A silent city

It’s midday when the army arrives at the city. While not as impressive as your own capital, the formidable walls would be intimidating if you didn’t plan to ignore them entirely. Ochiba goes through the motions of encircling and besieging the city, but maintains a safe distance from the walls.

“We don’t have the engineers or siege engines to do this properly, so it’s all on you, my liege.”

You nod. “Got it. Hopefully when we take down Darius the rest of them come to their senses.”

The general nods. “Good luck, and be careful. He’s sure to have prepared for this.”

You smile. “I’ll do my best. Stay safe out here, we’ll be back by nightfall most likely.”

With that, your group heads out, looking for a section of the wall that’s not well patrolled. It’s easier than you expected, as there doesn’t seem to be many soldiers patrolling. You come to the realization that anyone who could fight had probably been press ganged into the mob that got slaughtered by your forces. You sigh, regretting the waste of life. Had you acted sooner you might have been able to avoid it.

However, the true architect of that tragedy was waiting inside the city. You lead the girls forward, using your silence spell to mask the sound as you move to the base of the wall. You nod to Ruka, who places her hands on the ground and closes her eyes. Vines and roots erupt, crawling up the side of the wall to make a makeshift ladder. You give her a smile, then start your climb up the wall.

Once you’re all on top, you quickly make your way to the stairs and descend into the city. Even for a city under sudden siege, it’s oddly quiet. You catch glimpses of soldiers on patrol, but no activity otherwise. Maya looks at you, and you see sadness in her eyes. “Do you think everyone is dead? Sent as an army that we killed?”

You nod. “So much for being the‘Protector’. For a human supremacist, he sure sent a lot to their deaths.”

You begin to make your way towards the castle, ducking through alleyways to avoid patrols. The soldiers seem to move like automatons, barely registering their surroundings. Along the way, you note many homes and storefronts are destroyed or burned, many with signs declaring things like ‘abomination!’ or ‘monster lover!’, making it obvious what happened here.

Kali looks at a burned out home and sighs. “I really hope everyone made it out of here, but I can feel the **** in this place.”

Samara nods. “It feels the same as lands our father conquers. Nothing but **** and sadness…”

You sigh. “I could have stopped this. I should have acted sooner. This is what happens when tyrants take power.”

Clarissa shakes her head. “You can’t take this on yourself, Josh. You acted as fast as you could. And now you can stop it.”

Before you can reply, you hear a woman’s voice cry out from around the corner. “Please, no! I mean you no harm!”

You glance at the girls, then rush towards the voice, and they quickly follow. Rounding the corner you spot a woman backed against the wall of a building as a pair of guards approach her, swords drawn.