Chapter 4a: Takeover
Saralyn, Laura, and Adrian walked from their hiding spot to the balcony overlooking the cellblock. They could all hear the sounds of mamono letting out their frustration with their prisoners; a very ironic fate for these zealots. When they reached the balcony, Adrian suddenly remembered his promise to Laura, about her parents.
"What do your parents look like?" He asked Laura.
"My mother looks like me! Chestnut hair, longer antennae, bigger wings. My dad has black hair and brown eyes. He also got a scar on his cheek when we got captured… He tried to defend me and mommy from the mean soldiers." On that last point, Laura's excited tone dropped slightly. She turned to Saralyn.
"Did you see daddy anywhere?" she asked Saralyn.
Saralyn suddenly looked very guilty. "Um… I'm sorry, I didn't see your dad." Laura looked down at the ground. Adrian tried to reassure her.
"Hey, listen. Saralyn didn't go to the place where your dad is being kept. He's probably ok." Adrian consoled the devil bug, who looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Ok…" Laura perked up very slightly.
All three of them reached the balcony overlooking the mamono cellblock. It had changed significantly since they last saw it; the cells looked like something had torn through them. There were still mamono inside them, but the guards were inside too, getting some pleasurable retribution from the mamono they had imprisoned.
Saralyn jumped off of the balcony, and landed on her feet. Laura used her wings to glide down from the balcony. Saralyn looked back up at me, and held out her hands. "Jump! I'll catch you." she yelled from below.
The fall looked to be about thirty-five feet, but Saralyn had landed incredibly gracefully. Adrian didn't know how she did that. Was she wearing some sort of magic boots?
Sitting down on the railing, he tried to minimize the amount of distance between him and Saralyn. Slowly, he slid off the balcony.
After about four seconds of freefall, he landed in Saralyn's arms. She barely budged when she caught him.
"How did you do that?" He asked.
"Do what?"
"You barely moved when you caught me."
"Well… Let's just say I'm a naturally strong person."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Saralyn looked at him like he was missing something. "Adrian. I have something I need to tell you. I'm surprised you haven't figured this out already. You've got a heart of gold, but you're also kinda dense."
He looked at her, confused. "Alright, so tell me."
Saralyn stared him directly in the eyes. "I'm a mamono."
Adrian had already speculated that she was a mamono, but he didn't rule out the fact that she might've been some vigilante human who protected human and mamono lives. If she was a mamono, he didn't know what species.
"What species? Dark Mage?"
"Nope. Kinda wish I was, though. If I had a dark mage's magical aptitude, I would've probably liberated this entire prison on my own.."
"Witch?"
"Do I look like a child to you?" Saralyn said, half-offended.
"Apologies!" He wracked his brain, trying to remember what mamono Sharon mentioned in his five months of living with her. He noticed she had pointed ears; her coat had been hiding them.
"Elf?"
"Ok, enough of this. I'm a dhampir. Have you ever heard of them?"
"Dhampur?" Adrian horribly butchered the pronunciation of the word.
"Dhamp*IR*." Saralyn put extra emphasis on the "ir" part of the word. "You know what they are?"
"I've never heard of them. Care to explain?"
Saralyn sighed. "Alright. Dhampirs are mamono that look nearly identical to humans. They're born from a vampire and a human. A HUMAN, not an incubus. They're quite rare, since Vampires have egos the size of the sun, and don't want to have sex with a lowly human until they incubize, but there are always exceptions."
"How fascinating. I probably never would've guessed. I guess your mother was more humble than most vampires?"
Saralyn was about to let out a snarky remark, but stopped at the mention of her mother. "I… I don't remember my parents." That's when he remembered. She's an amnesiac, just like him. Why were 2 amnesiacs together, then? Was it just a coincidence?"
Happy laughter interrupted his speculation, and Saralyn's revelation. Speaking of mothers…
"Mommy! Those two are the ones who saved me!" Laura told her mother happily.
"Thank you, you two. I thought I had lost her forever. Is there anything we can do to help you?" Laura's mother thanked them.
