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Rain steadily poured down upon a small tavern and inn that resided on the western border of the city known as Darkwell. A city that was well known for its merchant districts and trade. It lied on the crossroads of two large highways that led from the capital and its southernmost neighboring town Bluewyvern. The torches on the tavern fiercely burned as if it weren’t raining and brightly illuminated the surrounding area. On one far end of the tavern was a barn like area that housed wagons and the animals that pulled them. A caravan of soldiers from the capital were stopped all around the tavern as the barn area was not large enough to house that many larger style caravan wagons. Some soldiers were still unmounting their wagons and setting the horses up for the night while some were entering the tavern to escape from the rain.
The tavern was dark and seemed to be better lit from the ovens in the back behind the bar then the fireplace that sat dead center of the first floor in a circular style pit you could sit around with a chimney, where a bard sat and casually played an eight-string lute. Even though it was fairly late at night, the tavern seemed to be full inside with most its tables filled and being served various foods and drinks. Soldiers from the capital made up more than half the occupants within the tavern but even without them, it still would have been a busy night. Even out in the stable area, there was a full crew of about nine workers bathing horses, dragon rhino (a creature that was like a dragon like rhino that commonly pulled carriages), and other various carriage pulling creatures.
As two workers were guiding a bunch or horses inside the stables away from the rain, a rather short girl wearing a large brown hooded cloak with a giant two-handed great sword sheathed on her back emerged from the bushes of the nearby woods and walked towards the road that led to the front of the tavern. Her hood covered most her face besides the long locks of brown hair that hung down from the sides of her bangs. A bunch of soldiers were making their way into the taverns entrance and the girl followed behind them and headed straight to a portion of the bar that had a sign above it that was engraved with the words “Hunter Trade-In”. She walked right up to the counter and placed two packages that were neatly wrapped and slightly bloody onto the it.
On the opposite side of the counter, a demi human beastman of the wolf type, who stood bipedally and was fully clothed, took the packages the girl placed on the counter, opened them, inspected them, then weighed them before saying, “Looks like we have two rather hearts of wyvern-wyrms and thirteen of their fangs.” He placed the hearts back onto the packages they were in and neatly wrapped them back up and placed them onto a rack behind him that slid through a hole in the wall into a storage room. The girl stood there patiently while the wolfman turned around and knelt down below and began to rummage through what sounded like a bunch of coins. From down below the counter the girl could hear the wolfman say, “So they weigh pretty decently and for the many fangs were looking at around one hundred and sixty gold pieces.” As he stood back up and placed a coin purse filled with gold pieces on the counter he also said, “That’s probably the biggest haul I’ve seen all night. Really appreciate the work you put in Zahra.” The girl took the coin purse and bowed her head slightly and walked several stools down the bar and took a seat and looked up at a menu board handing above it. After a few moments a man wearing an apron walked over and asked if she was ready to order anything. He had a large mustache and a chefs hat on.
Zahra stood up on her stool and was barely out of reach from the sign as she pointed to were it had a poultry and potato dinner for four people listed at fifteen copper pieces. While she sat back down on the stool the man said, “I see you’re going with your usual tonight.” The girl bowed her head slight in a nod and sat there patiently while the man began to walk towards the kitchen area before saying, “Would you like for me to have a room prepared for the night as well?” The girl again slightly bowed her head in a nod as he turned and resumed walking away. A few brief moments passed before the man came back with a key and a towel and set them on the bar in front of Zahra. “Your room tonight will be room two on the second floor. Here is a fresh towel as well so you can take a bath. Your food should be finished by the time you’re done.” He politely bowed and then stepped away back to the kitchen area and began to prepare and plate various types of food to be sent out to other tables. Zahra took the key and towel and began to head for the stairwell in the corner of the tavern to the right of its main entranceway. While ascending the stairs she could hear two nearby soldiers down the hall as she began in the direction approaching her room.
One soldier she could hear was saying, “All to hide a dragon. The whole town went up in flames.”
The other soldier said, “They said they weren’t going to stop with us and were heading straight back to the capital to turn in the bounty before sunrise and we’d be paid when we return.”
