The Story of Evil: Volume I - Heroes of the Siege (24 page)

Kari ran down alleys, half spending her time nervously watching all around her. A fear had crept into her mind that a monster would come from around any one of the many corners she was passing.

She exited the alley and entered into the tiny, homey cul-de-sac her apartment was in. She gasped and immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw a huge red, orange, and gray feathered phoenix hovering in the middle of the half-circle of buildings. The monster was blowing flames everywhere, starting fires. Kari quickly darted behind the building she had just run past and then slowly snuck a peek around the corner.

The restaurant was already aflame. There was a sound of shattering glass as the intense heat broke the windows of the restaurant. The shattering was soon followed by a small explosion.
The fire must have ignited our cooking oil.

Tears welled in Kari’s eyes as she watched the flames rise within seconds and engulf her apartment above the restaurant. Everything she owned was in there save the bow, quiver, and the locket around her neck. The feeling in her legs gave out, and she sunk to a crouched position with her back against the building as she thought about everything she was losing.

She didn’t have much in monetary value by the world’s standards, but her belongings were special to her. Her favorite item in the house was likely one of the first to burn. An old friend of Kari’s parents kept tabs on Kari unbeknownst to her. The lady knew Kari didn’t have much financially. She had purchased Kari’s parents’ dinner table and chairs when their household items went up for auction after Kari’s mother died. She gave Kari the kitchen furniture for free. Kari was moved by the act of kindness. It was the table she had sat at as a child with her father, listening to his incredible stories and tales of adventure.

The dinnerware that went on that table was the hardest earned item in the apartment. She wanted to have a fancy cutlery collection for when guests came over to eat, but she could only afford to buy a couple pieces at a time. Occasionally she would barter and trade to get parts of the complete set, but mostly she had to save up her money. One week, she only had enough to buy forks and spoons. The next week, she bought the knives. Two weeks later, she had saved up enough to buy the decorative plates and cups. Once Kari had dinnerware for three and felt that her home was adequately furnished, she invited her aunt and uncle to join her for supper.

Kari had been so upset when they had come in and ate with her, only to criticize the quality of the dinnerware. They then went around and critiqued all of her cheap paintings on the walls, along with the minor flaws they saw in the table, chairs, bed, and other furniture she had worked so hard to acquire.

All she wanted to do was make a good impression. She was so proud of what she had accomplished on her own, but it could never have been enough for them.

That was the last time she saw her aunt or uncle. She assumed if they were by her side right now, they would be happy to see the worthless junk burning. Although she didn’t get along with them, she still loved them, and she would never forget how they lent a helping hand when she and her mother had nowhere else to go.
Wherever they are, I hope they are safe.

Other than the family table, the thing that she was going to miss most of all was all of the gold that she had saved up for the trips she was planning. Sometimes it was just two or three gold coins a week, but it had been adding up for years. She had everything planned. Three weeks from today, she would have had enough gold to take a trip to Almiria.

Countless hours of hard work gone within minutes. Now I’m going to have to find a new job and a new place to live. Once again I will have to adapt in a new environment because things always seem to be taken from me unexpectedly.

She angrily stood up. The phoenix was setting fires at the other end of the small cul-de-sac. All of the buildings were connected side by side, with no space between them. No doubt every building would eventually catch the fire of its neighbor, but the phoenix was enjoying causing immediate destruction.

Kari sprinted behind the enormous beast and burst through the door of the unlocked building next to the restaurant. She could feel the heat already starting to come through the shared restaurant wall. The room Kari ran through was filled with smoke. She quickly took a flight of stairs two steps at a time and exited out onto the roof. In this less wealthy section of Celestial, roofs were considered another floor of the building. People often slept under the stars when the weather allowed for it. Cookouts and dinners were sometimes held on roofs as well. There was always a short barrier wall that surrounded the entire perimeter of the rooftop. It protected people from accidently falling off the side.

The barrier was tall enough to conceal Kari as she crouched behind it. She turned and slowly peeked over the short wall at the phoenix.
There he is.
The monster’s entire focus was set on a house he was melting about four buildings to the left of the destroyed restaurant. There was screaming coming from inside the house.
The Gutlingers live there.

The Gutlingers were a family of four, two parents and their two teenage boys. The boys were polite and well mannered. They frequented the restaurant Kari worked at and were always in good moods when Kari was their waitress. She knew they each had a crush on her, but she was too old for them.

Kari didn’t know which one of the four Gutlingers was screaming, but she hated the thought of any of them experiencing pain. They were a giving family. Mr. Gutlinger was a farmer and didn’t make a lot of money, but he gave what gold he could to help in the local community. He, his wife, and sons were always donating their time. Kari believed spending time doing volunteer work for charity was more beneficial than just giving money.

The side of the phoenix’s face was exposed to Kari as he was burning the residence. Kari, still crouched down, moved along the wall to get a better angle. She notched an arrow, drew back her bowstring, and stood up. The phoenix noticed the tiny movement out of the corner of his right eye. But it was too late. The arrow flying into his eye was the last sight that eye ever saw.

It had only taken Kari a second to find her mark and release.

Bull’s eye!

Kari was already off and running before the shot landed. She knew it would be accurate from the moment it left the bow. She hurdled over the roof’s barrier and sprinted across the rooftops, away from the monster. Behind her, she heard the monster growl in pain as the center of his eye had been deeply impaled by the arrow.

