Terminus

We were awoken by a loud and unmistakable sound of furniture falling over. The brick and wood floor under our feet was shaking, and Danyar and I barely made it downstairs before the wooden stairway itself creaked and bent under its own weight.

Five people were panicking in the dining part of the inn. Natan and Janne were running around, as fast as the unstable ground would allow, boarding up the windows with heavy wooden blinds that’d been reinforced with metal studs. They slid into designated railings, blocking out sunlight one by one.

“What’s -”

It’s clear what’s going on.

“Everyone who’s not helping, take shelter under a table, now!” My voice was completely ignored. “Now!” I yelled again.

My gauntlets appeared over my hands, and I clunked them together.

“Under the tables! Take shelter!” I yelled again.

The two patrons from yesterday did as they were told. A kid started crying, and another of the patrons dragged him under a table. It seemed he’d just walked in by himself right as this whole commotion had started.

Danyar was one step ahead of me and had joined the two innkeepers in barricading the windows.

They’re not expecting a tsunami, are they?

But I didn’t have time to ask, as I noticed that one person was distinctly missing.

“Where’s Giselle?”

No reply came, and I ran up to Janne, repeating the question.

“The fool left before I could stop her,” Janne replied. The board she was trying to slide in shook too much to fit inside its groove. She swore at it before turning towards me. “Are you going to help?”

The ground shook harder than it had ever before.

This is at least a magnitude five!

I grabbed Janne by the shoulders and pushed her under the nearest table.

She protested, but the ground continued shaking and something above us creaked. She covered her head with her hands.

“We’re doomed… This is it. The blight that’ll come from this will kill us all…”

“You’ll be alright, just stay put,” I tried to reassure her.

I glanced at the barricaded door. If Giselle was out there, and if another wave of monsters was going to come after this quake, then she was doomed.

“Going after her is suicide, even for you,” Danyar dashed, then slid under the table.

Janne gulped, muttered something, and hastily crawled to the next table over, gulping in fear at every creak that came from upstairs.

“She’s just one girl, stop thinking about it.” Danayar insisted, noticing how I kept scanning the room for a safe escape.

“So am I, I can’t just leave her,” I shook my head.

I fidgeted with the edge of my gloves. Danyar had a point. The first rule of first aid was to not put myself in danger.

The tremors in the floor intensified, and Danayr swept me closer. We both held our breaths. That kid started whaling, and one of the other patrons joined him; suddenly, the stairway fully caved in, breaking under its own weight. An indescribably loud noise came from the left side of the inn, where the kitchen and pantry were, and dust from broken brick erupted into the dining area as part of that wall collapsed in on itself.

The floor of the second storey hung low, still somehow supported on either end, but we could all now clearly see the clear blue morning skies outside.

For a second, it seemed almost like we were all collectively hallucinating all of this.

The earthquake, the fear that came with it, ... but then the ground shook again. Three more bricks fell down, to reveal the rest of the town, in a similar state of disarray.

Breathe in, breathe out. This will stop in a few minutes.

I was close enough to feel Danyar’s racing heartbeat. When I looked up, about to suggest that we make a run for it, his eyes were wide, at the dunes at the edge of the village; scared and on edge, ready to lunge, not at the opening, but at whatever would come through it.

If the magnitude is somehow tied to the blight and those monsters, then …

I didn't want to think about it. The previous earthquake had been a magnitude 2, maybe 3 …

< Companions -1: Demon.>

“I’m going after Giselle,” I pushed myself away from Danayr. “And then I’ll try to create a -”

“Why did you break the seal?” His tone was a complex mixture of anger and confusion. He looks at me, then at the opening, struggling to decide what to focus his full attention on.

I shook my head.

“I can’t ask you to come with me. I really shouldn’t have dragged you -” I ran my hand through my hair, not finding the words, “Sorry. I apologise.” I bowed my head as low as the awkward crouching position would allow.

“Chiyo-”

Danyar reached for my shoulder, but I rolled from under the table and dashed to the breach in the wall.

Danayr could have easily caught up to me, but he didn’t. Which brought some relief.

I lost balance when I set foot outside. The ground was still shaking irregularly, and a noticeable layer of sand had covered the cobblestones of the streets.

This is the opposite of what I’ve always been taught…

A cry for help came from a nearby building, and I immediately swapped tasks from looking for Giselle to rushing there.

“Hey, hey,” I ran up to a collapsed facade.

Gauntlets appeared over my hands, and I lifted the door, tilting it up so that the rubble covering it would fall into the street.

“Go, go,” A man ushered a small girl forward, before following after her. “Thank you, sister,” He said as he passed me.

“Wait for the earthquake to stop, and go to the inn. It’s barricaded; you’ll be safe.” I told him, as he picked up his daughter, frantically looking around for a safe hiding spot. “Stay away from buildings for now.”

The man nodded and rushed deeper into the city, presumably to its central plaza.

I ran around, helping two more groups escape their collapsed houses, before getting to the edge of the city.

I almost tripped over Giselle.

“What are you doing?”

I dropped down beside her.

She was lying on the ground, face down, still breathing, and covering her head with her hands. Several large suitcases were scattered around her.

“Protecting myself from the cataclysm! It won’t claim me if I’m already in the ground.” She muttered. “Who are you? Oh,” She looked up, looking not too surprised to see me.

“What nonsense,” I grabbed her by the arm. “Come on, we need to get to safety before the monsters come!”

“No!” She yanked her arm away from me. “Barthelemy is out there, and I’m not leaving him. If you think it’s dangerous, then you can go hide, I’ll be fine, I took down a mille pattes!”

The mille-pattes Danayr and I took down?

“Now is not the time for this! This earthquake -”

A cloud of reds and greens and yellows erupted from the ground at the horizon, a hundred or so kilometers to the east.

I froze.

What is that?

It looked like dozens, no hundreds, of flares were fired at the same time. Something big was happening there.

Giselle looked up, then turned around, following my gaze.

She froze as well, slowly raising a hand to cover her mouth.

Something big is happening there. They’ll need all the help they can get. But this town has no one to defend it …

I glanced back. My decision was interrupted by Danayr running towards us.

He raised his arm and gestured with his hand for us to wait.

“My brother, I bet that idiot is there…” Giselle pushed herself off the ground.

“What’s there? Is it a town?”

“Arnis! The Bastt Caravan would have stopped there too,” She flicked her wrist up, and suddenly her belongings levitated. The sand under them got no respite after the quake, and it swirled up, following small vertical currents of wind.

“Wait, but the people here-” I reached out, and let my arm fall back to my side. Giselle had already gone several meters ahead and showed no sign of stopping.

“The blighted have come already; they probably won’t reach this place.” Danayr stopped by my side.

Probably? I don’t like that gamble, but he’s right. There is an immediate threat there.

“Why do you come back?” I asked Danyar instead. “I’m happy, don’t get me wrong, but there’s trouble there,” I raised my hand, pointing at the sky, and locking eyes with him. “There’s trouble if you stay.”

For once, the overly long eye contact was not awkward.

“I’m glad you are aware of what you’re about to ride into,” Danyar forced a smirk before tapping me on the shoulder. “Come on, we can’t waste more time.”

My train appeared beside us.

“Giselle! We’re going to Arnis!” I yelled. “All aboard!”