“AAAAAAAAAGH!” We all began to yell. Well, all except Krimsun.
“That’s our way out!” She bellowed as she steered the boat right into the spinning water.
I held on tight to Katherine and shut my eyes, desperately trying not to think about the impending watery doom. To think, I started my adventuring life by escaping by water and now that’s how it would end.
“Turn back! Get back to the ballista!” I heard the guards begin to shout. I had thought that this was some sort of security measure, but was this something else? I was too scared to open my eyes, but moments later we crossed the anti-magic barrier.
“Took you long enough!”
“Well, dear sister,” Verdona replied, “It is quite a long way from Oakenveil and some of us have responsibilities,”
“I’ll take care of it from here,” Krimsun replied, “Get going before you create a political nightmare,”
“I’ll take that as a thank you,”
I then felt a huge wave begin to form underneath us as Krimsun stood up.
“Now then, let’s get to shore!”
The wave swelled and then rapidly pushed the boat all the way to shore.
I threw myself to the ground and for a moment I was in a state of pure relief, just to no longer be out on the water.
“No time to waste,” Reggie said, “They’ll be after us, we need to get out of the city!”
“We need to expose the guildmaster!” Katherine said, “We have the evidence!”
“They won’t trust some old book and a handful of documents!”
At that moment, “The Obelisk” moved.
And not the slow, barely noticeable movement that it had been making up to this point.
It moved right through the rest and of the wall in a single motion.
And it wasn’t stopping.
Screams of panic filled the streets as we climbed up a building to get a view of things.
As the monster slowly marched along the bodies of those nearby began to drop. As if their souls had been ripped right out.
“We don’t have time, we need to stop that thing,” I said.
“And how might we do that?” Reggie asked, “We don’t even know its name!”
“It is called “The Forgotten” according to the journal,” I said, “I read more, and I think the only way to beat it is to tell everyone about what happened to the Perditans,”
I quickly relayed what I had learned from the book.
“Oh? So that’s all?” Reggie sighed, “We just need to inform the entire country that history has been rewritten and the beloved and influential Guildmaster Vincent is secretly an immortal maniac? Easy as pie,”
“The only one who could even communicate it fast enough would be the king,” said Krimsun, “He is probably barricaded in his emergency chambers by now. They are physically on the top floor, but it is a sort of permanent pocket dimension that you can only enter from a single door on the top floor of the castle.”
“So, we’re doomed,”
“So, we’re storming the castle?”
Reggie and Katherine spoke over each other.
“Are you mad!?” he yelled.
“Vincent knows this as well,” Krimsun continued, completely ignoring Reggie’s shocked expression, “If he intends to wipe out the kingdom, I doubt he’ll have any reservations about taking him out. Especially once he’s heard we escaped,”
“Well, isn’t that just great news!”
“It is, Reggie,” she replied, “If we can rescue His Majesty as Vincent goes in for the attack, then he’ll be much more inclined to believe our story,”
Reggie’s eye twitched; it seemed as though he couldn’t believe that the plan was headed towards storming the most fortified place in the entire realm. 206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUK8wTgquMY
"Won't he just hide or destroy The Scepter of the First King?" he asked.
Krimsun shook her head, "No, the enchantments on the Scepter are even more ancient than he is. He could not break it and if he hid it, it would return to the king the moment he released it from his grasp or took it too far from the King himself,"
He stood in stunned silence as Krimsun laid out the rest of the strategy.
“I’ll send word to the allies we do have and inform them of our gambit, there is no time to make a subtle approach. The place is locked up tighter than Reggie’s coin-purse, so we must approach head-on,”
At this point, I expected her to cast some sort of spell to quietly send a message. But it seemed that she really was throwing subtlety out the window. She stretched out an arm and a massive plume of fire erupted into the sky.
“Onward! To the castle!” she yelled as she jumped from the roof towards the towering fortress, “If this is to be our last mission, then, as Captain Tring used to say, let’s go out with some gusto!”
Katherine gave Reggie a hearty shove to get him going and we followed after our newly enthusiastic captain.
“Morons, nutcases, absolute buffoons the lot of you!” Reggie said as he followed after us, “Krimsun always kept your nonsense in check but now she’s lost it!”
“At yet, here you are!” Katherine replied.
“Well, there has to be one person with sense around!”
“Honestly, Reggie,” I said, “You’re completely right,” I nearly choked while saying that. “This is practically suicide, but the other option is death by The Forgotten and well… This makes a better story, doesn’t it?”
Reggie was silent for a moment, “Darn you, Mak, bringing Gus up at a time like this…” he replied as he quickened his pace.
The guards and guildmembers were far too busy evacuating citizens and trying to slow down The Forgotten to pay us much mind as we made our way towards the castle.
Spells were flung, ballistae were fired, but nothing seemed to phase this unstoppable monster. It just kept moving forward, sucking up the souls of all who came near it. Even from this distance, I could see the hope drain from the eyes of the city’s defenders as they realized
they could do nothing in the face of this threat. And much like us, it was headed towards the castle.
As our destination came into view, we saw dozens of well-armed guards at the ready. I was expecting Krimsun to slow down and explain some form of a plan, but she merely sped up.
“Halt! We don’t have time for this! Stand down or… GAH!”
Krimsun let out a burst of air, sending several guards flying off in different directions.
BAWOOOM!
A horn blew and even more soldiers came pouring out of the castle interior.
“We don’t want to hurt you!” Katherine said as she pulled out her blade, “But we need to get through!”
