“I enjoyed my time in Aachen, as horrible as it is to admit. Things were simple, uncomplicated. Go here, do this, kill that. Survival was straightforward, and the only expectations placed on me were of my own choice.”

Chapter 87

The stable doors were wide open, but where they expected to see dozens of horses waiting for them, the stalls were completely empty.

In the short time they were delayed by the fighting in the streets, Infected had chased some fleeing defenders into the building, and the horses had panicked.

The fires, the sounds of battle and the smell of the corrupted, had terrified them enough they had broken free and were now galloping swiftly down the busy streets, threatening to trample infected and defender alike.

“Gods damn it.” Garman cursed, out of breath from the intense fighting. They stood in the empty stables, standing on the hay covered ground, lost on what their next course of action should be.

The garrison burned around them, the shrieking infected hordes were running wild through the streets. Auxiliary and legion alike were fleeing for their lives, the defense of the garrison had shifted from containment to mere survival.

“God’s blood and bones. Screw it, we’ll leg it. Let’s go!” Garman ordered, lifting his axe back onto his shoulder as he spun around to leave the empty stables.

“We won’t make it very far before they chase us down.” Wil said simply, pointing to their condition. Each of them was exhausted from the constant running and fighting, with dozens of minor wounds.

All their injuries added up to the fact that they couldn’t run far enough to escape the swift and powerful infected.

“So, what, you want to lie down, wait to die?” I expected more out of you, Junior.” Garman scoffed at the display of weakness, not willing to wait for the others, he kept walking away towards the open doors.

“I didn’t say that.” Wil said, walking out of the stables quickly, brushing past Garman in his haste.

“Look, the Spire! There’s a teleportation circle in there, connected to Elbing. The guild uses it for its high-ranking members to use. We need to get their quick, before the place is overrun.”

“Why didn’t we go there first?” Gunther asked, as he helped the weary Martin onto his feet.

“I don’t know how the circle works, it’s a 5th tier spell construct. If there’s no one from the guild to operate it, I’m not confident I could even make it work. But look, that shouldn’t be a problem. As long as the Spire is there, someone high ranking has to be present, to keep the enchantments powered. If they all fled, the Spire would crumble.”

“So, it’s a choice between certain death running away, or possible death by going to the Spire?” Erinn asked, a cheerful smile on her weary face. “I’ll go with the possible death, please.”

Nodding, Wil led the others outside, looking towards the spire in the distance. Even from here, he could see the mana swirling around the stone tower, the wards still glowing strong.

“There are still people in the Spire. But we need to be quick, they won’t stick around long, now that the garrison is falling. They’ll transport their people out, then collapse the structure. Come on!” Wil said, waving them forward as he charged back down the street.

In the short time they had spent discussing their next steps, the battle on the wooden walkways had taken a turn for the worse for the living defenders. Small groups were desperately fighting against the horrible, malformed creatures.

Vastly outnumbered, it was a slaughter.

The humans stationed in Aachen were typically above Rank 2, unless they were in a support role. The infested gained so much more power after they turned, leaving the defenders overwhelmed. What made things worse, each causality they suffered, the infected gained a new member to their ranks.

Even the dead were being reanimated by the lich’s newly improved, infectious black blood. Wil himself had witnessed a headless corpse, mutilated to the point it was barely recognizable as human, slowly regenerate and come back to a horrible approximation of life.

The party ran through the streets, weaving around burning buildings and collapsing structures, helping others where they could. Seeing their party running with a purpose, they attracted attention and soon had formed a large crowd as they pushed down towards the tower.

Although there was safety in numbers, the large, moving mob of the living attracted attention and they were constantly assaulted by the infected. Despite the losses, their numbers grew until their party were leading hundreds towards the Spire.

With a final push, leaving a trail of broken and mangled infected bodies in their wake, the large group burst onto the main street, directly in front of the rising stone tower.

In front of them, the Spire’s wards glowed a bright red in the darkness, holding hundreds of infected at bay as they tried to force their way closer to the living just out of reach, hiding behind their protective magic. Even the black blood and bile they spat out splashed ineffectually against the wards, an invisible shield that prevented anyone from entering.

The wards were also keeping the defenders out, as they saw hundreds of bodies lying on the ground, ringing the spire’s wards, killed in their attempt to get in. Recently slain, their bodies hadn’t yet reanimated.

“I thought it was a great plan, Junior, but even if we get pass those things, the gods damned mages will need to lower the barrier to let us through. And that isn’t bloody likely to happen.” Garman said, looking at the encircled Spire.

“We just need to get through them. I’m a guild member, and there are a few others here with us. We get close enough, we should be able to get us through…I’ll lead the way and…” Wil was cut off as the ground began to shake violently.

