A concrete haystack

GROUP B'S POV:

Nartoko and his group creep around the streets, trying to stay as hidden as possible while they make their way to Tally's store.

They cross the street and stick to the shadows casted by the moon as they get closer to the store.

The group get to the front door and try to open it however the door is locked

"Doors locked. I'm glad yet simultaneously pissed" Nartoko says.

"Hold on, i'll handle this" Cidal says as he steps up to the lock before tapping the orb of his staff against it. As he does, a ethereal key enters the lock and the door is promptly opened just a few seconds later.

"Damn, having a mage around is pretty handy" Radvar comments.

The group walk inside and close the door behind them but not before triggering the entrance bell.

The quintet scout around but are met with silence and gathering dust. No signs of movement or life in the entire store, almost like the life was literally sucked out of the place.

"God's above, this place is desolate. The monsters out there are more alive than in here" Parlo comments.

Cidal however silently disagrees as he begins to sense something in the air and as he confirms what it is, he announces, "I sense magic around us".

The group look at him before Radvar asks, "You can sense magic? What are you? Fucking half houndum?".

"A trained mage can sense magic in their surroundings if they train their senses enough. There's many a story of elder mages being able to literally see magic in the air".

"Okay, thanks for the history lesson but what about the magic?" Nartoko asks.

Cidal then replies, "It's an illusion, to make this place seem more abandoned than originally thought. It takes a powerful mage to be able to use this spell this effectively".

"Why thank you".

The group all turn around and immediately see Talyisha Dremoné aka Tally standing there.

"Talyisha! You're alright" Nartoko says.

"I am captain. It seems you five are alright as well given the circumstances" Tally calmly replies.

"Yeah, it's a shitshow out there, glad you hunkered down while you did".

"If I may, with magic as powerful as this, why aren't you out there fighting?" Cidal asks Tally.

Tally smiles, "I am not primarily versed in offensive spellcasting, I always preferred defence and illusion. It is why so many people came to me for aid in hiding them".

"Wait, there's people here?" Parlo asks.

"Yes, around forty or so. I didn't take the time to do a full head count considering the dire situation".

Nartoko then promptly asks, "Is there by any chance a fairy down there? Potentially with Sylus?".

"I'm afraid not" Tally answers, "We haven't had anyone else enter since the inital attack, you five are the first since then".

The group all have a scared look on their faces so Tally asks, "What's wrong?".

Cidal is the one to answer, "The woman who caused all of this, she is looking for that fairy and if she finds her...".

"The necromancer could enhance her power to a world-destroying level by using the fairy" Tally interrupts.

"That's about the gist of it".

Everyone goes silent for a moment after Cidal's response but that's when Parlo says, "I hope the others have more luck than us".

GROUP A'S POV:

The group, currently led by Kyuala and John as they make their way toward Sylus' store.

"Ahh, gods almighty, why do I have tae hae such wee legs?" Daffy mutters to herself as she closely follows behind.

Daffy eventually gets her reprieve as the group gets to Sylus' shop.

They scan the inside through the window and see that the door is barricaded with chairs and hefty looking crates.

"Alright, someone is definitely in there, the question is: How do we get in?" John asks.

Kyuala then lets out a chuckle before saying, "Hold my axe".

John does as Kyuala asks and goes to holds her axe. As he takes the axe, it turns out that he really misjudged the weight of as he nearly lets it drop to the ground before adjusting properly.

Kyuala meanwhile has got right up to the door and placed her shoulder up against it while planting her feet on the cobblestone street below. She then takes a few breaths, preparing herself before pushing up against the door. The door moves a few inches as the makeshift barricade begins is no match for Kyuala's strength.

Kyuala grunts as she continues to push against the door and after a few moments, the barricade crumbles backward and the door is opened.

"Weak people first" Kyuala says with a grin as John returns the axe.

"Never thought I'd ever wish to be manhandled until now" John thinks to himself as the five enter the store.

Kyuala closes the door as the group begin to look around the store.

"Amilia, Daffy, you two watch the door. We don't need any friends deciding to come shopping" John says with the two agreeing as they stay put. Terra, Kyuala and John then walk into the back as they continue looking.

"Sylus, you in here?" Kyuala says out loud but gets no response back.

"Did you think that would work?" John asks.

"I figure it's the least I could do after pretty much breaking in and sneaking around" Kyuala responds as she looks in a room but sees nothing on importance or interest.

"Nothing in here".

Kyuala walks out of the room and sees the others doing the same.

