A large boom, a lot like the previous ones, sounded in the city. Nearly everyone was scurrying left and right down the streets, trying to find loved ones and belongings. Norma, who was asleep in the inn, stared out the window, gawking at the horrific scene.

It truly was amazing the inn had not been as badly affected as any other buildings near. Despite the burning shingles on the roof and immense hole in the lobby from one of the explosions.

Norma panicked, grabbed up her yellow baton, and headed for the door quickly before another attack resulted in the roof collapsing.

Next door, to the left of her room (Grune once stayed in the right) was where her old friend, Zamaran, was sleeping.

She furiously pounded on the door. “Old man! Wake up before you get yourself killed!”

A few mumbles were heard on the other side of the door, just before it opened.

“What’s the problem? I was sleeping, you know!”  Zamaran fumed.

Norma shrugged off the question. “We need to leave now! The building may fall!” She grabbed hold of his hand and hastily lead him down the stairs.

“Where do you expect to go!?” asked Zamaran, staring at her with wide eyes after hearing the screams coming from outside.

“We should go and check on C first! Just to make sure she didn’t get hurt at the hospital!”

Zamaran nodded. “This really is serious…”

Norma turned to him after reaching the door. “You bet this is! Now lets go!”

She pushed open the door and took off to the hospital, the older man right behind her.

- - -

“Csaba! Get out here!” shouted Moses, seeing the people running rapidly through the city.  A few soldiers, dressed in red armor, caught his attention just as his friend ran to his side.

“Whats going on!?” Csaba inquired catching sight of the destruction.

“Looks like the place in bein’ attacked!” Moses grabbed one of his arrows from the quiver on his back. “Lets take ‘em down!”

He then ran for the closest soldier he saw. Csaba followed, pulling a small knife from his back pocket.

Moses got closer and saw the red solder standing over a woman. Covered in blood and crying. Though the soldier was smiling, holding a long sword drenched in red.

“You bastard!” Moses screamed, letting his spear stab the masked man in the neck.

He let out a chocked gasp, then hit the ground hard.

Moses ran to the woman’s side, seeing the blood coming quickly from the woman’s stomach wound and mouth.

“Lady! You alright!?” he panicked, eyeing the gapping wound.

The woman looked up. Her eye’s were dark blue, loosing all light. “Matthew. . .please, help Matthew…”

“What? Who’s Matthew?” Moses asked anxiously.

“My…son. Please, help him…”

Her eye’s then closed, and her head fell hard back to the ground. Moses felt the pulse on the back of her neck, but there was no movement.

She was dead. . .

Moses stood, cursing mentally, then glanced around for any small children. The girl wasn’t very old, so it was obvious the boy wouldn’t be at least older than five.

Not, seeing anything, he ran up the road to where Her Excellency’s house was.

“Csaba, lets go!” he called.

Csaba, who had just finished stabbing another red soldier, did as he was told and followed Moses once again. Though neither of them got far before seeing a large group of soldiers gathered around the large windmill just up from the bandit’s camp, from where they had come.

Squinting, Moses saw a small child with black hair and dressed in blue backed up against the side of the windmill, crying and clutching a small, brown dog.

Charging to the multiple number of men, backed up by Csaba with his weapon in hand, he drew a handful of spears and began to throw them wildly at the soldiers.

Only hitting a few with the spears, Csaba took out the soldiers that had fallen to their knees by the impact of the spears while Moses continued to attack the standing ones beginning to draw closer to the child.

The closest one, a few feet in front of the boy, unsheathed his sword and raised it high above his head. The boy cried loudly as the dog snarled at the man.

Just as the soldier swiftly lowered his sword, Moses stabbed him quickly in the back, causing him to collapse as the other had, his sword falling to the ground beside him.

Moses then ran to the boy’s side.

“Are you okay there, kid!?”

The boy looked up, his eye’s moist, still clutching the dog. “Mommy…where’s Mommy?” he sniffled.

Moses looked at him a moment, his mind blank. He lowered himself to one knee, “Is you‘re name ‘Matthew’?”

“Y-yes, mister.”

“Where do you live? Where’s you’re dad!?”

