Ayman woke up completely dazed, his ears ringing and everything white before his eyes: he was completely disoriented after one of the fireballs had hit the square where he had arrived with his brother in search of shelter. It took him a few minutes before he could make out a figure covering him and a voice saying something he couldn't quite understand, with a rhythmic, incessant sound in the background.
"A... an!"
"Ay... an! Are you okay?"
"Ayman! Are you okay, brother?"
Ayman recognised the voice of his brother calling him worriedly. After a few minutes, he managed to recover enough to answer him.
"I'm a bit dazed, but I'm okay".
Ayman heard Kadir breathe a sigh of relief.
'Thank goodness. Luckily, I managed to throw myself behind the wall in time. That was close!'
The sound in the background also became clearer...
'The bells are ringing. Are we under attack?' asked Ayman.
'Yes, they're ringing. We have to get back to Melissa and the kids. Can you get up?'
"Yes, I can," replied Ayman, standing up and looking around.
The square was completely destroyed, there was rubble everywhere and purple flames had started to burn the nearby buildings. But the worst thing was not the destroyed buildings, but the lifeless bodies of people. The square was covered with torn and burned bodies; it was a gruesome scene. Apart from Ayman and Kadir, there were very few survivors, and many of them needed immediate medical attention.
Witnessing that scene, Ayman felt no despair or fear, but anger... a fierce anger pervaded him...
"Damn bastards!"
"Ayman, come on, we have to go. There's no time to lose, we have to get to..."
Kadir didn't finish what he was saying, something had distracted him. He suddenly turned towards the crater that had formed after the impact of the fireball. Ayman followed his gaze and noticed something too. It was a strange sensation, a shiver ran down his spine and he felt a kind of energy concentrating at the centre of the crater, but he wasn't sure what it was.
Then something happened. A strong purple light appeared, but it wasn't blinding. Instead, it seemed to follow orderly lines... similar to those of a geometric shape. Ayman soon realised what it was.
'A magic circle. How strange, I don't recognise the basic geometry...'
Master Robert's teachings had fully trained him in the various basic geometries; every magic circle had one in order to work spells, and he knew practically all of them, so it was really strange that he didn't recognise the one that had just formed in front of him.
Once the magic circle became fully visible after being completed, it lit up again and the surrounding space seemed to distort and wrap around the spot where the circle had appeared. Ayman and Kadir couldn't believe what was happening before their eyes: a portal was forming right where the fire meteor had fallen.
After a few moments, a figure emerged from the portal that had formed, and the light became so bright that Kadir and Ayman could not immediately see who or what it was. However, it had a vaguely humanoid shape, but at the same time it also had something alien about it: its proportions were not human. Its legs and arms were significantly longer than the rest of its body, while its head seemed smaller and, most notably, had two large horns protruding from it.
After the creature took a few steps forward, the portal behind it dissolved into thin air, and with it disappeared the blinding light that had prevented them from seeing the figure clearly. Ayman and Kadir already knew what it was, but after seeing it properly, they had confirmation...
"A creature of corruption..." said the older brother in a worried voice.
In fact, the figure, as it had appeared at first, was not human at all, but instead a monstrous creature more than two metres tall, completely covered in a pitch-black carapace, with long arms and two hands with long, sharp claws. But the creature also had something repulsive about it: its torso was pierced by a gigantic wound, with a piece of flesh hanging down, through which bones could be seen, or at least it seemed to be something like that, but in reality it was something else, namely a gigantic mouth full of sharp teeth, from which a purple, slimy tongue protruded. It formed a monstrous and repulsive evil smile, the same one that had formed, in a smaller version, on the creature's snout, where, in addition to a smaller mouth, two disturbing red eyes could also be seen, emanating a strong murderous instinct.
Ayman recognised the creature; its image was described in detail in the bestiary given to him by Master Robert.
"That's a long-armed demon, a Middle Rank monster..."
"A Middle Rank demon then... damn it!" replied Kadir, clearly worried. "Ayman, take this, it's a Worthy Rank dagger, run home to Melissa immediately and don't stop for any reason. Master Robert will probably go to her, so it will be the safest place to go."
Ayman looked at him confused.
"Aren't you coming, brother? "
A determined look appeared on Kadir's face and he began to walk towards the creature.
"No, I'm staying here. I am a Chosen One and it is my duty to protect people from the messengers of the God of Corruption. Go, Ayman, I'll be fine. Run! "
At that precise moment, the creature moved and attacked the two brothers with great speed...