Meko knelt down and reached for the nearest figure. His hand was shaking slightly as he pulled back a hood. A gasp escaped his lips. It was the face of the doctor from the Havenport Clinic, his features contorted in a mask of defeat. Meko's eyes widened. He pulled back the hood of the second figure. The mayor.
Meko shook his head, a feeling of disbelief. He looked at Doren, his voice low and strained. "Let's get to the girls finally. Make sure that Mom and her kid get off the roofs too."
Doren nodded. He took a moment to help the terrified mother and daughter down off the roof. Without another word, he and Meko moved with a renewed urgency, leaving the two knocked-out members of Havenport behind in the wreckage. The city was not safe; the enemies were not strangers. They were a part of the city itself.
As they walked back through the market, Meko watched each face carefully, anxiety settling over him. He had lived in Havenport his entire life, and he knew these people. They were his neighbors, his friends, the people he'd grown up with. It was terrifying to realize any of them could be an enemy.
Meko stopped at a stall, his eyes still narrowed with suspicion as he scanned the crowd. "We need a compass, please," he asked the owner, his voice low.
The owner, a kindly-looking old man, handed him a compass with an intricate etching on the back. Meko looked it over. "A plain one, please," he said. "One without an etching." The owner, confused, shrugged and gave him another. Meko pocketed it, his paranoia clear. He couldn't be too careful.
Doren's brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at Meko. "What was that all about? That was just a good luck rune."
Meko didn't even look at him. He kept his eyes on the crowd, his gaze hard and suspicious. "We can't be too careful," he said, his voice low. "You are being hunted, Doren. You need to start using your brain a little bit. We need to stay quiet, and we need to be discreet wherever we go."
The words were a cold splash of reality. Doren fell silent, the weight of Meko's words settling over him. He wasn't on a simple adventure anymore. They started walking again, pushing their way through the bustling marketplace.
Meko's jaw was set. He was leaving Havenport, perhaps forever, and he couldn't leave with the last memory of the inn being a confrontation. He needed to make amends. He needed to say goodbye.
He turned to Doren, his voice firm. "I need to stop at the inn. I have to say one last 'I'm sorry' to Mara and say farewell to my friends." He didn't wait for Doren to respond and turned back toward the bustling market, walking with a renewed sense of purpose.
When they arrived, the crowd was thinner than before, but the air was still thick with the smell of ale and cooking food. He spotted Mara near the bar, her face still pale from their last encounter. He approached her, his voice low so only she could hear. "Mara, I'm sorry. I was wrong to accuse you." He reached into his pocket and gave her all the coin he had. "Thank you for being so pleasant throughout the years," he said, a sincere gratitude in his voice. "I wish you the best."
Mara looked at him, confused, and then at the coin in her hand, her eyes welling up with tears. He didn't give her a chance to respond. He nodded to her and then made his way through the crowd, finding a couple of his friends at a table. He clapped them on the shoulders, gave them a brief farewell. Then he turned and left, Doren by his side.
Doren and Meko pushed through the crowd of the market, the urgent need to find Katarina and Anya driving them forward. As they approached the street where the girls were waiting, the alley ahead of them was empty except for one figure.
They stopped dead in their tracks
The figure was shrouded in a dark hood, but this one was different. A piece of gleaming metal armor was strapped to the figure's left shoulder, extending down to about half of their chest. It also went down the entire bicep, stopping at the pit of the elbow, catching the light in a menacing way. The figure stood perfectly still, their head tilted as if listening to something only they could hear.
"Damn it..." Meko whispered, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his sword. This was no ordinary grunt. This was a fighter, a dangerous one.
The figure lifted its hand to the sky, the dark cloak shifting to reveal the lean, graceful form of a woman. Without a word, the bright afternoon sky began to darken around them. The light of the sun was swallowed by a sudden, oppressive gloom, and a deep, low static filled the air. Doren's and Meko's hair stood on end.
A dark thunder storm gathered with impossible speed, the air crackling with energy as a swirling vortex of dark clouds formed directly above the woman.
Besides the wind and the swirling clouds, all was still. The air crackled with a malevolent energy, and then, with a deafening crack that shook the ground, a bolt of pure white lightning descended from the storm above.
Meko and Doren were a blur of motion. They leapt, scattering to opposite sides of the street as the lightning hit. The cobblestones beneath the strike turned to black glass, and the smell of the ozone filled the air. The hooded woman's hand was still raised to the sky, and she was watching them, a silent predator waiting for her prey to make a mistake.
Before they could move, a barrage of lightning came crashing down from the storm above. It was a frenzy of attacks, striking the rooftops and the road around them, sending plumes of smoke and debris into the air. Screams of terror echoed from the marketplace as the panicked crowd scattered, the fight no longer contained to a single street.
