Umm, what?! Were they awakened? Holy crap… What does this mean…
Questions like storms were brewing across my mental globe, uncontrollable, unavoidable. My heart was beating fast and it took a few breaths to slow it down.
“Let us show you our village!” Amara and Mello squealed.
I smiled weakly but before I could say anything, they grabbed me by the arms and dragged me outside. The village was pretty small, so the tour wouldn’t take long, making it easier for me to go along with their demands. We headed straight for the edge of town, each one holding onto a hand refusing to let go. The houses got more decrepit the further we went, the fences were knocked down, parts of the walls were missing, rooves were caved in, and there were large gouges into the doors and walls. A gnawing feeling in gut played on my nerves, and the hairs on my arms and neck stood on their ends.
“Umm, guys? Maybe we should head back?” I said, slowing to a shuffle.
The two siblings just held on harder, “Oww!” Their grips were like iron vices, clamping down on my hands. Holy-crap, how bloody strong are these kids?!
A deep guttural *baa*, came from a ruined cottage to our left, though that didn’t stop the kids from wanting to continue on their tour, I don’t think they even noticed.
“Stop!” I cried out, wrenching my hands free of theirs in time to see the creature that made the sound, stumble out the debris. The white shaggy creature stood overhead, more than ten times the size of an ordinary sheep, huge curling horns protruded off its head, and each step it took rumbled in my chest.
The kids turned around, and slowly walked back in the direction of their home, and I fiddled with the shield emblemed ring on my finger.
My heart beat was shaking my whole body, like I had hiccups or something, but no, it was my heart pumping adrenaline through my arteries and veins. It was all I could do to take a big stuttering breath, and leg it! I blasted past the siblings, Matilda following close behind, and only then did look back over my shoulder.
There were more Mad Sheep now on the street, and unfortunately for one NPC farmers, he was dangling from the horn of one them, still flailing his limbs about, the Mad Sheep shook its head from side-to-side, the NPC screaming out louder and louder each time, until eventually he was flung to the ground and another Mad Sheep stomped on him, mincing his skull and brains in a gruesome crunch.
Vomit caught in the back of my throat, keep running you idiot! Instead of looking back, I ran for the gate, I’d be safe there, the guards should be able to stop anything that comes too close.
“Help! Monsters are attacking us! Please help!”
It sounded like Armara and Mello calling out from behind me, I turned around from the safety of the gate, but now Mello was face down on the ground, not moving, and only the cat-girl Armara was running.
Should I help her or not, she’s just NPC, right, is she not even really alive? I don’t know… but I’m definitely alive.
There was no way she was out running the Mad Sheep, but it didn’t matter, a giant watery blob landed on her, and she was sucked into its epicentre. It was like she was underwater, and no matter which direction she swam, she couldn’t escape, until she stopped trying to swim and just flailed widely like a psycho cat until she lost her breath and went completely limp. Even though they were just NPCs, something hurt inside.
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There was a door on the left gate tower with stairs leading up, probably to the battlement, where there was, also, probably a better view, and indeed there was. Being up almost three-storeys let the land stretch out as far as the eye could see. There was plenty of farmland around the city, beyond that hills rolled into each other, even further still mountains graced the furthest distances. The Bright End district that sat outside the city walls was mostly made up of modest farm houses, and the small herd of giant white-haired beasts with huge curly horns on their heads were battering them down. Each time their heads connected with a building, timber would splinter and explode into the air. One of the hairy beasts charged down an NPC farmer, he tried to run away, but the beast was too quick, and his horn skewered him threw, his body went limp, and it was obvious he was dead.
Is this some kind of event or something??? What the hell is going on?
From the South-East side of Bright End, there were the giant watery blobs, each one about the size of a large car. They blobbed along in a coordinated manner, managing to herd the NPC farmers and children until the point that they just steam rolled over them. The NPCs were sucked inside of the creatures, just like Armara, and floated around weightlessly inside. Without anything for their limbs to gain purchase they were unable to escape, until eventually they went limp and gaunt and the creatures expelled them from their bodies.
I scurried down to the guard stationed below, “Hey! The village out there, umm… Bright End, it’s under attack!”
The guard stood there emotionless and unresponsive until I approached him, “Be careful [Tomb Raider], Mad Sheep and Blue Slimes roam the areas beyond this gate, they’ll attack anything that comes too close!” he said waving me on.
“Ahhh!” No words, just freakin, no words!!!
“Look out there!!!” I pointed out towards the encroaching Mad Sheep and Slimes. A large black ram now led the pack and was making his way to the gate just a little too fast.
“Oh, umm, maybe close the gate?” I basically pleaded. “Hello?! CLOSE-THE-FREAKIN-GATES!!!”
The black ram was about a half a football field away, before I couldn’t hold it in any longer and grabbed the guard and shook him, “Close the frickin doors!”
Now, he looked at me, but he also brandished his halberd in my direction. “Hey you! Stop in the name of the LAW!”
You have assaulted a guard of Dagon, and thus broken the law!
Please choose an option
Pay bail
16,000a
Serve time in jail
Serve a sentence of hard labour
“Whoa, whoa-whoa…” Shit, why didn’t I think, this is probably how Catherine ended up in jail, come on, there’s gotta be a way out of this, “…I’m sorry it was… an accident… there was, umm, a spider on your back.”
His eyes squinted, I think I was getting through to him. I peered out the gate, the black beast was closing in. “But, ahh, yes, I got it, so you’re safe now…”
He relaxed his stance, “Ahh, apologies [Tomb Raider], and thank you for your service.”
“Umm, ahh, okay, no problems.” I said quickly.
Really got to close that door! Fine! I’ll do it myself. Try as I may but no matter how hard I pushed or pulled the door, it wouldn’t budge. Shit! The huge hairy black ram was nigh upon us. My eyes popped out of my face and the veins in my neck and head pulsed fiercely.
Fuck this!
I bolted, putting distance between me and the gate. It’s fine, the guard should be able to repel the monsters, right? Normally they are super ridiculously high levelled.
There was a safe couple of hundred metres, now, between me and the gate, so I chanced a glance back.
The guard reacted to the monster, brandishing his halberd.
The black ram connected with the tiny guard, ignoring the shallow cut of his swing, the monster picked the guard up with his horn and threw him up in the air like a toy. He fell to the ground with a thud, he wasn’t dead yet though, he turned over just in time to see the black ram stomp him with its huge hooves.
Even from where I was, there was an audible crunch and squish, blood and guts spewed out the guard’s sides, and his head and limbs went limp…
My stomach churned and I involuntarily retched, but managed to hold my contents in.
Got to run… Come on stupid legs, move!
Someone must have stolen the energy straight from my legs, because they refused to move with any degree of normalcy.
Thankfully, the NPCs, didn’t appear to be programmed for these kinds of events, often not comprehending the danger until they had been run through or stomped, making my miserable escape possible, until of course, the NPCs in the nearby vicinity had all been killed.
A Water Slime and a Mad Sheep had each just finished killing an NPC and were eyeing me off next. It was times like this I really wish I’d put more effort into Physical Education, gasping for breath with each fleeing stride. A quick glance back, and it was obvious I wouldn’t make it to the market square before the Mad Sheep would have at me, closing in with every earth sundering stomp, at unnatural speeds. The path to the left was the only good option, I bolted into a small open square, it was the area with the General Store and Magic Item Shop. There was a massive crash behind me, and the corner building was taken out. Not willing to wait to see what rose from the dust, I kicked up the dirt, and all but dived into Hadrien’s shop.