The other soldier replied, “Yeah I was wondering about that.”
Zahra slowly inserted the key into the door to her room and unlocked the door lock. After quickly opening the door, she walked inside and shut the door behind her, no longer hearing the soldiers talking on the other side. As soon as the door closed a fairy of about five inches flew out from under Zahra’s hood and flew around the room before landing on a dresser near a change of clothes. The small fairy appeared to be female and was wearing a small custom tailored black and green tunic.
The fairy said suddenly, “Would it kill you to order some steak every once in a while? I’m so tired of eating chicken all the time.” The fairy looked out the window into the rainy night as Zahra began to remove her cloak revealing that she was wearing a similar black and green tunic of similar style under her cloak. She laid her great sword up against the dresser and wall that the fairy was sitting on while she continued to remove her tunic. Her tunic was also fashioned with leather pads and light weight metal plates for armor in various places. As she removed parts of her tunic the fairy noticed open wounds on Zahra’s body that were still bleeding slowly and staining her armor and tunic.
The fairy grew angry as she began to scold Zahra, “You should’ve told me you had more wounds Zahra! Those look pretty deep too.”
Once fully undressed there was a large bathing and restroom inside her room with a toilet and large tub. There was a chain with a wooden end hanging from the ceiling that she pulled and a pipe in the wall began to fill the tub with hot water. Steam immediately filled the room as the tub quickly filled almost to the top with hot water almost automatically. While she stepped into the tub the fairy flew over from the dresser and sat atop Zahra’s head and began to chant a spell that began healing her wounds. A faint green light emitted from Zahra’s open wounds and slowly began to close. Most of the cuts left no scars but some on her back and upper left thigh were deep enough to leave faint scars.
Zahra said quietly and in a monotone kind of voice, “Thank you Zhade.”
The fairy looked a little surprised as she responded, “Wow! That’s the most I’ve heard you say all week. Maybe next time you can repay me for all the healing I do by ordering some red meat for dinner.” Zahra sat and soaked in the tub while Zhade continued to say, “Also, you should take a day off. Collectively we have over a thousand gold saved between all our different coin types so I wouldn’t hurt to take a day off and rest.”
Without warning, Zahra took a deep breath and quickly submerged her head under the hot water taking Zhade with her. A moment of two passed with the both of them completely submerged before Zahra shot her head back up above the water and gasped for breath as Zhade began to shout, “What the hell Zahra!? A little warning next time. I’m still fully clothed.” Zhade quickly flew off Zahra’s head and into the main room and quickly darted out of her small clothes and laid them upon a chair next to where Zahra had laid her tunic and cloak. She raised her hands and a gust of wind began to shoot out of the palms of her hands as she began to blow dry their clothes with her wind magic. Underneath their clothes on the chair was some of the equipment Zahra used. There were two gauntlet like wrist devices that shot a thin diamond wire grappling hook. There was a large coin purse filled with various coins. There was also a large coin purse that was filled with rare bits of ore and jewels. A medium sized back sack that contained a small one-handed pistol crossbow with bolts made with silver bolt tips, a small flint lock pistol, a small medical kit with various potions and antidotes, and a small scroll case that was filled with various scrolls and paper talismans. On the floor was Zahra’s boots which were almost knee high, and both had sheathed hunting knives intertwined into their leather workings. One of the boots also had a small sheath for a wand and in it was a small wooden wand with a few gems of different colors engraved into its hilt.
By the time the clothes were done drying, Zahra stepped out form the rest room wrapped in a towel as she approached the chair with all her belongings. Zhade in a quick swoop and summersault went from being undressed to dressed in one dazzling motion above the chair. Zahra slowly put her gear back on adjusting pieces of it to fit more comfortably. With a rag and a bottle of liquid she had in her medical kit, she began to scrub and wipe away the blood that was staining her tunic. Most of the blood stains were removed but a few still slightly visible. After she was fully geared, she placed all her belongings in her bag and others in their proper places fitted onto her armor and tunic. Zhade flew back in and hid beneath the shadows of Zahra’s hooded cloak as they exited the room. The soldiers were no longer out in the hallway but inside the room they were standing out in front of earlier having sex with an unknown amount of woman inside very loudly. Zahra turned away from their room with an emotionless expression on her face as she headed for the stairwell. After descending the steps to the ground floor, she noticed the tavern was even more packed before with more soldiers and tavern patrons.
