Inside this large enclosed space of a cave, the sudden tremors threw us all into disarray. Both brothers of the Masked Three, standing at my side of the broken rocky bridge, looked around them as they held their weapons tight. Luna on the other side of the bridge—still unable to move—tried to tighten the grip on her sword with trembling hands. At the same time the intensity of the tremors increased. "What the fuck is happening!" The eldest one shouted, still trying to figure out the situation.
"Brother First! My Luna!" Even in this unprecedented situation, the youngest ignored everything happening around us, and only focused on jumping over to the side of Luna.
"Wait Brother!" But the eldest with his left hand, held him by the shoulder as if trying to stop a child from taking candy. I could see him grit his teeth in both anger and frustration.
Ignoring that, I steadied myself with the Axe in my hand, and looked around. A series of ripples formed on the water surface on both our sides. My gaze shifted to the Mana crystal filled ceiling with each crystal shaking as if they would fall any second. The rainbow of colours were now playing a terrifying orchestra with a few rocks already falling below. Some fell on the bridge and most on the water surface, splashing water everywhere. I missed a few and the two brothers also escaped most, the eldest smashing the bigger chunks with his hand held axe.
I looked at Luna again who was trying hard to move but for a moment I felt her eyes widen and her gaze shift below. I followed her line of sight and the next second, the entire ground burst out with a yellowish light shining under us. Instinctively, I closed my eyes, turning my head to the side and when I slowly opened them, the light already disappeared. And the following moment, my gaze shifted above to the series of bursting sounds with the entire Mana crystal filled ceiling collapsing at the same time. I rotated the handle of the Axe in my hand, gripping it tighter as I swung it with full strength horizontally. It sent a wave of air, slashing the falling rubble of rocks and Mana crystals and clearing a path above us momentarily. But I heard the sound of the already cracked ground cracking even more as it fell apart with a huge hole at the centre and everything else caving into it. Along with me, the other two brothers of the Masked Three on my side, and Luna on the other side, simultaneously fell with no way to escape.
One of the two brother's was screaming with the other speaking out a few curse words. We three immediately covered ourselves in a vibrant green Aura. The remaining half-torn clothes on me fluttered to the rushing wind right at me. The water in both the ponds to our left and right gushed into the hole along with us, but it immediately evaporated mid-air, covering the entire space with fog for instance. The fog descended along with us, enveloping all of us to a certain distance, keeping with our speed as we continued to fall into an unknown depth. And surprisingly, crystal-like substances started to form around my body. They were the size of sand particles, stuck onto my body as if wet. But burned off instantly to the green Aura covering my body.
We continued to fall and… fall. I was at one corner and diagonal to me, the closest was the youngest brother with the eldest being diagonally closer to him. Luna was falling at some distance away from us, being the farthest from me. She drove her sword into the leather piece of armour on her right leg, using it as a sheath to hold her weapon. I narrowed my Aura covered eyes and looked around but there was no proper wall to the side for us to edge our weapon into. I was surprised to not find anything closer to us.
I placed my left hand on my chest. The burning hot skin and my thumping heart which was silenced to the wind pressure that was constantly bursting my ear drums. But the reverberation I felt through my skin was soothing. Even my sweat was cool as it dried out to the wind.
It wasn't a situation to try and help others, and I was far from doing that. I gripped onto the Axe in my hand tighter. The size of it increased, almost reaching my body width, with the Axe head more sharper. A long, thin chain formed at the bottom end and a smile formed on my face as I gave a glance at the weapon from top to bottom. I locked onto my target, and holding the chain at the tail end of the Axe, I threw it like a boomerang aiming at the eldest one out of the two. But the Axe changed its direction due to wind pressure and missed the target. "Watch out, Brother Second!" The eldest one shouted at me, with half the words being muffled. But I ignored him and looked at Luna who was some distance away. Her eyes were glowing in a faint shimmering blue as she continued to observe beneath us.
"Sorry, Brother!" I shouted back and shifted my gaze to the youngest one as he was doing a swimming motion mid-air, to reach Luna. I pulled the chain and the Axe retracted towards me, back into my hand. "Brother First! Come to Brother Third!" I shouted and also gestured to him multiple times until he understood what I was saying as the youngest was the closest to both of us. But we obviously didn't have any way to reach him. The youngest ignored us but the eldest tried to move toward the youngest in an awkward motion, with a mix of attacking and swimming movements. Once again I looked in Luna's direction, who—this time—met my eyes. I made a faint smile which I wouldn't be bothered even if she failed to notice. This time, I aimed the Axe slightly in a different direction—an empty space—but due to wind pressure, it circled in unknown ways and was directly aimed at Luna.
