Soren provided marksman support for the battle from atop the hill. His Jai'Su warbow formation was gripped tightly in his hands. There was never a single second he was not firing the construct. Between Aurelius, Tanisha, Knock, Bolder, and the survivors being escorted to safety, there was always another crisis demanding his attention.
He killed monsters whenever the opportunity presented itself, but that wasn't his purpose. Every second spent finishing one creature there were dozens of others that had reached a fleeing villager or one of his allies. His job was to buy time. When life and death were measured in fractions of a second, an arrow that staggered a monster or spoiled its attack could matter just as much as one that killed it outright.
The rift itself was a frozen scar across the sky which seemed to grow brighter every passing moment. The brilliance slowly bleached the world a monochrome. Soren was experienced enough to know not to look directly into the rift. He had a feeling that the brightness had a meaning. The thousands of monsters that spilled into the countryside of Isopike were just the precursor to something more frightening.
He noticed something since his arrival: more and more powerful monsters had been appearing. When he and Bjorn had first arrived there had been crawling stalkers. Now there were dreamweavers, carrion saints, crown of teeth and other evolved monsters, many he had only ever read about. That was what made him worried, if this continued would a calamity evolved monster appear?
The fire drake cavalryman Bolder rode up to his position. A few survivors had remained to receive people. Many more were already fleeing in the direction of the Consortium caravan. Knock had already left to get reinforcements though he was skeptical that Ismene would send more people to help.
"We cleared out the east side." Bolder said.
Soren loosed more arrows even as he talked. He couldn't waste a single moment in conversation.
"So we are done?" Soren asked.
"No, Aurelius wanted to check the west." Bolder said.
"What? The side that the Rift is on?" Soren said in disbelief. "You let him?"
"Let? I couldn't stop him and I had to get these people up here safely." Bolder said.
"Go stop him!" Soren said.
"I can't go back into that. All I am going to do is get killed at this point. You've seen what's down there now." Bolder said.
"Aren't you supposed to escort him or something?" Soren questioned.
"Yes, but I go down there, you are going to spend all of your time protecting me. I get to Aurelius and he will have to do the same. He doesn't need a distraction slowing him down." Bolder said.
Soren cursed under his breath. He hadn't stopped firing into the unruly and growing horde. His eyes landed on Tanisha and Bjorn; they had finally reunited and were drawing much of the monsters' attention towards themselves.
Soren had known that the two were powerful but what he saw was beyond his expectations. He had only heard stories of what a mage and their familiar could accomplish when they fought together. It was something beyond trust. It was like they completed each other in a way that was beyond teamwork. Soren couldn't even look at them as separate entities. Tanisha might as well have been Bjorn's sixth head, Bjorn might as well have been her spellformation. Together they were a force of nature: Tanisha the lightning, Bjorn the hurricane, two expressions of the same storm.
They weren't invincible though. Wounds had crisscrossed both of them. They had become more conservative with their magic. No more massive blooms of fire or gouts of electricity. They were tiring and things were only getting worse.
He loosed an arrow into the back of the head of a monster clawing towards Tanisha ruining its rush and giving her time to evade. A second arrow intercepted a bone spike from a crown of teeth aimed at Bjorn's side. A third and fourth exploded as they hit the ground beneath an armored monster he had never seen before. The earth gave way beneath its heavy frame, swallowing it into a crater and bringing its charge to an abrupt halt.
Even so, he pushed his senses farther, searching for Aurelius. The sheer number of monsters made finding his life force signature impossible. Something yanked him backwards abruptly just as a monster slammed into the ground where he had been standing a moment before.
The thing skittered toward him on dozens of legs, far faster than anything its size had a right to move. It took less than a second for him to recognize what had happened. Bolder had pulled him out of the way just in time. He did not waste the moment and dropped into a crouch, bow extended.
The monster was already charging towards him again. Bolder intercepted, his drake reared up on its hind legs and slashed with its claws as his claymore came down, cleaving deeply into the creature.
"Get back!" Soren yelled.
The drake let out a roar of flame before jumping backward. Soren loosed the arrow, it slammed into the monster. The arrow detonated and Soren braced himself against the ground.
