Amidst the crisis
1520 Words
“So that’s what happened huh? Carleon said that he saw some people that took the route that you usually use, so that’s what the rumbling was all about earlier. To think that they are foolish enough to do something like that. They must be tired of living.” Yusaf says with a disappointed tone. “I really apologize for not bringing anything, we just came here out of the blue. Thanks for patching him up as well.” Yusaf and the other elves understands Xerxes’ circumstance and tells him not to bother himself. “More importantly, what is your plan? You can’t sneakily walk out with this guy slowing you down. Want me to help you?” Yusaf offers for help but Xerxes declines.
“You have done a lot for me already. I can do this much and besides, you might be in trouble when we enter the portal. My conscience can’t handle it if something happens to you without my knowledge. No one would want that.” Xerxes says with a smile and then takes a peak outside. “Looks like the coast is clear, see you guys again soon.” Xerxes ask Faras and Carleon to put the brother of the commissioner on his back so that he can carry him easily.
“Make sure to be careful Xerxes, there are countless monsters that suddenly appeared around here but they might not appear if there are giants outside walking around the place.” Yusaf reminds him and the two exchange glances before Xerxes departs.
RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE!
“Do you think he will be fine Yusaf? Its really hard to carry a person behind your back like that you know.” Ysa states her worry for Xerxes’ safety but their leader brushes it off. “We just need to believe in him. He manage to take down one of those long necked creature. He is a tough human and you guys know it.” Yusaf says but he takes out his telescope and looks at Xerxes’ figure from a distance. “So much for not sounding worried at all.” Carleon says as Yusaf stares at him blankly.
“I’m just making sure. We can’t be careless you know.” Yusaf protested but the other three elves didn’t buy his words. “Arg!” Xerxes groan in pain after running almost halfway through the route. ‘He is still unconscious. He must be really shocked when his legs get stomped on.’ Xerxes thinks to himself as he tries to catch his breathe and scans the area for potential threats. ‘So far there are no more monsters here. They must also be afraid of the giant creatures stomping them to death. Well, who wouldn’t be?-‘ Xerxes’ thoughts then gets interrupted when he feels that the ground is shaking.
He immediately grabs the unconscious man and hide inside the bushes only to realize that they would have died if he did not move immediately as a giant foot steps on the very ground that they were in a few moments ago. “That was freaking close-! Xerxes mutters to himself and stares at the huge creatures walking above them and in that moment, the brother of the commissioner woke up, and is terrified of seeing the same creatures that might have stomped them to oblivion.
“Shhhh! Don’t make an sound that would startled them or we’re as good as dead.” Xerxes whispers into the man’s ear while covering his mouth before he makes any sound that would startled the giants. “Just let them pass, they can’t be bother by us if we don’t agitate them. Your group must have done something like that to end up as floor decorations right?” Xerxes stares intensely at the man, seeing that his unchanging expression, Xerxes thinks that he must be right.
“Against creature as this, it’s better to leave them be otherwise you would be the one at the losing end.” Xerxes briefly tells him about their mistake as the giant monsters walk past them. “I think we are clear to go. Grab my shoulders so that you can walk a little properly. We can’t miss this chance to get away.” Xerxes supports the man as he looks around the area for other dangerous monsters.
LIMP! LIMP! LIMP! LIMP! LIMP! LIMP!
“Can you continue walking? If not, better climb on my back. That way, we can get away from this place a lot faster.” Xerxes said and the man looks at his condition and sees that Xerxes’ suggestion holds some truth. After agreeing to what Xerxes said, the man crawls back to Amon’s back as he readies himself to sprint. ‘Good thing I trained my body a bit, otherwise I would be kissing the ground right now.’ Xerxes pass through the trees and reached the point within a few minutes of running where they stumble on some of the hunters that just entered the portal to recover the bodies of the dead people.
“Are you a survivor?” one of the hunters asked the commissioner’s brother and to their surprise, they saw Xerxes accompanying him. “Yeah- the commissioner asked me to his brother back home.” Xerxes says with a casual tone after taking a breathe for running around for an extended period of time. Xerxes can feel their gaze towards him and instinctively reach out for his flintlock.
‘These guys- even in the face of crisis are still thinking of that thing? Someone must have ordered for my head huh?’ Xerxes thinks to himself as the atmosphere darkens but then the silence of the atmosphere is broken by the rumbling of the ground. “Let’s leave for this place now. We don’t want to be stomped to death. Some idiots must have agitated those things again. They are large so they must be a few kilometers away, they can reach this place in no time.” Xerxes grabs the limping brother of the commissioner and push him inside the portal first but then he senses that the people around him are aiming for his neck.
CLANK!
Xerxes instinctively draws his knife and blocks the sword swinging towards his neck and pulls out his gun and use the spark of the knife to light up his gun.
BANG! SHLICK!
The man who attacked him immediately falls to ground after a single shot and a stab in the back. “Looks like you guys are aiming for my neck from the beginning. But can you really handle me?” Xerxes says and swings his knife and spray the blood from his blades. The men in front of him looks at his long knife that somehow resembles a short sword but a little longer. Xerxes then easily reloads his gun and readies to fire it again but the men are afraid to make a move after seeing their subordinate fall lifeless to the ground.
“Kill him!” Xerxes immediately lifts the sword of the first man to have died and throws it towards the others with one of them unfortunate enough to catch the sword with his neck and just falls to the ground immediately.
BANG! SCHICK!
“That’s three down.” Xerxes mutters to himself as he slice through one of the men’s stomach and cuts it open and then reloads his gun. “That’s four.”
A few moments later and the struggle of the men have ended with the last one died with a sliced on the neck by Xerxes’ knife. “To think that they would not even confess who ordered to kill me. They are quite tight-lipped, its unfortunate for them but it can’t be helped. I might have lost my life here, thankfully I brought my gun.” Xerxes says to himself as he steps inside the portal only to find Rupert and Ramirez waiting for him on the other side with the commissioner.
“Sorry for the wait, there are some things I need to take care of and they are quite persistent so I have to take my time.” Xerxes says as his two loyal followers handed him a clothe to clean himself. “What happened?” the commissioner ask and Xerxes did not bother explaining everything. “Your brother must have an idea what really happened so I will not sweat on the details.” Xerxes says and tells them to continue talking in the shop. “We might encounter some of the people that they are with.” Xerxes leads the way and walks back to the shop.
A few hours later
“What the hell happened here?” a mysterious person enters the portal and sees the men lying lifeless on the floor. The mysterious person then clicks his tongue after seeing that none of them survived. “He is quite hard to kill. Maybe I should kill him in person myself.” He mutters to himself as he ventures deep into the portal to wait for the time to pass.
- Writer
