– Urthum's remains –
A little boy and girl hid away in the confines of a building that was still standing, one with multiple floors part of a line of many in that town, of which they took refuge in one of the upper floors.
They were both in their pre-teens with the girl being older.
Their tear filled eyes shook with fear as they looked through the window, the girl covered the mouth of the boy who was whimpering.
What they stared at was a being that would leave even adults in the same situation, in that regard they were brave to the credit of their age.
Through the window they looked a goat eye to eye, it was standing upright with its fore hinds as leverage.
It rubbed its large head against the pane of glass until it stopped and went back down allowing light to pass through the window.
[Thump thump] Their hearts resonated with their current emotions of fear unlike any they had faced, with their breaths being unsteady.
"Sister, I'm scared..." He whimpered and muffled his words as he wrapped his hand around her tightly.
She looked at her brother with fear in her eyes as well, she then embraced him tightly with her jaw on the top of his head. "It'll be alright, mom and dad will come to save us"
Then she closed her eyes only to remember the scene of her father and mother getting stomped during the panic that had ensued where people rushed to evacuate, her brother was on her back sleeping when this occurred.
Tears flowed from her eyes as she comforted him. "It'll be alright…it'll be alright…" she chanted to him amidst the eerie silence that had come from the absence of the goat.
Now they begun calming down, shaking still but to a lesser degree than they had in the moments that preceded their newfound peace.
The silence contrasted deeply with the sounds of destruction in the far distance across all directions, the town was being flattened.
[Tap tap] "Get up we should get out of here." She spoke with a quick mouth as she looked up at the room that had turn dark again.
They were now faced with the underside of the hooves of that very goat as it tore through the building from their location straight down.
The girl muffled her brother's screams with her hand whilst also being terrified to the point of petrification; heartbeats spiking as they embraced even tighter.
The goat ploughed it's head through the now gaping hole in the wall, forcing it through towards them with its horns tearing through the building and it's mouth wide open gnawing towards them ferociously.
As they were about to fall victim to its ruthlessness she stepped up; the sister made a courageous decision even in the grim situation.
She held her brother's arm tightly and ran towards the stairs dragging him along, with teary eyes determined eyes — she had lost both parents she wasn't going to lose her brother.
A young girl she was, but an unrelenting one as she succeeded with the goat stopping at its failure.
They ran through the stairs slamming against the edges on their way down; a result of their haste with their second result being a success; they had made it down.
Now they ran towards the door now in their line of sight only to be stopped by the feet of the goat, it was still there and had never left.
With a kick of its foreleg nearly grazing the girl, it tore through the building which was now unsteady enough to begin crumbling.
Large chunks of wood, stone and the mortar that binded them falling apart all around them, with some smaller ones grazing them.
She had a willful mind but was far too young to traverse this situation, so she defaulted to a primitive approach - backing away.
As they walked slowly in reverse just to be halted by the corners of the wall in the dust filled house, they couldn't see a thing any longer.
Their breaths were heavier, heartbeats were becoming dangerously fast but then they couldn't hear anything from the goat any longer.
…
Instead its wails ravaged the area and light pierced through the dust revealing two figures and their voices could be heard.
"I can feel faint presences in the area, they seem to be children" A boy's voice said.
"I can tell as well, I can't make sense of what they're thinking…they must be terrified.
I'll take the survivors to a safe place for now." A girl replied. "Well be careful…
Even if their aether is less than that of the chameleon and they are easier to deal it, it's worth being careful."
The dust cleared up revealing his figure, with blue hair that contrasted deeply with his red halo, it was Karius, and the one he was speaking to was Laura;
She stood atop the half dead beast, with its limbs riddled with cuts.
It let out a final cry as Karius impaled its neck.
"Good thing that our cells were far apart and they were few guards, it's the best sleep I've gotten in a while." Laura thought as she pulled out her sword that was lodged to its spine.
[Tap tap] she tapped her sword on its skull. "It's as hard as they said" she muttered then tried to sheath her sword.
"Ugh..." She felt mild annoyance at the realisation that she hand no sheath, then ran off into the distance.
Now Karius walked towards the children with his sword in hand "Are you alone?" he asked.
They both nodded monotonously while still shaken up from the prior events.
"What are your names?" Karius bent down to their height as he asked them this, his voice was welcoming unlike his usual more abrasive tone.
"Liel" the girl replied.
"And you?" Karius asked as he faced the boy.
"I'm Lance" he said.
"Liel, Lance it'll be alright now, you just have to come with me to a safe place." said Karius with his hands on their shoulders.
The boy shook his head "My sister said mom and dad will come." The boy replied.
Now Karius turned over to Liel. "Is that true?
Your parents where are they?" He asked.
The little girl nodded in agreement, with a blank stare on her face telling a lie for her brother's sake, one that might have fooled many others yet it was the mind reader that stood in front of them.
("They're dead") He could hear the thoughts in the girl's mind, thoughts that soon left a bad taste at the back of his throat.
"Tch…" He clicked his tongue as he held both of their hands and dragged them out of the building revealing the condition of the town.
The town was far cry from what it was, some buildings were still standing; most weren't, and the perpetrators of this were far from done.
The goats were still many, but now hope had arrived in the form of the special unit whom fought them and the hundreds of army men who were there as aids and searched for survivors In the rubble.
The situation was grim but there was hope.