“____” speaking

‘____’ thoughts

*____* telepathy

<____> translated from Eldritch

---------------------

Something wasn’t right and the feeling became increasingly more prominent as I was shaken out of my sleepy stupor. The issue wasn’t caused by the fact that I hadn’t dreamed nor was it from the small bump that I could feel on the top of my head from where I had hit it when trying to sit up after having crawled under the bed Ormonde was in some time during the night. I took my time to let my eyes lose the filter of sleep that was clouding them before looking around the room. Judging by the darkness that shrouded the room, it was still the very early hours of the morning.

I listened to what was happening in the immediate area while pulling myself out from underneath the bed. An almost inaudible sniffling occasionally broke the quietness of the room and drew my attention away from the window and its view of a sleeping town. Ormonde had curled into a ball on his bed, cocooning himself with the sheets, and was trembling slightly with no correlation to the tiny whimpers and sobs that I could hear.

Normally I would be able to feel something from Ormonde but at the moment he seemed to have shut down emotionally and I was getting nothing from him. As slowly as I could, I reached out and touched him to let him know that someone else was awake and that he wasn’t alone. I could have talked but contact was something I personally found more reassuring than a voice and I hoped that the same was true for Ormonde. He flinched and moved away from me in momentary fright on the initial contact before easing back into the same position he had been in and I could feel a twinge in my chest due to the unconscious rejection.

I climbed onto the bed and sat against him while leaving my hand where it was. Ormonde slowly relaxed enough that his tremors stopped but he still remained hidden underneath the sheet that was covering him. He would come out from underneath the covers when he felt it was safe to do so and I was willing to wait for however long that was. It was a mostly subconscious action but I was aware that at some point I had put up a small bubble of sounds Arcane around us so that no one else would wake up if we started to talk.

Time dragged on and eventually Ormonde’s breathing became steady and he shifted to poke his head out from underneath the sheet. We stared at each other and I had to struggle in the darkness to see that his eyes were slightly puffed.

“Wanna talk?”

Ormonde just shook his head and continued to lie where he was. I knew what the problem was and forcing the issue wasn’t going to do him any good. The silence around us was peaceful and not strained by tension or expectations like most silences were.

“How do you deal with it?”

“With what? Seeing people die?”

His breath hitched in his throat but he was still able to give me a simple nod to answer my question.

“Honestly? I don’t.”

I could see the confusion on his face and tried to elaborate on what I meant.

“It’s not that I don’t care about people dying, though I’m not the best one to talk to about it, but if you think about it constantly and try to figure out if it was your fault or if there was something that you could have done you’ll drive yourself crazy. You don’t owe the people outside of this room aside from you mother and Maka anything. So just don’t worry about it. Okay?”

Ormonde looked at me and tried to nod but instead started to cry again. I pulled him closer to me and all of the pent up emotions that he had been holding back seemed to burst. Without any notice, he threw himself at me while crying hysterically and I hesitantly placed my arms around his head and back before squeezing him into me just enough that he knew I was there.

“Shhhh. It’s alright. You’re going to be fine. I promise.”

Small sobs continued to shake his body in time with little gasps of air and I could feel his hands ball up into tight fists every so often before they released a little and repeated the process. I let him cry and continued to tell him that it was fine in as soft and level of a voice as I could manage since I had no idea what else to do.

Eventually the sobs began to lessen as my words, the pressure of my arms around him, and the steady beat of my heart lulled him back to the safety of sleep. When I was sure that he wasn’t awake anymore I removed one of my hands and wiped my own face dry before doing the same for him. Raw grief coupled with the false idea of responsibility had done a number on him and most of it had been sent in my direction once he had let his walls down.

The bubble of sound Arcane had done its job and, as far as I knew, I was the only one in the room still awake which I was thankful for. I stayed where I was in the middle of the bed until my legs fell asleep and I was forced to move to a better position. A few slow and simple shifts had me leaning against the headboard with Ormonde still gripping the sides of my dress tightly while his head rested in my lap. He had stirred but never woken and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep for the rest of the night and was fine with that fact.

In the time it took the sun to rise, Ormonde woke two more times and we repeated the act of him crying and me comforting to the best of my abilities. After the third time I got him back to sleep I knew he wouldn’t wake up anymore since his breathing had become calmer and steadier than the times prior to this one. The only reward I got for my troubles was the half hidden view of the sunrise and a mess of foreign emotions that I had to sort through to find my own.

I continued to watch the window and eventually leaned my head back against the wall behind me and closed my eyes. There was nothing for me to do except think or idly stroke Ormonde’s head and I was in no mood to be left alone with my thoughts. I had stopped feeding the bubble of sound Arcane a little after Ormonde had fallen asleep for the final time and the soft sounds of night and early morning had helped to keep my mind of other things.

“Rough night?”

My head turned hard enough that I gave myself whiplash and merely groaned in pain as my initial reply to whomever had spoken to me. I took a moment to blink a few times to clear the near sleep from them and look across the room to see who had spoken to me. Cecil was still sleeping like a log so that left Tanzi and I found him sitting on the floor between the two beds. He offered me an apologetic smile before speaking again in a low whisper.

“Sorry about startling you. I didn’t want to wake either of them. I just saw that you were awake and thought you might like someone to talk to in order to pass the time.”

“It’s...you’re fine. I’m just a little out of it at the moment. Like you guessed, last night was rough especially since I’m not used to handling so many extreme emotions at the same time.”

Tanzi hummed in acknowledgement and motioned his head at the sleeping figure on my lap.

“Be that as it may, I’m sure there is at least one person who greatly appreciates what you did even if they haven’t said it yet.”

I looked down at Ormonde and slid my hand down the side of his head again while murmuring in agreement. After a brief gap in the conversation Tanzi started to talk again. The rest of the early morning passed with Tanzi talking and me listening while occasionally saying something when I felt like it was appropriate to let him know I hadn’t fallen asleep.

Cecil was the first of the two to wake and upon doing so he spent a good deal of time stretching before looking around the room with bloodshot eyes. He glanced at the sleeping form on my lap and nodded while mumbling to himself before leaving the room as quietly as possible.

Tanzi had stopped talking and I didn’t mind the silence that had taken up residence in the room. Time passed slowly as more light gradually filtered into the room and Ormonde started to stir. At first he tried to push his head further into my stomach but stopped once he realized he couldn’t hide from the light. Eventually he lifted his head and his face was covered with sleepy perplection while he tried to figure out what he had been using as a pillow.

Ormonde continued to stare at my leg before following it up to the rest of my body and looked like he was about to say something after a minute of thinking. Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by Cecil opening the door while carrying two plates and letting the slowly growing din from downstairs enter the room. Cecil shut the door behind him while setting one of the plates down on the small table in the corner of the room.

“Ormonde. Food.”

The reaction wasn’t instantaneous but enough recognition passed through Ormonde’s eyes that I could tell he had forgotten what he was about to say in favor of focusing on satisfying his hunger. I watched as he made his way to the side of the bed and fell off of it before getting up and collecting the plate that had been retrieved for him.

I looked over at Cecil who was spooning some of his food into his mouth in anticipation of him saying something to us. He ate a few more bites before setting down an empty plate and clearing his throat to get Ormonde’s attention. Once he was certain that he had the attention of his half awake son he began to speak while directing his words to no one in particular.

“So from what I was able to find out, the town was attacked by three types of Eldritch last night. The kind I encountered near the wall were of a human size and could withstand the blow from a sword without any problem because of a thick plating that covered most of its body. What you two encountered last night, albeit against my wishes.”

Cecil looked between the two of us with a rather pointed gaze.

