Chapter 89

The Sea of Fire (III)

“Although we cannot ascertain it entirely, we chiefly suspect there was another Age before the Age of Wonders; dark, destitute, and distant. Perchance, something wonderful and terrible happened for it to birth the Age of Wonders.”

Origin Myths, Vol. XX

“… how the hell do I embellish this?!” the first thing Noah heard as he tumbled onto the ground and groaned in pain was a voice of the young bard standing just off the river’s bank, staring at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

“RUN, YOU IDIOT!!” Noah exclaimed as he and Asandra quickly shot up to their feet, the latter picking up Olivia and running toward the gates of the fort. Lo’kret finally came to and saw the giant wave bubbling up and moving toward him. Screaming in panic, he spun and run, quickly catching up to Noah.

Noah did a quick examination of his body, and though he felt throbbing pain coming from his left side, the one he landed on, it looked like none of his bones were broken. Glancing back, he watched in shock as the wave swelled to nearly forty feet before crashing down toward the river’s bank.

Just as it did, several dozen people streamed in through the fort's gates, quickly ducking left and right as the water belched through the gates like a tsunami, sweeping numerous people who were too late. Screams and shouts wailed out one after another as Noah latched himself onto a nearby beam, Asandra following his example. While she held onto Olivia, he held onto the young bard, the violent water bashing against them.

Though his grip grew slippery, Noah endured, his muscles almost ready to rip out of his robes. Asandra, on the other hand, looked to have reached her limit, losing her grip on the beam. Luckily, just around then, the water began receding as it reached its limit. Looking around, Noah saw several dozen people lying around on the street, some coughing violently, some having already fainted, and some even dead. One unlucky guy was rammed against the side of the building, his skull cracked, blood forming a diluted pool beneath him.

Taking a deep breath, he put down Lo’kret who’d already passed out, peaking past the gates and over onto the river and beyond. His expression hardened immediately as he saw another sight that left him feeling aghast – like a shooting star, a ball of fire streaked from the other side of the river in a beautiful arc, appearing catapulted, heaving over the immeasurably tall walls of the fort before descending. His gaze followed the ball of fire as it crashed deep into the fort, causing the earth to quake and rapture, the massive explosion billowing out into the streaking flames in the distance.

Soon after, another flame followed… then another… and then another. In not too long, it looked like a rain of fire belting against the fort, each one causing an explosion. Buildings began crumbling, and even the tall and mighty walls started showing signs of cracking. Both Asandra and he watched on with horrified expressions, Noah being the first to come to. Despite having just a moment’s rest, he had no time to think of tiredness; picking up Lo’kret again, he shook Asandra and had her pick Olivia before the two ran out of the fort and toward the tents.

However, just as they cut the corner, they came to a screeching halt, their expressions turning wholly pale; the sea of fire spread in front of them like a raging inferno, covering the massive plains. Screams and wails continued to echo out like a rhapsody of misery, burying the sounds of the fanning flames into a backdrop. Asandra’s jaw was slacked, her eyes wide open, invisible wind whipping her tattered clothes.

Noah suddenly shuddered as he tossed Lo’kret to the side and pushed Asandra and Olivia further away, causing Asandra to cry out in shock. Just then, an array of light crushed through the world at the imperceivably insane speed, boring directly through his shoulder. Noah grit his teeth as pain assailed him; the light went directly through the bone, severing several nerves, causing his arm to grow numb yet also to explode in pain.

Glancing back, he saw several shadows encroaching forward. He was angry. For the first time since coming to this world, he was genuinely angry.

“… I’m so fucking pissed off,” he howled in a low and coarse voice, causing Asandra to shudder. “We need to run.”

“… where?” Asandra asked as she helped him along. Luckily, Lo’kret woke up and somehow managed to stumble along with them. They walked along the fort’s walls, trying to avoid the scorching inferno just to their left. “Are we really going to abandon them all?” she asked with a trace of unwillingness in her voice.

“What else?!” he roared, spitting out a mouthful of blood. That array didn’t just shatter his shoulder, but also seemed to have jolted his organs a bit too much.

“What the hell was the point, then?!” she roared back. “We didn’t need to bring tens of thousands of souls over here for that one-second show!! You sacrificed their lives for nothing, and now you won’t even try to think of a way to save them!”

“…” Noah glared at her for a moment, glancing back once again and seeing the shadows drawing closer. “I don’t need this holier-than-thou shit right now, Asandra. Take Olivia and Lo’kret and run. I’ll stall them.”

