DREADWOLF

◈ Chapter 115:

Rain pressed back against the alley wall as a message runner passed by, completely unaware that their letter stuffed bag was mere inches from an enormous invisible monster.

 

The runner passed and Rain let out a long raggedy breath. 

 

“Shush! don't breathe so hard! Your breaths at your size are way too much! ”

 

Rain raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, eyeing the sheep girl clutching his ears.

 

“My throat is still hurt after...”

 

“Uh- oh, r-right, s-sorry! I d-didn’t mean-!”

 

“It’s fine Lyra, we’ll be fine...”

 

He felt the sheep girl's thighs clench around his neck but she didn't reply, her worries clear in their own way. After a moment he eased away from the wall, slipping from the alley they were secluded in out into the streets of Silvara. 

 

The town remained relatively uncrowded, that is apart from the occasional guard rushing by which caused Rain to swiftly step into the nearest alley for fear of elves. Despite that it didn't take them long to reach the tall outer wall of the town.

 

He gazed up at it. Lynthia’s walls had been crumbling and unkempt, no Ranker of Lynthia caring enough to spend the money needed to maintain them in centuries, or update their enchantments. However these walls were formed of fresh clean masonry, all sharp lines and unweathered stone and hundreds of runes were subtly carved across the wall's surface forming an interlocking geometric pattern, nothing like the vast crudely shaped runes of Lynthia.

 

He lifted a paw, but then hesitated.

 

“I... don't know if this is a good idea.”

 

“What are you doing?” hissed Opal who was still held carefully under one arm. “Break it and climb the wall and let's get out of this leveler shit hole already!”

 

“I think I have to agree with Rain,” murmured Lyra, “I don't know if this wall could be part damaged like in Lynthia, it’s way way more modern, just destroying one rune doesn't necessarily mean anything and whatever magic is woven into it may stay up or trigger. Uhm, meaning setting of a town wide alarm, or some magical trap going off, a flame trap, or something.”

 

Rain lowered his paw. “If we can get out though a gate we should. I want to at least check before I’m forced to climb these walls.”

 

He turned and slipped back through the streets and alleys, carefully navigating between pedestrians.

 

The part of the wall they had come up against was near where they had come in so it didn't take long to find what he was looking for, the streets converging on a square, the town entrance at the far end, the portcullis raised, freedom in view, rolling fields of lush summer grass framed by the arch of the gatehouse. 

 

The problem was the guards clustered in front of it, or more specifically the elven guards with violet spectacles dangling from their necks.

 

“Not good,” whispered Lyra, “We’re never going to get past that lot!” She tugged frantically at his right ear trying to steer him into an alley. He shrugged his shoulders causing her to bounce with a yelp and quickly stop.

 

He still stepped back a bit, hiding behind a house, yellow eyes peeking around the edge, Lyra above peeking too, and a struggling Opal below trying to peek with them.

 

The crowd of guards parted and Rain was dismayed to see what had their attention. It was the family of elves. The very loud and very unhappy family of elves.

 

“I demand you do something!” shrieked the female Elf.

 

“Let us by you fools, we’re not staying with that thing inside the walls!”

 

“Please calm yourselves,” said one of the guards, “We are checking on what you spoke of right as we spe-

 

“Your people are already dead! You don't know what I- what we saw!”

 

The guard scratched his brow and frowned.

 

“I somehow doubt that. In any case you will be waiting here as the captain has questions for you.”

 

“I’m not stay-” the female Elf glanced down at the child pulling at her leg. “Will you stop doing that, please darling, this isn't the time.”

 

“B-but!”

 

The Elf placed her hand on the girls head and gently pushed her away, attention already returning to the guard and completely missing the small raised arm, finger vaguely pointing in Rain’s direction.

 

Rain pulled back with a grimace. The Elven child had noticed Lyra’s ability, the use of magic. Not good. 

