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Sel

Sel had been locked in the guard's stockades for days now, waiting for inquisitors to come and wipe out the rebels, as well as her former deserting guard. She knew that they stood no chance, because when she was younger she had the misfortune to personally witness a few revolts get put down.

Even though an inquisitor could simply kill a rebel and move on, most of them went out of their way to be beyond cruel. They took pleasure in torturing their victims before killing them, and making them watch as all they cherished was destroyed. Their brutality was explained as simply making an example for others, but it was a blatant lie. Whether the mages knew or didn't care, the simple fact was that such pain would spur others to eventually try to fight back, and so the bloody cycle continued.

The captured captain's expression darkened as she stared at the wall of her cell. “Now my town's going to have to join the wheel of such horror…” Her dour musings ended at the sound of screams and fighting from outside, and long buried memories helped her place the cause without having to see it.

‘Here already?’ The thought drew an immense amount of concern.

From her escorts with inquisitors, she knew that they were always excruciatingly slow when leaving to deal with a revolt. So them being here meant that something else was going on, something that made her gut sink as she made out a single word from the desperate shouting, causing her blood to run colder than normal.

“Dragon…” She muttered as the door of the stockade flew off its hinges, crashing into the wall opposite of it, and in walked the terrifying creature.

The dragon was six and half feet tall with a long and thick lizard tail, and had massively oversized horns while his body was a little bulky with a slight hunch. His face seemed to be between an elf and a selarin with most of his skin being covered in scales, while his hands and legs were oversized and completely lizard-like.

Overall he looked like some ungodly mix of a lizard and elf.

The dragon looked directly at Sel with a wide smile that sent a shiver up her spine. “Oh! Are you the previous head of the town guard?” He asked, his voice having a deep and gravelly overlay.

The dragon started stomping toward her cell while he dragged a large and heavily scarred selarin by the neck, the bars on all the cells shuddering with every step.

Sel could feel her instincts screaming at her to run, but her mind knew that it was futile. “You see, I've come to file a complaint about your rampant pest infestation, but seeing as how you're an insect as well…” He paused to let out an unsettling chuckle.

The monstrous creature casually swung a hand at her cell's bars, and the whole frame was yanked to the side with a loud crash. “Then I'll have to show you, as well as the former rebellion leader here, how a professional properly deals with your kind.” He paused to give her another wide and spine chilling smile. “And then afterwards, you both can join them.” He finished with a sick joy to his malice.

Sel's face shifted into terror at the implication of why they were here.

‘Dear gods help us…’

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Elaria & Glia

Elaria and Glia were at the market, browsing for new clothes and equipment while they waited for Leo to return. In his usual nonchalant fashion, he gave them each five gold and told them to have fun, and Elaria started to question if he even understood the value of coin. Glia being Glia though, snatched the coin and pulled her friend away before she could comment on it.

After buying some new armor and weapons, they were both looking over some of the more risque items from the elves.

“Planning to make your next time with him special, huh?” Glia asked with a knowing smile.

Elaria blushed with some embarrassment. “It'll probably be a while, but…when I feel like I'm ready again…it wouldn't hurt to, you know…? Make sure he enjoys it...” She responded a little sheepishly.

Glia smiled wide, because Elaria was actually considering someone else's feelings on the matter. “Hmm, if you want him to really enjoy himself, then might I suggest this.” Glia remarked playfully, holding up some leather binds with a matching muzzle.

Elaria's eyes went wide at the restraints. “Glia!” She scolded, but then shrunk in a bit as she continued to stare at them. “Do you really think so?” She questioned meekly.

Glia chuckled as she set the items back down. “Oh I know so, but maybe after you've had a proper first time. Also-” She was cut off by the sound of screams coming from all around the market.

Elaria turned to the woman who's stall they were at, and the elf had an equally worried expression before a massive Icicle pierced right through the back of their head, spraying the two shocked selarin with some blood and viscera. The elf opened their mouth as if to speak, but then their body slumped to the floor like a ragdoll.

“Bullseye!” Shouted someone from a distance.