“Was a much smaller Eldritch that was meant to destroy our back line and reserves. It was also one of two that was supposed to be causing destruction. Did either of you wonder how the fires started?”

Ormonde features shifted slightly at the mention of fire but he looked like he had an answer to the question Cecil asked so I remained quiet in favor of letting him actually care.

“Wasn’t it just from unattended fires?”

“Sadly no. Very few people saw this third Eldritch but we have enough proof to know that it spread some kind of fluid that was flammable and would attract the Eldritch you fought to it. You probably didn’t see it but those Eldritch had the ability to ignite the flames with whatever chemicals they have on their hands that allows them to cling to walls and rip through steel like it’s paper. The only reason we even know that this is what started the fires was because there have been several reports confirming it happening.”

The information was good but there was one flaw to it.

“How do you know all of this? You were only gone for what? Ten minutes max?”

“News about things like this travels fast since the entire town is involved with it. Though it may not look like it at first glance, this town actually has a fairly decent communication network. Plus, being one of the few people who can actually analyze an Eldritch mid battle gives me a few perks when it comes to information availability.”

Once Cecil finished talking we sat quietly while Ormonde finished eating his food. We had no plans and I was curious as to what we would be doing since most normal things wouldn’t be possible at the moment due to the current situation.

“So what now?”

Cecil looked in my direction with a wary look on his face.

“Now? Now we wait. If I’m needed someone will come and let me know and this time the two of you are staying here. ”

The message behind his eyes was clear but I really didn’t care about whatever punishment he could think of since I doubted he had a way to truly enforce it on me.

“Is the town still on fire?”

Ormonde was looking for a way to get out of the room and I wasn’t about to stop him from doing so since I knew I wouldn’t last an entire day inside without something to keep me occupied.

“All of the fires were put out last night and the remains of the Eldritch have been cleared away.”

“Are there still Eldritch inside the town’s walls? And for that matter how did they get in?”

Cecil pinched his brow while Ormonde shifted to the edge of his seat eager to find an out.

“From what I know, there are no more Eldritch inside the town’s walls. As for how they got in? I don’t know since that information hasn’t been passed on to me yet.”

Both of us deflated slightly; Ormonde since it meant he wasn’t going to be able to help and myself because it meant I was going to be stuck in a room the entire day with nothing but Ormonde whining.

As if by divine intervention someone knocked on the door. Cecil answered and standing before the door was one of the city guards that we had seen at the entrance to the town.

“Sorry to intrude but you are Cecil Everand correct?”

“I am. What can I do for you?”

“I have a few papers and reports for you from the guard in regards to the Eldritch that attacked us.”

The guard pulled an envelope out from underneath his arm and presented it to Cecil who took it and began to read the reports after taking the papers out. Cecil spent a few minutes reading through the papers occasionally flipping back to a previous page before finally putting them back into the envelope.

“When would you like my conclusions based on these reports?”

“Um. If possible now and in person if it’s convenient for you.”

While speaking the guard’s eyes looked passed Cecil and spent a few moments on us before returning to the person directly in front of him. Cecil turned to look at Ormonde and I, both of us staring at him with intense pleading eyes.

“Can we come? Please? I’ll stay next to you and won’t wander off.”

“I’ll stay with him just please don’t leave us in here with nothing to do.”

Cecil sighed while slowly closing his eyes and when he reopened them he turned to the guard.

“Is it alright if they come along?”

The guard simply shrugged.

“I don’t see why not. And as long as they stay with you or out of the way it shouldn’t really matter. Can you two manage that?”

“Yes!”

“Yup!”

Seemingly content with our replies, the guard nodded in affirmation and then returned his attention to Cecil.

“In that case I’ll need you to follow me and stay close. We don’t know when another attack is going to hit us now that the sun has risen.”

All of us filed out of the room with Cecil leaving last so he could lock the door when we were all outside. The guard waited for Cecil to finish and then set off down the stairs with Cecil and Tanzi directly behind him and Ormonde and me bringing up the rear.

I didn’t know where we were going and decided that staying quiet was the best course of action until I knew our destination. Unsurprisingly, the guard led us towards the wall and what I assumed to be the closest outpost for the soldiers. The number of people armed with various weapons increase along with the number of soldiers and guards as we got closer to the wall and I was able to spot a building that had a large number of people going into and out of it.

However, instead of taking us into that building like I expected we continued passed it and towards the wall itself. A quick look at Ormonde confirmed that I wasn’t the only one that thought we were going to be stopping soon but neither of us voiced a complaint.

The crowd thinned out as we got closer to the wall allowing for large groups of well organized people to move to different areas of the wall at a moment's notice. We were led to the same staircase we had used the day before and when the guard started to climb it I knew we were heading to the top of the wall.

At first it wasn’t an issue to continue walking up the stairs but after the third level my legs felt like they were on fire and I just wanted to sit down. I was highly considering returning to my ethereal form but I had been corporeal around too many people to suddenly change halfway and it would just create unneeded complications. More stairs passed and the lack of any defining features made it had to tell how much further we had to go without asking. Fortunately, Ormonde was not nearly as willing to suffer in silence like I was.

“How much further to we have to go? I can barely feel my legs.”

Without stopping, the guard pointed to a small mark on the wall that was easy to overlook if it wasn’t brought to your attention.

“That mark we just passed signaled that we were three fourths done with this staircase so we shouldn’t have too much left before we reach the top. Speaking of which.”

While he was talking sunlight made its way into the stairwell and colored the stone differently letting us see that we were close to being able to rest after a nonstop trek up over sixteen flights of stairs. The light continued to intensify and was almost blinding when we finally lined up enough to allow the light to enter the stairwell without an obstacles aside from the occasional person walking in front of the exit. Seeing an end in sight, Ormonde started to try and take the stairs faster only to let out a quiet groan and return to the same pace as before.

When we did reach the top Ormonde and I walked to the nearest wall and collapsed against it in exhaustion. To their credit, the guards and soldiers milling about the area didn’t seem to be fazed by the sight of two children coming up to the top of the ramparts and then falling over while groaning in pain. I was sure I even caught a few of them smirking after looking in our direction.

The guard that brought us to the top of the wall had wandered off to one of the many groups of people to get someone while Cecil stood next to us thoroughly amused by the state we were in. It didn’t take too long before both of us were back up and moving about looking out at the horizon and admiring how far one could see from how high we were above the tree line.

Without thinking too much about it, I hopped up onto the thick parapet to take a look at what it was like at the base of the wall. From our elevation I could only make out small black shapes the size of a marble but I knew each one of them was an Eldritch, or rather the corpse of an Eldritch, and the entire area next to the wall was black without a single spot for the ground to show through. It didn’t come as a shock that they were all dead since the town had held, but what did shock me was that there were living Eldritch moving behind the tree line, some stepping out for a brief moment before retreating, simply waiting for the right moment to attack.

Ormonde struggled at first to get a good foothold with which to join me but once he did I regretted that he had. It became apparent that either the height or the fact that there were still so many Eldritch unnerved him greatly and I was still overly sensitive to emotions at the moment after a full night of dealing with them. I could tell he was afraid and it was starting to get to me.

“Ormonde?”

I waited for him to reply to no avail. He was rooted where he was without any way of distracting himself from whatever thoughts that were keeping him immobile. It wasn’t safe for him to stay balanced precariously on the wall especially when I could feel my body was starting to shake like a leaf in the wind.

“Ormonde.”

There was still no response to my attempt to get his attention and I was only willing to try on more time before I called for either Tanzi or Cecil.

