37 First Contact

The quaking ground signaled the beginning of their troubles; Reed gathered his resolve and the surrounding Anima responded to his summons. Motes of light formed out thin air and coalesced into vibrant spheres of crackling hot radiance.

A dozen orbs of radiant, pulsing heat and light hovered around Reed like natural satellites orbiting a heavenly body. It made for an awe-inspiring sight as dense, sweltering Anima waves rocked the shaky, unstable house as if it were made of straw.

Esparon stared at Reed and found himself unable to utter a single word. Where did this guy get his strength from? Why was he able to act so confidently even now, at the eve of despair?

"I want to live, so I'll fight and keep struggling until I... find peace. How about you? I won't judge you if you choose to give up, but don't expect me to help a dead man," Reed spat out.

"I'm going to focus on living, breathing people — so hurry up and make your decision."

They were cold, firm words that made his position on the matter clear. Reed didn't like speaking like that, but the situation demanded it. Nevertheless, his declaration snapped Esparon out of his lull in a flash.

Death was an excellent motivator, no matter the situation. There was nothing else that had to be said about the subject. All men stood vigil at the gates of death, especially those burdened with the office of the warrior.

He who held such an office was privy to the sweet whispers of Lady Death, who foretold the end of his life from the deepest part of the world. Many failed; those who met her left this bleak and cruel mortal coil for what lay beyond the senses of man. Elsewhere.

Reed stretched out his hand and Esparon hurriedly took it. The matter was settled then and there, without a single extra word spoken aloud.

"They're coming, so we have two options, friend. Either we take a stand against them, or we retreat immediately. The issue is that if we run, we're likely to cause an even greater disturbance in our escape. I assume you understand what I mean by this, yes?"

Esparon nodded gravely and said, "I read you loud and clear. There's an unavoidable fact we can't ignore — this is their home — kicking up a larger racket here will alert the hive, so to speak..."

Reed peered out of a broken window and saw nothing outside, but heard the screeching cacophony in the distance getting closer.

"Exactly. There's no doubt in my mind that running would be akin to committing suicide. Not only for us but also for our comrades. If we run, there's a decent chance that many of our classmates would also get caught up in our mess... caught unaware of the whole situation," Reed said.

He walked over to Esparon, put a hand on one of his shoulders and a bitter look formed on his face. "We can't implicate them with our troubles. Everyone has to clean up their own mess; that's common sense, right? At the very least, we won't be dragging our friends down with us -- that's what real warriors should do."

The ground shook with wildly; dust, dirt, and ashes covered the pair as the broken roof peppered the duo in filth. A disgusting stench assaulted their noses -- the smell of death.

Reed and Esparon channeled Anima and an azure glow shimmered around them in the darkness. Esparon tensed up and his body locked up in an awkward hunch. Reed noticed that his companion still had some last-minute nerves and harshly patted him on the back.

It shocked Esparon and he looked at Reed with a dumb look on his face. Reed grinned and said, "Relax, I'm gonna do the heavy lifting, so stay next to me and look cool, alright? Heroes don't hunch like grandmas, man, they stick their chests out and do cool poses."

A terrifying scream -- something that resembled a dying beast's final roar and the wail of a demon -- echoed across the silent neighborhood.

"We'll get some real nice Vynovian food after this whole shitshow is over, man. I know the perfect place, went there about three wee-"

An explosion rocked the house and the pair stumbled around for a brief moment until they gathered their bearings. Dark, twisted tongues blue-violet flame covered the houses outside in an instant. Shrill cries of demented fury filled the air with total abandon -- the monstrosities had come.

The air shook and another explosion blew their house into pieces, to the pair's surprise. A slew of abominations charged into the flaming debris in a mad rage, shrieking and bellowing out wretched cries of delight. They had found prey to hunt. Things to kill. That alone satisfied the perverted fiends.

When Reed saw them up close, something deep inside him arose, an unknown feeling. It was more than simple anger, or mindless rage -- no... it was far, far more than such a trifling, base emotion.