Both of the selarins training kicked in, as they immediately ducked and hid between the stalls. As cries for help and sound curdling screams echoed through the market, Elaria and Glia gave each other a knowing look.

The Inquisitors were here, but not only for the rebels.

They carefully and quietly ducked between the stalls, occasionally crossing over bodies that were burned, mangled, or filled with icicles. The sight was more gruesome as they neared the edge of the market, as the floor became more slick with blood, and the occasional limb was found without its owner.

Glia hardened at the sight, but Elaria began to tremble, while her breathing started to slip out of her control. The sights, the smell, the sounds, they all blended into a familiar white noise that made the green scaled selarin's head hurt with a building pressure.

When they reached the market's edge, there was a large street between them and the town's alleyways. Glia peaked out from the side of the stall, and took a quick glance down either side of the street. She saw a mage on either end, their heads slowly pivoting from left to right as they both had two icicles floating next to them. She turned to Elaria, and gestured to run on her mark.

Glia held her hand up and waited till both mages were looking away, and when the opportunity came, she waved down her hand and ran, Elaria following close behind. Unfortunately, Elaria slipped halfway across due to a combination of nervous shaking and her boots being slick with blood from the market.

Glia turned immediately at the sound of her friend falling, and tried to run over to help, but received an icicle through her leg for the effort, sending her to the ground as well.

Elaria tried to get up, but got an icicle through the leg too, panic seeping into her every nerve. Her head felt like a fear ridden haze, thoughts and potential actions slipping away from her as helplessness gripped her mind.

Glia gave Elaria a comforting smile, but her eyes betrayed her own fear toward the situation, and Elaria was visibly shaking as the two mages approached.

“Well, I guess we do get to have our own fun.” Mage one remarked happily.

“Yeah, I'm sick of standing guard. What does it matter if a few of them get through, It's not like the rest of the towns any better.” Mage two agreed with a slight irritation.

“It's damn hard to get them alive though, and too many places they can hide.” Mage one complained.

“Right, so let's take our time with these two.” Mage two urged with a smile.

“They might entertain us for an hour or two. Oh! Maybe not this one though...” Mage two said with a disappointed tone.

Elaria silently quivered as if it was winter, unable to do anything as pain and fear racked her mind. ‘No no no no, not again, please not again. Please please please no more!’ The whole scene brought up vividly similar memories within the crippled selarin, of witnessing it from both ends.

“Ha, she's shaking like a leaf. Let's start with the other one then, it'll be funny if she passed out in fear.” Mage one suggested with joy as they both turned their backs on Elaria, and directed their full attention towards Glia.

Elaria could only watch on as the two mages started burning Glia's legs with fire, the cries of her dear friend pulling at something deep within her. And as Glia's screams of agony continued to fill the street, Elaria's fear at her helplessness slowly began to warp into something else, something dark, violent, wrathful...

She felt a cold and fiery rage start to envelop her, her mind pushing all fear and doubt away as she was left with a single desire.

‘Kill.’

A distant memory from her time in the dueling pit guided her next actions with cold malice. ‘Mages aren't invincible, not even with their mana shields. Most people conclude that the only way to permanently dispatch a mage is to either catch them unawares or poison them, but they are the cowards. The trick to overcoming a mage is to simply get close, succeed in that, and the world of possibilities opens up to you…’

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Quickly and quietly, Elaria took off a piece of her hard leather armor and secured it to her palm, then she drew her hidden dagger, and wielded it in her other hand.

Elaria positioned herself so that her good leg would spring her up in between the mages, and not a second later she acted, her earlier indecision and shaky tremors no more.

The first mage went down quickly, because they weren't shielded, which allowed her to slice right through the back of their throat. The blood from their neck sprayed onto Elaria's face, blinding one of her eyes, but without hesitation she immediately shifted her bad leg around to stabilize herself, then used her good leg to spring her into tackling the second mage.

Unfortunately, the mage got their mana shield up just in time to stop the dagger from piercing their chest. The mage tried to push her off, but she was too fast, quickly straddling their chest. Before the mage could react any further, Elaria placed the dagger's tip over the mages throat and started hammering the hilt down with her palm, as the thick leather protected her hand.

