The Grand Weave

Dyllan spoke first. "So we're playing town defender? That doesn't sound too bad."

It really didn't. Then again, we had no idea just how bad a single wave would be. It looked like we didn't actually have to defend the village itself; rather, we had to protect the people. We could have them huddle up in a few secured buildings depending on how many people lived in the town.

"Guardsman! We have a few questions first. How many people live in Holmfirth? What kind of monsters are attacking the village?" Orsk asked the man on top of the wall.

"Come with me, and I'll bring you to the town hall. The village leader can help you better than I can," the man replied.

Orsk had us form up and stay vigilant. Just cause we were inside the village didn't mean we wouldn't find any danger here.

We followed the lead guardsman through the village. It looked eerily abandoned. Some of the buildings had broken windows and giant scratches clawed into their doors. A few were boarded up with wood and nails. One such building teetered on the edge of collapse, having been burned and torched into a skeletal structure of blackened wood.

We arrived at the largest building. The town hall's windows were heavily boarded, but voices and light drifted from inside.

The guardsman moved to the door, did a series of knocks, and then stepped back. What sounded like a heavy log being lifted and dropped occurred before the door opened slightly. A mop of disheveled blonde hair peeked out of the doorframe, revealing a pale face and bloodshot eyes.

"Thomas? What's going on?" she woman asked shakily.

"Allana, don't worry. There hasn't been another attack yet. I've brought a group of adventurers to meet Michael. They'll be helping us defend the village," he said comfortingly, trying to calm the woman.

Her eyes widened so big that I feared they would pop out of her sockets. Allana threw open the door and revealed a bloodstained dress with large tears ending in strips of fabric.

"Come in! Come in!" she cheered.

Like a whirlwind, she ran off, presumably to find the village leader.

Thomas sighed. The man looked like the world weighed on his shoulders. He motioned for us to follow him and entered the building.

Inside was packed with people. There were probably over a hundred people huddling in the town hall. Cots and chairs were spread out. Men and women alike, some with small children clutching to them huddled together. In the left corner people with bandages and blood dripping through sheets kept to themselves. It wasn't a good scene. Everyone looked frightened, scared or stressed out. A few parents were busy comforting their crying children, trying to put on a brave face. More than a few people had bloodstained clothes and muddy limbs.

"It's so real," Sam whispered.

Xertalus put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Rifts can be scary things. We should treat this as seriously as possible. If you don't, you'll quickly find that the rift will punish you for it without any remorse. But always remember, at the end of the day, they stop existing the moment we finish the rift."

Sam winced. I wasn't so sure Xertalus's words were as comforting as intended. These people felt as real as Sam or I. Even if they disappeared or reset at the end of the rift, it didn't change them from being real people for now. It was not a comforting thought when we stared at parents gripping their children in fright.

As we slowly made our way inside the crowded hall, Allana returned with a portly man struggling to keep up.

Michael looked even more tired than Thomas. Dark bags weighed his eyes, and his face sagged with the lack of sleep. His clothes were disheveled mess and stained with more dried blood than anyone else. He looked healthy, though; there wasn't a single cut or tear on his clothing.

"Thomas, Allana says you found help. I'm assuming these are them?" the man asked, his voice tired and weary.

Orsk took the chance to step forward and introduce himself before Thomas could. He gave the man a slight bow.

"Michael, I assume. My name is Orsk. My fellow adventurers and I got lost and now find ourselves in your village. Thomas informed us that monsters are attacking you. We've decided to help in your time of need," he said quickly.

The village leader looked Orsk up and down and then took in each of us. Whatever he saw must have been positive because he gave a tired smile right after. He returned Orsk's bow with one of his own.

"That is fantastic news. We need all the help we can get. What can I do to help?" Michael asked.

"It would be wise to know what is besieging your village. We've seen scratches on the wall and inside the town." Orsk answered promptly.

The tiny smile on the leader's face slipped into a frown. His fists clenched, and evident anger settled in his eyes.