Before I was able to say anything else a hand had found its way to Ormonde’s shoulder bringing him back to the present. The small interaction was all that was needed and I could feel myself regain control over my body and slowly made my way off the parapet in order to ensure my foot would be able to hold my weight even when shaking. Ormonde was in much worse condition than I was and Cecil helped him down before leading him away from the edge of the wall and closer to the center.

“You alright?”

Tanzi had come over during the absence of Cecil and Ormonde and I appreciated the thought even if it wasn’t going to do anything for me.

“Yeah, just a little on edge after last night and I wasn’t expecting to be affected as badly as I was.”

A small smirk accompanied by a weak chuckle caused me to glare at Tanzi. There was nothing funny about being a slave to emotions that didn’t belong to you.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, it’s just that you said that you were a little on edge and you were- you know what? Forget about it. I wasn’t laughing at your expense, just at a pun you made even if you didn’t realize you said it.”

“A what?”

The expression on Tanzi’s face seemed to falter.

“A pun.”

“What’s a pun?”

Apprehension took over his features and he nodded shallowly before muttering under his breath.

“Sometime I forget you a little more unique than the rest of us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

My indignant reply was glossed over and Tanzi seemed unsurprised by the fact that I had heard him speak. His demeanor changed and I could tell he was now trying to pacify the situation instead of risking continuing to possibly irritate me.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about any of this we can talk about it later.”

“Fine.”

I was willing to move on but my voice was still muted and monotone as we ended our conversation. Tanzi watched me as I turned and went to join Cecil and Ormonde before following closely behind, most likely already thinking out how to explain to me what he was trying to say earlier. Ormonde looked better, not great, but good enough that I knew I wasn’t going to lose control of myself due to his emotion unless something major happened.

Another person arrived about the same time I did and focused their attention on Cecil after giving Ormonde and I a cursory glance.

“Are you Cecil Everand?”

Cecil straightened after giving Ormonde’s head one final pat and turned to face the new guard.

“Yes I am.”

“Nice to meet you sir. My name’s Luke and I’m the one who’s been assigned to take you to our command post when you’re ready.”

“I’m fine but you wouldn’t happen to have someone who can keep an eye on these two for a little while would you?”

The guard’s brow scrunched up for a moment before he turned and yelled down the wall.

“Gin!”

Everyone stood where they were and waited while the aforementioned person to reach us. A rather tall and bulky woman finally made her way to where we were standing and saluted Luke before the two began to talk. After their quick exchange, Luke walked over to where Ormonde was sitting with Gin behind him.

“This is Gin, full name Ginnie, she’ll stay with you two for a little while until I’m done with your dad. Mr. Everand if you’re ready?”

‘Do they really think I’m his daughter? There’s no resemblance whatsoever.’

Cecil left with Tanzi behind him, both talking to Luke as they slowly made their way to one of the large buildings that reached the level we were on. I watched the three of them slowly disappear in the crowd of people and finally decided to look at the woman we had been left with. She seemed nice enough but judging by the reserved way she was standing she was either bad with children or just uneasy; neither thing seemed to stop her from trying to strike up a conversation though.

“So what brought you into town before all this mess started?”

Ormonde looked up from the ground and began to tell her about our visit to the churches. I could see him visibly relax and I was glad that Gin had decided to take his mind off of what was happening. They continued to prattle on for a little while before I decided to join in.

“What made you decide to join the guard?”

Gin looked at me, almost happy that I had finally entered into the conversation instead of watching them talk.

“Well I didn’t really know what else to do at first. I was born here and grew up in this town so after my attempt at being a Schreckensjäger didn’t work out I decided to try for a position within the guard. That was a little over a year ago and I have to say it was one of the better decisions I made in regards to my livelihood.”

Her smile fitted her face naturally and it was easy to tell she was happy talking about what she did.

“It’s stable and housing is provided plus I get a chance to fight and protect people which is why I wanted to be a Schreckensjäger in the first place. Have either of you given any thoughts on what you want to do in the future?”

‘Far, far too many.’

Instead of responding I shook my head and I saw Ormonde doing the same out of the corner of my eye. Our lack of an answer didn’t seem to upset Gin and instead she took it as another conversation piece.

“Well your dad does a lot with us and he teaches as well so you could go that direction. If you wanted to see more action you could try to become a Schreckensjäger though it would be much safer to join the guard. We’re always looking for more people.”

She threw her arms out in a wide arc before pausing for a moment.

“Then again if you didn’t to go in either of those directions there are always other jobs that you could try and get an apprenticeship for ‘though the better places are usually biased in their selection.”

Gin turned to look at me directly while gesturing in my general direction.

“Of course you have options he doesn’t, like becoming a mother.”

I rolled my eyes while shaking my head and letting out a small mocking puff of air.

“I’m never having kids.”

A small sigh escaped her lips and I could see the emotions behind her eyes change for a fraction of a second to something I couldn’t quite place.

“Never say never. You may not want one now but maybe when you’re older you’ll change your mind. You’re still too young to be making that choice final. Anyway.”

I could tell that the cheery mood she was putting on was a facade; it was too different from what she had shown us earlier when talking about her job. Whatever had been said touched a nerve and brought back a past idea or memory that was unpleasant, something I could empathize with.

“What do you say we take a walk around the wall?”

My initial response was to defer to Ormonde and go along with whatever he wanted to do but it didn’t look like he was paying attention to what had been asked. I gently elbowed him in the side to get his attention.

“Hey. Did you hear what she asked? She wants to know if we want to look around the wall.”

“Oh, um I really don’t care what we do.”

While rolling my eyes I started to stand and looked at Gin.

“That means yes. Come on. Get up.”

I grabbed onto Ormonde’s arm and pulled him to his feet with little being done to help or resist me. It was weird, almost unnatural, to be the one leading everything without any real say coming from him.

Once we were both standing Gin started to walk away slowly while occasionally turning her head to make sure that we were still following behind her. She led us towards the same place that Cecil had been taken while telling us about the structure of the wall.

I didn’t really care to listen to what she was saying so I was the first around us to hear the shouting that was slowly making its way down the length of the wall. By the time it reached us and I was able to make out the words that were being said the bell in the closest tower was being rung. The result of the bell and shouting was similar to the result of pouring water on an anthill; pure unadulterated chaos.

The guards around us had begun to run from place to place their shouting only adding to the harsh noise that was resounding around us. Gin didn’t panic and remained calm throughout the entire ordeal while leading us to the nearest guard post before telling us to wait there. Immediately after she finished speaking to us she turned and joined the rest of the men and women running around the wall.

I watched Gin go and once I was sure she was out of sight I ran over to the nearest break in the parapets on the wall overlooking the forest and jumped onto it in order to see what was happening down below. It was carnage on a scale I had never seen before. The colors of the Church of the Radiant Sun stood out even from the height I was at, but that didn’t stop small pockets of them from being swallowed up by the constant stream of Eldritch that I could only make out as black figures leaving their hiding places within the trees.

Ormonde joined me seconds after I started to observe the fighting that was happening underneath us and I found it hard to tear myself away from the spectacle long enough to look at him. He had a look on his face reminiscent of the one he had the previous night and I had a vague idea what he was thinking about.

“You want to go down there and help don’t you.”

“Yes.”

He answered without looking away from the ground and I knew it was going to be pointless to try and change his mind.

“Then why are we still up here and not down there?”

After a few moments of consideration he finally pulled himself away from the battle and climbed down off the parapet. He started to walk back towards the section of the wall we had come from in order to get to the stairs and then the bottom of the wall without causing a scene. As we walked I watched in amazement as archers by the dozens began to take up positions and fire arrows as fast as they could down at the battle without any regards to who or what they would hit. Less than a minute had passed since the bell had started ringing and already these people were fighting; their efficiency was truly frightening.

