WHITE OUT AND AFTER

Samuel Argus's pov

'This wasn't the plan'

I muttered stupidly, Leon paid me no heed instead choosing to turn back to his city, his soon to be destroyed city

'HELP WITH THE EVACUATION'

I shouted to the men behind me, their puzzled expressions made it obvious they found it more than a little odd

(we were here to sack this place not play hero, right?)

my personal forces moved the moment I spoke tearing across the fields with intent on their faces. Pride swelled in me at the swiftness of their actions, I was viewed unfavorablely as a Don due to my lazy gait and typically unbothered manner of living but if there's one thing I knew for a fact its that my men truly respected me, I was often content with that choosing to dammn what everyone else thought but now it seems I should make an effort to make their service worthwhile.

The rest of the crowd looked on with even more confusion about what actions to take, with how my men were moving it was obvious I wasn't joking but the control I had over these men was completely monetary, and I wasn't paying for this

"50 silvers coins for every man who helps"

Kannie roared in a voice quite unlike his, but his words were the focus of present and it more than stirred their interests. Like a dam breaking they rushed out of course they did, 50 silvers was around the price to escort merchants on long journeys fraught with bandits and monsters but here they were getting paid the same amount to pull some civilians out of their homes over a distance of a few metres, they might as well have gotten paid for doing nothing.

With a sound like thunder Leon dashed off towards his city, he cast fly and headed towards its center. Just as he did so massive black tentacles suddenly spewed out from his body in all directions, thin and numerous they began to carry all of the citizens out with frightening speed,he must have released leviathan, his Arcanum. I soon followed before releasing my own Arcanum, streams of water began to rush through the streets carrying people and goods through the gates to a field a little ways away, Kannie soon joined us with an edict of his Arcanum, solid fog.

It didn't take long before we had cleared out the city of all its inhabitants, we had even managed to grab some valuables in the process placing all of them with their respective owners. We all watched in silence, they say Aegis had a history of over 8000 years, some say it should be seen as older since there was a city that was situated not far from here called Medusa and when it was destroyed a lot of its inhabitants relocated to this site not long after Aegis was built, as such it was often described as the second Medusa granting it a history much much greater as far as 20000 years infact, but that didn't matter any more, old as it was with a pillar of light that reached the heavens everything it had, its history, its knowledge, the homes it provided for millions of people was gone all in a great big flash of light.

"it's gone"

said an old man standing next to me, he dropped to knees blinking furiously, his gaze constantly fluttering between the ground and the massive hole that was once his home, a hole which decended for miles, it was obvious Langris's intent when he had that spell used, you people will never be able to rebuild.

I quickly left that scene before I was faced with something I wouldn't be able to deal with, I caught sight of Leon, he seemed to have calmed down his face was purposeful as if he had finally found what he was going to do doubtless it was to shelter these people and help them get their lives back as he was already making rounds talking to officials and other people in positions of power on how to proceed. He easily noticed my approach and unhesitatingly beckoned me over distrustful eyes covered me with every step but my steps didn't falter, I was prepared to go against Langris if it meant helping these people and the strenght of my resolve gave confidence.

'is there anything you need?'

I asked upon arrival, he nodded to me and said

"is there anyone amongst your number capable of long distance communication magic?"

'yes, we also have several items that can do the same, I assume you want to contact the Don's association'

"exactly"

he looked towards the remnant of his city before continuing

"it's been almost 200 years since a city fell, 200 years of relative peace and my city was the one to break it"

'I'm sorry'

"don't be, apologies are best for accidents, this was purposeful, if you knew you were going to feel sorry for this you wouldn't have done it"

his voice held no accusation, he sounded like he was just stating a fact

'I'm not trying to excuse myself but I really didn't know that this would happen'

"oh I know, I can tell, but to think they would both use the same style"

with furrowed brows I asked

'what do you mean?'

he answered with a slight smile

"this is definitely something my first Don would do, maybe that why I'm having difficulty getting angry at you, because I know that the same fate would have awaited you if we had won"

'tell that to all of them'

I said gesturing to all the now homeless people surrounding us, all trying to deny the fact that life as they knew it was now over

'I don't think that's a valid enough reason for them to forgive us'

"no, but maybe I can use it to push them forward, you know it's going to hard for you from now on, now that you've broken such a long standing treaty"

it wasn't an official one, more like a silent agreement but there was a reason no city leveling wars had happened in the last few years, one that all 12 well 11 now, cities had agreed to and now that we broke it we'd have to answer to the remaining 10

'the same would have happened to you remember'

"yeah but we had your letter to fall back on"

'what letter?'

I asked puzzled, he quickly resolved my confusion by reciting the contents of said letter word for word

'that asshole never includes us in his pranks'

I said exasperated

"yours too huh"

he said with a laugh

'I'm taking that to mean Eron had a 'special' personality'

he wiped a tear from his eye before continuing

"yeah, when we became Don's under we literally put all the choices in his hands and we never tried to take them back, but now I think he wouldn't have rejected it if we tried so long as we had the ability"

I nodded

'Raine has always been trying, trying to get her choices back but I never believed she could do it, I never thought anyone could touch that monster, until I saw blackie and now I think I want to throw my hat in the ring too'

"your new third Don is really something, even with my spirits and the help of everyone other than Eron, I don't think I can beat him, he's just another 1st Don playing 3rd"

I thought back to that guy, Kalen and all the change he had wrought in just a few days

'I can't wait to see what he causes next'

"yeah me too,....let's take a walk"

he set off at a moderate speed, well moderate by our standards so we had actually covered quite a bit of distance ending up at large field, my hand reached for my weapon, the aura around Samuel had suddenly changed, he turned to me unbothered by my act of open hostility with a tired smile, I took it to mean I had probably imagined the sensation I felt but I was soon proven wrong.

A few seconds after our arrival 4 figures in white landed next to us and from their faces I could tell that they were feeling the same as I, the 4 lances took offensive stances but Leon paid them no mind instead looking straight at me before saying

"Samuel, let me kill them"