“…” she looked into his eyes for a moment, ones reflecting the blazing inferno… yet appearing soul-stirringly cold. She realized he really was angry, and it wasn’t because of her. He wasn’t indifferent. He just had to be. “Fine…”

They’d made their way halfway through the side of the wall before parting; Noah spun around and reached for the gun he’d taken before coming here. Whoever sent those assassins had angered him. Though he could reason it out, knowing himself that this was the best opportunity in the midst of chaos, with the fire swallowing the world and thousands dying by the second, even he found it cruel beyond reason. His shoulder ached, yet his heart ached more, stirring. He wasn’t ineffable, entirely indifferent to the world around him.

Furthermore, within those flames, there is a chance that those close to him were. He had no idea where Sash or Myrell or even Row were, and whether they were dead or alive. While he came here with selfish motives in mind, he still didn’t want to toss the lives of so many people into the fire, appearing entirely apathetic to their suffering. Six people jostled out of the shadows and faced him, masked and cloaked in black, fire reflecting in their eyes.

"Stand—" before they could talk, Noah raised his gun and rapidly fired six bullets; with the silencer and the roaring flames, not one of the six realized what was happening within the three seconds that it took him to put a bullet into each head. Six muffled groans echoed as the flicker of confusion within their eyes vanished, replaced with dull, senseless appearance of the dead.

Six bodies thudded onto the ground, sprawling about. Noah looked around like a hawk, trying to discern whether there were any more hiding in the shadows. After a good minute or two, and realizing there were no more, he finally put the gun away and began dragging the six bodies into the fire, ready to destroy all evidence. Not of the murder itself, but of the bullets lodged in their heads. He’d already picked up the shells, so only this was left.

On the way over, he saw several figures draped in fires from head to toe squirming out and screaming in pain, tossing themselves onto the ground and rolling in vain hopes of surviving. Dozens, if not hundreds, were jumping off the distant bank and into the river, no doubt choosing another form of death.

Noah stopped and turned around in a full circle – night had fallen, yet it seemed a day. Everything… everything was on fire. All around him, the inferno blazed out into the sky, smoke cloaking it. So many screams, so many cries, so many dead. The scent of burned meat and scorched corpses mingled as it whizzed through the air, permeating his surroundings. He himself had never witnessed anything like this, leaving him paralyzed for a moment. As he suspected, this was no war – this was a genocide.

Just then, his heart turned cold as his gaze whipped up toward the sky. There, he saw a massive, star-like ball of fire drawing an arc and beginning to fall down directly toward him. It began gaining speed quickly, causing him to stumble over and try to run off. However, with the heat growing ever-tantalizing, his back nearly bursting out, he felt it – the cold claws of death, the feeling he'd experienced many times before… just never as strongly as now. In the end, he gave up and fell down – not because he wanted to, but because the pain broke his mind and forced him onto the scorched ground. He closed his eyes, drawing a deep breath full of smoke. This was it. For better or worse, at least he tried and never succumbed. His efforts, however, were in vain. He would die.

"NOOOOO!!!!!" a voice burned through the world, one full of anger and unwillingness, one that tore away at his heart and forced his eyes open. It was just in time to see a figure sprinting toward him, brown-haired and red-eyed, the tendrils like drags of blood fluttering behind on top of disheveled hair. She seemed mad and crazed, drawing out her sword, veins bulging over her tanned skin. "FUCK OFF!!!" she swung, and like a flint tracking against the stone, the tip of her sword sparked and kindled, drawing an arch of fire as it trounced up.

Right then, her brown hair turned crimson-red and seethed, each strand glowing from within in a coral glamour, appearing like the tendrils of fire. Her eyes shone in resplendent beams, her entire figure coated in the sheen of light. The sword heaved right above him, just in time to meet the falling boulder of fire. She screamed again, a scream of defiance that burned through the world. Noah saw the flames surrounding them tussle back and weave, spreading out like the parted sea. Her voice caused the quaking to intensify, caused the sky to splinter. He forced his head sideways and glanced up only to see her sword tear straight through the ball of fire as though it was an ax chopping through the wood, blasting it apart into halves that splintered to the side. By now, her whole self was akindled, shimmering like a beacon of light amidst the dreadful darkness. She stood above him, her sword sprawled with fire. Fire far more beautiful than the ocean of it surrounding them, the ocean that seemed to kneel beneath her, as though sentient.