The monster lunged again even with most of its body shredded in the blast. Soren had not gotten much of an impression of it before. The attack was too sudden. As he used a Flash Step to retreat further he got a good look at its ruined form. Only now did he truly see it was a long centipede body with one remaining scythe-like front arm. Not enough of it remained for him to truly know what it was but it was regenerating quickly.
He readied an arrow to fire when he heard a scream from behind. Monsters spread beyond the hill and chased down survivors still running through the grassland. Soren turned his bow from the centipede monster and instead aimed at another abomination which raised a claw to strike down a scared mother and child. He didn't hesitate, he shot.
He didn't get to see the aftermath as the centipede crashed into him. He felt the bladed arm bite down into his armor. Talisman protections lit up preventing it from piercing him. He was pinned for a moment before Bolder saved him again.
The drake rider sword glowed with mana as he brought it down on the creature causing it to scream in outrage and pain. It turned its attention from Soren long enough for him to kick the creature off. Again he retreated then shot another arrow, this one a piercing shot which tore holes through the monster.
"Hold it down." Soren said through gritted teeth.
Three more shots hit the monster before it finally stopped writhing.
"Thanks, Bolder." Soren said.
Soren finally looked toward Bolder. Both rider and drake were battered. Bolder held on to his side from where a deep bladed foot had cut into the armor. He pulled out a potion and drank half. The other half he fed to the drake.
"No it ain't over." Bolder said.
Soren immediately turned back to the fleeing civilians. He had saved the mother and child but more and more monsters were following. Unlucky dwarves were slaughtered and the field was being stained red. Soren's heart dropped as he raised his bow again.
Then the world flashed white.
Then colors returned wrong.
The air was permeated with corrupted mana that dug into the mind. Every monster stopped. Every howl. Every attack. The world went silent. Then every monster turned its head to the rift at once.
Soren turned as well, not from compulsion; the magic wasn't meant for minds as complex as true living creatures. He knew only one monster that could do something like this. It was something he had hoped would not come to pass.
There, flying out of the rift on wings that looked as beautiful as the pattern of a butterfly if made from jewels, was a calamity. It was a monster he had only heard about in text. A monster that would take an army to kill. It was an ancient jeweled winged monarch.
Soren's eyes went wide. The manuals didn't describe how to fight an ancient jeweled winged monarch. They described how many battalions were required to survive one.
"We have to go." Soren muttered.
"What is that?" Bolder asked, nearly breathless.
"It will take control of every monster here. It is going to take it a few minutes to do so. Once it connects all of them they will be one hivemind," Soren said. "Go save as many people in the field as possible. The monsters have stopped so they need to start running now."
"Where are you going?" Bolder asked.
"I'll leave when Aurelius and his party are out of danger," Soren said. "Any monster you see cripples them while they are frozen. Don't worry about killing them, it will still take too long."
***
It took only a few moments for Soren to find Tanisha and Bjorn. They hadn't been idle while the monsters were frozen in place. The village center was a mass grave of the abominable creatures. Both of them were covered in wounds though Bjorn had already started healing only the deeper gashes remained. Tanisha, on the hand, honestly Soren didn't know how she was still standing. Her body was riddled with bits, cuts, gashes and stab wounds that would be fatal on most.
He quickly ran over and pulled out a health potion from his bag.
"Are you two okay?" Soren asked.
"More or less." Bjorn said.
Tanisha looked at the offered potion for a second longer than Soren thought was acceptable. He didn't care if she liked him or not. This was ridiculous. He shoved the potion into her hand.
"Take it. Hate me later unless you plan on this being your grave." Soren said.
Tanisha looked at the potion in her hand before finally she unstoppered it and drank. He took out another and she took this one without resistance.
"Where is Aurelius?" Tanisha asked.
"He went west. To check for survivors. We are going to see what is taking him so long." Soren said.
"West towards the rift?" Tanisha screamed. "Why would—that idiot. Bjorn lets go!"
They all started to run.
"We need to find him quickly before the monarch has full control of the monsters here." Soren said.
"That one is much bigger than the last one we killed." Bjorn said.
