He took one last look over the wall, just in time to see the man on the horse get consumed by the living black cloud, ripped to pieces in seconds. By the Gods! The soldier could not believe his eyes. But that man had spent his last moments trying to warn the town. Life and death could be decided by mere seconds, and if one extra child could be saved due to the early warning... the soldier rang the large bell with all his might.
Eric and Aena were almost to the house when they heard the loud clanging echoing through the town. “What is th—?” She never finished her sentence as Eric grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her down the street, almost making her fall several times. Men exploded through their front doors, tying makeshift leather harnesses containing swords and daggers around their waists as wives clung to their shoulders begging them not to go.
When they got to the house, he flung the door open and heaved her through. “Wait here!” he said after pushing her roughly into a chair and running up the stairs. He bolted into his room and grabbed his sword leaning in the corner of the room. He shouted one last time for Aena to not leave the house as he raced down the stairs and out into the street. She yelled something back, but he didn’t hear. He knew what that bell meant and intended to deal with whatever was threatening his town...his friends.
The town’s militia filled the streets, some with swords drawn while others had long bows, arrows notched and ready. Eric followed their gaze toward the nightmarish spectacle as black leathery-winged creatures swooped down from the sky. Some were actually running toward the men, holding clubs and other crude weapons.
The militia who had their bows ready let loose a spray of arrows toward a group that remained in the air. One appeared to sprout arrows from every inch of its body as it fell to the ground, oozing black liquid from the wounds. Others took hits as well, but were still very much in the fight as they landed in the street and kept on running toward the soldiers, all the while pulling embedded arrows from their bodies.
An echoing hiss filled the air as the bowmen all drew swords at the same time, charging ahead to meet the attackers. Eric was right with them at first, before pulling ahead of the militia. From there everything happened fast, yet seemed to take an eternity. The two sides collided in a frenzy of violence. Swords clashed against claws as equal amounts of red and black began to stain the street. Eric concentrated on his breathing, his forms, and his state of mind.
His conscious mind floated in nothingness as his sword danced the forms perfectly, slicing through black flesh as if it were water. His sword deviated from its deadly pattern by inches now and again just to deflect a claw or snapping tail, then continued its frighteningly efficient path of death. It all looked like one smooth continuous movement, a relentless tornado made of steel.
His sword strikes slashed with the speed of a viper, but through his eyes everyone else seemed to be moving in slow motion. He was aware of everything: where everyone was around him, of the creatures backing away from him and trying to move on to easier prey as he cut them down in succession before they could even turn away.
In his heightened awareness he knew long before looking, but looked anyway: A quarter of the militia had fallen, and still more of those things were landing around them. There was no time to distract the mind with logic. What kind of nightmare was this? Where had these things come from? He tried to block out all the flaws of the conscious mind, those that could not begin to contemplate what was happening here. His mind floating in nothingness and reaction time was all that counted right now.
Rushing down the street, it was hard to determine who could still be helped. Bodies lay everywhere: Some were militia who had given their lives to defend those they loved, others children whose lives had ended before they ever began. Lord Pike’s body lay in the street, a sword stained with black close to his open hand. The man was no soldier, but he was no coward either. He had chosen to fight rather than hide.
Eric had to concentrate on keeping his anger in check. He wanted to send as many of these demons into the afterlife as he could, but he had to stay under control. Despite what people thought, emotions had no place in combat. He heard screams all around him, but one nearby caught his attention.