Chapter 18: Chapter 18: The Pol Hain Incident

The light over Pol Hain came so unexpectedly that the people living in the town did not realize they would soon lose their homes and face a crisis comparable to that of the dragon wars, one that also obliterated the port town 5 years ago. The reason why casualties were unexpectedly low during the coming of the light came from the preparedness of the people against situations like such.

But even with the advanced warning and the efforts of the Order members and the dragons stationed in Pol Hain, the light flared up quicker than everyone thought. It blinded many of those close to the light, and the force exuded by the light’s coming bypassed the mana barrier erected by the dragons and threw people out in the air. Some landed in the sea safely, some were unfortunate enough to hit a solid wall. Even the dragons were pushed away by the force.

The Ternorian Embassy situated outside the town was not spared. The force of the silent explosion damaged the embassy building, much like most of the buildings of Pol Hain. Glass windows were shattered and anything outside the relative protection of the sturdy brick walls were blown away. Both Adeline and Ulster were unfortunate enough to be outside of the building just as the light pillar appeared over Pol Hain. They were thrown to the wall by the blast, with Ulster landing awkwardly on a bench near the front door and felt a sharp pain on his back that stunned him.

Adeline was also dazed by the impact and was unable to check on her surroundings. Her ears were ringing and her vision blurred momentarily, unable to even reply to someone calling her. She could see that someone was green, but wasn’t sure who until her senses returned to her.

“Adeline!” exclaimed Keeshar. The Raptor saw the light and the two werewolves thrown to the embassy’s wall and rushed to help.

“K-Kee?” said Adeline, deliriously.

“Can you get on your feet?”

“U-Ulster?”

“I go check on him. You need to get back to the embassy.”

Adeline’s delirious state made her judgement clouded, too. However, her mind quickly returned to her just as she saw the blinding pillar of light in the middle of Pol Hain, stretching up to the sky and illuminating the night sky as if it was day. The red-furred werewolf wasn’t sure why, but seeing the pillar of light, then the destruction it caused, made her confused. What just happened? Why was Pol Hain reduced to ruins? Why were there people running and screaming towards the embassy?

Then her mind snapped back to reality, and she finally saw the horrifying truth; the light destroyed Pol Hain instantly, and possibly the people in it.

“Adeline!” exclaimed Keeshar when he realized that she was staring at the light. Before he could try and get to her, however, he saw beasts…no, creatures. They were unlike any creatures that inhabited the nearby forest, nor were they natives of the Raptor Island, Ternor, or even Main. The creatures did not even look like any animals, only abominations that resembled them. Their flesh and limbs were horribly disfigured and looked as if they would not be able to move with them without them falling off.

Then in a horrifying twist of events, they ran. One pounced at a human survivor and devoured him, along with a blood-curdling scream as his flesh were torn off as the grotesque mutant feast on him.

Keeshar was unnerved, especially since this was the first time he had ever seen a creature so grotesque and so unreal that it shouldn’t existed. However, his attention quickly turned to Adeline, who was the target of a fast-moving, less mutated creature that was going to pounce her. The Raptor acted swiftly, pulling out his traditional Raptorian Macuahuitl, a wooden club embedded with obsidian prismatic blades that looked like a saw blade sharp enough to cut the thick hide of a dinosaur. He stopped near Adeline just as the creature jumped to her and she brandished her claws.

The Raptor swung his weapon while twisting his body clockwise, striking the creature’s midsection by a well-placed downward swing boosted by the twisting motion. The sharpness of the Macuahuitl, along with the force of the swing, bisected the creature effortlessly, while Adeline grabbed the top section of the body and threw it aside.

After it was over, she was quickly horrified by the sight of the creature, and the fact it was still twitching even after being bisected. Keeshar finished the job by stepping on the top half and jammed his weapon through its skull.

“What the bloody hell is that…hideous thing?!” exclaimed Adeline.

“Whatever it is, it came right after that pillar of light,” said Keeshar. “And it’s not the only one.”

Keeshar looked at the creatures that attacked many of the survivors and the town guard trying to defend them. The Raptor promptly vaulted over the brick fence and ran towards where the fight was. Adeline looked at Ulster, knocked unconscious and being tended to by one of the doctors in the embassy, then turned towards the direction of the town, worried of the people who didn’t make it out.

