Mark and Horan reappeared in Zaratos’ room, which was now completely deserted. Mark collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily. “You know, maybe we shouldn’t have gone through all those portals so fast. It’s really starting to kick in.”
Horan sat against Zaratos’ bed, which was still propped up against the wall. “Yeah, I feel it too. But we’re done with that now. Dad’s reinforcements will show up here soon enough, and we’ll be on our way to getting back at Thel.”
Mark nodded. “We should probably start planning out how we’re going to deal with the demons and Thel. Are you going to stay here and wait for Zaratos to come back from wherever he is, or head out and find him?”
Before Horan could answer, a flaming arrow pierced through the window and embedded itself in the floor, igniting the carpet.
Mark bolted to his feet, stepping away from the fire. “Put it out! Quick!” Before he could take three steps away, he lost his balance and fell to the floor again.
Horan raised his arm and released a weak gust of wind, which served only to fan the flames.
“C’mon!” Mark began to slowly crawl away from the approaching flames, headed for the closed door.
Horan stood up unsteadily, waving his arms to continually make gusts of wind that kept pushing the clouds of smoke out of the broken window. He awkwardly ran over to the door, trying the handle. “It’s locked!”
Mark and Horan huddled against the door, looking at the encroaching blaze. Just when the smoke became too much for Horan to keep under control, Mark and Horan were hurled from the door as it was thrust open by a wave of water.
Mark and Horan were pushed to the floor as the stream passed over them, dousing the room in seconds. Horan got up and looked back at the open doorway, just in time to see Hadras slide past, skimming through the ankle-deep water filling the hallway.
Horan ran out of the doorway and watched Hadras push another wave of water into the room next door. As Hadras made sure the room was doused, Horan strode up next to him. “Hi, we’re back. What’s going on?”
Hadras looked over at Horan. “Who? Oh, right, you. Yeah, the demons outside launched an attack on the tower, they burrowed under the force-field and blew up Saralai’s magic flare-orb-thing. But don’t worry, I’ve got this all under control!”
Mark stepped out of the room, grappling with a crocodile demon. Another demon followed the two, spear raised. When the second demon spotted Hadras, she put her spear between her and Hadras and yelled out, “Target spotted! Engage!”
Hadras sniggered and held his arms out, showing off his aquamarine vest. “See this? It’s called colour-coding. I’m just trying to show that you don’t want to mess with me in water.” He waved his arms and a helix of water surrounded his body, rippling menacingly. “And all the fancy words in the world aren’t saving you.”
Horan noticed another crocodile demon behind Hadras, who was brandishing a broom handle with an activated taser duct-taped to the end. Horan hurriedly patted Hadras on the back. “Hey, there’s another guy!”
Hadras shrugged Horan away. “Just another body on the pile.” He pointed at the demons thronging Mark, and the water surrounding him surged forward and blasted the demons into the far wall. Mark, who was still holding on to one of the demons, fell face-first to the floor
Instinctively, Horan ducked out of the way of the third demon, who planted his taser between Hadras’ shoulder blades. Hadras collapsed to his knees, crying out in pain.
Horan quickly summoned a sword and slashed the demon’s back, sending him tumbling to the floor. Mark ran over, turned his gun into a short-barrelled shotgun and shot the demon in the head.
Horan stumbled back. “Okay, that worked out. Good to see your gun doesn’t need ammo.”
Hadras, breath unsteady, got to his feet. “What was that?!”
Horan checked his armour for blood. “The guy I warned you about. He had a stun gun stuck to a pole.”
Mark looked around, gun lowered slightly. “That’s a specific weapon for them to make, and a regular spear would generally be more effective. If I were to guess, I’d say they designed a specific battleplan for you, based on their reaction to spotting you.”
Hadras began staggering along the hallway. “Guess that makes sense. Alright, back to work.”
Mark felt the water tug at his feet as Hadras walked away. “Hey, where did all this water come from?”
“Pool.”
“…Okay. So, what’s the plan? How are we dealing with this attack?”
Hadras shrugged as he walked away. “Kill them all.”
Mark watched him walk away before turning back to Horan. “We’re all going to die, aren’t we?”
Horan walked back inside Zaratos’ room. “Most likely.” He leaned out of the broken window to look at the situation outside.
Small teams of demons were holed up in the mansions surrounding the tower, propping ladders up to the tower’s windows. Off in the distance, fires illuminated a large tent on the outskirts of the city. The golden orb that had been placed atop the tower was lying in a large dent in the ground.
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Horan blinked when a flash of light pierced through the darkness, coming from a window a few floors up. He turned back to Mark. “Okay, things aren’t looking good, but we can salvage this. There can’t be that many of them.”
Mark nodded. “Our best bet is to regroup the people in the tower, and coordinate a defence.” He turned and began to leave the room. “I say we start at the- Oh, no.”
Mid-sentence, a hole opened up at Mark’s feet and he stumbled in. After a split-second of falling, he collided with an ascending Zaratos. The two rose out of the floor in a tangled pile.
Zaratos gently pushed Mark off of him and got to his feet. “Why can’t I ever make a calm arrival when I’m coming to you two? Seriously, why can’t I just show up for once? It’s not that hard.”
Mark picked himself up. “Sorry. What’s up?” He looked out the window as a flaming demon fell past. “Besides everything that I already know is up.”
