Orderbreaker
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Gwyn's Perspective
I felt my heart start to submerge in whatever water life could make as I watched my son begin to cry out. I watched his myoclonus body fall as he brought his hands to his chest, clutching his cotton grey shirt.
I felt my black pants rip. The wrappings that Cira had wreathed onto my boots started to tear as I slid next to William. It was his second time falling.
I caught him as he fell and laid him on my leg. Turning his body so he was facing me, I held his head up. "Will! What's wrong? Tell Me!" I blurted out of desperation. But Will was unresponsive. His eyes were shut tight, and his body spasmed in waves.
I felt utterly powerless, a sensation foreign and unsettling. Throughout my entire life, I have encountered nothing compared to this. With a growing sense of desperation, I examined the essential facets of his condition, searching for signs of sickness or disorder, hoping for some clue that would guide me through this bewildering ordeal. But there was nothing.
I can't lose him. I need the Guild.
"Come on, up we go." Pulling William onto his feet and over my shoulders, his twitching subsided as I felt his drenched shirt on mine. Slowly, using my bow to support us, I hauled his frail body towards the Guild, hearing the scraping sounds beneath his boots. "The Guild must know what's wrong, Will. Just hang in there, please."
What's happening? First, there was William's attempt at being a Rider. Then there was the egg he stole, and soon after, there were the Blight nests, and now this.
Oh, Cira. Watch over our son, please.
My heart skyrocketed as something crashed into the building next to us. Glancing at it, I saw a Dragon rider falling to the road where we stood. His body made a loud crack as it came into contact with the ground.
His scream pierced the air, his body convulsing in a manner eerily reminiscent of William's. Accompanying his cries was the gut-wrenching roar of his dragon, which flailed its wings in a frenzy, shredding the building beneath it to rubble.
The sky soon filled with more roars and screams as riders began to plummet from above. A few, by sheer force of will or fleeting strength, managed to soar for a moment longer, but even they succumbed, spiraling down to join the chaotic descent.
The Dragon Riders were affected? What in Kalos is happening? The Guild must know what's happening?!?
"Come on, Will! The Guild must know what's happening!" I stammered loudly. I started to lengthen my strides, dragging William sluggishly.
William's anguished cries turned into weak, sickly groans. His eyes fluttered rapidly, but I saw no signs of his irises.
My breathing was brisk as we approached the Guild before I realized.
A chilling shiver cascaded down my spine, carrying a sensation of dread that seemed to emanate from beyond the city's walls. It was an intense, relentless feeling, unlike anything I'd ever encountered. The only time I'd come close to this sense of foreboding was through the pages of a book. But this was no object; it was undeniably the presence of a person—a being exuding an aura so cruel and unforgiving that it carved a space of fear in the air itself.
A palpable tension enveloped us all, the ground beneath our feet trembling with violence as I instinctively turned toward the open mountain. There, emerging from her den, the Matriarch soared into the sky.
Her gigantic wings cast an immense shadow over the city, churning the air into chaos in her wake. As she approached the source of our collective dread, a roar of unmistakable anger tore from her throat, resonating with defiance.
With deliberate, powerful strokes, her wings carried her to the city's edge, where she hovered, a testament to resilience. Her moss-green scales, speckled with debris, shimmered faintly, betraying the cracks and wear of age and battle.
An eerie silence enveloped the world, a moment suspended in time, suggesting the fragile strings of reality might soon unravel. It was in this unsettling quiet that I realized I had stopped moving. Turning, I found William, his gaze locked onto the Matriarch, a mix of awe and fear reflected in his wide eyes.
William's Perspective
[Warning Warning Warning]
[Do you accept C̷o̴r̶r̷u̵p̷t̵i̵o̴n̵]
[Yes/No]
[No has been selected]
My head rang as words filled my black vision. I didn't understand what it was talking about.
Corruption? What's that? Is that what's making everything hurt?
My body felt like jelly as I started to open my eyes, realizing my father was holding me up. I lacked the vigor to move myself. The only thing I felt was this undeniable sensation.
The sensation first appeared when we were escaping the forest, subtle yet unmistakable. Now, it felt like it was tightening its grip, drawing nearer with an oppressive intensity. The sudden sensation made me jerk my head upwards, only to be met by the overwhelming sight of the Matriarch dominating the sky above the city. Her fierce and commanding roar seemed to shake the heavens themselves, starkly contrasting the barely audible whimpers of Hearthglen's people below, whose fear and awe mingled in the shadow of her might.
