Tremors

Dark Nimbus clouds covered the entirety of the west and north side of Astraea. And in the background, was a volcano on the brink of eruption. Lightning blanketed the sky, and was directed towards the volcano that reacted with mini explosions every strike.

Don hurriedly walked to the carriage, placed both his hands in the center, and created a thin layer of stone that rounded the edges of the carriage and created the shape of an egg. Their only way was this odd looking carriage, that was ridiculously light.

The door was busted through with Don yelling at everyone to get inside the carriage. However, Elijah stopped everyone with a single sentence. "We need to save the Sinclair's!"

"There is plenty of room for them, so that won't be a problem. Having another earth mage would only help us." Don quickly replied.

The family ran to the safety of the carriage while Don materialized a thin stone helmet and ran to the back of the carriage. With a single push the family knew they had a chance for safety. And that chance grew even greater when they were accompanied by the Sinclair's.

"Thank goodness you are okay Mitch, now help me push this carriage to safety, the only option is the west gate." Don said.

Mitch nodded with the same thin layer of stone around his body. Being an earth mage gives you access to not just dirt, but gravel, stone, mud, and so much more as long as you have understood the specific part of the earth element.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking, which sent a shock and threw everyone vying for safety to the ground. Not even moments later, an ear splitting explosion was heard. The volcano had climaxed!

BABOOM!

The shockwave of the explosion itself took time to reach the two families. Don and Mitch struggled to keep the carriage straight, and were completely knocked off their feet with a shockwave that also damaged the carriage and themselves. The left rear wheel was completely blown off and was just slightly thrown to the side. Chaos was everywhere, while doubt entered the minds of the humans that had their lives within the hands of their loved ones.

"FUCK! WE CAN STILL MAKE IT!"

Don steeled his resolve and picked up the wheel-less side of the carriage and continued moving forward in a zigzag line. The tremors never stopped, but only felt different. These tremors were not from some supernatural disaster, but from something that was alive!

Inside the egg of safety, the two families were lying on top of each with bruises everywhere on their body as they had just been thrown around like ragdolls. Julian had a broken arm from his mother's shoulder falling on it, and Mike, the oldest of the Sinclair siblings, had both his ankles completely shattered from landing awkwardly.

All Elijah was thinking was how the volcano had just erupted, and they did not have much time until a wave of hot ash disintegrated everything in the west side of Astraea.

However, at least something good had happened. The hail had completely stopped with the explosion of the volcano, which dropped the temperature of the air dramatically. There was this small amount of time until the ash and rocks destroyed everything in its wake, which meant it was time for Elijah to put his all into saving his family, and with a new application of his space magic. A portal opened on the side of the egg that allowed him to move through the thin stone layer protecting everyone inside.

"Elijah! W-what are you doing?!" Everyone was crying because of their injuries, especially Phloria who had broken his own son's arm.

"I will explain when everyone is safe. The frozen rain has stopped, so don't worry about me." Elijah told everyone with a smile on his face.

The moment Elijah exited the egg, he noticed small cracks all over the grass and dirt road. They were less than a minute away from West Road, and Elijah couldn't help but feel the pain wasn't over. Especially with the rhythmic tremors that were coming from the northwest.

"Elijah! What the hell are you doing?!" Don was furious and scared for his child. He gave no response and proceeded to help Don and Mitch push the carriage faster.

However, when the carriage made it to West Road, Elijah took a glance towards the west gate and noticed it wide open with what seemed like hordes of beasts funneling through the small passageway.

"FATHER! WE HAVE TO HURRY! THE BEASTS ARE COMING!"

The declaration made by Elijah put Don and Mitch into full gear as they feared what would come if they didn't make it to the wall.

Within the midst of chaos, a bright tan light shot up into the sky from the center of the crater. The vibrations of the sound barrier being demolished resonated through the ears of everyone. The light stopped, and slowly spread out in a spherical formation while covering the entirety of the inner city.

Don automatically knew that was the safety net of the kingdom. If something bad were to ever happen, the inner city would stay safe.

Elijah took a moment to look behind him and noticed tons of carriages doing exactly what they were doing, except for the difference being that they were too late. The beasts entering through the gate were throwing all kinds of spells at anything moving and standing in their way.

The strong stone and wooden buildings expertly crafted by the best magical architects were torn to pieces as they didn't have a shred of mana in them to protect them from the balls of fire and stone horns being thrown by the ravaging beasts. Screams of pain and death were echoing throughout the outer region.

"ALMOST THERE! KEEP PUSHING!" Don was yelling at the top of his lungs as a motivational force for Mitch and Elijah. However, the people inside the egg were starting to notice it was safe to come out, and noticed a small group of beasts coming from the north west. With a single point of a finger, Elijah disappeared from behind the carriage.

From Elijah's memory, this group of six beasts were poison salamanders, a reptilian beast that were rare to see due to never leaving the towering jungle of the west. With a wave of his hand, Elijah split the space incapacitating three beasts at once due to the chaos that distracted them.

The last three salamanders shot simple poison attacks in different shapes towards Elijah that he easily evaded by flying to the right. "It's too bad poison is not meant for head on battles.

Directly after the salamanders finished their attacks, a wave of Elijah's hand split them in half. Some people would describe it as the hand of god, and others, the hand of destruction.

"Elijah, what did you just do?!" Don was in shock after seeing Elijah return as if an angel sent from heaven. Although, the beasts that were just slayed were mere red core beasts with a rare affinity not suitable for direct confrontations.

"I have been able to use magic for some time now. I will explain everything when we are safe. Now focus!" The words that escaped from Elijah's mouth weren't words of a nine year old, but a seasoned veteran keeping his cool in tough situations.

"PUSH FASTER! THE BEASTS HAVE LOCKED ON TO US!" Words of discomfort came from Alexia's mouth as she was looking out the left side of the carriage. Besides the fact that she was in awe from what Elijah did, she saw a much bigger number of terrifying beasts coming their way. The moment of truth had only just started, and Elijah had no idea if he could hold all of them back himself.