"Brother! Don't!" The youngest screamed without even looking at me, extending his arm towards Luna as if to stop that Axe from hitting her. But the Axe head already reached Luna and hit her on her abdomen, denting her armour. The force sent her flying in the opposite direction, even further away from us. And with a booming sound right after that, I could tell she hit something. If this previously used to be a labyrinth type dungeon, then there should have been multiple floors, layered on top of each other or an arrangement similar to that.
I looked below and found a surface closing in on us. And this time—"Brothers! There is ground below us!" Ignoring the anger filled scream of the youngest and a bit confused look from the eldest, I screamed out a warning at them. They both turned their heads down, right below us, and the green Aura surrounding them blazed even more. I retracted the Axe in that moment and it turned into a sword similar to mine as I held it in my very own hands. I ran my fingers across the blade, till the tip. From the hilt a small chain formed. Holding that, I covered the entire sword in green Aura and launched it in the direction of the two brothers. "Brother!" I called out in a hurry and the eldest looked at me. Just as the sword was about to pierce his head, he reflexively used his Axe to parry at the last moment, but still in full strength, the sword pierced the right shoulder of the youngest behind him.
His body jerked and his scream was unheard. But the eldest one was even more confused. I pulled the chain attached to the sword in full strength. The youngest was dragged along with it. Yet the eldest one held his brother's other hand in a hurry. And just like that we three grouped together in mid-air and I swung the chain in a wavy motion, to remove the sword from the youngest's shoulder. Blood spurted out.
At the same time we all felt an appearance of a looming presence right below us, followed by an ear bursting screech that sent shivers down our spines and shook the entire tunnel. The scent of blood that tingled our noses could burn our throats. "Wh-What is that thing, brother?!" I followed the line of sight of the one who shouted in surprise. A pinkish mouth, the size that could swallow us all at once appeared below us. I unconsciously gulped down my saliva. With the retracted sword in my hand, I held the hilt even tighter, directing the Aura only to both my hands and sword, which in turn glowed like a blazing torch. Then twisting my body multiple times, using the wind pressure, I changed my original position to slightly left and thrusted it into one of the mouth corners of the monster.
The sword almost left my hand but I still held on to it as tightly as possible. Pain surged to my brain as I felt my left shoulder dislocate. But I jerked my hand, still holding the blade, making the shoulder bone fall back to its place. Sparks shone as the sword was barely able to pierce its hard skin. I lifted the hilt a bit changing the angle of the sword, and along with the momentum from falling from way above, combined with Aura, I was slightly able to lodge the sword inside, albeit only a little. I constantly used most of my strength as I was falling down, still unable to cancel my momentum. I felt my hands would come off but before that, the sword was rapidly chipping away, and seemed as if it would break any moment. Directing Aura to my legs, I grabbed the other end of the chain and swung myself back and forth, kicking the surface of the scaled skin of the monster. It sent me flying in the adjacent direction, leaving the sword still inside the monster's body.
Holding the chain tighter in my right hand, I spun it one circle around my palm for a better grip and tried to pull the sword out. I was dragged forward, but the sword came out of the monster's skin. I pulled it again as I was about to hit an uneven ground at a distance. The sword reached me and at the same time, I stretched my right leg back and kicked the hilt of the sword in mid-air. Still chipped, it was fired diagonally, piercing a part of the ceiling in this enclosed space. And before my body could reach the ground, the sword acted as an anchor with the chain as a rope, stopping me still in air for a moment, cancelling most of my momentum.
I pulled the chain once again as I landed on the ground smoothly. The sword reached my hand, leaving a clinking chain sound behind. But before I could observe it, I felt the same looming presence as before, just right in front of me. Without looking, I jumped as far back as possible. When I looked, in the place I stood before, now there was a huge head of the monster, with its wide open mouth wedged into the floor. It missed its target, but the rubble from its collision came at me from all the sides. I used a forward swing on one rock and crushed the other using the hit of the sword. I looked at the monster head that slowly rose from the ground, taking a few more steps back, enough for my back to hit a wall.
