17

First step in a new world I

Leon

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Ruins surrounded the town square. While the houses close to them were relatively safe, the further they looked the worse the damage became. The streets were completely uprooted and every building’s facade had completely evaporated.

While it was possible to get through, the lingering heatwave combined with the smell of gas kept people from approaching.

“We need to find them!” A panicked voice rang out.

“Alphons, did you see Alduin?” Edward felt his blood pumping the longer he looked on.

Fires that destroyed their homes lingered as embers that refused to die down. Glowing red gas pipes, the origin of this explosion, was the last danger remaining.

“Alphons!” Edward, who saw the grave look on this old man’s face couldn’t help but shout him awake.

Leon stood within this chaos and listened absentmindedly. Everybody had heard his shout. Even though they tried to keep quiet, the result of trying to hide what happened was worse.

“Where is he!” A cry of terror sounded.

“He-“ Alphons looked at Edward. “He was at the top of that building.” Alphons pointed to a building close to the town square.

He had seen him get shot. He wanted to go there only with Edward and Theo but Veleda couldn’t wait.

Slowly cries of terror, anguish, fear, and melancholy rang out as more people exited the church.

Everything moved too fast. Leon who was still in shock couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

But not everyone reacted the same. Veleda was the first to start running, closely followed by Edward and a shouting Theo.

“Pops! Take care of the people here,” Theo yelled at his father, Alphons started moving as well. They didn’t know if the danger had subsided yet.

The moment Leon saw Alduin’s parents running he finally jolted awake.

“Kid, grab your weapon!” Alphons threw a shield toward the young man.

His first step was the hardest. He took a while but compared to the others, he was one of the few who had escaped this trance. What had happened was just too incomprehensible.

With a sword and a shield in his hands, the gears in his head finally started turning. And with it, he took a gamble as well, he had proven to be one of the first ones to take a step forward. He finally entered this world of chaos, marked by the fires of destruction.

Leaving the other survivors who gradually experienced the taste of survival behind, Leon headed towards a scorching road. Burning buildings and fallen debris had lost their intimidation as the sight of the goblin’s assault continuously replayed in his mind.

Running through the debris of their former homes, everyone ran inside the ruins of a specific house. It wasn’t damaged that bad compared to further down the street, but every crack, scorch mark, and stain of blood frightened everyone’s heart more than anything else in their vision.

Almost the entirety of the house’s facade had disappeared, and from outside, Leon saw Veleda frantically running up the stairs.

The danger hadn’t disappeared yet but it was something they had to see before they could even think about moving forward.

Edward especially was struggling. From the torched goblins in the distance to the stairs of this house. He was stuck between two priorities.

“Take care of them. I can’t wait anymore,” Edward told Leon with a painful voice.

Without looking back, Edward started running once again with Theo in tow.

They had no choice. The results could only be seen after they successfully ended this nightmare. Leon stared in shock but understood.

He in turn ran inside as the last person. A shield in one hand and a sword in the other trying to give even the slightest cover. The creaking stairs pushed his nervousness higher and higher. But unlike the dangerous road Alduin had to pass, they rapidly arrived at the bathroom.

A tearful girl and shocked parents stood around something.

With every step closer Leon feared learning something he didn’t want to know. But his body moved with its own will.

A crying girl sat kneeling down while holding the large cloak Alduin used to hide himself with. Blood stains and scorch marks had almost completely changed the color of this robe.

But Leon gasped in surprise. Nowhere could his friend be seen. Leon spoke, “He- He’s not here?”

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Lucas was the first to reply, “He needs to come back. It’s gone too far.” His ghastly face and fear-filled voice had clearly affected both him and Alduin’s mother.

In just a single day, both of them had foregone any trace of life in their faces. Especially Lydia, everything had long been too much for her. Her lifeless eyes had long since stopped producing tears in favor of quiet sobbing.

Now her son had gone somewhere she couldn’t reach. The young child who needed to be taken care of in crowds had continuously jumped into danger. The difference from what she pictured in her mind had completely shattered, and his father was much the same.

“Go back to the church, he’s alive, I’ll bring him back,” Edward commanded, “Take care of them, he’s with Ise.”

Leon who felt an arm touch his shoulder only nodded before the two tall men ran downstairs.

“We need to help him,” Veleda powerlessly said. Her physique held her back in ways she didn’t know to be possible.

“We need to return to the church,” Leon spoke, following Edward’s instructions.

Leon pulled Veleda up and was the first to descend the half-collapsed building.

‘How?’ Leon looked back, he knew how he escaped but he didn’t understand. ‘How are you able to do something like this?’ Leon who thought he equaled his friend was faced with his inability. From the moment this nightmare started, not a single time was he able to show any assertiveness.

He could no longer compare himself to his friend. Someone who ran headfirst into danger, with only the thought of saving a single life.

