“News from the Front:

Traxian Legions Invade Southern Carrador.

Meltonian Advance Halts Due to Civil War.

Volksgrad Declares a State of Emergency.

Leaders of Absenstadt, Arteria and Nautica condemn recent string of aggression.

Will we see League Intervention?

See more Pg 2”

- Arterian Affairs, Special News Edition

Terrible fucking idea, Sophie scolded herself as she wheezed. Falling was not just terrifying, but the aftershock had loosened all her bones, a feeling she could barely shake off that still remained even after she died. It was in her overall opinion, a particularly awful experience.

Jittery but functional, she turned her mind to the idea of convincing the siblings of the need to flee, though not quite knowing how. Without a clear plan ahead, she furrowed her brow and dragged her increasingly sore body to the church.

“Mila? You’re MIla right?” She spoke softly as she approached the young blonde.

If hiding, fighting, and waiting didn’t work, she’d try her next option, diplomacy.

To her frustration, the girl only shrank away, her siblings rushing over to shield the girl from the bothersome intruder. Right, she tried not to frown at her own incompetence, a complete stranger.

“Erm, I’m Sophie, I’m-”

“What do you want, elf? Trying to take our sister?” The older sister spat.

“I-”

“You’re lucky mama and papa aren’t here or you’d be arrested for this.” The younger brother added.

“What? Arrested? Umm I think we got off on the wrong…urk!” Sophie yelped as she got yanked backwards.

“The hells you bothering the younger ones for knifey? Gonna rub it in how we all suffering huh? You sick little fantasties at seeing us humans suffer?” The muscular man glared down at her, a fist already ready to swing.

“What? Um…no? No! Of course umpf” Sophie crumpled as the man punched her stomach before lifting her and tossing her towards the door.

“Don’t you add to our misery wench. Bet your kind started all this too.” He growled.

“Yeah, stay away.”

“Don’t-”

"Look out!"

"Incoming!"

To Sophie’s relief, the gathering humans scattered as the bell tower got removed. Her moment didn’t last long as a sleeved hand clasped her shoulder, the grip so firm that she could barely squirm.

“Now, now.” The priest’s voice shot out from above her to address the crowd, “Mighty Astralis has taught us all to love our neighbours of all colors, creeds and kinds.”

A murmur of fear and resentment lingered in the air and the priest saw that as his moment to continue.

“So let us listen to this stray that happened upon us in our darkest hour, for one of her kind wouldn’t be here without purpose, right?” The priest whispered the last word next to her ear menacingly. The coldness in his voice sending a shiver down her spine.

“Right…” She muttered, her confidence she had when entering the church now thoroughly dismantled.

“Though shaken we are all Astralis’s children are we not?” He bellowed to a lukewarm crowd.

“Are we not Astralis’s flock!?” He raised his voice, aggression creeping in, and this time a greater murmur of assent passed through the crowd, however reluctantly. “Then we shall listen to this lost lamb! So enlighten us, elder child, what would provoke you to disturb what little peace we have?”

“I-” Sophie began but the screams of outside rose in volume, the chaotic cacophony of battle sprinkling that much more unease onto the crowd. The rumbling of siege projectiles landing nearby certainly did not inspire much confidence.

“Speak!” The priest commanded.

“We-We all need to get out of here, the guard won’t hold.” She quickly blurted out,”The demons, they’ll end up overrunning the church, I swear.” But her words seemed to land on deaf ears as the priest stilled before bursting out into a hearty chuckle, leaving Sophie wondering what she said wrong.

The pit of unease in her stomach only grew bigger when the priest's expression turned to one of anger, his mood flickered in less than a second. “Nonsense! To doubt our defenders in our hour of need, to forget the blessings granted to us by mighty Astralis! Save your seeds of doubt for the monsters outside! These halls are sanctified by the Goddess!” He roared in a fury and the crowd jeered at her. Her makeshift judgement was only interrupted by a terrified knocking on the church doors. Though he had glared at her, he made his way to the door and opened it, allowing the officer to stumble in, broken and battered.

Seeing everyone’s attention focus on the new arrival she scurried away to the other end of the church, looking around for a passageway or exit amidst the frosty stares of the few citizens that still glared at her. She ducked in and around the main stage, looking for any cracks that indicated a basement trap door, or some other exit. To her increasing disappointment none were found.

With a sigh she turned back and froze at a startling realisation, I forgot about the next boulder. Time seemed to slow as her eyes swung upwards, the roof above the stage exploded into a million pieces, the large boulder following soon after in its wake. Sophie slammed herself flat onto the ground as debris rained down in a cascade. Her heart leaping into her mouth the moment the boulder smashed the pulpit right next to her into flattened splinters.

People scattered and screamed at the sudden collapse, a few less lucky ones crushed by the falling debris. She barely had time to whimper when she felt something strike her head, and all went dark.

She felt groggy, sore and filled with an infernal aching. Her body could barely move and for once the red sky did not horrify her. In fact, she thought it was rather gloomy this time around. Taking in a deep breath, she found her throat closing around dust and rocks that she had to hastily spit out before she choked to death. Not the tower?