No one paid any heed to either of us as we returned to where we had started and began to make our way down the stairs. There were others running up or down them in large groups, either bringing baskets filled to the brim with arrows up or heading down to add to what I assumed to be the steadily growing numbers that were trying to keep the Eldritch from entering the town again.

We were going down the stairs at a reasonable pace and I knew that Ormonde was holding himself back in order to save the energy he knew he was going to need to fight; he had taken the lessons from the first encounter to heart.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Depends. Are you going to help or just watch me?”

“Just watch unless I need to get involved and judging by how bad the fighting looked and the fact that it’s only just begun I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m fighting just as much as you are to keep the Eldritch off of you.”

I caught him nodding to himself while jumping down the last few stairs on the flight we had just finished.

“Okay, keeping that in mind my current thought is to watch for a while and figure out how these Eldritch that are down there fight before joining in.”

“They should just be the armored ones that your dad fought yesterday I don’t think that you’ll need to do much planning.”

Ormonde shook his head and I didn’t miss the small grimace that took its place on his face.

“Somehow I don’t think that’ll be the case. I can’t help but feel that if the first attack was a test of our defenses that the main force behind these attacks will be joining in once the fighting has worn down the fighters on our side.”

My response was to shrug my shoulders and continue keeping pace with Ormonde the best I could without returning to my ethereal form.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the bottom of the wall and make our way towards the nearest gate; all we had to do was follow the flow of people that were making their way outside. I made sure to stay close to Ormonde in order to not lose track of him in the crowd since I knew that I would have a hard time finding him again even with an accurate idea of where he was inside the constantly shifting mass of people around us. Unlike when we entered, there was no one keeping track of who was leaving and it was easy for the two of us to make our way through the tunnel without drawing any attention to ourselves.

The first thing that hit me when we left the tunnel was the sounds, it was a constant barrage of noise that overloaded me for a moment, and the smell of blood quickly joined it as my body finished registering what was around it. I had no idea what to expect from this type of fight since anything I had been involved with usually only included myself and a few opponents and it was safe to say that this was my first foray into what could be classified as war.

From where we were standing it was hard, if not impossible, to see the front lines and I knew that Ormonde was going to be looking for some sort of vantage point in order to scope out what we were up against. I stayed close to him and I feel his worry increased as we were slowly pushed to the front by the people behind us as the entirety that was the defending force pushed against the would be invaders. The first sign that we were running out of time to formulate a plan was the quickly thickening blood on the ground and the increasing number of bodies belonging to both side of the conflict.

“Ormonde, we’re going to have to go into this blind. I don’t see any way for us to sit back and watch and there’s no way to push back enough to get back to the wall.”

I had to shout and I wasn’t sure Ormonde heard me until I felt Arcane start to gather around him. He was readying himself for what was soon to come and I followed suit by creating a small ribbon of fire that hovered behind my knees and wrapped around to rest below my hands. Once the fighting started there wasn’t going to be any chance to stock up on Arcane and the Eldritch would quickly diminish anything that could be gathered while in their presence, so I continued to feed the flames directly behind me with as much Arcane as I could without it slipping from my control causing the center to bloat.

We had finally gotten close enough to the front of the conflict that the people there had spread out the point that I could see more than the person in front of us. The Eldritch that were rushing us were similar to what Cecil had described and I imagined that they were the same one that he had been talking about.

Their bodies were thick from hidden muscles and covered with a ridged and bumpy brown skin that seemed to rest on top of the actual body of the Eldritch. The face and head of the Eldritch were nothing remarkable if not lacking in features; just two bulbous red eyes hidden behind thick protective lenses and the same mess of knotty tendrils that had adorned the Eldritch we had fought inside the walls. Its defining feature was its forearms; each was easily twice as thick the rest of its limbs and its hands seemed to be hidden underneath the extensive plating.

The people around us started to engage what must have been a fresh wave of Eldritch and the clash of metal on whatever covered the Eldritch quickly drowned out any thoughts that had been trying to find their purchase in my mind. It was interesting to watch how some people seemed to stay by themselves while others grouped up while slowly killing off Eldritch. I didn’t have the luxury of watching them fight and quickly returned my attention to Ormonde.

“You ready?!”

“Yeah!”

“Then lead the way!”

We had to shout in order to hear each other but that didn’t stop either of us from moving forward into the fray. One of many approaching Eldritch singled us out and headed in our direction, obviously seeing us as a weak link within the structure of the defender’s formation. I tapped Ormonde ‘s shoulder and pointed in the direction of the oncoming Eldritch and he nodded in response before I stepped back behind him.

In almost complete disregard for its size, the Eldritch’s first attack was faster than should have been possible. The swipe was clumsy and unfocused but I could feel the power behind it and I knew that if it had connected with Ormonde instead of the air in front of him there would be little I could do to keep him alive. Ormonde retaliated to the strike by throwing one of the earthen disks he had made in the general direction of the Eldritch. The attack wasn’t meant to kill, only to judge what he was up against since he didn’t have the needed time to form a proper strategy.

The plating on the Eldritch held but didn’t stop the disk from embedding itself halfway into the Eldritch chest and the Eldritch itself seemed to take little to no notice of the new protrusion sticking out of it. Having recovered from its first swing the Eldritch charged at Ormonde with both arms raised above its head. Ormonde didn’t wait of the Eldritch to reach him and instead started to move to the side causing the Eldritch to slow in order to correct its course.

In the brief pause that the Eldritch used to correct itself Ormonde had already thrown another disk, this one aimed at the Eldritch’s neck with the hopes of decapitating it. His aim was true but the disk lacked the force behind it to go deep enough into the Eldritch’s neck to sever the spine that was hiding underneath the plating that covered it. The first disk had done little to dissuade the Eldritch but the second was quickly covered in a viscous black liquid that started to drip from the wound at an increasing speed.

Whatever damage had been done seemed to catch up to the Eldritch as it began to stumble only to be knocked violently out of the way and replaced by another Eldritch from behind. The dying Eldritch flew off into the crowd of people around us earning a few screams and a sickening crunch upon the final impact with the ground. Despite this, neither the fighters nor the Eldritch let the interruption draw their attention away from what was in front of them.

The second Eldritch that attacked Ormonde move much slower than the first, almost as if it had watched the previous fight, and it looked like it was going to try and avoid the same mistakes that its predecessor had made. Another Eldritch barreled in from the side from another small battle taking place on our right and decided to shift its focus to Ormonde instead of its previous target.

While the second Eldritch continued to advance slowly the newly arrived Eldritch attacked in a similar manner to the first and charged ahead without any regards for strategy. Ormonde tried to aim a disk at its neck but it raised one of its arms to protect its head from the incoming projectile. The disk sunk into the Eldritch’s arm harmlessly and it continued charging without lowering its speed.

Ormonde dodged out of the way and I followed suit, unwilling to find out just how hard the Eldritch would hit if it managed to connect. Our movement hadn’t gone unnoticed by the other Eldritch and it was still closing in on us, albeit much faster than before. The Eldritch that had charged passed us turned to charge again only to be hit from behind and knocked down as its legs were removed from its body shortly before its head followed.

The people behind us moved forward but they weren’t going to be able to do anything to the Eldritch that was basically on top of Ormonde and I at this point. I tapped Ormonde’s shoulder twice to get his attention and he nodded to let me know he was listening.

“Switch!”

He nodded again and stepped back into roughly the same place I had been standing behind him without ever removing his eyes from the Eldritch before us. I flicked my right wrist coaxing some of the flame out of the ribbon before forcing it to take on a similar shape to the disks Ormonde used. Once I was happy with the shape, I continued to slowly pull fire into it until it extended a reasonable distance beyond my hand.