There we saw it—a Rider.
It was hard to see it as the Rider and his dragon, an ocean blue dragon covered in horrendous scars that left a horrific impression. The dragon was half the size of the Matriarch.
Lightning tore through the sky, casting the world into an even darker shadow than the night already had. Breathing became a struggle, the air thick with the Rider's magic. Sparks danced wildly around him, tendrils of energy reaching down to touch us all. My skin tingled at his electrifying energy.
The Matriarch and the Rider hovered in front of each other for ages. The world seemed to have frozen in silence. It was eerie, haunting, and uncanny.
Without warning, the Matriarch lunges her head at the Rider, attempting to kill the Rider.
I closed my eyes as pure, shimmering light pierced my eyelids, breaching my only protection. I thought I was going to go blind. The land screeched as a titanic roar itched the sky, leaving my ears ringing in pain. It sounded like thunder. With the thunder, a ghastly roar bellowed out as I managed to open my eyes. My vision was hazy and somewhat blackened, but I saw the Matriarch after a moment.
My heart plummeted into terror and fear at the sight of her body. It was utterly scorched as her massive left wing was severed off. Blood scattered out as the horrific sight brought terror to the people of Hearthglen. Even the riders cried out. The dragons released tear-jerking whimpers as they cried out for their lost mother.
The Rider looked down from his dragon. Both of them looked down at us with their cold, cruel eyes. His cold, cruel, dead eyes held malice as he looked straight at me. His skin was painted with vivid streaks of blood.
What seized my attention, freezing the blood in my veins, was the moment he raised his arms, his finger aimed directly at me. In that instant, the world came to a harrowing halt; no breath stirred the air, no sound dared break the silence, a stifling nothingness that felt like the haunting quiet before a blood-curdling scream shattered the calm. Every soul was petrified, none daring to twitch a muscle. The realization of what my father was initiating eluded me, a mix of denial and horror rooting me to the spot. It felt like an invisible force was wrenching my gaze toward the monstrous entities that loomed ominously in the sky, holding me captive in a terror I could neither escape nor fully comprehend.
With a gut-wrenching pulse that ran straight down my spine, a flash of light enveloped the world as another thunder echoed out. But this one was far more ferocious; the sky lit up as if the sun had descended to take us away from this nightmare as a cloud of smoke and debris came straight out at us. The very land, the buildings, the people, and the dragons were all caught in it as everything was sent flying. Eventually, my father and I were caught in it, sending us flying back, busting through a building, and crashing through furniture.
I felt a sudden jolt of pain ringing down my arm. I think something just broke. I couldn't tell as the cloud of smoke covered everything. My ears continue to ring, muffling the terror of people screaming.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
I slowly sat up and looked out the walls of the building we just crashed into, my back aching and my leg possibly broken. I somehow managed to drag myself to the edge of the wall as I saw it.
Before me stood a leviathan, a monstrous fusion towering as tall as the Matriarch herself; its scale-like hide was like the deepest parts of the deep black ocean. It reared on two hind legs, its body a horrifying tapestry of spikes that jutted out like crystalline growths tearing through its flesh. The creature's feet bore an uncanny resemblance to human form, albeit grotesquely distorted, with twisted flesh torn away to reveal jutting bone.
Its midsection presented a morbid sight: the pelvis was grotesquely oversized compared to the waist, which seemed to collapse inward like a monstrous maw. Savage, tooth-like projections sprang upward from the pelvis and downward from the torso, the upper teeth sheathed in grey, chitinous armor. This armor spiked up at the creature's collarbone, where its neck caved inward towards the collarbone, adding to its nightmarish silhouette.
The asymmetry of its arms changed the definition of my term for monstrosity. The right arm bore crystal spikes enveloped in a fleshy sheath that morphed into a semblance of a hand, its flesh and skin peeling away to expose the raw muscle beneath. The left arm contrasted sharply where flesh and bone appeared, replaced with crystal spikes that erupted from its shoulder and elbow, with its wrist encased in a spiked gauntlet, a grotesque parody of protection.
Its head was a spectacle of horror, adorned with fourteen eyes that surveyed its surroundings with unnerving vigilance. A singular, massive crystal horn soared from its nose, accompanied by a jagged, lightning bolt-shaped protrusion from its chin and jutting horizontally from its jaws—one side notably fragmented, a testament to past violence. Its maw was devoid of lips, revealing only teeth that mirrored the dark, oceanic blue of its scales. Behind its head, four massive horns, each notably fractured, reached towards the sky, while tendrils or spike-like appendages floated ominously behind each horn, swaying with the creature's every movement.