Without hesitating, she vaulted the fence and ran tow ards Keeshar, who had just finished striking down one of the mutated creatures. He was almost overwhelmed by one of them when Adeline pounced the creature and bit off its throat. She wasn’t sure how she knew what she was doing. She never liked violence, but once she saw someone she knew and cared for was in danger, the beastly side of her heritage asserted itself and quickly made her a vicious werewolf.

Even Keeshar was surprised by how the noble lady changed. However, instead of horrified, he simply remarked, “Now I see why the guardian holds you in high regard!” and let out a toothy smirk just as he proceeded to finish the job by decapitating the creature.

“About the guardian. Kee, where is Azureath? You’re usually the one who’s with her.”

“The last time I saw her was when she went to the docks. I think she was talking about meeting with Hans.”

Adeline quickly pieced together what they were doing, and she said, “Those two really enjoy being together, don’t they? And I don’t mean it the wrong way.”

“In any case, we need to get to safety. Something tells me there is more to that pillar of light than releasing these monsters.”

“I agree.”

Just as Keeshar said that, several things happened at once. A strong gust of wind, accompanied by a thick smell of rust and copper, hit the two and everyone else on the vicinity. However, it was weak compared to the explosive force earlier.

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Elsewhere, Azureath, Hans, and Elyse were approaching Pol Hain as they saw the extent of the damage. They, however, had no time to react when the same burst of air hit them, and the effect was immediate. Azureath roared in pain as Hans noticed she slowly lost attitude before she crash-landed on the field, throwing Hans and Elyse off her back. They landed safely on the ground, with Hans quickly tending to Azureath. The dragon looked like he was hurting after being attacked by something, but there were no visible wounds.

“Azureath, what’s wrong?!” Hans exclaimed.

“I am not sure,” she said with a pained growl. “Something…something hit me. It was painful enough to distract me.”

“Is it the same with the itchy feeling I felt?” said Elyse.

“No, I know what you mean. This is something else. It feels…disturbingly familiar, somehow. And not in a good way, either.”

Hans did not have time to ponder on Azureath’s comment when he saw mutated creatures running towards them. The shock of seeing such creatures stunned Hans to the point he was unable to react quick enough to dodge one that was lunging at him. Fortunately for him, Elyse reacted quickly. She ran and drop-kicked the creature with her hooved legs. The same thing happened to it just as it happened to Hans where the creature was thrown by an immense force that also caused it to fall apart as Elyse landed safely on her hooves. She noticed the goopy flesh on her hooves and became disgusted.

On the other side of town, Keeshar and Adeline rushed into the town just as the pillar of light let out yet another strong burst of wind before abruptly disappearing as instantly as it appeared over Pol Hain. It left a town destroyed with injured or dead people, human or beast people. There weren’t many casualties caused by the initial blast, but the deaths were caused by the beasts, which stayed and were still preying on the people.

Adeline and Keeshar did a short work against the smaller and nimbler ones, but the bigger ones, specifically the ones that looked like they were taken over by their own cancerous tumor, were both hard to face and horrifying to behold. It was as if it spread fear to everyone as a defensive measure using its grotesque appearance that had no resemblance to anything on Earth. Even a hardened hunter like Keeshar was unnerved, with Adeline even more so.

It clearly realized that the two lost their nerves and let out an ear-piercing shriek while running at the two with a speed unnatural for its form. Before it could get to them, however, a pair of sharp talon-like claws snatched it and started lifting it up. Adeline looked up and saw Shrikel, the black-scaled wyvern, trying his best to stop the mutated creature from attacking the two, just before Terry climbed down Shrikel’s back and stabbed the mutated creature on its head. A moment later, its face contorted, then blew off, spraying black blood everywhere, including Keeshar and Adeline.

“It works!” said Terry, elated. “Oh, thank the heavens.”

“That’s…a bit overkill, don’t you think?” commented Keeshar.

“Not against these accursed beings from the light,” said Terry. “Their flesh maybe falling apart, but like a necromantic creation, they will not stop until their heads are gone.”

“Just…what is going on?” said Adeline. “It…it all just…”

“I know you’re scared, miss de Rochefort. I do too. I never felt what it feels like being defenseless without magic before today. Have always relied on magic ever since I knew how to fight and today, it is unreliable. Good thing I came prepared. In any case, you need to get to safety. That light may be gone, but the creatures are still—”

Terry did not react fast enough when a creature lunged at him, but Keeshar, fortunately, reacted just in time. With his weapon, the Raptor decapitated it before it could start feasting on Terry’s head. Terry finished the job by blowing the head off.