"You're welcome. I understand mamono can sense their husband's spirit energy from far distances. Where is your husband right now? We might be able to pinpoint where they're being held." Saralyn requested.
Laura's mother closed her eyes and focused. She turned around in a circle and eventually pointed to the west. "He's being held there. Please, rescue my husband. I feel empty without him, and everyone else having sex around me doesn't help."
"Will do. Thank you." Saralyn nodded.
"There's no way the two of us are going to be able to rescue all of them. The remaining guards have probably gathered at the western cellblock. Whatever they're doing, they don't want the prisoners to escape."
"You're right. So we're not going alone." Saralyn pointed at a group of disappointed looking mamono talking amongst each other. Around twenty of them. Consisting of a couple werecats and wolves, a pair of centaurs, a grizzly, a large group of succubi, and some hellhounds sprinkled in. Adrian also saw a strange woman with white hair and foreign looking clothing. All of them must have missed their opportunity to get a husband.
Saralyn walked over to them. "Lonely?" she asked.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" a very irritated looking hellhound snapped at her. "There's plenty of men left for us to grab."
"That's why we need your help. We're going to free the rest of the humans. Sounds good?" Adrian told them.
"Actually…" the woman with white hair chimed in. "You look quite handsome. Maybe you could satisfy all of us at once?" the woman said.
Saralyn quickly stepped in front of me. "No." she said very sternly. The woman looked even more disappointed.
"Fine…"
"Ok, do we have a detailed layout of the prison? A map?" Saralyn asked the group.
One of the werecats took a folded up piece of paper out of her shirt. "Yeah! I swiped this from one of the guards when they were transferring us. Idiot didn't even notice it." The werecat laughed proudly.
"Thanks. Now, I'm going to need everyone with some degree of magical skill to stand where I'm pointing. Nympomancy, Archaeomancy, Theriomancy, I don't care. You're going to be an important part of the plan…"
"So why did the guys up top send us here? Are they trying to get us captured?"
"Relax. We just need to get a quick peek, assess the situation, and get back to safety. Easy."
"I don't know, man…"
"Stop being a coward. We'll be fine."
Suddenly, the torches lighting the wall went out, completely blinding the guards. Then, a flurry of stun-based mana shots flew down the hallway, leaving the guards stunned. A trio of succubi walked out, licking their lips, about to claim them.
"Just wait. We still need you." Saralyn said. The succubi looked very disappointed and annoyed, but complied.
"It's okay. You'll have plenty of opportunities. There's dozens of humans waiting for you if we pull this off. Fine work, you did. That's our routine from now on until we get to the armory."
Adrian, Saralyn and their small army of mamono repeated this three times until they finally reached the armory. It was a large room, with multiple entrances. Perfect for what they were about to do.
"We're here. Everyone, into position." A small group of hellhounds and werewolves lined up at the three entrances. A werecat with red robes began preparing a large-scale stun spell.
"This is going to cost me whatever energy I have left. If I don't get a husband after this, I'm going to kill you."
The werecat kicked open the door, revealing a group of ten guards waiting for them. The werecat released the stun spell. It dazed all of the guards inside, all of them fumbling for their weapons.
"Now!" Saralyn yelled. The hellhounds and werewolves burst into the room, tackling the guards, all clamoring to get a man. All of them began licking and rubbing themselves against the men, wanting to get as much of their scent on them as possible.
"Your turn." Saralyn turned to the woman from earlier, a nurarihyon if Adrian could recall correctly. She waved her hands around, and all of the weapons took on a purplish look. "It's done. They've all been converted to realm-silver."
"Everyone, take a weapon. You'll need it. You too, Adrian." He grabbed a short sword off of a rack, as well as a spear. Finally, he didn't have to rely on just a dagger to defend himself.
"The western cellblock should be right up ahead." He announced. Saralyn took out her revolver and made sure she had all six shots. Another large doorway sat in front of us. The remaining succubi took point in front of the door.
"Who's ready to get a husband?!" Saralyn asked the group, as loud as she could without altering every guard on the other side of the doorway. The group cheered quietly.
