Shadowbane

As I'm enhancing my entire body one of the skeletons disappears in a puff of smoke and reappears to my left with its greatsword already raised high above its head. I don't move my body even a little as the sword approaches me, instead, I merely punch to the left and shatter both the sword and the skeleton's head.

The remaining two skeletons reposition themselves next to me, with one appearing behind me and the other to my right, both mid-swing as usual. I grab the skeleton on the right by its head and dash backward, whipping my enhanced head into the skeleton behind me while bringing the skeleton's head in my right hand down onto my right knee, shattering both their skulls.

Same boring tricks. You need to do more than send a couple of barely enhanced minions at me if you want a better result. I already know how their smokey warp works now after all.

The obelisk fires off ten lightning bolts in my direction, leaving ten skeletons in their wake. At the same time I can see three different types of Xerath forming from clouds spewing out of the base of the obelisk.

... Okay, now that I can't handle.

I turn around and sprint away from the village. One by one the skeletons appear around me in flashes of smoke, all mid-attack. I kick the ground hard and blitz through the skeletons in front, shattering any and all parts of their bodies I come into contact with. The remaining eight skeletons encircle me again a few seconds later.

These things are just fodder now... I've timed their warp ability, it has an eight-second cooldown and roughly a twenty-yard range. They can warp before the cooldown is finished, but the one skeleton who tried that had trouble moving for a few seconds afterward. It kind of looked like a broken doll...

I continue smashing through them until there are only two skeletons left, but then I begin to hear extremely loud footsteps coming up from behind me that are shaking the ground beneath my feet. Glancing back, I see the same dark purple monstrosity that nearly killed me underground, and it's quickly gaining ground on me. Behind him there is another Aranaea and a new Xerath I don't recognize.

As I'm struggling to come up with a plan of action, the sickly aura dissipates. Finally.

I leave only my legs enhanced and turn invisible before pivoting toward the trees in the distance, sprinting directly for them while keeping an eye behind me. And just as I expected, the Xerath pivot in the same direction I'm going while staring down at my footprints in the snow.

The dark purple Xerath gets within twenty feet of me as I reach the treeline. Wasting no time, I leap up onto the nearest tree and begin hopping deeper into the forest in a zigzag pattern. As I'm trying to pick out a tree to hide on, I spot something even better instead.

Now that is perfect... They won't expect me to pick that for my hiding spot in a forest full of tall trees.

Leaping toward my new destination, I land on a tree stump near the right-side of the forest that has been chopped down. After landing I immediately sit down and remove my leg enhancements.

I created a disturbance in the snow on the stump but that shouldn't matter. There's all sorts of wildlife bouncing around in here. Very few of these stumps have undisturbed snow on top of them.

In front of me I begin to see one tree after another fall down. At first it was just in front of me, but trees in all directions begin to fall down as the Xerath fan out to different parts of the forest, cutting down every tree they come across. Far to my right I can see the Aranaea skitter through the clearing, heading for the trees behind me. As soon as it reached the trees it immediately began cutting them down as well.

... I may have been in trouble if I didn't hide here. After a tree comes down, the Xerath quickly scour the snow around it looking for anything that may look like someone had landed in it. It would've been possible but extremely difficult to keep myself on a tree as it falls down with no enhancements on my body. I was almost out of mana back there, so keeping myself enhanced wasn't an option.

About twenty minutes later the entire forest had been completely deforested. The three Xerath then spent another ten minutes scouring around looking for any signs of me before finally giving up.

I was mostly certain that they wouldn't look for me here, but that was still nerve-wracking as hell...

I stand up and begin sprinting directly north, opposite of the mountains behind me. If I remember correctly, there should only be one large village in this direction.

As I'm running I continue to see bolts of red lightning streaking through the darkness to both my left and right.

... I had a feeling Kellog was done for, but I didn't expect it to come so soon, and not like this.

So the Xerath I fought underground were also the ones responsible for the sky? I wonder if that's why I felt sick in the other realm when I approached the black sky over there... My core must have sensed that sickly aura and bid me to stay away from that place. And thank god I did.

