Chapter 211 - 212
Knowing only that his friends would have been waiting for him on South Street and that something bad had obviously taken place within the city, Alistar poured swordsman’s aura into his legs and increased his pace by a significant margin. As he ran, he noticed that a large host of people were idling about half a league to the west of the road, the colours of their clothes, banners and wagon tarps all appearing familiar. He soon came upon a long line of matted mud that showed where the delegation had branched off from the road in order to set up positions around a distant hill that neighboured one of the many small hamlets that dotted the countryside.
Why weren’t they moving, he wondered? Something was clearly wrong and yet they were simply standing back and watching Mayhaven burn.
Glancing back and forth between the city and the host, a mixture of fear and anger filled Alistar’s chest as he hurried on as fast as he could manage. After what he’d been subjected to before losing consciousness, he knew in his heart that the delegates had something to do with whatever darkness had descended upon Distan.
The closer he drew to Mayhaven, the more prominent the sounds of terrified screams became in his ears. In addition to this, large pillars of flame continued to flare up throughout the city, along with countless sounds of crushed stone and collapsing buildings. Nobody within the county should have been capable of casting spells of such magnitude.
Alistar arrived at South Street to find a scene of utter devastation. The buildings on both sides of the street had been toppled to the ground and were now fueling a roaring fire that was quickly spreading to all areas of the city. Some plots of land were completely empty, as if the buildings and the materials that made them had simply been erased from existence. Dust and debris covered the cobbled stones, which were hot beneath his bare feet as he hurried northward.
Not a minute into his anxious sprinting, Alistar couldn’t help but slow to a stop in momentary confusion. Hundreds of lingering auras were prevalent in his perceptions, but there were no people in sight. Stumbling forward as if in a trance, he stopped in place a moment later as he stared down at an empty section of the road where he could sense a very familiar aura. Falling to his knees, he extended his shaking hands toward the pavement as the recognizable life signal continued to fade at a rapid rate.
"M—Mr. Herst..." he said in a quiet, broken voice, the air heavy and suffocating as he looked around for any signs of the caring old man. "No," he whispered, recalling the pain of losing his parents, the torment of leaving Kaila behind in Crystellum, the guilt that poisoned his gut when he’d stared down at Janine’s anguished expression in the moments after she’d died within the confines of his old bedroom.
It wasn’t just Mr. Herst.
Lessa’s sister, Priscilla, should have been standing nearby, but her life signal hovered around an empty patch of pavement. The triplets’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, and farther ahead, Alder. Mixed in with the hundreds of dwindling auras, Alistar recognized many people that he interacted with on a daily basis.
What on earth had happened here?
While the ground wasn’t hot enough to burn his feet, it felt as if he were walking atop a large stretch of sand that had been baking beneath the hot sun for many hours on end. He ignored the pain, barefoot as he was, and continued onward with slow, hesitant steps.
Anice and Lessa’s faces passed through his mind, giving him the strength to clear his thoughts after a momentary cycle of meditation. Thinking that his main priority was to find his friends and family, he resumed running in the direction of the battle that was evidently taking place in the plaza up ahead. The farther he ran, the more the gravity of the situation bore down upon him.