The Harbinger's Children (Guardians Of The Arcane Chronicles Vol. 2)

Chapter 7: Escape Route

Fun Fact: Healing potions were invented by combining Cleric natural healing magic with Alchemy. The healing potion was one of the first few items to be invented due to the necessity borne of humanity's bloody past. It can be used to speed up recovery of damaged body parts.

It cannot be used as a poison antidote, though.

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Gaius had to put his hand over the girl's mouth to stop her from screaming any further.

"Shh, keep it down. Parthena, it's me." He put a finger to his lips as he slowly moved his hand away from her mouth. He glanced at the blood streaks staining the side of her face.

"Are you hurt?" he asked. "Do you need-"

"So much... blood." Parthena trembled uncontrollably. "Everyone turned into those... things. I had to hide... I had to save myself first... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault, Parthena." Gaius pulled her to her feet with a grim look on his face. He did not need to imagine the horrors of seeing their own dorm mates warp into freaks of nature. "Come, we need to get out of here now."

The girl refused to budge.

"I'm so scared..." she whimpered. "My magic doesn't work when I'm afraid. What if we run into those monsters?"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Gaius replied, steeling himself for the inevitable encounter with the monster later. "And it's probably best that you don't use magic for now; I suspect that's what turned everyone into monsters in the first place."

Parthena's room door opened without a sound, and Gaius silently thanked the school for keeping the doors well oiled. They crept along the devastated hallways, ignoring the smears of fresh blood as well as mangled corpses that put even the best Halloween decoration to shame. Parthena pointed excitedly at the wide-open gate, and Gaius' stomach sank.

Ten more steps.

The Sorcerer signalled a confused Parthena to stay put while he walked forward cautiously. His breathing became heavier as the gate loomed closer and closer. Three more steps.

Two.

One.

A gentle breeze was all the warning he needed.

Energy gushed into his soles as he flipped up more than five metres into the air, only to be struck down by the monster's unnecessarily long tail anyway. The boy crashed hard to the ground, his eyes flashing desperately as he tried to look into the future again for a more ideal outcome.

But there was no time to focus his magic.

He screamed in pain as a pincer ripped his back open, followed by another claw slashing through his waist. Gaius stumbled to his feet, narrowly avoiding the creature's tail that left a gash on the concrete floor. His mouth went dry. Parthena was screaming. The scorpion-like monster was rearing up for another attack. He was in actual trouble.

Everything he foresaw had just come to pass.

The monster lunged again, but not towards him this time. Deep cracks spread in the wall as it sunk its pointed legs into the concrete. It crawled up the building at an alarming speed away from Gaius. Where was it going-

Oh no.

Gaius' legs moved by themselves. He darted towards Parthena and scooped her into his arms, just in time for another blinding pain to shoot through his exposed back. The girl shrieked as an enormous force slammed into his side, causing him to drop her.

Her body slid on the floor while Gaius got up quickly, his breaths getting more and more desperate. A flurry of movement blinded him as he raised his fists desperately to block the attacks.