[Boom] Explosions resounded in the morning sky.
Leo rubbed his eyes. "Am I dreaming?" He looked at the situation with nothing but shock, he gripped the picture of Marcus in his grasp tightly.
Not too far from the wall were about five the carcasses ot monsters, ones that bore semblance to goats, but far too large and mutated to be considered so.
With eyes that were blood red and a fearsome build — with white furs, horns rhat were coiled and such thick hooves that left traces at their steps.
With heights of nearly 3 metres, very similar in size to that of Vegro; the sprout of the thirteenth.
One was still left standing and it now began backing up, but it was clearly not to run away as it began pawing the ground; it was about to charge.
Digging the ground ruthlessly, with its eyes locking on the wall and its horns glowing purple, it ignored the explosive rounds fired at it which barely damaged it.
But the pre-existing wounds were hit and the its stance became less and less solid as it began the charge, it was fast.
That so, that it was about to overtake their carriage in relative position not long after it began charging, and if left unchecked could go beyond the cannon's effective angle.
Luckily for them they had already worn it down, out of the many more shots they fired, the few that hit took it down, but there were no injuries to its head or scalp much like the other bodies there.
"so you're finally awake flame boy?!" Heimer called out for Leo, he roded very closely to their wagon.
"flame boy?!
Yeah…I am…" Leo responded with his eyes still fixated on the scene.
"That's a perfect reaction to those things, I was the same as you moments ago when we first saw the clash.
Luckily they seem to have gotten the situation into control!" said Heimlich with his voice battling against the currents of the wind.
"You don't look too shocked about it." Leo said to him.
"Hahaha…" Heimlich laughed. "If there's anything I do better than anyone else it's adapting, and with the current state of the world it seems it's a really good skill I've got going for me.
Also the only way I survived this long- oh would you look at that we made it."
[Mechanical noises] The group gradually slowed down, they had made it to the relay camp.
The gates were opened for them and they made their way through it slowly.
—
They stopped their horses behind the gate of the relay camp as they resupplied, ate and rested properly welcomed by the admiration of the stationed officers.
Leo felt discomfort being in the vicinities of the relay camp, even distancing himself from the group a bit until he was called by Lana.
Heimer gathered all the stationed officers there, he needed them to update him on what was going on.
[Mechanical noises] Leo stood on one of the the platform that led to the top of the wall, along with Lana and Laura.
The other platforms were at work as well with soldiers taking supplies upwards and equipment as well.
"Those couldn't be spawns since it would be months before the next descent…,
then they have to be the same kind as the snakes…and the chameleon as well.
How many more of these creatures are they, they began appearing after aether did they come out of a pathway…no…
They look like animals that already existed on earth, either way whatever it is we can only assume…" Leo felt the gaze of another, it was that of Laura.
"Anything wrong?" Leo asked her as he touched his face. "Is it the scar?" He asked.
"No, you just looked so lost in thought that i was wondering why." Laura said.
Leo sighed. "I was thinking about these goats, and their connection to the chameleon and snakes , and if there was also a connection to the sprout as well.
nothing but a thought." Leo said.
Laura let out a silent laugh. "Well you're looking at the only person that can give you an answer." She said.
"Seriously?!" Leo was surprised. "How?"
"It's my gift, i can't go into the specifics, it might sound like gibberish, to simplify the feel of their presence."
If I were to compare them, I'd lump all of them other than the spawns together." She replied.
"Then it's as I thought, that's one question gone…one at a time…" Leo muttered the last part of the sentence.
"Thanks you've been a huge help." Leo said to her.
"I wish it was my choice to feel these things, can't even help it." She yawned.
A final thud was heard as they finally got to the top of the wall, with soldiers gathering around them; the watchers.
— The watchers: The Military usually had one path, and that was the army, which were the protectors of the security in the empire, and having the subclass of the internal security.
The watchers were a recent addition to form a second path, founded after the events of the sprout attack, comprising of wall guards and newly drafted members from the recruitment program bolstering their numbers.
