-Callen-

  While I didn’t respond as quickly as Sis when they shut the gate, I didn’t waste a single moment. Whoever it was attacking us knew what kind of consequences this kind of ambush would entail. Which meant they felt confident they could handle both our guards and that they could clean up the aftermath. With my sense of mana identifying the intricate runework that was more than equipped to repel any invader who mistakes the gate as a weak point. Had I needed to contend with every defensive measure built into the gate, it's likely we would be swimming in burning oil or doused in flames with nowhere to run.

  However, while the means of killing all intruders were diverse and multilayered, conveniently there was only one means of nonlethal attack. A mass sleeping gas dispersal system. While I quickly evaluated the runic dangers facing us, Sis paid close attention to the demands. I stretched out my mana zone, covering the key trigger points. Then the moment fighting was inevitable, I acted, splitting my attention between dozens of different threats, overwriting and collapsing the runic structures. It took all my attention, but I trusted Sis to handle any serious threats while I froze and disarmed the runic dispensers.

  I checked the gate behind me briefly but decisively gave up on it. The gate was designed to resist all outside forces, and much like the earthkin mad scientist’s secret lab, it would’ve taken an extended time to finesse my way through it. I opened my eyes and evaluated the situation in front of us. Sis was still ok, but she had taken to riding on the shoulders of a larger guard, giving her an open range to bring hell as a mobile turret of death. Despite that, a large number of our guards had been pulled back from the front, having suffered severe injuries in the initial confrontation. Since Sis seemed to have the front covered, I reached out with mana strings, trying to split my attention between the wounded to get them sufficiently treated and back on their feet.

  Gradually the enemies withdrew from the gate tunnel, instead moving off to the sides for cover. Sensing a change in the runes above, I recognized the imminent danger. It seems now that Callia had shot so many of them they were willing to risk the lethal options in the gate. Along the edges of the tunnel runes glowed moments before sending continuous gouts of fire, but I was relatively fresh with mana, and as the fire started, I countered by creating multiple water creation runes acting as a wall between us and the fire. While it wouldn’t last long, thankfully Reginald recognized that and signaled the guards to charge.

  As we exited the tunnel, the enemy was well prepared for us. Men who had been hiding around the edges of the gate charged forward, desperately trying to hold us inside the oven that the gate had become. Anyone who pushed forward too far would get met with a barrage of arrows from the wall above us. I tweaked my runes slightly to adjust the form of water being summoned into ice. Which took a small chunk of mana, but I am still well over half. I give Callia a look and get a nod in return. Taking point, Sis bursts through the fragile frontline, tearing open a gap for me to follow. Arrows rain down towards us, but a well-placed boulder completely blocks the initial volley. Sis switches targets and starts butchering the archers above.

  The soldiers on the ground, seeing Callia distracted, waste no time rushing over to try cutting us down, but I wasn’t going to let them. Multiple lightning runes form around me, blasting the foremost in the charge to ash. Our guards break through the opening, catching up to us.

  “Quickly to the manor!” Reginald points the way with his sword, and the group begins to move. Sis suddenly alerts me of imminent danger. It takes barely a moment to notice the wooden skyscraper next to the road cracking under its weight and beginning to collapse. I flip out my earth-shaping wand, pouring just about everything I can spare, forming a dome around us just as the tower gives out. Sis pulls me close as the sound of screams and splintering crashes down all around us. Eventually, all that is left is silence and the occasional weak cry of distress.

  In the quiet I move over to complete any of the rushed treatments from earlier. Sis seems to be the only one left on guard, but I can tell she hasn’t noticed any immediate issues. After I finish treating the guards, I sit down and try to recover, but Reginald impatiently grabs my shoulder.

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  “Callen, my people are out there; can you lift the dome? I can’t hide while every moment counts!” I can only nod as I hand over the earth-shaping wand.

