Lillyth finally got a decent look at the Templar as she tried waking him up as well. He was fairly tall, his body built up from a life of templar training and armor, with short messy blonde hair resting on a shaved young face.

  “What the hell is going on?” Lillyth asked, ruder than she meant to due to panic.

  “Hells.” the dark elf slid in before ignoring the rest of the question, focusing more on the other two standing.

  “Wha-?” Lillyth began to ask before Aeyona replied.

  “Someone did this. Someone and their pet monster I think.”

  “Some fuckin monster if it did all this eh?” Horren chuckled lightly, still exhausted from his wounds and the day.

  “So, both of our homes seem to be gone now, but yours is still trying to kill us. I tried getting us out already-” the dark elf said, looking over his ornate, wicked looking dagger in his hand.

  “Aye’ some good that did.” Horren grumbled, which got a pointed glare in return.

  “ -and that only brought us here. So unless you have a better option, I suggest we start walking.” He finished.

  “She tried getting us out of here, after getting us here, and you guys showed up instead.” Lillyth informed him. “Who are you guys? Where did you come from?” she asked.

  The tall grey elf looked down at Aeyona with peaked interest before replying.

  “My name is Malastare, I don't know these people, I just met them when I found the wreckage. The rest is a very long story. So walking it is. Are they alive?” he gestured to Al and Marvel laying beside Lillyth, she nodded in reply.

  “Then you get the girl, I'll take care of the fool, “ he paused briefly, looking behind them, “ and we might want to run instead. We have company.” malastare said. Before grabbing the templar by the arm dragging him away from the city, towards the shrine of Valoria. All at once they turned towards the city to see a dozen more corpses on their trail closing in.

  “Ah shit, already?” Horren muttered, “you girls take care of her, I'm right behind ya.” and he sat on a larger pile of bricks waiting for the invasion. Then looking back seeing them not move he yelled “I said haul ass!”

  This was not how Horren planned on spending his day. He had woken up in his favorite brothel after a long expensive night. The plan was for some morning entertainment and carry on with his travels back to Norren keep, the dwarven kingdom in the mountains northeast.

  Instead the entire city blew up with him chained to a wall. Now to top it all off, he was being chased by the dead and running low on tricks.

  He sat and watched the girls run off north to join malastare dragging the young man along. Then looking back towards the dead, who had gathered and nearly arrived en masse.

  "Show time." He muttered to himself.

  Hoping off of the large stone he was resting upon. The wound across his arm had already begun to heal, it would still take a few days to fade away. Taking a few steps forward he put his arms out, aiming his palms toward the grass. Letting the energy flow through his veins, passing onto the blood he had spilled.

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  Horren then rose his arms, palms towards the dark ashen sky, as did the boulders and rubble around him. Smaller rocks and stones first, followed by bigger chunks of rubble slowly floating from the ground.

  The wave of voracious corpses closing in, only moments until they were upon Horren. With an exhausted groan of effort, Horren put all of his will power into his spell. He dropped to one knee, thrusting his palms into the bloody ashey grass below him.

  A small rock was the first to go, soaring through the air and crashing into the front runner's skull. Its body hit the ground tumbling moments before the rest of the barrage of boulders came barreling in.

  A rapid series of stones colliding into the crowd like a swarm of meteors, putting gory craters of crushed remains in the ground. Leaving Horren, exhausted, and momentarily alone.

  He stood up, wiping ash and dirt from himself, and began trudging his way towards the rest of the group. Looking behind him he saw the river flooding into the craters he left, slowing down the horde that remained in the wreckage.

  Lillyth finally caught up with malastare after a few minutes, her entire body was sore from the trauma of the day. Marvel feeling heavier in her arms every passing moment.

  Aeyona grabbed the templar’s other shoulder to help malastare drag the heavy body to safety. She was surprised the lean elf had managed to carry him this far.

  They made their way to the monument atop the hill, resting at the feet of Valoria to wait for the dwarf to catch up.

  “Can you help them? I watched you heal people in the courtyard, and they would be more help awake.” Aeyona asked Lillyth.

  “You’ve been watching me?” Lilly replied abruptly.

  “I-well-uhm..” Aeyona’s face growing red as she fumbled over her words. “I didn’t mean to, i just happened to see-”

  “Is this really the time ladies?” Malastare interrupted, sitting on the grass clutching his dagger.

  “No, you’re right. I can barely stand, but I can try.” Lillyth decided to let it go, for now, as she kneeled next to marvel who was still asleep in the grass.

