The First Bells

The peaceful night over the Free City has been broken, replaced by restless chaos. The refugee camps sprawled outside the gates were torn apart, broken by the stampede and flow of people escaping towards the gate.

The campfires were out, smothered by waves of feet trampling over them, the makeshift tents torn and shattered by the scrambling hands, as escapees climbed through them, pushing them aside, looting and taking whatever valuables were small enough to carry.

The bells rang out from all four gates. Not the gentle  toll of curfew that happens each evening, but the long, metallic klang, reserved only for fires, invasions, or something worse.

The sound struck like a hammer blow, reverberating through the stones of the walls, shaking awake the hearts of the refugees, as well as the city inhabitants.

The refugees surged to their feet. At first with confusion, then fear - fear that turned into panic, then chaos, when the first shouts came down from the watchtowers.

"Outer Beasts! The Outer Beasts are here!"

The night shifted. A growl, low and unearthly rolled across the plains, heavy and multi-voiced, like a thousand breaths taken erratically. Torches flared along the parapets, casting long shadows across the fields, revealing moving creatures, each one wrongly shaped.

They were not monsters. They were not anything that had a right to walk this world. Each Outer Beast, a perversion of nature, hulking forms with extended limbs, jaws split from ear to ear, crawling on protruding bone like talons. Their muscles crawling beneath the skin like maggots, their skin now covered in alien black patches. Their eyes burned a sickly alien violet, fixed hungrily on the city walls.

The refugees broke into chaos, as thousands rushed the gate in a mad tide, screaming and shouting to be let in. Some were trampled underfoot, others clawed down by their neighbors, as each scrambled over one another. 

The city knights wavered, shields straining under the crushing bodies.

"Hold the line! Keep the gate closed!" The captain of the west gate roared, his voice barely audible over the drowning chaos below.

From the western parapets, Reiji's fist clenched into a ball, as he jumped onto the wall, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the beasts gathered, a tide of black mass against the moons light.

Besides him Nraltia's lips parted in horror. "The corruption..." Her voice trails away, as she massages her temples in pain, desperately trying to pull at the smoking trails of a long gone memory.

"It's finally here... Reiji... Are you ready?" The words whisper into Reiji's mind, cold yet intimate, as the goddess shimmers into view besides him, gazing out at the encroaching black tide.

Gritting his teeth, he pushes the voice away, refusing to answer.

Below, the gates shuddered under the pounding fist of terrified refugees. The beast's growl rose to a fevered pitch, as they came ever closer.

"Tch. This isn't right. Those refugees won't stand a chance, but..." He clicks his tongue, frustrated at the ongoings around him, for the first time, feeling powerless to act. 

His mind a battle of its own, debating between the many lives of refugees infront of him, and the other lives of those inside Tristan. The other innocents that he had met and spent time with during the last month. Could he risk their lives for the others outside?

Sensing his doubt, Souma pats his shoulders. "Why are you thinking so hard?"

Hearing Soum'as nonchalant attitude, Reiji turns on him, his heart burning with pain. "How could you ask me that? Can't you see the people below?" Grabbing at Souma's clothes, he roars with desperation, raising the Oni off his feet. "You cold-hearted bastard! Don't you feel anything at all?"

A gentle warmth grabs his clenched fist, slowly pushing them down. "Reiji, that's not Souma's intention."

Seeing her gentle expression, he turns back to Souma, gazing into his eyes.

"It's not like you to think so hard." The Oni continues, his fist gently bumping Reiji's chest. "Just do what you want to do."

"But-" His words are cut short by the amnesiac Luporine.

"You're not alone Reiji. We're with you."

Looking at his two friends, the doubt and uncertainty weighing on his heart was finally lifted. He felt dumb for hesitating, but his heart was set ablaze with an inferno, glad to have these friends by his side.

Nodding to the two, they jumped back down from the walls, landing by the Knight Captain at the gates.

"Wh-who are you people?"

Flashing their adventure plates Reiji quickly responds. "We're the Crimson Crow party. Open the gates, and let the refugees in."

"Are you insane? Those beast are almost on them. If we open the gates, we'd never be able to close them up in time." The captain barks, angrily at the adventurers, he would order his men to escort them away if he wasn't already fully occupied with holding the gate.

"Open the gates. We won't ask again." Reiji smirks, as his fist flare with Ki.

"We'll hold the outer beast until the gates have been closed again." Nraltia smiles gently, her spear already in her hand. 

Souma's blades were also drawn, ready to create carnage. "You can try to stop us. But you will fail."

Seeing the trio before him, the Captain sighed heavily, before barking his order to his men. "Open the gates, let the refugees in. We will hold the line until all the innocents have retreated behind the walls."

With a loud groan, the gates swing open as the tidal wave of people rush through, the captain and his men forming them into a more controlable mass, leading them towards the shelter.

Seeing the flow, the party jumps back over the walls, ready to defend the gate from the encroaching black tide.

A loud roar echoed out as one of the beast break from the tide. A winged monstrosity, screeching through the air, as it swoops down towards a fallen child, it's bladed talons, slicing through the air.

It's dive was cut short, as a spear shoots through the beast, tearing it apart, a black and white comet blazing through the sky. 

The first bell had rung. The long night had begun.