Descent into the Abyss

Chapter 34

Thousands of monstrous creatures clad in dark armor and scales poured over the horizon towards their city, his city. On either side and down below him, Rozans donned their own armors, colors ranging through the spectrum filling his vision. Every Rozan that was capable of fighting gathered here, for this was the final fight.

"My Rozans!" The Dai-Lyn called out across the minds of the gathered. "They come to take our home. Our world. Our lives! Make sure they remember this day for the rest of their existence. Today is the day the children of Roz died fighting! Show them our power!!"

As her words ended, the energy pulsing inside of him exploded outward with violent intent. The air around the palace thrummed with elemental power, each Rozan bringing forth their respective element. With every summon, the surrounding and corresponding Rozans felt their own power climb higher and higher. Thousands upon thousands of orbs of fire, water, and electricity pulsed in their stationary positions.

Kou glanced to either side of himself, his own orb of Seb dancing between his spaced hands. A comrade on the right donned a fireball while arcs filled the air on his left. On either side of his immediate comrades, two more orbs of water stood suspended in the air, his energy calling out to them. His orb began to grow, his energy feeding from the created orbs of his comrades. Every second generated more energy, each orb swelling with size and latent potency.

"WITH ME!!" The Dai-Lyn screamed through the minds of her Rozans, launching her massive ball of Sinte.

One enormous orb became a thousand in the blink of an eye, streaking through the sky with devastating motive. Kou watched his own joined the myriad of colors, all rushing towards their shared target, and impacting with brutal efficiency. Armor and flesh exploded into the air, earth and stone flying high as the obliterated bodies fell back down into the innumerable masses. For every hundred destroyed, a surge of new bodies rushed to fill the vacancies left by the dead.

"AGAIN! Let them remember us for eternity!" The Dai-Lyn shouted through the links.

Once more the energy swelled to the brink, orbs manifesting every few feet, growing with each second that passed. Kou poured his energy into his, watching it take shape and grow into a deadly mass. On her cue, Kou launched his into the sky, a thousand others following into the dark masses of Kovekian might.

Marcus blinked, the scenes of war and carnage fading from his eyes as the sunset shone rays of orange into the room. Dust stirred into a storm of filthy air, Marcus rising from his position on the carpeted floor.

"How long did it take?" Marcus asked, glancing around the room.

"By your standards of time, three days," Kou replied, forlorn in his words. "Three days we launched wave after wave of elemental attacks against the Onslaught. Legions were wiped out, but they eventually overwhelmed us."

"How could you launch nonstop attacks for that long? You'd have to eat, sleep, something."

Marcus rose to the bedroom door, cracking it ajar and peering into the dark, empty house. With a hesitant step, he began to explore the abandoned building, noting the eerie, untouched nature of it. Family pictures were still hanging proudly on several walls, Marcus noticed, leaving a small study to find himself in a dimly lit kitchen. Signs donning familiar quotes like, "Kiss the Cook" and "Live, Laugh, Love" lined the space between the empty cupboards.

"The elemental energy sustained us," Kou answered. "And with Death at our gates, no one could sleep. Many ended up succumbing to exhaustion after the second day."

Leaving the kitchen through a swinging pale door, Marcus entered the living room, eyes scanning the smiling faces lining the walls. Dozens of photos all showed a happy family and then his eyes fell on something else--- something long since devoid of odor. Three corpses laid next to each other, two of them covered by bedsheets while the third laid bare. Sludge and clothes barely obstructed the raw bones of the dead, while Marcus stood contemplating why his eyes were drawn there. The back of his mind drew an uneasy parallel between the dead that he couldn't look away from and the headless boy he couldn't forget.