In the few second it had taken me to form the disk, the Eldritch had reach a range that it felt was good enough to start attacking from and it threw its arm behind it with enough force that I lost sight of it for a moment. A quick step back was the only thing that stopped me from being crushed like the patch of ground I had just been standing on. Before the Eldritch had a chance to recover I moved the disk in across its arm severing it from the rest of its body, which reduced the disk by a third of its previous size, before moving forward to go for the head.

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My next slash connected, but only just, as the Eldritch lurched back to avoid death. I failed to cut the neck and instead left a massive gash on the Eldritch’s chest that remained on fire even after my disk had left it. I didn’t want to give the Eldritch any time to regenerate and quickly fed the flames that made the disk back into the ribbon while taking control of the fire that had latched onto the Eldritch. It didn’t take much effort to stimulate the flames enough to ignite the entirety of the Eldritch but the flames did little to stop it.

It wasn’t until I forced the flames into the wound that I had left on it and burned it from the inside out that there was any real damage and the burnt out corpse of the Eldritch fell to the ground seconds later. I would have gone to collect the new flames that had been made but I was distinctly aware of the lack of Ormonde by my side and saw him a few feet away engaged with another Eldritch that had come towards us while I was fighting.

I knew that if I continued to leave him alone I would lose track of him so I quickly made my way over to where he was fighting. Arrows peppered this Eldritch but they seemed to do little to slow it down and only served as a place for the black blood to leak from. Ormonde was holding his own just fine and I didn’t have to step in to help him even if killing this Eldritch took almost half of the Arcane he had gathered before we finished making our way to the front lines.

From there we seemed to fall into an almost natural rhythm of taking down the Eldritch that came near us together. I would draw their attention if they didn’t have arrows in them and then Ormonde would try to decapitate it with a disk to the throat. The Eldritch perforated with arrows were the easiest to deal with as I could ignite the arrows and use them to burn the Eldritch from the inside out.

Since Ormonde was the main attacker for most of our fights, it didn’t take long before he’d run out of Arcane to use and disks to throw. During our fights we had tried to stay back as much as possible in order to avoid being at the front for longer than he could handle and those around us had done a good job pushing the Eldritch back enough that we had become the second line of defense instead of the first.

“Ready to head back and rest for a little before continuing?”

Ormonde was drenched with sweat and the Eldritch’s black blood and the liquid was doing little to reduce how hot the battlefield had become from the heat of the corpses on the ground. Instead of replying he simply nodded and continued trying to catch his breath as we started to walk back to gate. Once we were far enough from the battle I let the small amount of Arcane I had remaining behind me disperse, extinguishing the flames that had followed me since we started fighting, and turned my attention to finding the area that I had seen others retreat to earlier.

While we had been fighting small groups had set up areas for those that were fighting to visit in order to get food or drink and rest before they set back out again. I didn’t think that anyone would give us trouble for helping or taking food but I wasn’t confident enough to say that the possibility didn’t exist. When we reached the area it was already fairly crowded but no one took any notice of us and we were able to get some food and water for Ormonde. I ended up taking some just to fit in and planned to give it to Ormonde once he was finished with what he had taken for himself.

I didn’t know how long we had been in combat for but, regardless of the actual amount of time that passed, it had been long enough for the smell of blood to become just another thing that I blocked out subconsciously and the sudden decrease in the smell was strange. It was still there, just like the sounds of screaming and fighting, but it was more subdued and allowed me to focus on other things. Once we found a spot that was away from where people were getting food or being healed Ormonde dug into his food ravenously while I turned my attention to the battle that was still being fought in front of us.

The humans and whatever help they were getting were doing well and the Eldritch had been pushed back far enough that arrows were no longer falling from the sky. There were still plenty of bodies from both side that I could make out, but the majority of them belonged to the Eldritch and from the number of people that were getting help from a member of the Church of the Dark Sun it was easy to see why that was the case.

Our side had a way to step back and recover from whatever injuries had been dealt to them while the Eldritch continued to push forward without stepping back to let their natural regeneration work even when they had lost one or more limbs. The Church of the Radiant Sun was also playing a large factor in the reduction of the Eldritch’s numbers and I started to look for them specifically.

They weren’t hard to find, even with blood stained clothes and armor, and I could see that they were employing similar tactics to what they had done inside the walls during the previous day’s attack. There was, however, something off about a few of the people that I saw fighting with the Church of the Radiant Sun’s soldiers. The garb was the same as the other soldiers, white with red and yellow markings, but they lacked any armor and had their faces completely covered by cloth that seemed to be fixed in place. Their method of attack was different as well; some of them seemed to fight just like the Eldritch did while others would be hit leaving some part of their body crushed only to stand up and continue fighting a few moments later with no visible way to tell they had been hurt aside from the tattered cloths and blood.

Some of the masked church members even did things with their body that I knew were not naturally possible for a human to do. The first instance I saw of this was when one of the member’s arms seemed to extend further than should have been possible and the most common occurrence of this difference I only saw after watching for a while. None of the masked fighters seemed to be using any weapons and only their bare hands and legs ever came in contact with their enemy. Each blow carried more force than even I could output, sending some Eldritch flying into their brethren and leaving the plating that covered them cracked, in some cases shattered, while other Eldritch were left with gaping holes where the blow had struck.

I could also see, and feel to a lesser extent, something else mixed in with those fighters and I was almost positive that if I was able to unmask a few of the strange fighters that I would find at least one Bone Walkers in their midst. My concern that the Church of the Radiant Sun was using Bone Walkers was confirmed as I watched a man in distinctly different robes approach a few of the masked fighters that seemed to stop moving after a little while and talk to them before they then rushed off and start massacring Eldritch again. The same man would follow the group and say something every now and then that would change the behavior of the few masked figures that he talked to before they once again stopped and were sent off again.

As much as I wanted to keeping watching to find a weakness that I could use to my advantage if, or when if I was being honest, the Bone Walkers were finally sent in my direction, I knew that I couldn’t continue ignoring Ormonde any longer. He had finished his food and water some time ago and was currently fixated on the untouched food and drink that I held.

“Here, take it.”

I passed off what I had taken to him and he took it and began to eat without speaking a single word. Instead of turning back to the battle I decide to watch Ormonde as he ate.

The clothing that he was wearing had enough dirt and blood on it that it was nearly impossible to tell what the original colors had been and I was glad that very little of the blood that covered him actually belonged to him. It wasn’t that he hadn’t pick up any injuries as I could see a few scratches and bruises here and there on areas that weren’t covered by clothing, but he had managed to avoid taking any hits from the Eldritch that we had fought.

A sort of sixth sense must have triggered because Ormonde stopped eating and looked up at me only to see me staring back at him. Neither of us moved for a moment before he continued to eat the food I had given him at a much slower pace without breaking eye contact. Once he was finished, he dusted his hands off and drank the entire contents of the cup I had given him in one go. He sat it next to him with a satisfied sigh before returning his attention to me.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just curious as to what you thought of the fighting so far.”

“Well the Eldritch were the same as what my father told us about and we’re doing an alright job of pushing them back. Personally I’m tired. I don’t know how these people are able to fight for so long, rest for a few minutes, and then get up and fight again.”

“Practice? Experience?”

“Probably.”

He nodded his head in agreement before looking up at the sky, a frown replacing the smile that had previously been there.

“What it is?”

Ormonde simply pointed up and when I looked I saw hundreds of small black lines leaving the wall and falling towards the battle in front of us. The archers at the top of the wall had started to fire again and that meant that the Eldritch had managed to push the defenders back. I lowered my gaze to scan the battlefield and watched horrified as a large square object made its way towards our general location while tearing through anything that was in front of it without slowing in the least.