To their dismay, the grey stone Spire, rising over a hundred feet in the air, began to collapse in on itself. It happened swiftly, as the magic supporting it was released. Without the mana to fuse the stones together, the rock crumbled to dust and small fragments.

The collapsing tower released a cloud of grey dust that blanketed the area, obscuring their sight. The only solace the living could take in the Spire’s collapse was that it had buried the hundreds of infected ringing the tower.

“No! no no no no. Shit!” Wil said, his face twisted in an expression of despair. It had been his idea to come here, rather than attempt to flee on foot. He had just led hundreds of people to their deaths.

“We’re well and truly bloody screwed, now.” Garman said, spitting out dust from his mouth as he looked around for where to go next. He looked resigned, almost accepting of his fate.

“I’ve doomed us all.” Wil whispered, covering his face with his hands.

“Wait! The cathedral!” Martin said, pointing down the street. The stone cathedral, study and strong in its design, was still standing.

Lacking the strong wards of the mage guild, the church still exuded a faint blue glow as the goddess protected the structure. The building could barely repel the infected as they saw them slamming against the closed doors and hurling themselves at the stained-glass windows.

Magically enhanced, the glass held but already cracks were forming in them. It wouldn’t be long until the church succumbed to the attacks.

“Alright, at least it’ll buy us some time.” Gunther said, Erinn nodding in agreement.

“No! I mean, yes, it will, but the cathedral may have a way to get us out of here. High ranking clerics can teleport, similar to mages. I’ve seen the bishop use it before. It’s a 6th tier spell circle, but they may have a connection to Elbing.”

“Its worth a shot!” Wil said, his face becoming determined as he charged down the street towards the cathedral, kicking up dust with every step.

With a yell, the living charged down the main road, cutting into the backs of the distracted infected and making swift work of them.

To open the door, Martin lifted his symbol of Primaris and laid it against the wooden door. Although the cathedral was dedicated to the goddess Secundus, she recognized her twin’s priest. With a faint ‘pop’, the doors released their magical seal and silently opened.

The group, hundreds strong, charged into the cathedral, filling the nave with their dusty bodies. Inside, groups of clerics, wearing the blue robes of Secundus, were gripping weapons as they prepared to defend the church.

There were also numerous rank-less sitting in the pews, having taken shelter inside when the attack began.

Seeing that the new arrivals were living, and in need of healing, the clerics started to help the injured sit down, praying to the goddess to aid them.

In the confusion, Wil and his small group made their way forward, stopping one of the hurrying clerics as she carried supplies to the dusty newcomers.

“Sister, does the cathedral have a way to get us out of here?” Wil asked desperately.

“No, I’m sorry we don’t. Not anymore. The sanctuary circle requires a high-priestess to operate. The only person strong enough to use it…she was killed on the wall.” The cleric said, tears running down her face.

Wil thought back to the spell the Lich used, and the Rank 11 cleric he had killed with a single spoken word.

“And no one else here can activate it?” He demanded.

“I’m sorry, all our high-ranking clerics were on the wall, praying at the altars. The circle is in the rear room, but it won’t work.” She said, pointing towards the rear of the cathedral, before moving away to continue helping.

“Gods damn it.” Garman said, scowling at the back of the priestess, heedless of where they were sheltered while cursing.

Looking around, Wil saw that the remaining clerics were all low rankers, Rank 2 or 3. Out of the hundreds of people present, Garman was the strongest at Rank 5. Most were Rank 3 or Rank 4.

It seemed that the higher ranks were either still fighting, or the Lich had targeted them first.

“Ok, Alright…tell me about the spell.” Wil said, leading the party to the rear, opening doors at random trying to find the spell circle the cleric had talk about.

“I don’t know much, I was just in the room when the bishop cast it.” Seeing Garman’s angry look, the cleric closed his mouth and focused, before continuing. “Word of Recall is a 6th tier divine magic. It’s part of the conjuration school, which I believe all teleportation magic belongs to?”

Seeing Wil’s hurried nod as he tried another door, Martin continued.

“It links the goddess’s temples by creating a ‘sanctuary’ or a protected holy place. Through her divine will, she brings her faithful from one location to another.” Martin explained, as if reading from scripture.

“Let me stop you there, less holy talk, more specifics on the mechanics.” Wil said, pausing in his search and looking at the cleric. Seeing Martin nod, Wil opened another door.

“Finally!” He said, walking into the room.

The bare stone room was empty, save for a complicated spell matrix engraved in the floor. The walls were windowless, so floating orbs of blue light were placed evenly around the circle. The symbol of the goddess was inset into the stone ceiling above the circle.