This abomination was a harrowing union of a dragon, a human, and the Blight—each aspect twisted into a singular entity of pure nightmare. In that moment, a singular thought pierced my horror-stricken mind.
Someone screamed.
"It's a Titan!"
The Titan unfurled its wings—four of them—and each looked as dreadful as the Titan itself, as they were titanic enough to cover its own body. Each was tattered as if stitched and wreathed together. Every flap sent a gust of chilling wind, carrying the scent of desolation and death. The membranes between the massive bones were shredded, hanging in ragged strips.
The sight of them was enough to freeze the blood of onlookers. They were a visual embodiment of dread, speaking of a creature not only fierce but deeply afflicted by The Blight. Black veins covered its whole body, pulsating with its corrupted life.
The Titan took one simple step as it roared out. The sheer roar of its roar emitted a dangerous chill down my back as its voice alone propelled the land around it away from it.
As the shockwave approached me, I heard a ring in my head.
[WARNING WARNING]
[A TITAN HAS APPEARED]
Looking up at the Titan, I saw something above its head.
[UNKNOWN TITAN]
[Orderbreaker]
What is this? What am I seeing?
I looked back down and saw the shockwave getting closer. I could not move as I tried to process everything. That was until someone tackled me.
Gwyn's Perspective
I tackled William, pulling him behind the cover. We both pressed our backs against the ruined wall as the shockwave blew past us, sending dust and debris into what remained of the building I and Will were in.
Our hair ruffled wildly. I closed my eyes tightly, so nothing got in them. I forced my breathing to be steady as I felt my breath start to quiver. I pressed my hand against Will's chest as I felt his heartbeat. It was like it was trying to jump out of his chest.
The shockwave passed as I stood up, clutching my bow tightly. Glancing up at the Titan, I heard a ring in my head.
[WARNING WARNING]
[A TITAN HAS APPEARED]
Glancing at the words that appeared in my head, I knew full well what they meant. I turned to heave William off the ground. I could see above Will's head.
[William Hunter]
"Will, we have to go! Now!" I shouted as people started to scream, running in the streets with their children in hand. I noticed where they were going.
Pulling Will by his arm, I hurriedly led him through the building, kicking down a door that blocked our way.
"Dad! What am I seeing?" William cried out, no longer calling me father. How unbecoming. But I don't blame him. I am, too, afraid. But I hid it away, knowing it would cause me more harm. For both of us.
"Status magic," I answered as dragons took to the sky and their riders shouted orders.
A rider flew close to us, ordering all civilians to head to the South Gate immediately. But I knew better. We must go North.
"Dad, you heard him. We got to head down south," William stammered. His eyes widened with fear as he leaned onto the wall nearby.
I approached him, checking over him. "How are you feeling?"
"What?"
"Answer me!"
He shook his head, almost holding it up with his hand. "It's just a bad headache. Besides that, I'm slightly sluggish."
Headache and sluggishness? That's all Will got from earlier? He must be lying. "Can you run?" He stepped off the wall and slowly walked towards me, sluggishly.
"I'll be fine."
"Good, we are heading east, back to our house."
I was walking towards the street, where civilians were running and screaming. I picked up a longsword along the way, and Will grabbed my shoulder and turned me around.
"East? Our house? Are you crazy? That is a Titan. We can't face that thing!" Will's remark left me stumbling. Did he really think that was my plan?
"We aren't fighting the Titan; we are going around it," I replied as I turned him around.
Yanking his silver sword, I replaced it with the longsword I had picked up. I soon pulled a bracelet out of one of my pouches. Tapping it on the silver sword made it dematerialize into bright particles that shimmered brightly into the bracelet.
[Long Silver Sword has been stored in Storage]
So this is status magic. How convenient. Do the summoned heroes always have this power active? How vexing?
Before we knew it, the Titan bellowed as it slammed its foot into the earth. The ground cracked, and everything just shook. I noticed chunks of the ground jutted outward, sending buildings flying as the land changed.
"Move!" I yelled out, and Will and I started to run down the empty alleyway, away from the now-blocked street.
As we fled, the earth beneath us transformed, morphing the ground into cliffs that erupted skyward. Massive rock formations sprouted from the earth, casting debris and boulders that tumbled perilously everywhere. Amidst our desperate attempts to flee, fatigue began to gnaw at my muscles, making each step increasingly laborious. It was only then that I realized that we were ascending a cliff.