I grabbed Ormonde and pulled him off of the bags we were sitting on and out of the path of whatever was charging at us just in time to avoid it and we were knocked to the ground by a blast of wind that followed in the wake of the newly arrived Eldritch instead of being crushed against the wall or underfoot like those who hadn’t managed to get out of the way. A quick look at the new Eldritch told me everything I needed to know and caused me to shiver. It was much larger than any I had ever seen before, easily the size of one of the smaller houses that had been inside the town, and even while bleeding from the hundreds of arrows that covered its back and head it seemed unfazed by the injuries. Unlike the other Eldritch that we had faced, this one lacked any eyes from what I could see and instead had a large piece of plating covering its face that came to a point in the center.

Whatever the new Eldritch had set out to do it seemed to have accomplished it. There was a massive hole in the wall from where it had impacted and I could see the line it had made through the defenders being quickly filled with the same Eldritch that we had been fighting earlier. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and watched as another of one of this new Eldritch came running out of the forest and though the defenders only to hit the wall like the one next to us. As it hit, the wall shook from the impact throwing a few unlucky archer that had been standing too close to the edge off.

Ormonde had started to panic and I looked at him while pulling both of us to our feet. One look was all it took for Ormonde to move away from me in order to empty out the food he had just finished eating onto the ground. Even I was feeling a little queasy looking at the mushed and trampled bodies that were underneath the Eldritch’s feet. After his gut had run out of things to force back up, Ormonde managed to stand upright and return to where I was.

“What now?”

I could see the gears in his mind turning but they weren’t moving fast enough to be of any use; he didn’t have enough combat experience to make split second choices and that was what we needed right now.

“We’re going to attack this Eldritch that’s right next to us. Do you think you can do that?”

“I, um, yes. Yes I can.”

“Good.”

After a moment of hesitation Ormonde started to walk toward the Eldritch that was only a few feet from us while gathering Arcane around him and turning it into as many disks as he could. It would be a good attempt but I knew the small depth that the bladed disks could go into the Eldritch wasn’t going to be enough to cause any real or lasting damage. Regardless of that fact, I followed closely behind him while recreating the ribbon of fire behind me and focused on making it as hot as I could while containing it with heat and fire Arcane. Without the use of plasma Arcane there was a limit to how hot I was able to get the flames and they slowly turned from a dark red to a light almost white orange.

In the time it had taken us to start making our way towards the new Eldritch others had already begun to attack it, some even going as far as getting on top of the creature only to be thrown off as it shook itself while backing away from the wall. Ormonde ignored the easy to hit places like the legs and body of the creature and continued to make his way towards its head and neck. Decapitation seemed to work well on the Eldritch that were attacking and even if they potentially had the ability to recover from it they didn’t use it.

Without waiting for me to say anything Ormonde started to follow the example of some of the others around us that were using Arcane and created a few large earthen spikes that were twice his size. The first barrage of the spikes did little to the Eldritch and served only to make it shake again sending pieces of rubble everywhere.

“Make the rock harder.”

“How do I do that?”

“Push it in on itself. Make more rock take up a space than it should be able to take up.”

My explanation wasn’t the best but it was enough for Ormonde to figure out what he needed to do. The next spike he made crumbled in on itself and broke apart while he was trying to condense it and I could feel his irritation starting to build. After two more failed attempts Ormonde made a spike several times larger than the ones he had made before and started to try and reduce its size. His clumsy attempt worked but by the time he had it ready to use the other people who had been attack the Eldritch had finally killed it and moved on to try and deal with the influx of Eldritch that had appeared after the charge.

I didn’t trust the large corpse that had been left behind and set it ablaze. I was rewarded by a much smaller Eldritch trying to unsuccessfully leave the flames before it was burnt into ashes. A few soldiers that watched what I did started to shout at people that were dealing with the other Eldritch that had carved lines through the defenders and I decided to ignore the shouts in favor of following Ormonde towards the oncoming Eldritch swarm.

The charge had taken out a huge number of the people that had been fighting and the gaps that had been opened in the town’s defenses allowed Eldritch to slip in and attack from a place that killed off even more people. In the few minutes it took Ormonde and I to move away from the Eldritch that had created the paths through the defenders over half of the people on the battlefield had fallen to the seemingly final push from the attacking Eldritch.

There was no place for subtle attack this time since the defenders were outnumbered at least four to one and very few of the Eldritch that came our direction ever made it past the waves of flame I sent out to incinerate them. Ormonde still got to fight but I was less inclined to leave him alone while he did so since there were at a minimum three Eldritch coming in our direction at all times. The ground had long since become a muddy mess and it took us a few falls and near misses to finally accustom ourselves to the new battlefield we would be fighting on.

Just like when we had been fighting before the charge, we slowly built up a rhythm before falling into it completely and losing track of time. The only times we would stop fighting were when Ormonde ran out of Arcane to use and we needed to back up enough to avoid having the Eldritch absorb it out of the air. I had my ways of avoiding that issue but Ormonde was no where near the required skill level needed to be channeling filtered Arcane through his body since one mistake would be enough to kill him.

By the time we finally stopped to take a break the sun had already reached and passed its zenith. The chances of us returning to the battle after this break were slim as even I was close to collapsing from exhaustion and constant Arcane usage. Ormonde had it much worse than I did since he still hadn’t eaten anything and had spent the majority of the day running on fumes and willpower. The area’s dedicated to injured fighters had increase to almost five times the size I had seen them at earlier in the day and the smell of infection and sickness had begun to overpower the smell of blood as the members of the Church of the Dark Sun struggled to keep up with the increasing number of injured without falling sick themselves. There was nothing I could do to help nor would I if I had the ability to do so since I had my own injuries to tend to.

Once Ormonde got himself some food we walked further back behind the lines of people that were also trying to recover before heading out again. Many, if not all of them, were covered from head to toe in blood and were sporting some sort of wound that hadn’t been bad enough to require help. The number of people that were filing out of the town’s gate near us had diminished to a weak almost nonexistent flow as most of those capable of fighting had already exited and now stood around us or in the area we had just returned from. We seated ourselves against the base of the wall and Ormonde started to eat while I rubbed my left arm and right side to try and get some feeling back in them since they had been numb after the few attacks I had been grazed by.

It was because of this distinct lack of people that I noticed two very interesting facts while looking around in an attempt to keep my mind focused. First; I couldn’t see any members of the Church of the Radiant Sun around us or with the injured and second; there was a small party of three very haggard looking guards walking slowly in our direction. I watched them and was relieved to see that we were not their intended target as they stopped to talk to most of the people that sat between us.

The approaching ensemble eventually reached us and I was surprised to see who was leading the troupe. A look of recognition passed over Gin’s face and the tired smile she was wearing turned into a scowl before she finally spoke.

“We’re gathering everyone still capable of fighting to discuss our current plan of action. Though I doubt you two will be involved any further once your father finds you. Honestly what were you thinking?”

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of looking worried or of a reply to her question.

“We’ll worry about that when it happens. Where’s this meeting taking place?”

Gin shook her head while sighing and I knew as well as she did that she didn’t have the time or the energy to argue with me.

“Just head inside the wall and ask one of the guards that’s waiting there. They’ll direct you to where everyone else is being gathered.”

“Great.”

Without saying anything else Gin and the two guards with her left quickly becoming silhouettes before the setting sun. I continued to watch her as she walked away before turning to see Ormonde doing the same. He had a very complicated look on his face and I was too tired to try and spend the needed effort to decipher it.