I slowly lifted my head, taking in the entire scene before me. Right in front of me was a black scaled head of a serpentine creature. Hydra? I thought I was seeing something wrong for a moment but it was really a monster from the myth. I was ignorant but my body trembled uncontrollably to the sheer pressure it was emitting. The sword in my right hand just fell off. But I managed to hold the chain and pulled it back into my hand. Whoa! I thrusted the sword on the back wall and looked at my hand. It was still trembling. Enough for me to lose my grip on my weapon. I looked at the Hydra once again. The massive body with a very long head. Yet at this moment, it was looking at me with its sharp yellow-red eyes as if peering into my very soul. I sneered at the pure instinctive intensity of the sight.
And the part where my sword had cut before, made a wound, which was now slowly stitching back together. I thought I was hallucinating but the sound of mending flesh, and metal like scales attaching back together resonated within this space. But unknown to me, with hisses and screeches, two more similarly long heads appeared from both of its sides. Now, three pairs of yellowish-red eyes glared at me. I covered my mouth with my left hand as a mocking scoff escaped my mouth.
"You know you weren't in my job description?" I could only meekly smile as I said that. And the three Hydra heads came at me full speed right after that.
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I jerked out from my nap as the carriage came to a sudden stop. I was about to hit the front seat but using my right leg, I pushed at the seat opposite to me, stopping myself from being thrown from where I sat. Leaning forward, I opened the small door-like opening on the other side, the size of my face. "Did we reach already?" I asked the coachman, suppressing the trace of irritation I felt a moment ago. But in return, I got no answer. I could see his back and noticeably him doing nothing but staring at what was in front of us. I tried to peek more from the edges but with how small the opening was, I wasn't able to see much. And it also looked pretty dark outside. Even the carriage was shaking a bit. So I reached the door knob to my left, while also pulling the curtain away from the window on the top.
The dense clouds screaming out a shade of night this early in the morning left me feeling eerie, and I opened the door. Along with a heavy gust, dust hit my face and reflexively I raised my hand to protect my face and turned my head to the side, closing my eyes. Slowly opening my eyes, I peeked from side to side. Apart from a wide range of people's screams that entered my ears uninvited, I saw an even denser array of black-grey clouds gathering on top of the forest. The entrance to the Misty Grove was a few metres ahead of us. But it felt the entire area was a different world of its own. The tall trees on the border, starting from the entrance, fluttered voraciously. The iconic stagnation of Mist of this forest now had another layer of darkness. The small groups of people that lived close to here were now in a state of panic.
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Old people froze at the places they sat or stood. The young men and women were running around. Packing stuff. Some even daring to go near the forest to observe the phenomenon even more vividly. The children were playing games to speedy winds with some parents even taking them inside the cot-like houses. Dogs were barking and cattle like pigs and cows were terrified, trying to run away, breaking the fences at the cost of injuring their bodies. From the look of it, they were even more terrified than humans. Which was a bad sign however I looked. At one point, a few short trees came off ground, along with their massive roots, blocking the entrance to the forest. The other entrances would face a similar situation and even if we managed to get in through the cart, it would take no less time to navigate through the branch-like paths in this weather. The forest was simple yet always a bother and it gave me a headache thinking about what to do.
Suddenly, I felt a strong gust from the side and held the side of the carriage. I looked in the direction of the forest once again. It was no better to think much when I didn't know what was happening and to what severity. "Wells!" I called out to the coachman who was still in a daze by also beating on the side of the carriage. But he didn't respond. I went to him and shook him by the shoulder. "Wells! You hear me?" And immediately with a trace of fear he looked at me. He grabbed my hands tight and I grabbed his in turn. He was an old man in his late sixties, dressed in a long coat of wheat white, a dark greenish-orange striped scarf around his neck, along with a tall hat that fitted his big round head perfectly.
"S-Sir Cedric! What do we do?!" He blurted out, putting more strength into his hands. "Wh-What is that?!" He looked over the side of the forest with trembling hands and increased breath.
"Richard Wells! Get a grip! Now!" I shook him by the shoulder, hard as I said that. He loosened his grip on my arms and continued to stare at me with wide eyes. His pace of breathing remained the same but I continued. "I can't call out to the falcons or send messages in this weather, Wells. We don't know what is happening here. But we need our soldiers, medical supplies and relief teams on standby." I started giving him even more details. "You need to return to the mansion now. Tell what is happening here to the chief of knights, Sir Logan. Tell what you are seeing." I pointed at the direction of the clouds, gathering at a rapid pace above the forest. "Do you understand?" I gave a pause but he didn't respond. "Do you understand Richard?!" I shook him again and he shook his head intensely in agreement. "And at an off chance that you couldn't find him or any of the knights, convey this message to anyone of the authority you find. But please be sure to find at least Pipi and pass this message. At this hour, he should be in the shed tending to the horses and other cattle. Understand?" He just kept staring at me with the same expression. Something that was filled with dread on his wrinkled face. "Now go! Hurry!" I said and got off the carriage.
