The crowd first began to walk backwards, but then ran towards the City, trying to keep as much distance as possible from the nightmare in front of them.
Among that group, Taisetsuna noticed a few people with pointy ears and dressed in brown and dark green clothes, and she mumbled, “All this time without seeing an Elfian, and now a bunch were almost going inside Raluth. But they sure ran fast!”
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At the edge of the trench, Tomiga and the others were telling people to get back to the Magical Circle and to travel to another country, while Chujitsuna was raising the people from inside the trench and telling them the same thing while carrying Tresuria on her right shoulder.
None of them could hear, because the screams from Raluth made it impossible, but they all easily understood what they needed to do. Run, and run as far away as you can.
In the City, people stopped coming from the Magical Circle, and it was now being used as an escape route, sending dozens upon dozens of panicked people, with a Mage on the columns activating the Circle.
Every time the Magical Dome covered the Circle, a few people died, sliced in half when the Dome closed, because they were far too many, but as soon as the Dome opened, more people went to the Circle, trying to flee, stomping on the bodies on the ground, worrying more about their own lives than feeling pity for the dead.
While hundreds of people were trying to flee through the Magical Circle, others were running on foot, or riding horses, getting out of there as fast as they could.
Inside his hideout, Nozomu felt that the Magic he could absorb was decreasing, and he smiled as he began compressing it around him, and the dark cloud was getting bigger and bigger.
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He mumbled as he noticed that darkness was around him again. “Well, there goes my idea of surviving this. There is no way I am going to have time to run all the way to the exit after releasing this dark cloud and putting down the bag with the explosive nectar. Funny, I almost died the first time I used this dark cloud, and I almost died when I kicked the ‘Fool’s Death’ bush. Now I am about to die from the explosion of my dark cloud and the nectar. Talk about bad luck! I lost my family back on Earth, and now I am going to lose my family here. Shit… At least I hope Taisetsuna and everyone else will be safe because if I die to get this World rid of Raluth and he still survives, I am going to be really pissed!”
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As he was feeling the limit of the time coming, he shouted, unable to hear Raluth’s screams of pain because his eardrums had exploded long ago, “Now, you stupid, ugly worm, eat this, seasoned with nitroglycerin and some of me! Die, your stupid worm, die!”
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Outside, Hinotsume ordered the Dragons to retreat as soon as he felt his Magic going to Nozomu, and they all rushed to the floor, letting as many people as they could climb on top of them while grabbing paws full of scared people.
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Mizukonta grabbed Taisetsuna, Draiky, and Oaky, and shouted, as she was running ahead and throwing people to her back, “Hold on, everyone! We have to get out of here! Raluth is about to explode!”
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Hinotsume landed near the trench and let the others climb to him, and a few Dragons landed as well, to carry more and more people.
Soon, the Dragons were running on the ground, unable to lift off because of so many people they were carrying, and that made them impossible to take off.
But even like that, and while running on their four massive paws, the distance from Raluth was increasing with each second, and in minutes, they were near the borders of the Empire.
Hinotsume looked back, and saw the massive explosion and the familiar mushroom-shaped form, raising from the ground and up into the sky at an unbelievable height.
He sent a mental order, and all the Dragons stopped and used their claws and Magic to make a hole. They went as deep and as fast as they could, and then they used their tails to close the hole, shielding the Humans and the Beast-kind they were carrying with their own bodies, for even though he would never admit it, Hinotsume liked meat sacs, and he was even willing to die for them, to protect them all from the massive shock wave that was approaching.
Another mental order and everyone able to use Earth Magic created a rocky cover on the holes, and then everyone braced for impact, hiding underneath the Dragons.
The ground shook, more chasms appeared, and some Dragons had to claw the walls around them to stop their fall into the bottomless chasms while holding the Humans and Beast-kinds that depended on the Dragon’s strength and sheer will to stay alive.
Hinotsume crawled back, getting out of the hole when the ground stopped trembling so much, and he looked back to where Raluth used to be.
Then, he frowned, for in between the smoke, he could see a massive gush of fire going up, and he immediately recognized it, and he sent another mental order.
The Water Dragons, led by Mizukonta, took off, carrying a few Water Magic users on their backs.
Hinotsume joined forces with the Fire Dragons, and the Earth Dragons followed them with their Human and Beast-kind riders.
The ones that stayed behind were too injured or weren’t able to use Magic.
In the place where once lived Raluth, there was now a gigantic crater, spitting lava into the atmosphere and vaporizing his remains.
Following Hinotsume’s guidance, the Fire Dragons landed and used their claws and tails to make trenches all around the beginning of a massive volcano. The Earth Dragons and the Earth Magic users made a wall of sturdy rock before the trenches, and Mizukonta, the Water Dragons and the Water Magic users shot Water Gush after Water Gush, trying to stop the lava from coming out of that massive hole.30Please respect copyright.PENANAR8Tmy9M2if
Seconds turned into minutes, which then turned into hours, and more people arrived, obeying Hinotsume’s call for help.
They were once going towards Raluth to be eaten, then they ran as far away as they could, but Hinotsume’s instructions were clear. Stop the volcano, save the World.
