Hope’s End. Despite what its na might suggest, the city was one of the most prosperous settlents to erge after the Great World War.
It started as nothing but a refugee camp where the survivors of a nuclear bomb gathered and in just a couple of decades it grew to the size of the city previously known as New York, becoming a symbol of human perseverance against the cruelty of the world.
That city faced a disaster unlike any other. Reality itself crumbled as madness-driven abominations spilled into the world, bringing with them suffering that far surpassed anything seen two decades ago.
Fissures parted the ground, buildings toppled and fell, and fires burned and spread. Scrams and wails echoed. Blood spilled and flowed. In a matter of minutes, the once prosperous city had most of its landscape replaced by otherworldly devastation.
The horrors painted a picture of the end of the world. Warriors of myth erged and a long battle ensued. The abominations were defeated and the gates to hell were closed, but there was no restoring life to its previous order.
The survivors could only hide in the shelters. News spread that they would be moved to a safer location, one that couldn’t be reached by the monsters that threw their lives into chaos. That did little to put their hearts at ease, however, and as the minutes ticked by they could only await the return of the chaos.
~[ ]~
The sun was setting and darkness enveloped the world, gradually hiding the desolation that once was the city of Hope’s End. As he watched the light retreat behind the distant horizon, Ronny Frankly heaved a tried and failed to suppress a yawn.
"Damn it."
His shift had barely started yet he wished to be anywhere else besides that roof. Guard duty was never his thing. He felt that such mundane tasks were beneath him, especially when the thing he was guarding was nothing more than a bunch of Level 1s from a lower realm.
Why should he, a Level 4 Highlander, be lowered to the position of a re guard?
He kept asking himself that question despite already knowing the answer. Delegations to dying worlds were an easy way to earn AP and extra rits. They didn’t last very long so one didn’t have to worry about being stuck and missing out on better opportunities and important events.
When he chose to go on one, Ronny expected to be fighting monsters day in and day out, yet after the first incursion not a single rift had opened again in area he was stationed in, leading to him being stuck guarding the survivors huddling in the shelters.
"Soone looks bored."
A rry voice drew his attention to the left. Seeing it was Gunther, another mber of his squad, and the other guard stationed with him, Ronny scoffed and turned his gaze to the face of the dark city again.
"Tell sothing I don’t know."
The two were stuck together so he didn’t understand how the other guy managed to stay positive.
"Sothing you don’t know?" Gunther made an exaggerated show of thinking before bringing the bottom of his right fist down on his palm. "Oh! How about an interesting rumor I heard lately?"
Ronny raised an eyebrow, showing that his interest was piqued.
"There is this city a few miles to the east called Stonegate. Apparently, it survived a Lord’s invasion!"
A wave of disappointnt crashed into Ronny and he wanted to curse his comrade for getting his hopes up.
"Guess they had it easy."
A Lord was nothing to scoff at, but an invasion consisting of only on wasn’t much to speak of. Hope’s End received a visit from two in addition to five Demons and a massive army of Fiends and Nightmares. It took the combined power of every Peace Keeper in the city and the Head General to defeat every last wretched Fallen.
"The Lord itself isn’t what’s interesting here. The Head General was the one who dealt with it anyway."
"Cut to the chase already."
"Alright," coughing to clear his throat, Gunther wiped the smile off of his face and spoke in an unusually serious tone. "From what I heard, ever since it crossed the border, that lord had been chasing after a single guy."
"A single guy?" Ronny gave him a doubtful look.
"Yes, a single guy. Apparently-"
Just as he was about to go into detail, a faint glimr caught their attention and they whipped their heads in its direction. An instant later the building they were standing on suddenly imploded.
Several explosions followed the next second and the darkness surrounding the city was montarily expelled. Lightning rained from the cloudless sky and struck seemingly random areas.
Landing on the building adjacent to the one they used as a watchtower, Ronny and Gunther studied the fires and instantly ca to a realization.
"The shelters...?"
"Watch out!"
Sparks scattered as Gunther’s sword collided with sothing. Ronny saw that it was another blade swung by a stranger draped in a crimson cloak. Several more landed nearby and lunged at them with weapons drawn.
"Red hoods?" Ronny’s eyes widened slightly before narrowing into sharp slits. He clicked his tongue and swiped his right hand on his face causing a bone white mask to appear. A two-handed sword with a lusterless black blade manifested in his other hand and he raised it just in ti to block the weapon swing at him by one of the cloaked assailants.
Ronny relaxed his hold which caused his opponent to lose balance and tumble forward. Punching him in the face, he then swung his dark blade upward and cleaved straight through him before turning to the next target.
The ease with which he killed the first one gave him confidence, but when he saw the two dozen identical cloaks surrounding him and his squadmate he couldn’t help but feel alard, and it didn’t stop at just those. The explosions were becoming more frequent and he could hear the clanging of tal nearby. In less than a minute the desolate yet peaceful city beca a battlefield once again, but instead of Underworld monsters, it was humans fighting each other on either side.
"Ronny!" Gunther retreated to the center of the encirclent, his back facing his squadmate’s. "I’m not seeing things, am I?"
"Ah," glaring at the enemy surrounding them, Ronny clicked his tongue. "Things just got a lot more complicated."
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