Navigating the city when you didn't know quite where you were going was a great deal harder than I had expected. Theen was tracking the skeletons sure, the undead gave little cafe to the bony footprints that they left behind them, but their routes were circuitous and vague, and twilight was beginning to set in by the time we heard the explosion.

I glanced back at the party behind me, nodding to them as we moved towards the sound. I needed to sprint just to match their pace, but there was no time to waste. I turned to strong, dreading what I had to ask.

“Hey, strong. Carry me so we can move fast-woah”

“I gotcha Father.” The big man grabbed me like he was picking up a doll, picking me up without any visible strain and holding me under his arm as he ran. I tried to keep the embarrassment off of my face despite the indignity of the entire situation. The lives we might save were more important than any discomfort on my part.

Shortly afterward, we began to hear the Crack of gunfire, a sure sign that the fight had grown desperate, as the noise would only attract even more of the undead monstrosities.

We made our way through the ruins down several alleyways before we saw our first skeleton, it was shambling away from us, much as we might expect, and towards the explosion. Danen, one of the younger fighters, sent a bolt through its skull with its crossbow so we wouldn't give ourselves away just yet. We continued on down the road for about another ten minutes before Theen raised his hand in a gesture for us to stop. His unnatural movement was accentuated as he climbed the building before us with leaping bounds, and gestured for me to follow. Strong put me down and I clambered up the collapsed side of the building, careful to avoid slipping on the loose bricks. There I got my first look at the actual fight.

An unliving lake of skeletons stood in a great mob, clawing up at a two-story shop, on top of it a lone-dwarf stood shooting down at any who sought to climb up the building towards him, the roof behind him was a smoking crater, the edges of which glowed an eerie green. His armor looked tattered and scorched, and he was limping from one side of the building to the other, desperately pushing back whatever skeletons managed to find a handhold to climb up towards him.

‘It's like something from a metal cover…’

“How do you wish to approach this, Church-child?” Theen asked from my side, snapping me out of my awe, and I turned down to the men below me, trying to figure out how we could get that guy out without risking ourselves too much.

`It's going to have to be real magic then.’ I turned to the men below me. “Alright everyone, please listen up. There's a man over there trapped behind an awful lot of skeletons. We need to get him out alive without dying ourselves. This is going to be tricky, but I think we can pull it off.”

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“Keh” Harald spit out the was of oiled paper that served as the seal on the cartridge even as he took aim with the gun in his right hand, adrenaline pumped in his ears even as he felt burning pain in his injured legs. The fragments hadn't gotten through his boots, but his armor wasn't designed for attacks from below, and several shards of tile had shot up underneath his chain mail and buried their way into his thighs.

A soft squeeze of the trigger and another skeleton went down. In a trained motion he reloaded the other pistol as he worked, shoving the cartridge down the barrel until it clinked against the loading ring on the inside, and then he was on to the next one.

It had been going on for a few minutes now, and sweat dripped down his beard as he continued his deadly, frantic dance, it was futile he was sure, his skill was irrelevant, there were simply too many of the bastards. With every turn, every skull shattered and shot fired his ammunition pouch got a little lighter, his steps a little slower.

Worse still the skeletons only grew stronger and faster with the coming darkness, and now he could barely keep them off the roof,

There, one to the right.

He aimed and fired.

A scattering of bone fell to the ground as smoke filled his nostrils.

One behind.

A shot of the gun.

The abomination collapsed down to the street below separated from its fragmented ribcage.

One to the left.

Another shot and the creature continued to climb, his exhausted, sagging legs had thrown off his aim. The monster’s boney grip carried the ax-wielding skeleton onto the roof to meet him, raising the ancient metal high into the air and readying for battle.

He reached a hand to his back, dropping the gun and going for his shield, but even as his hand found the rim he knew that he was too late, the skeleton leaped forward with enough speed now that it was on an even footing with his own, bringing it's vicious implement up from underneath in a slash that would at best leave him easy prey for the rest of the horde.

‘Ancestors, I'm coming to meet you.’

And then there was light.

A searing beam of it precisely, it raced across the rooftops and streets, above the heads of the agitated horde of monsters, the radiant golden spear like an arrow from an angel shot into the skeleton that was about to strike him with a blazing vengeance. Golden lines spread across its ancient bones, finding weaknesses and cracks as they blazed along its surface with holy light. The undead creature glowed for nary a moment before under his very gaze it's decrepit clothing fell to the ground atop a pile of faintly glowing ashes.

“What in the..” he turned towards the direction that the beam had come from. A few blocks away on the other side of the horde, he spotted several figures atop one of the other buildings. Most notably a small figure, a halfling perhaps, dressed in the garments of a human priest was clearly glowing in the twilight, a wooden staff raised in one hand and some sort of book in the other. With his eyes shooting out light like that he might have been a fearful visage had he not just saved Harald life.

