>>5525480Alena hadn’t seen it herself, but Blair had told her of a similar event that had happened in a place called Remire. An entire village had turned mad and bloodthirsty when the Agarthans managed to poison their water supply. According to Blair, over 100 villagers were either killed by their neighbors, or forced to be put down by the Knights of Seiros. Still, that was a tiny village. Ordelia was a city of thousands. There was no telling how many people would be dead when this was over.
With the mob having moved on, Alena swiftly escapes from the alley and heads to her destination: an abandoned warehouse at the very edge of one of the city’s numerous slums. That was where her pegasus, Stormy, was waiting for her. The people of this city were a superstitious lot, and an ebon pegasus would attract too much unwanted attention at the stables. So, she kept him alone in the warehouse while she went about her own business. And that wasn’t the only thing she’d kept there. As she neared her destination, she turned a corner to find the front of the warehouse blocked by another mob. They were surrounding something and tearing it apart both with improvised weaponry and their bare hands. Alena’s heart skips a beat, believing that something to be Stormy. As she draws closer, one of the peasants spots her and shrieks, turning the mob’s attention towards her and breaking up the circle they had formed.
Alena feels a sense of relief at not finding her pegasus torn apart by the angry mob. However, that relief quickly vanishes when she instead finds the remains of a small family within the circle. Two parents, and two small children. The bodies have been mutilated so badly, it’s impossible to tell any further details. Alena didn’t pray to any gods. The way she saw it, the Agarthan gods as well as Sothis, likely saw her as an abomination. And yet, in this moment, she wished she’d had someone to hear her. The large crowd roared and charged her, sensing a new victim to be had. Even unarmed though, they were only rushing to their doom.
“Thoron!” With an outstretched hand and a bright flash, a beam of pure lightning incinerated the crowd before her. The way they were bunched together, all it took was one spell to kill every last man, woman and child that had been rushing her way. She felt no qualms about killing them. While unfamiliar with whatever magic the Agarthans had used to concoct this madness, she knew well enough they were beyond saving. And even if there could be, could they really live with what they’d done? A merciful death was the most Alena was able to offer them.
