Chapter 72

And the Forsaken

Terrifying creatures came from every direction causing the gathered lives outside to run in a panic into the tower. People fell victim to the panic as dozens of feet stomped over their fallen bodies and faces keeping them pinned to the ground and fated to die by their own kind.

His heartbeat quickened. His eyes darted all around spotting the creatures swarming the rooftops of the slanted university buildings ahead of them.

The few human or familiar souls in the university buildings along the outer perimeter fled to the cold outdoors only for the creatures to jump down and begin slaughtering them all. It was indeed too late for them to reach them or the tower.

A mass of people kept rushing past Kiran and the few coalition members standing by him. From afar, Kiran spotted a lone grotesque monster breaking away from the dozens of monsters that were busy with their feast along the outer perimeter. It lunged up into the air sending its sharp four-legged appendages down into any flesh that it could reach.

Its attempt to slaughter became halted as Rinas muttered an incantation and lifted his white-gloved hands. A jagged spike coalesced in the air and flew out towards the creature penetrating through its body. The creature spun around in the air hitting harshly atop some of the people in the crowd. Its attempt to kill thankfully became halted by Rinas himself who Kiran had never seen use magic before until now. The creature he killed simply lay there on the snowy ground with a crowd full of people running by it trying to escape the coming swarm.

“Defend them as best as you can!” Rinas yelled aloud.

While the green cloaks had fled already abandoning their duty, some blue-cloaked city guards still stood around eager to serve. They wielded their swords, bows, and spears attacking the monsters as best as they could.

None of the monsters had quite reached where Kiran stood guard but he prepared for when they would. He gripped his sword more tightly trying as well to harden his heart for this moment.

Ignore the fear. Ignore the hopelessness. Ignore it all and focus instead on carrying out this task to save as many people as possible.

He took a deep breath and breathed out.

As fewer innocent lives remained outside, a slew of muttering incantations bellowed out from behind. Bright arcane objects flew out towards the dozens of monsters that filled their mouths with human flesh. There was no saving anyone who were caught up near those buildings at the outer perimeter. Due to this, the sorcerers and sorceresses could unleash their power with no concern for collateral damage.

Arcane energy exploded near the buildings causing them to crumble. Rooftops collapsed down crushing whatever may lie within. Monsters bellowed out in pain and refocused from the flesh they feasted on to confront them head-on. As more spells reigned down upon them, some weren’t hit by them allowing them to near Kiran and the others who formed a defensive line around the tower.

A creature neared Kiran forcing him to strike it down. His mana-enhanced sword sliced it across its torso. It backed away with blood spilling out of the wound. It lunged again only for a spike to force its way through the center of its body. The spike exploded behind it into the ground and the creature fell backward dead from Rinas’s follow-up attack against them.

Rinas nodded towards him and Kiran was grateful to see that their leader was indeed strong in his own right.

Intense heat began to push up against his back neck. He then looked over towards his right spotting Silvy causing flames to rush towards the approaching swarm from her sword. The monsters hesitated when they saw several of their kind caught up in her flames and how she could send it towards them without being right at her heels. It melted the snow and the creatures chose to instead try attacking elsewhere than nearby her.

They dodged spells and sprinted towards the crowd caught outside still. Several blue-cloaked guards went to defend the crowd only to become massacred as several monsters clawed at them at once. Their jagged appendages cut through their leather armor piercing out through their backs. Their faces became shredded and limbs mangled. When it became obvious that there was no saving those particular guards, a spell exploded where they were at killing them and the monsters at the same time. Bits and pieces flew up into the air and landed down on top of everyone and everything.

Within the chaos, he became distracted for a moment as he heard a dog barking. He looked towards his left spotting someone with a dog in their arms running towards them. Wait a second.

As they sprinted from afar trying to reach them, he realized that it was in fact Juna. She avoided any direct hits from the monsters that took sight of her. She managed to make it to them planting her knees into the ground to catch her breath.

“Juna,” Rinas said, “where have you been?”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I-I had to go and retrieve Fred.”

“You’ve been gone all this time because of a stupid dog?” Laphy’s voice’s reached his ear even though he was taking up a position a fair bit away from them.

Juna sat Fred down who appeared frightened from all of the fighting. She came to stand by Kiran with her daggers in her hands. “Sorry about not making it here earlier,” she said to him and Rinas. “It’s a miracle I made it at all.”

“Just hold this line for now,” Rinas said preparing for further assaults.

For now, they held the line. The university was full of people who could utilize a vast range of magical spells that proved useful in killing the swarm of monsters. However, it could only go so far. Enough monsters began to surround the outer perimeter, that not enough spells could kill enough of them to keep them away from them. More and more got close as more of them died.

The innocent lives that flooded into the tower became smaller and smaller thankfully, but their choice to stay outside was not going to last much longer.

Some of the few remaining souls outside tried to assist any of the trampled people, but some did not move or show any signs of life. They just lay there on the cold ground forever dead from the trampling.

More and more monsters became blown apart from the spells unleashed by the robed ones, but their opposition grew unfathomably large in numbers. They could handle dozens of monsters, but hundreds? It was far too much even for them.

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“Rinas,” the Arch sorceress Junavel said from behind their position. “We cannot hold this for much longer.”

“We need to hold it a little while longer. There are still yet many who haven’t made it inside the tower yet.”

They continued to hold the line while the gathering hostile mass grew in size.

A lust for flesh sent the hostile mass towards them. While many died on their approach, enough were able to make it through getting close to them.

One of them neared Kiran sending a jagged appendage hurdling towards his face. Kiran sliced the appendage off causing a spray of blood to land on the already bloodied snow. He planted his sword into their grotesque face killing it. Fighting from all over ensued near the circular line they held.

