by Adam Drake
“I don't know. I'm too craven to go look myself, but the screams stopped a short while ago. Terrifying.”
“Let's go check out the square,” Mudhoof said. “Beats hiding in here.”
Perrin's eyes went wide. “No! The noises alone were terrible. It sounded as if people were being eaten alive!”
Mudhoof laughed. “Now this I got to see for myself.”
Before I could suggest a more cautious approach, Mudhoof went back out into the street. Thorm shrugged and followed. Feign looked to me.
“Not the wisest approach,” the ice mage said. “But we best go after them. Safety in numbers.”
As Feign and I left the building I said to Perrin, “Stay put and don't go near the windows. We'll set things right soon enough.” The game usually gave extra experience points if you treated the non-player characters like real people.
“You poor fools,” Perrin said, shaking his head sadly. “You're going to your doom!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Once back in the empty street we all filed in behind Mudhoof who made his way toward the center of town.
“I hate skulking around,” he said by way of explaining himself.
“Then you'd make a lousy thief,” Thorm said with a smile.
“True enough,” Mudhoof said. “But I can't stand waiting for things to happen. Got to forge ahead. We still have that other group out here somewhere and I don't think they'd be spending their time stuck in a building talking to an egg-head.”
Before anyone say anything else, Mudhoof held up his hand. “We're here,” he said.
We entered the town square. It was large and tiered down by several levels like a stadium. On the lowest level, at its center, sat a well. A strange set up by any medieval town's standards.
But that wasn't the strangest part of all.
There were people here. Hundreds of them. They looked to be townsfolk and all of them stood bunched together in a big crowd. But no one moved. Still as statues. And each were facing in one direction – toward the center, at the well.
“What the heck?” Muttered Thorm while he adjusted the grip on his great broadsword.
Not one person gave us so much as a glance. It was as if we didn't exist. Their entire focus was the well.
I looked at the people closest. They were dirty and their clothes disheveled as if they'd been fighting. But there was one detail that caused even greater concern other than their strange behavior.
They all had black veins marbled in their flesh.
“Oh, dear,” said Feign.
“Told ya,” Mudhoof said to me.
“What?” I asked, nervously surveying the huge rabble.
“All bottled up,” Mudhoof said. His confidence faltered a little at the sight of so many potential mutants. Each one could become as crazed and powerful as the mayor who nearly wiped us out all on his own.
I looked over the crowd, trying to guess their number. The game picked up on this and gave it to me: 1,006.
“Maybe we should just turn around and...” I said before the ground beneath our feet shook. The vibration was so hard the masonry of the nearby buildings cracked and windows shattered.
Our group fought to keep their balance. I used my sure-footed ability which locked my feet to the ground. The others didn't have it so easy.
Oblivious to the earthquake, the huge crowd of townspeople did not react at all, nor did any of them fall over. They continued staring at the well.
“What is going on?” Thorm asked.
As if in answer to his question, the well at the center of the square cracked violently. It rented apart and the ground beneath it heaved.
“Something is making an entrance,” said Feign, he held a cluster of snowballs in the crook of one arm, and one in his hand at the ready.
“Not good, my sweet!” Phlixx said, as he perched on my shoulder, little crossbow with a flaming bolt pointed toward the crowd.
The gap of the broken well widened with the force of something underneath pushing upwards. Then a humanoid figure emerged out from the large hole, cobblestone and earth crumbling around it.
It was clad in black armor. Fiery yellow eyes smoldered from within its helmet and it held a massive wooden staff in one hand. The being now stood towering above us in the center of the square. Everyone looked up at it; so tall that its head was higher than the buildings.
We stood frozen in shock. This guy was big. Really big.
“I think we should be leaving now,” said Feign as he hefted a snowball.
Before I could say anything, the being spoke.
“My children,” it said. Its voice was deep and resonant. “The time has come for a new beginning.”
I recognized that voice. It was the same which the mutant-mayor had used.
The being continued. “For thousands of years I have waited. Waited for the opportunity to return to this realm and cleans it of the vermin which has overrun it.”
The townsfolk stared up at the being with obvious reverence. Their black-veined affliction making mindless worshipers of this being. They hung on its every word.
A name appeared above the head of the being. 'Demon King' and then in brackets beside it 'GOD'.
“FILTERED!” said Mudhoof.
I couldn't agree more.
“I am the one true overlord of all. To show your supplication to me you must cleanse the world in my name,” the Demon King said. He turned his huge head and leveled our group with a hot yellow glare. He pointed at us. “Starting with them!”