"Alright, GO!" Saralyn yelled. She flung the doors open and began firing. Meanwhile the remaining succubi fired charm-based mana shots all over the cellblock.
They managed to take out about a third of the guards in the cellblock, the remaining two-thirds drawing their weapons. A quick look showed roughly thirty-five remaining guards, against their twenty-two. Hopefully, the mamono's heightened abilities would give them the edge.
Saralyn managed to incapacitate five guards with the shots in her revolver, the sixth missing a guard, but shocking him long enough for the grizzly to knock him to the ground. Adrian snuck around the battle, taking out guards when he could; thankfully, realm-silver weaponry was lighter than normal weapons. Twenty-seven left.
Saralyn took cover behind a flipped over table, reloading her gun and firing six more shots. The mamono continued fighting, their heightened strength and agility just barely giving them the advantage over the guards. Nineteen left.
Adrian took advantage of the guards that were distracted about to finish off their opponents, incapacitating them with what would be fatal blows if he was using normal weaponry. Fourteen left.
One of the magically inclined succubi managed to gather enough energy for another large-scale stun spell. Three left.
The remaining three guards were cornered, and dropped their weapons in surrender. Zero left. The mamono opened the cell doors, letting the humans out.
Adrian watched Laura and her mother run up to the man she was describing earlier, and smiled happily. Relieved that Laura wasn't going to be an orphan, he walked over to Saralyn.
"Holy shit, Saralyn. You're an insane planner."
"I was surprised it worked. I guess I have to give most of the credit to mamono for just being stronger than average." she responded.
"You also have some damn good aim. Are all dhampirs just gifted with the knowledge of how to use guns effectively?"
"Not really. I trained until I dropped from exhaustion in the five months I was traveling here. That's how I got good."
Saralyn looked around the now completely taken over cellblock. Dozens of mamono were enjoying themselves with their new husbands, some of them even in dominant positions over their new wives. Adrian guessed they weren't very faithful after all. Saralyn began getting antsy at the sight of everyone having sex.
She wanted in. Even if she acted half human, she was still a full mamono.
Saralyn then walked over to Adrian, with a lewd-looking smile on her face. "You see all of these ladies enjoying themselves?" She asked him.
"Uh… Yes?" he responded nervously.
"I want to have some fun too."
"Saralyn… You don't mean…" he realized exactly what she was talking about.
"Yes. I mean it. I'm a mamono. These urges are natural for me. You're not going to leave me hanging, are you?"
"But we've known each other for less than a day?"
"Yeah, and all of these mamono have known their husbands for even less."
"Still, we shouldn't go this fast. I barely know anything about you."
Saralyn suddenly looked very guilty. "Oh. You're right. Maybe we should spend more time together." He sighed in relief. "Doesn't mean I'm going to let you off the hook, though." His eyes widened in response to that.
"Dhampirs are offspring of vampires. So, as a result, we have the ability to drink blood from our husbands. When I was dressing your wound earlier, I could barely hold myself back from just biting down on your leg. You see where I'm going?"
"Will it hurt?" He asked worriedly. "No! Of course not!" Saralyn exclaimed.
"Alright then." Adrian went to one of the empty cells and sat down on the bed. "Not very comfortable, but it'll do."
"I promise you, this will be the second best feeling you'll ever experience." Saralyn suddenly pushed him into the bed and laid on top of him. She pulled his shirt away from his neck, licking her lips. Finding a blood vein she liked, she bit down.
Adrian felt a tiny stab of pain at first, but then his entire body from the neck down started feeling good. Incredibly good. "Ooohhhhh shitt…" He half groaned, half spoke.
Saralyn's eyes glazed over in pleasure as she kept on drinking his blood. After about ten seconds Adrian felt overstimulated. "Saralyn… enough." He whispered.
"Nooo, just a little more…" Saralyn's response was muffled with her mouth on his neck. After what seemed like ten minutes, she finally stopped. "So delicious. I understand why vampires enjoy doing this so much." Saralyn said, lying on his chest.
"Is spooning allowed?" She whispered.
"Sure."