The child looked up towards the right, down the road past the bandit’s camp. “Down the road. Way over there!” He pointed to where his eye’s were set, then looked back up at the older man. “Mister, where’s my mommy?”

Moses could feel tears begin to form on the corner’s of his eye’s. He rubbed them quickly with his fist. “Don’t worry about that now, Matthew!” He picked up the boy, leaving the dog on the ground, and ran for where the boy had showed him. Matthew called for the dog, who came running close behind Moses, as Csaba trailed behind them.

After getting to the large home at the end of the path next to the graveyard, another large blast sounded. The ground shook, making Csaba stumble and Moses hold on tighter to Matthew.

Suddenly, the pillar on the top of the house began to crackle and flames shot up from its top. Moses and Csaba darted as quickly as possible to the other side of the shadow progressing on the dirt trail. Big and small sparks of fire fell from the pillar that came closer to the ground, one hitting Moses hard on his bare back, causing him to grunt painfully and Matthew to cry loudly. If it were only raining harder, maybe the fires wouldn’t be so severe.

Seeing that the top of the building would indeed crash down upon them before they could get to the other side, Moses and Csaba took a dive to the side of the fire and wood, hitting the ground with a ‘thud’! Moses landing on his back for the case of the boy getting squished if he hadn’t.

The sound of snapping lumber took place loudly behind them as the two pushed themselves up off the ground.

“You okay there, Csaba?” asked Moses checking on Matthew.

“Im fine.” he answered, brushing a few ashes from his hair.

“Hali!” screamed Matthew, pointing to the other side of the burning wood. The sound of a dog barking carried as Moses and Csaba looked to where the boy was pointing.

“I think he means the dog.” stated Csaba.

“That dog‘ll find its way home, kid! Lets just get you back to you’re dad right now!” Moses pulled himself to his feet along with Csaba and continued down the road.

“There! That’s daddy!” Matthew yelped seeing a man, with similar appearances, standing on the edge of the road. The two darted to the side where the man stood, seeing a worried look on his face and blood covering his left arm.

“Is this you’re son, sir!?” asked Csaba.

The man’s worry immediately melted as he took his son from Moses’ arms.

“Matthew! You’re okay!” he exclaimed, hugging him close as a smile came across his fearful face. He turned back to the bandits. “Thank you so much for helping him. I guess bringing you guys into town last year wasn’t such a bad idea.”

Moses scratched his head. “Heh,” he laughed, “Im glad you feel that way.”

The father’s face once again turned colorless, “Did you by any chance see my wife? She has long red hair and blue eyes! She’s wearing a white dress!”

Moses and Csaba exchanged looks, putting two-and-two together.

“Im sorry. . .”Csaba began. “But. . .a soldier. He…”

Csaba didn’t even have to finish the sentence before the father shook his head. His eyes began to turn watery. “Yes, I understand. Th-thank you…”

Moses caught the sight of a tear roll down the man’s cheek as he sprinted off down the path opposite of where the building had collapses. Matthew stared back at the two, his arms wrapped around his father’s neck.

“Moses, you need to find the others! I’ll go back to camp and help the other bandits!”

“Alright. You be careful, Csaba!” Moses told him, turning to face his friend.

Csaba nodded and ran down the road back towards camp. Moses watched him for a moment, making sure no hidden soldier would make the mistake of landing a surprise attack. After he had disappeared, Moses turned and ran towards the west part of town where Will’s house was. Though he didn’t get far before running into the person he was looking for.

“Will!” he called seeing the older man fighting off a few red uniformed men attacking a group of people close by.

Will looked up, though continued to swing his hammer violently to knock the soldiers back and down. Moses joined in by throwing a load of spears in the air above the other men.

Soon they fell on the tops of the soldiers heads, some spears piercing their skins and others merely bouncing off the armor. Will quickly countered the men by casting a quick suspension, sending the rest to a dark abyss.  

After making sure they were all dead, or at least unconscious, the two finally spoke to one another.

“Its good to see you’re alright, Moses.” Will said, putting his hammer away.

“Same here.” smiled Moses. “Have you seen any of the others?”

Will shook his head. “No. I was just on my way to make sure they were all okay.”  

