Chapter 73: Chapter 73

We slowly walked past the crumbled ruins that had once been a gatehouse. Climbing over a pile of collapsed stone, I was able to get my first look at what remained of the city. It was a scene of complete devastation. Collapsed houses, smoldering ruins, and broken remains, almost nothing was left.

Almost nothing… In the distance, I could see the castle. The last line of defense was still in one piece. It gave me hope. Hope that maybe there were still people holding out. Hope that maybe, just maybe they had fought off the Demonkin hoard.

Excited, I Scrambled down the pile of rubble only to freeze as I saw the stones near my feet. Splattered stains of dried blood splashed across the ground. The remains of a human hand, torn from its body. A sword lay nearby, bent and broken.

There was more, hidden under the collapsed stone, but I did not want to look. They were gone now, but others might still be saved.

“Everyone to the castle,” Orias commanded gruffly, “Stay in formation, and keep your weapons ready.”

The soldiers marched past the rubble in teams of ten. Orias had decided to leave the wagons and horses back at the tree line for now. It would take hours to clear a path through the rubble that they could pass through. If Demonkin were nearby, they would not give us that time. It was better to keep our supplies safe and hidden until we made sure of the dangers in the city.

I paused as we moved past the crumbled remnants of a massive building, The Church of the Myriad Realms. This was also the first time we found the remains of Demonkin. Hundreds of Demonkin corpses were shredded to tiny bits in a ring around the building. The church had put up a fight worthy of the Forth Division. It had not fallen as easily as the rest of the city. If it had been a bigger church, the city might not have fallen at all.

I made a division salute towards the church, a closed fist over my heart, before hurrying to catch up with my family and the soldiers.

As we walked, I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of movement, but there was nothing. There were no Demonkin and no people. Only empty streets and collapsed buildings. A massive fight happened here, but there was nothing now but the remains of the fallen.

We were getting close now. The castle was in view, but still no signs of life. In the distance, I could see a massive statue next to the castle. It was one of the only structures not in ruins. Standing nearly five stories tall, the colossal statue depicted a handsome man holding a sword above his head. Entwined around his body from the soles of his feet to the tip of the sword was a stone snake, carved with incredible detail.

Curious about the oversized statue, I asked my dad, “Who is that?”

“The king of Romlas,” my dad replied, “He is a vain, petty king. I heard he commissioned statues of himself in every city he controls. Even among those statues though, this one stands out as one of the largest. I do not know what the snake represents. Probably some victory he inflated to match his ego.”

I was about to ask more when a soldier shouted, “People! There are people up ahead!”

I ran up to take a look, barely containing my excitement at the prospect of finding survivors. Past an intact gatehouse, locked behind a strong steel grate, was a courtyard filled with people. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of living people!

Everyone, including myself, could barely contain their excitement. The soldiers broke formation and rushed forwards towards the steel gate.

As I got closer, I could see that not a single one of these people was protected by glyphs. Most were lying or sitting on the ground, moaning or crying out in pain from the mist’s infection. Only a few managed to walk around with slow, listless steps. Even from a distance, I could see the dark red veins carved under their skin.

One of them looked up in surprise as he saw us approach the gate that separated them from the rest of the city.

The old man with greying hair hobbled towards the gate as fast as he could, waving his arms in the air.

“No! Do not come here!” the old man shouted, “Flee while you still can!”

“Relax, we are here to help,” Orias said, approaching the metal gate with confident strides, “It is safe now.”

“No! No! You have to run before it wakes up!”

“Before what wakes up?” Orias asked, looking around the empty city streets.

As the old man shouted incoherently, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Movement that made my blood freeze as the hairs on my body stood on end.

I turned on my heels and shouted at my family, “run!”

Others had seen too. One soldier stumbled backward. His entire body shivered as he collapsed to the ground. Another soldier screamed and ran away before others could even figure out what was going on, but soon enough everyone saw it.

Just the head alone was bigger than a mansion. A single fang was bigger than a full-grown man. Thick grey scales scraped across the colossal statue of the king as the stone snake came to life. Bright red eyes watched in amusement as the soldiers tripped over themselves in terror.

Orias let out a bestial roar as his muscles bulged. He swelled in size, reaching nearly three times the height of a normal man. “Everyone into formation!” he bellowed, “Retreat together. Support your comrades.”

The snake opened its massive mouth releasing a torrent of red mist into the air. An air-piercing screech rang from its mouth and echoed through the city. Answering the cry were thousands of higher-pitched screeches. The ground trembled and shook. The nearby collapsed buildings began to heave and creak. Snakes of all sizes slithered out of the ruins and rubble of the nearby houses. A sea of red eyes, more snakes than I could possibly count. They formed a carpet of slithering bodies as they climbed over each other to respond to their mother.

I sprinted, moving as fast as I could with my family. The soldiers’ formation had already fallen apart as everyone fled in terror. I could not believe my horrid luck. A Demonkin capable of reproducing was even rarer than a Demon being born. Yet, here was one.

One of the soldiers used a glyph, setting fire to the nearby baby snakes as he ran. The little snakes convulsed in pain as the fire burned them. They let out high-pitched screams that echoed through the courtyard.

The giant mother snake roared furiously. She constricted around the colossal statue as it fractured and crumbled to dust. The massive snake reared up, reaching heights taller than the nearby castle. It struck out at the soldier that burned its children with speeds faster than anything that big should have ever been able to move. The snake was practically a blur as it attacked.