She let out a small squeak of happiness as she got into position. Pulling the small blanket over the both of them, they decided to rest for a bit before they left the prison for good.
"We're finally united." Adrian heard Saralyn mutter. He was too tired to interpret what that meant. Not even bothering to take their clothes off, both fell asleep.
...
There's been a change in your schedule. Report to the church after your one hour tutoring session.
Yes, It's happening.
Excited, are we?
You're going to be incredible, I can tell.
Well, get going.
...
Adrian woke up, feeling very refreshed for someone who just had their blood drained for twenty seconds straight. Saralyn was snoring loudly, clutching his chest with a smile on her face. Looking around, he suddenly remembered where he was and panicked. He must've overslept!
"Saralyn! Wake up!" Adrian began shaking Saralyn. He didn't want to get caught off guard because they got too comfortable in enemy territory.
"Nnnghhh… Five more minutes…" Saralyn drowsily grunted as she
"WAKE UP!" He yelled loudly. He felt bad waking her up like this, but it wasn't safe to stay here.
"Okay! Okay!" Saralyn forced herself to get up. She quickly got off the bed and grabbed her traveler's bag.
Both of them walked out of the cells, only for them to realize how quiet it was. The cell block, which was filled with tons of mamono and humans, was completely empty. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed because of the lack of windows in the prison.
"Where did everyone go?" Adrian said, quite confused.
"If I had to guess, everyone must've escaped back to the forest. We should probably follow them."
Both of them walked out the large doorway, and out into the halls of the prison. The place was a massive maze, and the exit could've been anywhere. Adrian cursed the Order for making their architecture so complicated.
What was stranger still, was the fact that they didn't come across a single guard. They knew they couldn't have taken out the entire population of guards just with their raids on the eastern and western cell blocks.
"Do you know where we are? Adrian asked Saralyn.
"Not really. We could be going in circles, for all I know."
While they were trying to find their way out of the prison, Adrian decided to try and make conversation with Saralyn. "What did you see while I was with Laura?"
"I dealt with this weird archmage. He was way more agile and dangerous than most of the mages I came across on my adventures. He managed to dodge my gunfire, which should've been insanely difficult for anyone else."
"I also came across a couple documents explaining what they were doing here. Apparently they were siphoning mamono mana from the prisoners."
"What? Why? What do they have to gain from stealing energy from monsters? Wouldn't that just be dangerous and corrupt them? And how would they store it?"
"Apparently they were trying to see if they could neutralize it, somehow. Turn it into something they could use for their own goals. I saw some stuff about 'gray incubi' acting like a supersoldier for the Order. Scary."
Saralyn began a more thorough reading of the documents. Her eyes widened. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Adrian asked, concerned.
"Oh my god. They've got prisons like this all over the world. Who knows what they could've done with their research by now?"
I began thinking of all of the possibilities. Adrian didn't want the Order to win. According to his moral compass and personal experiences, the Order weren't exactly the type of people that he would want in charge of the world. He began experiencing severe dread.
"What are we going to do? Who can we go to for help?" he asked.
Saralyn began stroking her chin in thought. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "We could go to Lescatie. They're one of the strongest mamono realms in the world, they'll know what to do."
"Alright then, Lescatie it is." He had never been to a mamono realm before, at least he never remembered going to one. The dread from earlier began to fade and was replaced by excitement and curiosity.
Adrian and Saralyn eventually entered a large area that looked like the lobby of the prison. A large sign above the entrance said "BLACK FOREST PRISON".
"Not going to be missing this place."
"You and I both."
Adrian pushed open the double doors leading outside of the prison, and was shocked by how bright it was outdoors. Being in a dark prison for several hours had messed with his eyes.
"It's so good to be outside again, don't you agree?" said Saralyn.
"Yeah." Adrian agreed as he bathed in the refreshing sunlight.
Everything was going to be just fine.
**************************
Chapter 4b: Eve of Chaos
Note that this chapter might have a bit of violence. Nothing too descriptive, but still, be warned.
