The Fusionist Book 4 -- Epilogue

Epilogue

Barrisha looked out over the castle wall, despair gripping her entire being as she looked at the monsters assembling outside of Draverdin’s defenses. While the sight of monsters was a normal occurrence, especially over the last few weeks, it was the high number of monsters she saw that concerned her.

Just as it concerned everyone else along the wall.

“We’re all going to die, aren’t we?” Marfo asked from her side, his shortsword clasped tightly in his hands. Not that he’d be using it right away as a Mage, but she’d found since they’d undergone the change that her nestmate felt comfort in holding the weapon despite never having to use it in a fight. His spells were much more lethal, after all, though she supposed that any bit of comfort he could find was important to keep him from simply jumping off the walls inside the city and hiding.

Which was what Barrisha had to actively prevent herself from doing at least once every minute.

“N-No, we’ll be just fine, Marfo,” she stuttered out, the fear and despair gripping her for a moment before she got ahold of herself. Nervously adjusting the battleaxe in her hands, she glanced down the line of defenders along the wall, only to see that all of them appeared just as nervous as she did – which wasn’t exactly the best sign, considering that many of them were stronger than she or Marfo were. Unfortunately, she was fairly certain that Marfo was correct and they were going to die, but she couldn’t give in like that. Her fallen nestmates wouldn’t ever let her live it down if she didn’t give it her all at the end.

“But, Barr, you heard just as I did that—”

“I know what we heard,” she said quickly, cutting him off before any of the others along the wall heard him. It wasn’t exactly a secret, of course, but not everyone had overheard the scouting reports over the last day like she and her nestmate had, and now wasn’t the time to spread the word to the defenders, sapping morale even further.

Thankfully, he snapped his jaws closed after her silent reprimand, not saying another word. It wouldn’t be good for anyone to share that the scouts had noticed an increase in monster migration through the tunnels connecting to Draverdin over the last 24 hours. That alone wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, as they’d been repelling monster attacks for weeks at that point, but this was different. All the other assaults had come from the main tunnel that connected to where they thought the Aperture that was causing all these problems was located, as they moved from the mysterious portal toward the city in a constant stream.

The other tunnels leading to Draverdin from different directions had been cut off because they still had small cities defending the passages, but they hadn’t heard anything from them in days, if not weeks. As a result, those tunnels were undefended, as those remaining in Draverdin didn’t have enough Martials and Mages to send out to secure them because of the constant attacks that hadn’t let up.

In other words, the scouts reported that the inevitable usage of those tunnels had come, and the city was being assaulted by 6 different directions. As a result, the city’s defenders, including Barrisha and her nestmate, were spread incredibly thin over the walls. And as if they had a plan of their own, instead of mindlessly throwing themselves against the walls as soon as they were in sight like they normally did, the monsters were amassing like giant armies of death, just waiting until their numbers swelled to the point where they would wash over the defenders on the walls like an unstoppable wave of destruction.

No, I can’t think like that. We willpush them back because we have to.

Sadly, the internal pep talk didn’t really do much for her state of mind, as the despair continued to mount as more and more monsters arrived and their numbers ballooned to the point where the tunnel entrance was barely visible. The veritable wall of monsters was so thick in places that they seemed to be standing on top of each other in order to fit.

The worst part of it all was the silence. As many monsters as there were, they were almost entirely silent as they assembled themselves, and once they were in place they froze like they were statues – deadly, blood-thirsty statues. It was these last two elements of the monster army assembled in front of them that got to her the most, as the eerie feeling of being stared at by thousands of murderous eyes made her itch under her scales like they were looking at her very soul. Given that the monsters were reportedly controlled by the Umbral Demons and their shadow-touched, she wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case.

Marfo stepped up to her and suddenly whispered, “Should we try to run?”

Even though she was slightly shocked at the question, she couldn’t help but want to say yes. Knowing the futility of that idea, she responded with, “Where would we even go? There’s no place safe now.”

“Yes, but—”

Marfo cut his own words off as the monsters began to move, some silent command causing them to move as a comprehensive group. “Too late,” she said to her nestmate, before she walked up to the edge of the wall, her heart beating so strongly in her chest to the point where it felt like it was going to rip itself out.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the other Martials also stepped up, knowing that they would be the first layer of defense once the monsters reached the walls and began to climb or fly swoop down on them from above. There was no running, no searching for another solution to the defense of Draverdin, and no more futile attempts to close the Aperture where these monsters came from; it was all down to what they would do here, this day, and if they succeeded, their entire people would live another day.

If not, they would likely be wiped out to the last man, woman, and nestling.

When they were halfway to the walls, the first magical spells and projectiles shot out, killing dozens of monsters in the process; they were so tightly packed together that it was virtually impossible to miss them, but that didn’t seem to bother the invading horde. The losses vanished entirely over the next few seconds as holes in the assault wave were filled by monsters from behind, making the defenders efforts to slow them down nearly futile.