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Orias shouted and pushed the soldier out of the way. I saw my father use a glyph right before the snake crashed into the ground. The earth shook as Orias disappeared under the massive weight of the colossal creature.

A few of the fleeing soldiers turned, attacking the snake with furious roars in hopes of saving their commander. The many glyphs and sword strikes barely left a mark on the snake's tough scales. Ferenc charged with his flaming sword, but the blade barely pierced the creature at all.

I looked around in a panic, trying to think of some way out of this, but the sea of snakes had already surrounded us. They stayed back when their mother moved, afraid of being crushed under her weight, but if we tried to flee, they would not hesitate to attack.

The only place I could see without snakes was past the mother Demonkin. None had come out of the castle, but in order for us to get there, we would have to charge forward. Our only path to survival was to fight!

I shouted, pointing at the castle, “If you want to live, we need to get past her!”

My father nodded. His face was grave as he pulled out several glyphs. Each of our weapons began to glow with a silver light.

The snake did not stand still as we prepared. It reared up again, preparing to strike. When the snake moved, Orias was revealed. Half buried in a crater of rock; the man was somehow still alive.

Orias coughed as he slowly struggled to his feet. His clothes were torn, and the arm Istvan had injured the other day was now bent at an unnatural angle. The silver light of my father’s protection had already faded, leaving him susceptible to the mist. His legs shook as he forced himself to stand, but despite it all, he roared at the massive snake.

“Is that the best you got? My grandfather hits harder than that!” he shouted furiously.

The snake hissed as it glared at Orias. There was another blur of movement as she struck once again.

The attack was too fast for Orias to dodge, but my father was ready this time. A dome of silver ice rose up out of the ground, encasing the giant soldier. A few other soldiers also had time to use their own protection glyphs as support.

The snake's colossal body shattered the ice but was slowed down enough that Orias was able to act. He punched out with his one good arm. A deafening explosion boomed as flesh connected with flesh. One of the thick stone scales shattered from the force of the blow but still, the snake remained mostly unharmed.

Simultaneously, when Orias struck out with his fist, my mother acted. There was a flash of lightning as she appeared near the snake’s giant eye. Even standing tall, my mother did not even reach on forth the size of the eye, but that did not dissuade her. She stabbed her rapier into the eye with all her might. The blade sunk to the hilt. A foul white liquid sprayed from the eye and splashed to the ground.

The snake shrieked in pain as my mother flashed away. She did not even have time to pull her sword out of the eye before the snake smashed its head into the ground. An unfortunate soldier who tried to attack the snake with his sword was crushed by the sudden movement. His armor did nothing to protect him from the massive weight of the snake. Blood dripped from the snake’s scales in long strings that led back to the broken corpse of the brave soldier.

Orias roared as he punched at the snake again, but the Demonkin had learned from its mistakes. It coiled its body away from the giant man, and like lightning, stuck out towards a group of unprepared soldiers.

My father created a wall of ice to protect them, but it was not enough. Orias was able to survive due to his strength, but these soldiers had none of that. A few glyphs flew out in desperation before they were flattened mercilessly.

My mother flashed close in an attempt to retrieve her sword, but the snake did not fall for the same trick twice. It twisted its head, opening its mouth wide. The snake’s maw was a giant chasm, easily capable of swallowing a house. My mom barely managed to flash away before the mouth snapped closed with enough force to shake the air.

Soldiers fired glyphs wildly. Nearly half of them missed due to the snake's unnatural, quick movement, but they distracted the snake long enough for Charly to line up a good shot with his crossbow. The red bolt fired, striking the snake’s body with a deafening explosion that pushed back the surrounding soldiers.

Charly’s crossbow had always been our most powerful and destructive weapon. Its explosions had never failed to kill anything it hit… before now.

The smoke cleared as the snake reared up with a loud screech that forced me to cover my ears.

Hundreds of scales were broken and bleeding. Smoke rose from the charred skin, but that was hardly more than a scratch to the colossal snake. It was simply too big. The explosion was not enough to do any significant damage.

I felt a chill as the giant glowing eyes locked on to the source of its pain. Charly’s bracer was glowing as he quickly prepared to fire another bolt. His legs were shaking as he stared back at the enormous snake.

I dashed to stand in front of Charly, clutching my dagger tight, despite knowing it could do nothing to a creature of this size. A wall of ice bigger than any before now formed in front of us both, and multiple silver shields surrounded us, as my father used every glyph he had while trying to dash to us from the other side of the battlefield.

As the snake struck down at us, there was a flash of lightning. My mother appeared, and without waiting for her to say anything, I pushed Charly into her arms. She looked at me with tears in her eyes as she flashed away with Charly. We both knew she would not have time to get come back and get me.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the enormous snake struck down. Its massive head filled my vision. My eyes locked with its furious glare, and faced with possible death, I smiled.

“Let me show you why I am called the Immortal Calamity.”

I erupted with all the power I had at my disposal. The blood mist around me burned away as a single translucent wing of green fire spouted from my left shoulder blade.

Fear consumed the Demonkin when our gazes met as both the power in my right eye and my green flames worked in tandem. The snake tried to rear back, but it was too late to stop its momentum. Its massive body had already smashed into the fortress of ice my father created. The wall shattered as the snake’s head slammed into the silver shields. Each shield shattered like glass, one after another. They were not capable of stopping the snake. They could only slow its momentum, but it was enough.

As the last shield fell apart, I leapt up to meet the Demonkin. My dagger held high, I easily stabbed through the thick scales. Green flames roared to life as my body was crushed under the enormous weight.

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