Aperia
For once, Ophelia had organized a meeting with one of her angels not because they had fallen victim to the Fallen God, but because of something, or someone, that needed to be taken care of. Ophelia heard several knocks on the door of her office.
"Come in, please."
A Valkyrie wearing light, mobility based armor and an assassin's mask walked into the room. She saluted, and sat down in a chair opposite to Ophelia.
"Raniel. Good to see you're still pure."
"I would never abandon you, Matriarch."
"I've got an assignment for you. Think you and your team are up for the task?"
"They are more than ready. What is your bidding, Matriarch?"
"I'm sure you've heard the news. Word somehow got out that I was going to start a war with the Faithful, unfortunately. That complicates things. This war isn't going to be one of grandiose, epic battles. It's going to be about deceit, espionage, and stealth. Stuff right up your alley."
Ophelia's personal assassin always seemed a bit robotic for her liking. Still, she owed the world to her. In the heavenly civil war against the Chief God, both of them had saved each other's lives countless times. Ophelia wouldn't be alive without Raniel, and Raniel wouldn't be alive without Ophelia.
"Regardless, It's time we showed the Faithful that we mean business- without showing ourselves. We're going to get first blood in this war. I've located a bridge that one of their major cities, Ichoriya, uses to transport supplies in and out of the city, to all of their allies. Your job is to get rid of that bridge."
"Understood. I will not fail you. Do you have any other orders?"
"Make the destruction of the bridge look like a natural occurrence. The Faithful won't know what, or who hit them. We're outnumbered four to one here. Fighting honorably is going to get us killed. Besides, a couple weeks ago, some of Lescatie's dogs came over trying to get us to join their side. You know how they react to humans dying. We don't want them interfering."
"And while you're there, you'll need to destroy some of their farms. Hit them where it hurts the most; their food supply. Again, make it look natural."
"I understand."
"Good. You're dismissed. Don't disappoint me."
"I won't."
Raniel flew across the sky, heading to her base outside of the city. This was going to be harder than she thought. Framing an entire bridge and several farms being destroyed was going to be a tricky ordeal. She began brainstorming ways of how she would pull this off.
The most obvious method of taking out the farms would be a fire; fires destroying crops is a relatively common occurrence. However, simply blasting the fields or the bridge with a fire spell would leave traces of mana, which could expose us.
A flood might work. But where would I get that much water?
…It's winter. Maybe a snowstorm would do the trick?
What about a plague?
After a while, she landed back at her base outside of Aperia. She knocked on a seemingly inconspicuous dirt face of a small hill. It glowed white for a second, and then vanished. Raniel walked in, and the rock face reappeared.
Raniel's base of operations was small, but comfortable. A small living room with a bookshelf was connected with a slightly larger room for meetings, as well as a small kitchen. Despite angels not needing food or water, they enjoyed human food every once in a while.
"Team, we have a new assignment."
A group of angels and other valkyries quickly stood up, saluting their leader. All of them were equipped with similar, or identical gear to Raniel.
"We've been ordered by the Matriarch herself to do some demolition." Raniel addressed her team.
"Oh my, this going to be so much fu-"
"Please, This is a serious matter. The Matriarch is going to give her speech about declaring war on The Faithful in just a few days. This is going to be the first conflict, and we need to be discreet about this. If we get caught, things could get very out of hand." Raniel's team hadn't seen action for several months now, and they were getting a bit overenthusiastic.
"I apologize, boss. What are we to do?"
"We must travel to Ichoriya, one of the major suppliers for The Faithful. We have orders to destroy one of the bridges that they use to transport supplies in and out of Ichoriya. We've also been ordered to destroy the farms that they use to produce food."
"The Matriarch has asked us to frame it as a natural disaster. So, cut back on the magic, or anything that can be traced back to us. Do any of you have any questions?"
One of the new recruits for the team, Cassiel, raised her hand.
"Yes, Cassiel?"
"What if there are innocent people using the bridge?"
"We'll strike in the early morning hours. Less people using the bridge. Cassiel, do you think I would be so heartless as to murder hundreds of innocent civilians? This is a war on the leadership of The Faithful, not the citizens."