The phoenix’s powerful wings flapped up and down as he ascended high into the air. Since the phoenix had low energy from the amount of element he had expelled, he used his long, feathered tail to attack. The monster glided through the air, negating the distance Kari had created within seconds. The tail lashed down, smashing hard through the roof Kari had just jumped off of. The roof was nearly split in half from the impact. The next attack was horizontal instead of vertical. The phoenix smashed through the front of the next building, causing the roof Kari was on to sharply slant. Kari nearly lost her balance, but kept her footing and vaulted over the next barrier and onto the next rooftop.

The phoenix roared again partly because of the pain he was in, but mostly it was a roar of frustration. He wanted to quickly end the life of this halfling female that had blinded his right eye.

Kari jumped off a roof and over an alleyway gap before landing safely on another building top. She escaped her home plaza, which was now reduced to a giant ring of burning buildings. She ran over rooftops trying her best to create more distance between herself and the phoenix. Kari tried running to the right, on the phoenix’s blindside. If he lost sight of her, she would have a chance to take cover and hide.

Another gap was jumped over, but the phoenix was still coming after her and getting closer. The beast was flying dangerously low, gliding over the rooftops she had already crossed. Kari landed on the inclined roof of a church. Shingles broke off underneath her, preventing her from finding stable footing. She started to slide down the roof, back in the direction of the phoenix.

This is it
, was all she could think.
This is how I die.

Luckily the angry phoenix was going so fast that he wasn’t able to slow his massive weight. As Kari slid down, the monster flew right over her head. He crashed through the church’s stone bell tower and spiraled down into the ground with the debris.

Kari realized nothing was going to stop her from falling off the roof as she skidded down the steep incline. There was nothing to grab onto for support.

A fall from this tall church roof will break both my legs, if it doesn’t kill me
.

Kari’s only option was to jump for the stone balcony jutting out from the side of the building she had been running on before transitioning to the church’s roof.

Her stomach landed right on the railing of the balcony, knocking the wind out of her. She fell backwards to the ground and smashed the back of her head on the street. She rolled around in pain on the ground trying to breathe air back into her lungs.

After recovering with deep breaths, she continued running without a specific destination. She didn’t know where to go for safety now that her home was gone.
My aunt and uncle live too far away. I will have to head to the nearest watchtower.

She turned the corner to run down the road and found herself staring into the eyes of three snarling dire wolves. Dire wolves were three times larger than regular wolves. Regular wolves were just animals, but dire wolves were monsters because they were created by the evil god. They were far more dangerous and vicious than regular wolves. One clean bite could tear off a person’s limb.

The dire wolves’ mouths were all dripping with red blood as they angrily bared their teeth and snarled at the sight of her, waiting for her to make a move. Two of them had their own blood on them, gushing out from deep cuts in their sides.

Kari knew she had no time to draw an arrow and loose it. Even if she had tried to shoot them, each dire wolf would require three or four shots to go down. There were only seven arrows left in her quiver. She turned and started sprinting back the way she came, knowing dire wolves ran five times as fast as people. The three, four legged monsters chased her down the road. Kari turned into an alley, hoping that the monsters would be too fast for their own good, like the phoenix, and not be able to stop and turn the corner as quickly as she could.

She underestimated the abilities of the muscle-bound beasts. The dire wolves could stop and accelerate very easily. Turning into the alley bought her no time. In fact, the dire wolves gained ground on her because of the move.

Kari kicked out the bottom of a stack of crates, sending them tumbling behind her. It took more time for her to do that than it took for the monsters to jump over them. She heard their growls getting closer and closer. There was nothing she could do to slow them down and nothing she could do to speed herself up.

The red, orange, and gray feathered phoenix had risen up out of the wreckage of the church’s bell tower and roof. He had located Kari and saw her being chased by the three monsters. The alley was too narrow for him to fly into, so he soared above the rooftops.

Kari heard a snarled growl behind her and then the chomp of a jaw as the closest dire wolf, the leader of the pack, took a bite out of the tunic she was wearing. The dire wolf lunged again. Kari knew this time it would bite more than just cloth.

Before she felt the pain, Kari felt the heat. The entire alley behind her was filled with a flaming inferno from the phoenix’s element. All of the fire had nowhere to go except to quickly follow her down the narrow alley. It consumed the three dire wolves, killing them as soon as they were touched.

Kari burst out of the alley and into a tiny square plaza, as the flames exploded out after her. She fell to dirt floor and rolled around as her clothes caught on fire. The burning flames were suffocated, but they had not been extinguished fast enough. They had melted holes through the back of her shirt and burned her skin. It wasn’t as bad as the man she had tried to save in the arena, but she still had suffered terrible second degree burns.

Kari cried out loud from the pain. There was nothing she could do to heal herself.

The only thing in the plaza other than buildings was an incredibly tall iron pole standing in the center of the square. On top of it was the statue of some famous warrior. Standing at the base and looking up, you could barely even see the statue. Kari hid behind the wide iron column as the phoenix descended into the plaza. The ground shook when he landed. The monster searched for her with his one good eye.

He hadn’t seen where she went because his bright fireball blocked his view. As far as the phoenix knew, the woman could have been incinerated just like the three dire wolves. But he was not taking any chances that she might still be alive. Monsters always exacted revenge for pain caused to them.

Kari was breathing rapidly from all the sprinting she had done since she left the arena, but was trying as hard as she could to slow her breath and keep still and quiet. Her back was to the wide circular pole, and she took quiet sideways steps to keep out of the phoenix’s sight as the monster prowled around the square. He was searching the vacant plaza and peering into the buildings that surrounded it in case Kari had escaped into one of them. He saw civilians in one and blasted fire into the building, killing the people inside and setting the home aflame.