As he slew more monsters, and his arms grew tired, it became quite evident that they would not be able to sustain this for much longer. Even the magic wielders grew tired and their spells less powerful than before.

“Rinas!” Junavel yelled. He twisted his head briefly spotting her as a monster cut through her torso. She stood back with blood gathering on her robe as Rinas sent a coalesced spike through the creature that managed to get to her.

There are too many of them. We can’t keep them all from breaking through.

“Begin the retreat to the entrance!” Rinas said.

They all began to back away while maintaining some semblance of a defensive line. Kiran slew another creature and then another. Blood slid down his summoned sword and his arms felt like they were on fire.

In time, they all held a new position right outside the entrance. People still rushed inside, but the masses they wanted to defend were becoming targeted primarily by the monsters. All they wanted was to feast upon them.

Kiran wanted to save the ones who were caught at the back, but to do so was to die.

All he could do was watch and watch as dozens more made it inside. As they held the last remaining bit of ground they could, the ground began to shake. A giant creature from afar appeared looming far above the university buildings. Kiran figured it was the same giant creature that he caused the wall to break apart earlier. Now that he could see it without the dust keeping it obscured like before, a devastating chill coursed through him from head to toe.

It set its gaze towards them with fury in its horrifying eyes. Its blackened lips widened and a bellowing roar penetrated into their ears.

The hairs on his body stood up, and Kiran wanted to do nothing more than flee into the tower.

“Go immediately into the tower!”

Everyone followed Rinas’s order abandoning their remaining positions outside. Kiran rushed inside and walked past Juna who held Fred in her hands.

While people kept rushing to make it inside, there was simply not enough time. For a brief moment, he felt his heart stop as a multi-layered warded barrier went up over the tower’s entrance and a large heavy metal door from inside, began to motion into action to close fully. People slammed their hands against the barrier as the heavy door moved.

“Let us in, please!” No matter how many times they pleaded, all he or anyone inside could do was watch as appendages began to slice them apart.

Their screams became silent as the large metal door closed off the entrance entirely. It spared them of the gruesome sight, but it did not spare him of the terror he felt in his heart.

He tried to calm himself while his hands shook and his eyes couldn’t become removed from the closed entrance.

A hand touched his shoulder. “Kiran,” Lar said softly having changed back into her human form.

“What?”

She grabbed his hand with both of hers. The warmth of her palm did calm him a little. She gazed into his eyes with those yellow eyes of hers with a concerned look. His hands stopped shaking and he took a nice deep breath and breathed out.

While they all remained in the tower together, the normal citizens that made it in time were directed towards the portal. Carts full of supplies went at the same time as more people disappeared into it. Kiran felt bad for all of the people left outside. They had tried to stay out there for as long as possible to allow for as many to make it inside, but at a certain point, they had to abandon their positions.

While silence occupied the inside of the tower for a brief moment, that silence disappeared as pounding battered up against the closed entrance. The door was made out of a thick metal. It was also opened or closed by a spell. He didn’t know whether such a door could be broken apart, but he didn’t exactly want to find out.

The Arch Sorceress Junavel approached them. “The entrance will hold for now, but I would not expect it to last once that giant reaches the tower. Even with all of those powerful wards, I would not expect it to prevent them from entering with enough determination.”

Everyone began to motion towards the portal. There among the coalition, only Kiran, Juna, Lar, Zorge, Yorais, Rinas, Laphy, Frederek, Abigail, and Silvy who wasn’t technically a member but might as well of been at this point. The only other ones inside the tower were several more dozen citizens walking into the portal and several robed sorcerers and sorceresses.

As the last of the people disappeared including all of the robed ones, it was just them left and the pounding at the entrance. Yorais entered first. Then the others one by one.

Eventually, it was just him and Lar. She gave him one last look and then went in through the portal. He looked back one last time and gazed up towards the incredibly high ceiling.

So this is it for the fifth domain. For it to end up completely uninhabitable for humanity or familiars, was a tragic end. Such was the fate of this world and for those within it. He just hoped that the fourth domain would not end up worse for them.

Kiran approached the portal which reflected off his appearance with its black mirror-like surface. The portal began to react strangely the closer he got to it. His appearance became warped and confusing.

By standing just a few feet away, an oppressive sensation began pushing against him. It was as if his body began to scream at him warning him that entering this portal was a bad idea.

To investigate this strange instinct of his, he stretched out his arm and hand towards the portal choosing to stand still. Bits of string-like aura began to lift off the surface of the portal coming towards his hand. The strands hit up against him and violently reacted. Sparks flew and his body kept screaming at him to flee the portal. Thankfully these sparks didn’t hurt as he kept his hand close to the portal’s surface, but it was a strange occurrence nonetheless. He hadn’t noticed any similar reaction to anyone else as he watched others enter before him.

What the heck is going on? This portal didn’t react this way with anyone else. So why me?

A piercing roar met his ear. He looked over his shoulder and saw an enormous appendage piercing through the tower’s enclosed entrance. Giant pieces of it exploded out causing the ground to crater wherever the metal pieces landed.

A giant appendage kept piercing through causing more chunks to fly out with one in particular managing to fly above his head and enter the portal before him.

Behind him was certain death. But this portal in front of him felt quite dangerous as well. The unfortunate reality was that he had no choice but to enter this portal no matter how much his body felt fearful of entering it.

With more damage done to the entrance, enough had been carried out to allow the swarm of smaller monsters to begin rushing in. His body tensed up and he began to face the portal.

He took a step forward feeling more sparks hitting up against his body. More and more hit up against him and the strange oppressive force wrapped around him entirely as he stood just a single step away. He saw his plainly held distorted face on the reflective surface and heard the rushing of monsters from behind.

I have no choice but to take another step. He took one final step forward leaving the fifth domain behind.