Chapter 34 WHEN THE GROUND GIVES WAY
A few hours had passed, and the sun was slowly starting to set. The busy town was starting to settle down as the sky began to darken. People were returning to their homes and closing up shops. However, the people clearing out the broken house had yet to leave. There were still a lot of things that were salvageable, so before the house decided to completely cave in, they were going to get out what they could.
In front of the building stood some of the men. They were taking a break from working all day. A wine glass was stationed in each one's hand. They seemed to be chatting about something, most likely the incident that had just happened. However, when one of them turned their attention to the road, he froze, faltering just a bit.
"M-Mr. Allegro," he said, drawing the attention of the other men. They all stood up straight, almost like they were at attention. Coming down the street with Reeve and Xyra was their mayor, Christian Allegro. He was looking at the damage that had been done to his town. There was a great deal of sympathy in his eyes as he saw the state the house was in. He let out a soft sigh.
"Looks like it's as bad as I heard," he said. "Are the people who lived here alright?" The men all just lowered their heads. Christian began to fear the worst.
"One survived," stated one of the men. "The mother is still alive, but the boy…"
No more was needed to be said. They all knew what he meant. Those demons had shamelessly murdered a woman's child. There were no words that any of them could say to comfort her. This was indeed an unforgivable act.
"Hopefully Magnus will keep his promise," Christian whispered. "I don't know how much more of this we can take."
"Excuse me, sir," began one of the men. "I hope I'm not being rude by asking, but what are you doing out here without your guards?"
"We came out looking for someone," he responded. "I have two guests staying with me, and one went out this afternoon and has yet to return."
"A guest?"
"He's a traveler."
"Oh, you mean that boy," said one of the men as he set down his wine glass. "I asked him to help us out, so he's been here all day. Poor lad… When he saw what those demons had done…"
He didn't continue after that. The memory was most likely painful for them all. This town was a close-knit one where everyone knew everyone. They had to be. They all had to look out for each other since they seemed to have a big problem in their hands.
"How long have these demon attacks been going on?" asked Xyra.
"Almost a year," answered one of the men. "No one comes out this way anymore. There isn't much of a need to travel through the mountains, so our town is more or less ignored."
"You're not from around here either, are ya missy," said another. "You with that boy?" She only nodded. "A word of advice then. You should get outta this place. Those demons like women, and someone as young as you would easily draw their attention. For your own safety, it'd be best if you just left."
Xyra smiled a bit at how worried he sounded. The people here were indeed kind. She had yet to meet someone she could hate. The storekeepers were all polite, and no one had tried to take advantage of the fact that she was a traveler. Most would try to swindle people like her into buying things, but everyone was just obscenely kind. That's just how things were though when faced with a situation like theirs. It was a sad thing that people could only collectively be nice when faced with such tragedies.
"No need to worry," said Christian. "She's staying with me, so I doubt the demons will come after her. Besides…we may not have to put up with them for much longer." A smile spread across his calm face. "We have a hunter among us."
"A hunter?" questioned the man. "Like a bounty hunter?"
"Not exactly…" began Xyra. "He's a…"
"Get outta here!" shouted a man that came running from the damaged house. He quickly drew everyone's attention to him. His voice held a high sense of urgency. "Everyone get out! It's about to fall!"
Men began rushing out and away from the building, taking what they could. The building was indeed trembling, pieces slowly breaking off. The entire thing was crumbling, and any minute now it would all fall to the ground.
"It would be wise to get out of here, sir," suggested one of the men.
"Alright."
"Wait!" called Xyra as she moved closer. "Is Magnus still here?"
"The traveler? Yeah, but why do you…hey!" Before he could ask, she bolted past him, heading closer to the house. She wanted to see if he had gotten out yet. She looked through the group of men that had gathered outside, but she didn't see her companion among them. He was still inside. Without hesitating, she went closer to the door.