"That damn fool. One of our own betrayed us! Horux bit off more than he could chew and summoned this wretched crimson moon over our land! Now, we are being attacked by abominations of blood. Blood beasts! Mutated creatures spawned from whatever monster Horux summoned." Michael started shouting in anger, his face turning red, with visible veins pulsing in his neck.

Half the people in the crowded hall stared, some showing just as much anger as Michael. Thomas put both hands on the shorter man and tried to calm him down. It worked. The veins faded, and his face returned to its pale tone.

Coughing lightly, he looked somewhat embarrassed, but the anger lingered in his eyes. "I'm sorry for that display, friend Orsk. It's just thoughts about that idiot of a man causing my blood to boil. All of this is because of him and his foolish arrogance. He dabbled in something he should never have because he thought himself above all."

Orsk gave him a sympathetic smile. "Whatever he's conjured, we are here to stop it. Do we know what exactly he summoned?"

Michael shook his head. "No. So far, we've only ever seen the blood beasts. We know their master hides deep in the forest, but for obvious reasons, we haven't been able to find out what it is. All we know is that a new wave of monsters attacks every six hours on the dot. Thomas and his guards have been valiantly defending our walls, but we keep losing more and more to the damn beasts. We had a significant issue initially before we learned to behead or burn the dead," he said. Looking around the room, his eyes settled on a father rocking his two daughters in his arms. "More than a few here had to put down their loved ones after they died to one of the blood beasts."

Orsk asked a few more questions before we said goodbye to the leader and headed back out with Thomas. We had a little under an hour to prepare for the first wave. Luckily, most of the monsters preferred attacking the front gate, narrowing how far we had to spread out.

Orsk positioned everybody at different parts of the wall. On top of the gate, placed with me, were Petraeus and Spencer. Melena, Edithe, Matias, and the crow beastkin from Talon were interspaced to our left and right to provide range support. The rest of the melee-orientated adventurers grouped up in front of the wall. Caldur and the twins were on the right, while Dillan led Sam, Xertalus, and Levin on the left.

Strangely enough, Orsk was back at the town hall. Before we went to our respective positions, he used his skill on a few select members. His first skill was called Mind Link, and it allowed him to establish a two-way mental connection with whoever he used his skill on. With a maximum of four links at tier one, he used his skill on Dillan, Caldur, Petraeus, and Matias. The idea was to have the leader of each group stay connected along with Matias, who could see the furthest.

Another thing he did was summon four metal poles out of the ground. They had runes etched on the metal and giant metallic bells wrapped around them. He sat himself down inside the ring. He explained that they were wards that acted as alarms to go off in case monsters slipped past the village walls and attacked the town hall.

Our system clocks ticked down, and the first wave neared.

I worried for Sam. Being on the front lines was not what we had planned, but it made sense. She would serve nobody if she was forced to stay on top of the walls. Her current fighting style and skill set relied on her being in close range. All I could do was make sure to heal her if she ever got damaged. And I suspected that I would soon be chugging down mana potions.

A minute before the wave was supposed to appear, Spencer started chanting. After he whispered a few lines, a golden glow burst from his hands and spread to all the adventurers. It settled into my body and reemerged across my skin like an extra layer. Spencer wasn't finished; he started chanting again and ended with small orbs of white light shooting from his hands. There were five orbs, and they spread themselves out in front of the village gate. We wouldn't be having any difficulties seeing the monsters with the orbs illuminating the area.

I summoned Áine and Zharia, having them stay on my shoulders for now. Everybody tensed up and prepared themselves.

Talon was the only outlier. Besides the bird man, who looked indifferent, they showed an almost bloodthirsty excitement. I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be battle maniacs. Even if I was being hypocritical, considering I had to fight a smile from spreading on my face. This new body seemed to really enjoy battle just as much as them. Poor Petraeus looked nervous, continuously sending glances to his brothers.

The last ten seconds started to tick by...

Three...

Two...

One...

The world contracted and then thumped. It was like reality had a single heartbeat. A wave of red light washed over the land and bathed the world in a crimson glow.

"Oh fuck this! Look at the moon," somebody randomly shouted. All the adventurers' eyes turned up into the sky and saw that the moon had changed. It was no longer a crimson orb floating in a sea of black. Now a giant slit like a lizard eye was on the moon's red surface. It loomed from above, staring, unfocused but present.