  She laid her hands across Marvel’s chest and forehead, wishing and willing for her to wake up. For a long moment nothing happened. Fear began to fill Lillyth’s heart.

  Then by a miracle Marvel began to cough and stir. Her hazel eyes opened up slowly, and then widened in panic as Marvel jumped up ready to finish the fight she remembered.

  “Woah! Hey! Marvel, it’s ok. You’re ok.” Lillyth quickly tried to calm her.

  “Wha- What happened?” Marvel rubbed her eyes, beginning to wake up fully. “Did we win? Where are we?”

  “I thought we lost you.” Lillyth felt tears begin in her eyes, she wiped them away. “We still have to run, but we are safe for a while”

  Suddenly Horren called out from behind them, falling to the ground laying on his back.

  “Not for long kids, I think I pissed them off,” he said through deep breaths.

  “Told you the kid will be fine. How ‘bout pretty boy?” Horren chuckled before wincing from the pain.

  “Yeah, he is the heavy one. Kinda hoped you’d get him first.” Malastare muttered unapologetically. Ignoring the scowl it brought from Lillyth.

  As she moved closer to the templar, he suddenly began to cough and groan. Scaring Aeyona who had moved closer causing her to yelp, then cup her mouth embarrassed.

  “Ugh, that sucked. What did I miss?” the young Templar asked groggily.

  “We saved your life, again. You owe me a drink, kid.” Horren replied.

  “Hey, what’s your name?” Aeyona blurted out.

  “Alkibiades,” Al began.

  “Alki-fuckin-what?” horren laughed before wincing and holding his ribs again.

  “Alkibiades, but you can call me Al” Al sighed.

  “Whatever you say Abba zabba jibba jabba” Horren trailed off before raising his head and looking towards Varidia. "Oh come on!"

  Dread filled Lillyth as she followed his gaze to the patch of land they ran from to see the relentless corpses on their trail. They would not have long to rest before the horde caught up to them again.

  “How many are there?” Aeyona asked, exasperated.

  “I have not seen any other survivors, so we can assume the rest of the city is dead and on our asses.” Malastare replied coldly. Al sat up slowly, getting his bearings, and pointed to the south-east.

  “I fear it is more than the city. That smoke to the south , it looks to be coming from the town south of the city.” Al pointed out while standing to his feet. “Which means there’s no going that way. ”

  Lillyth looked towards the town, and saw smoke rising from the base of the Norren Mountains. The woods she could see between the city and the town were darkened and smoking as well.

  “This was a planned attack. This is big, very big.” Malastare pointed out. “To hit all of Varidia, coast to coast, would take massive amounts of planning and power.”

  “But why? Why would anyone do this?” Lillyth asked, her heart sinking further.

  “My guess? Whoever did this, managed to cut the world in half in a day. This isn’t even the beginning, it’s just setting the board,” Malastare said, seemingly impressed. “But, we should worry more about getting to safety.” he finished, looking down upon the encroaching threat.

  “There is a small farm village north of here, after that, we may find help in Viexel a few days past it.” Al offered as he brushed himself off. “Let’s get going.” as he began walking north, trying to pick up the pace.

  Lillyth looked at Marvel and Aeyona, they looked back, silently agreeing to follow. Marvel helped Horren to his feet. She then took a few steps till she was at the edge of the grassy hill. Marvel got onto one knee, took a deep breath and put her palms into the grass.

  After a moment of nothing happening, the ground began to stir. Small tremors and shakes emanated from the small elf.

  The earth in front of her cracking from the quakes. Spikes of rock and packed dirt split out of the hill. The ground churned below them to create a natural ditch topped by a wall of spikes out of the previously soft hill.

  “That should buy some more time, let’s go.” Marvelous said in a soft tired voice. She then joined Lillyth and her new partners in survival, as they followed Alkibiades to the nearest group of civilization.

  Six "normal" teenagers. One impossible mission. Infinite evolution under red skies...

  NEMESIS, Chase, Stella, Theo, Emily, Oscar, and Andre are exposed to an extraterrestrial element called Primonium—unlocking abilities only the rarest humans, known as Primes, can possess. NEMESIS plans to unleash Primonium into the atmosphere, creating thousands of superhumans and using them to reshape society on their own twisted terms.

  Atlas Corp., a private military organization dedicated to stopping NEMESIS, the teens are thrust into a world of danger, espionage, and powers beyond their imagination. As new Primes, they must master their abilities, trust each other, and confront a rising threat that could kill millions.

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