The man from before wearing the apron called out, “Ms Zahra, impeccable timing! Your meal is almost finished just a few more minutes.” He placed four mugs of ale on the bar where she had been sitting earlier. As she placed her sword up against the side of the bar, she sat in the stool she had been sitting in earlier. She grabbed the closest mug and within one swig she drank an entire sixteen-ounce mug of ale and slammed it down on the counter. Zahra looked around the tavern without moving her head and took in her surroundings. Most the tables were seated with soldiers from the capital with a few tables of unrecognized patrons. The man returned with four plates of food perfectly balanced atop his arms and began to set them in front of Zahra. Without a second thought Zahra began to devour the food with a quickness. While still glancing around she noticed a table toward the back corner of the room sat four unusual looking patrons. One that looked to be a female human paladin wearing a white suit of armor, A rabbit demi-human with more human features than beast, a short and stocky dwarf, and a green orc. They sat laughing to themselves but were to far out of her hearing distance to hear their actual conversation. There was a large amount of food on their table and there was one empty chair amongst them. There were now multiple bards playing their instruments together at the circular chimney fire pit. Zahra occasionally would hold small pieces of her food up around her neck and Zhade would occasionally take them and eat it in the privacy the hood provided. Zahra reached into her cloak and pulled out a few gold coins and put them on the counter next to one of her plates she had yet to eat.
“You really know how to put that away don’t you?” a voice said from a few stools down. Zahra looked over with a mouthful of food and saw a shorter man wearing all black and a red bandana round his head like a head band sat there sipping on a mug of ale. Zahra looked back to her food and continued to eat.
Before the man could speak, in between her bites of food, a voice that he assumed was hers said, “I don’t know if that’s supposed to be some kind of compliment but piss off, please, I’m eating.”
The man said with no hesitation, “My name is Vlad it’s nice to meet you too.” He turned back forward overlooking the bar and took a bigger swig from his mug with a look of defeat in his eyes. He was wearing a black cape that matched his outfit and had two large daggers sheathed at opposite sides of his hips.
Zhade sat on Zahra’s shoulder close to her neck still hidden by the hood chewing with her mouth open as she continued to say, “I wasn’t trying to be rude, I’m just hungry and not in a talkative mood.”
Vlad said with a faint smile, “It’s all good, it’s late and stormy out and you’re hungry so I understand. Just thought I could have a conversation with a pretty lady, that’s all.”
With no hesitation the tiny fairy pretending to be Zahra said, “I’m not one of the tavern wenches if that’s what you’re implying.”
Vlad stood up from his stool and finished his mug of ale and said, “I can see that I’ve angered you so I will take my leave.” After placing a few copper coins on the bar then he walked over to Zahra close enough and whispered, “Maybe next time you should do the talking instead of your little friend.” He then headed over to the table in the corner with the four unusual patrons with the one empty seat and filled the empty chair.
As he sat down everyone at the table erupted with laugher as the dwarf shouted a loud, “Turned down again?” Everyone at the table continued laughing as Vlad sat there with a look of humiliation on his face. Across the room at the bar, Zahra and Zhade had the same expression of surprise on their faces at the fact Vlad could see right through their charade.
Zhade said quietly with a mouthful of food, “The only way he could have known I was here is because he’s either a peeping tom and looked in through your window while you were bathing or a stalker. Or both.”
Zahra’s face started to grow bright red as she abruptly stood up and fiercely walked over to where Vlad had been sitting. Vlad looked up at her in surprise and before he could udder a word, Zahra slapped him across the face and said in a quiet and monotone voice, “Pervert. Stalker.” She then turned and walked back over to the bar and took her seat and continued eating without bearing another glance in his direction. The orc and the dwarf laughed again and cheered as the other two females at the table were dead quite with a shocked expression painted across their faces.