As he whipped his horses, they changed direction and with an increased pace, the carriage went in the direction it came from. I looked at the sky and whistled. But even I couldn't hear that to the sounds that surrounded me. If I could call out to the falcons, it would have been better and fast to send the message through them. I clicked my tongue and looked in the direction of the carriage which had already gone far from my place and then turned to look at the blocked forest entrance and at the sky that was like the mouth of a monster, trying to gobble the entire forest as a whole. "Please be safe, young master Ash." I muttered to myself. Are you in there too, Miss Luna? I couldn't stop worrying and I knew I would only be a hindrance if I went inside. This here felt like a repetition of the night five years ago. And that only added to my worries even more. Please, Wells… succeed. I could only grip my chest till I got a response.
As I was thinking that, I heard multiple resounding booms coming from the forest. They came along with shock-waves that threw most of the standing people off balance, along with me. Suddenly I felt something as my hairs stood on my skin, and I looked at the sky, opposite to Misty Grove. Far at a distance, a winged reddish creature the size of a dot was coming in this direction at an incredible speed. I narrowed my eyes to get a better look. Each flapping of its wings cleared the clouds surrounding it. As it came closer and closer, I could see what it was. My eyes unconsciously widened and I was about to mutter out its name. "A d-dragon!" "That's a dragon!" "Is it coming here?!" "It's coming here! Everyone, run!" But the spectators were already in an uproar. I was trying to keep up with the situation but my feet gave out and I collapsed to the ground. Viscount Nathan. What should I do?
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"Fuck!" Mister Lark cursed out as the Mana shield covering us expanded in size, pushing off all the shredded, long trees and the rubble to the side. The dim light from the clouded sky greeted my eyes. The huge tremor that sunk us into the ground has been stopped, but a few minor ones followed right after.
We were still in some sort of hole made by the split ground. The only thing that kept us from being crushed under the sheer amount of rubble from the forest was Mister Lark's timely conjured Mana shield. I could see his usual calm and irritated face become more twisted as his brows continued to shake with creases deepening on his forehead. His haughtiness hid underneath his constant struggle. Sweat poured from his brows, and his dry throat struggled to keep itself wet, swallowing the saliva that no longer produced.
Both of us took ragged breaths along with dust that lingered inside as the fresh air continuously disappeared inside this slow trap. It's been close to an hour or more. Mister Lark continued to repair the cracks formed on the shield while also holding it together. Even though he was a five-circled Mage, the burden must have been enormous. "Mister Lark, are you okay?" I asked, unable to contain myself any longer.
"Do I look okay to you?" He answered with gritted teeth. And with another push, he expanded the Mana shield to double its already huge size. The thin layer of Mana deformed, pulsating irregularly as it listened to its master's command. It felt like it would collapse at any moment now. But it stood steady, showing the strength behind his grit. I took this chance and covered my legs in Aura as I held Mister Lark tightly by his waist. "What the hell are you doing!?" He shouted in surprise. Ignoring that, I crouched a little. Looking in the direction of the sky, which almost seemed impossible to reach, I took a leap straight up above. And at the same time, Mister Lark lost focus on the Mana shield as it disappeared instantly. The rubble and trees it was continuously holding back to the side rushed into the hole all at once, covering the ground where we once stood. But we were already in the air. "Good lord!" He exclaimed and made a small gesture with his hand. A small platform made out of Mana instantly appeared right below our feet to stand in mid-air. He shook off my hand on his body as our gazes immediately fell on the catastrophic scene right before us.
The breath of fresh air dried our sweat and invigorated our senses. "What could have made such a thing happen?" I muttered as shock still painted fresh on our faces.
The clouded, dark sky accompanied by strong gusts of wind. Many tall trees fell to the ground like rubble. The ground split here and there, uprooting a few of them. The dense mist of the forest was rapidly uncovering what's beneath. The whole of Misty Grove was distraught.
"Will Carter be okay?" He asked, not looking at me. But I couldn't answer that now. Nothing was certain at this point. "Luna." He muttered her name.
I looked towards different places, where everyone has gone as part of their mission. I could see no one or any signs of movement there. "Mister Lark, we need to regroup first." I said, but he intently gazed into somewhere far in the distance. I followed his gaze. Suddenly, a muffled sound rang out, with the ground vibrating. I didn't know where it was coming from, but it soon became clear. The soil rose, spilling everywhere and reaching towards the sky as a blast of shock wave originated from a place far in one direction. My eyes were pulled there but could see nothing as the ground that rose fell back like a swarm of raindrops, forming a dust cloud.