Matias was leaning forward, his eyes narrowed. "I think I see something... There are multiple creatures heading our way!"

The blood beasts finally arrived. They looked like parodies of normal creatures you'd find inside a forest--if it wasn't for the fact they looked like they were made of dripping blood and maroon scales. Wolves with sharp crimson spines stalked out of the forest, followed by dripping serpents, bulging boars, and a myriad of other beasts.

After more than fifty creatures made their way out of the treeline, more beasts stalked forth. My blood started to go into overdrive, and I could feel a heat spread throughout my body. This wave was not going to be easy.

Meleena snarled and unleashed a golden arrow. The blinding bolt of light struck home through a large boar's head. It promptly dropped dead. Other creatures started to rush away from the boar's corpse.

"Hah! Not as tough as they look," she shouted triumphantly.

Then, the corpse exploded. The ground shook with a cloud of red mist blanketing the area. It hissed and steamed where splotches of blood landed, eating away at the ground. The melee fighters shared a look before turning their stares back at the horde of blood beasts.

"Fuck," Dillan muttered.

"Orsk says to shoot different beasts while we can. We need to know if they all explode or not," Petraeus instructed.

Growling, Meleena knocked another arrow and aimed. The glowing bolt hit a wolf creature through the eye.

She's accurate. That looked good enough to qualify for the Olympics.

The creature dropped dead, but none of the other monsters moved out of the way. A few tense seconds passed, with everybody holding their breath. Soon, the wolf's corpse started to melt into a bloody goop and soaked into the ground with a hiss of sputtering steam.

After she knocked the third arrow, the monsters decided enough was enough and rushed forward. A crimson tide engulfed the land, the eager monsters unironically out for our blood. The range support began releasing their attacks. Arrows of glowing gold and white flew through the air, felling beasts aplenty, with massive balls of fire exploding amongst the horde.

"Range support, focus on the boars. We can't have them exploding on our front lines," Petraeus shouted.

With a new focus for attacks, explosions of caustic blood started shaking the ground. Ten seconds out, the first of the blood beasts neared the melee fighters. Before they could launch themselves at the adventurers, Petraeus raised his staff and smacked it into the wall. About thirty meters out, the ground ahead of our people darkened and squelched. A large red snake slithered into the wet ground and found itself diving into wet mud, slowing it's charge.

Unsurprisingly, Caldur was the first to act. Using his muscular legs, he leaped into the air, his greatsword trailing above his arms. He cleaved through the snake's scales with one slash and severed it into two.

His feet coated themselves in shadows as he landed on top of the mud and treated it like solid ground before leaping again and crashing down on another monster. The twins began giggling gleefully as they rushed forward, swords swinging.

Dyllan's team took a more cautious approach, waiting for the monsters to reach within their range before they attacked. Levin would slip under Dyllan's shield and slash out with yellow-coated daggers, leaving behind sizzling wounds. The creatures would screech out in pain as the acid ate through their bodies.

Xertalus waded into combat, methodically slashing any creatures that got too close. His water and ice attacks proved extremely effective as they acted almost like poison to the blood bodies.

Sam would get a good wallop in with her hammer or use her Tidal Fist to smash a beast's head in. The only problem was that wounds started to accrue as the monster's blood burned wherever it touched. The first to suffer heavy damage was one of the twins, his fur missing in patches, where inflamed skin showed through/

"Áine heal him but stay safe. Don't use all your mana," I ordered.

She nodded and flew off and stayed low to the ground. The beastkin, who I was now dubbing Twin One, almost swung his swords at Áine until he registered it was my familiar. His frown morphed into a savage grin as the green glow of healing magic started permeating through his body.

When Áine finished healing him, he jumped back into the fray, sending out slashes of energy from his swords. Like Caldur's attacks, they split the blood beasts into two and carved up the ground.

"Cyrus, send your other familiar to reinforce Dyllan's group. He's going to taunt them," Petraeus instructed.

"You think you can do that, Zharia?" I asked.