The child spoke a word he couldn't quite make out and suddenly the golden glow of his aura began to take shape into a golden carpet of arcane lines and symbols, which rolled down the opposite roof and into the streets, stretching out towards him. Inside it he saw several men hop down off of the building, running towards him along with the carpet as the magic pushed the skeletons back away from it. The undead seemed trapped by an invisible wall from entering the golden road, and they beat upon its sides in frustration.

It seemed that the horde would not take this lying down, however, as while he had a moment of blessed reprieve from their attempts to climb at him, they instead turned the other way, rushing towards the house where the priest was casting with the unnatural vigor which the dark of night granted them.

They were met by a hail of crossbow bolts that thinned their numbers and what might be shield-walls in the alleyways if he guessed right. Either way, it seemed he was being rescued.

The golden path continued to drive through the skeletons, keeping them separated by a good eight feet down its length, and as it crawled up the building he stood on he felt relief cross his face as he saw his human rescuers. He might well live to see the next morning. His legs buckled as he felt his desperate strength leave him.

“Come with us sir Dwarf, let's get you down from there.”

It took him a moment to compose a response, but he managed to produce a short“Aye”. With a hard shoulder into the tiled roof, he shoved himself off of the side of the building towards one of the larger men below. Thankfully the human seemed to have expected this, and caught him, laughing.

“Bit hairy for a damsel in distress aren't you?”

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I turned the page over in my hand, feeling the pressure spike on my own will in the brief moment between when the first circle burnt out with magic and when I started channeling the next one. Even with the added efficiency holding back this many undead was fairly intensive.

“How are they holding up Mary?” I asked, focus set dead ahead on the men retreating with the rescued dwarf. She had taken up a position beside me on the roof to shoot more effectively.

“So far so good. The skeletons haven't tried going around yet, but it's only a matter of time.”

We had chosen this position especially because of the buildings to our sides being long, narrow houses with small windows, it let us hold only two alleys and avoid being swamped by the hordes of skeletons that even now slammed against the barrier my road of light created in front of us. Each blow was a minor expenditure of power on my part, but with such numbers, I couldn't support it and cover our flanks.

That's what the Spearmen and bows were for, turning the alleyways into pits of shattered-bone until we could fall back in an orderly fashion. Karsten had suggested it and it seemed to be working well enough for the moment.

Strong clambered up the building in front of me, the Dwarven man slung over his back. The rest of the rescue group followed him up.

“Do you need immediate medical attention?” I asked quickly, glaring at the dwarf, who stared back blankly for a second before shaking his head.

“No, not really.”

“Alright then.” I turned to Strong, giving him a sharp nod. “Were leaving, make for the gate.”

Mary and Strong echoed my call, and soon we began moving back away from the building while I widened the road behind us to continue blocking off the skeletal tide.

“Theen, you have a way back right?” I asked the elf, who we had left a bit behind us on the next roof over to check our route of egress. The elf nodded sharply before gesturing with his elongated hand. His eyes were unnaturally reshaped like those of an owl. “Yes, though we should move quickly, there will no doubt be more in our way.”

“Then let's go,” I said plainly, running up to my first ally. “Carry Me, Karsten.” I nodded, giving him a serious look.

While I did get a nervous glance from him alongside a jealous one from Mary, the teen did as he was asked and soon I was hanging onto his back like a sloth as our group began moving once again.

Unfortunately, my ability to support the road of light serving as a makeshift wall behind us was weakening as I moved further from its point of origin.

I grimaced as I felt the connection start to tear under the relentless attacks of the mass of skeletons. “Uh, guys. You're going to want to sprint for the gate in a moment.”

“Huh?”

“My spell is about to end.”

“Ah.” There was a moment of silence as understanding passed through the group, and faces shifted to appreciate the grim news.

Then I almost got whiplash as Karsten dashed forward faster than I even thought he could, and the rest of the group moved to catch up. Where we had been jogging before the party of warriors now made an all-out beeline for home, and I felt what remained of my connection snap with the spell mere moments after, a tide of the undead now set loose to pursue us.

Fortunately, the motivation of knowing you had probably more than a thousand monstrosities chasing your back was a good one, and with great haste, we reached the wide street where the gate was located. Hengest raised the lantern he carried on his spear brightly into the air and I did the same with my staff, signaling to the gate guards that we were coming in and that they should open it with all haste.

‘If this was a movie…’ I turned to look back suspiciously as Karsten ran down the block, looking for movement in the buildings. My suspicion aroused by the ease of our escape.

‘Let's just be sure then.’ I decided quickly, raising my staff and channeling my magic once again. “Xirvan Moxa Polnavan”

A glowing barrier of golden light formed across the street behind us, cutting off any would-be pursuers or at least forcing them to go around it.

It was a good thing too, because not a moment passed after the gate creaked open to let us into the safety of the fort than a river of skeletons slammed into the barrier, their first ranks crushed against it and shattered by the force of their compatriots behind them.

Karsten chuckled beside me. Looking back as well as we entered the gate. “You don't see that every day.

“No.” I agreed firmly. “You don’t.”