Zaratos looked down at the scorched carpet and sighed. “I just wanted to make sure you’re back.” He turned to Horan. “Did everything work out with your dad?”
Horan nodded. “We’ll be seeing his help show up in about an hour. Less now.”
Zaratos clasped his hands together. “Great. We just hold out for however much longer, and we’ll be golden. It’ll probably be too late to matter at that point, but I’ll take what I can get. These demons attacked us with our pants down, and we’re just trying to find each other in one place. We’ve already lost Saralai’s solar flare ball, and Gratast’s other defenses have had boulders piled up on top of them. Right now, you two should just try and make sure the demons don’t do too much damage. It shouldn’t be that hard to move around, I’m pretty sure the tower itself is helping us out.”
As if on cue, the door opposite Zaratos’ room flung open and a pig demon stumbled out of the shed behind the door, clutching a rake in one hand.
Zaratos looked back at the demon lying on the floor. “Told you. That’s Gratast’s room, normally.” He lifted a hand slightly, and another hole opened up under the demon, who fell into the darkness with a yelp of surprise. The demon was then hurled out of the side of the tower, just next to the broken window.
Zaratos turned back to Mark and Horan. “Do what you can. I’ve got more work to do.” He fell backwards and was swallowed by another hole in the floor.
Mark looked back at Horan. “Ready to get to work?” He lifted his gun.
Horan raised his sword. “Let’s get these guys.”
-
As Mark and Horan climbed a staircase, they stopped in their tracks when a beam of brilliant light blazed through the air in the hallway at the top of the flight, only to be reflected up by something and burn a line into the ceiling. Mark and Horan carefully crept further up the stairs and looked at the hallway.
On the far end of the hall was Saralai, breathing heavily as her arms glowed with the intensity of a spotlight. On the other side were two demons holding up full-size mirrors, behind which were three minor Primoi, bound and gagged.
Horan looked over at Saralai. “Hey, need some help?”
Saralai took a step towards the demons. “No, I’m doing fine. It’s just a bit of a rough patch. You folks can go back to doing whatever.”
One of the rat-headed demons peeked out from behind their mirror to look at Horan. “Yeah, mind your own business!” They ducked back behind their mirror when Saralai fired another blast at their head.
Horan took a step into the hallway while Mark hang back. “Are you sure? Because I can solve this pretty easily, I’ve got all these wind powers and everything.”
Mark stepped out next to Horan, pulling out his gun. “Also a gun.”
The other demon spoke from behind his mirror. “Oh yeah? Well, we have swords!” He waved a shortsword out from behind his mirror. “Don’t come any closer or we’ll stab ya!”
Saralai waved Mark and Horan away. “Just go away, I can handle two weak-sauce monsters.”
Mark turned his gun into a pistol. “It really doesn’t look like you can.” He fired two shots into both mirrors, shattering them instantly.
Before the demons could find new cover, Saralai hit both with twin blasts of light, frying them to a crisp. Saralai sighed as she strode over towards the hostages, looking disdainfully at Mark. “I don’t need some smart-aleck human solving my problems for me. I could’ve handled that.”
Mark turned his gun back into its neutral form and stashed it in one of his hoodie pockets. “Sure you could’ve. Just remember to try a new tactic if the first one doesn’t work after…” He looked around the hall at the various scorched trails criss-crossing the room. “Ten tries? Eleven?”
Saralai burnt off the glowing blue ropes around the hostages and sent them on their way. “Well, sorry that I happened to run into a bunch of monsters with mirrors, for some reason.”
Mark crossed his arms. “Actually, the same thing happened with the water guy, one of the demons had a taser. It looks like the enemy forces are tracking our positions from somewhere and sending specially-prepared troops to eliminate the bigger threats, likely before following it up with a larger assault.”
Saralai wiggled her fingers dramatically. “Ooh, big words! I guess you know everything about what’s happening, don’t you, smart guy?”
Mark pursed his lips. “I’m just guessing, I’m trying to assess the situation.”
“Plus, he really wasn’t using many big words, it’s not hard to follow him,” Horan chimed in.
“Shut up.” Saralai turned and began walking back to her end of the hall. “I don’t need some hotshot human trying to call the shots. I’ve got this under control, both of you just need to let me work.” She paused before she turned a corner, looking at the two of them. “I’m keeping the weaker Primoi safe in a food court a few halls away, you can hole up there.”
Mark reluctantly started following her. “I really think you should at least bring someone with you. You saw how easily those demons stopped you in your tracks, I can help you out!”
Horan looked over his shoulder at the mirror shards on the floor. “You’re missing out on a big help, here.”
Saralai huffed. “If I did need help, neither of you would be my first pick. Half of the Aztecs in the safe-room are more qualified than you, I’m guessing.”
“Wait, you’ve got the Aztecs with you?” Mark followed Saralai more intently. “Okay, maybe we can spend a little time in there, but I still think you should follow my advice.”
Horan hesistantly began following Mark. “Wait, I thought you didn’t want to stay in the safe-room?”
Mark followed Saralai around the corner. “Oh, I don’t, but a chance to talk to the Aztecs would be useful, I’ve got an idea that I want to figure out better.”
Horan shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Take us there, Saralai.”