“So what do you want to do?”

“I think we should go to this meeting.”

“Chances are pretty good that your dad’ll be there.”

“I know.”

Moving together as one unit the two us stood up and began to make our way towards the gate alongside a few other people who had been resting near the wall. I looked back at the battle that was still raging behind us before we entered the tunnel and began to weave our way through the various traps that had been set up in case the wall was reached. The Eldritch were still hounding the defenders but overall the scale had once more tipped in favor of the humans with the Church of the Radiant Sun now more spread out and taking on massive groups of enemies each.

A quick once over made me wish I could still use the stronger levels of water Arcane; we were filthy and the smell of blood clung to us just as much as our clothing did. I wasn’t as fortunate as Ormonde to have multiple layers of clothing and I could feel different sections of my dress sticking to my skin where blood had seeped through and dried. In any other situation the sight of the two of us would have had people running away in disgust and fear or coming towards us to see if we were alright. We were in good company, however, since most of the others who were walking through the tunnels were just as covered in blood and dirt as we were.

Instead of asking a guard were to go we waited and let another person do it before following closely behind them. It wasn’t that we wanted to avoid attention, it was just that the two of us had agreed there was no way the guard would tell a child and someone who looked like a child the location of the meeting.

We continued to shadow the man until we were certain of where he was heading before splitting off to find somewhere to clean ourselves up. Ormonde knew the layout of the town better than I did and I let him take us to a fountain that was used to procure drinking water during the town’s normal hours of operation. The fountain wasn’t truly a fountain, more of a spout with buckets underneath it, but it still would serve the intended purpose.

“You wanna pump the water out or hold the bucket?”

“You pump. I’ll get the buckets.”

Ormonde walked over to the buckets and dragged three of them over to the area where the water would exit the spout while I walked around to the handle and began to try and get the water to start moving. After a few pumps, the water started to spill out and we were quickly able to fill all of the buckets that Ormonde had brought over for us to use. Without waiting for me to join him, Ormonde started to take off his cloths and push them into one of the buckets before scooping up water to wash his face and torso off with. I didn’t have to worry about cleaning my dress and simply let it disappear into nothingness before looking down at my body.

Most of the blood that I had gotten on me seemed to have soaked through the dress and my skin had a flakey red coating covering everything I could see. I tried to imitate what Ormonde was doing but it only seemed to smear the blood and I could tell Ormonde was running into the same issue. Sighing, I walked back to the pump and started to work it again.

“Get under the water you’ll have to do the same for me once you’re done.”

He sighed in resignation and walked away from the bucket and to the waterspout. Once he finished washing off as much blood as he could I did the same before drying both of us with a burst of hot air. There was still blood on us but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been prior to our makeshift bath. Ormonde’s cloths had been dyed a blackish red while soaking and there was little either of us could do to change that at the moment. I dried them the best I could before Ormonde put them back on and I could tell from the face he made that they were still a little damp.

I turned to Ormonde while materializing a new dress.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

His answer was halfhearted and he was looking enviously at me.

“What?”

“I need to get you to teach me how you do that. It would be so convenient in situations like this.”

“It’s really not that hard but it does require a constant Arcane output. We’ll worry about that later, let’s go.”

In a matter of minutes we were back at the same building that the meeting was going to be held at and walked inside. It was crowded with a large number of people choosing to remain by the door instead of going all the way in. Once we entered the threshold of the room I understood why; it was sweltering even by my standards. I left it up to Ormonde to decide where we were going to be waiting while the meeting took place and he chose to sit on one of the benches at the back of the room.

As far as I was concerned it was a good choice and I spent the next couple of minutes looking around at the people who had already gathered here. I wasn’t surprised when I saw Cecil at the front of the room talking to a myriad of people, some from the churches we had visited while  others were soldiers or guards, nor when he turned to briefly look around the room and spotted us. Instead of saying anything directly he simply called over a guard and gestured in our direction while talking.

“Your dad found us.”

“I know.”

Ormonde had started to sulk and I watched as two guards walked towards us from the front of the room before positioning themselves in locations that they would be key points to stop us of from leaving if we tried to run. The message was fairly obvious and there was no way we were going to be leaving or doing anything else before Cecil had a word with us.

Cecil wasn’t the only one to take notice of me; one of the church members who I recognized to be the same man who had confronted me in the Church of the Radiant Sun saw me and also called over a few of his men before they left. I watched them leave from an exit at the front of the building instead of coming after me before I returned my stare to the man near Cecil. He looked back with knowing eyes and I could tell that there were no niceties in store if he managed to get ahold of me.

There were only two other noteworthy people standing next to and conversing with Cecil. One was a member from the Church of the Dark Sun that was wearing the same type of robe that Ruaidhri had covering himself and his features. I still didn’t know if there was a relationship between the two through the Volden household or if the robe was just a symbol for their rank within the church. Either way it was apparent that they were someone who had a high position just like the member of the Church of the Radiant Sun that stood conversing with them.

The final person who caught my eye was dressed in the same normal guard uniform that every other guard seemed to wear but there was something different about this man that set him apart. He had a distinctly inhuman feel to him and an aura that exuded confidence and authority. His head was shaved leaving it bare to showcase a long scar that started at the base of his neck and ran all the way to the top of his brow on the opposing side that the marking started on. Thick white hair stationed itself above eyes that reminded me of a starving animal looking at its prey. This man may have been old but he was the most dangerous one in the room.

Another guard came to the group that was talking in hushed voices at the front and spoke to the man who I had previously been judging. Whatever was said seemed to be the signal that the group had been waiting for and they stopped the conversation they were having and started making noise to gain the attention of the people in the room. It took a little while but eventually the idle chatter and other conversations died out leaving everyone’s attention focused on the front of the room and the people that stood there.

The old man was the first to step forward and speak.

“Thank you for coming here. I know some of you prefer battle as opposed to talk but we need capable people for what’s to come. For those of you that don’t know me I’m Sadar, the Leader and head of all the guards that protect this fine town.”

No one spoke and instead listened intently to what Sadar said; his voice carried power behind it and even I felt that ignoring him would be a bad idea.

“As you know, Eldritch started to attack us last night and in doing so did massive damage. Today they attack again and I must thank all of you for helping defend Fantin. We’ve managed to hold them off but in doing so many soldiers and Schreckensjägers have had to give up their lives. I would like to have a moment of silence for them before I continue.”

He bowed his head and almost everyone in the room followed suit. The room remained quiet until Sadar thanked those present and resumed talking.

“Our reason for calling you here is simple. The Eldritch will attack again tomorrow.”

The words were slow and methodical; no one was going to misinterpret what he was really getting at.

“We don’t have enough people left to defend the town against a full out attack like we saw today and, in order to remedy this situation, I called in some favors and asked for the help of those who study the Eldritch or who have extensive history fighting them.”

Sadar stepped to the side to let the audience see the rest of the people on stage.

“Before we go into what we would ask of you I’m going to let these men and women speak.”

He stepped back and the Church of the Dark Sun member stepped forwards.

“I’m Adaeze and I too would like to extend my thanks to you.”

The voice was remarkable feminine and if the name was anything to go by this person was one of the women Sadar had spoken of.

“For those of you that agree to join us in what we have planned I will be the one leading you alongside a few others.”

She stepped back and the man from the Church of the Radiant Sun stepped forward.

“My name is Iken and I am an inquisitor for the Church of the Radiant Sun. My reasons for being here are simple, just like you I want to rid this town of the Eldritch threat that now knocks at our gates. I’ll be helping those of you who need more supplies when we get this operation underway.”

He stepped back and Cecil replaced him along with two other people.