That didn’t mean that Marfo and the others with long-range attacks weren’t going to try.

Volley after volley of spells and mundane projectiles enhanced by specific Battle Arts slammed into the incoming monsters, downing hundreds as they gave everything they could to their defense. Even when over a thousand monsters had perished under their assault, it was a bare drop in the bucket compared to what seemed like an endless wave of darkness gave form.

“I’m out! I need to regenerate my Mana!” Marfo shouted from just behind her, which was repeated more than a few times by the others on the walls. From those she knew were a higher Level, their Mana lasted longer, but when more than half of the Mages had run out of Man after casting 10 to 15 spells, their efficacy was almost nil even when they managed to hit one monster after another without any possibility of missing.

It was just… too much. They couldn’t survive something like this. No one could.

And this same thing was most likely happening all over the walls, from multiple different directions if she heard the sounds of spells and even the clash of battle from elsewhere along the city’s perimeter correctly. Everyone was preparing to give their lives for the chance that the innocent civilians inside would have a chance to survive, and Barrisha knew that she would do her duty to the end. She wouldn’t have run even if there was someplace for them to go, as that just wasn’t her; as much as Marfo sounded like he would run at the first opportunity, she knew that he was just the same.

It was time to put up one last defense and hope that trading their lives in defense of those inside the city was enough to turn the tide.

As the first of the monsters to reach the wall leaped from the stone floor with its extremely strong legs, she cursed the fact that the wall wasn’t nearly as tall as it should’ve been. The rabbit-like monster easily cleared the top as it sprung toward Marfo, but she intercepted it with a swing of her axe, bisecting it cleanly with her significant Strength stat. The two halves fell to the top of the wall floor, and she immediately turned back to see another three dozen monsters leaping, diving, or even climbing the outer wall through the use of sticky appendages or simply digging into the stone for handholds.

Swiping through a black bird with a beak filled will dark fangs, she became unbalanced when a second one slammed into her from the side, though it was more like a shove rather than injuring her. Still, getting her feet underneath her, she swung wildly at another monster that was hurtling through the air at her…

…only for it to suddenly become nearly transparent in the middle of its leap. Before her axe could pass through it, the monster dissipated like they normally did when they were killed, evaporating into a dark-green and black smoke. Thinking that someone had destroyed it before she could attack and it disappeared quicker than normal, she managed to correct herself from her wild swing and looked for another monster to kill.

But when she looked around, all she saw were more monsters fading away into smoke before disappearing altogether. All along the wall, the same could be seen happening, and when she looked out at the seemingly endless horde that was getting ready to kill them all, what she saw shocked her.

It was almost entirely empty. The remnants of the smoke that came from the monsters’ destruction dissipated over the next few seconds, until it was completely clear of any evidence that they existed in the first place.

Silence reigned over the wall as everyone attempted to process what had happened as well as the fact that they were somehow still alive. This lasted for all of 10 seconds before someone shouted, “The Aperture… it’s closed!”

Sure enough, when Barrisha tried to feel for the Aperture that had been a constant pressure upon her senses, it was nowhere to be found. What she did detect were three little pinpoints of pressure in different, yet definite, directions; she was reminded of when the Apertures first arrived and she could feel them and their general direction even from the inside of Draverdin. She couldn’t be sure, but the locations of where she felt these new little pinpricks seemed to coincide with where she felt them what felt like ages ago.

“Somebody closed the Aperture?” Marfo asked from her side, and she looked over to see him wide-eyed with his mouth open wide in amazement.

“I… guess so,” she said, before celebratory shouts erupted all over the walls, the pent-up stress giving them a voice that echoed loudly through the massive cavern fit to shake the walls down. With a relieved smile, she joined in a moment later, along with her nestmate a split-second after she did.

Whoever just closed the Aperture saved us. I wonder who it was?

In the end, it didn’t really matter. In the coming days, they would probably end up learning what this meant, especially when it came to their mortal enemies, the Umbral Demons, but for now, all Barrisha could process was the fact that she was alive to see another day.

* * *

“Wake up, Gharix. Your body and mind are yours again; you just have to reach out and take it back.”

The words reverberated in his head even though it had been hours since he’d heard it, and it only solidified the fact that he was now back in control of his body, his mind, and his soul – something he had thought was lost forever. He looked over at the powerful, yet strangely gentle, giant as he lifted the head of yet another former shadow-touched and brought them back to themselves with a few simple words.

Somehow, the miraculousness of the situation didn’t seem to faze Larek, despite the fact that it was common knowledge that once someone was shadow-touched, their minds and souls were completely destroyed and replaced by a Demon. When he asked the giant about it, he was told that they weren’t actually destroyed, just locked away with no hope of escape. Then he shrugged when Gharix asked him how it was possible that just a few simple words from him had been enough to unlock the cage their mind and soul were trapped behind.