Her eyes opened to a small slit of light shining down from ahead of her and as she took stock of the situation she discovered she was trapped under the rubble. Crap…crap! What happens now? Does the day reset? Am I just…I could try to learn more, I could! Regaining some semblance of control she hauled herself forward to the light just to wince at how mangled up her left arm was. Processing the pain, she bit down hard on her lip to stifle any noise and continued crawling to the opening.

The devastation was absolute. The corpses of the townspeople were scattered around the church in various states of damage. Some suffered painlessly, missing heads or a clear wound in some critical area, others died as she had before, torn apart at the seams by vicious creatures. Blood coated the pews and even the children weren’t spared, many of them having cowered in a corner before being devoured themselves, the sight of their torn bodies almost making Sophie gag. Monsters, these damned monsters.

Beyond them the priest’s body had been stripped clean, what flesh remained pierced by a few stakes and left suspended like some morbid trophy of war near the doorway. Sophie grimaced as her eyes brushed over the headless corpse slumped against the wall, a bloodied red stain all that remained of the older sister’s head. Damn…. Her musings were interrupted by low growls from two figures still present around the church grounds. The slender female knight, perched against Mila’s pile of rubble, and the horned war chief looking knight, who was busy painting bloodied sigils on the church walls, like some marking that they were responsible but why? Everyone's dead.

Though she kept her eyes and ears trained on them, their distant voices and low guttural grunts at each other barely allowed her to decipher any meanings besides ‘hurry up’. Her attention slowly drifted back to the situation she was in, trapped under a mound of rubble with not way to escape. She could alert the knights and hoped they would spare her, or trigger whatever startled the slender knight the first time around, but they were just as likely to kill her before they even moved the rubble away. A fool’s errand. Her other option involved just waiting, in fact the only real option she had as this time around, her detention by the priest meant she was now quite weaponless.

Her isolation was not to last however, and just as the two made to finally leave Mila was evidently restless enough to accidentally shuffle her position, alerting the two knights to something amiss. Worried, Sophie watched them circle the rubble getting ready to deliver death upon whoever hid within and contemplated her choices, to act or not to act. Gritting her teeth she quickly felt around the rubble to find some loose chunk to push and threw her body into a hefty push.

Dislodging the piece, she felt a moment of jubilation before the horror of the situation dawned on her. Being quiet meant losing her leads and having to explore the town, a daunting task with a high risk of death. But now she had effectively shrank her chances of survival to zero, the knights likely to kill her on sight. She tumbled out with the cascade or rubble that rode the wave down, each rock grinding over her back as she winced from the pain.

The falling debris masked the sounds of the knights and just when the sound of rubble sliding down faded, Sophie felt a sharp pain cut into her side. Fuck! She gasped wordlessly when the axe was torn away and her body shuddered from the blow. Her eyes barely had time to focus on the figures standing over her when the glint of the bloodied axe came crashing down at her skull.

She wiggled just enough to avoid her head being split open, but her chest exploded in agony as the axe cut deep between her breasts. Damn…not…like this… she groaned. The horned knight made to pull out the axe and come in for another blow when the slender knight raised a gauntlet.

“If you pull that, she dies.” Slender knight’s metallic voice cut through the din.

“So? What’s the problem?” The more guttural but still metallic voice barked back aggressively.

“Look at her.” Slender knight tutted.

“She’s just another villager…wait…an elf? Here?” Horned knight replied, his surprise almost making him yank out the axe on instinct.

Sophie gurgled out a tiny mouthful of blood and just stared listlessly at the two wondering when they would finish her when both knights drew closer enough to cover her entire field of view with just darkness and metal plates. What’s happening? She blinked a few times when she felt the surprisingly chilling touch of the slender knight’s gauntlets holding onto her head, pulling her upwards and almost pushing the axe further into her.

“Guuurrh…” Sophie gasped from the pain, her sudden noise making both recoil.

“Huh…would you look at that. A half breed as well.” The horned knight spoke first, the slender knight just letting out a deep breath of acknowledgement. As...well?

Sophie felt the knight’s hands lift her head up, moving the helmet closer to look at one specific part of her, her eyes. Unnerved, Sophie managed a small whimper under the intense scrutiny only to remain just as silent as the two of them staring at her.

Only their breaths interrupted the distant sound of war behind the church’s walls. Her own fading ragged breathing, and their more composed if tired breathing of the other two. Finally the horned one finally broke the silence.

“They really do look like gems.” He said almost admiringly and Sophie could barely register his words as directed at her eyes, her own consciousness slowly failing.

“...but how?” The slender knight asked, her metallic voice far more emotive than before.

“A tainted breed, nothing more nothing less. Don't see the problem with that. But if you meant the eyes...” Horned knight scoffed.

The slender knight only growled before she gripped Sophie with renewed ferocity.

“I know…so why? Why?!” Slender knight roared angrily at Sophie, her anger surprising even her comrade. Sophie just blinked in mild surprise as she felt control from her limbs slowly escaping. But it was this moment that struck Sophie as odd. Not because the knight was angry, not because she was about to die again. But as the knight tilted to glare at her, Sophie witnessed something that shook her to the core.

Yet before she could process anything, she could feel the clock run out, her chest heaved one last time, the axe still embedded deep within her. The pain had long since been relegated to background feelings even as her body shut down

“How?!” The knight roared once more. With one violent push, Sophie felt the axe being forced through her body. Unable to scream or even move, one more sickening crack later, she felt nothing at all.