"Fuck Lord!" To my side, Mister Lark extended his arm in the same direction he was looking.
"Mister Lark, did you sense something?!" I asked, trying to find the source of it all myself. Yet he didn't reply, and the next moment five orange flames were conjured before his right hand, circling in a rapid motion. Their speed increased as did their intensity. The sweat that dried out before again started to trickle down my forehead.
The five balls of fire that were the size of a fist now each shrunk into the size of a seed, turning dark orange. He put together his middle and thumb fingers and snapped. Like a projectile, they all flew in the same direction he extended his hand.
Their speed was so instantaneous that they left a whistling sound in their tracks, and before I could make out, they hit a certain area of the forest clouded with fallen trees and dust, all at once. It created a booming sound one after another as more dust rose into the sky. The trees that were both fallen and stood in their places instantly caught on fire and started to burn with unfounded intensity.
I gathered Aura around my eyes and looked more closely. Under the rising flames, something started to move, and I gaped in silence as my eyes widened in shock and a chill ran down my spine. "Kobolds?!" Unconsciously, the Aura spread over my entire body, and it too trembled at the sight I was looking at.
"Tch! You… get down!" He said. I immediately jumped off the Mana platform to the left, in the direction of the Kobolds, a bit far from the place Mister Lark hit his attack. Combing through the air, I landed on a horizontal trunk of a fallen tree and slid on it to stop my momentum.
I turned my head to look at where Mister Lark stood. Something sliced through the air as it went straight for him at a tremendous speed. Against that, the Mana platform under his feet disappeared as he dropped down, dodging whatever object that came at him. A few feet down, another invisible platform formed, stopping Mister Lark at his place.
In the opposite direction, to the side of Kobolds, where the object came from, at the very front, there stood a slender, tall creature on two clawed legs. With a greyish-white body to the front and a light, brownish colour on its back, deepened to the current, dark atmosphere. There were dark, brown spots here and there spread all over its body. With its tail, thicker than both its limbs, it stood, extending its thick, clawed arm in the direction of Mister Lark. The Kobold's open mouth was drooling with saliva as its bloodshot eyes fixated on Mister Lark's figure.
In the air, Mister Lark stood still in his place with many fireballs forming and revolving around him. His expression was calm yet intense as a trickle of sweat ran down his neck against the heavy gusts. The fireballs were fired again, with more accuracy this time. They instantly reached the few Kobolds that were visible to me. But with their thick arms, they brushed them off like a puff of air with no clear damage visible on their skin. And soon another string of attacks followed. But the result was the same.
While they destroyed the fireballs with their bare hands, embers flew. A few even breathed them inside with trails of smoke leaving their nostrils, yet their eyes turned more bloodshot than ever. They ran in the direction of their only target, with more and more Kobolds appearing from the ground. Some were even covered in blood and goo, dripping still wet from their bodies. I had mixed feelings about who it belonged to, but when I looked at Mister Lark, his expression looked twisted for a moment.
I was drawn to the present as I heard a few screeches directed at me. Without further thought, I ran in the opposite direction trying to escape. With rubble blocking my way, I used the gaps between tree trunks and such to jump and slide and make my way out. To my front I saw another set of Kobolds coming out of the ground, so I changed direction immediately. I ran as Aura blazed through my very skin, supporting my every moment.
A Kobold, double the size of me, jumped from the side, right on top of me. I slid to dodge it, but a tree branch blocked my escape, and I rolled on my back. Another Kobold was waiting for me right where I stopped, with its claws ready to tear my body along with my armour. But a boom echoed as the hot sensation spread across my skin. When I looked, the two Kobolds and the one that was just around the corner were thrown off in the distance, with the nearby branches caught in flame. I looked in the sky at a distance where Mister Lark's innumerable fireballs were being sent into all directions. He also gave me a momentary glance.
I then looked around me for one last time as I gulped down my saliva and pulled out a small, hand whistle from the pocket under my clothes. I looked at it and around me as I breathed in an ample amount of air and blew the whistle as hard as I could. The shrill-like sound spread across the forest, echoing everywhere. It also stopped the Kobolds in their tracks for a moment but did no actual damage. As the sound died down, I put the whistle back into my pocket and swiftly moved in a specific direction as I hoped for the best deep down in my heart.