Stampede

After Berg and Rodbar left their students, they arrived at the arena and the sight before them left both men absolutely mortified.

The arena was engulfed in chaos as bodies lay about dead, screams of pain and panic reverberating throughout the arena, guards attacking themselves and the civilians, the civilians attacking the guards in retaliation, it was a shocking and disturbing sight.

As they stood there trying to process the chaos unfolding before them with shocked expressions, a strong surge of auras from the VIP section pulled Berg's attention.

"Lord Doggen and great mage Otto?" What's going on?" Berg mused to himself, scanning the VIP section with a mixture of concern and confusion.

Meanwhile, Rodbar's gaze swept over the chaos, his shock evident. "What's this madness?" he asked incredulously, "why are the guards attacking themselves and the civilians? what's gotten into them?"

"We have to do something. where are the ambassadors of the other holds." Rodbar asked.

"They are still in their quarters, but I can sense Lord Doggen and Great mage Otto in the VIP section, the strange thing is that they seem to be fighting." Berg said, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Fighting? What's going on? Why are they fighting?" Shouldn't they be trying to maintain order here." Rodbar asked, his voice full of disbelief.

"I'm confused also, I can't answer your question." Berg admitted, a feeling of unease settling over him.

As the chaos continued to unfold, the civilians crowded the exits in attempts to escape the mayhem, but with their numbers it was proving difficult to exit the arena as the exits were too crowded, causing some of the civilians to jump off the stage, pouring into the center stage where Rodbar and Berg were.

"The civilians are coming." Berg then said, as he saw that the civilians were now making their way to the center platform in a frantic attempt to escape from the arena.

The civilians finally reached the center stage, pouring beyond Rodbar and Berg into the area they had just come out from.

Attempting to restore some semblance of order, Rodbar called out to the frantic crowd. "Calm down, calm down, something will be done, the situation will be put under control."

But his attempts were met with resistance. "Calm down? can't you see that the guards are the ones killing us?" one of the civilians retorted, fear and anger evident in their voice.

"Don't fucking tell us to calm down, tell the guards that." Another person said, their voice trembling in fear, as they pushed past Rodbar to escape through the hall.

Seeing their attempts at restoring order failing, both men were at a loss, suddenly, Rodbar looked towards where the civilians were rushing.

"Berg, the students, they are going towards where we left the students." Rodbar's panicked voice rang out.

"That's right, Berg said in realization, let's go get th-" Berg paused abruptly, a sudden realization dawned on him.

'Wait, Dela is still missing, hope he is not caught up in all this.' Berg thought to himself, fear painting his features, as he considered his son's well being.

"You go get the students, I have something to attend to." Berg said to Rodbar hastily, as he bolted away from the center stage weaving through the chaotic crowd.

"Alright." Rodbar's voice rang out before getting drowned by the noise from the crowd.

***

In the hallway where the students of both the haven and the library were. A tense silence filled the air as another one of them was murdered in cold blood.

Mark's cold glare bore onto Allan as the tension between them seemed to become more palpable. Seeing his glare Allan taunted, "wanna fight?" his grin widening.

Mark's anger simmered beneath the surface, but he held himself back, knowing he was outnumbered, his eyes scanned the environment in search of an opening or anything that could aid his escape.

"Allan, you know very well he won't fall for that, Romnwell's interjected, his tone calm, as he eyed Mark indifferently. "Just finish him off and be done with it, you're wasting time."

"Ah, but where is the fun in that? That'd be pretty boring. "Okay, let's make things easier for you." Allan said with a wide grin.

"How about this? You pick one of us and have a fight with them, if you can win you get to keep your life, what do you say? A pretty sweet deal right?" He added with a grin.

Mark's expression remained stoic as he spoke. "Do you really think I'll fall for that? You probably will still kill me and the rest of us here even if I win." Mark said, his voice dripping with disdain.

Allan chuckled darkly. "You're very smart Indeed, you're right, there's no way we'll allow any of you to leave here alive, so why don't you just die first," he sneered, brandishing his dagger menacingly. Before he could stab Mark, a rumbling sound came from the end of the hall, drawing everyone's attention.

"Hmm, what's that?"Allan muttered, confusion flickering in his eyes, turning his head towards the direction of the sounds, he saw a stampede of panicked civilians rushing into the hallway, overwhelming the space with chaos. In a split moment the stampede was upon them as the crowd rushed into the halls indiscriminately in fear.

Amidst the confusion, Mark seized the opportunity to grab Ara and slipped away with the crowd. "Get them.'' Seeing Mark get away, Allan angrily commanded, his frustration evident as he and his cohorts went ahead in pursuit of them.

Meanwhile, Romnwell sneaked in-between the crowd like a shadow, silently dispatching the remaining students before they could escape, before disappearing into the chaos unnoticed.

As the stampede subsided, Rodbar finally reached the spot where he had left the students. His heart sank as he witnessed the scene before him.

'Maybe they ran after seeing the stampede,' Rodbar mused to himself as he tried to make sense of the situation. But as he moved forward, something on the ground caught his eyes, causing him to stumble.

His breath caught in his throat as he saw Judith's lifeless body lying on the hallway floor, her form battered and broken by the rush of panicked civilians.

A mixture of anger and grief washed over him as he knelt beside her, his hands trembling as he closed her eyes. But as he inspected her body closer, he noticed a stab wound. The sight filled him with dread then confusion set in.

Rodbar looked away from Judith's body, he noticed some other of the students, lying dead, their bodies also roughed up by the stampede. The sight caused his blood to run cold as he inspected another of the bodies, he noticed that they also died of stab wounds.

''Stab wounds?… They didn't die from the stampede," Rodbar realized, his mind racing with possibilities as he contemplated what could have transpired in their absence.

Closing the other students' eyes and praying for them with a heavy heart. Rodbar gently lifted the body of the students and put them aside in last respects for them. Even as he paid his respects, a heavy sense of urgency tugged at his heart.

"Some of the students are not here, I need to hurry to where they are." Rodbar thought to himself as he rushed into the hall, his mind consumed with worry for the rest of the students.