=====ENTRY #142272194=====
So these were the end times.
Deafening thunder and roaring explosions filled the skies overhead as the poor Dromases growled deeply, unable to escape the conflict stirring ahead of them. Like homing rockets, they were locked on to their destination.
Okhema, the Holy City, the last bastion of hope for humanity here on Izphoreus, the safest place on the planet.
It was under attack.
Fireballs arched through the heavens, impacting structures and walls, blasting through them like they were made of paper. In the distance, Leeseo watched in horror as small figures were blown into the air and flung like ragdolls—people. Civilians. Innocents. Dying.
In another direction, the previously clear blue morning sky was now being clouded and obscured by hundreds—if not thousands—of different Furiae flying through the air. Like a swarm of locusts, they were headed in the same direction that the Nameless and the Chrysos Heirs were headed. Refugees pointed at them, screaming for their lives as they now began to descend on the unknowing Holy City.
The ground rumbled. This time, it wasn’t from the Dromases.
The different minions of strife littered the path that the Dromas had took them to, stomping their way to Okhema as if on a mad and twisted pilgrimage. Their fists beat against the ground like a battlecry before running and rampaging towards whatever sign of life they could see. Some had already gone for the poor Dromas. Some had gone for the citizens fleeing the alleged safehaven of Okhema.
Leeseo couldn’t do a thing. These were the end times, and for the young girl, all she could do was watch as the world came undone around her.
“LOOK OUT! THE COLUMN!”
Before Leeseo could even react, a sweltering heat suddenly hit her as what must have been a large fireball came hurtling down towards the ground just northeast of them, smashing into a large archway that was meant to welcome visitors to the Holy City. Instead, the welcoming they got was the toppling of one of its columns as large chunks of debris came straight down towards the girl and her Dromas.
At the last second, Leeseo remembered what Yujin had told her and immediately scurried to the front of her ride. She began kicking at the wite stone humps of the large beast of burden. Within mere moments, the creature came to a screeching stop, ready to knock and kick Leeseo of of it.
WHAM.
The column came crashing down before them, shattering against the tiled path. Dust from the shattered debris immediately shot towards them in a small shockwave, blinding them temporarily.
Coughing and rubbing at her eyes, Leeseo blinked rapidly and held onto the reigns of her Dromas. The long-necked creature was as stiff as a statue, as if it too was in disbelief over the near death they would have experienced had Leeseo not pissed it off.
But there was no respite for them—immediately, screams of terror filled the air along with the scent of blood and smoke.
“The Furiae! Th-They’re here! How are they here? How did they—AHHHH!”
Leeseo immediately hopped off of her Dromas and yanked it to the side, finding a safe spot of empty grass next to the toppled pillar. “Hide here, ok? Stay. Stay put.”
Once she felt that the animal understood its command, she summoned her baseball bat and immediately jogged back the way they came. Her chest tightened. She was forgetting something—she was forgetting someone.
Liz.
“UNNIE!”
She called out at the top of her lungs. Even though her ears were still ringing from the successive explosions, she yelled as if her life depended on it. “UNNIE! WHERE ARE YOU?”
Blood splattered across her face.
Glancing upwards, she watched as a headless body came falling down towards her.
SPLAT.
Like it was made of glass, the body shattered against the ground, the sound of bones breaking mixed in with the sound of muscles tearing. Leeseo shuddered in pure fear as she glanced at the twisted figure before her.
Death. This was death. This was the first time Leeseo has ever seen someone die.
And right now, all around her, no matter where she looked, there was nothing but death.
Civilians were running for their lives only to run into the clutches of the armies of Nikador. The Furiae spared no one—no man, woman, or child—murdering without discrimination, disposing of their precious lives without remorse. The smell of blood and other fluids was reaching a boiling point in Leeseo’s head, her nostrils unable to take anymore of this rancid sensation. She took a step forward to try and break herself out of the ice that kept her body frozen in place, but her stomach instantly gave way and made her vomit to the side.
This was war.
She heard the familiar sound of a girl crying out in pain. Clutching her bat, she charged towards her direction.
Wading through the battlefield, Leeseo swung her bat at the enemies, but each strike felt weaker than the last.
CRACK. A muscular Furiae lost its right arm.
WHAP. A winged Furiae broke its wings.
TING. TING. TING. A bowed Furiae had its arrows deflected right back at it.
But even as she pushed forward, they kept coming, and coming and coming. They kept coming back. They kept swarming her, them, everything.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of green. Holding her breath, she pushed past two Furiae that tried to wrestle with her, slipping through their herculean figures to make a run for it towards the figure.
“Liz? LIZ!”
She was beaten to near death. From the way only one side of her body was actually wounded and bleeding, Leeseo knew in an instant that she had fallen off the Dromas when she tried to wake Leeseo up. The fireball and the collapsing pillar must have shaken her off. As Leeseo rushed to her side, four Furiae surrounded Liz, each taking one of her limbs and pulling her apart in different directions.
“ARGHHHHHHHH!”
Tears blocked Leeseo’s eyes, but she knew what to strike.
One fell swoop against the head of the first Furiae. Another backhanded bash to the spine of the second. The third and fourth let go of Liz, so this gave Leeseo the opportunity to dart past them and watch as they slammed into each other. It was only then that Leeseo kicked the third one over before smashing its face in. And for the fourth, she stomped its wings to dust before beating in its stomach.
Panting, bloodied, and exhausted, Leeseo fell to her knees, forehead pressed against Liz’s dirtied dressings, sobbing all over her unnie. Her own bloodstained face dried against her clothes.
“Liz-unnie … L-Liz …” she begged, hoping she could still hear her. She tried to hold her hands but her fingers just wouldn’t clutch hers.
“Liz …?”
Coughing and hacking up blood, Liz groaned and sat up, wincing almost immediately from her injuries but still forcing herself into a stand. Leeseo spared no effort to help the injured girl up, and once she found her footing, she scanned their surroundings.
“So … this … is what—hckk—what they meant … when … they said … the end … times …”
Leeseo shook her head, wiping Liz’s mouth with her sleeve. “No … no no no, stop talking, unnie. We’ll get you out of here. We’re almost at Okhema, we just need to—.”
“Head down the path …”
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