Chapter 5

Siege

Scarlet and I were walking along the wall, as usual.

"Were you at the tavern last night?" Asked Scarlet.

"Nope, Sergeant had me do graveyard shift."

"That sucks."

"I think it sucks more for the guy I had to take the shift from." I said.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"The poor bloke fell off the wall, on the outside part." I told him.

"Is he okay?" Scarlet asked.

"He was found in the morning, missing three limbs along with his throat." Scarlet looked at me in horror.

"Holy crap, that's a horrible way to die."

"No kidding, so what about the tavern?" I said to change the subject.
"There was this Vacuo woman in a green dress, she was cleaning house while playing cards with all the other patrons at the place."

This was interesting.

"So much so that several poor blokes that were as terrible with cards as they were with money accused her of cheating, then she went around the place happy-go-lucky by dancing and singing on top of the tables, it was fantastical!"

I wonder what kind of dance she did, if Scarlet liked it, maybe better not to ask that question.

"Was that it?" I asked disappointingly.

"Oh, and there was something about a caravan going missing in the forest." He said casually.

"What." I said in a flat tone.

"A caravan went missing in the forest." Scarlet repeated for me.

"You're serious?" I asked.

"No joke, I think the monsters are getting more violent."

"That, I agree with." I replied.

"Yea-"

"There's something coming out of the forest!"

Every single guard on top of the wall including us immediately went to look at the forest.

As we all went to the edge of the wall, what we saw filled our hearts with unspeakable dread.

There were over a few dozen dark figures coming out of the forest.

They were running towards the wall at the speed of rabid wolves.

I can say with certainty that every guard including me were seriously considering just outright running and going to rethink their lives several times over while crapping and pissing themselves.

But we just stood there and watched, stunned by what we were seeing.

"Get ready men!" It was our Sergeant's words that suddenly caused every guard to get ready for the attack.

Men were getting to the walls with pikes, axes, and swords.

Others were getting crossbows and the few ballistae we had were armed and loaded to fire.

We waited for our Sergeant's signal to fire.

We waited for a minute; they were closer, close enough that we could hear their screeches load and clear.

We still waited.

They were close enough that we could see their vile rotten and cursed features, wearing old pieces of armour and cloth.

A few were even holding hammers or axes.

What were these things?

"FIRE!" Our Sergeant shouted these words at the top of his lungs.

And with that, over a dozen bolts hit their targets dealing a few casualties to the horde, along with a couple large ballista bolts dealing much several more casualties to the horde.

We at the very least killed two dozen or so of the creatures, but there were still at least four dozen of them left.

This was going to be tough.

"Get your weapons ready!" Shouted the Sergeant.

All the men got their weapons ready to strike down any creature that managed to get up onto the walls.

Which is exactly what started happening.

At first, only one or two of them got up.

They were relatively easy to dispatch.

But then we heard a loud screech from below.

And suddenly there was over a dozen more on the wall.

It was horrible.

Every now and then an unlucky guard would be pulled off the wall and to their death.

If the fall didn't kill the poor sods, those damn things did.

The sods that survived the fall were ripped apart; we heard their crying and screaming, until it suddenly stopped with a loud gurgling sound replacing it.

I went and slashed at a rotten black hand that had tried to climb up, cutting it off and leaving a bloody stump.

The owner of the hand screeched as it fell down to the ground.

"There's too many of them!" Shouted a guard, obviously scared for his life.

"Don't stop fighting!" Shouted another.

I ran to help another guard; he was having trouble with a monster that had an axe in its hand.

I struck the monster's back.

It fell to the ground screeching its lungs out.

The guard I helped put his pike through its head, putting it out of its mercy.

"Let's keep going." He said.

"Agreed." We both ran to help the others out.

"Help!" Someone shouted.

I turned to see who shouted, and to my horror, it was Scarlet.

He was being pulled on by one of the creatures; he was trying to get it off of him.

"JAUNE, HELP ME, HELP ME!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, just wait till I get there!" I shouted.

I ran to my friend.

I ran as fast as I could.

If I ran any faster, I would be as fast as a horse on mushrooms and adrenaline.

But even then I wouldn't have been fast enough to stop it.

"Agggghhh!" The creature had put its claws into his chest.

I reached him and put my blade through the creature's horrible looking head.

But it was too late.

Oh, I was too late to save him.

He smiled at me.

He fell off the wall.

"Scarlet." I said as I tried to grab him.

But it was useless.

I couldn't save him.

He hit the ground at the bottom of the wall.

Scarlet was dead.

My best friend is dead.

Oh, goddess.

"Watch out, behind you!" Shouted the Sergeant to me.

I turned.

Only to be nearly thrown off by another creature attacking me.

So this is how I die.

I thought I would die in my sleep.

I thought I would live long enough to have a wife and kids.

That I would live a perfectly peaceful life in a nice grassland on a farm that will be doing well with its crops.

That I would live to a ripe old age and die in my comfortable sleep.

That I would have all my friends like Scarlet to visit me and bring me news of what was going on in the outside world that I would have left behind.

But no.

It seems like I'm finally dying here, on top of this Goddess-forsaken wall in the Capital in the stupid Kingdom Of Vale that I call my home.

Well.

Looks like it's time to say goodbye and hello then.

Goodbye Sergeant.

Goodbye Scarlet.

Goodbye, my King.

Goodbye nature.

Goodbye, good food.

Goodbye, everyone else that I probably wouldn't care about that much, to be honest.

Goodbye world that never really cared about my sorry arse.

Hello Goddess.

The beautiful Goddess that will save me from the eternal damnation that may plague my soul in my passing.

The one which will keep me from facing the fiery Tartarus that awaits most in life after they die a horrible and likely deserved death at the hands of a monster.

Hello, angels that will carry me to salvation and away from Tartarus.

Wait a minute.

There's a burning sensation in my left shoulder right now.

Why do I feel a burning sensation in my left shoulder?

I shouldn't be feeling pain!

.
Am I really dead?