The terrifying presence remained for sometime until all the skydarts had disappeared. Then, it mysteriously vanished and the chaos ceased.
People could breathe now.
"What--happened?" Alia asked.
"I don't know" Reya answered. "Is everyone alright?"
Reya looked around her. Whatever it was had come in the nick of time as their group was nearly covered with Skydarts.
A notification then appeared before Icard.
[You Have Survived The Plague Quest]
[You Have Utilized Your System]
[You Have Started Gaining Advance Points - You Gain Advance Points By Vanquishing Your Opponents Using Your System]
'Why are these panels coming up?' Icard thought with a frown. 'I thought the system remembers my progress. Why am I seeing things I already know'
[Just In Case You Forgot A Few Things. Haha]
Another notification appeared, taking Icard by surprise.
'What? Is the system tal--no, no. Is it faulty? How can it--'
Then his mind flashed back to the Frost Tower.
'Don't tell me this is Alyxara'
[Haha. It's Me]
Icard's eyes widened in surprise.
"You're the system?" Icard asked inaudibly.
[I Am Representing The System's Keeper Not The System Itself]
That much was clear already.
"How are you doing this? Erient--sorry, your master never did this"
[-Smile- My Master Could But He Probably Didn't Find It Interesting. But I Do. I Get To Talk To You Any Time I Want To]
'That blue minx' Icard exclaimed in his thoughts.
[I Can Hear Your Thoughts Clearly, Icard]
Icard gritted his teeth upon realising that as well. Of course, he could use his thoughts to summon panels.
Knowing Alyxara as much as he did, he couldn't hide his frustration quite well.
"Are you okay, Icard"
Eric had noticed Icard muttering to no one.
Icard composed himself.
"Yeah. I'm just--thinking" he said.
[-Chuckles-]
'Why do you message like those weird teenage girls on phone chats!' he yelled in his thoughts, seeing that notification.
"What the hell was that?" Matt asked. "My keeper did say something about spawns but I don't think that was one"
Icard exhaled calmly and then, returned to his usual gait.
"Yeah. It didn't feel like one" he said calmly. "But then, what did your keeper tell you?"
Matt breathed out raggedly.
"Man. Forget what she told me. I passed through hell in that place" Matt said in cold sweat. "She kept cutting and bleeding me till I couldn't feel anything"
"Me too" Eric said. "Mine nearly burnt me to ashes"
"Wow. And you're still alive?" Alia asked, listening in. "Mine didn't do any such thing"
Eric was surprised. He thought everyone passed through the same things.
"Well, mine just forced me to go against a really crazy force. It was like, going against a great river torrent" Reya said.
"But then, both of you sound like you went through something entirely different"
Icard listened.
Back in his first turn, it was both he and Eric. After passing through Erient's trials, he returned quite as shaken as Eric. It took them time to recover from the trauma completely.
"What about you, Icard?" Alia asked, interrupting Icard's rumination.
"Mine was crazy too. My keeper nearly froze me to death"
"Woah" she said.
"At first, it was all unbelievable till I reached passed through all that. How long did I spend there? Felt like days or something. Ugh" Matt said.
"But then, what was that thing?" Eric asked quietly. "Was it what killed all those things?"
"Yeah. It came and left just like that" Alia said, cringing a bit. "It felt...really scary"
"Well, whatever it was, it saved us. Those spawns were already about to kill us" Reya chipped in.
"Yeah. Definitely" Icard said in agreement.
A number of people did die. Like the woman who had screamed for help earlier, although, not much remained of her.
"I don't know what that thing said but, something's really coming. That calamity he talked of, I asked my keeper about it but he only told me to get stronger with the powers he has given me'" Reya said.
"Something really big is coming. We have to stick together, and use whatever we've been given to survive. And we have to survive, no mater what" she completed, clenching her fists and exuding determination.
Those words sank deeply into each of them. None of them would be alive if it weren't for Reya and so they naturally agreed to it.
Icard smiled at them faintly.
'We adapted really quickly, didn't we' he thought, mused at that fact.
Then he clenched his fists too with steeled resolution. 'Don't worry. I'll save everyone this time'
The aftermath of the plague they had all just survived was evident all around the city. People took their time to recover.
Some were injured and some were dead, while some generously tended to those injured and some tried to navigate their way through all this.
The plague has also disrupted the organisation prior to the attack as the mayor and his cohorts, who left after Reya coldly answered him was nowhere to be found.
"Let's go find some food and medicine" they heard someone say, leading a number of people following him.
"Hmm. This early?" Icard muttered.
"We'll definitely need those too" Reya said, eying those people.
"We'll also need some space. Like an apartment or something" Matt suggested. "Has anyone been to this place before? Maybe, there's a nice hotel somewhere"
"Just anywhere should be okay for now, Matt" Reya said then took a few steps forward. "Come on, let's go"
The six of them abandoned the truck they had come with and began walking the same direction the other group were headed.
Soon enough, they came across an abandoned mall.
"Grab anything that looks important" Reya said and they took bags and began emptying the shelves.
People had already visited these places but there was still enough for Reya's group to grab.
After they were done stuffing their bags with food and medicine, they left the mall and were back on the street, littered with deserted cars and broken objects.
It was like a scene from an alien invasion movie. The city itself had been through a rampage.
While the Maires did appear just as the apocalypse began, they did not set up their territory immediately and for some time, this city was overrun with monsters, before the Maire's territory was defined.
Many died, and the damage was great.
Icard and the rest walked for some time before they came across a small apartment building quite familiar to Icard.
"This is okay" Reya said. "Let's stay here"
"Wait--Reya" Matt said. "Aren't there better places. Like a nice consort"
"I'm sure some residents of this city are still alive, like the mayor. If we went to a place like that, it wouldn't be long before someone comes to make claims and demands" Reya said. "Unless you're up for issues like that, we should just take this place"
"But what if those things come again?" Alia asked.
"Well, let's just hope they don't. At least, for now" Reya said reassuringly.
This was where they lodged in his first turn. Somehow, things were just happening how they did in his first turn. Icard grinned. This was their early life.
But soon enough, all this will change. They would move on, to other places.
Now, to think of what happened next, Icard thought deeply but his memories were really cloudy.
After a while, he realised he couldn't remember.
By then, they had entered the building and began looking around the deserted apartment. Soon, they agreed on it and began setting it up.
A day passed. The team had began adjusting to life here. It was really quiet now and Reya had already began talking about training.
Then another day passed. And Icard still couldn't remember. It made him quite uncomfortable, as he felt something was definitely coming.
That day, Icard looked around the environment, looking for clues that could help him remember more of their early life here.
The brown brick house stood, like a small manor. And at the backyard was a small garden as well.
Icard stood by the window that afternoon, looking over it and then, a vague memory struck him.
"We will need more food. To last us a long time at least" Reya announced to the team seated together in the living room.
"Enough to fill our storeroom" Matt said in agreement.
Icard remained at the window, closely looking over the garden, like something bizarre was about to pop out there.
"Icard, what's wrong?" Matt asked, noticing Icard standing there strangely. He walked up to him.
Meanwhile, Icard's eyes remained fixed on the entire garden and just before Matt could touch him, a bolt of lightning struck in the garden area, throwing Matt and the rest of balance.
"Woaahh. What was that?! What was that?!" he yelled, jumping back from the window.
A notification panel then appeared before Icard.
[An Erwald Has Entered Your Vicinity]
[Specie: Snow Cat]
[Warning: Do Not Approach In Numbers]
'Of course! How could I forget!?' Icard exclaimed in his thoughts with his hands on his head.