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Chapter 11: The Siege of the Present
The roars echoed again, closer this time, accompanied by the rhythmic pound of something massive striking the ground. The vibrations rattled loose pebbles from the tower walls, each one pinging softly against the stone floor.
"Not just beasts," Silvia murmured, already pulling on her gauntlets. "Something organized."
I stepped to the shattered window, peering into the darkness beyond the ruins. Shapes moved between the collapsed buildings, shadows flowing like water around obstacles. The flicker of distant torchlight caught on jagged horns, glinting teeth, and eyes that burned like embers.
A voice from the vision whispered at the back of my mind: Defenders! Hold the line!
I shook it off, focusing. "We can't stay in this tower. Too easy to trap us inside."
"Agreed," Silvia said, shouldering her pack. She gave the black leather book one last glance before tucking it away. "If the vision's real, the altar might still be where you saw it. And if it is…"
"…then it's feeding them now," I finished. My stomach tightened. The thought of history repeating itself made my skin crawl.
We descended the cracked stairwell two steps at a time, boots striking the stone in near silence. Outside, the night air was thick with the smell of wet earth and something fouler — the stench of creatures that belonged nowhere near human lands.
The first of them emerged from the shadows: a hulking brute with bark-like plates across its shoulders and a mouth splitting far too wide. It roared, the sound tearing through the quiet like a blade.
I drew my sword. "Guess the warm-up's over."
The brute charged. I met it halfway, sliding low and slicing across its knee joint. It stumbled with a howl, and Silvia's water whip lashed around its neck, yanking it sideways into a collapsed wall. The stones came down with a crash, burying it.
"More incoming!" Silvia shouted.
From the east alley, three shadow-wolves sprinted toward us, their movements too coordinated to be feral. They split, one going high along the rubble, another circling left, and the last barreling straight down the middle.
"Middle's mine!" I lunged, blade flashing under the moonlight. The wolf yelped, momentum carrying it past me as it collapsed. Silvia spun her whip into a solid spike of ice and caught the left flank mid-leap. The last wolf was already on the rubble when I grabbed a broken spear from the ground and hurled it — skewering the beast mid-bound.
The silence after was short-lived.
From the far side of the ruins, a deep horn bellowed. My blood ran cold — it was the same tone I'd heard in the vision, the one that had signaled the enemy's push.
"They're forming up," Silvia said grimly.
I scanned the streets, mind racing. "The southern tower — the altar's there. If we destroy it, they'll lose whatever's driving them."
"And if we don't?" she asked.
I didn't answer. We both knew what would happen.
We moved fast, weaving through the rubble-strewn streets. The further south we went, the thicker the enemy presence became. Twice we ducked into crumbling doorways to avoid patrols of bone-shadow hybrids. Up close, they were worse than I'd imagined: jagged ribs pushing through skin, claws of fused bone and steel, and eyes that swiveled unnaturally in their sockets.
By the time the southern tower came into view, the battle had begun in earnest. Defenders — not from the vision, but real, breathing mercenaries and adventurers — were clashing with waves of beasts in a desperate ring around the base. The moon lit the scene in silver and shadow, and above it all, I saw it: the altar, pulsing faintly in sync with an unseen rhythm.
"It's exactly the same," I breathed.
Silvia followed my gaze. "Then let's end it."
We joined the defenders without ceremony. A man in dented plate armor nearly jumped when I drove my sword through a beast lunging for his back. "You with us?" he shouted.
"For now," I said. "We need to get to that altar."
"Good luck," he grunted, shoving another attacker away with his shield. "No one's gotten near it since this started."
Which meant we'd have to make our own path.
"Sil, left flank!" I called. She nodded, summoning a torrent of water from her canteen that slammed into the enemy line, knocking several beasts off their feet. I followed with a charge, sword cutting in rapid arcs to clear the way.
The altar loomed closer. I could feel it now — a pressure in my skull, like it was aware of us. The runes carved into its surface pulsed faster, feeding the creatures with every beat.
Then I saw him.
Hovering just beyond the altar, cloaked in shadow, was the masked mage from my vision. Same tattered robes, same bone-white mask. Only now, I wasn't wearing someone else's body. This was me.
"It's him," I said through clenched teeth.
"You sure?" Silvia asked, keeping her eyes on the fight.
I didn't answer — I was already moving.
The mage's staff glowed with the deep blue light of the crystal. He raised it toward me, and the ground erupted in black fire. Bone claws shot from the flames, grasping for my legs. I vaulted over them, bringing my blade down hard — but he flickered out of existence like a mirage, reappearing behind the altar.
"Destroy it!" Silvia shouted.
I turned my focus on the stone. The moment my sword touched it, the runes flared blindingly bright. Pain lanced through my arm, my mind filling with whispers I couldn't understand. The stone wasn't just an object — it was alive, in some way that made my skin crawl.
"Kelvin!" Silvia's voice cut through the haze. I saw her blast a wave of ice toward the altar, frost creeping across its surface. The light faltered, just for a second.
That was all I needed.
I poured everything into one final strike, qi surging through my blade. The impact shattered the altar in a burst of blue fire that swept across the battlefield.
The creatures faltered instantly. Their eyes dimmed, movements slowing. Some collapsed outright; others stumbled back into the shadows, retreating.
The masked mage hissed — a sound that didn't belong in any human throat — before vanishing in a swirl of black smoke.
Silvia staggered to my side, breathing hard. "Tell me that was the worst of it."
I wanted to agree. But deep down, I knew better. "We stopped this wave. But he's not done."
The defenders began cheering, the surviving mercenaries rallying around the ruined altar. Some clapped us on the back, others gave wary glances at the unnatural blue residue still smoking from the shattered stone.
As the adrenaline faded, I realized the book in Silvia's pack was glowing faintly again.
She noticed it too. "Another vision?"
"Maybe," I said. "Or maybe it's reacting to what we just did."
Either way, I had the sinking feeling the next time I opened it… I wouldn't just see the past.
I'd see what was coming next.
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