What he felt was different. It came from within his own self, not of his Alma. A blackened, contorted white-hot madness bled out of from the deepest part of his heart. He wished for nothing more than their destruction down to the very last of their essences; to wipe them clean from the world in their entirety.

A mellifluous song, an aria of righteous fury rung in his ears; he could hear scarce a sound as the maiden's voice grew louder for every millisecond that passed.

The horde charged forward, a host of malformed aberrations that each looked different from each other. All twisted in numerous ways: Crooked, split bodies of all manner of ungodly design. They had misshapen bodies -- elongated, broken limbs; fused bodies joined in odd angles; warped faces filled with rows of shattered teeth and freakish, blood-red eyes.

Reed met them with the same maddened fervor they possessed and went on a rampage. He molded his floating orbs into various weapons; spears, swords, axes, lances, warhammers, -- the armory formed out of highly condensed Anima struck the Infested swarm at blinding speeds.

These streaks of light smashed into a few Infested and instantly tore them into pieces before they crashed into the ground. Bright violet blood splattered across the place, both on friend and foe. The fight had begun.

Driven mad beyond reason, Reed leaped into the horde and recalled the nearest weapon he had thrown back into his hand. A scorching zweihander flew out of its crater and hurtled itself into his hands. That was all Reed needed to start doing his job; he swung the hefty blade and cut down the closest monster he could reach in twain.

Even though the disgusting creature had been cut in half, it still moved with great vigor on the ground and quickly lunged onto one of Reed's legs, but was set aflame and burnt into ashes before it could latch on to its prey.

It would take more than simple dismemberment to kill the wretched things. Only thorough destruction worked; the bastards were more resilient than he expected, but it matter not. He had plenty of methods.

The large crowd of Infested recognized that the one in front of them was the greatest threat to them and focus their undivided attention upon him. A swarm of snarling flesh ran towards their prey, clambering over one another, a flood of hatred made manifest.

A few of the disgusting creatures viciously growled and then, all of a sudden, lit themselves up in the same blue-violet flame that he had seen before. It seemed they weren't going to hold anything back...

Reed snorted in disdain and gathered Anima around him in a circular rings of light by the dozens and then by the hundreds. Innumerable bands of holy radiance spun around him as if he were in the midst of a storm.

They whizzed around him menacingly, to the point that they hummed. The song they sang was one of swift and brutal death. Reed met the swarm head-on and let out a bestial roar; he would rip them into shreds and send them all to hell where they belonged.

Man and monster met at the crossroads of insanity and all hell broke loose; a few Infested shot out bloated balls of blue flames that chased after him before they exploded.

Reed conjured his aegis and kept moving forward; the explosions shook his bones and blurred his vision, but he couldn't stop himself. He brushed away the pain and jumped straight into the swarm without hesitation.

A flurry of flesh and blood splattered everywhere; claws came at him from all sides, flames shot towards him, to the point that he could no longer see anything other than rot and horror. It didn't matter -- he'd keep swinging until everything was dead.

Distorted, pained screams echoed in the distance and before anyone realized it, silence reigned again. The madness had disappeared.... for now.

Violet painted the earth and sky as smoldering embers littered the place. It looked like a nightmarish realm where the worst devils belonged. A lone boy stood among the wreckage, covered head to toe in blood.

He surveyed his work in silence and gazed out into the distance as if he were searching for something.

Esparon Doveport couldn't find any words to say, or even think. He simply stood in place like a statue. Cold sweat poured out from his body and if one paid close attention, they'd notice that he was, in fact, trembling ever so slightly.

A million thoughts ran through his mind, all trying to process what had just occurred. Blood. Flesh. Screams. Flame. The words and images were there, but he couldn't string them together properly. For a while, he had even forgotten to breathe out of shock.

He only had a single question he wanted to be answered right now.

Who the hell was this guy, and where the fuck had he come from?

Reed wasn't satisfied... he hungered for more. It was a horrible feeling.