The Search Begins Volume 02 of An Unwanted Destiny

Forty-Four

Drak and Eryn were in one of the passenger cars near the front of the train. I stayed with them for the trip avoiding all the train workers that came around to check tickets after every stop. I found the whole time on the train peaceful watching the trees and small towns pass by over the two days. I welcomed the quietness that fell on us. We were not far from the Ironton Station when I hurried back to the cargo car where I had left Diark and Zammorak.

I grabbed both weapons and headed towards the door when the entire car rocked from an explosion near the front of the train. I was thrown off my feet slamming me into one of the walls as the car was flipped. One of the crates slammed down into my back. I winced as some of my wounds from the battle with Jadrek which had not been healed fully yet screamed out on impact. After everything came to a stop, I climbed out of the car as screams erupted from the passenger cars. The sight before me was too much to handle at that time, but it would be one of the least gruesome sights to come in my life. Everyone that I saw was either dead or crying out in pain. Their life slipping away. I hurried up the cars hoping to find my friends when a stream of fire shot out forth followed by a group of people flailing their arms as the flames ate away at their flesh. They all collapsed within seconds, but the sound of the blood vessels in their bodies popping from the heat nearly cause me to vomit. I spent a few minutes to recover before continuing. I had almost reached the passenger car where I last saw my friends when a group of people came rushing from around an overturned car with the look of pure terror on their pale faces. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach and drew Diark. A dozen Kupmehs appeared with their crude weapons already covered in blood.

I rushed forward and saved one woman from losing her head but could not save two others as they were pinned to the ground by spears. The beast that I blocked let out a series of clicks before I drove Diark down its throat. The Kupmeh convulsed before turning to ash to be absorbed. I spotted one creature out of the corner of my eye. I spun around drawing Zammorak and letting it fly. The dagger slammed into the beast's throat, and it took a couple more steps before collapsing. The other beasts turned towards me and attacked. It took only a few minutes to finish them off and once the last fell I retrieved Zammorak then continued my search as the last of the beasts turned to ash and absorbed by Diark.

I am still amazed, even to this day, at the ability of Diark to absorb those that I killed in battle. Normal people simply turned to smoke while Kupmehs and Amedtas to ash. All of the Pahtans I battled were absorbed just like Serafin and Fauna, their bodies turning into their element.

It took nearly an hour of searching through the wreckage and battling Kupmehs before I found them. They were fighting back to back and surrounded by nearly a dozen Kupmehs and two dozen Amedtas with nearly another dozen dead at their feet.

"Drak, Eryn!" I called out as I cut a path through the beasts. Once I was through I spun Diark as I put my back to my friends. "Are the two of you alright?"

"We're fine," Drak said as he drove his axe into the neck of a Kupmeh sending a spurt of blood into the air. "What the hell happened?"

"Not sure but it has to be Edith. Both times I have dealt with them they have had these beasts," I said as I cut an Amedta from shoulder to hip.

"We have to do something to help those few people who survived so far," Eryn said as she drove an ice-covered blade into the chest of an Amedta, but it was not enough to kill it. She quickly pulled the sword free then drove it into its neck as it moved to swing at her neck. She pulled the blade free and kicked back throwing the dying beast into another. "Damn these Knights and their sacrificing people!"

The last of the beasts fell. We started to clean off our weapons when I felt someone channeling before the ground trembled. Stone walls shot up around us rising a hundred feet into the air. I searched for some weak spot to break but found none.