The aftermath of the incident at the well was a storm of fear and accusation. Zarok had X dragged back to the command center, his face a thunderous mask of fury.
The fact that the water was now cleaner was irrelevant to him. What mattered was that a hostile force had manifested within his walls, and X was the one who had provoked it.
"You brought a war to my doorstep!" Zarok roared, slamming his fist on the map table. The maps jumped, and the guards flinched.
"I gave you shelter, and you used it to taunt the very thing we are hiding from! That voice… others heard it. A whisper in their minds. You've terrified my people!"
"I was trying to help!" X argued, standing his ground despite the two guards holding his arms. "The water was sick. The pendant… it drew the sickness out."
"It also sent a signal!" Zarok countered, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "It let the monsters know we are here. That you are here. You heard it. 'The catalyst is awake.' What does that mean?"
X had no answer. The phrase echoed in his mind, another piece of a terrifying puzzle he couldn't solve.
Jacob and Seren stood to one side, their expressions a mixture of fear and concern. Seren had confirmed that the spirit of the spring felt cleaner, but also violated, 'scarred' by the encounter.
Jacob was pale, the reality of sentient, communicative monsters far more terrifying than the abstract legends he had studied.
Before Zarok could decide X's fate, a horn blew from the eastern watchtower. Not the single blast of a visitor, but a series of short, frantic bursts. The signal for an attack.
Zarok's head snapped up. The leader, the soldier, instantly took over. "How many?" he yelled towards the door.
A scout burst in, his face pale and streaked with sweat. "Dozens, Zarok! Maybe fifty or more! They're coming out of the eastern dunes. They're not our usual raiders. They're… weird."
"Weird how?" Zarok demanded, already grabbing his weapon from the rack.
"Their eyes," the scout stammered. "They glow. A faint, sickly yellow. And they're not shouting or screaming. They're just… coming,silently like insects."
The monsters, and the incident at the well had not just been a psychic manifestation; it had been a call to the armies. The blight had summoned its soldiers.
Instantly, the atmosphere in The Well changed. The tense quiet was replaced by the disciplined chaos of a garrison preparing for a siege.
Guards rushed to their positions on the walls, bows were strung, and cauldrons of sand were heated over fires to be poured on attackers.
Zarok was in his element, his voice a sharp, clear bark as he issued commands, deploying his forces with practiced skill.
In the confusion, X, Jacob, and Seren were momentarily forgotten.
"This is my fault," X said, the guilt a heavy weight.
"No," Jacob said, his face grim. "This was inevitable. You just sped up the timetable. The monsters know the pendant is here. They want it back."
"We have to fight," Seren added, her gentle face set with a fierce determination. She grabbed her medical bag. "I need to prepare the infirmary."
X looked down at his hands. He was not a warrior, not a healer. He was an amnesiac, a catalyst, a source of trouble. But he had combat instincts. He had the pendant. He could not just stand by.
Zarok turned looking at him, he walked and gave him a knife. " Use it well"
Staring at Zarok's back , X followed him with Jacob towards the main gate.
The battle for the Well began as the sun touched the horizon, painting the sky in bloody streaks of red and orange.
The attackers were a horrific sight. They were wastelanders, clad in rags and piecemeal armor, but they moved with a terrifying, unified purpose.
Their faces were blank, their mouths slack, and their eyes glowed with that faint, sickly yellow light. They carried crude weapons be sharpened pipes, jagged pieces of metal, heavy clubs. They didn't use tactics, simply advancing in a relentless, silent wave, their only goal to breach the walls.
The defenders on the walls rained down arrows and crossbow bolts. The projectiles found their marks, felling raiders, but the others simply stepped over their fallen comrades, their advance unbroken. They reached the wall and began to climb, using grappling hooks or simply finding handholds in the rough surface, their movements unnervingly fluid.
Zarok stood on the parapet above the gate, directing the defense, his heavy blade cleaving through any attacker that made it to the top. The fighting was brutal and desperate. The defenders were outnumbered, but they were fighting for their homes, their families. The monster-driven raiders fought with an unholy stamina, seeming not to feel pain.
A group of raiders managed to get a heavy ram to the main gate, and the thick metal began to groan under the repeated impacts. It was only a matter of time before it gave way.
"They're going to break through!" a guard yelled.
The attack came, Raiders broke the gate and went in screaming, howling, eyes wild and pale, veins green and sickly.
"Blighted!" Jacob yelled, halting the Bracks and raising his rifle. "They're not thinking, just hungry!"
These weren't cunning survivors. The curse had consumed their minds, leaving only rage. They carried crude weapons: sharpened pipes, nail-studded clubs, jagged scrap metal.
Jacob started firing quickly trampled the raider infront.
X drew the knife Zarok had given them.
Seren pulled a short staff from the cart.
They took positions on either side of the cart, forming a defensive triangle with Jakob.
The raiders charged.
The fight was chaotic.
X moved instinctively, the knife an extension of their arm. They ducked, slashed, and struck with precision. A pipe-wielding raider lunged; X parried and slammed the pommel into his temple. He dropped.
Jacob used his rifle butt like a club, disabling attackers with precise strikes. Seren used her staff to deflect and control, tripping and disarming raiders.
They were outnumbered. A large raider broke through and lunged at Seren. Jacob was too far; X was engaged elsewhere and Zarok with the rest quite far and engaging with other raiders. The raider swung a club, sending Seren stumbling. He raised it for a killing blow.
"No!" X yelled. Something snapped. The pendant around X's neck flared with intense heat. Golden energy erupted from their body.
The effect on the raiders was immediate. The one over Seren screamed and collapsed.
Others dropped weapons, clutching their heads, convulsing. The golden energy burned the curse out of them. Some collapsed; others, temporarily free of the madness, looked around in horror before falling.
Within seconds, it was over. The clearing was littered with bodies. The pendant cooled, inert again. X panted, knife in hand, trembling from the surge of energy.
Seren and Jacob stared at X in awe and fear. They had seen this power before, but never like this.
"It… purified them," Seren whispered.
X looked at the pendant, then at their hands. The weapon had revealed itself. The path ahead had just become more dangerous and more complicated.