"I apologize for the question, but you said 'less' people. Not 'nobody'. Innocent people will still die." Cassiel responded, worried. She was an angel. Despite her decision to separate from the Chief God and worship the Matriarch, she still cared for humanity.
"Cassiel, you can't save everyone. There's always going to be people using the bridge, at any time of the day."
"I know. Does it have to be this way, though?"
"Yes, it does. Cassiel, I trust that you won't interfere?" Raniel was beginning to get annoyed. The recruit was holding up progress.
"I won't." Cassiel acquiesced.
"Good. Alright team, we're going to head back to Aperia to get a wagon we can use to travel to Ichoriya."
"For fucks sake, why can't we just fly there?" One of Raniel's team members complained. "We could get things done faster."
"Like I said. We need to stay discreet. Surely you wouldn't go against the Matriarch's orders, right?" Raniel asked the complainer, while sporting a smug grin on her face.
The angel looked at the ground. "No, boss."
"Good! Let's get ready. Follow me." Raniel flew off in the direction of Aperia. Her team followed close behind.
Ichoriyan Border
"Are we there yet?"
"For the love of the Matriarch, do you ever shut up?"
"You do not use the Matriarch's name in vain!"
"QUIET! We've arrived. Apply your disguises." Raniel had spent the last day or two listening to the team's bickering. Apparently, the Chief God hadn't given her servants heightened patience. Another mistake in the long, long list of mistakes she made.
Raniel's angels flashed white briefly, before reappearing as normal, albeit very pretty looking human women. Their wagon pulled up to the very bridge that they were supposed to destroy. It spanned a massive ravine, with a river at the bottom.
Raniel quickly gave out the team's orders. "Ophaniel, Nuriel, head over to the farming district. See what you can do to destroy it. Remember, make it look natural."
"Pahaliah, find us a place to stay. After that, meet up with Ophaniel and Nuriel and help them with the farming district."
"Cassiel, you're with me. Let's see how we can get rid of this bridge."
"You have your orders. Once we get into the city, we split up. We will meet back at the bridge in three hours." The team nodded their heads.
The wagon stopped at a small booth. A man inside the booth began ringing a bell, and several armored soldiers surrounded the wagon.
"What are they doing?"
"Relax, this is routine for them. They're just making sure we have nothing dangerous on us."
The man inside the both waved them past. The wagon traveled for a couple more feet through the gate, and all of them got a good look at Ichoriya for the first time. Ichoriya looked beautiful on the outside, but so did Lescatie. Raniel's angel instincts and her memories of her teachings from the Matriarch told her that there were terrible people in the city.
Terrible people like The Faithful. People that would murder, steal, and abuse their power and use the Chief God as an excuse to get away with it. How could the Chief God allow this to continue? She was reminded of her reason to rebel.
Pahaliah drove the wagon to a corner. "Everyone, out."
Everyone got out of the wagon and dispersed, going to work on their assigned tasks. Cassiel and Raniel slowly began walking to the bridge.
"Further orders?" Cassiel asked.
"Use invisibility spells. We can't get caught."
"Understood!"
Both of them applied their invisibility spells and began sprinting towards the bridge. They did not have unlimited time; Invisibility spells needed energy to maintain.
They eventually reached the bridge. Both of them snuck past the guards stationed at the bridge and went under it, to where the supports were. There were around ten supporting pillars made of a mixture of wood and stone on each side of the bridge for a total of twenty supports. All of them looked to be in great shape. But if the supports fell, the entire bridge would collapse.
"So, got any ideas boss?" Cassiel asked.
"A couple. But we need to pull this off without Ichoriya knowing it was us. Spread out, see how we can use the environment to our advantage." Raniel began scratching her chin.
"Affirmative, boss."
Raniel began flying around, still invisible, looking for things they could use to get rid of the supports. She eventually came across a massive cave several miles from the bridge.
Using up even more of her energy to enhance her vision, she entered the cave. It didn't look natural; it looked like something had carved it out. Further into the cave, she saw something sleeping. A wurm, a mamono known for being very instinct controlled and more importantly, destructive. She suddenly knew what she had to do.