The dwarf cried out, “Vlad really has a way with the ladies, doesn’t he?”
Vlad replied, “It’s like a never-ending curse,” while rubbing the side of his face Zahra slapped.
The rabbit demi-human said playfully, “Maybe you should try going after some males for once. You might find it your cup of tea.”
Vlad quickly said a bit irritated, “Shut up. If I felt that way about another man, I would have already pursued that route.”
The orc chimed in and said in a low and raspy voice, “Looks like another lonely night of pounding your pecker until you fall asleep.”
Vlad quickly fired back, “Shut up, Torgan. It’s not like you won’t be doing the same thing tonight.”
Torgan the orc replied with a smile, “Unlike you, my daily existence isn’t driven by the pure motivation to procreate.”
The female paladin abruptly interrupted and said, “You two know you’re still in the presence of two females, right?”
The dwarf said laughingly, “Come on, Avry. Don’t be such a prude. It’s not like you don’t fancy a man or woman every now and again.”
Avry said ferociously, “My romances are none of your concern dwarf. And they are certainly no one’s business to flaunt around at the dinner table.”
The rabbit demi-human girl giggled before saying, “I don’t know Avry, Morrak might be on to something, you don’t seem to have any trouble pulling any man or woman you lust for. Maybe you should give Vlad some tips on romance.”
Avry sighed while she said, “Not you too Aurora.” She then downed an entire mug of ale before saying, “I don’t ever see you with a man or woman of any kind so what’s your deal?”
Aurora said with a smile, “I simply don’t crave that kind of attention from anyone to enjoy my life. Simply being alive to watch the planet keep turning is good enough for me.”
Morrak grinned and asked, “Is that so? Even with the way I’ve seen you gaze at Isaac and Vyncent? Like you’re buttering them up for your supper.”
Aurora had an expression of horror on her face as she said, “You shut your mouth dwarf, or your fate will end here.”
Everyone at the table started laughing abruptly while one of the bards stood up after their finished song, bowed and began to take his leave. With his lute in case on his back he headed towards the door to the tavern. He pushed through the double swinging doors and into the stormy night. A few moments after his departure the whole tavern could hear a scream from outside. While the tavern stood in silence wondering what had just happened, the wall to the right of the entrance collapsed as two giant troll like creatures crashed through it smashing a table occupied by soldiers and killing them instantly. Goblin looking orcish creatures came rushing in behind them and anyone sitting at a table unarmed quickly perished as the creatures began hacking and slashing through random tavern patrons. One of the creatures had advanced upon the chef and raised its sword above his head and began to swing it downward as he watched in horror. Before the creature’s blade could collide with the chef’s head a diamond grappling wire came shooting in from the side and pierced the creatures head pulling in the direction the wire had come from. Zahra was standing at the end of the bar with one of her grappling hooks extended in front of her and her and her giant two-handed great sword in the other hand. As the creature’s body became pulled in her direction she moved instantly within a flash and sliced her sword through the creature, decapitating it at the waist before finishing her movement. Without a second to spare the wire retracted itself into her gauntlet and she used her other gauntlets grappling hook and fired it across the bar penetrating the skull of another creature who had leapt up on the bar. After the grappling hook pieced the creature’s skull, she pulled the wire down to the ground causing it to fall from the bar to the floor. The chef quickly leapt over the bar with one free hand and an iron paddle from the oven in the other. He smashed the creature’s head into pieces that Zahra had pulled to the ground.
Soldiers by the initial breach to the tavern were fighting off the giant troll like creatures and trying to stop anymore enemies from entering the tavern. One of the soldiers shouted out, “Don’t let them leave here alive!” He raised his spear above his head and shouted, “For the Empire!”
