8:14 PM, 26th of December, 1728
A guard approached almost immediately following the unidentified roar, leaning into the professor's ear and whispering what could only be assumed to be important information.
After another moment, the professor raised the sword in his hand, looking as if he were trying to pierce the very sky above him, and speaking in a loud and clear voice.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for you all to see what it really means to be a scholar! If you can protect yourself, come and watch as we slay a Fallen Star Beast. Bring your blades and learn firsthand.”
Both Alexander and his opponent withdrew their crossed blades, his opponent raising his voice in response as he did.
“A Fallen Star Beast? What is that?”
“Those meteors that rained down upon us were not simply lumps of rock; each of them birthed out a terrible beast, and each of those beasts knows nothing but destruction. One of them is making a move upon our sacred city.”
The professor stepped towards the edge of the courtyard, his blade still raised in the air, “Now, come if you’d like, but keep your distance. This is strictly a visual example.”
Only half of the students moved to follow him, dull blades in hand, the rest staying in back, talking in hushed voices, yet not a single one of them was aware of the bloodbath that was soon to come.
The City of Truth, unlike the dome Alexander was born under, had no real wall marking its boundary, though, as they neared the city's outskirts, a distinct, unfortunately familiar scent assaulted Alexander's nose.
The smell was strong and reeked of iron, though as they continued, the source remained a mystery.
The group stood on a small cliff, looking down upon what was soon to be a battlefield. Nearly a hundred guards surrounded an odd bulge in the ground, the dirt thrown up, and looking as if roots tore through it, originating from some nasty plant.
The bulge in the ground was unusually long, spanning nearly a hundred meters.
Suddenly, it began to move.
Long yellow limbs burst up and out of each side of the dirt, planting themselves down and lifting its entire body. The dirt rose and fell off the creature, revealing bright red chitin that shimmered under the moonlight. Each of the hundreds of legs was thick and powerful, far larger than any blade Alexander had ever seen, the edges of each leg glinting, as if in testament to their sharpness.
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The head of the beast revealed itself last, its face covered in an uncountable number of eyes, each as black as the night sky, before raising its head to the heavens and letting out another terrible screech, its forcipules chattering as it did.
The sound reverberated inside Alexander's mind, and he brought his hands up to his ears in a futile attempt to try to block it out.
The guards began moving, but instead of stepping towards the terrible beast, they slowly began backing up. They didn’t look troubled or scared, though, rather it seemed like they were trying to make room.
The professor jumped from the cliff they were all standing upon, landing on the ground, a loud shockwave sending wind in every direction as he did.
Alexander stepped forward and looked down to where the professor landed, a crater just below him.
The professor lunged forward, moving unbelievably fast, straight for the face of the Fallen Star Beast. As he approached, Alexander could feel the very air around him grow heavy, and he watched as the beast shook in its grounded stance, as if a heavy weight had suddenly been forced upon it.
The apparent struggle of the beast only lasted for a moment, though.
Just before the professor reached the beast, it dashed forward, moving faster than anything Alexander had ever seen, its body twisting and turning at impossible angles.
Its forcipules opened, revealing thousands of teeth behind them as it attempted to close down on the professor. Dropping his blade in an instant, he shot both arms out to the side, grabbing hold of each forcipule, forcing them apart and preventing them from closing down on him. A faint purple glow emanated from his arms as he did.
The struggle only lasted for a second, though, and the forcipules began to overpower the professor, closing down and gouging a lump of flesh out of his stomach, before throwing him to the side as if he were an unwanted toy to a child.
A second of silence followed before the entire litany of students, save for Alexander, began screaming, dropping their blades, and running back in the direction of their city.
Alexander considered running, too. After all, what was he meant to do in the face of an overwhelming force, but just before he turned, a hand landed on his shoulder.
He turned, only to find no one there.
“My god, you have got to stop sneaking up on me.”
He was speaking to Mari.
“Oh? Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I forget you can’t see. What’s going on here? And what are you doing here?”
Alexander looked back at the clearing ahead of him, the beast rampaging throughout it, the surrounding guards doing everything they could to stay away, yet still attempting to keep it at bay.
He raised his hand towards the professor lying on the floor, but didn’t say anything, confusion having replaced his words.
Althea, having apparently arrived on the battlefield, was crouched next to him, the wound on his stomach nowhere to be seen, his clothes even intact despite the forcipules that had previously torn them apart. Instead, a large gouge was taken out of his arm, bleeding profusely.
“Should I try to help them?”
“Is that something you think you can do?”
“I’m… not sure.”
He didn’t think that seeing a moment in the future was enough to take down this beast, as it was almost not even enough to take down a single man.
On top of that, what could he do that the professor could not?
Alexander’s heart burned again, deeper than before.
The beast charged around, slamming into the side of the cliff they stood behind, and only a moment later, Alexander felt the ground beneath his feet, the high ground he was previously so confident that would keep him safe, give out, crumbling below him.
