Touch of Fate

Chapter 60: To the Front Lines

Seraphina threw her cloak down in disgust. She had been wandering the streets of Wyrport for days now, and was quickly growing frustrated. She had hoped that her vision from last night was a sign of things changing.

However, she had spent the entire day looking for the golden-eyed man only to end up dirty, foot sore, and tired.

"If that bastard doesn't show up soon, I'm going to-"

A sharp, stabbing headache interrupted her rant, as a series of images forecd themselves into her head.

-Sera lying in a pool of blood. Vision fading. Darkness closing in, as shadowy figures surrounded her.

-Sera strapped to a table, a horrifying creature with the body of a man and the head of a spider wheeled a tray full of sharp implements into her view. It spoke in a terrible, throaty hiss. "Let's begin, shall we?"

-Sera crouched in a burning building. Acrid smoke burning her lungs, as she tried frantically, desperately to get away. A hand the size of a wagon burst through a nearby wall and grabbed her with bone crushing force, dragging her out into the open air and towards a horrible lamprey-like maw. Her last sight was the broken and dismembered bodies of the creature's previous victims, stuck between in pointed teeth.

She was on her knees, hugging herself and gasping for air. For a moment her mind was filled with animalistic terror. The instinctive need to get away, as quickly as possible, coarsed through her very being. With a shudder, she controlled herself, and prepared herself for the next step.

The visions were all personal in nature, but there was an underlying sensation of tragedy that made her believe that the events were far grander than her individual drama.

Something was coming. That much was certain. She wasn't sure what exactly, but it was clear that unless she acted carefully, death would be the least of her concerns.

Time was of the essence, but if she took action without thinking it through, it would end badly for her.

She recognized the building in her last vision, as the inn she was currently staying in, so simply hiding didn't seem to be an option. At this point, her best bet seemed to be finding a safe place to ride out whatever tragedy was about to occur. A few places came to mind.

The mage's guild would probably be the safest place in the city. Between their powerful spell casters and the permanent portal to their Almiran headquarters in the capital, nothing short of a grand catastrophe would threaten them. However, they were also famous for haughtiness and lack of concern for the plight of the non-magical masses.

She suspected that they wouldn't even allow her into their sanctum, unless she revealed her bloodline. But if she did that, she would probably be dragged into the bowels of the guild, never to be seen again. Sera decided that she would save that option as a last resort.

Another possibility was the chapter houses of some of the more powerful knightly orders. While she had no love for the Orders, they would be some of the few organizations actually prepared for the coming tragedy. Long years of fighting monsters, orcs, and raiders from Tennundi had sharpened their martial prowess.

Yet, Sera felt that whatever was coming would prove too much for even the most accomplished of knights. She would need to seek out another option.

Any government facilities were out. Not only would the be packed with panicked civilians, but the authorities wouldn't be able to assign enough resources to their protection while simultaneously dealing with whatever menace was coming.

The temples were a possibility, but she dismissed it. While each of the five major churches and the multitude of lesser chapels were more than capable of defending themselves, the Temple District was located in the southwest. Basically on the other side of the city from her.

Fleeing the city itself was an option, as the eastern gate was not too far from her inn, but Sera felt that such an action would not save her. Some inkling of foresight told her that her best chance was still in the city.

Finally she decided to flee towards the Adventurer's Guild in the southern portion of the city. She reasoned that the northern branch would be too sparsely manned to provide much of a defense. Besides, she had visited the square in front of the southern branch on several occasions in her wanderings, and was familiar with the area.

A screeching alarm sounded from somewhere nearby, interrupting her thoughts. She could hear the distant echos of similar alarms going off in other parts of the city. For a moment she was too stunned to respond, but the panicked voices of the other patrons of the inn broke her from her trance.

She quickly gathered together what belongings she could easily carry, and left the inn, joining the surging crowd of civilians as they milled about in confusion.

A guard was shouting over the noise, "TO THE SOUTH! EVACUATE TO THE S-" His voice was cut off in a sickening gurgle, as the entire top half of his body was removed in a single bite.

A massive panther-like monster stood behind the guard's toppling legs. It was covered in dark red scales, the color of congealed blood. Its jaws were elongated, give the creature an almost crocodilian grin. Instead of eyes, it had two, long tentacle-like feelers emerging from the top of its head.

The feelers waved in the air, as the monster turned its non-gaze towards the crowd. The brief moment of silence that had descended with the creature's arrival was broken by screaming as the panicked civilians did everything in their power to escape.

The monster jogged over, almost causally, and started tearing into the fleeing people. A swarm of smaller horrors followed in it's wake.

Sera ran then, fighting her way through the crowd.

[Don't fall over. Whatever you do, don't fall.]

