Chapter 47: Another One

Under the cover of darkness, the Summoned carefully advanced, trying their best to avoid detection. So far, it seemed like they hadn’t been spotted. They maneuvered cautiously until they reached the wall near the front gate.

Two goblin guards stood outside, oblivious to what was about to happen. Now within range, Lucas gave the signal, and the two with bows started preparing their arrows.

Claire hit her mark, but Julia wasn’t strong enough to control the draw strength of the bow, causing her to miss. Claire quickly made up for the mishap by taking out the other guard.

With the two guards dead, they busted down the gate and hid under the cover of the gatehouse, where a commotion nearly got Lucas killed.

After some rousing words, Lucas coerced four people to commit an act of distraction tantamount to suicide. It left a sour taste in Zayn’s mouth, but he had more important matters on his mind.

After all hell broke loose on the four sacrifices, Axel and Lucas used the short moment of tranquility to burst into the open and dash toward the entrance to the right watchtower.

Zayn followed and, with his superior intake of Aether Shards, overtook Lucas.

Barely avoiding a few arrows, he was the second to enter behind Axel.

Zayn ran up behind Axel, who mutilated goblin after goblin. Once on the landing aligned with the battlements, he watched Axel keep ascending the stairs higher and higher. Zayn stayed on the landing and fended off the goblins that charged them.

[You have slain a Nascent Aberrant, Goblin]

[You have slain a Nascent Aberrant, Goblin]

Each goblin he killed added to a wall of corpses that started to act as a barricade against the other encroaching goblins. In no time, others joined Zayn in his defense, which eventually, for some unknown reason, led to the goblins’ full retreat.

Where to? Probably the castle, but nobody knew for sure.

When the last goblin disappeared from the battlements, Zayn heard an irritating, grating voice come from behind him.

Cynthia had appeared on the landing and screamed at Lucas:

"You monster! How could you do that?! Six people died because of your actions! Maybe even more!"

’Six... six and not a single one was a disaster.’

Zayn watched as Cynthia and Lucas argued. He prepared himself once again to quell the situation if needed, but Cynthia did something even he didn’t expect.

Cynthia drew her sword and lunged at Lucas.

Zayn, already prepared, swiftly intercepted the attack, disarmed her, and pinned Cynthia to the ground. He pressed his bare foot against her neck.

"Too far..."

[Disaster: Cynthia Vespertine - Identified.]

’What the hell?! Another?!’

This was getting out of hand. It was all getting out of hand.

’Only nineteen of us remain, and three are disasters, seriously?’

Zayn couldn’t fathom his terrible, downright awful luck.

But he couldn’t let it show.

At first, he was going to say just a little to calm her down, but he needed to hide his reaction, so he started rambling:

"Many people died after following his orders to raid that camp. You could have fully rebelled then, taken up a sword against him with Cory, so why now? I know why. It is because at the time, your life was in your own hands."

Zayn spoke words to her that made some sense, but his mind was too focused on what he’d just learned. He heaved a sigh at the unfairness of it all.

He continued spouting:

"You followed Lucas because..."

Their back-and-forth continued. The whole time, the turmoil raging in Zayn’s head revolved around one question:

’What should I do?’

Should he be a hypocrite and help Cynthia rekindle her dwindling connection with the group? Or would he forgo that in lieu of letting her alienate herself and most likely die later on?

In the end, he didn’t get to make the decision. Lucas had forced the answer — she’d live, for now...

Zayn left her with parting words:

"Just be thankful you get to live. Cherish the life you have before it leaves you."

He felt awful saying those words to the very person he would eventually kill. Yet he felt forced to say them nonetheless.

***

After an awkward night, the Summoned made their last charge on the castle.

With a swift kick, Lucas blew open the front gate, and then the Summoned annihilated the weak group of goblins blocking their way, but a problem arose.

Behind them, a horde of goblins emerged from the forest in the distance and made for the castle.

With no time to rationalize, they split off, with Zayn, Maks, Ryon, Connor, and Axel heading to face the Goblin King, while the others would try to delay the horde.