’This is a lot, is it not?’ Aether said, resting against his place, which was deep under the ground. He watched the battlefield, like a warrior scanning the battlefield.

The condition it was inside was critical.

The trunks that were once used to rise like pillars.

Now, they stood broken.

Some still reached upward, impossibly wide, but their bark was no longer carved with care. It was blackened, split open, burned deep into the wood. Others had fallen entirely, their massive bodies collapsed across the forest floor, crushing everything beneath them. Even if they were going to win, this side of the city was going to be heavily affected, maybe even unlivable for a long time. Platforms that once circled them at different heights were gone, or worse, left hanging in pieces, tilted and uneven, barely held in place.

’Crazy, I can remember being up watching just from there, and now, it has fallen down. How things can change in a war.’

The fire had not stopped, not even once.

It crawled along the wood, feeding on what had been built into it. The layered structures were still there, in a way... but not as they were meant to be. Some remained attached, broken at the edges, while others had fallen, scattered below in shattered remains.

And the fire wasn’t going to stop, they were going to continue burning everything until nothing remained, for the sole reason that there was still something to burn, they weren’t going to stop.

The bridges no longer stretched from one tree to another.

They sagged too far now... or didn’t exist at all. For those who still had their houses up and hadn’t left them like everyone else, now they were stuck up there, with no way to get down. Until the war was over, and they started to look for any survivors, they were stuck. Of course, if they were even going to survive.

Ropes had burned through, thick cords reduced to ash, which floated in the air, making it hard to breathe sometimes, and had left planks to fall or hang uselessly in the air. Some bridges still clung to one side of a trunk, not wanting to let go, and swaying slightly, their other end gone. The web that once spread through the entire forest had been torn apart, leaving only fragments behind.

’Sad to see all that work be gone now...’

Houses still clung to the sides of the trees.

Or what was left of them, if you were to call them houses, it would mean that people could live in them, which he had to say, that not all seemed livable, actually, most seemed deadly. Not marking one of the things that makes a house livable.

Some remained wrapped around the trunks, their curved walls split open, exposing blackened interiors, and what a shame, since their interior was on point.

Sloped roofs had caved in or burned away entirely, leaving only frames behind. Others that once rested on platforms had collapsed with them, their stilts broken, their bases uneven in a way they were never meant to be.

Railings still lined some edges.

Thin, fragile... burned through in places, broken in others. They weren’t what they used to be anymore. The ropes woven between posts had turned to ash, leaving gaps that opened into nothing.

’Perfect for a jumping place, no?’

Higher up, the smaller structures had suffered the most. Which was weird, saying when you looked at everything else, how could something suffer more than what was said until now?

They had been packed close together once, stacked and connected by ladders and narrow walkways. They were small, but beautiful, and the people living inside were very friendly. Now, many were simply gone. What remained was broken apart, pieces barely holding on, or already falling.

It was as if they had never existed in the first place; what was there was a hollow memory for people to see and wonder what used to be there.

And looking a bit in the distance, it didn’t get better.

Larger platforms had collapsed under the weight of falling trees, beams torn from the wood they had once been driven into. Some structures still stood, but only in shape... empty, hollow, and burned.

Vines still hung everywhere.

But they no longer blended anything together.

They had burned with everything else.

Some remained, blackened and curled, clinging to trunks or draped over what used to be railings. Others had fallen, tangled across the ground, mixed with debris and ash.

’It is as if this was how the trees had naturally grown.’

But it wasn’t.

Not anymore.

And it didn’t stop above.

At the base, where houses once stood between roots, there was almost nothing left. The gaps where the massive trees met the ground were filled with wreckage, with broken wood, with bodies.

Some crushed beneath what had fallen.

Others... not.

...

The city was still gigantic.

It still extended beyond what his eyes could reach.

But now...

It was something else entirely.

And it was all so ruined that one could just as easily get lost in it.

Like a hollow city that only proved as a museum for others to wonder and see what used to be a city made by Beast humans. He was a bit sad for them, since they would be missing the beauty he had seen when he first came to the city.

...

It was evident that the conditions of the city were awful, especially in his zone, where the attack had first started. And the worst fact was that most of the powers of the military of the Beast Humans were here. And yet, had seen more mages get killed than orcs getting killed. It just won’t show the true strength of those who were supposed to train Lucien and Kade.

And it wasn’t like the knights were doing any better, if he had to say, more have died than both combined.

’And they were supposed to train me?’

Aether rose his head, taking his blade from the ground.

’I should be offended.’

He said, locking eyes with one of the orcs, before dashing forward, the speed from which their eyes made contact, and when he made him run, was hardly anything... to the point he was surprised himself...

But at the same time, it was night.

The orc quickly raised his blade to block the attack, in the little time he had to react, but the moment his hand moved, Aether read it.

Taking a step to the side, before jumping onto his hand, and delivering a thrust to his head.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Orc]

’To be expected, this guy was weaker than even the scorpions from the desert... but I doubt all of them would be like this.’

He waited as the body of the orc fell down, before taking a walk on him and onto the ground.

...

’At least, I don’t have to hold back like with the scorpions; there isn’t any poison that I have to worry about... and also, until I get to the king, I doubt I will meet the strongest orcs.

...

You should have chosen another hour to attack... not at night.’

His goal was to reach the gate; that way, he could help the lion defeat the orc king. In a war, taking out the king early can change everything, and it would make things a lot easier.

Just that... to get over there... he was going to have to go through a lot of orcs.

...

He sighed... before taking the first step in his run, the speed of which he moved, the orcs could sense, he was a danger to their king, and needed to be stopped. So take long time for many to get in his way.

’As if some Reader Fragments or Echos are going to stop me.’

In the state he was in right now, every wrong move the orcs made, he could make them pay for it. As he reached the first, he noticed his weapon was missing, and so, he tried to punch him, yet... that was even worse. It didn’t take three punches before he faked a thrust and swept him off his feet, before thrusting down right inside his heart.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Orc]

And the recovery he had, the moment his blade left the body of the orc, he had already dashed forward, into a ground of orcs, right into the trajectory of their attacks, and yet, Aeher glanced up, a fast movement of the eye, that hardly lasted anything, but he got all the information he wanted, all he needed to get out of the way of all three axes. And the moment they made contact with the ground.

All the orcs had their guard down. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Aether twisted his body, the grip on his blade tightening, as he thrusted into the abdomen of one of the orcs.

[You have killed a Reader Echo, Elder Orc]

’That guy was an echo?’

Yet, as he took his blade out, he sensed something coming for his neck. The most normal thing would have been to step out of the way... but he had another plan. He arched forward, an unusual amount, allowing him to duck under the attack. Before thrusting into the neck of the orc that had attacked him.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Orc]

And then one remained.

Aether turned towards the last orc, who quickly raised his weapon. But suddenly.

"Attack!" There was a voice coming from behind him, making him turn.

...

However... it was just a rock.

"Fell for the oldest trick in the book... and opening your full body to your opponent... really?"

He said, before quickly taking his life.

[You have killed a Reader Echo, Elder Orc]

...

"I should have known there was no way this bastard was dying." Aether was surprised by that voice, which belonged to Kade, but turning around, there they were, both Kade and Lucien... had he really spent that much time that Kade was able to get over his side and come back?

True that at first he had only watched the battlefield, and only now started fighting, but still...

"I see you two are alive... not in the best condition, but alive?"

Kade chuckled, looking him up and down.

"You look perfectly fine..."

Aether scoffed. "You should have known that at night this was not going to be such a bother for me..."

He turned back towards the battlefield.

"Mind helping me out?"