Secret Shadow Ops

Standing Against the Tide

The wind howled as the rain began to pour.

Everyone stood at the top of the wall, with the soldiers around them confused with their weapons drawn. Upon recognition of their allies, however, they called for the general.

A huge runic circle emerged in the middle of the wall, where most of the adventurers were still in panic, but they were relieved to be safe. Adventurers here and there were telling the soldiers that they should prepare for what was coming, or how they are unmatched compared to what they saw in there.

The general arrived in moments, and stood in front of a lady covered in fading light. She held her shoulder as she opened her eyes, but before she could speak, she fell unconscious as general Segovia caught her in her arms. 

"Soldiers. Tend to the adventurers." She gestured for someone to pick up the girl and get her out of the rain. She walked on as she saw the adventurers around her slowly get up and run inside, afraid. Deathly afraid.

"We.... we shouldn't have gone.... we just..." 

General Segovia turned around to see a woman on her knees. 

"Are you alright? What has happened?" She asked her. She picked up her bow, not even looking up at her as she stood up and ran towards another adventurer, with a staff. General Segovia watched them both as they hugged each other, the man obviously consoling the girl. The general walked on as the rain got harder, there were only a handful of the adventurers left, and only a few of them still stayed under the rain. She was looking for one person in particular however, someone she knew that could answer all her questions.

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. It was only midday, but the sky was dark and heavy. The shadow lands gave off a sinister aura, a thick blanket of fog enveloped the atmosphere as it began to creep over, closing onto the wall.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"B-Bella...?" 

Azrael called out to the woman who was on her knees just an inch closer to the edge of the runic circle. Azrael got up, as he walked towards her, he noticed she was holding her hand out just a bit in front of her.

"Bella.... I..." Azrael knelt beside her, and as he touched her shoulder, she quickly spun, forming blades out of her hands and holding them up to Azrael's neck.

"Bella.... I'm sorry." The rain poured hard and smeared their faces, but Azreal could tell tears were rolling down on her cheeks. She dropped her blades, as it dissipated onto the ground. She stood up and walked out, passing by the general as she ran towards the stairs to go down.

Azrael sat down. He looked to his left and saw Morrissey, and to his right, Catalina just hugging Schmidt as he consoled her. Everyone had the look of fear and were visibly shaken.

Lightning flashed once more, followed by thunder.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"A total of 17 out of 121 adventurers survived, among these, the paladin Friedenberg, one of King Lionel's personal royal guards, did not make it back. It is presumed that he is dead." General Segovia said to herself as she wrote down on her report. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. It has only been an hour ever since the adventurers got back from their expedition. She only got a handful of information since the adventurers themselves have had a sense of paranoia ever since they had gotten back. Some were unconscious, but those that were conscious barely talked. The ones that did only talked about how they were coming, and that they had no chance of stopping them. Segovia had been thinking of what the next step to their plan was. Was their expedition a success? Obviously not, there was no helpful, much less clear information regarding the mission at all.