Chapter 46: From Bad To Worse

  Erik recoiled from the bright light shining down on him. Unable to move his head, he saw Grace’s body next to him, most of it dematerialised into white motes getting caught in the wind.

  He lay there, watching it happen for a while longer. His breathing was heavy, and he struggled to move a muscle. His legs seemed fine, except for the deep cuts at the end of the fight, which showed visible signs of healing.

  He mouthed his thanks to Grace, saying, “We made a good team, girl. Team Dino will fight again someday.” When the last piece of the dinosaur’s body had disappeared and the sun was setting, filling the sky with a slight orange tinge, Erik closed his eyes once more, taking the first deep breath since he woke.

  Jessie’s face greeted him again when he woke up. When he last saw her, blood and sand covered her. She looked better this way, all clean and smiling. Erik found he could move and felt little to no pain in his upper body. He sat up, meeting Jessie’s loving gaze. He embraced her as if it had been forever since they had last spoken.

  Sharing promises of never leaving each other, the two went back to camp, the Witch helping the Titan to bed to get some proper rest. She had healed him that entire night after she woke beside Sophie. Sneaking out of their tent, she went straight to Erik. The sun was creeping up on the horizon, but the man craved some actual sleep. They all did. Jessie held him as they both fell asleep in seconds.

  After waking up some time later, Erik felt disoriented. He wasn’t sure how many times he had woken and fallen back asleep during the night, but it had been enough to make him question the events leading up to him waking up with aching feet.

  Red bruising along his upper body and legs proved that at least the fighting part had happened. A horde of Hellbeasts attacked them… and one of them had been tiered up to Bronze. That had really happened. The entire ordeal brought so many questions forward he wasn’t sure where to start.

  A horde of beasts was unheard of, at least in such joint efforts. They had attacked Erik and his group, which couldn’t be a coincidence. A tiered-up Hellbeast. What was happening? It proved someone was behind everything, that he couldn’t doubt anymore.

  As for why the horde had been sent after him and Jessie? They were fighting back—and succeeding. They had killed several over the past week, not including the horde. But the Bronze-tier monster—the Hellhound dwarfing the rest of its kin—signalled that whoever was behind them all was also getting stronger. At least one of their adversary’s major powers had tiered up, meaning every fight from now on would be even more deadly.

  Tuwa and Sun had been mistaken. If only they were here. Had Erik and Jessie’s group been attacked earlier, they could share this with the other two. Maybe they would’ve helped if that was the case. But if they kept their promises, they were already long gone and wouldn’t interfere.

  Erik rose with a sigh. Once again, a fight almost killed him. If it hadn’t been for Jessie… Erik emptied a container of water onto his face. He needed a shower. A real one. He dried himself off and got dressed. He wasn’t at all prepared for what he saw right outside his tent. Peter.

  He lay motionless on a stretcher in the middle of camp, most of the rest standing as far away as possible, each looking over at the stretcher occasionally, with heated expressions. His sleeping gear covered his upper and lower body, with only his pale face visible.

  Erik hoped to see the sleeping bag rise and fall to the rhythm of the man’s breathing, so his eyes could correct what his aura sense was telling him: that he was looking at an empty husk. Jessie’s eyes met his. She glanced at him and turned to the rest, continuing their conversation.

  Erik walked over to the body. Standing over Peter, he saw the red opening on the lower part of the side of his neck. It took all he had not to blame himself. He attempted to reason with himself; yes, if he’d been quicker, then maybe he could have saved the man—but he wasn’t the one who sent these monsters after them.

  Someone else was at fault. Someone else did all of this. The Empire was in ruins, the entire world under attack. Regardless of who they were, they would account for their crimes. Erik would make sure of it.

  “Erik…?” Angela approached him with caution.

  The Titan only sounded a questioning ‘mhm’ in response, his eyes still attached to the dead man’s neck wound.

  “We need to talk,” she continued, placing her hand on his shoulder. He slumped down in response.

  “We need to go back,” Erik said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement. If this terrible battle had proved one thing, it was that they could take the battle to them.

  “We’ll get to that. We got news from Colson. Bridgefort has fallen.”

  The news hit Erik like a freight train. Humanity’s last pillar of hope, the symbol of resistance in this war—gone. Silence reigned amongst the party as the state of things turned from bad to worse.

  “Let me start from the top, so everyone gets the same info,” Angela said, pulling Erik along over to the rest of the group.

  Jessie had sat down next to a tired and shaking Sophie, wrapping herself around her younger sister. Emma was also sitting on the ground, her knees in her face, making herself as tiny as she could. Dunham looked stressed and perhaps the most beaten out of everyone. Amir looked tired, with bloodshot eyes and dry lips. He looked to have kept watch the entire night. Peter was supposed to cover the shift after Amir last night.