Every individual town person immediately whipped their heads around to lock onto us. The sight of a thousand angry stares unnerved me.
Then I said the only logical thing that came to mind at that very moment.
“Run!”
CHAPTER NINE
No one reacted the instant I yelled. Instead, everyone looked to each other to see who would run first.
“Let's go guys, no heroics now,” I said. That seemed to get them walking backwards, weapons at the ready.
The horde of town folk continued to glare at us, but unmoving. The Demon King still pointed at us, his yellow eyes smoldering fiercely.
Then, with some unspoken command, the people suddenly shrieked and screamed at us. Eyes wild, hands now clawed at the air but they didn't move.
“Come on, go!” Mudhoof shouted. He was trying to be the last to leave.
As we all began to head back to the main street, the Demon King shouted, “Die!”
Like a pent up wave of energy the town folk surged forward.
“Go! Go! Go!” I yelled.
Thorm was to my left and Feign was in front of me. Mudhoof was only a few steps behind, huge ax at the ready. His hooves clomped on the cobblestone as he ran to pick up the pace.
We'd barely made it a few buildings down from the square entrance when the crowd of people crashed into the street like a human wave. Frantic, angry and insane with whatever evil infected them, they scrambled over each other to get to us.
Feign lobbed rapid fire snowballs at them. The ones which struck the ground instantly created a large patch of ice on the cobblestone. People tumbled and fell onto the ice patch, but the ones behind simply clamored over their fallen comrades like they didn't exist. When Feign hit a person, they became an icy statue which the others surged around.
I called up a full quiver of arrows, choosing simple ones which I could fire en masse. Running backwards, and shooting a bow wasn't easy, but the thick cluster of people ensured I always hit someone. When they fell, they simply vanished under the ceaseless wave of feet.
“Where do we go?” Mudhoof called to me as if I had any idea. At that moment a crazed black-veined woman got within reach of him. He swung his ax, and the woman screamed and collapsed. There was very little blood because I had my blood-and-gore setting turned down to the minimum available.
“Back to the lake?” Thorm shouted over the screams. When someone got too close to him, he opted to pulse his protective shield which acted l
ike an invisible wall for them to bounce off of.
“The old mine!” I said. “There is nowhere else I can think of. We don't know of anywhere else!”
We continued to backpedal, barely keeping the pursuing crowd at bay. For a moment, something caught my eye, and I looked up. Perrin was looking down from a window in horror. Then he backed away out of sight.
There was nothing I could do for him, even if I was supposed to help him at all. Right now we were in pure survival mode.
“I hate getting zerged!” Mudhoof said, swinging his ax back and forth. Cleaved halves of crazy town folk tumbled away in his wake.
We reached the edge of the town at the point we first entered. A cheerful little bridge arched over a river here.
“Get to the other side, quick!” Thorm said.
Not needing encouragement we stopped attacking, turned and ran across the bridge.
As we got to the other side Feign said, “I'm going to try something.” The mage stopped and turned back to face the horde of people racing toward the bridge.
Our group stopped, tense and breathing heavily. “Why are we stopping, my love?” Phlixx said as he clutched at my shoulder. He looked more nervous than I was.
Feign raised his arms and called out a spell. Suddenly, a dark cloud formed above the bridge. “Stand back,” Feign warned.
As the first of the rabid people crossed the bridge, the dark cloud erupted with hail. But it did not produce ordinary hail stones. These were huge, the size of basket balls.
Gigantic hail stones bombarded the bridge and crushed everyone underneath it. But despite the obvious damage it did, the people still ran frantically into the storm and were crushed.
“It will only last a few moments!” Feign called out over the horrific noise the hail made.
Down the trail we fled, and into the forest.
CHAPTER TEN
As we ran, the noise behind us subsided.
“So, the mine? That's where we're going?” Thorm said.
Muttering with frustration I called up my quest log while maintaining my run.
'You must escape to the Old Mine or perish.'
I barked a laugh and closed the screen. “Well, that's helpful,” I said.
“This is crazy!” Mudhoof said. “Since when did quests go all nuts like this? Where's a princess to save? A dragon to slay?”
“Legendary Quests change things up,” Feign said, his robes whipped around him as he ran. “I think what just happened reflects that.”
We reached the fork with the signs. Without even slowing we all turned onto the northern trail and kept running. Behind us, distant but closing fast, came the screams of our pursuers.
This trail took us through to the other side of the valley. The forest ended, and we emerged at the foot of the mountains. Sheer, steep rock walls towered above us. Ore carts sat on a short rail line which led to the foot of the mountain. A large entrance could be seen.