Meko, with a flash of instinct, ducked under the wooden canopy of a nearby building, the lighting bolt striking the cobblestones where he had just been.
Meko, with a determined grunt, swirled his finger, pointing it down. The ground beneath the assailant buckled and writhed, the cobblestones and dirt swirling into a jagged, miniature vortex. But the woman didn't fall. She simply hung there, suspended in the air by the static she had created.
Doren and Meko acted as one. Doren thrust his hand out, and a blinding burst of light erupted from his palm, aimed directly at the woman's face. The sudden light hit her with the force of a flashbang, and her concentration broke for a second, her body tilting as she fought to maintain her grip on the static.
That was all the opening Meko needed. With a roar, he tore a jagged shard of rock from the side of the building and hurled it at the assailant. The rock flew like a dark blur of earth. The projectile was aimed at the woman's shoulder, where her armor offered a weak point.
The rock slammed into the woman's armored shoulder with a metal ting. She grunted in pain but she didn't fall. Instead, the layer of armor where the rock had hit cracked and fell to the ground with a clang, revealing a new, pristine layer beneath.
The momentary surprise in her face was replaced by anger. The combined attack, while painful, had only revealed that she was far more resilient than they had anticipated. She was still suspended in the air, the dark clouds still churning above her.
The woman put her hands together, a faint blue light glowing between her palms. The lightning in the sky gathered, and in a flash, a bolt descended, connecting with her hands. She opened her palms, her wrists still touching, and a concentrated beam of raw lightning shot toward Doren and Meko.
It was a point-blank attack, too fast to dodge. Doren thrust his hand out, and a shimmering, circular shield of pure light erupted from his palm. At the same time, Meko raised his hands, and the earth in front of them tore upward, forming a thick wall of solid rock. The two defenses rose to meet the deadly beam.
The beam of concentrated lightning slammed into the stone wall with a deafening crack. The rock held for only a moment before it exploded into a cloud of debris, the beam of light punching through the jagged rock and reconnecting with Doren's light shield.
The shield shivered and buckled, the pure energy of the attack pushing Doren's elemental defenses to their limit. He held it as long as he could, his knuckles turning white, before the beam ricocheted off the shield and sliced through a couple of houses to their right, leaving a trail of smoking, splintered wood. The damage was a shock to the both of them.
The hooded woman stood perfectly still, her hands still extended toward them. She had given them a warning and shown them her immense power. They were no match for her in a head-to-head fight. The question was, what would they do now? They were not only in danger, but they were also a danger to everyone around them.
Doren's eyes were wide with terror as he stared at the wrecked homes. The sheer force of the ricochet was a chilling reminder of the power they were up against and the innocent lives in the crossfire.
"We can't keep doing this here, Meko," Doren yelled out over the sound of the thunder above them.
"I know," Meko replied, his voice strained. "I don't even want to know how many people just got hurt."
Without a word, Doren took off. He peeked around what was left of the wall, and instead of sprinting away from the hooded figure, he took off in a dead sprint directly towards her, a desperate and reckless gamble.
Doren took a deep, steadying breath as he sprinted toward her. As he ran, his skin hardened and glistened, and by the time he was a few feet away, his body was covered in a thin, protective layer of rock. He didn't slow down, but instead lowered his shoulder and slammed into her stomach.
The impact was bone-shaking, and the hooded figure grunted in pain as Doren lifted her and kept running. She was still a powerful force, and as he ran, she kept hitting his rock armor, each blow chipping away at the thin layer. It was a race against time.
He reached the treeline just as the last of his armor broke away, and with a final surge of strength, he threw her into a massive tree with his shoulder. The thud was loud and sickening, and she fell to the ground in a heap.
The hooded woman picked herself up from the ground with a grunt, her eyes fixed on Doren. She drew a short sword from her belt, and with each swing, the air cracked with the sound of thunder. The blade was a conduit for her power, a new and terrifying threat.
Doren put up his fists, his body a beacon of defiant rage. He was ready for a close-quarters fight, but she was a blur of motion, the sword a swirling vortex of sound and lightning.
Just then, Meko came running up from behind her. He didn't have his sword drawn. Instead, he swung his foot, and the ground beneath him erupted, sending jagged rocks flying up and around his leg like a vicious tide.
Meko's kick landed with a solid thud, sending the woman flying forward. She rolled, her lithe body absorbing the impact, and came to her feet in a crouch. Her head whipped up, her gaze fixed on the storm clouds above. A strike of lightning came flying down, and as it hit her outstretched hands, a wave of pure energy flew out, a silent, powerful force that slammed into Doren and Meko, sending them flying.
