Day 165

[from Aura of Chaos]

As the trio approached Hilston, they were met with a shocking sight. In the time they had been gone, the city had been reduced to ruins. The buildings were all crumbled and burning, and the villagers were nowhere to be seen. The three let out a unified gasp of horror, the boy's eyes filling with tears as he saw what had become of his hometown. "What in Vita's name happened here…?" asked Tara.

A sudden ear-splitting roar caused the very ground they stood on to tremble and shake, and as Xeron and Tara looked round in horror, a large dragon-like creature suddenly swooped down from the skies, approaching them. "Is this what destroyed the town?" asked Tara.

"I'd bet my life on it," said Xeron, drawing and readying his spear. As the dragon creature landed, Xeron turned to Tara. "Tara, you get the kid to safety. I'll hold off the monster in the meantime."

"But I wanna help you!" said Tara.

"You can help me by getting that kid to safety!" insisted Xeron. "We can take this thing out together after you've done that."

Tara nodded. Xeron was right. They had to get this child away from the danger zone. Tugging at his hand, she tried to pull him away. "Come on, let's go find you some shelter," she said.

The little boy did not move. He continued to gaze despairingly at the destruction around him, tears spilling down his cheeks. "What about my mommy?" he asked. "Is she okay?"

Tara felt a pang of sorrow. "I'm sure your mother is okay," she said. "I'm sure she managed to find some shelter in time. Come on, let's go look for her." Tara tugged on the boy's hand once more, and this time he allowed himself to be led away, still crying silently as his hometown blazed around him.

Tara quickly noticed a large stone building hewn into the side of one of the hills surrounding the town. It seemed to have survived the rampage completely intact, so Tara decided that it had to be the ideal place to take shelter. She quickly made her way towards it, with the young boy hurrying along behind. To her surprise, the door opened automatically as she approached, and at least two pairs of hands began to usher her inside. "Hurry!" a voice hissed. "Hurry, before it comes back!"

As Tara reached the entrance, she saw that the building was packed with dozens if not hundreds of people, easily a good proportion of the town's population. They must have all fled here when the monster first attacked, no doubt knowing that it would be the best place to go. Tara quickly pushed the boy over the threshold, but did not step inside herself. "I'm sorry," she said. "My partner's out there fighting, and I have to help him."

"Your partner's going to get himself killed!" said one of the women incredulously.

As the boy was ushered inside, Tara suddenly heard a joyous cry, and saw the boy's mother rush out of the crowd and pull him into a tight embrace. "Oh, my boy!" she cried. "My darling boy! Oh, I was so worried about you!"

Relieved that the boy's mother was indeed safe, Tara decided that her job here was done. "I'm sorry," she said, "but I have to help him." With that, she turned on her heel and ran off.

"Hey, get back here!" one of the villagers called after her. "That monster will kill you!"

"If she wants to get herself killed, then just let her," said another of the villagers coldly, before the stone door was swung shut behind her.

***

Meanwhile, Xeron was having a tough time taking down the dragon creature. He had managed to dodge its blasts of fiery breath and had gotten in a couple of hits with his spear, but the creature's thick, scaly hide was hard to penetrate. I have to get to its underbelly somehow, he thought. That's its weak spot.

As Xeron circled round to try and get in another hit, the creature suddenly reared up and slashed at him with its front claws. It only got in a glancing blow, but it was still enough to knock Xeron off-balance, causing him to fall over backwards and land on his rear. As he quickly scrambled back to his feet, the creature prepared to launch another blast of flame-

"Xeron! Hold on, I'm coming!"

Tara's cry as she sprinted towards the battle grabbed the monster's attention. It looked over for her for a moment, then abandoned Xeron and went after the seemingly weaker prey. Its distraction was a big mistake. Xeron was able to keep up with the creature at a sprint, and by reaching underneath its side he was able to plunge his spear deep into the creature's soft underbelly. The creature roared out in pain, and immediately staggered back round to attack Xeron once more, only for Xeron to then plunge his spear into the creature's eye. It let out an even louder roar, forcing Tara to clamp her hands over her ears as she winced, then began to blindly spew flames in every direction, forcing Xeron to leap out of the way.

Finally, the dragon creature spread its large, leathery wings and tried to fly away from its tormentors, but it was too weakened to lift more than a couple of feet off the ground, and this did nothing more than expose its belly to Xeron. After two more fierce jabs, the monster collapsed to the ground, let out a low, feeble roar, and died. Xeron breathed a sigh of relief. "Man, I'm glad that's over," he said.

"Where did a monster like this even come from?" said Tara, approaching the creature's bloodied corpse with caution. "I didn't think monsters so big even existed!"

"Maybe not in this realm." Xeron and Tara turned round, startled, and saw a man in a dark hooded cloak standing a little way down the rubble-strewn street. Xeron immediately recognized him as the man who had appeared in Tirera, and who had blasted him unconscious. "Or at least, not yet," he said ominously. "I have to admit, I'm surprised," he continued, addressing Xeron. "Not only did you manage to survive our first encounter, but you also managed to defeat the second Shoukan. Perhaps you will prove to be more of a nuisance than I first thought."

Tara soon realized who was stood before her. "Wait a minute… is this the-"

"Yeah," said Xeron. "This is the man who attacked me back in Tirera. The one who was responsible for the monster outbreak there. All of this was his doing."

"That's right," said the man. "I am the one who summoned the monsters that attacked Tirera, and I am the one who summoned this draconic creature to attack Hilston. These creatures are called Shoukan, and so long as I possess the Orb of Chaos, I will continue to summon and control them as I see fit. Even if you may have defeated the first two, you cannot hope to stop me. Soon this entire realm will be under my control." With a dramatic sweep of his cloak, the man vanished into the night.

Tara seemed rather confused by it all. "Orb of Chaos? Shoukan?" she repeated. "What was he talking about?"

"I'm not sure," said Xeron, "but it seems like he has some kind of object that allows him to summon these creatures somehow. Perhaps we can find out more about it over at the Great Library, in Clauston."

"Isn’t that a few days away?" asked Tara.

"Yeah," said Xeron, "and he may well have attacked yet another village by then. But we have to find a way to stop him as soon as possible."

Tara nodded. "I agree," she said. "First my hometown, now here… he has to be stopped."