Chapter 81: The Crowd.
"Ah, man... why does everything in this quarter feel so dead?"
Alina complained under her breath as the four of them picked their way down the cobblestone road.
They had taken off for the eastern district right after Captain Caelan issued the order. The Knight Order's lines were stretched paper-thin across the capital, leaving him no choice but to send even raw recruits like them out into the field.
Turman let out a long, heavy sigh, pulling his cloak tight around his neck. "I’ve barely spent two days outside the Order grounds, and my very first patrol happens during an actual apocalypse." He cast a glance up at the sky. "My luck is absolute garbage."
Wan gave a solemn, single nod in agreement beside him.
Nuri looked back at the two of them, keeping his voice steady despite the tightness in his chest. "Let's just get to the district center and find out what's going on. We'll be fine."
He hoped to God he was right. They were already running on pure adrenaline and burning lungs.
Alina squinted through the gray haze ahead. "Are we almost there yet?"
She had expected the eastern perimeter to be a quick sprint. The capital's inner ring wasn't that massive to begin with.
Nuri nodded, though he slowed his pace slightly. "Yeah. We should have crossed the main market square by now." He checked the stone buildings lining the road. "It's strange. The street feels like it's stretching out longer than it should."
Alina frowned, her eyes scanning the fogged avenue.
"Hey. Nuri," she muttered, her hand dropping to her spear shaft. "Do you see that?"
Nuri followed her gaze.
Fifty yards ahead, two figures were moving quickly through the shadows. One wore a heavy, frayed cloak pulled low over his face; the other followed half a step behind, carrying a satchel.
Nuri's eyes went wide.
Rowen and Dally. The two Liberator operatives.
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"Get them!" Alina screamed.
The four of them surged forward into a sprint.
Dally looked back over his shoulder, his eyes going wide. "They spotted us!" he yelled, grabbing Rowen's sleeve as both men turned on their heels and bolted down the lane.
"Don't let them break line of sight!" Alina barked, her boots pounding hard against the stone.
Nuri stayed right on her hip while Turman wheezed behind them, doing everything he could not to drop back.
Then Wan moved.
The grey twin kicked off the cobblestones, his massive frame blurring as he passed Alina like a runaway wagon. His raw speed was terrifying. Within three seconds, he had cut the gap in half.
He's way too fast... Nuri thought, his jaw slackening as he watched Wan close in.
Wan was right on Dally's back now. He lunged forward, his thick, grey fingers reaching out to snag the back of Dally's collar. His fingertips were a fraction of an inch from the fabric.
Rowen saw it.
He didn't panic or draw steel. He waited for the exact millisecond Wan's fingers began to close around Dally's shoulder.
Then Rowen reached into his robes, pulled out a heavy, dark sphere, and slammed it straight onto the stone between them.
BOOM!
A violent, blinding plume of black smoke erupted into the street, expanding in a flash.
Wan's hand closed hard around thin air. The oily black fog swallowed both Liberators before Wan could plant his feet to grab them.
"Damn it!" Alina yelled, plunging straight into the thick smoke with her spear lowered. "Where did they drop?!"
Nuri ducked into the haze right behind her, coughing into his mask. "Fan out! Search the alley mouths! They couldn't have cleared the block yet!"
The four of them tore through the surrounding side streets, checking behind crates, doorways, and abandoned carts.
By the time the dense smoke finally drifted off over the rooftops... the lane was completely empty.
Wan stood in the middle of the street, staring down at his empty grey palm. He had missed them by a tenth of a second.
Nuri bit his lip hard, his shoulders slumping. "They used the smoke screen to cut off our vision and slipped into one of the side alleys."
Alina kicked a loose cobblestone, her face dark with frustration. "So we lost them."
"Looks like it," Turman muttered, leaning over his knees to catch his breath.
At least they had confirmed the Liberators were actively operating in the eastern quarter. They had a concrete lead to hand back to Caelan.
Nuri turned to lead them back to the main avenue, but his boots froze against the stone.
A heavy, unnatural chill hit the back of his neck.
They had been so focused on chasing the two operatives that none of them had paid attention to where the pursuit had dragged them.
Slowly, Nuri raised his head, looking past the dark brick archway ahead.
His face drained of all color.
They had finally reached the central plaza of the eastern district.
And now... they could see everyone.
Hundreds of citizens stood crammed shoulder-to-shoulder across the wide plaza and down every connecting avenue.
Men, women, elders, children.
No one was screaming. No one was running. No one was even speaking.
The entire crowd stood completely motionless in dead silence, their heads tilted back at the exact same unnatural angle.
Every single pair of eyes was staring straight up into the sky.
Staring at the purple eye.