When he wouldn’t explain more about it, Gharix gave up asking about it and told the others to forget about it as well. Even though it was quickly revealed that no one else could simply speak and wake one of the shadow-touched, every one of them that had been revived had thought it better to simply count their blessings that they were alive and out of the nightmare where they had wound up due to the Umbral Demons.

Who were, apparently, completely wiped out – at least according to Larek. He wasn’t sure if this was 100% accurate, but given the fact that the massive Aperture had not only closed, but broken apart into hundreds of different Apertures that all returned to where they had been pulled from originally, he wasn’t going to refute the explanation. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do now was to chase down any Demons that might be lingering around the underground tunnels; if he never saw or heard about another one in his life, he would be extremely grateful.

Physically shivering as he remembered what had happened to him, he was glad that he had been knocked unconscious during the process of becoming shadow-touched. While the memory of being overrun and knocked out was bad enough, remembering finally regaining consciousness only to find himself completely locked out of his body was somehow worse than death. He had only a rudimentary perception of what his body was doing after he lost control of it, and even the memories of his actions and the world around him was fading in the few hours he had regained control.

He remembered the massive Aperture and how it was a conglomeration of many different Apertures that had been tainted by the shadowy abilities of the Demons, but how it got that way or how it had been broken up were not something he knew. Larek had mentioned when he had fought off the first Demon that had attacked him that he’d connected with its mind and had much of the knowledge the Demon possessed, but either it hadn’t happened to Gharix the same way because he had been unconscious at the time, or it just didn’t transfer over when he’d had to be revived. Regardless, most of what he did remember about the ordeal he was happy to let fade away over time, because most of it was simply horrific to recall.

The only bright spot was that none of his nestmates had perished through all that they had went through, as Larek was able to bring them back. It was a slow process, however, as whatever secret way the giant possessed to wake them up was something that needed to be used slowly, or else he would, “Pass out from overuse,” according to his own words. Still, within the first few hours, more than 40 of them had been brought back, though they were eventually coming to the point where it might be possible that no more would be revived.

Why? Because apparently Larek needed a name to go with a person, or else his words wouldn’t connect properly with them. So far, they had been able to identify more than half of those who had been shadow-touched, but there were more that no one awake recognized the other half. It was possible that once the rest were revived, those people might be able to identify the others, but it was also likely that they couldn’t. If that was the case, they might end up dying from the fact that there was no consciousness in charge of their bodies, which would be a tragedy after having saved them from the Demons.

Sitting with his nestmates, he smiled as Larek was successful in awakening yet another formerly shadow-touched Drekkin, someone that Pyluxa knew from a long time ago. As the newly awoken Martial was quickly taken away by some of the others to answer questions as best as they could, Larek seemed to slump in place, exhaustion wearing him down. After a brief recitation of what occurred after Gharix and his group were taken by the Demons, he could well understand why he was so tired.

He probably could have done this all without us, he thought, before mentally shaking his head.  Seeing how exhausted he was, Gharix knew there was no way the giant would’ve been able to get to the point where he could kill all the Demons without their help; he would’ve fallen before the might of the monster hordes, despite his power.

In the end, even if Gharix and his nestmates had perished, their deaths would’ve been worth it after Larek accomplished what he did. Their people now had a chance to live, to fight back and take control of closing the Apertures that had returned to where they were before.

Wherever he had come from, and for whatever reason he claimed to be traveling through the desert above, the group leader could only be thankful that he had been there. They should all be thankful that he had come to save them, even though he was fairly certain that the giant didn’t see it that way.  From what he understood about the man, Larek had simply wanted revenge for what the Demons had attempted to do to him; even if it had ended up saving every Drekkin and freeing the shadow-touched from their possession, as well as returning the Apertures back to normal, it was just a side effect of getting that revenge.

And now here he was, exhausted to the point where he could barely stand up without help, selflessly using whatever energy he had left to impossibly awaken people who should’ve been lost forever.

He was a hero. A strange one, that much was obvious, but a hero, nonetheless.

Gharix knew that his help with getting his people back on their feet after everything that had happened would be invaluable, as even though the Apertures were back where they had started and were currently closed, they weren’t out of danger. However, he also knew that the man was planning on leaving as soon as possible, as he apparently had his own people to help save back in his own lands.

Sighing at the loss of such power to help them was leaving soon, but knowing that there was no way to stop him from departing, Gharix just hoped that the Kingdom of Androthe appreciated Larek the way that he, and the rest of the Drekkin, now did. He thought that was entirely possible, especially with the way the woman with the reddish-gold hair seemed to follow him around, as if he was someone important to the Kingdom.

They must revere him like royalty there, Gharix couldn’t help thinking, a little jealous that another land would have access to his power and abilities. They’re lucky to have someone as selfless and remarkable as Larek looking out for them.

I bet they throw him a celebration when he returns.

The End