"I am sorry, last one? That is a calamity-evolved monster. Were you a part of a subjugation army?" Soren asked.
"Not important right now. We find Aurelius first. Can you pick up his scent?" Tanisha asked.
"Faintly. The smoke and ash make it difficult." Bjorn said.
Soren finally dismissed the warbow formation. The talismans returned to his hand. He lifted a new one which activated and burned brightly before fading away. When he opened his eyes again he could see the burning lifeforce not of one person but of six.
Soren pointed in the direction of a small brick storage building tucked away at the edge of the village.
"That way!" Soren said.
The building was old, likely part of the settlement long before most other structures. Ancient runes hummed across the scarred walls. Deep gouges were taken out while still the structure stood strong. The signs of battle tore through the property leaving almost nothing undamaged or standing but the building itself.
They ran around the side to find the front, not sure what they would find. Before they even had the chance Aurelius turned the corner.
He wore the scars of battle just as deeply as Tanisha had. His shield was all but shredded into a dead weight and so he dropped it. In his other hand wasn't his sword, that was sheathed at his side. No, it was the hand of a little girl. Following behind him were several more children.
"Aurelius?" Tanisha questioned. "You had me worried."
"It is about time you guys showed up. There are six of them; their parents made them hide when the attack first started." Aurelius said.
Aurelius knelt down next to the girl.
"These are my friends. Okay. We are going to get you all somewhere safe." Aurelius said.
It took some convincing that Bjorn was not a monster. But soon they had all six on Bjorn's back. Aurelius told all of them to close their eyes until he said to open them. No one wanted them to see the horrors left in the village. The dead half eaten, their homes burned to the ground. It was a mercy to spare them that at least.
Soren gave Aurelius his last health potion. As they quickly ran out of the village.
"A calamity. This is a nightmare." Aurelius said.
"Yeah." Soren agreed.
"We could kill it." Tanisha said.
"You think we could kill a jeweled winged monarch?" Soren questioned.
"We have before." Bjorn said.
"You have? How many men did you all have with you?" Soren questioned.
"I think it was eight of us." Tanisha said.
"It was a newly evolved one. We killed it with a monster hunter group called the Jackrabbits." Bjorn said.
"Ah, yes that makes more sense." Soren said. "The one up there is not newly evolved. I would say it is one of the ancient ones. If we attack that thing we are dead."
"Is it really that different?" Tanisha asked.
"Yes. A newly evolved monster is always weaker. They are still learning the form and stabilizing themselves. I imagine that if you killed one before it even flew it wasn't even at a fourth of its true potential. Calamities are not monsters you take on alone." Aurelius said.
"What is the plan?" Tanisha asked.
"We are going to get back to the caravan. From there… It is the dwarves decision." Aurelius said though he sounded conflicted. "We did what we could."
"We can still close the rift." Bjorn said.
"What?" Soren's eyebrows rose and he nearly stumbled. "You all know how to close rifts?!"
Tanisha and Aurelius both looked guilty like there was something that they were ashamed of.
"We will talk about it when we get back to the caravan. We will come up with a plan." Aurelius said.
"But you all can close rifts?" Soren asked again.
"Yes." Aurelius said.
"No…" Soren said slowly. "I don't mean survive one. I mean close it."
"I thought archers were observant," Tanisha muttered.
"Tani." Bjorn said.
"Excuse me for wanting confirmation that you all can apparently casually break the laws of the universe." Soren said.
"Yes, we can." Aurelius said. "It is a long story."
"My daughter eats them." Bjorn said flatly.
"Okay… it's a short story." Aurelius conceded. "But a lot of explanations we don't have time for right now."
"You guys are messing with me." Soren said.
The group fell quiet again. After all the battle and death they had witnessed, no one seemed eager to fill the empty space with words. Soren didn't know if they were speaking the truth or not. He pushed that to the back of his mind. What was most important was what they were going to do going forward. Fleeing was the best option and there wasn't anything he could do against a calamity.
He was a caravan guide not a soldier for the dwarves. He looked at the children on Bjorn's back. They did what they could. Even if it felt like it wasn't enough.