The Dawn of the New World

Where Arnett was on full alert at the surprise appearance of this stranger Mills breathed a sigh of relief and even waved at him.

"Ah, my apologies sir," he said with a bow before sheathing his sword.

As a member of the city guards he knew every single one of the cultivators by their appearance. There were only about 70 of them so it wasn't difficult to remember each one.

"W-What brings you here?" he initially inquired but remembered their sticky situation, "Wait no, it is good that you are here! We need your help!"

Arnett leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Who is this person?"

"He is one of the foreigners!" Mills explained.

"Then why is he here? Shouldn't he be fighting at the gate?"

"That...I don't know," Mills obviously could not answer and instead looked towards Wern for an explanation.

But Wern cleared his throat and changed the topic, "Help with what exactly?"

Mills had quite an easy-going attitude which combined with his youthful appearance did not fill Wern with confidence either way, even though he was younger than Mills himself.

"Oh, some people have sneaked into the city and are trying to destroy the magic circle that is keeping the barrier up," Mills responded in the most unenthusiastic voice he could muster.

"Not people, MONSTERS!" Arnett clarified.

"...What?"

Wern could not take them seriously at all.

"And how do you know this?"

"I have seen them!" Arnett raised his hand urgently.

"Mhm, and have you?" Wern looked towards Mills who shook his head.

"Then-"

"But Captain Alfen went to check the place out with 4 other elite guardsmen and we haven't heard back from them in a while. I think something might really be wrong," Mills added.

"Why the hell didn't you start with that then?" Wern almost slapped Mills with the back of his hand in the heat of the moment, "Just say people went out to check something suspicious and haven't been heard from since. Go! Take me to it now!"

"Y-Yes!"

Mills checked the 'map' again for confirmation but couldn't really read it, "I-I think its this way," he pointed at a dead end.

Arnett snatched the paper from his hand and sprinted away, "Over here, I will take you!"

"Go then, follow him!" Wern shouted and jumped into the air, landing right behind Arnett.

With Arnett in the lead the trio reached the building in question just a couple of minutes later.

Arnett had stopped at the corner of the street and was peeking over. Wern landed on top of another neighboring building while Mills caught up a few seconds later.

"Is this...it?" he asked through heavy breaths.

"Unn," Arnett nodded.

"Then...do we just go in?"

Even Arnett couldn't help but shake his head at the stupid question. Thankfully Wern jumped down a moment later.

"You two go back and tell the others we need backup, quickly!"

"Yes sir!" Mills nodded and ran away without questioning but Arnett did not move an inch.

"What's wrong? Did you see something?"

Wern shook his head once, "No but I can smell blood and a lot of it. There is also a strange kind of energy coming from that place, something dark and sinister. I have never felt anything like that before- Hmm?"

The sound of footsteps distracted him and when he looked back Arnett was already at the entrance of the building.

"Hey! Come back here right now!" he yelled as loudly as he could in such a situation but Arnett did not hesitate for even a moment before running inside.

With gritted teeth Wern cursed under his breath, "Fucking kid!"

He was planning to wait for help to arrive before going in but now there was no option but to run in after him. It was one thing to be cautious but it was entirely another to sit back and watch as an innocent civilian was put in danger, which even he couldn't justify.

Wern reached into his shirt pocket and took out a small white packet. Holding it overhead he clenched hard making it explode into a cloud of fine white dust.

The dust particles stuck to his body and a second later something very strange happened. He turned semi-transparent. His body became see-through to the point that if one didn't know he was standing here it would be next to impossible to notice him.

But not just that, his spiritual energy and all other signs of life were temporarily hidden as well.

"Aw man, that's 50,000 gold gone just like that. It had better been worth it," he mumbled before running into the building as well.

The main metal door was left open as was the proceeding entrance. There was nothing out of the ordinary but that made it even odder.

No guard, not even a sound escaped outside it was so deathly silent. The smell of sulfur and iron hit him like a hammer the moment he stepped inside and all the noise from outside was immediately drowned out.

Wern let out a deep breath saw the vapor float down. The temperature dropped several tens of degrees in seconds.

"Aaaaah!" a weak scream came from somewhere further in.