Gaerwen
A day later, in front of them lay the ruins of the village that once was called Gaerwen. Dakran was telling the truth. There was nothing left of the town. Charred wood and a pile of rocks that once were their home littered the scorched ground. In the face of a mountain ahead, lights dimly flickered in the distance.
" That's my home!" Dakran interrupted the silence as they rode through the ruins. Broken pots burned clothes, and the stench of rotting corpses filled the air. The air was so thick that coughs began echoing in ruins, and the horses snorted and whined.
"It's not so bad once you get used to it!" Dakran's voice rang in the distance " Most beasts either ran away or died because of the smog and the ashen rain that wilts everything that falls on! The lands are barren, and nothing grows anymore!" his voice broke as he spoke, clearly pained at the loss of the place that he once called home.
A loud shriek echoed in the air. Flames blazed in the distance " Incoming!" Dakran shouted and the sound of swords being drawn hissed in the air. The ground shook, and the loud thuds of feet stomping the ground filled the air. Fear and horror emanated from everyone while their eyes were in the direction where the sound came from.
Dakran jumped off his horse, and so did Athan, Azra and Iris. " Take them to the mountain!" Dakran barked at Haren, and he got off his horse and quickly tied all the horses to each other.
" Don't lose them! Do you understand!" Dakran instructed and left Haren, who spurred his horse, leaving them in the ruined village.
" Go for the legs. Stay away from claws!" those were Dakran's last words before the creature appeared in front of them, spewing hot flames from his mouth, charring the ground in front of them.
" You forgot about the flames!" Ian quipped, and Dakran pulled a face at him, lifted his sword, and charged towards the creature.
The creature stood two smoots tall, with jagged teeth, flames flickered instead of eyes, six long sharp claws instead of fingers, the skin was black as the darkest night, and the only thing that could be seen was his glowing heart pumping. The creature was beyond terrifying, her blood froze in her veins, and she could bearly find enough strength to fucking breathe. I had a pretty good life. She followed after Dakran, who slid to the ground ducking the sharp claws that scuffed his hair. The creature roared, and something hot trickled out of its mouth, burning the ground where it fell. She slid onto the ground and managed to nick the back of the creature's leg. Purple liquid dripped on the ground burning a hole in it.
" Stay here! When it falls, make sure you put a sword through its heart!" Ian instructed Azra and joined the others to aid in their fight.
The smog was thick, but he could still see where everybody was, and if he did, the creature could too. Iris was doing well. She wielded the sword with prowess. He'd never seen her fight, but it was impressive. Iris turned on her knees and gashed the other leg of the creature. More purple liquid poured out of its leg while Ian and Athan kept the creature's eyes on them. This allowed Dakran and Iris to cut at the beasts' legs. The timing was crucial so moving fast was the key. Athan caught the claws with his sword before it reached him, but he had to slide under the creature's arm. He couldn't hold the weight anymore. He gashed the creature's arm with his dagger and ran in front of it. A roar echoed in the air, and the ground violently shook, followed by howls and shrieks, flames blazing in the distance. Shit!
" Hurry up!" Ian shouted and threw himself on the ground when the creature tried to swat him.
Iris and Dakran landed a synchronised blow at the back of the creature's legs. A pained loud shriek came from the creature that fell on the ground with a thud, face flat.
Azra did what Ian told him, but with the creature face down, he couldn't see the heart. He could only see the purple lines. The ground continued to tremble, and a hoard of creatures appeared in their view.
" Shit! Time's up!" Iris looked over her shoulder. Suddenly the air turned even colder than it was, and she approached the creature with quick steps. Purple crystal began sprouting out of the beast in front of their eyes, and by the time she reached the creature, it was frozen solid. Tendrils began growing out of nowhere, wrapping around the beast. A crackling sound came from it, and it shattered in front of their eyes, leaving behind the heart still beating, pumping the purple liquid on the ground.
Azra did as Ian instructed him and plunged his sword through the creature's heart while the others took their position, waiting for the hoard. They were vastly outnumbered, and this was more than he had ever seen coming from that hole in the lake. Usually was just one or two, but this was a different level of crazy.
The hoard approached shrieking, roaring and spewing fire, burning the already scorched land. Iris had to do a double take when out of nowhere, Edýia appeared between her and Ian. White-eyed, wearing the same blank expression, she walked past them and halted her steppes a few paces before them.
" Leave!" Ruma's voice resounded several times in the air as she stayed there unmoving.
" Your time is yet to come!" she waved her hand at them and took a few steps forward when the hoard appeared a few ells away from her.
None of them moved if they had left. When Ruma had finished what she had to do, there was no one to take Edýia away.
She didn't utter another word to them. She stood there and looked at the creatures as if studying them or trying to understand what they were.
" Speak!" she thundered, and one of the creatures stepped forward, roaring, spewing fire at Edýia that seemed to wrap around her rather than touch her.
The creatures roared and shrieked. None of them uttered a word. The scene unfolding before them was too much for anyone to take. The beast stopped spewing fire at Edýia and approached her in one quick stride, swinging its clawed hand in the air at her, but when it came close to her, the arm of the creature melted away. The creature shrieked and fell onto its knees.
" Speak!" she thundered again, and the creature stopped shrieking.
" Líadan!" the creature garbled, and another one stepped forward, stopped behind it, plunged its claws into his back and pulled its heart out and ate it.
The hoard roared once again, and Edýia burst into white flames covering the ground around. The fire spread as far as the eye could see, lighting up the smog that burned around them, and the creatures quickly caught fire. Pained shrieks filled the air, and as they burned in the white flame pulling at their skin and limbs, clawing at each other, pulling their hearts out. It was a gruesome scene, gut-wrenching. She felt the content of her stomach in her throat, but she couldn't keep it down anymore. She fell on her knees and spilt everything out on the ground.
Edýia fell to her knees. The flames flickered and slowly began to dim. Rom appeared on his horse and jumped down, and ran towards Edýia, picking her up in his arms.
She whispered something to him, fell limp and lost her senses. Rom walked past them as the flames extinguished as fast as they appeared.
Fading shrieks and roars could still be heard as they approached the massacre. Dakran and Ian walked among the creature stabbing each heart still beating, thoroughly turning each corpse to check if it still had a heart. This wasn't what she expected. This was a mess that couldn't be solved from this side. They needed to go to the source. Closing the portal wouldn't solve the problem. The thinning veil between realms began with Arkathira, and it would have to end with it.
Ian's hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her up " You did good, my Queen!" he praised, picking dirt out of her hair.
Iris nodded and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand " We all did!" she gulped and looked around. Rom disappeared with Edýia while Dakran, Athan and Azra rechecked the corpses.
" We should head for the rock!" Ian said with a stiff smile, " Can you walk? If not, hop on!" he tried to sound cheerful, but in those moments, it was hard.