Grata spun around to see everyone pointing and staring out at the sky towards the eastern horizon.
Her mouth dropped in shock.
Dozens of fiery veins were streaking diagonally across the blackness of the far away night sky. The fireballs were of varying sizes; most were small, but some appeared huge.
They flew slowly across the sky but were noticeably heading for the line of the horizon’s end.
The townspeople muttered nervously amongst themselves. Some let out shrieks of horror.
“It’s beginning!” someone shouted. “It’s the Ruin!”
“We must leave, at once! Take us!” another cried.
“Diosa, help us!”
Within a few moments, a widespread panic had set in. Those still on the pier had seen the distant streaks of flame in the sky and had decided to take their chances by charging forward towards the remaining ships.
A guardsman shouted as he ran for the helm, “take off, now!” Other guards began to reel in the anchor and release the sails.
Several terrified people began leaping from the edge of the pier onto the sides of the ships. Most could not get a hold on anything as the curved sides of the wooden hull were smooth, but some were lucky enough to grab the very edges.
Upon seeing this, more and more desperate people jumped for the ships. A few even tossed their children. Anything to get them to safety.
The ship that Grata and Kasda had boarded suddenly lurched as the anchor was reeled onboard. It slowly began to move away from the pier’s edge.
One man took the chance and leapt, somehow catching his hand on the very edge of the hull right beside Grata.
“Stay down,” Grata said to Kasda, worried for his safety. She then leant out over the side of the railing, reaching her arm out towards the hanging man.
“Take my hand,” she called, using her other hand to hold on as tight as she could.
The man looked up. He was young, handsome, with a bony brow and square jaw. His eyes, however, were what stuck out. They were full of distress. This man did not want to die; he was willing to do whatever it took to survive.
He attempted to pull himself up, reaching his free arm as high as possible. He gritted his teeth, his fingertips barely touching Grata’s.
He appeared as though he wanted to scream something, just as he lost his hold and fell to the water with a dark splash.
Grata shouted out, repelling the urge to jump after him, but there was nothing she could do. He fell so fast in the crimson depths and in an instant he was swallowed by the sea.
The ship, like the others steadily moved further and further away from the pier. The people of Nightenvale continued to jump, despite the distance being far too large to make it to any of the ships. But they were willing to brave the icy ocean if it meant a chance of surviving.
Grata gazed down to where the man had fallen. Then, his head popped up from the water. Only, it wasn’t water that he was swimming in.
The man’s face dripped with the viscous, slimy, red streaks of what looked like blood. He coughed and spat up the liquid as he struggled to keep afloat, crying out for help.
Grata noticed the dozens of other bobbing heads and bodies in the ‘water’. It was a devastating sight. So many people, struggling to swim in the red liquid as it seemed to envelope them like it had a life of its own.
She lost sight of the man, feeling a strike to her gut upon realising he would be suffering such a cold death.
Ghoulish red fingers clawed out from the waves, scratching at their skin, clutching their wet hair, and ripping at their clothes.
They gargled and spat as their heads were pulled under. Grata swore she could see hands in the ocean of blood, choking the drowning swimmers.
She could not turn away, despite the horror of it. She felt she owed it to them. She had made it to a ship just in time, and they had not.
“What’s happening, momma?” Kasda asked, still crouched beside her leg.
“Nothing, sweetheart,” Grata lied, feeling the winds pick up and the ship gain some speed as it left the harbour.
The screams of the people left on the docks and those trapped in the frigid water died out a little too fast.
Grata looked out at the horizon again, seeing more of the fiery stars falling, probably somewhere towards the mainland.
The night sky lit up with entire clusters of the burning streaks. Their impacts created enormous flashes of red light, but no sound emanated from so far away.
The sight was chilling. Grata could only get down and cuddle her boy, who she had saved… for now.
The fear set in.
What is happening? Are we going to make it, Fera?
The realisation was slowly becoming truth in her mind… that her people had been right all along.
Was the Final Ruin upon them, at last?
Interlude - In Plain Sight
Ida pulled the hood of her riding cloak over her deep black hair, hiding as much of her face in shadow as she could. The last thing she wanted was to draw any suspicions or curious eyes.
Her journey into the Midlands had so far been uneventful- just as she had hoped. But the road to Stonebridge was still a long one and riding alone was a dangerous yet necessary decision that she had made.
Don’t look back now. There is no going back.
Ida reigned her horse onward towards the village of Deepwood. Enormous redwood trees shot up from the earth through a sea of moss, leaf litter and conifer needles. A ceiling of tree canopy and vegetation blocked out the sky, layering everything with a dim ambience.
The innards of the largest trees
