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Sel

Sel had been locked in the guard’s stockades for days now, while she waited for inquisitors to come and wipe out the rebels, as well as her former deserting guard. She knew that they stood no chance, because when she was younger she had the misfortune to witness a few revolts get put down.

Even though an inquisitor could simply kill a rebel and move on, they went out of their way to be beyond cruel. They took pleasure in torturing their victims before killing them, and making them watch as all they cherished was destroyed. Their brutality was explained as simply 'making an example', but it was a blatant lie. Whether the mages knew or didn't care, the simple fact was that such pain would spur others to eventually try to fight back, and so the bloody cycle continued.

Sel’s expression darkened as she stared at the wall of her cell. "Now my town's going to have to join the wheel of such horror…" She thought aloud, then started to hear screams and fighting from outside.

Sel recognized the sounds as she recalled long buried memories. 'Here already?' She thought with deep concern.

From her escorts with inquisitors, she knew that they were always excruciatingly slow when leaving to deal with a revolt. So them being here meant that something else was going on, something that made her gut sink as she made out a single word from the desperate shouting.

Sel gulped. "Dragon…" She uttered as the door of the stockade flew off its hinges, crashing into the wall opposite of it, and in walked the terrifying creature.

The dragon was six and half feet with a long and thick lizard tail, and had massively oversized horns while his body was a little bulky with a slight hunch. His face seemed to be between an elf and a selarin with most of his skin being covered in scales, while his hands and legs were oversized and completely lizard-like.

Overall he looked like some ungodly mix of a lizard and elf.

The dragon looked directly at Sel with a wide smile that sent a shiver up her spine. “Oh! Are you the previous head of the town guard?” He asked, his voice having a deep and gravelly overlay.

The dragon started stomping toward her cell while he dragged a large and heavily scarred selarin by the neck, and Sel could feel her instincts screaming at her to run. “You see, I've come to file a complaint about your rampant pest infestation, but seeing as how you're an insect as well…” He paused to let out an unsettling chuckle.

The dragon casually swung a hand at her cell's bars, and the whole frame was yanked to the side with a loud crash. “Then I'll have to show you, as well as the ‘former’ rebellion leader here, how a ‘professional’ properly deals with your kind.” He paused to give her another wide and spine chilling smile. “And then afterwards, you both can join them.” He finished with a sick joy to his malice.

Sel’s face shifted into terror, because judging by his words, they were not here to liberate the town.

‘Dear gods help us….’

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Elaria & Glia

Elaria and Glia were at the market, browsing for new clothes and equipment while they waited for Leo to return. In Leo fashion, he gave them each five gold and told them to have fun, and Elaria started to question if he even understood the value of coin.

After buying some new armor and weapons, they were both looking over some of the more ‘risque’ items from the elves.

“Planning to make your next time with him special, huh?” Glia asked with a knowing smile.

Elaria blushed. “Well, when I feel like I'm ready….It wouldn't hurt to, you know… Make sure he enjoys it...” She responded a little sheepishly.

Glia smiled wide, because Elaria was actually considering someone else's feelings on the matter. “Hmm, if you want him to really enjoy himself, then might I suggest this.” Glia remarked playfully, holding up a leather muzzle with binds.”

Elaria’s eyes went wide. “Glia!” She scolded, but then shrunk a bit as she stared at them. “Do you really think so?” She questioned meekly.

Glia chuckled as she set the items back down. “Oh I know so, but maybe after you've had a proper first time. Also-” She was cut off by the sound of screams coming from all around the market.

Elaria turned to the elf who’s stall they were at, and the elf had a worried expression before a massive Icicle pierced right through the back of their head, spraying the two shocked selarin with some blood and viscera. The elf opened their mouth to speak, but then their body slumped to the floor like a ragdoll.

“Bullseye!” Shouted someone from a distance.

Both of the selarins training kicked in, as they immediately ducked and hid between the stalls. As cries for help and sound curdling screams echoed through the market, Elaria and Glia gave each other a knowing look. The Inquisitors were here, but not just for the rebels.

They carefully and quietly ducked between the stalls, occasionally crossing over bodies that were burned, mangled, or filled with icicles. The sight was more gruesome as they neared the edge of the market, as the floor became more slick with blood.

Glia hardened at the sight, but Elaria began to tremble, while her breathing started to slip out of her control.

When they reached the market's edge, there was a large street between them and the town's alleyways. Glia peaked out from the side of the stall, and took a quick glance down either side of the street. She saw a mage on either end, their heads slowly pivoting from left to right as they both had two icicles floating next to them. Glia turned to Elaria, and gestured to run on her mark.

Glia held her hand up and waited till both mages were looking away, and when the opportunity came, she waved down her hand and ran, Elaria following close behind. Unfortunately, Elaria slipped halfway, because of her nervous shaking as well as her boots being slick with blood from the market.