The smile leaving his face, Moses turned and stared at the soldiers lying on the ground.

“Those are Vaclav’s soldiers, huh?”

“It appears so.”

“I guess he ain’t dead then.” He turned back to Will, his expression serious. “Let’s first go make sure Senels okay!”

He then turned and started up the road again.

“Moses. . .” Will began, causing Moses to stop on his heels and turn.

“Wh-what!?” he stuttered.

“Senel’s not in town.” Will said shaking his head.

Moses took on a look of shock. “Don’t tell me he left the city!”

“No. It’s that Vaclav isn’t the only one we assumed dead.” Moses looked confused. “Cashel came and got him just a while ago.”

“What!” repeated Moses. “Why!?”

“He didn‘t say…”

“Dammit! We gotta go find him!”

Will’s face became very stern. “We can’t just abandon the entire town now! We have to find everyone and get the injured healed!”

Moses lowered his gaze. “But! . .”

“After we take care of this, we’ll do what we can for him. Right now there’s too much at steak to just run off!”

Sighing, Moses nodded, “He better be okay. . .”

Will smiled, though didn’t seem too convinced of himself that the matter would unfold positively.

The two made their way quickly to the other side of the city, dealing with a few other soldiers along the way. Occasionally finding a person hidden in rubble or along the path and giving them a dose of healing eres.

- - -

“The explosions stopped, Madame Musette!”  exclaimed Shirley, running down the stairs to where the elderly woman stood.

“That’s good. Now there won’t be any more fires starting!” she sighed.

“What do we do now!?” squeaked Shirley, gazing around to make sure there were no fires spreading outside the window.

Musette looked at her fearfully, “You should go make sure the victims get healed. There are too many screams going on outside.”

Shirley turned to her with a troubled appearance. “Are you sure you’ll be alright here alone?”

Musette smiled. “I may be old, but I know how to handle a broom when I need to beat down a few men.”

Giggling, Shirley relaxed and then ran for the door. But before she could even touch the handle, it flew open. A soldier stood in the doorway holding a crossbow, which was loaded with an arrow.

“No!” Shirley screamed.

The soldier laughed as he raised his weapon, aiming at the two. “Ladies first, I always say!”

He pulled the trigger, sending the arrow flying towards Madame Musette. Just as it was about to penetrate her skin, Shirley sent a teriques flying, hitting the arrow and knocking it to the carpet.

The man’s face took on a furious look, and he readied his bow for another shot. Though Shirley didn’t even give him time to reach for another arrow before casting.

She waved her feather quill in the air a few seconds, then lowered it, the tip pointing directly at the soldier.

“Fire Ball!” she yelled. A few large balls coated in flame flew from the quill and slammed into the man standing in the doorway. The soldier shouted as he hit the asphalt behind him.

Shirley then hastily ran to his side, making sure he would not get back up for a while.

“I’ll be back soon!” she stated to Musette, after raising again to her feet.

Musette shook her head in agreement, so Shirley then turned and made her way up to the fallen citizens.

Seeing a man lying in the middle of the street, she stopped and caste him with her eres.

Though he didn’t get up, Shirley felt a pulse on his wrist and saw that his chest was moving. So she hauled him away from a forming fire beside the road and gently set him in the wet grass before continuing onward.

As soon as she made her way to the upcoming west side of town, she saw Chloe, Norma, and Zamaran. All running in her direction.

Norma was the first to catch sight of Shirley through the darkness and rain.

“Shirl!” she called to her.

The three speed their pace to meet up with her.

“Are you all okay!?” Shirley asked as soon as she was close enough to fully see them.

“We’re fine. Where’s the boys!?” Norma said looking around the area. Though all she could see was destroyed homes and the body of soldiers lying in the grass and dirt path.

“I guess Jay’s still in the village.” Shirley said, glancing around, too.

“Let’s check on Coolidge. His house is close by.” suggested Chloe.

“I’ll go make sure there aren’t any more trapped people.” Zamaran said as the girls began quickly back up the path to their friends house.

Norma turned and looked at him. “Just don’t hurt yourself doing it!” she teased, but no grin was on her face, but a stern frown, as Zamaran turned to leave.

