Battle City of Jandra

Footsteps sounded through the ashen streets. Black footprints making their way down from the port, its creators kicking up ash as they looked around. A suffocating silence filled the once bustling streets that Ansel and Eira spoke of. Kaito walked behind them, looking around at the grim place. They’d told him that the city was twice the size of what Kamar was, a size so great that it was split into two sections, the King’s Order and the People’s Construct. One side focused on the war, holding the demons at bay, whereas the other held the city together with trade and commerce. Two hours had passed since they arrived, and nothing but ash and dust was all that he could see.

“Does this mean…”

“I don't know what it means man!”

Ansel kept his eyes low on the ground, continuing to walk. Just pressing on—the only thing he could do. Eira stayed silent, her silver eyes looking forward and mouth tensing up. She’d been the first to jump off the boat, running around the streets and yelling out for Talos. Out of the three, Eira had been with Talos the longest, having taken care of him since he was just a little kid; long before Ansel had taken them in and was much closer to him than Kaito was, despite her constant conflicts. To her Talos had been her reason for pressing on all those years, later turning into her wanting him to succeed and enjoy his life. It had been a dark day when they ran from Jandra, the day she learned that there were those that wanted to use him for their own ideals. She’d resolved herself to find him no matter what over the past few months. A resolve that was almost shattered when her search for him turned out useless. The three just pressed on through their sorrow, holding on to the slight hope that maybe he got away.

Walking uphill, Kaito felt a water drop hit his neck. He reached back and touched where he thought he felt the droplet. Bringing his hand back, his eyes squinted and then opened wide at his new discovery.

“What the?”

His two fingers had black greyish water dripping down to his palm. He saw another droplet hit the ground in front of him, then another hit the hilt of Eira’s blade. The droplets began to fall gradually, soon turning into a full on shower as dark clouds covered the sky. They ran through the city in search of shelter, any piece of a building that still had a ceiling or second floor intact.

Soon enough their frantic search ended as they saw a tilted slab of concrete above a wall in the distance; a ruin of the past city still standing amongst all the rubble.

“Black rain huh…” Ansel monotonically said. His eyes looked at the cold ground as they covered he laid at the small shelter's entrance, covered in his rock armor. Over their trip he’d learned to tap into his Earth element more, learning about the [Geo Defense] spell in a small village on their travels that was meant for his reinforcement type magic. He’d gained full control over the rock defense that protected and strengthened his body, which he now used to act as a sort of sandbag and door on their first night in the now fallen Battle City of Jandra.

“It’s probably because of the dirty shore.”

Both Eira and Ansel looked at Kaito strangely, like he was speaking gibberish.

“What?”

“The shore? What does that have to do with anything?” Eira asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What does it- cause of evapora-”

Kaito cut himself off midway, remembering himself.

Dumbass of course basic chemistry isn’t known here.

“Uh sorry I… don’t really know. It feels like another—”

““Fragment””

Eira harmonized with Kaito as he said the word. She’d heard that excuse all too well over the past few years and grown tired of it. Their back and forth continued for a little before being interrupted by Ansel.

“No way.” he said, looking past Eira at a piece of broken concrete behind her. The three looked at it in amazement, then anger as they saw the familiar symbol. A fragment of a crown tilting.

A silence filled the dark place, the rain continuing on with force beginning to sound more like static rather than water droplets. Nodding in determination Kaito mumbled to himself something that both Eira and Ansel still heard.

“Let’s keep looking.”

Five days passed in the city. Every block and leveled section of Jandra was walked over and looked over at least once. Each day a new section was discovered, a place where people once walked through everyday now nothing but a pile of debris. The fifth day came and went with nothing but hunger and thirst to show for their search. The three decided to hunt in the Forest of Ard further inland of the city. They’d emptied out their rations, having never expected their destination to be in ruins, the money they carried held no value anymore.

The party of Adventurers traveled up into the city, the forest just behind the slope of earth they stood on. The sky met the tip of the trees as they reached the top, a sudden realization hitting them like an anvil in freefall. The forest had been burnt, a line of black running down deep into the distance and out into the valley on the other side of it. Bodies of knights in armor were scattered among the trees and dirt at the base of the hill, animals picking away at their remains.

A thought crawled into Kaito’s head. One that would cement an end to their journey if he spoke it out loud. He pushed it down pretending that he didn’t know anything. The reason why the city had fallen, the forest was burnt, and why those knights were dead. Instead, Kaito steeled himself and expressed a slightly more upbeat attitude, a forced emotion that was painfully transparent.

“C-C’mon guys I’m hungry.”

“...yeah let’s go” agreed Eira, beginning to lead the way down.

The animals began to scatter as they heard the humans traveling down. Eira launched one of her Ice Spears at one of the boars, killing it as it pierced through its chest with barely any noise to show for it. As they walked toward it, they got a better look at the knights on the ground. They wore a crest of blue and green, a shield in front with the hilt of a sword peering out behind it. Kaito looked at it seriously, trying to guess the organization it belonged to.

“Royal guards.” explained Ansel seeing his confused face.

“Which one is stronger?”

“They're both equally strong, but the guard is more prestigious and typically has the stronger members as many of them come from the Order.”

“Oh…wow.”

Kaito seemed impressed, only for a second, as he looked at the rotting man on the floor, a gruesome scene that would most likely fit best in a zombie movie.

At that moment, Eira saw something reflecting off the armor, a strange looking stick. She looked up to scan the area around her and found the strange object. Walking over to it she gasped exaggeratively and Ansel and Kaito over in a hurry. They’d found a prosthetic arm hidden behind a pile of dirt. Ansel picked it up with a slight struggle, having not expected the arm to have so much weight to it.

The prosthetic had a glossy texture, painted black and outlined with gold. The palm had a symbol that even Eira and Ansel didn’t recognize; a sword in swing within a circle.

“This… it has to be!”

Kaito looked at Ansel and Eira with stars in his eyes.

“Ha they gave him an upgrade at least.” Ansel said, squeezing the arm in his hand.

“No Ansel, look around! These bodies are newer, there were none in the city!”

Eira looked at Kaito, hearing his words put her on the same page as him as hope began to rise within her.

“This symbol… it must be from that branch. His arm, it’s all the way over here.”

“But his body isn’t! He must’ve made it out of here, and lost his arm in the chaos!!” Kaito stated, he was now feeling a rush of energy, a reason to keep going.

“Talos survived!!” Eira told Ansel, shaking him violently. She looked over and decided on their next stop.

“He…He must be at the capital!"

“The capital.” He repeated slowly shaking off his depression.

“You're right! We need to keep going!”

With the three’s morals returning to them, they made quick work of the boar and rushed to the capital city of the nation of Falmah, the city of Ydiria.

—--

4 Months Ago:

A fleet of metal boats crossed the sea. The technology was way ahead of its time akin to something the dwarven kingdom would have. The boats were similar to the ones in modern Japan, and carried a growing number of demons. They tore through the currents and clashed into the bane of their existence as they arrived on their greatest and newest tactic; an amphibious assault. They arrived in the middle of the night, catching the King’s Order at an unprecedented time and using it to their advantage. They tore through their shore and lit up the sand as they disembarked. Alarms began to sound as the demon fleet entered their land, a much more humanoid demon with grey skin standing tall in front of them and leading the charge—the King of Demons, Milandra.