"I'll incinerate those nasty creatures!" Zharia roared.

I watched the little sparrow fly off and land on Dyllan's helmet. She wasted no time in sending out spurts of golden fire at whatever came near. Sadly, unlike the other adventurers, the attacks weren't powerful enough to outright kill anything. The golden flames did serve as a good distraction when they roasted the bloody monster's eyes.

Spencer chanted again and caused a white aura to settle over Dillan's body.

It looks like he's ready to draw them all in. As if in response, Dillan planted his tower shield on the ground and released a loud shout that echoed over the battlefield. A brief pause settled over the monsters before those within one hundred meters swiveled their beady eyes. Whenever the monsters fell into the mud pit, the ones behind them would use them as a bridge to cross over.

Three large serpents struck as one. One latched its maw onto the top of his shield while the other two circled around his sides. Zharia bathed the one pulling the shield while Sam, Xertalus, and Levin batted away the other two snakes.

Petraeus tapped the ground three times with his staff and caused the mud pit to widen. More than a few monsters found themselves screeching in anger as tendrils of mud wrapped around their bodies and flung them backward.

Ten minutes, I struggled not to pace. We held ground but wounds appeared and injuries accumulated. One small cut met nothing, not even two or three. But by the dozenth time, it risked blood loss and distraction. I sent my fairy to those in need and watched from above.

The biggest chunk of my mana was drained when Dyllan tanked an explosion from a dying blood boar, it having snuck in unseen under the taller monsters. I nearly recalled Zharia when she got hit by the explosive blood. The pain screeched through the mental link, forcing a snarl as Zharia dived out of the way. Áine rushed down and healed them before I could ask.

Fifteen minutes in, I figured we'd slain well over a hundred beasts. The range support was more careful to root out any of the exploding boars after the one that exploded point-blank on Dillan. I silently applauded Brelten. He did a good job selecting teams with varying skills to support the expedition.

Things were going well until an emergency alert came from Orsk.

From the east and west, two of his alarms alerted to monsters entering the village. Mattias and I were about to head to the town hall when the first of the monsters showed up. They were flying birds and bats dripping crimson droplets as they flew. With the appearance of flying enemies flanking us, all the range support was pulled back and focused on killing the monsters behind us.

A swarm of bats divebombed our group, forcing Spencer to summon a shield of light to hold them back.

"Cyrus, recall your familiar. Attack them!" Petraeus shouted.

I mentally ordered Zharia back and summoned my spear. Spencer struggled under the strain of holding off the bats, and fell to one knee. I jabbed, and my spear passed through the shield to impale one of the creatures' head. Petraeus helped out by periodically sending out blasts of water at the swarm, taking them down like buckshot.

Thrust. Stab. Thrust. Slash. Stab.

In this pattern, the swarm's numbers slowly dwindled. From the spare glances thrown to my sides, the other adventurers on the wall were busy battling on both fronts. The few guards manning the walls with suffered, torn apart as the beasts mercilessly threw themselves in fury. I seethed, but I couldn't send my familiars to help and there was no extra to spare.

Spencer recovered and stood back up, now that the number of monsters attacking his barrier had shrunk. His skill stabilized as he sent more mana into it. Taking advantage of the barrier, I thrusted my bloodied spear into a particularly large bat, impaling it in the stomach. With a twist, I ripped the spearhead from its side and reset my stance for another attack. I wasn't given the chance to thrust again when the bat's corpse expanded and blew up.

Spencer's barrier shattered, and a wave of caustic blood splashed our sides. I was knocked to the ground and felt several of my ribs break. The connection between my familiars alerted me to their pain, as it weakened and sent throbbing pulses of misery back to my soul.

"Áine! Zharia!" I screamed.

"M-Master..." Zharia faintly chirped.

Áine said nothing, and it sent off alarm bells in my head. The red mist from the explosion caused my lungs to burn. I summoned my mask over my face without thought, hoping to filter out the deadly air.

Zharia's steaming body was to my left. Her golden flames sputtered out as she weakly tried to stand. I swooped her into my arms and cradled her against my chest. I looked back and forth but couldn't find Áine anywhere.