  “I got a text message from a random phone number this morning. All the message contained was a radio frequency. After talking it over with Jessie, we decided to follow the instructions. Colson was on the other end. He sounded stressed, but gave us short, concise messages. It was clear that they had a lot going on and that contacting us was dangerous. The messages are important, though, and I get why they took such measures to reach us,” she said.

  “Messages? There’s more of them?” Erik asked. A glimmer of hope arose in his gut. Maybe there was better news than Bridgefort.

  “Yes. First, Bridgefort has fallen. That means the rest of the Empire is open to attack from the mainland. This doesn’t make much of a real difference in that regard, as the beasts have used the sea to circumvent them for some time. Bridgefort stood as a symbol. It’s a massive loss in terms of morale. People are starting to lose all hope.”

  Angela paused, inviting the group to respond. No one did. It had been a difficult twenty-four hours for everyone, and the attack was only thirteen hours ago. A lot more could go wrong. Angela had more news, though none of them expected it to be good.

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  “Second, the defences of St. Petersburg have also fallen. The city is being evacuated as we speak, though it had been emptied of most civilians a while ago. A horde like what we just experienced is heading towards western Dynasty territory and further southeast towards Georgia. The entire area had been safe until now, as had most of Asia. With the loss of so much ground all at once, a large influx of refugees is filling up wherever they are received. The economy and the infrastructure in these nations aren’t made to handle that many people. This war with the Hellbeasts can’t go on much longer, or it will have even worse consequences than a few ruined cities and a bunch of deaths.”

  Again, no one said anything while Angela paused.

  “Third, while not regarding the war… Jessie and Sophie’s father has been hospitalised.”

  Erik reacted to those words, looking over to Jessie and Sophie, who still didn’t show any reaction. Of course they knew. Erik noticed Emma turning her head towards the siblings as well.

  “He’s fine and unharmed. Jessie told me it was fine to speak of, but I’ll keep it short. He has a drinking problem and has had a difficult several months, as we can all understand. While the situation was improving, Jessie believes the fact that she and her sister left like this only made things worse.”

  Jessie tilted her head, leaning it against her sister’s.

  “That brings me to number four; what should we do now? We can’t stay here, and we can’t go back to the UB. Things are getting worse, and truth be told, we aren’t much more ready now than we were a week ago. I’ll admit our chances are better, but… There have been no reports of any other bigger-than-normal Hellbeasts, but that doesn’t mean the one from last night was the only one.

  “The price of keeping on the defensive is getting steeper on all sides. We should all take the day to think about it, but we should leave this place before nightfall. Should we go to the Empire and fight, or should we travel someplace else to train more? If you want my opinion, I choose Empire.”

  Emma and Dunham both eyed the blonde ex-colonel, curious about her reasoning.

  “No matter where we go, we can’t be certain that something like this won’t happen again. Next time, there might be more of them, which might even put a lot more people than us in danger. That’s without considering the Hellbeasts’ advances elsewhere. Where will they break through next, and in how long?”

  That was what hit Erik the hardest. Every second they delayed was a second the Hellbeasts—and the Remnant behind them—could push ahead.

  “Meet back in three hours? There will be more time to consider this after we take off, but we need to refuel first, no matter where we go.”

  “What about… Peter?” Dunham asked before the downtrodden group separated. “His family will… want him back,” he continued.

  “I’m sorry… We don’t have the space. I’ll help bury him,” Angela said with a grimace.

  Jessie rose from the ground, her sister giving no reaction. She strode over to Peter’s body as it lay on the stretcher. She touched him, and he—along with the covers and stretcher—vanished. The Witch turned to Dunham and Angela, giving them both a nod, then walked off.

  Erik headed over to Angela and Dunham. They detailed the night’s events, revealing Emma’s response and Sophie’s condition after assisting Dunham with Peter. They also explained Peter’s condition when he arrived in the tent, making sure Erik knew it was nobody’s fault and that everyone should know that.

  He knew they meant him, but he figured even Sophie, maybe even Amir, might feel some guilt. Dunham left after Erik had offered his condolences, leaving Angela and Erik to speak alone, some distance away from the rest. Amir walked around in a slight daze, weapon ready, his fingers twitching.

  The moment they were alone, Erik hugged Angela. She reciprocated after a moment’s hesitation. They held each other close for a few moments. Angela sniffed after a while and relaxed her shoulders somewhat. Erik felt her sink deeper into his embrace, and she started shaking.

  Letting her cry as much as she needed, a few minutes went by before she calmed down. They released each other, and Angela wiped her face with her sleeve. When she was done, she also wiped Erik’s cheek of a few of his own tears.

