A Hymn of Blades

The shrill ringing came to a stop as his vision started to blur. His head felt as if it was being repeatedly smashed by a hammer. With a grunt, Erend stood back up on unsteady legs.

Charles sat next to him, curled up into a ball. He was clutching his head just like how Erend had been.

So it wasn’t just me then.

Erend laid a hand on one of his shoulders, reassuringly.

“You alright?” he asked.

“God, what the fuck was that…” muttered Charles as Erend helped him stand. “I’ll manage. You?”

“Same.”

Around them, the city who’d been rumbling with life came to an abrupt halt. The people wore the same confused expressions as Erend and Charles, none seemed the wiser to what had happened, and everyone seemed to have experienced it.

In the distance Erend could hear frantic shouts spreading, accompanied by a clattering of metal.

“You hear that?” Erend asked.

“Yeah, sounds like the guards are on top of things. Wanna go to them? Maybe they know what that cursed noise wa–”

BOOM

An explosion resounded in the distance, it came from the Nobles’ disctrict.

With a flinch, Erend blurted out; “Hells!” he grabbed ahold of Charles’s arm and pulled. The ground shook beneath them, doors and windows rattled.

“To the guards! Go!” Erend shouted, as they broke out in a quick jog.

A lot of people seemed to have similar ideas, as the streets took on the form of a flood, with people pushing and shoving their way toward the nearest guardhouse.

As they ran Erend kept a hold of Charles’s shoulder, making sure they didn’t lose each other it the crowd.

An unfortunate step landed on some poor fellows’ foot, he sat amidst the flood of people, cowering, muttering something about damnation. Erend stumbled and staggered for a few steps and let go of Charles’s shoulder, he’d almost regained balance again when he felt a hard shove hit him from behind. He fell.

“Shit!” he exclaimed as he tried to get up but kept getting shoved down as the panicking people rushed by him. A few particularly savage steps hit his back, making him gasp for air.

He felt a firm hand wrap around the back of his coat, as he was tugged up on his feet again.

Erend turned around, panting, expecting to see Charles behind him, but he was nowhere to be found. His rescuer had been a burly woman he'd never seen before.

“Thank you,” he said, taking a few large breaths, nervously looking around, hoping to find his friend.

“He was shoved along, just keep moving and you’ll find each other, you’ll see!” the burly woman said and gently pushed Erend along, toward the guardhouse.

He kept on jogging for a bit, always keeping an eye open, looking for Charles amongst the crowd.

As he neared the guardhouse, he became able to make out a few words. Mostly guards saying that every was alright and to remain calm.

Easy for them to say when they’re armed to the teeth and are in the know.

On the way, he’d lost sight of even the burly woman. There were just too many people crowding the narrow streets.

Outside the guardhouse, the guards had built a primitive overlook using boxes and planks, on top of them stood a well armored guard wearing the Dukes dragon insignia on his chest. The crowd had calmed, yet he still couldn’t see Charles.

“Remain calm! Do not go home! Keep moving to the docks!” the guard shouted.

Many raised their voices in protest.

“What’s going on?! You have to tell us!” a thin man shouted in indignation.

The guard shot him a look that could kill before repeating; “Remain calm! Do not go home! Keep moving to the docks!”

With a muffled chatter of annoyance, the crowd started moving as one toward the docks.

Before Erend moved along with the crowd he caught a glimpse of a broad shouldered man with a square face.

“Albert!” he shouted.

Albert perked up, trying to locate who it was that had shouted his name, before long he singled out Erend in the crowd. “Erend!” he exclaimed and beckoned him to come closer.

“Have you seen Charles?” Erend asked as soon as he managed to elbow his way through the crowd. “We got separated on the way here.”

“I haven’t but I’ll keep a look out for him. You alright?” Albert asked with a gesture toward Erend’s legs. He’d apparently been hurt in the fall, resulting in a nasty, bloodied scrape and torn trousers.

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just a scrape is all.” Erend explained. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Can’t say much. But between us, it’s not looking great.” that part resulted in Albert receiving an elbow in his side from a superior, to which he answered with a sheepish smile. “Stay away from the nobles’ district and just move to the docks. We’ll have you board boats or shelter in the warehouses as we get a better grasp on things.”

“You’re making me nervous, man.”

“Come on rookie, time to go!” a guard barked at Albert, who immediately responded with a nod and started to jog away from Erend.

Albert turned around and shouted at Erend; “I’ll keep a look out for your family if you do the same for mine!”

“Always!” Erend shouted back.

Erend started to once again move with the human current. This time they had guards flanking them, making sure the order was kept, as they kept barking orders at the crowd, telling them to remain calm and to move in an orderly fashion.

As he moved with the crowd, he kept both eyes open, hoping to spot someone he knew. Most of all he wished he’d see his family somewhere.

The sound of a much smaller explosion than before spread throughout the city. It sounded like fireworks of some kind. Erend moved his watchful gaze toward the sky and saw a red puff of smoke spreading its powder amidst the clouds.

