Side Story – The Fall (1/2)

It was a sudden day. TreeTree started screaming in their heads that something was happening, and they had to be prepared.

“What’s going on?” One of the Valthorns asked Lausanne. “Why do we all hear Aeon’s voice?”

“Something bad is coming! Let’s go, let’s go.” Lausanne snapped. They’ve never had Aeon suddenly warn them in this manner. Not... ever. “To the woods!”

Everyone fled, but it was a mess. The planned underground bunkers were not good places, but not everyone got the message, so some of them still ran for the bunkers. Some wondered whether it was a false alarm, like that time when the demon supercannon attacked.

Some just shrugged it off. “Nothing to worry about, Aeon will take care of it.”

For the first time, sadly, Aeon’s powers were not enough.

The sky darkened almost instantly, as the ‘shockwave’ of the demon king’s corrupting mana flooded the distant skies. The first wave came, and they felt the entirety of the valley shake like never before. Roots started popping out of the floor, and so did cracks.

It’s as if the roots were fighting the earth itself, trying to hold the ground together despite the earth trying to break apart.

Then came the flames. The cracks started to spit out weird, blackish things that spawned strange demon-like creatures.

“Demons!” It was a battle now, but the ground was shaking uncontrollably.

“Where’d they come from?”

Roots started emerging to impale the demons, and often swallowing them altogether.

No one was free to answer.

Lausanne activated her special familiar, and used the vine whips to quickly move, avoiding the cracking earth below. Luckily, her mom was usually found in the [secret hideout], so she figured her mom was safe.

The ground shook, and they saw the skies turn red, and then black. Black flames filled the distant skies, and the trees in the horizon burned.

It wasn’t hard to figure out that the demon king did something. But they can only hope to survive it.

Another crack, this time, right across New Freeka, and a jet of black flames shot out, burning through multiple houses and people. The fires emitted were unnatural, a mix of black and red. People burned, and Lausanne had never seen so much death in her life.

But she didn’t panic. Somehow, somewhere, something drove her to run, using her vines to pull as many as she could out to safety.

Buildings started collapsing, the outer walls fell. Houses burned.

Another crack.

A streak of fire emerged.

They ran for the woods.

Another massive crack appeared in the ground, and black fires emerged from the gap. Roots appeared to try and pull the cracks back together, but the roots too got burned. Still, more roots appeared to take it’s place.

All she could hear was shouts, screams and cries for help. She tried. Beetles appeared, and they moved on their own, carrying as many as they could towards the deep forests.

“Lady Lausanne, I’m glad you’re safe.” Madeus appeared, he levitated in the air using some kind of magic. He created shields and they worked somewhat to redirect the flames.

“What’s Aeon doing?”

“I’m sure it’s fighting this demonic energy.” Throughout the valley there were many cracks and also many roots appearing. “We don’t have much time, the area closest to Aeon is the safest. We must go quickly.” He levitated and also attempted to carry a few others with him, dodging jets of fire that emerged.

“Did you see Uncle Jura?”

“I’m afraid not, but I think he should be fine.” Madeus said. “I must go.”

Lausanne nodded, and sidestepped a fire jet. She created a wood shield to block a black fire. The shield disintegrated almost instantly, but it did block it.

People were running, but the cracks were getting bigger, especially in New Freeka’s outer districts. Even the Valtrian Order’s headquarters were not spared, as everything just went up in flames. The hotel was partially burning too.