocent people.”
I feel like someone had ripped my heart in two. I’m cold, exhausted, hungry, and all I can smell is blood and rain. I want to scream. To run into my father’s arms and get him to take all of this away. To have him help me fix the problem. But that isn’t an option. No, I have to get through this myself. I have to make it home to Dad… make sure that we still have a home to go back to. That means killing the mind flayer.
Slowly, piece by piece, I put myself back together. Despite not saying anything, I feel Celeste’s invisible support as I manage to climb back to my feet, hardening my heart to do what needs to be done. I know I will fall apart again later, but now, I have a job to do.
As I close Margret’s eyes and retrieve her dog tag, I hear Haruto’s breath hitch. “Damn it!” he roars, his fists clenched and his eyes locked on the ground nearby.
Startled, I turn to him, “Haruto?” I ask hesitantly. He had always been so calm, even in this grim task. What had- Oh… Oh no.
Margret’s tablet, the device we’d been using to track the mind flayer, lay broken on the ground. It’s in dozens of pieces, obviously having fallen with Margret back down to the Earth. Now, it lies shattered and soaked on the asphalt.
For a long moment, Haruto and I simply stare at the shattered tablet. Our only means of tracking the mind flayer is gone. Without it, the deaths of these soldiers become meaningless. We can’t stop the mind flayer if we can’t find it, and without the tablet, we would have to search this entire massive city without having any idea of where the volcora could be hiding. Without it… there is no way we would find the mind flayer in time. Everything we had done, all these deaths, they had all been pointless.
I look up at Haruto on the edge of falling apart again, “W-What do we do now?”
Haruto closes his eyes, seeming to try and steady himself. “I don’t know, Serena. I really don’t know.”