NOVEL WEB Chapter 306: Patino Has Fallen
The stone floor continued to rumble under their feet, the tremors becoming more violent with each passing second.
The elders stumbled, grabbing hold of each other to stay standing.
The channel of water weaving through the room sloshed, spilling its content into the stone floor.
"Are we sure it's not an earthquake?" Thorn yelled over the loud rumbling.
"It's a tsunami!" The priest shouted back, and that did the trick.
Chaos bloomed immediately. Elders shoved past one another, voices raised in panic, robes billowing as they scrambled for the exits.
Guards barked orders, drawing their weapons more out of instinct than preparation.
Scribes filled the hallways, arms full of scrolls as they sprinted for safety.
Someone knocked over a brazier. The fire wooshed, catching the dry vines decorating a section of the wall before a sudden wave of water surged through the floor channels and extinguished it.
Ren grabbed Thorn by the shoulder. "We need to move. Now."
Lilith was already moving, her pace brisk, eyes narrowed. They followed behind her as she moved through the chaos.
Her steps made no sound despite her urgency.
As they moved through the hallways, the shaking subsided but the panic didn't.
They stormed out of the building and into a city, only to find out that whatever chaos they'd encountered in the building, it was much worse outside it.
Storm clouds rolled thick above the sea, casting Patino in a sickly, unnatural hue of gray.
"Is it a storm, an earthquake or a tsunami?!" Thorn yelled incredulously.
Shouts and screams echoed from every direction as citizens darted through the winding paths and bridges that connected Patino's streets.
Boats overturned in the canals, and the drums kept beating as if a war was coming.
Zuzu and Tam were outside the building as if they'd been waiting for them. They were in an outer corridor where the city met the steps leading toward the building.
The soldiers and scribes scrambled past them, each one going about their duties before their eyes locked on the group.
"Thorn! You were released?!" Zuzu shouted, eyes wide.
Tam pointed inland, his jaw tight. "Forget talking. We need to get to the central rock. It's the only high ground on Patino. MOVE!"
They ran.
Tam led them through a maze of drenched streets. The canals churned beside them, waves slamming against stone as if trying to leap free.
The mass of Tidecallers that made up the city joined the desperate rush. More and more feet pounded the soaked cobbles. The bridges became chokepoints. People screamed. Shoving. Crying. The very air vibrated.
And then, there was a tremor in the sky.
Ren turned.
He saw it.
A wall of water, taller than most of the towers in the city, loomed on the horizon.
Vast. Impossibly wide. Not a wave. A mountain of the sea.
"We're not going to make it!" Tam shouted over the roar.
"Then we make a stand!" Thorn growled, already shifting his stance.
The roaring of the tsunami grew louder. Below their feet, the stone began to tremble. Water flooded the alleys. Debris floated past them. Crates, pieces of wood, a doll.
Lilith stretched a hand, forming a dome of energy over them. They could see the water growing closer through the translucent barriers.
Different Tidecallers saw the barrier, banging against it in desperation, and Lilith expanded it, people pouring in.
Hundreds of people surrounded them as the wall of water grew closer and closer.
Then, it hit.
The wave came down like a falling god.
It wasn't a splash. It was the ocean consuming the land in a single breath.
The tsunami tore into Patino, smashing buildings, cracking stone, ripping apart bridges. People vanished. The screaming didn't stop, it was simply drowned out.
At the wave's edge, a barrier of water rose up.
Several Elders stood in formation, arms outstretched. They channeled massive walls and whirlpools to slow the impact.
Columns of water spiraled upward to meet the tide. Some Elders rode waves like chariots, straining against the crashing force. Others fell, screaming, devoured by the flood.
Water hit the city, flowing through like an angry god. It hit the barrier, the force cracking it. The people gasped, but the barrier held.
Right until the monsters arrived.
Eel-things with gnashing, vertical mouths. Crabs as tall as a house, shells bristling with jagged needles. Gelatinous horrors with countless eyes.
The tsunami had carried them. Hidden inside the wave like parasites in a flood.
They attacked the barrier, and in an instant, it was down, sending water rushing in.
Ren didn't hesitate.
He slammed his bracers together. The stored kinetic force exploded outward in a thunderous blast, flattening the first wave of monsters.
"Circle formation! NOW!" He barked.
Lilith appeared beside him, a war cry ripping from her throat as her soul energy ignited with fury. She leapt into the surf, slicing clean through a lunging beast with a formed sword. The water boiled where she moved.
Thorn swung his bone arm like a warhammer. It extended on command, smashing one of the eel-things into pulp. His cape flared, hardening to shield a group of fleeing children.
Zuzu and Tam took up the rear. Water twisted around them, obeying their command. Together, they raised a vortex that swallowed monsters whole.
The Elders fought far in the distance, closer to the shore. Three were pulled under and ripped apart by the monsters, but the rest kept fighting and killing any monster within the radius of their powers.
Ren kept fighting without pause. Every blast from his bracers cracked the ground beneath him. His breath came ragged. He caught glimpses of Lilith cutting down two beasts at once. Her face was expressionless. Pure focus.
Thorn roared again, ripping a beast's skull apart with his bare hand.
Zuzu screamed, hurling a water spear so fast it almost cracked the air.
Tam dragged a wounded soldier from the flood, then turned and flung a whip of water that crushed a monster against a wall.
Ren's world narrowed.
In the middle of the chaos, something brushed his mind.
Like a warning in his own voice.
"Sever your roots to the Trees of Power."
He stumbled.
"What?"
But the voice had faded, as if it was never there.
A monster lunged, and he reacted on instinct, shattering it with a concussive blast.
He kept fighting, paying it no mind.
Minutes passed. An eternity.
Then the wave began to retreat, taking with it the remaining monsters.
It pulled back, leaving behind a ruined world.
Patino was unrecognizable. Half the island had been consumed. The central rock stood like a gravestone, surrounded by shattered homes, burning towers, and corpses floating in red water.
Ren, Lilith, Thorn, Zuzu, and Tam stood dripping, watching the world around them with wide eyes.
They were soaked, bloodied, heaving. But they were also alive.
Zuzu collapsed to her knees, sobbing. Tam sat beside her, dazed. But he still had the presence of mind to put his hands around her shoulders and draw her close.
Thorn leaned on his blade, breathing like he'd run a hundred miles.
Lilith stood perfectly still, blades lowered, her eyes glowing faintly.
Ren turned toward the horizon.
The water had retreated, but not all the way.
As if something else was coming.