Scattered Fragments

Chapter 21 - Attack On The Wall!

The sounds of bells tolling were ringing from all directions. A mass hysteria was taking form as civilians started running to their homes. The streets were a blur as he sped up, keeping to back alleys and less populated streets. Soldiers flocked the street, some urging people to stay inside their homes, while others raced towards the eastern gate. Vincent climbed up to a roof and began jumping from house to house until he got to the wall.
Men and women rushed back and forth, getting their weapons ready. There were some sharpshooters near the edge of the wall, rifles ready and pointed into the darkness. Vincent hopped onto a ledge and peered out into the darkness, looking for movement, but there was none that he could see.
"Get to your stations all of you!" Councilman Reigns said above the conglomerate of voices. Vincent looked back and was shocked, wondering how the man had made it to the wall before him. "Archers! Where are my archers!" He demanded.
A group of soldiers rushed to him. "We're here, sir!" Responded one of the soldiers, a young girl with short black hair. Suddenly, the sad sight of that dumb girl with the Onen friend came into his head.
"Why the hell are you telling me for? GET YOUR ASSES TO POSITION!" He barked.
The girl hurried to her position a couple feet from Vincent. He looked away from her and to the darkness below. The shouting and panic of the soldiers simmered down until it was just whispers.
"We need light down there, we can't see a thing!" said a soldier somewhere down the wall.
"Private Rey, give us some light out there," Reigns ordered.
The girl nodded while fishing into her coat pocket for a pouch. She tied it to the arrow head and readied her shot. Everyone waited patiently for her, but their impatience grew as she took longer than expected. She squinted hard and poured her Essence into the bag and let it loose. Everyone looked as the arrow that was doused in blue flame sailed across the sky. They all expected a brilliant bright light, but it seemed as if the bag just burnt out and never exploded.
All heads turned to her. She looked back to Reigns, giving him an apologetic smile. The old man was ready to maul the girl, but a strong light radiated over the land. The light was white with a blue outline as if tipped by blue flames. This light wasn't as strong as the sun, but the Essence Vincent had poured into it was enough to extinguish all the darkness in the area. Vincent lowered the bow he had borrowed from a soldier next to him.
All eyes were on the monsters crawling, scaling and gliding towards the city. They moved slowly and menacingly. Scattered across the fields, hundreds of these monstrous creatures can be seen stalking nearer to them; predators ready to pounce their prey. Vincent wondered if this was an Onen attack, or just the beasts tired of picking apart all of the small towns and villages in the area. He searched for the supposed Juggernaut, but saw no sign of the giant, hulking creature.
Reigns approached a ledge and turned to his men. He looked at each face staring at him, waiting for orders or maybe even a word of encouragement.
"You are all scared, I've seen that same look on your faces many times. It can be hard staring death down and spitting at its face. Trost had told me once that death is not just all around us, but inside of us. So tonight, instead of fearing death, embrace it and use it to take down these wild beasts! Show them what being human is made of!"
The soldiers cheered and roared with their weapons in the air.
"Sharpshooters!" He called, all of the soldiers with rifles stopped to listen. "Take care of the winged creatures and all of the beasts at the back of their charge. I don't want any bullets or arrows striking my men down below." Their commander unsheathed the sword at his side, Mithril, a battle worn yet mighty sword. "Let's go give them a warm Mioran welcome!" he yelled with pride, raising his sword and sliding down one of the ropes that hung off the wall. The rest of the soldiers cheered and followed him down.
Vincent stepped down from the ledge and was bumped from behind. He turned back and noticed that it was the girl he saw earlier... Rey, if he remembered correctly. She was red in the face as she looked at Vincent, probably from embarrassment or panic.
"I'm sorry," she yelled over the noise of the other men yelling. He looked her over, she wasn't much. She was thinner than most of the female sentries, and a little shorter. He noticed a sword at her hand.
Didn't she have a bow? he thought, but said nothing as he just let her pass by him. She nodded, then rushed down the ladder to follow the other foot soldiers.
She switched positions? He wondered.
Vincent climbed one of the towers on the wall and looked down. The soldiers took their places, forming a wall and shields and spears with about five dozen soldiers at the back. The filth was closing in on them, stalking their human prey. The archers aimed their bows towards the enemy and let loose, mowing down the advancing forces. The ground forces moved in on the wounded beasts, finishing them off before they could get their second wind.
Vincent noticed all of the different varieties of creatures that came barreling towards them. He could recognize each of them, and though they had gone through a revolting mutation, they were still identifiable. He noticed a group of Khanter, serpent like creatures with poisonous spikes sticking out of their tails. Verenoth, towering beasts with an animalistic human figure to them, pounded their axes together as they advanced. Through their mutation, Eigo flew around the battlefield, spitting acid onto the unfortunate soldiers down below. Many more paraded down the hills, but there was still no sign of the Juggernaut.
He wondered how they'd fare against it once it showed up. They were rare to find and usually lived in isolation. If the disease that spread through the land had caused it to mutate, then what new beast would it have created? He wondered how many restraints he would have to release before taking it down. He hoped it wouldn't take more than four, since James was the only one who could release the final three.
Grimm appeared behind him, jogging to a stop. He peered below and whistled. "That's a shit show down there."
Vincent pulled out a dagger from his belt. "You have no business being here, go back to the castle and look over Miranda."
Grimm scoffed. "And let you get all the fun? Nope. The Queen is going to be just fine with my men and besides-" He aimed his pistol down to the mess of bodies and shot three consecutive shots into the head of a Verenoth down below; it dropped down quickly, crushing a group of smaller beasts. "I'm still a hell of a shot with my left. So...shall we?" he finished, bowing into a gentleman's pose and offering Vincent to go first.
Vincent closed his eyes and broke the chains off his first restraint. His face exploded into a devilish grin and he shot through the sky then into the fray down below. He landed at the center of the crowd of monsters and drove his dagger into stomach of Goken, causing the fat creature to release a dark acid from its belly pouch. Vincent sidestepped, letting the acid rain burn through its friends. He grabbed the leg of a creature made of vines and launched it at an oncoming group of sewer Skat. The vined creature crashed into the rodents. A bullet rang out, shooting straight into a Skat and blowing it up into hundreds of tiny disgusting bits and pieces.
Grimm landed nearby, shooting at anything that got close to either of them. His aim was flawless, considering the hand he shot from. The gun must have been one of his newer inventions, probably a weaker model of his Sunburst.
"Behind you!" Grimm called out.
Vincent ducked under one of the Goken and shot his legs straight up into it's face, the fangs jutting out of its mouth goring the top half of its mouth. A fierce cry escaped the monster as it tried to pry its mouth free of itself. But, Vincent was already on his feet, thrusting his heel down onto the top of its massive head like a bug. It groaned then went limp as blood pooled the ground at his feet.