"Nothing but empty weapon racks in there" Terra says.

"Unless he was hiding under his covers, then nothing in his room either" John adds.

The trio are at a standstill, unsure of what to do but as they mull around, Kyuala notices something odd on the floor leading to the room that Terra just left.

The orc heads right for the weapon rack and so John and Terra follow as the elf asks, "What's wrong? What do you see?".

"Blood" Kyuala responds as she follows the trail to to the side of the rack before pushing it away from the wall. As Kyuala finishes moving the weapon rack away, that's when they see what the rack was hiding...

A hatch.

"Sylus, you clever bastard" Kyuala mutters to herself.

Immediately, Kyuala kneels down before grabbing the handle and goes to open said hatch up.

Kyuala pulls the hatch door open and immediately moves to the left as a crossbow bolt fires up into the ceiling and gets stuck.

"Woah! Sylus! It's Kyuala!" Kyuala shouts down the hatch as Terra and John ready themselves for a potential fight.

There's no respond from below for a few moments but as the trio look amongst each other, they hear a weak voice call out.

"Ky?".

The trio look down the hatch and see none other than Sylus shakily holding a crossbow.

"Sylus!" Kyuala happily exclaims as she immediately heads down the small ladder in the hatch.

Terra and John then follow soon after and as John gets down off the ladder, he turns around to see Sylus on a chair with Terra examining his arm.

"What happened to you?!" Kyuala asks.

"Argh, after John took that blast from Imoga, those bastards attacked us. We had to retreat but not many of us made it out, by the time we escaped from their grasp, there was only about five of us left before they started chasing us down. We tried to fight but it was five against at least thirty of the bastards, one of them swiped at me and gave me this. I had **** but to run after that, eventually I got us back here and barricaded it as best I could before getting down here".

"Wait... us?" John asks, praying for a good answer.

"Yeah, after you got dropped by Imoga, I got Lani out of there".

John's heart is filled with relief yet simultaneously is drowned in dread as he then asks, "Where is she?".

"In the back there... on the pillow".

The dread squeezing John's heart immediately goes away as he quickly makes his way to the back where he sees a small figure laying on a white pillow at the edge of a bed.

John walks over to the bed and takes a seat beside the pillow as he looks down at the fairy he's been looking for since waking up.

A huge smile appears on his face as he looks at the sleeping Lani and as he looks on...

Lani begins to stir.

The fairy opens her eyes and lets out a small yawn before hearing a very familiar voice say, "Enjoy your sleep?".

Lani shoots up and looks at the large figure in front of her in disbelief as she asks, "John?!".

John's smile continues as he jokingly says, "Well I don't remember changing my name so...".

Lani responds with a happily shocked expression as she immediately flies up and latches onto John's chest.

"You're alive!" The overjoyed fairy says while being muffled by John's armour.

"I am... I think anyway.. because if this heaven, I am definitely asking for a refund".

The duo chuckle and they continue to embrace each other. Eventually Lani pulls away from his chest and looks up at the large man with a sad expression before saying, "John... I thought you were...".

John stops Lani by saying, "But i'm not so don't worry about it. I'm here... and I don't plan on leaving you again".

Lani responds with only a smile that beams up toward John which he reciprocates.

Without warning, Lani flies up toward John's face and plants a kiss on his cheek.

John is shocked, unable to even respond for a moment but Lani says to him, "I will never leave your side either John".

John is flabbergasted, dumbfounded and quite frankly... lost for fucking words.

The nice quiet moment is then interrupted by heavy footsteps as Kyuala walks in and says, "Lani! Good to see you small one!".

Lani laughs as she flies up to Kyuala who now stands beside John, "It's good to see you too Kyuala".

Lani lands on Kyuala and gives her a hug. Kyuala meanwhile is confused on how to hug back so instead she embraces the fairy with a single finger.

Eventually the two split and John asks, "How's Sylus?".

"Terra's used her healing spell on him, old bull should be healed up in a bit" Kyuala replies.

"Do we have a plan to deal with Imoga?" Lani then asks and John goes to reply but is interrupted as they hear Amilia's voice call down from the open hatch.

"Guys! We need you up here now!".

The trio rush away from the bed and get behind Sylus and Terra who are climbing up the ladder. Kyuala and John eventually follow behind with Lani flying beside them as they head to the front of the store.

The group now all regroup and Kyuala asks, "What is it?".

Daffy and Amilia point out the window and the others look out, that's when they see it...

A pillar of smoke rising into the sky.

"They lit the signal" John says while the group continue to stare.