The Storm Part 2

A thunderous boom could be heard from the direction of the barn. Flames blanketed the entire farmland. The rain stopped as a shock wave ripped through Woodside, repelling the fog and silencing the wind. Buildings shook, fragments of farming equipment slammed against the squad’s barrier and beat against the orphanage.

For a brief moment, it seemed the storm had abated, but the wind, rain, and fog returned, extinguishing the flames and whisking the smoke away.

“Left flank prepare to fire at the farm! Right flank and rear flank, standby!. Forward flank, prepare to fire straight ahead!” Sergeant Zivot commanded.

Lights of various colors circled around their staffs, concentrating in an orb at the front.

Light from the magic glinted off of a black crystal as it silently coasted with the wind towards their barrier.

Dusty yanked Sergeant Zivot towards him and ran.

“What are you doing!?” He saw the crystal then tackled Dusty to the ground. White light surrounded his staff then spread out around them.

All light from the barrier as well as the orbs above their staffs sucked into the anti magic crystal as it crystal struck the squad’s barrier.

The soldiers watched all light disappear from around them. The only visible light emanated from Sergeant Zivot’s personal barrier.

The crystal fractured.

The northern half of town was bathed in flames as an ear shattering pop tore through Woodside. The uninhabited houses in the area were disintegrated. The orphanage’s spire crashed to the ground as a pink light flickered from its windows.

A second shock wave forced the rain and fog to recede once again.

The figure they had seen before was nowhere to be found.

A torrent of rain returned alongside a downpour of charred flesh confetti, bone splinters, and shredded viscera, smothering the flames.

One man stayed standing, facing northwest, sword and staff drawn. The orange glow of his magical barrier pierced through the rain.

A woman walked towards him, the steel blades of knives glinted in her hands, while brass contraptions circled around her fingers. A strange mask of sorts rested on her face beneath a pair of deep, green goggles over her eyes. A sturdy looking, green coat covered her body. Its hood shrouded her face in shadow. Her boots effortlessly marched forward through the mud.

Red light snaked around the soldier’s staff, turning into a spout of flame that shot towards the woman.

She turned her head and used her hood to cover her her face.

The flames ineffectively slammed into her coat.

Sergeant Zivot stood up. “Let’s get you on your feet and help him.” He helped Dusty off the ground.

Dusty stared at the place where his squad mates once stood, his eyes devoid of life.

“If something happens to me or him, I need to run as fast as you can out of here!” Sergeant Zivot shook Dusty back to some of his senses. "Understood!"

"Y-Yes sir." Dusty replied, his voice weak. 

Red light arced around the remaining soldier’s staff.

The woman struck his barrier with one of the contraptions around her fist, shattering it into a million pieces of light.

“I ain’t done yet.” The soldier swung his sword at her.

She caught his blade with the serrated edge of her knife and twisted it, trapping the blade long enough for a downward strike from the knife in her other hand to cut through his staff.

Dusty watched as Sergeant Zivot froze and his eyes went wide in horror.

All light surrounding the soldier’s staff shot back into him. Each vein lit up a different hue as it rocketed towards his head. A rainbow of light poured from his eyes, mouth, and anywhere else it could escape his body.

Black crystals climbed up his arm.

He dropped his staff while screaming in pain. His sword swung wildly at the woman in front of him.

She sidestepped one swing then another. The third strike she caught with her knives, twisting the blade and kicking him to the ground, wrenching the blade from his grasp.

The crystal now covered his entire arm. He tried to get back up but crystals growing on his legs rendered them immobile.

He coughed up blood. His body twitched and shook. He could no longer move on his own.

Sergeant Zivot snapped out of his stupor. “You need to run. Now! As fast and as far as you can go. Don’t look back. Now’s not the time for you to be a hero kid.”

Dusty stood, motionless.

“I SAID RUN YOU MORON!” Sergeant Zivot patted him on the back then ran towards the approaching woman, sheathing his staff. And wielding his plain-looking long sword with both hands.

The soldier’s body was now a dark, crystalline corpse, frozen in an agonizing, twisted position.

The fog began to roll back in, shrinking their range of visibility.

Dusty still hadn’t moved.

The woman lunged forward striking at Sergenat Zivot with her left knife.

He blocked it with his blade, catching her right knife surging towards him in the corner of his eye and raising his arm to block it with his armor.

She backed off and circled him, waiting for another opening.

Sergeant Zivot pointed his blade towards her head, only now realizing she stood a full head taller than him.

Dusty looked at the sword in his hand and the fight going on. Sergeant Zivot and the woman danced around each other searching for an opening. She isn’t wearing any armor. If I help him, it should be easy to take her down. He ran forward and thrust his sword at her.

She directed her attention towards him, swatting his blade upward with the knife in her left hand then punching him with the brass contraption around the same hand’s knuckles.

Noticing the opportunity, Sergeant Zivot took a swing at her, only for his blade to get blocked by the knife in her right hand.

She brought her other knife above Sergeant Zivot’s blade, trapping it then twisted her body and arms, wrenching the blade out of his hands. Before Dusty could shake off the head blow, her foot flew towards him, striking the top of his sternum and knocking him into the mud. The armor couldn't stop the pain.

“I TOLD YOU TO RUN!” Sergeant Zivot went to pick up his blade, only for the woman’s knee to hammer into his face. 

The force knocked him on his back. 

She kicked his sword into the encroaching fog.

Dusty coughed up blood, his breathing was heavy. He managed to get to his knees.

Sergeant Zivot lay on the ground, moving without purpose as though his brain had yet to figure out what happened or what he was supposed to do.

The women stood over him.

Dusty jumped to his feet and swung his sword at her.

She turned and ducked.

The sword's arc carried her hood off her head.

Dusty smile at his first hit in a real fight, a burst of excitement running through him.

She kicked his knee with her left foot and elbowed the side of his head with her right arm then snapped her arm back, jabbing his face. The contraption on her left fist, previously hidden behind her body, barreled into Dusty‘s armored forehead, denting his helmet. His blade was torn from him by her right hand as she kicked his already falling body to the ground.

Dusty’s head spun, his body refused to move. His helmet dug into his face. Where did her knives go.

The woman walked over to Sergeant Zivot. Her gloved hands raised the sword by its blade, preparing a mordhau strike as a coup de grace against the stunned Sergeant Zivot.

A flash of light filled the area, blinding Dusty, followed by a crack loud enough to make ears bleed.

His ears rang with enough force to disorient him. Once the light faded from his vision he saw the woman drop his sword.

She stumbled backwards, catching herself, only to collapse face first on the ground a moment later. Smoke disappeared into the rain as quickly as it rose from her body.

Sergeant Zivot walked over to Dusty, helping to his feet. “Thanks kid, I would have died if you didn’t help.” He patted him on the back then went to pick up their swords.

Dusty blinked, still disoriented from the repeated head blows and the nearby lightning strike.

“We’ll be able to get healed back at base. We just need to make it there.” He looked at the sky.

Dusty stumbled, but caught himself by grabbing onto Sergeant Zivot. His helmet was dented in multiple places. Vomit filtered through his visor, covering his face. He almost certainly had a concussion.

The squad leader wrapped his arm around Dusty. “Let’s get going, there’s no way someone could survive that and we need to get out of here before the elf finds us.”

An arrow of light pointing northeast appeared above Sergeant Zivot’s staff as they walked off into the fog.

The wind started to die down, the thunder became less frequent, and the rain slowed but the dense fog persisted, blanketing the area it was pushed out of by the explosion once again.