Other soldiers in the tavern all shouted in unison afterwards, “For the Empire!” One of the giant troll like creatures smashed one the soldiers with its giant club while another soldier stabbed the creature through its wrist causing it to drop its weapon and lose function of its hand. As the creature let out a horrific screech of pain, a war hammer came flinging through the air like a boomerang and collided with the creature’s head causing it to instantly explode. The creature’s body fell to its knees as Morrak ran over and picked up his Warhammer from the ground. Another soldier who was wearing a similar looking uniform to the rest except he was wearing padded armor, stood to the side of Morrak and with a single breath chanted a spell that caused an eruption of flames to erupt from the end of his staff disintegrating the body of the monster within a moment.
A bard near the fire pit area had tripped backwards evading a monster’s attack. While he laid on the ground a monster before him raised its weapon with the intention of impaling him. Before it could act on its murderous impulse and arrow from the back of the tavern quickly traversed the distance between them and struck the creature in the back. The creature cried out in pain then suddenly exploded from the waist up. It’s insides and entrails splatter upon the fireplace and covered anyone within a five-meter radius. From the direction in which the arrow came, Aurora was standing a top the table she had been sitting at with her bow in hand firing her enchanted arrows across the tavern striking and killing any creature she could. Avry and Vlad were standing near the same table fighting off any approaching creatures. Vlad with his two daggers in hand and Avry with her sword and shield.
The attack happened so fast and without warning no one had time to question what was going on. The creatures weren’t necessarily hard to kill but so many of them had breached the tavern that one wrong move and one would meet their doom. The remaining giant troll like creature swiped its club in a rage fueled frenzy sweeping some the of soldiers’ torsos clean off their bodies. The creature then threw its club in the direction of Zahra. Zhade cried out, “Zahra look out!”
Zahra turned toward the oncoming club and raised her free hand in front of her and without even reciting an incantation, an electric plasma erupted from her hand and shot across the room like multiple bolts of lightning annihilating the club and troll like creature that threw it. Most of the creature’s body was gone except for its waist, legs, and two skinny slivers of its sides that led up to its arms. The remaining part of its body fell forward and crashed into a nearby table before smashing into the ground. Vlad and Avry watched in amazement after witnessing Zahra’s incantation-less magical attack. While Vlad and Avry continued to hack and slash their way through the creatures, Vlad couldn’t help but think to himself what angered her so much when they talked. The only thing running through Zahra’s head at the moment was how uncontrollably angered she had become at the fact she didn’t even get halfway through her paid meal before the attack began ruining her dinner.
The population of the attacking creatures was starting to die off while the remaining tavern patrons continuously slayed their attackers. Most of the soldiers had perished in the attack but there were a remaining few that continuously remained victorious in the battle with the creatures. A second barrage of soldiers came from the upper stories of the tavern as they fought their way down to the main floor. The stench of gore and death hung in the tavern as most of the creatures now laid eliminated upon the ground. Zahra stood motionless staring at her plates of food that remained on the bar’s countertop that were now covered in blood from various tavern patrons and creatures. As everyone gathered themselves and checked themselves for wounds, multiple loud explosions could be heard coming from outside the tavern and multiple screams of varying distances. Soldiers began to exit through the hole in the wall and gathered into the street. Zahra and the rest of the people inside the tavern made their way to the hole in the wall and began to look out into the night.
The entire city was set a blaze in devastating flames while unrecognizable creatures of various sizes with horrific and truly terrifying physical features were wreaking havoc, destroying the city, and ruthlessly murdering anyone in their path. The caravans, wagons, and animals near the tavern were all destroyed or dead. The workers who had been tending to the animals lied lifelessly in pools of their own blood while the bodies of families and their children lied in the streets decapitated and being feasted upon by smaller ghoulish creature like beings. A soldier who was fighting creatures in the street shouted, “Protect and save as many townsfolk as you can!”
A group of creatures began to charge at all the taverns patrons who were gazing upon the chaos that was unfolding. Morrak and Torgan began to fight off the oncoming creatures with their war hammers by smashing their heads in and breaking their lower extremities. Everyone began to fight their way into the street in front of the tavern while more creatures began to surround the perimeter of the tavern.
In an almost defeated voice Vlad asked, “How could this all have happened without us hearing it until now?” Unrecognizable monsters and creatures trampled through the city streets while the remaining soldiers were trying to evacuate the townsfolk that remained.