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Harald was laid down on a bed in one of the rooms at the tavern by the large man who had carried him out and was left to lay there for some time by himself. He was honestly a bit surprised to be alive, he hadn't expected to make it out of there after his blasted boss had managed to piss off every monster in the thrice-damned city.

‘I wonder why these folks rescued me?’ He grunted, feeling the fragments of tile dig into his thighs as he sat up. ‘Not like I'm some rich fop, and nobody knows about the guns. Probably came to rescue my boss, but got me so they didn't waste their time. Figures.’

He started to strip his clothes down, wincing as they tugged at his injuries. In addition to what the explosion did to his legs, it had also given him a fair number of cuts and bruises depending on what his armor covered. With a wince, he managed to get his chain mail off and look himself over.

‘Not a pretty sight.’

The door across grim him opened with a soft creaking sound and he looked up. Entering was the priest he had seen before. Up close it was obviously a human child and not a halfling, the features were too soft and the body proportions too thin.

“Excuse me, err…”

“Harald.”

“Mr. Harald, but Strong, ah, that's the guy who carried you, said that you were injured?”

“Oh right, human priests are healers. Yeah, sure kid whatever, come in.”

As the child stepped inside he got a better look at him. He was actually fairly harmless looking when he didn't have beams of light spewing out of his eyes. The child before him stared at him for a moment and then nodded firmly. “Were you caught in an explosion?”

“Yeah.” Harald smiled, the kid at least might know what he was doing. “Wizard had a teleportation circle malfunction.”

“Oh.” the kid looked surprised for a moment before shaking his head. “You're lucky to be a dwarf then. That can really screw up your magic. I take it that the blast happened underneath you? Where are you hurt?”

“Bit everywhere.” He said, gesturing to the panoply of bruises that coated his skin, even the armor didn't stop blunt force. “But the worst is in my legs, I'm carrying half a roof with me.”

“Alright then. Undress, I'll need to remove the fragments.”

He wanted to raise an objection to undressing himself in front of a child for a moment, but the boy gave him a look that told him it would be stupid and he wisely decided to shut up.

A bit more tugging, and a lot of pain, later he was down to just his loincloth and he said a short prayer of thanks to the ancestors that his manhood remained uninjured.

“Alright, lay down. Your body is going to resist my magic so I'll have to deal with each cut individually.” the child stepped up to the bed, raising a hand that glowed with light. “Do you want something to bite down on? This is going to hurt.” He looked to the dwarf even as he whispered some sort of magic word beneath his breath, the light on his hand growing.

“What do I look like a-YOUCH” He yelped as the child deftly reached down and tore a fragment out of his right thigh, his hand glowing with energy that seemed to encapsulate the fragment. Fresh blood began to seep from the injury, but it only lasted a moment before the priest clamped a hand over it. “Hasha” He spoke with a sense of authority, and the pain softened as his leg relaxed slightly. The wound closing under the grasp of the healer.

“There we go. Now, would you like something to bite down on?” the child asked, his face serene angelic like his hand wasn't covered in blood.

Harald grunted as he swallowed his pride.

“Yes please.”

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The operation, if one wanted to call it that, lasted a little over an hour. Harald was fairly cooperative all things told after an initial bout of uneasiness. While he bled a fair bit he was never in any real danger, though his arteries seemed to be slightly off in position when compared to a human’s. I would need to keep such concerns open for triage in the future, though there was unfortunately little known about anatomy at this time. At least as far as my dad could tell me when I had asked after it in my training.

That done, I told Harald to avoid putting too much stress on himself for a few days and to eat a good bit of meat, before returning back to my group. Everyone was in good spirits since we managed to have both a good harvest and a rescue on top without suffering any casualties or permanent wounds. Everyone was having a good time, while I was initially a bit suspicious of the company store nature of the press-man who bought the plants we turned in, he actually seemed to be a fairly reasonable chap. He paid us what seemed to be a fair price to me, though I was hardly an expert on the matter of money in this world.

Mary didn't look too grumpy with him, so I decided to rely on her knowledge instead.

Overall it was a satisfying first day on the job, and I was feeling good about myself. Which was probably why when everyone was off drinking, I made the arguably undercooked decision to visit Theen.

The animalesque elf was sitting just outside the castle walls, though I had to unlock the gate to get to him so I supposed he had climbed over. As I approached him he turned to me, raising an eyebrow I could barely make out in the night.

“Have you come to a decision then, Church child?”

Honestly speaking my answer was uninformed. I had done none of the research I had planned on into the nature of what I was asking, not thought enough on the potential consequences of what I might do, and was mostly riding high off of adrenaline and success. It was a stupid decision to make so quickly, and while I don't regret it in the long run, I do regret making my choice so quickly. I was young and arrogant to an extent regarding my own wisdom. Honestly, the man in front of me was grotesque largely because of the same thing I now sought to learn, yet that bothered me not at all.

Still, my word was binding, and all the hindsight in the world wouldn't change anything.

“Yes. Teach me Life magic please.”

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