“The mine!” I said.
From behind, the shouts and screams of the insane crowd became much louder.
“They'll be here any minute,” said Mudhoof. “Let's get inside!”
We hurried down the rail line until we reached the mine entrance. I stopped and frowned.
A huge metal door sealed the way into the mine. It shimmered with a dull silver light.
Mudhoof and Thorm pushed at the door but it didn't budge. The shimmering increased when they touched it.
“It's magically held,” Feign said, looking worried. “And from what I can tell it is quite powerful.”
The terrifying yells undulated from the forest. I could now see figures approaching on the trail and from the surrounding trees. We were running out of time.
“Stand back!” Mudhoof said. He raised his uber ax and swung at the door. The metal shimmered with the impact but he didn't even scratch it.
“Let me try this,” Feign said. He threw a snowball and when it struck the metal, the entire door became frozen. “Hit it again,” he said.
Mudhoof did. The ice on the door shattered away and the metal door showed a deep gash.
“That's it,” I said. “Mudhoof and Feign, you two keep at it. Thorm and I will slow those freaks down to buy you time.”
They did not need encouragement as Feign threw another snowball and Mudhoof swung again.
I nodded to Thorm, “Let's do this.” The Holy Knight nodded in return and we raced up along the rail line.
We halted several dozen paces up from the entrance. Mounds of rock and ore were piled up on either side. It formed a gully in which I hoped would keep us from being flanked and funnel the town folk toward us.
“I have to admit something,” said Thorm. The steel of his great broadsword glinted with sunlight.
“What's that?” I said. A scattering of people broke from the trees and charged at us.
“I'm having a lot of fun,” he said, and smirked. His mustache arched comically with his mischievous smile.
I laughed, despite myself. “Yeah, me too.”
Behind us the reverberations boomed as the others continued to hammer at the door.
Suddenly, a pair of townspeople scrabbled over a pile of ore to our side and leapt at us.
Thankfully, Phlixx saw them first and shouted a warning.
I instantly switched the bow in my grip to my sword and swung, catching one of them across the chest. He collapsed. Thorm easily dispatched the other one.
“Vee,” Thorm said, as he took out another surprise attacker. “What's that over there?” I looked to where he nodded.
Back along the rail line and wedged up against the rocks was a shack.
“Dunno,” I said. “Outhouse?” I switched to my bow and fired into the oncoming crowd. They would be on us soon.
“Or maybe a way into the mines?” Thorm suggested. He pulsed his magical barrier and two people bounced off it. The knight quickly took them out.
He could be right. This was a game after all. If we were supposed to gain entrance to the mine, perhaps the method was nearby.
Thorm glanced at me. “Go!” he said. “Take a quick look. I'll hold them back.”
There was no time to debate this, but it pained me to leave him here alone against such great odds. Still, I nodded once and moved backwards a few steps, firing several volleys into the approaching mass.
The horde was now streaming from the trees and charging at Thorm in a full run.
“Go!” Thorm shouted. He swung his broadsword, doing his best to keep from being surrounded.
I turned and ran. The second I crossed into the shadows of the looming rock face I switched on my Shadow ability. Hopefully, this would give me several seconds before the crowd noticed me.
The shack door was chained and fastened with a padlock. I barked a laugh, swung my sword at the wood of the door and shattered it. Inside was an array of mining tools; pickaxes, shovels, a wheel-barrel. Nothing obvious that would unseal a magically closed door.
“Oh,” said Phlixx from my shoulder. “Look, candy!” He pointed a stack of crates, one of which was open. In it was an even row of red sticks.
Dynamite.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I scooped up a handful of dynamite and put them in my inventory. When I tried to grab more I stopped. The rest looked rotted through and probably unstable.
“These will have to do,” I said. Outside I looked to Thorm.
The Holy Knight had been forced back several steps and was swinging wildly. He was no longer using his magical barrier. No doubt, he had exhausted its limit and was waiting for it to recharge.
Then the surge overtook him, dozens of people clamoring over him. He was instantly smothered and couldn't swing his sword.
“Thorm!” I shouted and began in his direction to help.
But before I could take more than a couple of running steps, a bright light exploded from under the mass of people. It grew in intensity, like a sun, and I had to look away and close my eyes. People shrieked, not in rage, but in agony.
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After a few moments, the light faded, and I looked.
Thorm stood with his armor glowing brightly. At his feet and all around him were mounds of white ash which were picked up by the wind. The people that attacked him and those within several dozen paces had been completely incinerated.
