Chapter 19

Marissa awoke in a panic.

She leapt from her Church bed and ran to the nearby window. Outside she could hear the wind howling with great vigor. The stone masonry of her room was vibrating from the shear forces outside. Muffled in the distance were the terrified cries of hundreds of people. In a hurry, she got dressed and leapt outside.

For all intents and purposes it was still morning here in the city of Welton, but from the appearance outside it was anything but.

The sky was filled with rumbling black clouds that were being pierced by great lighting flashes. The black mass contained bright white streaks that pulsed onto the ground below. Bolts of energy were colliding with the tips of numerous roof tops. Chunks of masonry which had been dislodged by the powerful impacts were falling to the ground below.

Wind howled through the air as thunderclaps reverberated through the stratosphere. The sky seemed to be intentionally roaring at the populace below. The great thunderous booms were throwing people to the ground with their tremendous volume.

Above the uppermost portion of the town, in the middle of the black sky, was a giant swirl of purple mist. The eerie mass was spinning violently in a clockwise motion. Lightweight objects that had been picked up by the strong winds were being sucked into this lavender colored vacuum. Marissa's eyes could see tiny flailing bodies being pulled into the vortex.

Terror fell over the young woman, "By God…"

Marissa's attentions turned to the hordes of people outside of the Church walls. The people were desperately trying to enter the refuge of the Church grounds by any means necessary. The small gate was only allowing a few people in at a time, and many of whom were almost instantly trampled as soon as they entered. Men and women were also tying to climb over the rod iron walls that encircled the area. Guards were trying to keep the fearful people calm as they got into the grounds.

The sages and priests within the complex were also in a panic. Only a few of them were stationed here at Welton, and the ones that were located here were not high ranking clergy. They fumbled to comprehend the situation. These lame men and women simply could not handle the events that were unfolding. The official Church response to this emerging crisis was non-existent.

Determined to do something, Marissa decided it was her duty to try and help however she could. With her Sylaalian staff tied behind her back, Marissa made her way out of the complex.

She noticed that there was a small domicile along the eastern wall. This building was purposed as living quarters for all the caretakers of the Church. With a quick hop, the young girl nimbly climbed onto the low-lying thatched roof. She ran towards the iron wall, and with another quick jump she was out into the city's interior.

Now free of the Church's confinement, the young mage made her way towards the area just below the purple vortex. She began to run up the ascending road to the uppermost portion of Welton. The tip of the nearby Welton Mountain was hidden beneath the clouds.

As she tried to make her way up the street, the winds began to get stronger and stronger. She attempted to push her shoulder against the tremendous gale forces out in the open road, but instead had to resort to crawling against the buildings bordering the path. She crept ever slowly towards the violent tempest.

No guard members or Protectorate were at the site. Anyone who had been under the vortex had either been sucked into the mass or had fled the scene. The people quickly dispersed from the area just after the disaster began, and so their muted screams came from other places distant from Marissa's current location. Their fearful cries could barely be heard under the roaring winds.

The young mage Marissa was all alone under this mysterious anomaly.

She looked into the sky to see that the purple hued tempest was not of any natural origin. The clouds swirling around its center were of odd colors and shapes. Their misty forms were torn into thin ribbons that violently twisted around the center. Bolts of lightning traced the spinning mass as they raced out of the unnatural vacuum.

In addition, the strong gale winds seemed somewhat calmer near the base of this vortex. She was not being pushed away, and the mage was having an easier time keeping her balance without assistance.

She thought, "I've never read or heard of anything of this like ever occurring. What possibly could be causing this? What can I do…?"

Her inflection was stopped suddenly by a great clap of thunder. Just to Marissa's south, the walls of a large two story building shattered. Brick and masonry tumbled off of the tall home and began to accumulate along the ground. The framework and supporting stone structure crumbled away into nothingness. The sheer force emanating from the wave of sound reduced the once magnificent domicile to ruin.

Remnants from the thunderous blast threw Marissa down to the pebbled road. She slid face first across the cobblestones. Dust and small debris sprinkled onto her back from the collapsing home. She stood up and shook the dirt from her clothes. The wind continued to howl.