Glia turned immediately at the sound of Elaria falling, and tried to run over to help, but one of her legs immediately received an icicle through it, sending her to the ground too. Elaria tried to get up, but got an icicle through the leg just like Glia.

Glia gave Elaria a comforting smile, but her eyes betrayed her own fear toward the situation, and Elaria was visibly shaking as the two mages approached.

“Well, I guess we do get to have our own fun.” Mage one stated happily.

“Ya, I'm sick of standing guard. What does it matter if a few of them get through, It's not like the rest of the towns any better.” Mage two agreed with slight irritation.

“It's damn hard to get them alive though, and too many places they can hide.” Mage one complained.

“Right, so let's take our time with these two.” Mage two remarked with a smile.

“They might entertain us for an hour or two. Oh! Maybe not this one though...” Mage two stated with disappointment.

“Ha, she's shaking like a leaf. Let's start with the other one then, it’ll be funny if she passed out in fear.” Mage one suggested with joy as they both turned their backs on Elaria, and directed their full attention towards Glia.

Elaria could only watch as the two mages started burning Glia’s legs with fire, and Glia’s cries started pulling at something deep within Elaria. As Glia’s screams of agony filled the street, Elaria’s fear at her helplessness slowly began to warp into something else. She felt a cold and fiery rage start to envelop her, her mind pushing all fear and doubt away as she was left with a single desire.

‘Kill.’

A distant memory from her time in the dueling pit guided her next actions with cold malice. ‘ Mages aren't invincible, not even with their mana shields. Some people think that the only way to kill a mage is to either catch them off guard or poison them somehow, but they are the cowards. The trick to winning against a mage is to simply get close, do that, and the world of possibilities opens up to you…’

Quickly and quietly, Elaria took off a piece of her hard leather armor and secured it to her palm, then she drew her hidden dagger, and wielded it in her other hand.

Elaria positioned herself so that her good leg would spring her in between the mages, and a second later she pushed up toward them. The first mage went down quickly, because they weren't shielded, which allowed her to slice right through the back of their throat. The blood from their neck sprayed onto Elaria’s face, blinding one of her eyes, but without hesitation she immediately shifted her bad leg around to stabilize herself, then used her good leg to push her into tackling the second mage.

Unfortunately, the mage got their mana shield up just in time to stop the dagger from piercing their chest. The mage tried to push her off, but Elaria was too fast, as she quickly straddled their chest. Before the mage could react any further, Elaria placed the dagger's tip over the mages throat and started hammering the hilt down with her palm, as the thick leather protected her hand.

The mages eyes went wide as a crack formed on the shield, and they tried to reach for the dagger, but it was a futile effort, as it slid in with one more powerful push. The mage could only helplessly scratch at Elaria, as the dagger sunk deep into their neck.

But Elaria wasn't done, she screamed in a rage while she pulled the dagger to the side, opening up the mages neck and spilling blood everywhere. And with utter hatred for the mage, Elaria continued to stab into the corpse, her emotions pouring out while she yelled and cried in anger.

Even though Glia was in excruciating pain, she managed to regain some semblance of lucidity. Looking in front of her, she saw the body of one of the mages laying on the ground while they bled out from their neck. Shifting her head to the right, she saw Elaria stabbing relentlessly into the other ‘very’ dead mage. Glia recognized the situation, and was glad the two ‘pieces of shit’ had been dealt with, but she needed to stop Elaria from drawing any more attention.

“El-Elaria...” Glia called, which snapped Elaria out of her violent act.

Elaria dropped the dagger and hobbled over to Glia. “Oh gods, Glia!” She cried while looking over the charred remains of Glia’s legs.

Glia looked down at her legs, and barked a painful laugh. “At least I still have my tail.”

“Glia, I'm so sorry. It's all my-” Elaria was cut off by Glia.

“Shut the fuck up! Don't you dare put this on yo-” Glia winced as unbearable pain gripped her.

“This is not….your fault… don't...don't…..” Glia trailed off, passing out from the pain as Elaria just wept over her.

‘I’m sorry….’

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Allis

Allis was on her way to have a nice day with the herbalist. After they made up, Allis wanted to be more social and less closed off, fearing that she would slip back into her more negative tendencies. So she started with the herbalist, someone with a shared interest with her medical practice. They had a few meetups before, and it was going very well, they even opened up to each other about their reasons for choosing their professions.

Even though Allis still wanted nothing more than to make Taipa suffer, she knew that building an actual life would go much further in giving her the peace she needed after all was said and done.

‘ I can't wait to tell her what Leo taught me about the ‘nervous system’, we might even create a few remedies fo-’ Allis’s thoughts were interrupted by distant screams as they started to echo throughout the town.

Allis’s immediate reaction was to return to Elaria and Glia, but when she picked out one of the agonizing voices belonging to the herbalist, she sped straight to the clinic just around the corner.