The two friends hit the ground hard, the force of the blast knocking the wind from their lungs. The air around them crackled with leftover energy, and for a moment, they just lay there, disoriented. The woman was still on her feet, the short sword in her hand crackling with pure lightning.
The woman's body was sizzling with lightning, her every step drawing more power toward her like a magnet. She took a step, and the ground around her quaked.
Doren was the first to get up. He put a hand up, and a ball of pure light erupted from his palm, expanding in a flash that filled the entire street. The light was blinding, powerful enough to push the swirling storm clouds away, revealing the blue sky once more.
Her power source was gone, but she still had a significant amount of stored power. The electricity on her body was still sizzling.
Doren and Meko both charged. Doren's right fist was covered in a jagged gauntlet of stone, and Meko's foot was encased in the same earthy material. They closed the distance, the woman's short sword a dangerous, crackling blur in front of them. She swung, and Doren ducked under the humming blade, a low groan escaping her as he slammed his fist into her armored chest. The sound of rock on metal was a sharp, grating clang, but she held her ground, a flicker of electricity arcing from her armor to Doren's rock covered hand.
Before she could retaliate, Meko was on her. He spun and drove his rock covered foot into her side, a solid thud that sent a shockwave through her body. She stumbled, and Doren followed up with another blow, this one a shoulder tackle that sent her reeling back. The woman was powerful, but she was used to a different kind of fight-a long range style. The close-quarters, brutal onslaught was clearly not her forte. She was still dangerous, but her movements were becoming more frantic.
She parried another of Doren's punches with her sword, the blade humming with the stored energy, but her footwork was off. Meko, seeing the opening, stomped on the ground. A pillar of stone shot up, catching her off guard and knocking her off her feet. She fell, and Doren was on her in a second, his fist raised, ready to end it.
Doren was over top of her, his fist, still encased in rock, drawn back and ready to strike. The woman's short sword lay on the ground, knocked out of her hand. Her head was tilted back, and her stormy eyes, blazing with fury and a hint of something else-a silent, terrible understanding-met his. Time seemed to slow as they stared at each other for a couple of intense, silent seconds.
"The quicker you make the hit, the quicker we will get going!" Meko yelled from behind Doren, his voice a strained whisper of urgency.
Down the street, a group of Havenport Guards appeared, their shouts a new, unwelcome sound. Meko noticed them right away, his head snapping up to face the new threat.
Doren ignored them. His fist, still encased in rock, came crashing down not into the woman's face, but into the ground beside her head. The cobblestones shattered, leaving a jagged crater where his knuckles had been. He got off of her, leaving her stunned and motionless on the ground.
The choice had been made. Doren's conscience had won. But their mercy had come at a price. The guards were coming, and they were in a clear line of sight.
Meko grabbed Doren's hand, his grip tight and urgent. The shouts of the guards were growing closer, a new, unwelcome sound in the chaotic street. "Let's go!" he yelled, and the two of them sprinted. They wove through the frantic crowd, a blur of motion and desperation. They cut through narrow, winding alleys, dodging discarded crates and debris until the sounds of the city began to fade, replaced by the familiar quiet of the forest's edge.
There, just on the outskirts of the trees, stood Katarina and Anya, their faces etched with a deep worry that instantly melted into relief. The reunion was a breathless, silent relief. The danger hadn't passed, but for now, they were together again.
"What was all that?!" Katarina demanded, her voice stern as she took in their disheveled appearances.
"We got into a tussel," Meko responded, his tone flat. He didn't want to explain the full scope of the chaos, not yet.
Doren finally took in the full measure of the fight, the adrenaline fading to leave behind a cold, hard confusion. That was lightning?! That wasn't one of the core elements. His mind, still reeling from the events, latched onto one thought: the journal. He grabbed the satchel from his back, which hadn't come untied with their fight or their escape, and pulled out the old leather-bound journal. The answers had to be in there.
Meko looked down at him, his face unamused. "We don't have the time," he said, his voice hard. "We have to get going. Limka awaits after all."
Doren let out a silent sigh, the weight of the unanswered questions heavy on his mind. He knew Meko was right; they didn't have the time. The danger was too close, and the city was no longer safe. He put the journal back in his bag, a promise to himself that he would come back to it when the time was right.
They started their journey away from Havenport, their footsteps a desperate rhythm on the dirt road. The bustling city that had been their home was now a place of terror. The sun was starting to set, and the shadows of the forest grew long and menacing around them. They were alone now, fugitives from both the law and a powerful, secret organization. The road ahead was long and full of the unknown, but for now, the most important thing was that they were together.