The Land: Anarchy

Chapter 39: A Trick Up Their Sleeve

The night sky was lit up with fireworks courtesy of the mages. Swendall City was now free at last. Grim was still unsure whether this is truly a victory or just a trap. Somehow she knew something was wrong. So she went up to an observation tower that overlooked into Ravenrock territory. There, she could she lights from a far, it looked like they were going to attack again. She didn't want to ruin the celebration just yet so she just let it be for now and tell the others when the threat is more imminent.

The night went on and just like that, it was dawn. The people were clearing out debris and tending the wounded. Then suddenly, explosions could be heard from a far. The people were not worried for it was not anywhere near them. As they went on with their activities, explosions were everywhere around the city. The people panicked and scattered around the city. Dead bodies flew through the air as the explosions went on raining down the city. It was like raining bullets. They all took shelter in buildings, but the seemingly endless rain penetrated through the buildings and they debris fell on top of the people.

It felt like hours of terror but the bombings were only 5 minutes long. Some people went out and looked for the wounded. Zuno ran out and found Grim who was sitting on the ground covered in ashes, she folded her legs in front of her and was crying.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"Its all my fault, I saw lights from a far and didn't warn anyone. I---I could've prevented this..." Grim cried out.

Jennifer was unharmed and she was lifting up rubbles to rescue people trapped under it. Arya was out and about hunting and she rushed back as soon as she heard the explosions.

"Whatever it was, it will happen again. We need to get everyone out of here, back to the woods." Zuno addressed everyone."I'll go check what it was."

The people followed his orders and went back to the woods. Some stayed to still look for the wounded and the trapped.
Zuno rushed forward towards the woods on the other side of the city. He summoned his shadows to see what was waiting for them. His shadows creeped from trees and saw a devastating weapon. It was a canon but much bigger. It was a landship but with only two wheels and a devastating long barrel that was pointing at the sky. He retracted his shadows and rushed back to warn the others, Ravenrock have invented a terrible weapon. He didn'y think about destroying the weapons himself and just ran.

"Run everyone! Run now!" Zuno yelled.

"But--but what about the wounded?" A person asked.

"If you don't run now, you all will die!! Go! Now!" Zuno yelled again.
Just as they started running, the bullets rained again from the skies. At the woods, many of the people were shocked and traumatized of what they had experienced. Most of them had pale faces and their whole body was shaking in fear. Andeenan mages had created a temporary barrier to deflect the bullets from hitting them. Little was known about the fate of the wounded whom were still trapped under the debris.

Zuno punched his hand on a tree in rage, his punch left a big mark on the three. Then a thought came to him, where is Wize? He searched around yelling his name. He went to Jennifer who was in a camp full of the wounded.

"Have you seen Wize?" He asked.

"Yes, but...well he is not in a good mood. His right arm was badly injured after the explosions and we---we had to amputate his arm. He is currently resting in his tent. Just be gentle okay?" Jennifer responded in a worried tone.

Zuno went to Wize's tent and entered, Wize was lying down on his bed covering his eyes with his left arm.
"Hey, I heard what happened. You doing good?" Zuno asked gently as he sat next to Wize's bed.

"I'm alright I guess, I just can't be handy anymore. I just need time to rest and well you know, get used to this new reality." Wize replied.
Zuno smiled, even though Wize had gone through a lot, he could still pull off a joke.

"I'll leave you to it then. Meanwhile I will go and make them pay for what they've done." He said.

Arya and Zyx were in Grim's tent talking about a strategy on how to take down those things. Zuno came and explained about the weapons. Grim was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Grim?" Zuno wondered

"She---she's having a bad time, its better to leave her for a while. She will come back with a better mood." Zyx answered. "Let's just continue to figure out how to destroy those weapons."

Just as things couldn't get any worse, Jennifer came to the tent.
"Casualty report: 23 people have died and 100+ are wounded." She reported. "Many are still trapped in the city. Is there no way to rescue them?"

"The mages could cover us as we search for the trapped ones. I'll use my shadows to search in a wide area so it will be more efficient and faster." Zuno suggested.

"Right, let's get to it then." Jennifer agreed.
Zuno and Jennifer to the mages to the city ti search for the wounded while Arya and Zyx were planning to destroy the weapon.

As Zuno and Jennifer approached the city, bullets rained down again. Buildings were mostly brought down and fires were everywhere. Screams could be heard calling for help, people were helping another and a bullet hit them... They were gone.
"Shields up." Jennifer ordered.
The mages covered Zuno with their shields as he summoned his shadows and spread them out throughout the city. A few minutes later, he retracted his shadows and said, "I know where they all are. Call the others to help out. Mages please create a shield on these buildings." He pointed out at a handful of buildings. The bombings continued on and on for hours and eventually the trapped ones were rescued safely. The mages were extremely fatigued, they had run out of mana.

The bombings stopped at night and Ravenrock army could be seen re-entering the city. The rebels were back at square one with no progress.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Zyx shouted as he banged on the table.

"Hey, hey calm down big guy. We can still do this." Selena had entered the tent, she was busy motivating her people after the bombings, most of them wanted to return home and give up. But after she gave a fruitful speech, they were back on their feet filled with high spirits.

"Right." Zyx said as he took a couple of deep breaths.

"So, any plans guys?" Selena questioned.

"We have one but it is extremely risky." Arya mumbled.

"Its the only plan we can come out with, it will work." Zuno reassured her.
Grim was still nowhere to be seen.

"Let's hear it then." Jennifer said as she entered the tent.

"Alright, so here it goes." Zuno said as he started to explain his plan.

Grim was deep in the woods crying heavily. "I did this, I caused all of those deaths. I'm a failure. Dad, I'm sorry." She weeped by herself. "What would he do if he was in my position?" And then it hit her, she knew what to do.