Interruption

"Murik is guarding the Dead Tree?" An irrelevant Elder asked.

But nobody responded to him. Instead, Victor and Alexander remained silent and continued their perpetual staring contest.

"Is that all you have to say?" King Victor asked in response.

"Oh?" King Alexander's lips curled, "Should I say more?"

"No—" King Victor lowered his eyes and pushed himself out of his chair, "I was getting bored of this farce anyway."

King Victor pushed his chair in and walked towards the door, but as he reached forward to grab the door handle King Alexander miraculously appeared in his way.

Pushing his finger in King Victor's chest, Alexander antagonized him even further:

"I don't remember dismissing you."

"Three." Victor spat coldly.

"What? Have you already gone senile?" Alexander chuckled.

"Two."

"I wonder what you're gonna do at one!" Alexander's aura changed again. His eyes sharpened. His shoulders broadened. Most distinct, though, was the wicked smile on his face and the ecstasy that was pouring out of his being.

King Victor opened his mouth to speak, but at the same time the bunker aggressively shook. Immediately, all the members of the meeting looked at the ceiling as weaker tremors continued to shake them.

"What was that?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

Clearly upset, King Alexander ripped his finger off of Victor's chest, but held eye contact. Soon after, another, even greater tremor shook the bunker.

Following, hurried footsteps echoed in the hall leading to the bunker. Then a rambunctious fury of knocks assaulted the door in addition to a panicked and exhausted voice.

"Your Highness, Rising Tide is under attack!"

"What?!" Multiple voices of varying severities exclaimed in unison.

King Victor pushed by Alexander and disappeared into the hall. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the meeting all stood from their seats and looked at the young man who delivered the message.

King Alexander patted the man on his shoulder and patiently waited for him to catch his breath.

"It's the sea!" He yelled, "Monsters are emerging from the sea! They're breaking the dome!"

"How many are there?"

"What's their class?"

A slew of questions erupted from the many Elders in the room. King Alexander raised his open palm, instantly subduing the outspoken Elders.

"I'll lead mine, you lead yours." King Alexander remarked and left the room, the rest of his Elders and advisor in tow.

Meanwhile, King Ulmor was the only person still sitting at the table. He leisurely stretched his back over the chair and relaid his simple instructions:

"Zegris with me. Willow and Spright defend the defenseless."

"Yes, King!" Zegris and Willow replied.

Emile opened his mouth and stuttered, but before he could reply with the others King Ulmor stopped him.

"You'll get it eventually. Customs take time to learn." Then King Ulmor and Zegris left. And shortly after Willow and Spright followed.

In the time it took them to reach the surface, two more tremors occurred. Willow ran ahead and burst through the door leading outside.

Upon exiting, Rising Tide looked unchanged. The buildings were intact. Emile couldn't see any traces of combat. In fact, Emile couldn't find any of the other Elders or Kings either.

And then, another tremor struck, but now they could see what was causing it. Far above them, on the ceiling of the glacial cavern, a gigantic black mass slammed into the dome.

A severe crack split across the sky as Emile and Willow watched the black mass raise itself once more into the sky and plummet down. This time, however, the sky shattered.

Shards of ice rained down onto Rising Tide, but that was the least of their concern. In addition to the pieces of ice, the black mass crumbled apart and dropped into the cavern.

The tentacle looking rod crashed into a row of buildings, immediately demolishing them to the ground. Then, the black tentacle wiggled and squirmed as human-sized creatures split off from the black mass.

Emile and Willow rushed to the site of the crash and eventually encountered the black creatures. They had a perfectly round head with only a mouth. One of their arms resembled a person's, thin with fingers and a thumb. But their other arm resembled a tube, a long cylinder with a gaping hole where the hand should be.

The moment Willow spotted one of the sea creatures, she summoned an arsenal of relics. First, golden armor wrapped around her curvaceous figure. The armor was stylized with intricate engravings of wings on her shoulders and back.

Then, she summoned a golden sledge hammer that toppled over her. The head of the hammer was the size of her torso and each end was perfectly flat, she looked like she was getting ready to whack groundhogs.

Willow turned her back to the sea creatures and slammed her hammer into the ground. The impact of the slam propelled her back and she flew across the air. While soaring towards the creatures, she turned her body once more to face them and, using her newly acquired momentum, swung the hammer into the chests of the creatures.

Within an instant, their bodies burst into mist and Willow pushed the handle of her hammer into the ice, completely stopping her flight.

"You coming?" She yelled back.