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It was supposed to be Demeter. She wasn’t supposed to die. Demeter was supposed to save the world. The prophecy machine chose her. Instead, they killed her, dragged her corpse off, and left Phaedra to defend a place that was going to fall no matter what anyone did.
The building shuddered as another volley hit it, causing plaster dust to rain down around them. Phaedra winced as she heard the shatter of glass elsewhere. She wondered where Eldren was as booms sounded; the magical bombs Aurelius used were a frightening force all on their own. Phaedra gasped, memories of running away from those sounds in the forefront of her mind. Recollections of fleeing with Demeter to escape the fighting that killed their parents flooded her mind. Phaedra looked around. She wasn’t running away again.
She grabbed the arm of the person next to her; his name was Raul, and had made the trip across Laralas with her, Demeter, and Eldren all those years ago. “I need your help!” she yelled over the sounds of fighting.
“Anything! Tell me what to do!” Phaedra smiled; it wasn’t a pleasant expression.
“This way,” she said, levering him to his feet. She dragged him through the shaking temple to a door. Phaedra broke the simple lock and beckoned the acolyte to follow her.
“We need more men,” he whispered as she led him down hallways and through doors until they got to the armory.
“I know, but I can’t take the time. We have to trust the other senior priests.” Phaedra went over to a crate and ripped the top off, revealing spell cartridges. “Explosive fire,” she said, already reaching for another crate. “Acid,” she murmured, looking at the cartridges inside the second crate as she considered the contents. Acid wasn’t used much anymore, so they were pointless to grab. Just another relic of a bygone era. Looking at them, Phaedra couldn’t fathom a use that wasn’t covered by the fire cartridges. “Ah. Magical shields,” she said as she opened a third. “Give me a hand,” she said, unpacking it. “There are personal ones in here. Grab one,” she said. “We need to get the bigger one set up.” She pulled out three clay disks with strange symbols painted on them. “There should be a bag of jewels in here,” she continued, handing Raul the clay disks. Temple had withstood Aurelius because of their defense systems. The shields wouldn’t stop the undead that were already inside, but that wasn’t the only trick Temple had up its sleeve.
Sounds of footsteps came towards them. Phaedra stepped in front of the priest she had grabbed, activating her own shield bracelet. A bright, crystalline bubble snapped up as the footsteps burst into the room. Phaedra exhaled, her chest relaxing, as she saw it was more Temple priests and priestesses.
“I found the crate with the protective wards,” Phaedra said, dismissing the shield. “Raul here said he’d help me place the wards.”
The priest in charge, a grizzled old man with a white beard, nodded. “Hurry.”
Phaedra hefted the disks. Turning towards Raul, she beckoned him to follow and led him deeper into the Temple.
Footsteps sounded behind them. Phaedra shoved Raul to one side and held up the arm with the shield bracelet, bubbling them in a white glow. She tensed, wishing she had a free hand, and then relaxed as she saw it was Eldren. The elf she had come to Temple with as a kid jogged up to her.
“Hey, I hoped I’d find you here.”
“Help me place the wards,” she said, pushing a disk into his hand. “Raul, take the other one,” she said, also passing one to him. “All you have to do is place it in the slot and activate it. It’ll do the rest.”
Raul took the control disk and went over to the station where it fit. He glanced at Phaedra. “On three,” she said, preparing to activate the mechanism with everyone else. “One. . . two. . .” explosions sounded as the doors were hit. “Three!” she yelled, slapping the disk in and touching the panel. The disk whirred to life, the mechanism holding it spinning around as the symbols painted on it lit up. Phaedra stepped back as the doors exploded inwards, swearing because she hadn’t set the jewels yet.
Turning, she drew her spell cannon and took a shot. She hit the man in front, causing him to catch fire. More explosions sounded, and she raised her personal bubble up and activated it in time to avoid a hit. The energy dispersed over her shield, getting drawn into it to store the energy for later use. Ducking behind something, all Phaedra could hear were explosions as they all fired spell cannons. She hoped everyone was safe as she peered around the corner of the box she was behind to fire another shot and dropping someone else.
