Author's Preface
As Blue, Aaron, and Olivia got closer to the Association building that was now demolished, the figure in the sky let out a laugh that would send chills down any man's spine. It stopped the three dead in their tracks. As they looked up at the sky, the figure disappeared. Blue looked at Aaron.
"Well, what now?"
"I don't sense him at all anymore," Olivia said.
"We still need to get to the Buckeye Guild and Association and check for anyone injured. Olivia, head to the guild. I'll meet you there shortly. Blue, let's head to the Association."
Olivia split off, heading directly for the old campus and the Buckeye Guild. Blue and Aaron ran as fast as they could through the streets before they came to a halt. They watched as Titus and his executives pulled people out of the wreckage of the building. The top half of the building had fallen from the sky, leaving huge chunks of steel and concrete scattered across the ground and blocking the entrance to the Association, which was now on fire.
Blue and Aaron rushed to help remove the debris from the entrance and pull out anyone caught underneath it. Awakeners who could use water magic began spraying the building down to control the flames as everyone started making a hole through the debris to reach the entrance.
Finally, Titus yelled, "Open the doors!"
Aaron ran up, grabbed both doors, and ripped them off their hinges. Blue sat back and watched hundreds of awakeners and civilians alike run out of the building covered in soot and dust. Each of them coughed violently, gasping for air as they stepped outside. Behind Blue, the Paladin Guild came running. It was a guild full of priests and paladins, those who had been blessed with the ability to heal others.
Their guildmaster ran to Titus. "Sir, are you okay?"
Titus waved his hand. "Treat the civilians first. Quickly."
"Yes, sir."
"Paladins! Treat the civilians first. Triage everyone. You and you, set up the tents over there." She pointed to an open field a few hundred feet from the Association building. "The rest of you, start healing."
Blue watched as the priests began laying their hands over people as a white light enveloped each of them. Titus and Aaron walked over to where Blue stood.
"Why? Why did this happen?" Blue looked at Titus.
"Some people want to see the world burn, Blue." Titus took a deep breath. "I wish I had a straight answer for you. I don't." Titus looked around as priests began covering those they couldn't save with sheets. "But I promise you this. We will find these sons of bitches and make them pay a hundredfold for what they have done here today."
Aaron sat down in front of Titus and Blue. "The other strongholds seemed to have fared much better than us. Chicago had almost zero fatalities. I hear Dallas also didn't have much of a problem with the monster wave that reached them."
"So, whoever that bastard in the sky was, he was here in Columbus for a specific reason."
"What reason could that possibly be?" Blue asked as he sat down next to Aaron.
"I have a few ideas as to why." Titus stared at Blue. "But none you need to concern yourself with right now. Our priority is fixing the wall, tending to the wounded, helping any civilians who lost their homes, and hunting down these Midnight fucks aggressively."
Aaron finally stood and dusted himself off. "I should go check out how bad my guild is now. Olivia texted me and said everyone's fine, but I'm not going to be happy with the sight of things." Aaron turned and walked off toward the Buckeye Guild.
Blue stood next. "Yeah, I should go check on my parents. Their house wasn't close to where the wave was, but nevertheless."
Titus nodded. "Go check on your family. There's nothing more you can do here. I'll call all the guild leaders together tomorrow to come up with a plan to move forward."
Blue nodded and turned toward his parents' house. As Blue walked, he saw Eve, Chris, Darrien, Cynthia, Samantha, and Yuki in the distance walking toward him.
"What are you guys doing?"
"We finished clearing up the monsters. A group from the Paladin and Union Guilds showed up to handle the rest," Chris said as he stopped and stared at the wreckage of the Association building.
"Damn, whatever that was sure did a number on it, huh?" Darrien looked at Blue. "Any idea who or what it was?"
"No."
"So, can we go check on our mom and dad before I go make sure Marco is okay?" Samantha smiled at Blue.
"Your mom and dad? What are you talking about?"
Cynthia stepped forward. "Well, you and Eve are the only ones whose parents are still alive. We've never met Eve's parents, and so we've adopted yours as our parents too."
Blue smiled. "Thanks, guys. Yeah, let's go check on our parents."
"Great, I'm starving. And I forgot to go grocery shopping, so we have no food in the house." Darrien half-smiled at Blue.
"Seriously, man?"
"What? My sister literally kidnapped me and tortured me while you were having fun with that dungeon."
"Well, I'm sure our mom will be more than happy to cook for everyone." Samantha smirked.
Chris smacked Darrien on the head. "You get to do the dishes for a week now too. On top of shopping."
Darrien smacked his tongue. "Whatever, man."
Eve walked behind the group and watched Darrien put his arms around Blue and Chris as they joked back and forth. She smiled softly until a hand met her shoulder.
"If you don't tell him soon, you may lose him. You should know, we had quite a good time in that dungeon. He gave me these after I said gold is a girl's best friend." Yuki pulled out the gold chunks and held them in her hand. She put one in Eve's hand and closed her fingers around it.
"You really are insufferable." Eve removed Yuki's hand from her shoulder, threw the gold chunk on the ground and ran up between Cynthia and Samantha.
Darrien had witnessed the interaction between Yuki and Eve. He pulled Blue and Chris close. "We really need to do something about that." Darrien nodded his head backwards.
Chris and Blue both turned their heads and saw Eve with a very irritating look and Yuki walking behind her smiling, tossing a gold chunk in the air and catching it.
"Only thing we can do is educate our friend here about the repercussions of his own stupidity." Chris chuckled.
"Seriously, I still have no clue what you two keep going on about." Blue's eyes caught Eve's as they both smiled at each other. Blue turned his head back forward. "You guys worry too much."
"I'm only worried that your dad might be out of beer." Darrien started skipping ahead of everyone. He looked back at Blue. "Do you think Mary will take requests for dinner?"
Chris picked up a rock and threw it at Darrien. "You seriously need to be house trained."
Comments