Marissa's heightened attention caught the sound of a small muffled scream in the air. The cry however was not coming from the distance; instead it was coming from one of the nearby homes. In fact, it sounded like the young voice was coming from the home directly behind the recently collapsed building. The plea for help sounded like the voice of a young girl. The young mage raced to find her.

Marissa leapt over rock and debris to reach the home containing the cries. Bits and pieces had been torn from its shingled roof, but the structure was still standing. With a hefty kick from her right boot, she opened the already weather-beaten front door. The broken hinge that had secured the door fell to the interior's floor with a thud.

She cried out, "Hello?!? Where are you?!?"

Marissa was greeted with silence. The storm above continued to raze the landscape around her.

The young woman raced upstairs and called out again, "Hello?!?"

A small whimper came from a closet bordering the hallway.

Marissa raced to the door of the closest and flung it open. Inside was a frail young girl sitting on the floor, clutching a small doll. Tears were running down her pale cheeks. She did not look to be much older than a few years old. Upon her shoulders was a thin cotton nightgown.

"Come on!" Marissa cried, "We need to get you out of here!"

Without waiting for a response, Marissa pulled the frightened girl out of the closet and into her grasp. She was unable to carry the girl all by herself, so she had to lead her down the stairs by hand. The pair raced outside as fast as the girl could scramble, quickly escaping out of the front door.

The wind chased them as they fled.

As they raced back down to the Church, Marissa looked up into the ominous sky behind them. She noticed that it was beginning to transform from its current state. The twisting purple clouds were starting to shift down towards the ground. A massive funnel was beginning to form at the base of the vortex.

The home from which the girl had just been plucked was torn into bits of rubble. Other homes in the area were also ripped apart down to their understructure.

As the walls were being reduced to single bricks, the debris was being accumulated within the great funnel. Chunks and bits of stone were being spun around inside of the massive column of churning clouds. As the vortex began to grow, so did the ratio of debris within. By the time Marissa and the fleeing child had raced halfway down the hill, whole portions of masonry walls could be seen peeking out of the storm's unnatural form. It almost looked more like a solid mass than a whip of clouds.

Marissa stopped and turned around to view the incredible destruction. The little girl tried to continue running but the young mage held tightly on to her arm.

The funnel had grown so gigantic that it had swallowed the entire upper section of Welton. All that remained were piles of ruin and the ever churning mass of the purple winds. It continued to spin within the same spot, towering over the city below.

The large mass suddenly lurched. Without even thinking, Marissa scrambled to look for anything of use within her immediate area.

The young woman's eyes caught sight of a very large cooking skillet. There sitting against the exterior of a kitchen wall was the object. The iron pan was easily as large as the small girl and had a slight concave shape. Two large handles had been bolted onto its sides.

Marissa tugged at the little girl and asked for her assistance, "Hurry, help me roll this out into the roadway!"

The mage and the young girl desperately tried to shift the massive piece of metal into the path. When they had pulled it far enough, they let it fall to the ground with a great clang. It fell upon its curved side and began to slowly slide down the slanted roadway.

The vortex became oddly silent for just a moment, and then it lurched yet again.

Marissa turned around just in time to see the vortex spew out the accumulated contents of the obliterated buildings. A large intertwined mass of stone, rock, metal, and wood was flung down the main roadway. This large spherical ball of debris tumbled down to the base of the town. As it made its way down the hill, buildings and objects in its path were smashed into dust.

Marissa grabbed the young girl into her grasp and ran towards the iron disk. As it was slowly continuing to move, the mage leapt onto the object with the girl in her arms. The disk slid suddenly as they climbed aboard, and Marissa tried to grab a hold of the iron handles on both sides. Her frail fingers clenched onto the worn grips.

The pair raced down the slippery cobblestone path on this makeshift sled. Sparks flew behind them as they were chased by the mass of debris. Marissa tried to steer the sled with the best of her ability. The young woman and her rider just barely missed a food cart that had been parked in the roadway. Faster and faster they slid, just barely staying out of reach of the avalanche of broken buildings.

The noise of stones being crushed behind them began to get louder and louder. The ball was getting closer as it ate up the road. In addition, the great friction of the iron sled hitting the path was heating up its base. The impromptu sled was becoming too hot to even touch.