“Lets hurry, Norma!” called Shirley from behind her. Norma nodded and followed them back to the east side of Werites Beacon.

- - -

After passing by the weapons shop and running a ways, the girls all gasped and stopped after seeing the destruction.

The house was completely burned down. Nothing left but a few scraps of metal here and there. The stove which had turned completely black from the flames, and a handful of planks that once served as support beams for what once stood.

“What. . .the heck!?” Norma screamed, running closer to the wreckage.

“S-Senel!” Shirley squealed falling to her knees and her eyes brimming with fresh tears.

Chloe stared dumbfounded in front of where the doorway once was, looking over the entire ash and flame range for any speck of white or view of skin. Though she saw nothing.

“Maybe. . .” she began. “Maybe he got out before the fire started.”

“But how would he have know, C!?” Shirley sobbed.

Before Chloe could answer, the sound of Moses’ yelling was heard. She looked up to see Moses and Will coming up the road to where they stood.

Norma looked up, a bit of relief appearing on her face. “There you guys are! Where have you been!?”

“Lookin’ for you, Bubbles!” Moses shot back firmly. His eye then caught sight of the ruins of where the house used to stand.

“Holy hell!” he exclaimed taking a step back.

“We have to do something! Senny might be hurt!” shrieked Norma,

She ran over and began digging through the ashes and soot until Moses stopped her.

“Don’t worry, Bubbles! He’s not there!” Norma stood again at lightning speed and looked at him confused.

“From what Will told me, he was at his house durin’ the bangs.” explained Moses, causing Norma to look a little relaxed.

“Is that right, Teach?” she asked.

Will nodded. “He said he locked himself out. Its…” he glanced at the destroyed home. “Its almost a good thing he did, too.”

“Almost?” Shirley questioned getting to her feet.

“Cashel! He got Senel!” Moses told her. “And he’s ain’t the only ones who back! These’re all Vaclav’s soldiers!”

“Vaclav!?” Chloe cried shocked.

“So he’s not dead.” Shirley looked down at the ground, her face looking depressed yet angry.

“Chloe!” Will began, causing Chloe to quickly look to him. “Was the hospital badly damaged when you left?”

“There was a few explosions near it, but nothing serious.” she answered hastily.

“That’s good. We can bring some of the worst conditioned citizens there.” Will added.

“What about you’re house?” Shirley asked.

“It wasn’t hit at all. There are too many trees nearby to absorb the blows and fires.”

Norma gasped slightly after hearing this. “What about Hattie then!? She didn’t come with you!?”

“No. I told her to stay in the basement back at home. Even if the blasts continue again, I don’t think they will effect her.”

“Good thinkin‘!” Moses agreed.

“Now we need to find more soldiers or hurt people.” Shirley said, looking at the other four.

“But what about JJ!?” Norma asked, noticing the shortest boy was nowhere around.

“It didn’t sound like the bangs were coming from outside the city, so he should be okay.” Chloe told her.

Norma smiled, appearing relieved.

“Alright, then lets go kick some soldier ass!” Moses exclaimed, pulling a spear from his quiver and running down the road hollering like an angered fiend. Which at the time, he was.

He was soon followed by Will and Norma, who both withdrew their weapons.

Chloe and Shirley were about to do the same. However, just as Chloe started past the burning pile, something shiny caught her sight.

“What’s that?” she asked herself aloud, stopping and letting Shirley walk in front of her.

“Huh?” Shirley turned to look at her.

Chloe bent down to pull up the gleaming object, shining from the fire off of the trees and houses.

It was covered in soot and ashes. She fingered it for a second, then stood as Shirley curiously peeked over her shoulder.

“It looks like a locket.” Chloe tried to open it, but had no success. “It must be broken.”

“I’ve never seen Senel wear that before.” Shirley told her.

Noticing a marking on the front, Chloe used her thumb to whip away the black caked on top of it.

Carved into the gold, a few letters glittered as the girls read the odd word it spelled.

Chloe gained a puzzled look.



“S. Caisland..?”

- - -

Jay was thrown harshly into a cell by Solon.