With a horrified tone in her voice Avry responded, “I hate to say it, but this city is beyond saving.” She griped her sword and shield tightly before saying, “We need to stay together and get back to the caravan.”
As Morrak and Torgan viciously smashed down incoming enemies, a Giant that was half barren bone with some flesh still clinging to its body, came crashing in from behind them smashing through the tavern and began to swing a giant double-bladed axe in the direction of Aurora and Avry. The axe’s blade came crashing down with such a fury, a seismic wave erupted from it before it even hit the ground. Aurora and Avry jumped out of the way in opposite directions while Vlad jumped into the air and flipped over the axes blade and nimbly landed on its handle and began to run up its shaft. The giant tried to free the blade from the ground but Vlad advanced to quickly up the axe’s handle and the giants arm stabbing and twisting one of his daggers directly into one of its eyes while he jabbed his other dagger deep into the back of the giant’s neck. The giant bellowed out in pain while it grabbed Vlad with its free and flung him into a wrecked, smoldering part of the tavern. The giants held its face near its eye in pain when suddenly a giant two-handed sword came slicing through its neck severing its head from its body. After a daring and acrobatic leap, Zahra landed on her feet while the headless giant’s body came crashing down behind her.
Zahra stood to her feet while Avry stood atop the headless giant’s chest and with her sword pointed downwards, she rose the handle above her head and exclaimed, “Your soul will not leave this world corrupted!” She then drove her sword downward into the still fleshy part of the giant’s chest where its heart would be and within a second a purple light shot up through the swords blade revealing symbols of an unrecognized language. The light then shot down the sword and into the crystal fastened at the end of its hilt.
Vlad slowly emerged from the wreckage he was thrown into as he got to his knees. As he glanced over where Avry and Zahra were standing, he noticed to their left, Morrak, Torgan, and Aurora were fighting off a horde of goblin like creatures. His vision was starting to blur as he mumbled to himself, “Why am I always the first one to take damage?” He took a step in the direction of the small horde before noticing a thin and purplish pinkish light emerging from the corpses of some dead soldiers not far from where Aurora was standing. Many of the dead soldiers, some missing limbs, some with parts of their bodies eaten away, began to stand to their feet again as the light began to fade away around their bodies. He wanted to scream out to her, but he found that he was too injured to even raise his voice. Before he could react, an arrow came flying past his head and exploded behind him. A soldier’s corpse came crashing down next to him from behind him that was missing most of its torso.
After looking back over in Aurora’s direction, he couldn’t hear her voice anymore, but he could barely read her lips as she was screaming the words, “You need to move!” Vlad turned his head to look behind him as he could now see a giant troll like creature was midway through its swing with a giant jagged and bloodied sword. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Zahra, even though he had yet to learn her name, had latched onto the creature with her grappling hook and was quickly advancing to them but he knew she wouldn’t make it in time before the blade reached him.
Without warning, Avry came crashing into him sending him flying out of the way as the creature’s sword tore through her shield, then tore into her body right beneath her left shoulder, and then cleaved her body into two while it exited her body by her right hip. Her arm holding her shield hit the ground at the same time the two halves of her body did. Everyone watched in horror while Avry’s body laid in pieces in the pouring rain.
Zahra traversed the distance with her grappling hook with the wand from her boot in her hand. When she was close enough to the creature’s body, she said in an emotionless monotone voice, “Die.” A small holographic red and black talisman like emblem appeared at the end of her wand and one of the jewels in the hilt obliterated into dust before a hot red light flashed as an almost invisible concussive blast shot out of the wand distorting the space and sound around it as it blasted through the creature’s body and up to fifty meters behind it, annihilating most the creature’s body and any creature that was directly behind.
Vlad quickly tried to get to his feet again with tears welling up in his eyes. “Avry?” he asked while his voice quivered in terror. “What…just happened?”