The village ahead of me comes into view but there's no obelisk in sight. Crystal lights, torches, magic spells, everything and anything that produces light is set to the maximum inside and around the village. As I near the village I remove my aura and run through it toward the main square. On the way I pass by one family after another that's loading up their wagons, clearly readying themselves to flee Kellog. Upon approaching the square, I see someone I didn't expect to find here.

"Tyrell!" I yell as I run up to him.

Tyrell stops talking to the knight in front of him and turns toward me, "White one...? What are you doing here? I saw your group leave through the main gate hours ago."

"I stayed behind. There was something I had to take care of, but the Xerath assault began, which forced me to flee this way."

Tyrell turns back to the knight and puts his gauntlet on the man's pauldron, "See it done. I'll be with you shortly." The knight nods and runs off toward a line of wagons in the back.

"Now then..." Tyrell glances around before whispering, "Did your ally warp the princess to Viseux before the invasion began?"

"You knew about that? ...Seifer? And yes, she got away." Not that I have proof, but all the skeletons and Xerath near the manor chased after me. Not a single one entered the manor, so Alicia should have had plenty of time to recharge her dagger.

Tyrell smiles and nods, "Yes, Seifer told me through a communication crystal. And now that I know for certain all of the royals have successfully fled, it's now time for me to save as many civilians as I can." Tyrell sighs, "Admittedly, I have very little hope for the rest of us. We have no way of knowing why they only assaulted the fortress and the villages near the mountains. Could they not just drop more of those monoliths on top of us right now?"

"That's why I was shocked to see this village lit up and not under assault. I have no idea as to why they stopped at the first line of inner villages, but with any luck there's a good reason for it that'll allow you to flee to Viseux."

"... I pray you are correct. But I must ask, what are you planning on doing from here on out? I assume you are going to chase after your allies?" Tyrell asks.

"Yes, that's the plan. I'm also going to ask them to wait for your wagons to catch up. I doubt anyone will oppose that suggestion."

Tyrell sighs with obvious relief. "Oh thank god... I mean you, thank you! I was struggling to come up with the right words to convince you, but it seems you planned to help us all along. And to think I was supposed to capture you a week ago and hand you over to..." Tyrell shook his head, then looked me dead in the eyes, "Please accept my apologies, whit---No, Reimia. This is not the time or place for it, but I want to say it now all the same. You know, just in case..."

I chuckle, "Yeah I know, Tyrell. And thank you for the apology. You can help me pay off this armor as another way of saying sorry." I continued, "With that out of the way, I'm going to chase after my allies now. But be careful, even if they don't drop an obelisk here, you should still hurry. The tall Xerath that chased me can run up to fifty miles an hour, so it wouldn't take them long to reach this village if they were chose to run here."

Tyrell winces, "I really hope they aren't coming here on foot then... And thanks for the warning. We'll be seeing you soon."

I sprint through the square and turn right on the main road, heading straight north. After escaping the lights of the village I enhance my legs enough to match my mana regen and put up my aura after I'm done.

It shouldn't take me long to catch up to them... Please don't let them be under assault.

Around thirty minutes later I saw a familiar sight hiding in the grass off to the side of the main road. I remove my aura and she spots me instantly.

"Rei!" Shana stands up and runs over to me, "What's going on back there?! We've only been told that the nation is under assault. Euphemia is still trying to get more information out of Viseux."

I knew they'd be fine, but it's still nice to have confirmation.

"The sky quite literally came down onto the fortress and the villages closest to the mountains. I'll talk about it more in detail after everyone is gathered up. Can you tell the wagons to stop?"

Shana gives me a thumbs up, "Already did the second I saw you."

I smile at her and start running down the road again as Shana's clone returns to the grass.

Wait... Grass?

Looking around, I see that the sky isn't the only thing that changed. Most of the snow is still here, but there are random patches that have already completely melted.

Very bizarre... The snow back in Kellog was definitely not melting.

Three minutes later I slowed to a halt in front of a set of wagons parked on the side of the road. Everyone was there waiting for me.

"Short then long version," Ishar said, keeping his eyes on the sky.