Silence. She waited for a full twenty seconds before glancing around her half-destroyed box. Eldren crept out from behind a pillar. Phaedra bit back a cry, eyes tearing when she saw Raul’s lifeless body. He had taken a shot from a spell cannon that cooked him to a crisp. He was dead before he hit the ground. Phaedra then turned her attention to the people they’d killed. They weren’t Resurrected; whoever they had been fighting died too easily. They also weren’t zombies or ghouls, as they were too intelligent.
She looked around, alarmed at the distant sound of fighting. “Something’s wrong,” she said. “Eldren, you need to get out of here.”
Eldren looked at Phaedra, horror written all over his face. “Phae, I can’t just leave you.”
“I can handle myself. You, however, need to leave. I’ll meet you at Harbor City. Just go.”
Eldren hesitated. “Phae I—”
“Go out the back, quick!” she said as she prepared to block the entryway. “I’ll catch up with you!” Eldren just stared at her. Phaedra could feel how torn he was; the look on his expressive face said it all. “I can protect myself. I got us here as kids, didn’t I?” she challenged him. “If you trust me, let me take care of this.” Phaedra loaded another cartridge into the spell cannon. “The faster you run, the more time I have to watch your back,” she said, staring at him unflinchingly.
“Be safe, Phae,” he said, taking off for the door in the back that would lead to the catacombs underneath the city. She heard the bolt slide into place and knew that no one was getting through that door fast enough to catch him. There were secrets underneath the city that she couldn’t find, but he would.
The footsteps grew closer, and as Phaedra readied herself for the second wave, she froze as howls went up. The footsteps came into the room; it was a red-haired man in a black turtleneck and pants, with a black cuirass over everything, with some decaying dogs sniffing the ground and growling. Phaedra held the cannon up and fired. The roar deafened her as the spell slammed into the man on the right, igniting him. Phaedra dashed around as she readied a second shot, taking aim with one hand while readying her shield bracelet with the other.
The cannon roared in her hand and hit the second man as the first of the hounds lunged at her. Phaedra screamed in rage and shielded herself as the first dog collided with it. It lit up, throwing off sparkles as the dog jumped back. A second one came up, snarling and drooling as it crept up on her. Shit. She needed two hands to load the cannon again and was short the hand holding up the shield.
“Just give up,” a smooth voice said from the doorway. Phaedra looked up, glowering, as the hounds’ controller smirked at her.
“I’m not going down without a fight, Houndmaster,” she said, holstering her gun and freeing her cutlass. The two dogs circled Phaedra, waiting for her to drop her shield.
The Houndmaster laughed. “You can’t fight bubbled like that, and once you drop it, my dogs will catch you. It’s hopeless.”
Phaedra edged around the room, looking around her for something. One dog lunged at her when she turned her head too far away, slamming into her shield. “They can wear it down to nothing by flinging themselves at it if you wish. No spells here to recharge it after all.”
He had Phaedra trapped. She gripped her sword as tight as she could, swinging at the dog on the right as she dropped the shield. Loud, mocking laughter sounded as the sword bit into the dog right as the one on her left lunged. Phaedra screamed in pain as she shoved her shield arm in the dog’s mouth to keep it off her throat. Stabbing it, she nearly vomited at the thick, cloying smell of decaying meat as the blade bit into its abdomen. The other one didn’t smell this bad when I struck it. The dog let go and Phaedra tried to kick it, but it had some fight left in it even as it died for a second time. Too late, Phaedra saw a third dog lunge for her. She tried to swat it away, but it landed, rebounded, and lunged at her to knock her back. She felt claws bite into her thigh and abdomen as it latched onto her throat. Phaedra gasped in surprise; a thick bubbling sound was all that came out as she lost consciousness.
