Chapter 23
Hilda Mueller narrows her gaze against the bright sun, barely more than an hour since it had fully risen above the eastern horizon. It was rather cold this high up in the air, but Gawain had ordered her to fly high and fast towards the location of the previous night’s outbreak. He was taking the land-route and swapping horses every hour as he made his way towards Serenity Valley… but even the fastest steed was still half as quick as a mage tearing through the sky.
Letting out a soft sigh against the howling, chilly winds, she takes stock of her Bond’s determination, and tries to coax at least a little more velocity without having her eyebrows freezing solid. ‘Samuel’s home-town.’. That’s what Gawinnie had muttered when seeing their urgent missive… and it was at that moment they had both sensed the cold fear settling into their hearts…
They knew, of course, that Angie had left the lithe little vixen behind, and retreated back to the Blue Fortress in order to select a new Bond… and it had been over a month since then. Their combined hope had been that Sammy had since wandered off… but they wouldn’t know for sure until she was able to scout the location…
Drawing in a sudden breath as she spies a stream of dark smoke rising in the distance, she sends out a massive feeling of nervous tension to her mate, then adjusts her angle into a descent. Oh, Goddesses… in your Devine fervour, please allow the residents of Serenity Valley to be safely tucked inside the bosom of neighbouring towns. Grant me the Power to smite the unending Wickedness that plagues us all. Protect me as I seek to protect others…
Clenching her teeth and glaring against the rushing air, the pudgy mage keeps her gaze and mind focused on trying to pick up any sign of fleeing survivors. Four and a half hours since the missive arrived. In that time, even the most-elderly individual could have made it at least four or five kilometres away. But as she grows close enough to make out the details of the town itself, she can’t help but gape at the destruction.
Three houses smoldering, and at least one building collapsed from what she could see… hmm… but a Daemon of any variety wouldn’t have stopped there. Not without any opposition. Unless it got too focused on chasing down fleeing survivors…
Following all of the visible roadways with her gaze, she only spies a number of un-touched sheep to the north, a wandering horse to the east, and a large black bear towards the south of the town. More importantly, there were no corpses. But if they had all taken off into the endless fields of wheat… well… there wasn’t any large furrows that indicated an Agent of the Diabolical One had torn through them… would it have gone straight towards a neighbouring town? Hmm… first thi… i-IMPOSSIBLE!
While circling around to the south of the town and gaining a clear view of the main street, the black-haired caster halts her progress, and hovers two hundred metres above the ground as she stares at the un-moving monstrosity that was a Daemon. It seemed half-buried in the remains of a store… but even at this distance she could spy a large, gaping black wound in it’s chest against stark contrast to the tan-coloured flesh around it.
“W-who in the Hell…” wincing at the connection of her Bond as a flood of worry and anxiety floods into her mind, she snorts out a noise of annoyance and returns a sense of anger in a bid to tell Gawain to shut up.
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Aegis and Order: First Light
Fantasy"It’s shoulders were wide and powerful. At four metres in height, it was almost as large across as it was tall. The arms of the hulking beast hung nearly all the way to the ground, and were thick with rope-like muscles that bulged with even the sl...