The Magical Circle that was once in the devastated City was not there anymore, so the people had to travel by horse or carriage to get there, and hundreds upon hundreds travelled on foot, with many riding deer, Unicorns, bears, or any other animal big enough to carry a person.
The animals that would normally attack and eat a person on sight were no match for the orders of a Dragon. If a Dragon appeared and told a bear to carry two people on his back, the bear would obey immediately. Or he would become Dragon food.
They all had heard the Dragons’ call, for while Hinotsume was trying to stop the lava, a few Dragons that had exhausted their Magic went to the Cities nearby to call for backup, and some flew at their maximum speed to the Principality to get more chocolates and more Water and Earth Magic users.
Hours later, the volcano stopped gushing lava, and there was now a massive plateau with a deep crater inside, which was filled with water to cool down the interior.
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Hinotsume looked at the massive rocky mountain in front of him, and he chose a flat surface. He used one claw and wrote, ‘Here lies Nozomu Shinchaku, the greatest Hero that ever lived.’
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He then walked back and sat on the floor. Mizukonta and the other Water Dragons had already finished healing everyone they could find, and Taisetsuna sat on the floor next to Hinotsume in silence. And she cried.
Her friends joined her, and they all cried and thanked Nozomu for his sacrifice, with Hinen, Robert, and Tomiga swearing to do what they could to make her happy and that they would never leave her side.
…
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Nozomu couldn’t understand. After the explosion, he saw what was happening on the ground as if he was looking from above in the sky, but surrounded by darkness, with only a circle in front of him showing everything that was happening as soon as the explosion happened.
He couldn’t hear, feel, or see anything else besides the circle. And he watched, unable to do anything, and wondering what was happening.
Then, he saw Hinotsume writing and everyone crying for him. He thought he was also crying, but he couldn’t feel anything coming out of his eyes. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t even sense his eyes.
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He spoke, without knowing if he was speaking or thinking, “At least they are all okay. Raluth is no more, so they will all be safe, and I… I… I don’t know for sure, but did I turn into a phantasm now? Because that would be the epitome of an unlucky destiny if I ever saw one!”
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He blinked a few times or thought he did, and with each blink, the darkness faded and he began to notice light around him.
Then, a voice called for him, “Jack! Are you awake? Jack! Mia! Paul! Your father is awake! Nurse! Nurse! My husband is awake! Nurse!”
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Nozomu blinked again and tried to focus his sight. He felt pressure in his throat, and then something was gently pulled out. He looked at the tip, a ventilator tube with saliva.He swallowed a few times, and blinked again.30Please respect copyright.PENANA1fxY14du00
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The same voice asked, sounding worried, “Jack, can you recognize me? Do you know who you are?”
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He swallowed again, and spoke, surprised by how harsh his voice sounded, “Mere… Stop the ruckus, you crazy Princess… I am thirsty…”
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Someone gave him a cup and said, “Small sips, Mister Jack, small sips. That’s it. One more… that is enough for now. Do you know where you are?”
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Nozomu looked at the worried face in front of him with a white small cap and a red cross in the front and answered, “That is… one weird cap… for a Healer…”
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“He seems alright, Miss Theresa. A bit disoriented, but that is to be expected after being in a coma for three months.”
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Did he hear right? A coma? He looked to both sides, away from that unfamiliar face, and saw his wife, Theresa Snyder at his left, and Mia and Paul, his kids, on his right.
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He tried to raise his right arm to push the woman aside, but he couldn’t manage enough strength, so he said, “Get out of my face… nurse… I want to see… my family…”
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“Sure, but don’t worry if you can’t move just yet. You lost muscles, even with me and my colleagues trying to exercise you. It will take a while, but with physiotherapy, you will be back on your feet in no time.”
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The nurse faced the frowning wife and said, “Miss Theresa, try not to tire him up too much. He needs rest.”
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“Are you delusional, nurse? Of course, I am going to tire him! Not only because he rested for three months, but he woke up and called me Mere and Princess! Who the fuck is Mere, Jack? Were you cheating on me, you bastard? Answer me, before I put you into a coma again!”
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Jack Snyder made a slight smile and said, “That’s my girl… Always a firecracker… I missed you so much… You are not going to believe me… but I had the most amazing... adventure ever.”
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Theresa frowned and sat at his side while Mia rushed to her School backpack and grabbed a notebook.
Before her mother had time to say anything, she said, “Start from the beginning, father! I need to do an assignment for School, and a weird dream might give me a good grade!”
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“Who said… I dreamed? It wasn’t a dream… or I would not… remember it so well.”
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He began telling the story when he awoke in a strange new World, with a Cat-kind girl with blue hair and yellow eyes shouting a strange name and telling him to wake up.
In the following days, he told everything that happened to him in so much detail that not only his family was amazed, but he got an audience with nurses, doctors, and patients coming to hear his tale, and with his daughter, Mia Snyder, happily noting down everything for her School’s assignment.
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* Story available as an ebook in the Smashwords website, in smashwords.com/books/view/1138702 *
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