Ancient Pasts - Tbate

The Invasion

Curtis Glayder Pov

"GET DOWN!" I roared as I cut the mana beast in half.

"ATTENTION RENOWNED STUDENTS OF XYRUS ACADEMY!" A rather high-pitched grating voice echoed throughout the campus. "AS YOU MAY ALL BE AWARE, YOUR INSTITUTION IS CURRENTLY UNDER ATTACK BY MY LITTLE PETS. NO NEED TO FEAR, FOR I AM BOTH FAIR AND MERCIFUL!" The voice seemed to taunt us as he said this because a dwarven student was in the jaws of a discolored black-fanged wolf, a B-class mana beast.

I calmed myself using a brief meditation technique that I had learned from class that steadied the flow of my mana core before scouting for any other students to save.

"HUMAN STUDENTS, AS LONG AS YOU RAISE BOTH YOUR HANDS AND SWEAR YOUR ALLEGIANCE WITH ME, THE MANA BEASTS WILL NOT ATTACK YOU! ELVES AND DWARVES, DO NOT STRUGGLE AND ALLOW MY PETS TO DESTROY YOUR MANA CORE, AND YOU ARE FREE TO LEAVE~ KEKEKEKE!!!" The voice's deranged laugh sent a shiver down my spine. The man enjoyed the carnage going on in this school that had been so peaceful just hours before.

Although the radical group had been escalating their terroristic activity, this was on a completely different level. It happened so suddenly that there was no way to prepare for an event like this. This plan of theirs was on another level. There were no places to escape to and no way to call for help.

The once transparent barrier formation that kept any intruders, including mana beasts, from entering the campus had already turned into a translucent red cage, making the sky look like it was dipped in blood, keeping anyone or anything from leaving.

I didn't know who the voice belonged to, but its motives were clear. The man was willing to take human captives but wanted all nonhuman mages either dead or incapacitated.

I could see pillars of smoke from different buildings of the academy where fights were happening. From time to time, I locked eyes with some of the Disciplinary Committee members as they were fighting off several mana beasts, acknowledging each other since we had no time to brief each other on the situation elsewhere.

Some professors were fighting other professors. Cloaked figures, as well as the mana beasts, were killing most of the students. Some of the human students were already swearing allegiance to the voice.

I couldn't tell how many hours had passed since the invasion started, but there were no signs of help arriving for some reason like we were closed off from the rest of Xyrus.

I trudged on through the campus, where bodies laid limp and pools of blood formed around them. This academy was supposed to be the haven for future mages of this continent. It angered me that there aren't contingencies implemented for this type of scenario. Since the unification of the Kingdoms, did The Council not think that there would be enemies?

Just as I was about to follow after a cloaked figure into one of the Alchemy labs, a throaty growl caught my attention enough to avoid a thorned growler's jaw. Unfortunately, I couldn't dodge its pounce and got hammered into the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

"Grrrrr," as the giant, furry lizard-shaped mana beast's saliva was drenching my uniform, its red eyes were staring at me as if waiting for me to do something.

Before I had the chance to do anything more, a fist flew down from the sky, decapitating the thorned growler's head to the ground. The mana beast squirmed helplessly for a couple of seconds before its body also sank lifelessly.

"Thanks," I grunted, too tired for pleasant formalities. It was Theodore who came down from the top of a nearby statue.

I bandaged my bleeding arm that had been cut open just now with a torn sleeve and turned my back to follow after the cloaked figure.