Chapter 31: They All Fall

For the first twenty years, the system was gone. All we saw was a useless screen, doing nothing. Without our strongholds, humanity would’ve gone extinct. As it is, there is only the people here, incapable of contacting the other strongholds. We cower, and we pray that the monsters and undead that stalk the night won’t dare to test our walls. Every day, more of us are taken by the horrors outside, our hunger, and our despair. Slowly, the levels are coming back to us, but they do nothing, the skills they define inaccessible. We rely on the slight boosts in strength, and clarity they give to wield steel against terrors beyond imagining.

• The Fall, by Alve Tamor

“Hand everything from that room over, and we’ll let you live.” One of the red cloaked men says, full plate armor briefly visible under the cloth as he shifts.

I share a look with Keve.

I step forward, as my offhand reaches for the wand in pocket. I should be able to put a simple spell circle together for a fireball, and catch one of them by surprise.

Transformation, fire, projectile, held in the simplest circle that Shar had taught me. It wouldn’t do much, but it would be a distraction.

“There was nothing there.” I call to them, “Just an empty room with the statue of Kolas.”

The warrior raises his eyebrow, and opens his mouth.

Lyla steps forward, placing her hand on his shoulder. She glances at the mage who is still putting his mana towards something.

“Leo, right? I’ve heard of you, Delver. There was something in there, and if you give it to them, they will let you live.” There was something pleading in her gaze.

I look at her for a long moment, then shake my head. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” Mana surrounds her, but it’s unlike the spellscript I’ve seen before. Internal Magic of some kind, from her unique class.

The mage behind her chants something as symbols gather to him, and the warriors run forward, as the rogue disappears.

Keve steps forward and I cast the fireball towards the lead warrior.

Then Lyla finishes her magic. Strings of pure dark mana extend from her, hitting the mage first, then the warriors, and finally the rogue on the ceiling above us. The strings of mana pulls orbs from each of them to her, then disappear, except for the one connected to the mage, which struggles with effort.

Like flies, they drop, the warriors falling off the path and into the waters, the rogue making an even larger splash. The mage screams as he finally jumps away and snaps the string of mana connected to him.

The Mage’s summoning spell glows as he forces mana into it, but Shar swoops down from the air, her claws piercing his eyes, and disrupting the spell.

Keve is there a second later, a path of flame spreading from his feet as his sword cuts through the mages neck.

We all stand there as the mage drops to the floor.

Lyla takes a breath, then lets it out. “I hate you both.”

I lower my wand, and dismiss the message to stare at the woman.

She turns to Keve as I walk over to the two of them, her words reach the edge of my hearing, my increased perception barely understanding them. “I trusted your words, all that time ago, do they still hold true, Keve?”

Keve nods, but doesn’t lower his swords, “They do.”

“Good.” She pauses, her gaze going sad as she looks at the men on the ground, before hardening. She closes her eyes, then reopens them to focus on me as I stop at the end of the path over the water.

“Follow me.” She says.

She turns around and walks towards the exit. I give a look towards Keve, but he just motions with his head to follow her as he sheathes his swords and lowers his scarf.

I sheathe my sword as well, and jog past the dead mage. I pull out my lightstone, illuminating Lyla on the other side of the door, her eyes opening as I walk towards her. She gives me a tired smile.

“It is good to see you again. Both of you.” She looks at Keve as he walks up beside us. “You’ll need to leave through a different exit. There’s more of them up top.”

“You’re different.” Keve says, making her stumble just as she starts to take a step.

She looks at him, tears on the edge of her eyes.

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“How’d you end up here?” I ask.

She seems grateful for the question, as she turns towards me, “Not many… accept someone like me. Do you know another way out of here?”

I shake my head, “No, but the undead guarding the place does.”

Lyla frowns, then motions for us to follow her through the catacombs.

“You betrayed them easily.” Keve’s eyes are unreadable as the three of us walk through the labyrinthine structure.

She glances behind to look at him, then looks away, her eyes meeting mine. She hesitates for a second before responding “I had nowhere else to turn, and they were a lesser evil. They were not good people.”

We are silent after that. She seems to know where she’s going, so I let her lead.

Her shoulders are tense, and that same wariness that she carried when we first met still covers her. But she’s harder now, scarred even further.

Her green eyes meet mine, and I don’t look away. She’s acting like it doesn’t bother her, but the men she just killed haven’t left her mind.

Yes, we’d been kind to her, but that doesn’t explain why she’d turned on them so easily.

She looks away first, and makes a right turn.

We stop in front of a body lying against the wall, his gaze vacant, and a familiar ring resting on its finger. She reaches towards her mouth, and pulls one of the orbs she took from the demon worshippers out, then gently places it back into the body.

Nothing happens for a moment.