My Beginning After the End

The Scene

Lance Aya

"We should be arriving soon; I can sense mana signatures up ahead." Lance Bairon said, as we flew through the tunnels of the Sand Grotto. Veer, and all the other soldiers better be okay. "There." Lance Bairon pointed, and the squad came into view. Their numbers were drastically low.

"I'm only counting nineteen, weren't there over sixty?" I asked him, I might have been wrong.

"Yes, there were." He said as we landed, and the squad was standing in front of a giant silver door, inside eight people were using spells on the sand on the ground, like they were trying to dig something up. "Where is Commander Jagger?"

"Lance Bairon, Lance Aya, what a pleasure it is to have you here, but may I ask why?" The man known as Commander Jagger said, and all the other soldiers bowed to us. I didn't sense any mana beast. I could see a mage shooting wind into the ground, digging at it.

"There is a company of Alacryans here, around a hundred of them, we are here to aid you in a fight against them, but it doesn't look like you have the numbers for that." Lance Bairon looked at the men and women, then looked inside the doors, where the eight other mages were. "What are they doing?"

Commander Jagger scratched his chin, and his attitude got sorrowful. "There was a S Class mutant, and it swallowed multiple people in the sand." He paused and gave us a weary look. "The one was the boy known as Veer." Both Lance Bairon and I gave each other worried expressions.

"No." I said, and I launched myself over to the group. "What are you doing?" I asked them, and they all turned to me. A man with reddish hair, shook his head and started to walk away from me, like he was sad. They all had tears in their eyes, they must know Veer, or someone else that died here today.

"Veer." A woman dropped to her knees. "What were you thinking?"

"Lance Aya, I'm sorry, we aren't in the right state of mind at the moment." Another soldier told me as she bowed. "We mean no disrespected."

Lance Bairon came flying over, and landed next to me, I shook my head at him. "You are all friends of Veer?" I asked them, and they all turned to me, even the woman on the ground. The red head was standing outside the cavern now.

"Lance Aya." A woman with tears streaming down her eyes said. "Save him, please." Her blonde hair was a mess, filled with sand.

"The brat is a moron, he has to be down there still, he covered himself in ice to destroy the core." The man bowed to me. "I am Callias Fleet, his teammate, I can't sense him, but I bet you can."

Lance Bairon and I stared at the sand, and what I felt wasn't Veer, but worse. "Lance Bairon, are you sensing what I am?" I asked him, getting even more worried. "I think we found the company of Alacryans."

"I think you're right." Lance Bairon responded.

"A company?" The woman on her knees, sniffling and crying stood up. "I'm Helen, leader of the Twin Horns, and the person that was supposed to be Veer's guardian." She bowed. "You are telling me there is a force of Alacryans down there?"

"It appears that way, but none of them are moving anymore." I said questioningly. "Lance Bairon, let's get them out of here, and head down." I turned to him. "Do you agree?"

"Yes, we can take them on by ourselves." Lance Bairon walked to the center of the cavern. "We'll find out if he is alive or not, get out."

The seven people, all who seemed to be crying, nodded, and backed out. "I'll handle this, Lance Bairon, I don't think you lightning magic will get the job done here." I started to conjure wind. "Move off the sand, I'm going to form a hole to the bottom."