58: Disaster

We stopped, watching in both awe and horror, as a giant fissure split open along the mountainside, followed by the strongest tremor yet.

 

The streets erupted with panic and fear. Buildings cracked at their foundations, people screamed, and all eyes turned to the mountain as the fracture widened.

 

Then, with a deafening bang, we saw it.

 

An absolute behemoth—a massive, round-bodied dragon—burst free from the mountain. Boulders tumbled down in its wake, each one enormous even from this distance. I could only imagine their true scale up close.

 

The city dissolved into chaos. Bells tolled, adventurers and guards rushed toward the mountainside, while others fled in terror.

 

My stomach turned cold. Did the dragon know we had its kin?

 

It forced its way free, wings unfurling in a display so vast it stole my breath. With a roar that shook the very ground, it announced its presence to the world—an awe-inspiring, terrible sound.

 

Half-panicked, I blurted, “Do we run?”

 

I expected Hari to answer, but it was Milo who spoke instead.

“No point. We can’t outrun that if it’s coming for us.”

 

We watched as the dragon launched from the mountainside, gliding into the sky. Its sheer size made it seem as though time slowed, but the avalanche of rocks that followed it came fast, crashing down the slopes.

 

Was this it?

 

With only a few beats of its colossal wings, it was over the city, its shadow swallowing everything beneath. But its gaze wasn’t on us.

 

No… it was on the Temple.

 

The next moment, the loudest boom I had ever heard tore through the world. Pain split my skull as I collapsed to my knees, clutching my ears. Around me, others did the same.

 

I forced my eyes upward—and froze.

 

The Temple was gone. Not just the Temple—half the hill itself had been obliterated.

 

A rain of stone and debris followed, hammering down upon the city. Screams filled the air, cries of terror and pain blending into one. Everyone around me also fell to their knees, eyes wide, hands pressed to their ears.

 

We were going to die.

 

That was all I could think as I watched. Then, with two heavy flaps of its wings, the dragon lifted off and began to fly again, heading east.

 

It didn’t take long before the shadow cleared from over the city. We watched the dragon gliding away, but the screams still carried, and rocks continued pelting down from above.

 

I didn’t dare look up through the rain of stone and dust, but I caught sight of Milo. He was using air magic to shield himself, so I edged closer, slipping into his bubble-like pocket of safety. From there, I saw the devastation that had been left behind.

 

The Temple was no more—completely obliterated. The mountain peak above had been sundered open. Something hot trickled down my neck. When I reached up to touch it, my fingers came away smeared with blood and grit.

 

I was bleeding?

 

I couldn’t tell where from. Nothing hurt—other than the ringing in my ears. Probing further, I found the sticky mixture of blood and dirt at the sides of my head. It was coming from my ears.

 

Notifications:

 

You have suffered 29 damage!

 

Hari was the first to pull himself together.

 

I saw him shouting, but his voice was muffled, words blurred and distant.

 

“We need to go help protect the city from the incoming rockslide!” he cried.

 

“Liane, stay with Trevor! Everyone else, move now!” He called, and the others nodded before sprinting towards the mountain side of the city.

 

I felt Liane’s hand on my shoulder. When I turned, I could tell she was saying something, but it was just muffled, and I could not hear her properly. I pointed at my ears so she could know I couldn’t hear, when her eyes went wide and a small red vial appeared in her hands, before the liquid inside was forced down my throat.

 

It only took a moment before the sound returned to normal, and part of me wished it hadn’t. The screaming and crying I had heard before became almost deafening. All around me, I heard people yelling.

 

“Trevor, focus on me for a second,” I heard, and turned to see Liane looking at me.

 

“We need to move to safety. Are you okay to move?” she asked.

 

I just nodded, and we started running at a steady pace, with Crisplet in his brazier by my side.

 

I kept seeing adventure groups running past us, heading the opposite way towards the mountain.

 

“Where… where are we heading?” I asked, still following Liane.

 

“We’re heading as far away from that mountain as we can right now. I can’t imagine how much rock is about to come crashing down into the city.”

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As we ran through the streets, I noticed more and more damage. Many buildings stood with their roofs collapsed, some entire walls had fallen down. On the streets themselves, I saw groups huddled together; some were crying, some were just holding on tight to family as they looked towards the destruction.

 

Wherever we ran, nothing was free of damage.

 

It took a while, and we didn’t stop running, but we reached the far side of the city, the dockside.

 

We joined an ever-growing crowd there that were all in different states of shock, some looking to the mountain with tears in their eyes, others crying and sobbing.

 

All around me, I saw suffering.

 

The bells of the city were still ringing loudly, indicating a threat.

 

It was several hours before the bells went silent. We had just been standing there the whole time as more and more people collected at the docks. There would have been thousands of people now.

 

When the bells went quiet, people started getting to their feet and moving back into the city, many wondering what state their homes and livelihoods would be in.

 

Myself, I didn’t know what to think. I had sat there the whole time just feeling like it was all my fault. I caused this. I had been the reason so many had suffered, so many had been injured… and I’m sure people lost their lives today.

 

Because of me.

 

Liane lifted me to my feet and said something, but again I didn’t quite hear it.

 

“Trev, need you to focus again. Look at me,” she whispered. My eyes focused on her as she stood in front of me.

 

“We are going to find the others. We’ll head towards the stables. That’s our meetup spot in emergencies, so let’s go,” she said, her hand on my shoulder as she shuffled me through the crowds of people.