The mage's eyes went wide as a crack formed on the shield, and they tried to reach for the dagger, but it was a futile effort, as it slid in with one more powerful push. The mage could only helplessly scratch at the enraged selarin as the blade sunk deep into their throat, death coming quickly for them in wet sickening gurgles.

But Elaria wasn't done.

She screamed in a rage while pulling the weapon to the side, opening up the mage's jugular and spilling blood everywhere while powerful emotions poured out of her. She yelled and cried in anger directed at nothing and everything all at once, pushing her to continue stabbing into the corpse with all consuming hatred.

Even though Glia was in excruciating pain, she managed to regain some semblance of lucidity. The experience had her internally begging for the monsters to simply kill her and be done with it, but the torture overwhelmed her ability to even remotely vocalize it.

With a tear glossed face and a fair amount of effort, her gaze slowly focused her blurry vision on her immediate surroundings. She saw the body of one of the mages laying on the ground while they bled out from their neck, which relieved her more than anything else.

Shifting her head to the right, she saw Elaria stabbing relentlessly into the other very dead mage. She was in too much pain and shock to fully register the violent actions of her friend, but she did recognize the situation, and was glad the two pieces of shit had been dealt with, but she needed to stop Elaria from potentially drawing any more attention.

“El-Elaria...” Glia called out weakly, which snapped Elaria out of her violent act.

Elaria dropped the dagger and hobbled over to Glia. “Oh gods, Glia!” She cried while looking over the charred remains of Glia's legs.

Glia looked down at her legs, her vision going distant for a moment at the sight before she barked a painful laugh. “At least I still have my tail.”

“Glia, I'm so sorry. It's all my-”

“Shut the fuck up! Don't you dare put this on yo-” An unbearable pain gripped Glia at her chiding outburst.

“This is not…your fault… Don't...don't…” Glia trailed off, passing out from the pain as Elaria wept over her.

‘I’m sorry…’

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Allis

Allis was on her way to have a nice day with the herbalist. After they made up, Allis wanted to be more social and less closed off, fearing that she would slip back into her more negative tendencies. So she started with the herbalist, someone with a shared interest with her medical practice. They had a few meetups before, and it was going very well, they even opened up to each other about their reasons for choosing their professions.

Even though She still wanted nothing more than to make Taipa suffer, she knew that building an actual life would go much further in giving her the peace she needed after all was said and done.

‘I can't wait to tell her what Leo taught me about the nervous system, we might even create a few remedies fo-’ Her thoughts were interrupted by distant screams as they started to echo throughout the town.

Allis's immediate reaction was to return to Elaria and Glia, but when she picked out one of the agonizing voices belonging to the herbalist, she sped straight to the clinic just around the corner.

Bursting into the clinic, she saw the herbalist slumped up against the wall with an icicle in her stomach. A slightly surprised mage was standing over her with a floating icicle, but when they saw Allis's worry for the herbalist, they smiled and sent the icicle straight through the dying woman's head.

Allis's face contorted into anger and horror at the murder of her new close friend. “Noooo!” She screamed as she pushed a massive amount of her mana into a spell that was directed toward the mage, whose brow arched in surprise. Only a second later and the mage was convulsing on the floor as blood, vomit, and other fluids started spilling out of every orifice.

Allis slithered over to the herbalist, her emotions wanting her to do something to help, but logically she knew that they were gone the instant the icicle entered their head. Sorrow and utter helplessness started to fill her as she slumped against the same wall as the herbalist, crying heavily at the sight of their lifeless corpse.

‘Why? Why must I lose those that I care for…’

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Kesl

Kesl was ecstatic with all the new additions that Leo added to his inn. From magical appliances to the delicious recipes, Leo had single handedly made his inn the go-to place to eat. So much so, that he had to hike up the prices to stay, as well as needing to think about hiring some extra staff because of the constant flow of customers.

“Tissa, three more orders of fish and chips, two for a toasted BLT, and one for eggs with a side of toast! Vissa go help Tissa, I'll start taking orders.” The innkeeper ordered his nieces.