  “The wand burns mana fast, but it lets you shape earth in accordance with your will. I’m nearly exhausted, but if you bring me injured, I’ll do my best to stabilize them.” I do a quick supply check on our void. The original boxes and boxes of arrows that we had spent a fortune on for this trip had nearly been exhausted; my wand collection was still intact, but for the first time I was kind of realizing how redundant they were when I could do everything the wands did with runecasting. I suppose they would still be useful for Callia if we ever got separated. The only things we seemed to have in abundance were food and stored rations. I had recently noticed that nothing stored in the void seemed to decay.

  Reginald got to work carving an exit to the dome on the city side, and the guards got to work pulling debris through. Callia went over to contribute, shifting various chunks of wood into the void while directing the others towards the most critically injured. I would’ve liked to rest, but there was no mercy for me as I was busy treating the people being rescued. It’s hard to tell how long we were stuck down there, but eventually the sound of people digging reached us. Not long later light began to peek through the gaps in wreckage, and we were able to confirm those digging us up were in fact guards who were responding to the emergency.

  The dome was a full-on emergency hospital with well over a hundred people laid out and more still coming. My break finally came as healers were let in and took over treating the injured. Callia, Reginald, and I were all immediately evacuated to the manor, where security was raised to the maximum. As night set I couldn’t seem to relax, so I looked out from the balcony from my room into the night sky. I closed my eyes and reached out to Nightshade.

  Nightshade's greeting was ‘The gentle rest of a flower waiting for the return of a new day.’ I tried to picture my feelings of today in a way that Nightshade might describe it and responded with, ‘A rampaging bear trying to find food but trampling everything and leaving a field in ruin.’ A mix of my anger at the intentional collateral damage harming everyone in that tower just to try to get me. Nightshade offered an update of our garden back home. Soon images of how the town had been flickered through my mind like memories of my own.

  I had been hoping for something relieving, but instead it was more like a miniature disaster report. All kinds of small issues, from random infrastructure collapses to freak accidents. It wasn’t every day, but it was as if the town was cursed. Even Nightshade, who had been searching for the source, couldn’t seem to understand what was happening. Worse was how much pressure Crescent was under as more and more people started blaming her for the curse. She had even moved out of Hew’s house and had a small hut set up in a remote corner of town. I felt relief seeing Mom, Nixie, and Reesia insisting on staying by her side. I conveyed a request to Nightshade that she grow a gibbous moon-shaped flower for her somewhere she would see it. An uncomfortable feeling made me want to turn back now, but we had already passed the hardest part of our trip, and it would dishonor all of the men who had given their lives on the trip thus far to turn back.

  A Moment Too Late

  Varner and his team rushed to support their heir Reginald but stopped outside the gate. The entire building was overrun by gangs. It seemed the pawns of every gang had overrun the gate, making passing through it a death sentence. He sent another man to the manor to alert them about the situation. On the bright side, Varner now knew where the ambush would take place. He moved his team into a nearby building to keep watch and move in as support once the fighting started.

  As Varner entered the building, his man immediately informed him of the heir’s arrival. He was about to turn around to provide what limited support he could when the sound of a saw caught his attention. Turning back in, he found the core structure of the building and a band of wide-eyed madmen who were frothing at the mouth while giggling. The shaved wood on the ground spoke volumes about how much damage they had done to the structure.

  Without hesitation, he and his men cut down every psycho in the building. Methodically he and his team swept through the building, abandoning the intent of supporting the heir against the ambush and instead trying to root out the disaster before it was too late. It was clear that all the civilians in the lower levels had been wiped out, but that didn’t mean there weren’t others above. Varner still had the opportunity to turn back and support the heir, but he had always stood for one thing: to protect the common people. With swift and decisive leadership, he had his men start evacuating civilians from the critically damaged building while it still stood.

  When the building's foundation finally gave way, he stayed behind, grabbing a young child and throwing her to safety on a neighboring building. Varner felt as if the weight of the world had fallen upon him as the wood pressed down. His vision went blurry, and darkness came before light could reach him.

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