Welcome to Cariam (III)

As soon as the butler got out an awkward silence befell the room.

Tilting his head in my direction Francis hesitantly spoke, and carefully choosing his words he tried to quell my boiling rage.

"I know that you don't like the council but-"

As my face distorted in a rabid expression I suddenly cut him off mid sentence.

"That's not the problem!!! Who gave you permission to use my name for this."

Unfortunately for him, no amount of words could calm me down, and I had no intention of hearing him out. Four more months and the mandatory service on the front lines would end, I could finally apply for a transfer to the countryside and live the quite life I had always wanted. He knew that and still decided to screw me up, the more I thought about it the more my blood boiled with rage.

Storming out of the room, as he followed me I moved to the barracks.

"Please, stop for a second and listen to me…"

"No. Your action already spoke for you, there is no need to add anything else."

As I knew him I was pretty sure he though things through before doing anything. So he must have obviously had his reasons, probably even some good one. But right now I needed to vent my anger on someone and hearing him I might have found myself backing him up.

Actually, the problem wasn't the fact that he made my name for the mission. No no no, that just showed how much he trusted me. The point was that having my name being brought up for a mission directly requested by the elder made me unable to refuse. They had power over military affairs and refusing a mission which I presumably applied for could result in a red note on my dossier, possibly impairing my future plans. As they had the final say in everything related to the military ending up in their black list wasn't a smart choice.

Had it been another tipe of mission I could have probably weaselled my way out of it, but not this time, not with them watching our every move. This time I had no choice but follow their will.

After walking for a bit, while Francis still didn't stop nagging, we found ourselves in front a rundown building we were way too familiar with, as sturdy metal door stood between us and the barracks.

Entering I quickly went to my bunk, prepared the necessary resources for the travel and put them into the bag of holding given by the central command to each soldier.

I still needed to do some small preparation for the travel, they mainly consisted in the maintenance of the equipment, but as we had to depart in two days they could be left for tomorrow. The sun was already down and, after all that happened, I needed some good rest.

….

While I was reminiscing about the past we had already crossed over the plain that connected the forest to the city.

Now standing in front of the entrance the imposing presence of Cariam's gate was baffling. But what truly stood out were neither the tall wall that protected the city nor the towering door that once blocked the entry as both were overshadowed by the enormous gash that ripped them apart.

A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of what may have done something like this.

As I exchanged a glance with my partner we understood that the time for our petty fight had come to an end as we may have found ourselves in a far more dangerous situation than expected.

"The direction of the gash suggest that whatever made it might have gone to the forest"

A convoluted storm of bubble surged from the water sacks on Francis gills as he responded.

"Maybe he already left the city…"

"…yeah, I truly hope so."

Even if he tried to mask it, by seeing how he was breathing I knew he was tense. It was understandable, if the gap was made by a creature as it seemed then it must have been a truly frightening being.

Cariam had always been a lively city, its roads used to be lively and brimmed with people, but now no traces of that joyful past remained.

Buildings were now collapsing, people were nowhere to be found and the foul stench of melancholy filled the streets. The city had become but a mere shadow of what it used to be and Looking down from afar on this pitiful sight the Eternal castle, the mayor's mansion, stood unfazed on the highest peak of the mountain.

"I guess our infiltration plan has gone to waste Francis"

"Yeah, but the mission remain unchanged… let's quickly find information on what happened here and flee. We will probably find something useful in the mayor's mansion."

"…roger that, but let's be careful…I got a bad hunc-"

Sadly my premonition were hardly ever wrong, especially the bad ones. I didn't even have time to finish the sentence that a huge hand lightly tapped on nearest building's rooftop as a gigantic creature leaned on it before turning the corner.

A grotesque figure with a pale complexion covered the sky before us. Hem of flesh dropped from his body as he moved, and a foul stench of rotting meat permeated the air.

As the creature locked its eyes on us, we quickly exchanged a glare.

Without needing words we understood each other thoughts as our eyes screamed: "We are fucked".