Library Island
7:10 PM
The colors of dusk were starting to fall slightly on the palatial island, but there was no harmonious silence to accompany it. There were roars, yells, and screams echoing out, and smoke rising off some of the windows. As bystanders and students tried to evacuate, alchemical monsters made themselves obstacles.
But along the main exits of the castle, at the end of decorated stairwells, and at the gate of the principal bridge to the town, dolorous statues groaned and came to life, one set at a time. The guardians interposed themselves between the struggling defensers and the beasts, taking the frontline with spear and shield. A half-reptilian half-insect beast saw itself surrounded, and rather than barrel through, leaped out of a second story terrace.
The boy captive in its yawning ribcage of spiked carbon screamed woozily at the fall, but it didn't stop. Brick cracked as it landed on an empty walkway of yellow brick, on one of the outside paths of the castle. It was separated in height from the sands and rocks that briefly preluded the shore only by a low battlement, and the creature's corrosive droll spilled on the road as it reared up towards its escape.
But the space wasn't empty. A figure robed almost entirely in a dark cloak stood to the side, brilliant hair and shining eyes peeking from under a large hood. Then the ground trembled, and with a light swing of a feminine hand, separated itself from its foundations. A curtain of bricks was pulled loose from the length of the road, rising to block the sunlight, and clattered in menace.
The thing could not move another step before a brick shot forward like a bullet, taking its twisted ankle out from under it with a splatter of green. It growled viscerally, and stumbled into the path of more projectiles. Meat flew off its twisted legs, joints cracked, and its skull shattered, sending it reeling.
The wave pelted the monster without restraint, booming like a continuous salute of cannons until there was nothing left but a puddle of gurgling flesh bits, green blood, and drops of acid. The cage-like set of ribs, ripped from it, clattered down and broke open with a click. The sweating, heavily breathing student fell out, and the cloaked woman caught him softly.
"You're alright now," she said, patting his tussled hair for a second.
His head shook, as if unable to decided between nodding and saying no, as she pulled him to the side of the ravaged path, next to a small door, adjusting his crooked glasses. She opened it and without another word, pushed the boy inside, to the safety of the Clocktower. When she swung it closed, it was back to being a mundane door to the corridors of the castle library.
"Now then."
The Headmaster closed her eyes for a moment. And then threw herself through the door too, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She emerged in one of the underground floor of the library, out of a service closet, and swung her hands together, crushing five monsters between the accumulated weight of the titanic bookcases. To the adventurers and fighters there, she nodded before moving on, rushing back into the closet door.