They were the ones whom were tasked with protecting the three walls in case of emergencies, with heavy supplies of ammunition.
Their highest ranks were those of corporals; the middle ground of the chain of command. —
They exchanged information with Lana without any friction with Leo sitting at the edge of the wall.
"I always wondered what the top would look like and the view as well.
Truly horrible." Leo thought as he stared at the visible ruins in his line of sight.
He dragged his palm along the surface of the wall's top and grabbed a stone, he threw it into the distance, he smiled softly then he threw two more stones.
Then he looked to his right at the wall that stretched into the horizon with its incredible length. "I can't even see the end of it, how was this built…" He muttered.
—
Lana had achieved her goal for climbing up the wall so they went back down, they had gathered all the info they needed to and they rested to prepare for their return to base.
The attacks from the goats had started three days earlier from the left-mid part of the wall kilometres away, since then there have been multiple attacks.
They managed to ward off the attacks but at the cost of expending nearly sixty round per goat, if the numbers increased the chance of them breaking through was extremely high.
The threats they had to face had only increased and now they were on their way for the return journey which they began in the morning of the first day.
"Why do we need to follow the main path?" Leo asked Heimlich from the back of the wagon.
"Here, take a hold of this…" Heimlich gave Leo a newspaper in his hand, he watched the look On Leo's face change to amazement.
"The press are quick aren't they, don't hold your joy in cause it hardly gets better than this.
How does it feel…to be labelled a hero." said Heimlich.
His words rang true and the last one echoed in Leo's ears, every time they passed through a town they were welcomed by the cheers of the people.
Not only had they come back victorious, they had come back without casualties, a reason for massive jubilation.
—
– Two days later –
Multiple goats stood in front of Leo who was in a white space, he fought them all at once with efficient use of aether but could only kill one, he was rammed by the other and stomped to death.
[Huff huff] Leo sat his usual training spot shirtless whilst sweating, his eyes opened; they looked tired and his breathing was unsteady, he had been doing visual training.
"This is bad, I can't visualise myself winning against that many, it honestly feels impossible." Leo thought as he wiped the sweat off his face.
"Even now that my dark aether is back which means she was the one that took it away.
But even if I'm stronger with it there's no difference from before I lost it, catalyst energy doesn't do much either.
Either way I have other things to worry about-" Leo muttered as footsteps drew closer to him.
Leo turned to his right were the footsteps were he could hear the footsteps from; there was no one there.
"Here…" A voice said from the left of Leo, she was now sitting beside him and handing him a towel.
"It's you." Leo said as he turned to her, it was Fiona.
"Who else were you expecting?" she asked.
"No one really, you just like appearing so suddenly…" Leo took the towel from her hand. "Thanks."
"The supreme finally returned, he said he has something to tell us and needed everyone present, but you weren't there." She said.
"And you knew I would be here?" Leo looked surprised to say the least.
"Well there's not much places you'd be to begin with, my first guess was the fields the second was this." she replied.
"You know me so well, yet I know so little about you." he said as he stood up and she stood up with.
"It's not like I know that much, and you could always start from somewhere...for example I like books." she said with a faint smile.
Leo's eyes widened. "So do I…"
—
– The next day –
The morning skies were dark, far from the glamour they could bestow as they were riddled by dark skies; it was raining and had been for a long time.
[Gallop Gallop] The horse hooves clomped the wet soil of the third sector, two wagons embarked on a journey through the military path.
"I'm frankly anxious." Leo muttered.
"When aren't you." Caesar said with a snicker.
Leo smiled. "This guy…but it's all so sudden."
{Heimer came back with the journal yesterday, it had new words written on it and some entries were modified, likely the work of the messenger.
A new one was added as well, that of the accursed, it was easy to draw the connection between that term and the beasts like the chameleon, snakes and the goats.
That alone was news, but the next thing Heimer told us is the reason for my anxiousness, we're heading to the main camp right now.}
"To reveal the existence of something the people had only heard from the voice that day.
To reveal the existence of aether…"
VOLUME 1 END