 

“I don't think we have a choice wolfy,” murmured Opal, “Unless there's another gate out of here?”

 

“There are two more gatehouses I believe. Maybe we’ll get lucky?”

 

Rain nodded in agreement and was about to retreat into the alley when something caught the edge of his hearing. He turned and blinked as something moving incredibly fast darted into the distant end of the street, something making a lot of noise, something tossing people aside as it rammed past in a frenzied stampede.

 

The guards' voices slowly faltered as they turned to see what it was.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

Screamed the Lapine clutching the stumps of his ears as he rocketed past, a flecked mist of blood left in his wake, eyes rolling wildly in blind animal panic.

 

The group of guards watched him pass in frozen silence, then half of them cried STOP! And raced after him.

 

The female Elf jogged after them, “SEE! SEE! I told you! We are all going to die in here!! Did you listen to me? Nooo!”

 

The male Elf groaned and dragged his hands over his sweaty face in clear frustration and chased after her. “Dear stop! We- we need to get ou-

 

“No! I need them to know I was right! This is important!”

 

Rain seeing his chance slipped from the alley and slinked around the edge of the square, edging quickly toward the gatehouse and freedom. Only the elf child remained of the elves to notice them, her head tracking them with wide eyes, clearly unsure what it was she was sensing or if she should speak up.

 

Her chance passed and then they were out.

 

They slipped free from the gatehouse and emerged onto the road and then into the long grass, nothing to stop them, they had made it out undetected.

 

“Woo!” cried Opal

 

“SHUUSH!” hissed Lyra. 

 

Rain ignored them both and quickly made his way away from the town, or as quickly as he could go without breaking the limits of the invisibility. He breathed a sigh of relief as he broke the tree line and made it into the woods, the trees hiding them from the town’s view.

 

“If the levelers in Florens are anything like that we’ll be fine,” said Opal, squirming in Rain’s grip.

 

“Ahahha,” laughed Lyra nervously, “That was extremely lucky, and It’s, uh, not really the same…”

 

“How do you mean? 

 

“Erm, it’s just way way way-... well it might just be easier to show you since we’re pretty close now,” said the sheep girl producing the magic map and unfurling it on top Rain’s head. She peered at it as Rain continued on through the forest, occasionally prodding a finger at the map then pointing where to go.

 

Rain followed her directions and after a few hours the ground started to rise. 

 

He caught sight of a field of white through the trees, the edge of the forest and... flowers? 

 

He blinked as he pushed past the last tree and they came out on a rise. 

 

“I… don't understand,” whispered Opal.

 

Rain didn't either, and he could only look on uncomprehending. He felt Opal wiggle free and take a few steps forward, as though to do something, but then at a loss, she simply fell to her knees, shoulders slumped.

 

“How can this be real, it can't be it just… can't. We never stood a chance, this is, It’s too much! IT’S TOO MUCH!”

 

She curled her hands into tight fists in the grass, blades clenched between knuckles.

 

Rain let Lyra down and found himself sitting beside the Goblin girl. He was from the surface, a town, but even he couldn't comprehend what he was looking at. 

 

A wash of white stone that reached from a wall without end back and over the horizon. An ocean of buildings, at its center a golden cubic structure, It was just incomprehensible, Lynthia would fit inside of this city thousands of times over, tens of thousands of times. 

 

 

 

Lyra uneasily scratched her cheek. “I uh, did I not mention that Florens is a Mega City?”

 

“How many?!” cried Opal rounding on her.

 

“H-how many what?”

 

“How many levelers are in this Florens?!” she hissed.

 

“Uhm, millions, many millions.”

 

“Thats…” she whispered, “How could any monster ever stand up to that.”

 

Lyra tilted her head. 

 

“If it makes you feel any better Opal the dungeon is even bigger. It covers everywhere beneath the city and extends out past the walls. It’s, well, no one knows how deep it is, no one has reached the bottom, at least no one who’s talking, the dynasties might have…”

 

Opal took a step back and then turned back to the view, trying to picture the titanic dungeon that lay below the city. 