“I’m Cecil.”

“Fera.”

“Olborn.”

Cecil continued to talk once the other two that were with him introduced themselves.

“Each of us has studied Eldritch or something pertaining to them and have been helping create the very plan we are going to try and recruit you for. Any questions you have about the Eldritch we’ve been fighting you can direct at either me or Olborn while anything pertaining to the plan itself can be ask to Fera or Wallmaster Sadar.”

Once Cecil finished speaking he stepped back and the other two with him followed with little hesitation. Sadar once again took the place of the speaker.

“The plan is simple. Small groups will be sent outside the walls and into the forest to look for the location that the Eldritch forces are gathering in each night. Failing to find that, those that go out are to lay traps and try to conduct ambushes throughout the night. This is not mandatory and there will be plenty of others that we can ask to do this if you wish to decline. Barring that, those who wish to join up for this endeavor are to come forward and give their name and the location they will be staying at to one of the guards standing up here with me. I have nothing left to say and any questions that you may have can be brought up to us at this time.”

Having finished speaking, Sadar turned and walked off to another part of the room while those in the audience began to chatter about what had just been presented to them. It didn’t take long before the first batch of people went up to the guards while another left the room without a second look back.

More people began to make their choices and the room quickly cleared out until there where only the few random stragglers left before another group of people started to be gathered. Ormonde and I remained seated where we were since Cecil would come to us when he could and there was no desire on our part to see him sooner than that. When Cecil finally looked like he would be headed in our direction a guard stopped him and the two talked for a while before Cecil started towards us again.

“What do you two have to say for yourselves?”

‘Not what I was expecting but I can work with this.’

“I have no obligation towards the town or its inhabitants but I still went out and helped in order to keep Ormonde safe.”

Cecil glared daggers at me.

“Not you. I know where you stand in all of this mess. I want to know what made my son decide it was a good idea to vanish the second the town was attacked again without finding me first. I’ve gone the whole day thinking that the next time I would see him it would be as a corpse.”

Ormonde was still sitting in silence and I could barely hear him mutter that he just wanted to help. Whether or not Cecil hear him, both stayed where they were with Cecil staring furiously at Ormonde and Ormonde staring at the floor in rapt fixation.

“The two of you, you especially.”

He jabbed a finger at Ormonde.

“Are not to leave my side for the rest of our time here. If either of you disappear again there will be hell to pay even more so than you will already be experiencing. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yup.”

Ormonde nodded but didn’t look up from the floor. His emotions were a mess that I had no clue how to read or understand but the overall vibe was extremely negative.

“Now then, the Eldritch have retreated again for the night and I want to know where you were all day. And Vio? I don’t want to hear a single word from you until I ask for it.”

I was about to reply but decided it would be in my best interest to keep my mouth shut after I saw the look of barely concealed rage behind Cecil’s eyes. Ormonde still hadn’t moved and I was worried that he may have stopped breathing with how still he was sitting.

“So tell me Ormonde. Where. Were. You?”

The sound of Ormonde swallowing was clearly audible and he finally broke out of the trance he was in. He still didn’t look at Cecil but he was speaking loud enough for both of us to hear him.

“Outside the wall. Fighting.”

“And why did you do that?”

“I wanted to help.”

“And what did I say about that yesterday?”

“That I didn’t need to help now and that there would be another time and place that I could help.”

The veins that were bulging on Cecil’s neck and forehead shrunk slightly.

“So if you knew that, then why did you go out?”

“Because I wanted to help.”

“And what if you had died?! How would that have helped anyone?!”

Each of the veins that I had been watching were bulging again and Cecil had raised his voice to a near shout. We were drawing attention but Cecil didn’t seem to care and I quickly created a bubble of sound Arcane around us in hopes that those who were staring would quickly lose interest. Ormonde still hadn’t replied to what Cecil had asked him but that didn’t stop Cecil from continuing.

“We’ll talk about this later but until then the two of you are to follow me to the front of this room sit in the corner and stay there until I’m finished here.”

Without another word, Cecil turned and started to walk back towards the front of the room. I kept the sound bubble up and waited to see what Ormonde was going to do before I tried to coax him to get up and move. He made no effort to show that he would be standing up anytime soon and I ended up pulling him to his feet and leading him through the slowly collecting throng of people to a corner in the front of the room.

Both of us sat and I watched as the number of people slowly increased again until the room was full and presumably the same speech was given again. The same gathering and dismissing of people happened a few more times and I stopped keeping track in favor of trying to console Ormonde to the best of my nonexistent abilities. He hadn’t cried but instead seemed to have once again shut down emotionally and looked completely dead to the world. There was little I could do short of what I had done in the early hours of the morning but I doubted that it would help now. Instead, I settled on just begin closer to him and squeezed myself next to him in hopes that a familiar warmth would help.

When Cecil finished speaking for what seemed like the umpteenth time he finally came over to us and I let the sound bubble around us fade into nothing. Cecil was still emanating the same rage that he had been earlier but it seemed more subdued and controlled now. He didn’t speak and instead pulled Ormonde to his feet and began to walk out of the room while dragging Ormonde behind him without waiting to see if I would follow.

I stood up and ran after them since I didn’t know where in the town we were and would have spent way too much time looking for the inn unless I resorted to my ethereal form. The entire journey back was devoid of conversation and Cecil continued to seethe in silent rage even when we finally got back to the inn. When Cecil finally spoke it was to ask if the baths of the inn were still open. Being told that they were, Cecil led Ormonde to the room the bath was held in and pushed him through the door before shoving me inside and following right after.

Even though I didn’t enjoy being shoved around, this was one time I was willing to let it go since the small clean up job Ormonde and I had tried to do failed to get more than the surface layer of dried blood off of us. In about two minutes Cecil had cleaned off Ormonde and moved on to me. It was painful and I had to stifle small cries of pain whenever his fingers snagged in my hair but in the end all of the blood that had gotten mixed into it was gone and the rest of my body was of a similar level of cleanliness.

Cecil still hadn’t spoken to either of us and simply toweled each of us off before waiting for us to put our clothes back on. Once we were dressed he took us out to the main area of the inn and left us at a table only to return with food for himself and Ormonde. The meal passed in heavy silence and it felt like Cecil would explode if anyone made a sudden move. During this time Tanzi joined us but he too remained as quiet as the dead.

When the food was gone Cecil returned the plates and lead us up to the room while steering Ormonde in front of him. The room remained quiet even after we entered it and Cecil put Ormonde to bed before getting into one himself. I simply waited until the two breathing patterns from both of them became steady and shallow before getting up off the floor and heading towards the door.

“Vio.”

I turned and Tanzi was standing behind me with his arms crossed; the bags under his eyes spoke and his slumped posture spoke for itself.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Fine but try and be back before sunrise.”

“I will be.”

Once I was out of the room I shut the door as slowly as I could in hopes of not making any noise. No one looked at me as I made my way down the stairs and out the front door of the inn and into the night. I took in a deep breath and let it out, the air in front of me heating slightly, before cracking my knuckles and neck in order to prepare myself for what was to come.

The night was young and I had church members to hunt.

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AN: Hello readers! Many things to talk about this time. First on the list; Microsoft Word doesn't recognize perplection or its variant perplexion as a real word. The hells up with that? Next; obviously this chapter is huge, as in Godzilla sized, so I'd like feedback. Battle paced well? Details alright? Too slow/fast? Third on the list; if you see any mistakes could you please point them out? I went over this the usual 4~5 times but I'm sure I still missed somethings just due to sheer length. If nothing else del free to leave any questions, comments, or concerns you may have and until next time I'll bid you adieu.

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