Zahra placed her wand back into its booth sheath after counting that she had four crystals left in its hilt. While still trying to come to terms with what had happened, Vlad cried out, “Fuck!” Tears rolled down through the stubble on his cheeks then into the ground. Zahra ran over and grabbed him by the arm and forced him to his feet and slapped him as hard as she could.
Zhade shouted at Vlad, “I know she was your friend, but she saved your life, and you need to snap out of whatever you’re going through, or her death will be for nothing.” Zhade then flew above Vlad’s head and began casting a healing spell on him. Morrak and Torgan went into a frenzy after witnessing Avry’s death. Their war hammers crashed through the skulls of the creatures, the resurrected soldiers’ corpses, as blood painted their faces. Most of the creatures in the direct vicinity were mostly vanquished. The perimeter around the tavern was cleared even though there wasn’t much left of the tavern still standing. The city was still overrun but it looked as if nothing was coming in the direction of the tavern.
Morrak’s hammer smashed through the last nearby creatures face as he and everyone else, began to run towards Vlad and Zahra. Aurora fell to her knees and began weeping next to Avry’s body. Torgan exclaimed, “We don’t have much time to get out of here before something else comes out to play.”
Morrak said, “I agree. We can take her and escape and give her a proper burial when were safe.”
Vlad slowly walked over and picked up her sword. Her sword was the mythic sword known as Chronos. It had interchangeable gems that fit into its hilt that granted it special abilities. With his head hanging low he uttered, “This… is my fault. I should have died not her.”
From atop a part of the burning tavern’s structure that still stood, a voice called out, “Oh how fun this has been! Watching this city burn to the ground. Everyone scurrying like ants underneath the flames.” A man wearing a dark brown cloak and hood stood in the rain with a large staff in one hand. He then laughed as he said, “Such a marvelous time indeed! You’ve bested my latest creations as to only lose one comrade.” He began to prance around where he was standing and screamed, “Wonderful! Oh Joyous day!” He stopped and stood straight up and in a completely different voice said, “I have to go but I have a parting gift for you.” With his staff pointed into the sky he chanted in an unrecognizable language as a purple blast shot out of his staff and into the sky. The mans body vanished as the beam of light came descending back down and struck Avry’s body. A red electric force began to surge through the torso half of what was left of Avry as all the nearby corpses and severed limbs of the creatures, the soldiers, and towns folk began to gravitate towards Avry’s body. Around Avry’s body, an amalgam of corpses and body parts began to fuse to it as everyone moved backwards not to be engulfed by it.
Before everyone’s eyes, a grotesque abomination began to take life as Avry began to scream a horrible high-pitched screech that seemed to empower the creatures in the distance destroying the city. As the creature grew to half the size of the tavern before it was destroyed hundreds of corpse filled tentacles exploded out of its body in every direction impaling more corpses in the distance and dragging them back to become one with its body. No one had time to react or respond since the whole situation was occurring within seconds. Tentacles came lunging in the direction of where everyone was standing while Zhade conjured up a blast of wind that sent everyone flying in opposite directions before the tentacles could make contact. Zahra had miraculously landed on her feet while she began to sprint in the direction of the creature. Tentacles came flying around her body, but she was quick to dodge them with a series of flips and corkscrew somersaults. Before one tentacle could grab her she severed it with a quick slash from her sword as she shot one of her grappling hooks into the creatures body thrusting herself even faster and closer towards the creature. In her acrobatic movements she spun around and grabbed the wand from her boot once more. A tentacle came from beneath her and snatched her by the ankle and quickly brought it close to its body while a giant mouth like apparatus opened from its lower body and began to lower her towards it.
As the creature began to lower her into its mouth Zahra said again with an emotionless monotone voice, “Die.” Her wand emitted the red and black holographic emblem at its tip while another gem in its hilt obliterated into dust while the almost invisible concussive blast shot out of it with a red heat blasting a three-foot-wide hole into the beast’s body. The creature screamed out in pain as it threw Zahra high into the air. Zahra quickly shot one of her grappling hooks that latched onto the spot of the tavern where the man had been standing before he vanished. Her body was rocketed towards where the grappling hook took hold, but she noticed the hole in the creature was quickly regenerating. Fear struck her like lightning at the sight of the monster’s regeneration since that spell usually would have killed anything she was fighting.