She knew that if she lost her footing in these circumstances, she would be trampled and left for dead, as the terrified stampede of humanity sought escape.

She fled into an alleyway, momentarily breaking free from the suffocating press. Thankfully, it led to a familiar street, that would take her down towards the southern branch of the Adventurer's Guild.

She felt a chill creep down her spine. Something was watching her. From above.

Sera looked up, but couldn't see anything of note. Still, the feeling remained.

Deciding that she didn't have time to worry about it, she hurried on her way, only dimly taking note of the quiet drone of insect wings flying overhead.

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

The milling adventurers were given a quick rundown of the circumstances. Mike was not surprised to learn that demons existed in this world, but the idea of hordes of these malformed lesser demons disturbed him a little. He could tell by the faces of the other adventurers nearby, that they were also feeling uncertain. They had joined the guild for the economic prospects, but few had thought about what sort of civic responsibilities entailed thereafter.

With quick and efficient commands the guild official had broken off the adventurers in groups by rank. Rank 1s were told to remain at the guild hall to defend it and provide support for the wounded and civilians they were expecting to arrive.

Rank 2, 3, and 4 adventurers made up the bulk of the Guild's forces. As such they were directed to defend the major thoroughfares on the eastern half of the city.

Apparently, the Wyrport guard and the Graveston house soldiers would be working on the western half.

The majority of rank 5 and 6 adventurers would work as a mobile strike force, to begin pushing back against the invaders. The remaining ones would serve as commanders for the defense forces.

The handful of rank 7s and 8s currently in the city, would lead the strike force, and provide it with a core of heavy fire power. Two would be held back to be used as a sort of reserve team, to shore up any issues in the defense forces.

The guildmaster, a rank 9 herself, would be operating independently.

As Mike headed to his assigned spot along with Tal and Brenden, he couldn't help but wonder at the strangely organized nature of the whole event.

It would be one thing, if the Guild ran drills on this sort of scenario, but after talking with a few of the other adventurers, it became clear that while emergency request did happen every so often, it rarely went this smoothly.

[Evidently someone in the Guild, or perhaps in the local government had been expecting this. Hopefully that means that there are forces working to halt this invasion.]

He was feeling a little out of his depth. Despite the fact that he had acquired the Hero title, defending an entire city seemed far beyond his capabilities. He could only hope that whoever was in charge knew what they were doing.

James (a.k.a. The Defender of Severn's Moore), the rank 6 who had been placed in charge of the roughly 80 adventurers that made up the group Mike was a part of, waved for a halt.

The lithe man, looking to be in his early forties, readied a longbow while directing the adventurers into a defensive formation at the crossroads they had been told to defend.

"Anyone skilled with a bow or magic, come over here. The rest of you, find whatever cover you can, and make a barricade across the road there." He said while pointing. "Leave a gap in the middle for now, we'll have refugees coming through for a while yet."

Indeed, scrambling groups of civilians had been passing through the intersection on a semi-regular basis. Their abject terror only further dampened the mood among the adventurers.

Mike and Tal joined a collection of about 15 people surrounding James. He surveyed the crew briefly before pointing again with his free hand. "I want mages to stay here. The rest of you, come with me."

He then proceeded to place the archers in the surrounding buildings to provide covering fire for the adventurers battling below. Mike was surprised to learn that he and Tal were left with just one other person.

[Are mages really that rare? I know that I have a number of advantages when it comes to picking up skills, but it couldn't be that hard to learn.]

Unfortunately Mike had yet to understand the value of spell casters in this world. True magic skills could only be acquired from a relatively small number of classes.

There were a fair number that gave some magic-like skills, but true spell casting was relatively rare.

While it was not uncommon for some adventurers to have access to magic skills, the vast majority of potential mages ended up in either the Mage's Guild, one of the Temples, or one of the knightly orders that were a bit more magically inclined. The few that remained often found service in noble houses or in craftsman guilds.

As a result, people capable of using magic of any kind were a rare sight in both the Adventurer's Guild, and the kingdom in general.

The third adventurer, in their little collection, was a thin, older man, probably in his fifties. He had a mix of gray and black hair that had all but vanished from his scalp. Dressed in elaborate dark purple robes, embroidered with silver, and sporting a long wispy beard, he was one pointy hat away from being a stereotypical wizard.

This mage remained aloof from the pair of younger adventurers, studiously avoiding interacting with them while waiting for James to return.

Mike took some time to consider their position. They were on the eastern Fringe of the defensive line, supposedly far from the worst of the fighting. As a result, his group was mostly composed of rank 2s. This worried him a little.

[Why do I get the feeling, that this is going to be a whole lot more difficult than the guild is planning for?]