"Áine, where are you?" I mentally shouted.

When no response came, I closed my eyes. Focusing on the connecting tethers between my soul and my familiars, I traced my connection to Áine. I kept searching with my senses, ignoring the sounds of fighting around me.

Opening my eyes, I crawled carefully to the edge of the wall and saw Áine being franticly chased by a blood bat. The sight made me beyond angry. The stupid monsters attacking my familiars!

Unsheathing my forgotten knife from behind my back, I carefully reached my arm over the wall. I wasn't confident in my throw, considering I had never practiced throwing knives before, but I didn't care.

"Áine fly to me!" I shouted out loud, hoping to get the monster's attention.

Áine looked up at me, fluttering her wings furiously to outrun the bat. She shot straight up as she neared the wall, flying up from right below me. When she approached within arms reach, I waited till she veered out of the way to throw my knife. The blade flew straight and severed one of the bat's wings. I cursed loudly, but it shouldn't be able to fly with just one wing.

Áine immediately started healing my ribs as I summoned a mana potion and downed it. When she healed enough for me to sit up, I started searching for the rest of my group.

Petraeus leaned heavily on his staff, his right side heavily damaged. He was standing over Spencer's unconscious body, sending the occasional magical attack at an approaching monster.

With another flick, I summoned a second mana potion and drank it. I sadly dismissed Zharia, letting her recuperate in my soul rather than waste precious mana. After healing me, I sent Áine Petraeus' way and took over guarding the two as she healed him.

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Another bird met its end at the tip of my spear, coating me with more sizzling blood.

"How are we doing?" I asked while wiping away the caustic liquid from my face.

Petraeus grunted as one of the bones in his leg snapped back into place. "Outside of a few remaining stragglers, Orsk thinks we've cleared most of the wave."

With no enemies in sight, I risked turning around and looking over the battlefield. With the blood beasts turning into puddles of blood when they died, there were no corpses, just a field stained red. The melee fighters headed back inside the village with the rest of the beasts dead.

We met back in front of the town hall where Orsk waited Sam and Petraeus supported me since I had Áine working overtime to heal everyone's injuries. Even Orsk had his armor stained red, though to a much lesser degree than everybody else. With the emergence of the flying monsters, not even he was safe behind the village walls.

Standing up, he waved a hand and dismissed the metal warding poles. He paused while looking my way before nodding and surveying the rest of the team.

"You guys did great. We unfortunately lost three guards due to the flying monsters but managed to keep casualties to a minimum," he said. His eyes glazed over temporarily before refocusing on the group. "If you haven't already, the system prompt has been updated. We can rest for the next six hours before the second wave appears."

"That's too damn short," Levin cursed.

The rest of the team grumbled in agreement. We could recover all our mana in only six hours, but our mental fatigue would still be heavy. It will only get worse if the waves grow in difficulty as they occur.

Sighing heavily, Orsk bent down and pulled out a small brown box. Opening it, the box contained an organized row of vials containing a purple liquid. "Worst case scenario, I was given some Sleeper's Debt to hand out," he said.

There was a collective groan from the rest of the adventurers. Only Sam and I were confused as to why the team was upset over the potions.

Seeing my confusion, Orsk gave a half-hearted smile.

"Sleeper's Debt is a potion that can keep you awake with temporary energy. Taking a full vial can cause you to stay awake for a couple of days without sleep," he explained.

I was still confused. "And that's bad, how?"

"Because for every hour of sleep you stave off, you have to pay all at once when the potion's effects end, or you decide to go to sleep," Dyllan answered.

"Oh..."

Putting the box back into his pack, Orsk stood up and clapped his hands.

"All right, Cyrus, if you can finish healing everyone, then we can all begin resting before the next wave. I'll inform Michael about our progress and see if I can find anything useful," he said, dismissing the group.

Those who were injured stayed and sat down on the dirt so Áine could finish her healing.

Protect the Village of Holmfirth

Wave: 1/10 Survived

Villagers Survived: 98%

Time remaining till next wave: 5h: 49mins : 27sec