From the half-collapsed roof, Leon could see quite far into the ruined street and saw Edward and Theo run in the distance.

‘I need to go there as well.’ Leon felt it in him, it was now or never.

“I’m not going back, he needs us!” Veleda, who was most likely thinking the same, was the first to follow.

Leon stood only a second longer, he struggled to follow Edwards' command. Panic painted his face, but as Lucas and Lydia ran after Veleda he finally realized. Alduin was pushing himself so far, taking risks only while knowing they were safe. So now Leon took a step forward once more.

This time he was no longer mindlessly following. His hand clutched his sword, his grip tightened around the handle of his shield. If Alduin gave them a chance of survival, and he would extend this protection further.

He rapidly ran forward. If only to make sure Alduin didn’t have to worry about his family.

***

The dimmed world had become completely quiet. The last sight Alduin had seen were the jaws of death.

Sharp yellow elongated teeth were placed in a disorderly manner in the gaping mouth of the goblin. Red blood seeped from its gums. Remnants of the heart of the wolf stuck between its teeth.

Two blood-red eyes, the face of death which stared at him with hatred. The last thing he saw continuously reappeared in his mind before slowly fading away.

His tired body had long since reached its limit. He was athletic, yet what he had achieved was more than what should be possible.

It was more than enough.

Never in his life had his instincts yelled out as much as they have. The approaching death of his family, something he clearly saw seven years ago, was nothing compared to this.

But this time, he had turned that instinct into action. Straining his body for several hours so he could finally see a glimpse of hope. The certain death situation had shifted, for the safety of his loved ones Alduin was the one who lay there.

The final face of death marked his end.

But the jaws that should have torn his throat never landed. In this limbo of unconsciousness, the only thing he could think of were those jaws of death.

His body gradually started quivering. With every convulsion multiplying in strength. A burning sensation of his convulsing muscles shook his limbs, but not a single movement followed. The approaching monster in his mind didn’t move, but neither did he.

Gradually a shock spread through his body. Lightning that had coursed through his body seemed to amplify in strength the longer it lingered. Until his muscles finally regained sensation.

But that proved even worse. His back felt torched. His muscles started tensing up even harder than when the taser had been pushed against his skin and he exerted inhuman strength on the goblin’s neck.

Every beat of his heart increased the pain he felt. Every time blood pumped through his body, he felt an electric current course through him as well.

And then came his arms. The moment the muscles on his arms started convulsing and tensing up Alduin could no longer hold it in.

“AHHHHHHH!” Alduin cried out in pain.

Alduin’s voice had returned. Sound entered his world and the first thing he heard was a crying voice.

“NO!” Veleda broke down completely next to him.

“STOP!” Alduin’s eyes shot open as tears streamed down.

People had gathered around him as he lay on the ground. No, Alduin was being moved onto a stretcher. Eyes looked at him with fear and sorrow.

However, Alduin couldn’t look at them. His eyes lacked focus. A deep breath entered his body. Almost like swallowing too much water or food, the breath he took hurt his throat.

“AHHHHHHH!” The breath was immediately expelled with another shout. Convulsions kept increasing. His heartbeat felt like a motor shooting up in flames.

“Push him down!” His mother’s voice yelled out. Edward and Lucas held this young man tight.

“STOP!” Alduin cried out with tears “LET ME GO!”

His convulsing muscles felt as if his body became disfigured. And then hands pushed down on him as his body shook even more wildly.

His spine arched up. His breathing became rougher and rougher. His lungs felt as if they were getting completely burned. But it were his arms where the most excruciating pain originated from, his muscles convulsed and tensed up, and his body could not contain itself any longer.

“Hold him down!” A deep voice yelled out “Tie him up!”

Alduin completely ignored every voice that was aimed at him. He was overwhelmed. The pain he felt, now jerked his body from the brink of the afterlife. But here he arrived at a place where he would rather be dead.

And then he saw it. He vividly remembered three cracks. His arms were completely bent out of shape. His left forearm as well as his right shoulder. His left forearm, which wrapped around the throat of the beast showed bones piercing through his skin. The fracture had torn through his skin and muscles.

Under his skin were rolling muscles. They were getting harder and harder. But the waves they made seemed like energy breaking out of its hold.

“FUCK!” Alduin had started crying. Never before had he felt such pain. And the moment he built up some resistance, the sensation of his back hit him. The goblin wanted to escape into the forest and pushed him sliding for several meters. Just the thought of that completely shut his body down.

And once again. Alduin stared in front of him. Standing there was a blood-covered Ise.

Lifeless eyes met his. And with that, Alduin passed out again.

The overwhelming sensation had been too much. A perpetual current broke his mind. The taser that still seemed to touch him flipped his switch and his lights went out.

“Please don’t die!”

This was the last thing he heard. A heartrending voice of a powerless figure.