 

She quickly got a headache.

 

“...Why?” asked Rain, “Why haven't they reached the bottom? Lynthia’s dungeon was known top to bottom and there are so many more levelers here, so many more.”

 

“Just more? There’s more levelers there than I’ve seen in my entire life!” cried Opal.

 

“Well it gets harder as you descend into the dungeon, but there’s one thing in particular that makes it really hard as you go down deep. Panthara… Hives.”

 

“Panthara… what?” 

 

Lyra licked her lips, nervous, “Uhm, for your peace of mind you really don't want to know. Trust me, you won’t be able to sleep if you, uh, because there’s these- N-no, you just don't want to know okay, and we need to all be focused and not sleep-deprived.”

 

Opal stared at her. The headache seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

 

“Can we move on?” said Lyra, hurriedly trying to dry her sweaty palms against her clothing. “I- I don't want to think about it anymore. P-please!”

 

Rain hadn't thought it possible to feel more unsettled. He turned back to the view and tried to picture the millions in the city and utterly failed, and then what must be millions of monsters on the first floor of the dungeon, then another floor of the same, and another, more and more and more, down and down and down.

 

His world in Lynthia suddenly felt very small. 

 

But more importantly, it made his vengeance nigh impossible. 

 

“How am I supposed to find Brax and the others in this, how am I supposed to find anything in this!” he thrust out a paw gesturing at the horizon spanning city.

 

Lyra blinked at him. “Oh that's easy, the city has various parts just like Lynthia.” She pointed at the huge golden cubic object. “That big golden thingy is a giant pyrite mineral growth from the dungeon, Florens’ Ranker lives at the base of it in his palaces.” Her pointing moved to the side and at what very distantly looked like a cluster of ornate buildings near the pyrite growth, mansions and estates peppered with green gardens. “The family dynasties cluster in that one place, Brax will be there if he is in Florens, I guarantee it.”

 

Rain peered out over the city, focusing carefully on the spot. Could he see people moving about in those gardens? He couldn't say, his sight was exceptionally sharp but it was just such an extreme distance. Still, such a small spot comparative to the entire vast city was actually manageable. Was one of those minuscule dust sized dots Brax strolling through the gardens of his estate?

 

He suddenly wanted to get inside this city very very much.

 

“I want to go in, same as the town of Silvara, I hide in your wool space and you walk through the gates… this time without you deactivating the Skill so I don't nearly die.”

 

“Er, right, plus it’s a kinda sorta disguise so I don't get head hunted.” She looked over her wool and set her lips in a line as it washed from cloud white to wolf black. “I’m not certain but I don't think truth lenses can actually see into my wool space, at least if it's anything like a dimensional bag. The Elf guard in Silvara easily knew that the dimensional bag was there and magical but he couldn't see within it and had to physically open it up and look inside.”

 

“It’s simple then, in the time you can hold fleece harbour active you enter the city, then once inside and away from the guards we switch to invisibility,” said Rain, eyes eager, paws itching to get moving, clenching and unclenching.

 

“H-hangon, isn't this a bit too sudden? I at least want to do some more practice! If things go wrong here it would be very bad, that enormous gatehouse you see down there is swarming with guards! Strong ones!”

 

“But-

 

“We get one chance at this, do you want to mess it up and lose everything?”

 

Rain had to concede Lyra was making sense, it was just the thought of once more nearing  those who had murdered him made his hackles rise in anger and his heart beat faster. Killing Adlen had been a relief, in that moment everything had lifted, become brighter, more colourful, the ever present little claws of trauma that picked and pulled at the back of his mind banished in the light.

 

He wanted his murderers dead and gone and he wanted more of that feeling of lightness, to fully rid himself of those claws they had put inside his head, those dark watery depths. 

 

He managed to slow his breathing.

 

“Okay. Practice, fine.”