Made up of blue gemstone, they reflected the pale blue light.

As they were observing the room, loud hammering rang out from the front entrance. The infected had renewed their assault.

“Ok, specifics Martin, let’s go! We don’t have a lot of time.” Wil ordered, walking slowly around the circle. It was similar to the mage guild’s, with the obvious differences being the divine nature of the spell. He understood parts of it, being part of the school of conjuration.

“I don’t know much. The bishop is Rank 12, he could channel the mana to open the spell circle. He was traveling to the capital with some of the others. He stood in the circle, prayed to the goddess and sent his mana into the circle there.” Martin said, before offering a few more details on where the bishop directed his power.

“6th tier, that requires a Rank 11.” Wil said, kneeling to look closely at the etchings. “We don’t have nearly enough mana to match that. Maybe if we get everyone in the cathedral to help, we might have enough.” Wil mused aloud.

His thoughts were interrupted by the splintering of wood as the doors began to give way. Even tucked away in the back of the cathedral, the noise of the infected assault was nearly deafening.

“That won’t work! It needs divine mana, sourced from the goddess herself! You can’t funnel different types into the spell and just hope it works!” Martin yelled, panicking as the sounds of the shattering defenses made him realize how short of time they had.

“It’ll have to do! Don’t worry about the details, I’ll take care of it! Just get everyone in here!” Wil ordered, still kneeling on the floor by the construct. He had one hand in his satchel that hung at his side, fingering the gold coin that he received in the north. He’d need divine intervention to pull this off, hopefully the coin would help again.

The party started pushing and shoving people into the room, until it was packed so tightly no one could move an inch, except the area within the spell circle.

Holding the coin in his hand, ready to redirect the mana flow into the coin, Wil stood up and spoke to the group as the howling of the infected grew louder and the strong wooden doors staved in.

“Alright! we need everyone to channel whatever mana you have into the circle…” Wil’s speech was interrupted as the glyphs and runes on the floor began to burn a bright, dazzling blue. Like a fire spreading through oil, divine mana flowed through the circle.

“Good work, Junior. Can’t believe you pulled that off!” Garman congratulated him, slapping Wil hard on the back.

“That wasn’t me!” Wil confessed, backing away from the circle as the others stared at the now blinding runes.

With a flash, the spell finally coalesced and, in a flash, the blue light reached a crescendo just as the doors to the cathedral crashed to the ground, leaving the survivors defenseless against the infected.

Before the deformed creatures could take a step into the holy building, a wave of divine power erupted, sweeping through the cathedral and out the front doors, turning every infected it touched to ashes.

In the deafening silence, the light faded, revealing four figures standing in the center of the room.

In the forefront was a stunningly beautiful woman, holding a symbol of Secundus up high as she channeled her overwhelmingly powerful mana through it. Dressed in blue robes with a red trim around the sleeves and bottom hem, the woman was clearly a cleric from the feel of her divine mana.

Although Wil wasn’t a devout follower of the church, he knew enough about it to understand that the red trim signified the woman was a very high ranking member of Secundus’ followers.

Behind the woman stood a trio of people. To the far right was a tall woman, wearing shining plate mail, with a blue tabard over it with the symbol of Secundus on the front. Balanced on her shoulder was a large maul, a massive two-handed hammer etched with runes.

From her mana, she was also a cleric, but from the martial path, rather than healing. A paladin.

In the middle, with a large staff topped by an enormous ruby, was a robed figure of an older man. Grey haired, he was adorned with rings, necklaces and other magical items.

He practically glowed from the number of magical items and spells wrapped around him. As a high-ranking mage, his mana was crackled with intensity.

But it wasn’t the sudden appearance of these people that left Wil stunned. It also wasn’t the high-ranking cleric’s beauty, or the magical items worn by the mage. It wasn’t even the fact that each of them was above Rank 16, with the cleric in the forefront reaching Rank 17.

No, what left Wil stunned and slack jawed was the appearance of the fourth figure.

A tall, handsome man, with long, black hair hanging down to his waist. He wore fine, soft leather armor, with a black cloak hanging from the back. The leather was decorated with the symbol of two stags locking horns, prominently displayed on the chest piece in gold.

In his hands he gripped a sheathed sword, its scabbard adorned with runes that shone with a red light. His Rank 16 Mana pressed down on everyone around him, like a sharp blade against their throats, making it difficult to even breathe.

The man’s green eyes took a moment to assess his surroundings for threats, before focusing sharply on the speechless Wil. His cold face, expressionless, showed a hint of emotion when he saw the younger man. With a smirk on his face, he greeted Wil.

“Hello, little brother.”