“Wow, it's been a while since it was bad enough for you to get involved like this.” Vissa remarked in surprise.

“I could blame Leo, but the little bastard tripled my profits for free, so I can only blame myself for not forcing him to take mor-” Screams from outside the inn stopped him mid sentence.

As the screams continued to get louder, someone burst into the inn while shouting. “Academy Mage's are killing everyo-” An Icicle pierced through the woman's back and stuck itself halfway outside her chest, causing her to look down in shock before dropping lifelessly to the floor.

Kesl's eyes grew wide with terror as four mages walked into the in and started flinging fire and ice at his patrons. Between his chosen profession and past in the capitol, the scene of abrupt violence was one he was unfortunately accustomed to. Although, seeing it from mages was new and caused a legitimate tail jerk reaction from the large man.

In a directed panic, he ran around into the kitchen and grabbed both his nieces, before bolting for the back exit. Unfortunately a mage walked right through the exit door into the kitchen.

The mage licked her lips at the sight of him. “My my my, aren't you a delicious walking piece of meat.” She remarked hungerly.

The large man slowly put his nieces down, and pushed them behind him defensively.

“Oh, a family man too. Well don't worry, they'll live, as long as you're cooperative…”

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Kessa

Kessa was taking a break with Slessi at the back of the guild's large reception area, having finished a contract to give the rebels supplies for the next month. The contract stated that they received payment up front, as well as having a clause that clarifying that if the academy removes them from Telnar, then they keep the gold and will cease providing supplies.

Kessa sighed. “The guild doesn't care who they deal with, as long as they make a profit.” She remarked a little irritably, drawing parallels to less reputable organizations.

Slessi slumped, having been shocked for pointlessly using a communication orb to verify whether they should deal with the rebels at all. “Pursue. Profit. Prosper. That's the guild motto.” She recited emotionlessly.

Kessa groaned at the lip service. “Unfortunately, it's the prospering that we seem to be lacking. Not much for those at the bottom.” She rightly complained.

“Or those stuck in the middle…” Slessi trailed off sadly, drawing her fingers across her collar.

Kessa winced, as the consequences of some choices last a lifetime. “Ah sorry Sle-”

Screams echoed outside the guild, and the two of them directed their attention towards the entrance.

After a few moments, a mage walked into the guild with a wide smile. “I regret to inform the Telnar branch that there will be no more Telnar. So in light of that, I believe a termination of employees is in order. Icicle!” She finished, and flung an icicle at the receptionist, whose body slumped to the ground with the shard embedded into her skull.

Kessa and Slessi immediately started running further into the guild, Slessi heading to her office to contact the guild, and Kessa going to hers to get into contact with Leo. More screams sounded out from behind while they ran past other employees, who they regretfully hoped would buy them the time they needed.

The quick minded woman put together the situation fairly quickly, as much as due to her skills in trade as the most notorious rumors from other branches. The town was being purged, and that meant the branch was no exception.

Normally an attack on the guild would be suicidal, but since the town is being wiped out, then the guild wouldn't even have a reason to operate here anymore. They would probably save more on their deaths, then spend the money to have them transferred and bloat other branches.

The fear driven selarin ran into her office and started frantically looking for the communication orb. ‘Damn it, Slessi's efforts are pretty much useless, so our only hope is that Leo can save us.’ The man was an arch mage, and would hopefully help her family, which was a thought that drove her to search with even more urgency.

When she finally found it, she could hear the screams getting closer, so she hid in her small storage closet. Huddling on the floor, she desperately called into the orb for the architect.

She knew that Leo was going to clear the area with them today, so it was lucky that she gave them the orb so early, because they would need it when the construction actually went underway. Now though, it was her only life line, as well as the rest of Telnar.

‘And my family…’ She prayed to the gods that they were still alive as she started to tear up, Slessi's screams encouraging her to repeatedly call even more into the orb.

When the architect finally picked up, Kessa breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then gave her an immediate and desperate filled demand.

“Get Leo!”

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