The Escape

Adaceus continued watching the line of figures slowly walking past him, the numbers that followed still not faltering a bit as swarms still lurched and walked on. The sound of bells suddenly rung, and this time the sound was clearer, and it was coming from the back of the back end of the march. 

He looked to the back, trying to keep his face from view by the walls, and drew his attention to what was making the chimes. At the back of this damned parade, their forms creating a wall of steel and black, were large, armored behemoths. Large monsters walked behind, their size almost reaching that of the buildings that were here. They all had on blackened and rusted armor that covered some parts of their bodies, the empty spaces of their plate exposed chunks of gray flesh that jutted outward and were infected with boils and poxes, and their helmets were seemingly held in place by nails that surrounded their heads. A couple of them held up oversized bells, holding them in each hand and some even hung from their backs-which explained the sounds. And in their other hand were hook like spears, and they used them to prod and prick at any straggling figures that were falling behind.

The end of the line slowly got closer, only having a couple left behind, the group of giants almost reaching where Adaceus and the girls hid. Adaceus looked about the road, trying to find a way to avoid the approaching monsters that were inching closer by the minute. He turned his back, and to his fortune there were crates placed their, covering the tops of them were cloth.

He ran to them, grabbing the rags off the crates, dusting them off and brought it over to the girls. They all huddled in the cloth, perfectly big enough for the three of them, completely hiding their bodies to obscurity as they all tried huddled around it, and joined the robed figures in their walk.

They walked the road slowly, matching the steps the lumbering folk were taking. They were all still continuing to walk, the whereabouts completely unknown to Adaceus, but still they followed. He looked to the back, the giants still following the march in the back. He then saw a straggler fall, for a while now, when this would on occasion, happen, they had simply picked them up, using their hooks to poise them up and pushed so they could continue, but this giant simply stepped on the man, or woman, causing her to explode on impact to blood and gore, and the giant simply continued the walk.

Brutal, Adaceus thought. It must have gotten tired of that one. 

It was only a couple of minutes, when something on the horizon was silhouetted from the sun, ahead of them, and it was placed on top of a foundation, and placed beneath it were stairs, going up to this enigmatic form. Adaceus walked closer, making sure the girls were with him when he did this and bore witness to something large in front of them.

"What, the hell is that," he said in a whisper.

It was difficult to describe with words of what this was, a thought of what it might be not coming to Adaceus, even he was giving time to think, he still wouldn't be able to make sense of this; at the very sight of this, he was terrified, only admiring its figure in wonderment. It was, from what he suspected, trying his best explain it to himself. Its body was all made of steel sheets, a body that stretched long across and were made up of sections, compartments, and had circular objects, in conjunction with a system of pulling systems, in its sides that were placed on top of some sort of steel ladder. The front of this thing looked like a cathedral, repurposed as a battering ram and thick full of steel parts, and the spire atop it was spewing out a constant smog.

Spread out across the stairs leading up to this thing were other robed figures, except their were more elaborate with black cloth and sigils of red marking them, each of them wielded staffs in their hands, all hanging on them were multiple censers smoking soft wisps, and they seemed to chanting something. At a glance they were all similar to the robes Belluk had.

At the sound of these hums, the figures all stopped their walks, stopping at the very start of the stairs, and all of them just doddered still, and Adacues followed suit. The priest suddenly raised their volumes, the humming chanting becoming louder and more faster before coming to an abrupt end. Then they all started moving again, this time trying their hardest to climb the stairs, and Adaceus and the girls quickly began being swept up in the walking crowd. Adaceus observed as one by one as they entered the dark compartments, their gates placed upward so the figures could be let in.

They all clamored to enter, and quickly filled up to the brink with bodes, but that didn't stop them as they tightly squeezed through, even forcefully clawing themselves into the growing pile as the numbers increased so much they had to stack their bodies together like bags of meat that overfilled the compartment, some even crawling on top of each other just to get in. The top gate suddenly closed, leaving the bulging mess of people that was sticking out of the compartment in mass, compactly in, shutting tight as its hinges exuded steam. 

Another cart followed, and opened its gate to welcome a new, fresh batch.

Adaceus, marveled at the figures willingness to commit this action; all of them lifelessly moving toward the steel maw of this contraption as if choosing to do this in their own will, their gray bodies forcefully molding into one horrific amalgamation.

Upon seeing this he immediately looked around in a panic, the figures around them slowly started disappearing little by little as it was nearly their turn. He searched for a possible route they could take to escape the toward the back of this steel apparatus and saw a different looking compartment, just at the end of the line. It was absent of all presence of people surrounding it, and he decided to go there.

"Veil Unseen," he said, and their bodies suddenly became coated with a liquid substance, their forms becoming invisible after the liquid had settled, and after letting go of the cloth they used for cover, ran up the stairs, turning to the side of the platform where the rails were placed, and ran trough, reaching the back compartment. Looking in there was only packages, crates that were stacked neatly, and chest's, neatly organized.

A sound boomed at the front of this machination, a loud, shrilling cry that reached here. 

Click, the things circles sounded, moving by an inch, and as a the sound stopped and boomed again, it slowly started moving. Adaceus quickly climbed up, letting the girls jump on first before he went in. They quickly huddled together, and as they sat themselves in a corner, they felt the compartment vibrate, the sound booming again, seeing the open entrance of this compartment, they started moving, and they all left on what seemed to him were open gates, he peeked his eye through and saw walls, all leaving him rapidly.

Full speed ahead, this machine started running, and they left this city behind.