Bursting into the clinic, she saw the herbalist slumped up against the wall with an icicle in her stomach. A slightly surprised mage was standing over her with a floating icicle, but when they saw Allis’s worry for the herbalist, they smiled and sent the icicle straight through the dying woman's head.

Allis’s face contorted into anger and horror at the murder of her new close friend. “Noooo!” She screamed as she pushed a massive amount of her mana into a spell that was directed toward the mage, whose brow arched in surprise. Only a second later and the mage was convulsing on the floor as blood, vomit, and other fluids started spilling out of every orifice.

Allis slithered over to the herbalist, her emotions wanting her to do something to help, but logically she knew that they were gone the instant the icicle entered their head. Sorrow and utter helplessness started to fill her as she slumped against the same wall as the herbalist, crying heavily at the sight of their lifeless corpse.

‘Why? Why must I lose those that I care for….’

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Kesl

Kesl was ecstatic with all the new additions that Leo added to his inn. From magical appliances to the delicious recipes, Leo had single handedly made his inn the go-to place to eat. So much so, that he had to hike up the prices to stay, as well as needing to think about hiring some extra staff because of the constant flow of customers.

“Tissa, three more orders of fish and chips, two for a toasted BLT, and one for eggs with a side of toast! Vissa go help Tissa, I'll start taking orders.” Kesl ordered his nieces.

“Wow, it's been a while since it was bad enough for you to get involved like this.” Vissa remarked in surprise.

“I could blame Leo, but the little bastard tripled my profits for free, so I can only blame myself for not forcing him to take mor-” Screams from outside the inn stopped Kesl mid sentence.

As the screams continued to get louder, someone burst into the inn while shouting. “ Academy Mage’s are killing everyo-” An Icicle pierced through the woman's back and stuck itself halfway outside her chest, causing her to look down in shock before dropping lifelessly to the floor.

Kesl’s eyes grew wide with terror as four mages walked into the in and started flinging fire and ice at his patrons. Kesl ran around into the kitchen and grabbed both his nieces, before bolting for the back exit. Unfortunately a mage walked right through the exit door into the kitchen.

The mage licked her lips at the sight of Kesl. “My, my. Well aren't you a delicious walking piece of meat.” She remarked hungerly.

Kesl slowly put his nieces down, and pushed them behind him defensively.

“Oh, a family man too. Well don't worry, they'll live, as long as you're cooperative….”

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Kessa

Kessa was having a break with Slessi at the back of the guild's large reception area, because she just finished a contract to give the rebels supplies for the next month. The contract stated that they received payment up front, as well as having a clause that stated that if the academy removes them from Telnar, then they keep the gold and will cease providing supplies.

Kessa sighed. “The guild doesn't care who they deal with, as long as they make a profit.” She stated a little irritably.

Slessi slumped. “Pursue. Profit. Prosper. That's the guild motto.” She recited emotionlessly.

Kessa groaned. “Unfortunately, It's the prospering that we seem to be lacking. Not much for those at the bottom.” She complained.

Slessi frowned. “....Or those stuck in the middle….” She trailed sadly.

Kessa winced. “Ah, sorry Sle-” Screams echoed outside the guild, and the two of them looked towards the guild's entrance.

After a few moments, a mage walked into the guild with a wide smile. “I regret to inform the Telnar branch that there will be no more Telnar. So in light of that, I believe a termination of employees is in order. Icicle! ” She finished, and flung an icicle at the receptionist, whose body slumped to the ground with the shard embedded into her skull.

Kessa and Slessi immediately started running further into the guild, Slessi heading to her office to contact the guild, and Kessa going to hers to get into contact with Leo. Kessa started to hear more screams from behind while they ran past other employees, who they regretfully hoped would buy them the time they needed.

From just what the mage said, Kessa could pretty much piece together what was happening. The town was being purged, and that meant the branch was no exception. Normally an attack on the guild would be suicidal, but since the town is being wiped out, then the guild wouldn't even have a reason to operate here anymore. They would probably save more on their deaths, then spend the money to have them transferred and most certainly bloat other branches.

‘Damn it, Slessi’s effort is pretty much useless, so our only hope is that Leo can save us.’ Kessa thought as she ran into her office and started frantically looking for the communication orb.

When Kessa finally found it, she could hear the screams getting closer, so she hid in her small storage closet. Huddling on the floor, she desperately called into the orb for the architect. Kessa knew that Leo was going to clear the area with them today, so it was lucky that she gave them the orb so early, because they would need it when the construction actually went underway. Now though, it was her only life line, as well as the rest of Telnar.

Kessa started to tear up as she heard Slessi scream, and Kessa just called even more into the orb.

When the architect finally picked up, Kessa breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then gave her an immediate demand.

“Get Leo!”

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