Within a period of time no longer than two or three seconds; Marissa had pulled her staff to her side, said a single magical word, and cast her desired spell.

The path of the sled jerked suddenly as a magical force pushed on the right side of the sled. The iron skillet abruptly shot out in the opposite direction from which the spell had been cast. Marissa and her young rider tilted hard to their left as they flew down a narrow alleyway. The right edge of the sled began to scrape against the southern wall of the alley until it came to a stop.

The giant boulder made from debris rolled further down the path, just narrowly passing the duo's position in the alleyway. Portions of the buildings around them crumbled to the ground as the mass tumbled down the path. The ball continued to roll further down into town.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?!?" Marissa pleaded with the girl.

Even though she was in a complete state of shock with both eyes open as wide as they could be, she was able to nod 'yes' to the young woman.

Marissa let out a temporarily sigh of relief. She leapt up from disk and pulled the girl from their sled. The base of the super heated iron sled was glowing with a dark pink hue at its base.

The winds had begun to calm down. Flashes in the sky began to dwindle. The roar of thunder began to quiet. It looked as though the mightiest fury of the storm was now over. The sky began to lighten slightly but remained black.

Marissa replaced the ancient staff onto her back and ventured out into the now decimated roadway. Debris was lying everywhere and the complete faces of buildings had been shorn by the massive sphere.

The young woman peered down the path. A wide trail of destruction had been traced by the ball of debris. A distinct line had been torn through the town. Marissa gasped as she realized where the ball had ended its downhill journey: the Church.

In the distance she could see a cloud of grey smoke rising from where the Church steeples had once stood. Fires had broken out around the town, but a very large blaze had erupted on the Church grounds. Red flames were razing the main buildings of the Church. Helpless people at the Church were screaming.

"Those poor people…" she spoke aloud solemnly. The majority of the people would have obviously been ushered into the main chamber for their protection, and the main chamber had been effortlessly crushed by the force of the debris sphere. Unfortunately for those who had sought shelter inside, it was all for naught.

It took Marissa and the young girl almost ten minutes to make their way down to the Church through all of the destruction and panic. With the small little girl's hand still clasping her own, they walked up to the now fallen exterior walls of the Church.

Not all of the buildings had been destroyed, just the main temple and the guards' quarters. There was a greater loss of life on this day than there was loss of property. Several church members and volunteers were trying to dig through the rubble in a hurried search for survivors. Only a few lucky people were successfully rescued from the terrible destruction by the end of the day.

With the little girl still in tow, Marissa walked over to the horse paddock. Fortunately, the stables had not been harmed in any way by the morning's events. All of the horses had been frightened by the horrible storm and they were still racing inside of their gated homes in fear.

A small tear of joy fell from Marissa's eye as she caught a glimpse of her beloved horse, Faerun. He was still noticeably upset, but at least he was alive.

Quite surprisingly, right as Marissa turned from the sight of her horse, she was greeted by her prior companion: Beaumont. The young man in white armor stood there motionless in front of the mage and the young girl.

The little girl immediately noticed the male adventurer and slipped out of the young woman's grasp. Marissa tried to grab her, but the girl eluded the attempts of the female mage. The girl in her nightgown ran over to the young man who promptly picked her up into his arms. The two embraced strongly as he began to weep. Multiple tears streamed down his cheeks.

Marissa stood there silently, watching the two and their reunion. It took the man a moment to compose himself, but then he was able to speak to the female mage.

"Thank you, Marissa. Thank you, thank you, thank you," he belted out with a bit of sadness in his voice. "You have aided me yet again by saving this wonderful little girl. She is my niece, Elanor. May God thank you for your deeds…" The young man wept again.

Marissa did not say a single word. She continued to stand there as the man known as Beaumont held tightly onto his precious little niece named Elanor. The girl still held tight around his neck and did not turn to face the young mage.

Fires behind the reunited pair continued to consume the nearby buildings. Thick smoke was still rising from spots across the town. The gray clouds rose high into the morning air. Even though there was destruction all around, at least the terror of the day's events was now over.

Continue reading onto Chapter 20