{My attendants told us everything Alicia and Euphie said. But they were really limited in information. Alicia said she could hear something that sounded like electricity and something massive running by the manor.}

"The sky formed multiple monolith structures and dropped them down onto the ground. Soon after that red lightning bolts shot out of the obelisk toward the nearby village, leaving skeletons in their wake. The very same ones I fought underground."

"So they're taking over the sky and the underground? I hate to say it you guys, but Urza isn't united enough to stand against such a threat. There's a reason I was trying to get my friends away from this place..." Keith said.

Cera looks at Ishar, "What are Lord Terra'ka's plans?"

"No clue. Hopefully the rookie was smart enough to report this back to our Lord instead of just sitting there in the chateau waiting for us." Ishar continues, "All I can say is that my Lord only abandons places where he sees the battle as hopelessly lost. For example, there is a jungle on Aetheria we opened a portal to that we were unable to escape. There's an Eldritch there with a domain too powerful for us to overcome. The whole jungle is a maze, it's literally impossible to escape. The only way out is to let the damned Eldritch corrupt your soul... Aside from our portal home that is."

In other words, you need to become a worshiper of it. I remember the Lizardmen telling me about that place when I was looking for easy ways to get to Aetheria... Good thing I decided not to go there.

I look over at Tyra. She's sitting on the entrance to the wagon with her head in her hands.

She's one of the only three natives to Kellog here... Or so I thought? I don't see Teifa anywhere. She must have returned to the underground then? Seifer is absent too, but he might be doing something inside his soul realm.

{What happened after that?} Aresa 'said' into everyone's ear.

"I was hit with the same sickly aura I and Shana were hit with underground. It pinged me and sent three skeletons my way. I dispatched them, maybe a little too easily, because then it sent ten skeletons and three Xerath after me. I barely managed to get away."

Ishar grinned, "Sneaky as usual. I would've died there... Actually, we all would have. We somehow left at the perfect time."

"Speaking of which, only the inner villages had been attacked, and during my retreat I ran into Tyrell who was at that first big village we went through on the main road out of town. They're filling the wagons up as fast as they can and fleeing in this direction. I told him you'd all wait for them after I caught up to you."

Tyra looks up, "So there are survivors?! Oh god, I was so certain everyone was dead..."

... There's a good chance the Xerath will give chase, so I have no idea of how many have or will survive, but it's best she doesn't know that.

{Of course we'll wait!} Aresa glares at Ishar, {Right?}

"Bah, don't look at me like that. I'm not opposed to waiting. If the sky is going to come down on us, then waiting here for a few hours won't make a difference."

"Now a question from me. Has it been this warm all along?"

Cera shook her head, "No, it only started about an hour ago. Didn't you notice it?"

"Shit... No, I didn't. My mind was elsewhere, and temperature itself only matters because of the way it affects my surroundings or the weather. I only realized it was getting warm when I saw Shana's clone sitting in a patch of grass with no snow."

{It was suddenly really hot for about a minute and then the sky lit up... Kind of?}

Looking up, I see the sky is still somewhat black but it's now giving off enough light to match what the moon next to Urza normally gives off at night. The average person can see a little now, which means I can see everything again.

I jump on top of Aresa's wagon and sit down. "I'm going to keep an eye out until we're home."

Ishar shrugs and leans against the wagon, staring at the fields in front of him. The others spread out and do the same.

{I'm glad you're okay.} Aresa says to only me.

... Me too cutie.

Four hours later the wagons from Kellog finally catch up to us. Tyrell walks up to Aresa's wagon and even at a glance it's obvious he had to fight to get here. He's completely haggard, covered in blood, and parts of his armor are broken.

He notices our gazes and shakes his head. "This was from our initial escape. The Xerath hit us before we could leave, which led to one of the most difficult battles of my life. Do each of those creatures have different weak spots? The tall purple one suddenly died when a knight from a different regiment speared it through the middle of its chest. We thought that would be it, but the fucking spider ones wouldn't die until we bled them out. And don't even get me started on whatever the hell that last one was."

"Was it lanky, hunchbacked, and had three super long claws on each hand?"