  She gestured over to the girls sitting on the ground, unmoving ever since Erik got out of his tent. Erik nodded and smiled at Angela before he walked over to the other pair. Angela went to find Jessie, who had headed to the battlefield that was the beach.

  Erik sat down in front of Emma and Sophie. Without being able to say a single word, he sat there amongst them for a minute or two, just looking down at the ground between them. He inhaled before speaking, and both he and Emma said in unison:

  “I’m sorry.”

  Both looked at each other. Erik was the quicker of the two.

  “You don’t need to apologise, Emma. None of us knew what we’d be up against. You’ve done more than I could’ve hoped for back when we met at Bridgefort,” Erik said before she continued instead.

  “What… are you saying…?” she hesitated, her face making a slight grimace.

  “I’m saying ‘thank you’, I guess…” Erik tried.

  “You’re saying that like I’m going somewhere,” she said, her eyes turning to slits as she glared at him.

  “I just—… No one’s forcing you to stay.”

  Based on what Angela and Dunham had said, not least on how Emma looked and what she had gone through… Erik thought she’d leave. He couldn’t blame her for that. If that was what she needed to do, Erik wouldn’t stop her. She had no intention of doing that, however.

  “What? No!” Emma shouted and stood up. Sophie looked over at her with concern. “I was just apologising for how poorly I reacted last night. I should’ve checked on everyone; not wallowed like I did. The hell I’m leaving,” she continued, and charged off to somewhere else.

  “That went well,” Erik said to Sophie. She offered a brief, polite smile. Erik slid his way over to her, seating himself at her side. “How are you feeling?”

  Sophie exhaled a long breath of air, trying to make it last as long as she could. The air went back in through her nose a short while later.

  “You should go be with your dad,” Erik commented as she started exhaling again. She stopped.

  “I know there’s no reason for me to be here with you. I know I should go be with dad.”

  Erik waited for her to finish, but she said nothing else.

  “But?” he soon asked.

  “But it doesn’t feel right to leave all of you. I know I’ve been nothing but a crybaby, but I wouldn’t be helping my dad if I went back to him now. If nothing else, I’d just make him feel worse.”

  “We can’t help you decide. I want you to be safe, but if last night taught me anything, it is that I don’t know where it’ll be safest. I wish I could say it’s with me and your sister, but we’re going deep into enemy territory. Back home is safe for now, but for how long? We can’t even know if that’s still the case tomorrow.”

  “Now isn’t the time for the doomsday pickup line, Erik,” Sophie said with a tiny, proper smile this time.

  “Dammit! Too late, as usual,” he answered dramatically, his right hand held to his heart, his left up in the air in front of him.

  Sophie giggled.

  “I think you’re brave, you know,” Erik said after another moment. He had to wait until Sophie’s laugh had died down. He wanted to savour it.

  “How so?” she asked, tucking part of her hair behind her ear as it had shaken loose during her laugh.

  “We’re here to fight magical monsters that are invulnerable to anything humans can throw at them. You, a normal girl from a normal place, are with us. Yesterday, you even went to help Peter, who had been grievously wounded. Did you hesitate? Did you shy away from the blood?”

  “I… I can’t even remember.”

  “I heard. You didn’t. You were inside the tent in an instant, and as soon as Dunham asked you to help him, you did. I would’ve choked. I would’ve spiralled. You’re braver than I would’ve been. I’m magic, and I have to be here. You’re even training with us, learning how to fight and defend yourself.”

  “You know, I do that for egotistical reasons. If I die, I don’t want to be so far behind you two when I come back,” she said. Erik froze at that.

  Did she expect to come back if she died, just because she had the same bloodline as her sister? Had she forgotten that her mother and grandmother were of the same bloodline and hadn’t returned? So many others had died—many, if not all, having traces of a magical bloodline—and so few had come back… Was she just fooling herself?

  “I am aware, you know… Maybe it won’t happen. But I feel it. Just like I feel that I’m supposed to go with you,” she said as she noticed Erik’s grimacing face.

  “What if you don’t? What if you die there, and don’t come back?”

  “Then I got to experience so much new stuff in the last few weeks,” she smiled.

  Erik smiled back.

  “See? You are brave,” he said.

  Sophie leaned closer, placing her hand on Erik’s cheek, turning his head her way. She placed her lips on his. Her warm lips embraced his. The moment was too brief. Sophie pulled back with a smile only a second or two later yet remained close to his face.

  He gazed into her eyes, and she looked back into his. They shared a look of contentment. When they won the war, they’d continue right where they left off. Sophie stood up and walked away.