120 Spoiler, so no title (2/2)
”But! But! There is something we can do? Right? Anything? You, tell me! Anything!” The old man from the Eltritch family began to shout at an extremely muscular officer, with a weirdly cut beard. If it had been any other situations, some could have found funny that a frail elder was acting like that in front of such a tall warrior. But because of the oppressing silence, this only reinforced the weight that was on their minds.
”Let him, whatever we had was used before. And I guess that not even the White Hand can save us now.” Andre laconically brought up the only name that had a sliver of chances to do something. After all, it was no secret that their new Mayor was truly appreciated by the criminal organization, even if it made no sense. Moments later, before the first survivor could reach the ramparts, an inconspicuous man approached the group.
Some recognized him but were too numb by what they saw to even be shocked. The fact that someone that belonged to darkness was willing to walk in broad light was enough to confirm the sentences pronounced by Andre. The only specificity that could differentiate him from a normal citizen was his limp leg, that was significantly slower than his other leg. But that was only a minute difference since it was barely perceptible if it wasn't known beforehand.
”Mayor, Andre, gentlemen. I am sorry to inform you that we have decided to remove all our agents from Archet from this very moment. This will be the last time we see each other in Archet. Farewell.” His elegant posture and fluent speech did not reduce the impact of what he said. But at the same time, everyone understood the logic behind it. Unlike the nations, like the Republic of Avenio, that had a duty of protecting those living under it, the Organization was not bound by those rules. It was often that protecting a certain individual or a group was in their interest. But they would not sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
Right before the envoy of the White Hand left, he still turned around to give his personal advice. ”Just one last thing. Try to submit to them. Even if they had not left a single survivor from my peers, they still sparred a group of adventurers for no obvious reasons. I can only hope your luck is good, but it is worth the shot.”
”Thank you for your advice, we will try everything to save Archet.”
”Good, good. That's good” Descending the stairs, he was nowhere to be seen after a cart coincidentally cut their line of sight. As for his advice, that was just a hopeless dream. They will try it, they will bet their lives on it because that was their only choice. Nothing else could save them anymore, not even the intervention of a god. ”If you have anyone to pray to clean your mind and cleanse your sins, it is the moment.” Gwendoline was seeing with them the hundreds of humans running for their lives but were still hunted like stray dogs.
There was now barely a few hundred meters before they will reach the walls of Archet, but the chances that even one could manage to do this were slim. The dark armors were relentless at slaughtering the soldiers of Avenio, not sparing a single one. Because of this, the guards responsible for opening the gates could only look at their superiors, not knowing what to do. They did not want to condemn another fellow human to die by closing the door but did not want just one monster to enter the city.
As uncertain as them, they could only look at the only one capable of making that decision. Only the Mayor could free them from the guilt of thinking for themselves instead of helping others. Noticing the insisting gazes of the officers nearby, she looked at the direction they were pointing. Linking quickly the two together, she did the only thing she could do, shoulder the blame alone. ”Close the gates!” Her order was spread with the speed of light, but this also made the quickest runners shout in panic.
Those standing on the ramparts could only decide to not hear anything, some even putting their hands on their ears. The already weak minds of some collapsed with such close proximity, and they left the premises. Whether they were part of the group of Gwendoline or real guards, none prevented them from doing so. The already scarcely populated ramparts began to be even emptier. The deserters were not even caught, letting them spread panic in the clueless population. Seeing the mess that was being created under their eyes,they still did not move.
When the last living being in the outside fell down on the ground, his heart pierced by a sword, they could see some dark armors looking at them, menacingly. Surprisingly, that was the extent of their actions, they began to fall back silently, returning toward the bloodied battlefield. Seeing that maybe their prayers had worked, a few began to murmur a bit louder what they were psalming. Even Andre was slightly dumbfounded. ”Could the gods truly hear us? After all those years?”
The non-believer that was Gwendoline could only shake her head. From what she knew, the being called a god was not worthy of all the praises he could receive. But if it could pacify the other humans, that was good enough for her. Nonetheless, she could not resist expressing her disbelief. ”Not necessarily, they could only have orders about that. Weird ones, I agree on that. But that was not the action of a god, it's not like we would see the birth of a Hero under our very own eyes, ri...”
She was suddenly cut by the apparition of a pillar of light on the horizon. Remembering what the Mayor had said seconds ago, they could only think of one thing, something that would have been unthinkable weeks ago. A Hero. Shouting in happiness and even hugging themselves, none noticed the crumbling expression of Gwendoline. All she could think was that now that she had chosen a side, she could no longer be considered as someone to protect for the Heroes. And could even be hunted down.