"Push on to the top!" I urged, my voice taut.
William's silence was a stark response, devoid of any retort. The fear has gotten hold of him.
Persisting through sheer will, we dodged falling rocks that threatened to end our climb prematurely. Eventually, our path stopped, standing way above the city. From our elevated point, Hearthglen lay sprawled before us.
Beyond the city, the mountain stood, untouched by Titan's cataclysmic might. The terrain was a landscape reborn by fury, cracked and warped beyond recognition by the Titan's unfathomable might. The view is heart-rending.
"How are we supposed to get to the house by going around the Titan? The North Gate would be destroyed. How are we supposed to get through all of this?" Will questioned me.
He was right. How were we going to get out of this? I could feel my heart starting to race.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. Then it came to me. I opened my eyes and pointed east.
"The east gate is the closet gate towards us. We get there; we go straight to the house. After all, we have a dragon egg to save."
The ground started to shake as the ground beneath us fell apart. I tried to reach out to Will. However, the pull of gravity grasped us both as we both fell. Fortunately, parts of the cliff jutted out, sloping downward toward the city below, allowing us to slide down. I used my bow to maneuver toward Will, grasping his shirt as we accelerated downward.
Our hairs flocked with the wind as it pressed against our faces. I squinted as I tried to block out all the dust from my eyes as more of the earth splintered. We finally jumped off the descending cliff, landing on the rooftops. I didn't grasp the tiles well as I slid off the rooftops. Luckily, I swung my bow, which gripped onto something, holding me up.
Will didn't have much luck either, forcing me to catch him at the last second. "Fuck!" He shouted as he slammed into the building, grasping my arm tightly.
"Language, please!" I said, forcing a smile to lighten the mood.
"This isn't a time for a joke," William exclaimed. I decided to drop him once I saw how close he was to the ground. Once his feet made contact, I swung myself, unhooking my bow as I fell next to him. "Let's not do that again."
I saw him leaning against the wall, holding his shoulder. I saw his face scrunched up as if he were in pain. "Where does it hurt?"
Will gestured his leg, where his bandage was, his right shin. I unwrapped the bandage and ripped open the fabric, revealing parts of his shin torn up, but nothing seemed broken or bleeding. "Your leg is fine."
"It throbs painfully when I apply pressure."
Given the rest of his tattered clothes, "probably a sprain from being tossed into the build. Along with a ton of bruises." I reached down to one of my pouches, hoping I had brought a healing potion.
[Healing Potion (Throwable) acquired]
I pulled my hand out of my pouch, holding a small vial of purple liquid. The status magic was already getting annoying. Pulling the cork off the vial, I dumped the contents onto Will's leg.
"Fuck that hurts!" He snarled at me as his torn-up shin started to fade back into its normal pigmentation swiftly. I rewrapped up the leg with the used bandage with haste. "How did we survive that shockwave? We shouldn't have survived that."
"Not now. We got to move," I declared as I pulled Will off the wall. "Can you run?" I asked once again.
Watching him step forward, I see his movements as much more natural. He nodded as we both turned to run down the road.
The road before us had transformed into a pathway of chaos. Bodies lay strewn across the ground, a grim site for those who are too used to peace.
Panic-stricken survivors, their faces etched with terror, attempted to make their way through the mess. Desperate, they clutched at any belongings they could salvage, hoping to preserve some semblance of their former lives. They all frantically made their way to the South Gate, praying for the Dragon Riders to save them.
Everything was in utter chaos, a vivid snapshot of humanity teetering on the brink of despair yet propelled by the instinctual drive to survive.
I took the lead as I followed the path to the East Gate, pushing back anyone who got in the way of me and my son. My desperation to ensure William's survival flared as I shoved everyone out of my way.
Before we knew it, the Titan came into view, swatting riders out of the sky as magic struck it from all angles. But it barely dented it. We saw its mouth open up as the very air was sucked in. Then all the air was pushed out.
["HEARTHGLEN!"]
It spoke out.
Its mere speech triggered status magic?!?
["FALL!"]
[WARNING WARNING]
[BLIGHT INCOMING]
Blight incoming?
That's when I looked at the sky and saw it. The dark clouds shifted slightly and descended on us, and I felt the earth rumble even more. I realized those weren't clouds plummeting down towards us. My senses flared as holes erupted from the ground.
The Blight is here.