“Like I said,” said Terry. He then looked at Keeshar’s weapon and said, “Nice sword.”

“It’s a club,” said Keeshar holding up the macuahuitl.

“But a good weapon, nonetheless. Get to safety, you two. Go on, now.”

Terry then called Shrikel. The wyvern flew down and Terry climbed on him before he bet his wings to fly to the sea, turning around to find survivors or any creatures to exterminate. Adeline and Keeshar were left alone, pondering on what to do when Adeline’s sharp ears caught the voice of a child crying for her mother. The red werewolf found the voice under a ruined house.

The human child was trying her best to help her mother out of the rubble she was trapped under amidst the ruined two-storied house. Adeline and Keeshar reached them, with Adeline quickly trying her best to comfort the crying child, who kept calling her still alive mother and begging the ‘feathered kobold’ to help her. However, Keeshar soon realized that the debris she was pinned under were too heavy for him.

“Adeline, help me!” he said with a considerable strain. Adeline proceeded to help, and her werewolf strength did manage to move the rubble, but it was still too heavy. The human child kept crying and crying, telling the two to not give up, while the mother was focused on trying her best to get out.

Just as both of them were exhausted by the effort, she felt a chilling aura just as a big pair of azure-scaled, hand-like claws grabbed the debris and heaved it up.

“Get her out of there,” said the voice calmly.

Adeline knew it was Azureath and quickly helped the human mother out. However, she cried in pain, and a smell of blood filled Adeline’s sensitive canine nose. A piece of sharp metal cut through her leg. The metal did not impale her leg too deep and Adeline could free the leg without cutting the sharp metal. However, she knew it would give the mother immense pain.

“I want you to be prepared, alright?” said Adeline to the human mother. “I won’t lie, it will be very painful. Do you mind if you…avert your daughter’s eyes?”

“N-no at all,” she said, straining. She called her daughter’s name (Abigail), and hugged her while doing her best to shield her from the gruesome injury. Adeline then took a deep breath, knowing that this wasn’t as bad as the mutated creatures she faced earlier. Then, she raised the mother’s leg, making sure the piece of metal did not damage any more flesh than it should. The mother predictably screamed in pain as Keeshar dragged her to relative safety while Elyse touched her legs. Magic energy came from her hands, but it was very weak, and Elyse was straining to cast it.

“The nature’s energy is severely corrupted in this town. That light has something to do with it,” said Elyse. “I can’t heal her leg.”

Hans acted swiftly. He ripped a piece of cloth from a nearby curtain and tied it on her leg joint. He then created a torniquet to restrict blood flow before he pulled out a nearby kitchen knife and heat the blade on a fire. He then said, “I’m sorry for this.”

The human mother was no stranger to what Hans was planning and again braced herself. Hans put the heated blade on her wound, cauterizing it while she gritted her teeth. Hans quickly wrapped a piece of cloth over the wound, bandaging it.

“I know this will leave scars,” said Hans with a sigh. “But it’s better than bleeding out.”

Everyone sighed in relief, with the mother and the daughter thanking their saviors for the effort. Even Azureath tried to relax despite the destruction all around them.

“So, now what?” asked Hans after taking in the fact that the town they regarded as their home away from home was reduced to rubbles. He then realized the frustration caused by this and added, “We lost our home, we can’t go back to Tragoria, so we’re royally fu—”

Adeline promptly shushed him, owing to the child’s presence. Hans did so.

“But we’re alive,” said Azureath with a sigh. “That, for me, is good enough.”

“But now we got something to think about,” said Keeshar. “What is the deal with that light?”

“An attack. What else?” said Azureath. “Yet the light…it’s anti-magic by nature. It corrupted the particles around it, preventing any mana manipulation of any kind. Magical assault, I can understand, but one that is anti-magic in nature defeats the purpose. It is also impossible by nature, too.”

“In any case…I have a feeling this is not the end,” said Elyse, grimly. “Whoever’s doing this…won’t be content for one.”

Hans and the others nodded in agreement, knowing the grim nature of the situation and how it ironic it was. The Ternorians escaped the problems at home, only to find that there was another problem in this new land, one that was clearly different and unnerving.

Yet, they did not know that they’d wish that they were involved in the hellish incursion than whatever attack they would face. Because unbeknownst to them, the Pol Hain pillar of light was the beginning of an event.

An event appropriately described as an invasion.