Morrak shouted to his party, “Come on! We can’t let her do all the work we have to bring this atrocity down for Avry’s sake!” He raised his Warhammer above his head as he let out a battle cry. Morrak and Torgan charged toward the beast while Aurora counted the arrows left in her quiver. In the top of her quiver were removable gems that she began switching out. Her quiver was an enchanted one, that depending on what magical jewels were placed in its embedded slots, it would enchant all arrows within it with the jewel’s essence. After snapping a different gem into a slot, she drew three arrows from the quiver and launched them at the beast. All three arrows landed into the beast’s body. Electric flames erupted from the creature’s body followed by an explosion of ice as it cried out once again in pain.
Vlad still stood where the rest of Avry’s body remained, and he bent down and picked a small satchel from her belt that contained a bunch of gems and crystals. He switched the brightly glowing gem out of Avry’s swords hilt and snapped another one in its place that was faintly glowing purple. He began to say to Aurora, who was only a few feet away from him firing her arrows at the monster, with his head still hung low, “I need you to create an opening so I can get close to Avry. She may be gone but we can’t let her soul leave this realm the way it is.” Tears still rolled down his face while he gripped Avry’s sword with both hands. Aurora nodded as Vlad began to sprint in the creature’s direction. Tentacles began to come at him wildly as he hacked them apart and continued advancing.
Zahra stood in fear watching everyone below fighting the abomination as Zhade flew up to her on the roof and started yelling, “What the hell are you doing? We need to help them, or they all are going to die.”
Vlad was close enough to Torgan as he shouted, “Torgan!” Torgan needed no explanation as he rocked his hammer backwards past his head while Vlad leapt on top of it. Torgan then swung the hammer as hard as he could launching Vlad into the air toward the abomination. The distance between Vlad and the creature began to shorten as Vlad began to raise Avry’s sword above his head. A tentacle came flying in from above, to his right, and from underneath. Vlad didn’t care if this was if for him because if the sword could hit its mark and avenge Avry’s soul that’s all that mattered. Three arrows vengefully came tearing through two of the oncoming tentacles obliterating them before they could make contact. Vlad prepared for the impact with the remaining tentacle but one of Zahra’s grappling hooks came piercing through Vlad’s leg. Vlad felt his body being pulled out of the way while the tentacle flew past him. He noticed a second grappling line had already connected with the creature and Zahra was advancing upon it. He also noticed as he descended towards the ground, he had accidently let go of the sword which was still high above him while he fell. Like a gust of wind Zahra came flying past him on her grappling line and snatched the falling sword out of the air. The monster had been concentrated on Vlad and his attack, so it hadn’t prepared any tentacles that were quick enough to stop Zahra. Zahra landed slightly in a kneeling position directly above where Avry was sticking out of the creature’s body. With no hesitation she drove the sword through her chest and a purple light shot through the sword and into the gem in its hilt briefly illuminating the symbols on the blade.
Without a second thought she pulled the blade out of her chest and in her other hand she pointed her wand directly at the part of the creature’s body that was Avry and said, “Die.” Avry’s body was obliterated while a three-foot-wide hole was blown through the creature’s body. This time the creature didn’t regenerate. Its body went limp and began to fall to its side while Zahra leapt off its chest and landed on the ground.
Morrak asked even though he was struggling to catch his breath, “Young lass, what is your name? You are quite the warrior.”
Zahra approached Vlad while he was laying on the ground where he landed and carefully removed her grappling line from his leg while dumping a blue potion over the wound it left.
Vlad said while flinching from the pain, “That was a very unorthodox way to save me but thanks.”
Zahra stood up and before she could say anything a surge of hot pain rang from her lower abdomen. She looked down and was surprised to find an alarming amount of blood coming from underneath her tunic and running down her leg. She wanted to tell Morrak her name but all she could muster up to say was, “Pervert. Stalker,” and then passed out and fell face first through the rain into the mud.
ns 15.158.61.13da2