Cassiel was having moral quandaries about their mission. She had joined this group because she excelled at stealth. She had expected to be a spy for the Matriarch, but now she was working with what were essentially terrorists.
Destroying the bridge that Ichoriya used to transport supplies AND several of their farms would hurt the citizens greatly. When Raniel had said that she wasn't heartless, did she even think of what the consequences of her actions were?! What about the Matriarch? She repeated time and time again that she cared for humanity, so why was she doing this?
Cassiel met back at the bridge with Raniel. "Cassiel, did you find anything we could use?"
"I believe a wildfire would be the simplest way of destroying the bridge. The foundation of the bridge is made of stone, but the pillars themselves are made of wood."
"Interesting. I found a wurm living in a cave several miles away. I say we lure it over here and have it take out the supports."
Cassiel bit her tongue. If it was a wildfire destroying the bridge, anyone on it would have time to get off. But if the supports were destroyed at once by a wurm, they would have much less time to escape.
"Boss, with all due respect, I think a wildfire would be bet-"
"Nonsense. That could be traced back to us with enough effort. A wurm would be more effective."
"..."
"No objections?"
"No." Cassiel was crestfallen. This was going to happen whether she liked it or not.
"Good. We will carry out our plan at midnight."
"Understood…"
"Good. Let's see what the others are up to."
Cassiel and Raniel went back to the entrance of the bridge, where the rest of the group were waiting. All of them had smug smiles on their faces; Not a good sign for Cassiel. There was going to be a lot of destruction tonight.
"Ophaniel, Nuriel, how did your investigation of the farming district go?"
"Splendidly. We located several devices that The Faithful use to irrigate all of their crops. We'll replace the water with lantern fluid, and when the time comes, we'll light the farms up. How did things go with the bridge?"
"I found a wurm cave near the bridge. We're going to lure it to the bridge supports to destroy them."
"Sounds good. When should we destroy the fields?"
"A day from now. The bridge comes down first. If we destroy both of them at once, people are going to get suspicious. Aperia's already not on good terms with The Faithful; we don't need them putting two and two just yet." Raniel said.
"Understood."
"Good. Pahaliah, where are we staying tonight?"
"I bought a couple rooms in a small hotel on Chief Street. Follow me." Pahaliah led the group down the streets.
A wurm laid in her cave, sleeping contentedly, dreaming of her future husband. She dreamed of all the things they would do together. They would eat together, sleep together, cuddle, and best of all, make sweet, sweet love to each other every single night.
The wurm's dreams were interrupted by footsteps coming from the outside of her cave. She opened her eyes, and yawned. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she saw someone standing a few yards away from her. Looking closely, she saw a man.
"Follow me." the man said.
The wurm jumped up, squeaking excitedly. "Husbaaaaaaaandd!" she yelled with joy. She began slithering towards him, but he began running away. No matter, she would catch him no matter what.
She exited the cave, looking for the man. She saw him, farther away, next to a tree. Nothing stood in her way. Trees and rocks folded under her as she began to advance towards the man.
He began running faster, even being fast enough to stay ahead of the wurm. That just made the wurm even more excited. Men that quick on their feet are rare these days.
Eventually, the wurm reached an area with lots of tall looking pillars. She saw her man hiding behind one of the pillars. She smashed through it, only to find him hiding behind another one. She destroyed that one too. This repeated itself twenty times.
Eventually after the last pillar was destroyed, the wurm looked around. No man to be seen. Disappointed, she began heading back to her cave to rest.
Cassiel watched as the bridge groaned and began folding inwards. Eventually, it collapsed into the ravine, kicking up into a huge dust cloud. She had seen a couple wagons atop the bridge before it collapsed. A group of unfortunate people, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Before she could mourn their losses more, Raniel reappeared next to her.
"That was too close. Wurms are insane. Glad I pulled it off, though. Come on, let's get out of here."
"Yeah…" Cassiel said without looking at her.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah, it better be nothing. Are you having moral quandaries again?"
"It's nothing. Trust me, I've gotten over it." Cassiel lied.