The guards seemed taken aback but soon found their wits again.

“Faster! Get a move on!” they ushered the crowd with renewed vigor, the urgency in their voices hard to miss.

The panic spread quickly, as the previously orderly line started moving like the tide once more. People shouted and shoved their way through the crowd with renewed fervor. Many fell and had to curl up to best protect themselves from the stampeding horde of people. As Erend picked up his pace, he hastily pulled up an old man on his feet. Not sparing him any more of his attention, he darted past him.

Still, he’d seen no sign of his family, nor his friends’. A knot in his stomach made itself known as he continued along with the flow. Before long he could hear the sounds of waves crashing into the docks, and shores of Exodus, the morning light danced atop the water’s surface. The never-ending cries of seagulls echoed, as loud as ever.

The flood of people finally found its way out of the narrow alleys, to the open docks. The pace slowed.

The panic-filled shouting and arguing abruptly came to a stop. Many pointed and whispered. You could hear a pin drop, if it weren’t for the damn seagulls. Erend looked to where the people were pointing, out into the bay of Exodus.

In the distance, just above the horizon, he could make out the shapes of ships, sailing into the bay.

He threw a glance at the guards and felt despair wash over him – they were practically shaking. Those weren’t friendly ships. They were under attack! How the hell had they gotten into the city? Were those bombs he’d heard before? Many thoughts occupied his mind, yet most of all he thought: Where the hell are dad and Elle?!

There was nowhere to run. The steady stream of people rushing into the harbor from the narrow alleys would be impossible to get through.

The crowd that had already made it into the harbor were ever so slowly pushed, much to their despair, closer to the docks and shore.

“Board the ships!” the same thin man from before, shouted. The desperate people didn’t seem capable of critical thinking anymore, they surged onto the decks of the ships anchored in the harbor.

Erend fought against the surge of people and managed to avoid being pushed out on the docks. He kept fighting his way through the crowd, receiving hard shoves and curses as a result.

An elbow hit him in the pit of his stomach, he knelt and winced from the pain.

“This way, lad!” he heard someone shout from beside the chaos. Without thinking, he moved in the direction of the voice, not even knowing if it had been directed at him. Before long he felt himself being forcefully dragged out of the man-flood, into the eye of the storm. He laid down, exhausted by the effort of pushing throw the crowd.

When he found his wits again, he realized he was laying inside a fishing shack located just to the side of the main harbor area.

God what the fuck is going on. This is not good.

Besides him there was an old man, he recognized him as the one he’d helped in the streets earlier, a young woman with hair the color of autumn leaves, and a scrawny looking young man with auburn hair.

“Charles!” he exclaimed. “Thank the mother I found you again! Where’d you go?”

“Same as you, just got caught in the flow. Happened to be one of the first people to get to the harbor and was guided to this shack by the guards. There were a lot more of us here before, but they all left when people started boarding the boats.”

“Madness… Madness I tell you! None of them are even sailors!” the old man sensibly spat.

“Beats being stuck in here not knowing what the hell is going on,” the young woman added.

“But we do know, don’t we? We’re under attack,” Erend said, with as much of a ‘matter of factly’ tone as he could.

“And you’re an expert of some kind I take it?” the woman rebuked. “If we were to be attacked, us nobles would have been evacuated to Genesis by now.”

A noble, huh.

Charles furrowed his brow in thought, “Not if the first target was the anchor hall, you wouldn’t. If the teleportation circle’s been captured, you’d be stranded here with the rest of us.”

“But there’s no way that could happen. The Ashleight's got guards patrolling the anchor hall in both Exodus and Genesis. Nobody would be foolish enough to attack the Duke!”

“And yet, here we are,” said Erend with exasperation and a shrug of his shoulders. “So, what now?”

The room fell silent as they all lost themselves in their thoughts.

Erend broke the silence; “I, for one, am going into town again. I need to find dad and Elle.”

“You can’t! If there’s actually an attack it’d be suicide!” the young woman exclaimed. “I say we should stay here and wait for the guards to solve things.”

“I don’t need your permission,” Erend retorted, the coldness in his voice surprised him. “What about you Charles, you coming?”

“Yeah, I guess. I want to make sure my parents are safe before making any rash decisions.”

“You’ll have to wait anyhow. There’s no getting through the panicking masses as things stand. They’re still pouring in from the streets,” the old man said, while looking through a cracked window. “I’d like to repay you for helping me before, laddie, but I’m afraid an old man like me won’t do much good in times like these. If we make it out of this, ask around for old Bernard, I’ll do what I can to repay the debt.”

“Thanks, but you don’t need to.”

“I do, and I want to,” old Bernard said and held out a hand to Erend, who in turn took it in his, and shook it.

Charles turned to the young woman; “What about you? Will you stay here with Bernard or do you want to come with us?” the question warranted a glance from Erend, he didn’t want to bring a woman he barely knew.