"Magnus?" she called, looking around for him. However, he wasn't in the first room. Without hesitating or thinking, she took a step forward into the quaking house. It had yet to fall down, and the foundation still seemed to be okay in this area. As soon as I know he got out, I'll leave.
"Xyra?" questioned a voice from the stairway. She turned and saw Magnus coming down from it. He was covered in dust, most likely from the caving in upstairs. There was also a thin trail of blood running from the side of his head. He either didn't realize it or hadn't had the time to cast a healing spell. "What are you doing here?"
"We came looking for you," she told him. "You didn't come back, so…"
"I don't mean that. Why are you here in this building?!" His voice was a bit angry, but there also seemed to be some form of worry present. "This place is collapsing!"
"Then why are you still here?" However, her question was answered when she took a better look at him. His leg was bleeding. It looked pretty torn up. Something terrible must have happened for him to get hurt like that.
"Xyra, move!" he shouted, snapping her out of her little trance. However, it wasn't in time. Magnus knew there was no way for her to dodge the piece of cement that was falling towards her. Without hesitation, he broke into a sprint, ignoring the pain shooting through his leg. He almost fell as it buckled under his weight, but he managed to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her out of the way.
Xyra nearly screamed as the piece of ceiling almost hit her. Now she was being held rather tightly against Magnus's side. He was glaring at her a bit, obviously angry that she had come within the building. She wasn't quite sure why she had entered either. All she had wanted to do was make sure that he was alright.
The sound of cement breaking rang through the empty room, and she looked up to see that the entire ceiling was collapsing. She was about to scream, but Magnus just held her tighter. He didn't move at all, only stood there, watching as the concrete fell towards them. Just as it reached the two of them, a small layer of light appeared, and everything rolled harmlessly down it. None of it would be able to reach them.
Stupid, Xyra told herself. Why was I even worried? I shouldn't have come. He can take care of himself. He's a sorcerer, after all.
Outside, everyone watched in horror as the building collapsed, kicking up a lot of dust that the wind quickly began playing with. Everyone was coughing from it, trying to keep their eyes open so they could see what had happened. A lot of them were fearing the worst. After all, Magnus and Xyra had both still been inside.
When the dust finally cleared and everyone was able to see what had happened, they were all shocked. Standing there in the middle of the debris were Magnus and Xyra. The thin barrier he had created was still up, but it soon fell as a sigh escaped his lips. That was close… Why do these things keep happening? I'm not supposed to be this careless…
He looked down at his damaged leg, wishing he had thought that situation through a bit better. Instead of casting anything, he had instead shoved a man out of the way and had allowed the huge chunk of metal and rock to land on his leg. It had hurt a lot, but he had insisted he was fine and had forced them all to leave him there. Plus, he had stumbled and hit his head against the wall while making his way down the stairs. I'm really starting to slip up.
"Um… Magnus?" began Xyra. "You can let go of me now." Magnus glanced down at her, noticing that his arm was still around her waist. He loosened it and allowed her to move away a bit. She sighed, a smile on her face. However, it was about to disappear as Magnus's expression filled with annoyance.
"You idiot!" he shouted, making her jump a bit. "How stupid are you? What part about 'I'm a sorcerer' don't you understand? There's no way I'd let a building, of all things, do me in! Next time think before you come rushing after me. You could've been killed!"
"S-sorry…"
"Amazing…" whispered Reeve from the crowd behind them. They both turned to see all the people in the area watching with wide eyes. "You…you're both still alive…"
"I think I understand now," said Christian with a smug smile on his face. "No wonder you seemed so confident. You're a sorcerer, aren't you?"
A smile crossed Magnus's face. He had forgotten to mention that little fact during their introduction. He had only called himself a hunter.
"Yeah," he answered with a smirk. "Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. Now I understand though. It must be easy for you to kill demons like that, and being a hunter lets you make money by doing it. Must be why you like the job so much."
"Not at all." A very devilish smirk spread across his face. "… I just like killing demons."