He had no idea where he was dragged. The whole way was full of darkness. Not the darkness of night, but for some odd reason (his eyes weren’t even covered) he couldn’t see a thing. Even though it didn’t take long for them to get there. Perhaps just teleportation...

Solon certainly had gained some strange and powerful abilities.

Jay pulled himself up to his knees by his elbows after hearing a large, iron door shut.

Looking around, he noticed the cell he was in wasn’t the only one. There were about four or five more visible in the damp and dirty room he had been thrown into. But all of them were empty.

He didn’t understand it. First Solon shows up from out of descilint nowhere, then is taken to a strange place like this.

Jay noticed as he stood up that he was disturbingly light. Quickly, he reached for his dagger and gasped when he realized it was gone. Along with all his other things.

Even his bell was gone…

Jay fell back down to the floor, a look of disbelief on his face.

The sound of the door opening again echoed, along with a loud grunting noise and evil muttering.

He recognized it to be Cashel’s voice, surprisingly.

“Just stop fidgeting and this’ll be much easier for you!”

Jay silently watched as Cashel walked by his cell, dragging a boy behind him. His arm wrapped around the others neck while he opened the cell door next to Jay’s.

Jay turned chalk white when he saw who Cashel was dragging behind him.

He and Senel locked eyes for a moment, along with Jay his face getting pale and stunned, before he was tossed into the prison room just as roughly as Jay had been.

Just as soon as it opened, the door shut and keys were heard jingling in Cashel‘s hand.

“I’d get comfy if I were you. You may be here a while.”

Cashel then again walked by Jay’s cell, an evil aura generating from him as he jingled his keys. Oddly, causing Jay to shudder.

Before he disappeared, Jay heard Senel jump back up from the cold floor, then run over to the door.

“Hey! Get back here so we can finish this!”

No reply was heard.

“HEY!”

The door once again shut, causing Senel to let out a sigh and kick the iron bars. But soon he began to grunt with pain, for the sound of the knock was not hard, but soft of flesh.

“Dammit…” Senel complained, sliding down to the floor against the stone wall. He sighed again as Jay crawled to the other side of his cell, sitting up against the wall where Senel was across from.

“You too, huh?” Senel asked him. His voice not sounding entirely happy to see Jay.

“Yes…”

Senel though for a moment. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

Jay looked around the room. The wall was a simple grey color, bricked like any other chamber he had seen. Though the design of the place seemed similar to the one of the hidden fortress the eight of them had visited last year.

Of course, that place was much, much bigger than this place. Jay could even see the other side of the area.

“We could possibly be in a room of the hidden fortress we overlooked.” Jay answered.

“The hidden fortress, huh?” Senel shivered. He had started to wish he hadn’t taken his shoes off before he went to sleep on that couch. Or at least had put on socks. The chamber was very cold, and the stone floor was even colder against his bare feet.

And it certainly didn’t help when he kicked the metal bars a moment ago.

“Wasn’t that Cashel?” Jay asked. Of course, he knew it was Cashel. But the silence of torture.

“Yeah, I don’t understand! I could of sworn we killed him!” Senel recalled back when he and everyone else first went to the Legacy’s bridge. It was crystal clear to him when he solemnly touched Cashel’s neck to find it still. No pulse, nor a heartbeat.

“He’s not the only one. Solon came to the Oresoren Village. I was just as surprised as you were to see Cashel.”

Senel chuckled. “Did he use as much force on you as Cashel did me?” He tenderly touched the bruises around his neck.

His face growing angry and red, Jay planted his hand across his forehead. “No, with Solon it was a threat! Its always damn threats with that bastard!”

Senel remained silent, not sure of what to say to his friend. “Whatever the threat was, he didn’t go through with it did he?”

Shaking his head, no, Jay calmed himself a little with a few deep, quiet breaths. “Thankfully not.”

Senel lowered his gaze to the ground. His guilt growing more and more unable to ignore. He did remember most of the event that just took place; Cashel grabbing hold of his throat, and then Will sending the lightning bolt. But after all that, everything was blank.

He could recollect the sound of screaming distinctly though. . .continuously wondering to himself if the attack of Werites Beacon was all his fault.