“No, I’ll stay. The first explosion came from the nobles’ quarters, I don’t feel like going back there before things settle. I’m Cordelia, by the way,” she said, seemingly thankful for Charles’s offer.

“A pleasure. I’m Charles and the sullen one is Erend. He’s not always this unfriendly, mind you.”

Erend didn’t fail to notice that Charles was trying his hardest to act accordingly, probably to impress the young woman. She looked about their age, maybe a little younger. It was hard to tell with the nobles, they liked to wear a heavy mask of make-up.

Is he fucking flirting … at a time like this? Really?

“Look,” said the old Bernard from the window.

The group gathered around old Bernard and looked to the bay – the approaching fleet had turned their broadsides facing the docks.

A flash of light was enough warning of what was to come.

“Get down!” Erend screamed and tackled the group. They complied and fell to the ground with a loud thud. A singular, dull explosion followed, a second later – a loud crash. The cannonball had hit their refuge, piercing through its roof, and without coming to a stop it had continued onward into the masses pouring out from one of the streets.

Panic-stricken shrieks rang out as the dust settled.

“On second thought, I think I’ll join you guys,” Cordelia coughed dryly.

“Me too,” approved old Bernard.

Before they had a chance to get up, a series of similar dull explosions rang out, and just a moment later the sound washed over them. It sounded as if a storm had descended upon them, ripping through everything it came across. The water sloshed around violently as projectiles broke it's surface.

“What are you doing?! Stay down!” barked Charles, as Erend moved to crouch by the window. Outside, the ships and the docks lay devastated. They’d never even had time to set sail.

The panic-stricken screams outside the shack grew in power as the man-flood started to surge backward, fighting desperately to overpower the people trying to get to the docks. The sound of cannon-volley coming from the docks made their attempts significantly more successful than they had any right of being. The threat of catastrophe lurking in the harbor was likely all the warning the crowd needed.

“We should move while they’re reloading,” old Bernard said. “I may be old and decrepit now, but I was once a fine sailor. Come, no time to waste!” he said and barged through the door.

The group were quick to follow.

“If you were a sailor, don’t you have a martial class?” Charles asked, hoping they’d have someone to count on should they need to.

“I was a merchant sailor, lad.”

People were trying their best to squeeze their way into the narrow streets, yet they avoided the one that had been hit by the first cannon. Old Bernard led the group there, to the ruined alley, with confident steps.

“This way, quickly!” he barked and waved them inside.

Erend ran first, barreling through a cloud of smoke. What awaited him on the other side, he was oddly used to, thanks to the dreams – that is, if they were anything to be thankful for. Mutilated bodies filled the alley, making it hard to walk without stepping on one.

“Oh go–” Cordelia said, she doubled over, dry heaving behind a piece of rubble.

“We can’t afford to stop here, lass. Get a grip and move on if you don’t want to join them.” Old Bernard said. He sounded strangely authoritarian for a merchant sailor.

“Gods, this is terrible,” Charles muttered. “Here, I’ll help you.” he said and offered to support Cordelia. She accepted his offer immediately and wrapped one of her arms around his neck, leaning on him for support.

As Erend turned to keep moving, eyes locked on the ground to not misstep, he cut his movements short, halting his step midair.

No way.

A face peeked up at him, familiar yet very different. It’s lips were pale, hair disheveled, eyes blurry and lifeless. It hadn’t been long since he’d spoken to her last, plotting his revenge. Yet now Sandra was here. Dead.

All of a sudden it struck him. He’d been strangely calm this whole time, but now he realized. This wasn’t one of his dreams. This was real.

His breath became ragged. They could be dead. Dad and Elle.

The group walked up to him from behind, Charles asked; “Erend? You oka–” his eyes fell upon Sandra’s face. “Ah, fuck…”

“Someone you knew?” asked old Bernard.

“A classmate…” Erend responded, quietly, almost in a whisper.

Old Bernard put his left hand atop Erends shoulder; “I understand. But we must keep on moving, we’ve dallied here long enough.”

Erend nodded quietly in affirmation and took a step forward, moving in front of the group. They kept walking through the ruined alley, making sure not to step on any cadavers, when the sound of another cannon-volley crackled behind them.

In the distance they could hear the splashes of water as the volley continued to wreak havoc on the docks. In the next instant, however, the wall to the left of Erend exploded, sending debris and rubble flying. A large piece of the volcanic stone was sent on a violent arc through the air before it hit Erend.

“Erend!” he could hear Charles shouting from behind him as his eyes blurred and he fell.

When he opened his eyes, he stood on a familiar battlefield. This time, however, he was not stood in line with his fellow soldiers, instead he stood over the corpse of the knight he had slain.

He felt a shiver crawl up his spine, and turned to see the mounted, skeletal figure in the distance. The same threads of blue-white ink that he’d seen last night emanated from the figure. He could see the figure tremble for an instant before it reached up to its helmet, lowering the mouthguard, revealing a pair of pale, blue lips. The lips trembled, then moved – the wind carried her whisper across the battlefield.

“Awaken… Child of dusk…”