Beginning: Victoria
Chapter 20
Sira fights using all of her strength to wield the enormous Red Curve spear. She charges at the beasts dragging it on the ground, only bringing it upward upon contact with them. She had been able to aid in bringing down the lone brown armored beast before, but this was different. Around her the beasts clad both in brown and blue armor attack in mobs slaying many. Sira receives many hits, but manages to crawl back on her feet. Were they the last of the Perion fighters? She wonders. If so, she fears Perion will be lost as well. She hopes her mother had been able to find safe refuge out of town before the attacks had begun. Distracted by her pondering Sira stumbles and when she looks up large claws are coming at her. She feels the flesh on her cheek tear and falls back. She can feel her warm blood streaming down her cheek, but gets back up. The warrior continues to plunge her spear at the beasts, but her fatigue is wearing on her and the weight of the spear is difficult to manage.
As the sun begins to set on the desert town, the sky shines red as though seeped in the slaughter below. Sira is no longer trying to fight, but merely tries to stay alive. She almost topples over many times but manages to hold herself up with her spear and avoid the attacks. She is weak and she is hurt; she is beaten. Tears begin to slide down her cheek as she lets herself fall back against the wall of a ruined building. In the past week so many tragedies had taken place. In the course of a week her entire life had changed, and now was about to end. She doesn't even recognize the town in which she grew up. She tries calming her breathing down, but she is so worn out that her lungs begin to hurt. A large beast is approaching her and she realizes not many fighters remain to slay it. She closes her eyes, accepting defeat, but before her life has time to flash before her eyes, she feels the ground beneath her shake. When she opens her eyes, Sira sees a familiar image of a dark clad man mounted on an even larger beast. She can already feel the powerful heat of the flames. However, as the heat becomes more intense and she fears for the explosion that happened in Ellinia, her attention shifts. She gasps as the furry beast in front of her stumbles forward under the attack of a Holy Arrow. The weight of the beast falls on her and she is overwhelmed with the heat of the flames as well as the weight of the beast collapsed on top of her.
Zenith bounces his way through the streets followed by Valencia and Jaimus. He is horrified with the number of casualties and is sorrowed by the lack of people alive fighting. He had overheard talks of the hundreds of people that stood waiting for battle in Perion and had been hopeful. Unfortunately, his hopes are crushed with every dead body they pass. No one on the island had the strength and the skill to oppose this army of underground beasts. The ground shakes beneath their feet and they come to a halt. Valencia tugs on Jaimus's arm.
"Hide," screams Valencia.
Zenith and Jaimus turn to Valencia startled and see running towards them some fighters with their leaders shouting retreat. They are going to be wiped out. Valencia pulls them away, but the assassin stops her. He can see two of the fighter's leaders and recognizes them: Dark lord and his sensei, Rem.
"Zenith," yells his Sensei stopping with Dark lord. "Take cover."
The fighters don't stop, they continue running away from the battle field under the orders of their superiors.
Valencia, Jaimus, Dark Lord, Rem and Zenith follow the crowd and as the dry evening air of Perion turns extremely hot they slide through the doorway of an abandoned building following Dark Lord. The rest of the group continue running and do not notice. Dark Lord returns to yell for them, but sees the enormous ball of fire coming through the stone buildings. He shuts the building door and jumps into the cellar of the building along with the three frightened teammates and his colleague.
A small weak hand reaches from under the burnt fur of the fallen beast. Sira digs her fingers into the dirt and uses the little strength left in her to pull herself from under the scorched corpse. She gasps for air as she lays in the dark of the night, in the middle of the ruins of her town. A sickening charcoal smell fills her nostrils and she forces herself to sit coughing. She holds her stomach and continues to cough as her entire body aches. As her eyes survey the area filled with the ashes of the fallen she feels the uncontrollable feeling rise in her throat for the first time since becoming a warrior. Blood and particles of undigested food pour from her mouth bringing the pain that enveloped her entire body soaring. The warrior groans and leans on her hands. She examines her bruised body and determines she is able to walk.
Her steps are slow and clumsy, but Sira manages to make her way across the town supporting herself by leaning against the stone rubble that is left of the town. Every few steps she looks back under the impression that someone is walking not far behind her. However, every time she looks, there is no one. When the warrior enters a small area at the bottom of town where houses still stand only burnt a little by the flames of the blast, Sira looks up at the sky and sees nothing but a blanket of darkness. She wishes she could at least see the stars tonight. She had such fond memories of the desert sky at night. She smiles a little thinking about how she and her brother use to lay on the flat roof of their home at night and gaze up at the stars. How come things weren't like that anymore, she wonders?
She steps onto a small pathway leading up to a building now painted black from the explosion. She walks through the archway of the building where a wooden door had once been. If she is going to die tonight, she wants to die where she was born, the only home she has ever known.
Sira flops down on the floor and leans against the wall facing the doorway. Her lip begins to tremble and as she allows all of the pain to flush through her, she lets out a cry. She had toughed it in order to get to her home, but now she doesn't care. She feels as though all of her bones have been crushed and are trying to force their way out through the flesh wounds that cover her body. It will be over soon, she thinks to reassure herself.
Sira closes her eyes momentarily and when she opens them she gasps. Standing in the doorway is the last person she wanted to see.
"Pleasure seeing you again my dear," hisses the man clad all in black.