Tyrell nods, "That's the one... It cut right through one of my knight's armor as if it were paper. We couldn't harm it with physical damage, including enhanced attacks. It felt like we were attacking a cloud... Magic however, that worked. But by the time we figured that out I had already lost several men. It shouldn't happen again now that I know how to bring em down, but..."

'It won't bring my men back', is how he was going to finish that sentence. Even alluding to this line of thinking was forbidden in Xelba, and I actually agreed with it, because there is only misery waiting for you down that path. Losing people to an unknown foe is quite high, and once you know how to kill it or avoid its attacks, the leader is bound to think 'If only we had done x, y, or z... Then my men would still be alive', and while that's technically true, it's also a catch twenty-two that can only harm both yours and the troop's morale. It's one of those things everyone knows, but nobody should ever voice.

"They didn't attack you again on your way here?" Tyra asks.

Tyrell shakes his head, "Not even once. I and my men were able to meditate, heal, and rest up the entire way here. The retired knights kept watch for us."

"We need more information, but I'm not quite sure how we can obtain more. Even the undead one is at risk in their lands. So sending her in as a scout isn't an option." Ishar motions toward me.

Yeah, that's way too dangerous. If an obelisk dropped near me and there were no civilians around to keep it occupied, then I'd get swarmed with enemies. I could accidentally run into one of those bone engines too, which could also lead to my death.

{Can we leave? You guys can talk about this on the way, or after we stop for the night.}

"Agreed, we should get moving. It pains me to say it, but the more distance we put between us and my... Home, the better." Tyrell said, making Tyra look down.

{You going to stay up there, Rei?}

"Yes. It's best if I keep an eye on our surroundings from here on out."

Everyone returned to their own wagons. I watched as Keith walked into Blackwall's wagon that's currently only holding him and Cera.

Nisha is in Viseux and the rest of his unit is dead after all... The first thing he's going to do upon arriving in Viseux is revive them I assume, but I don't know how long that's going to take him.

Just like the trip to Thule, we somehow weren't attacked a single time. However, five days away from Viseux, we finally came upon something that wasn't here on the journey to Kellog.

{They're all dead, aren't they...? My whole life I've heard nothing but good things about this city...}

Keith sighed, "Looks like we were all wrong about the Xerath not moving north yet... We were too optimistic after they didn't attack us once."

This is the city that everyone traveling stays at, whether they're coming from or going to the southern parts of Urza. The road to the west of it leads toward Thule and the southwest parts of Urza, and the road we're currently on leads to Kellog and the southeast parts of Urza. This was a pivotal city for the people of this moon. But now all I can see is five obelisks and a massive black building situated between them, and the black building is billowing out a ridiculous amount of smoke into the sky.

"... Let's keep going. We're way too close right now. If they decide to attack us, we're going to get massacred." Ishar said.

No one disagreed or said a single word in response. We all returned to our previous positions and restarted our journey north while praying we weren't going to see a horde of Xerath come pouring out of the city's eastern gate.

{R-Rei...}

"... This just keeps getting worse and worse."

Two more things quickly became apparent to us as we escaped the black sky. Firstly, there is a thin brown layer of clouds expanding out from the black clouds. And secondly, there are parts of the ground bumping up here and there, with one of them being pronounced enough to show an earthen-shaped mouth and teeth.

"So the sky is slowly expanding north toward Viseux, and there is a faceless god being born here...?" Cera said, horrified.

"What are you going to do Ishar? We need the Lizardmen more than ever."

"First things first, I need to speak to the rookie. I give her a lot of shit, but I know she's smart enough to have reported everything back to Terra'ka already. My Lord or the Shamans will know what to do going forward." Ishar sighs, "But honestly? If Viseux doesn't quickly accept our help so at the very least we can kill the broodling, then I think Terra'ka will abandon this moon until he can secure all of the portals that lead to Urza. Whenever we accomplish that, we'll assault this place with our full force from every corner. But if it really does come to that, then it won't be happening for many years to come."

{I... I can't abandon Urza!! Mother, she's going to revive eventually, and she'll need me to look after her chateau until then...}

"... I'm sorry Aresa. I don't think you have much of a choice anymore."

The Xerath made that decision for you. Unless Viseux drops the politics and accepts the Lizardmen's help, but I really don't see that happening.