Turning away from the destruction, Morris remarked, “This is exactly why I never tried to advance to the highest positions; I can’t put a value on lives, and would expend all resources possible to save them.  I understand in theory that sometimes saving resources is best, but in practice…”

“That doesn’t exactly sound like a bad thing, just another perspective that is important,” Viera stated with a smile as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Dawn similarly exclaimed, “All that means is that there aren’t enough people who are strong enough, right?  We should all try to work towards that goal so we can help everyone more!”

This remark resulted in the entire group expressing agreement in one form or another, making Morris smile before he led them back inside.  Before anyone could sit down or leave, however, another voice came from the spire around them, “All mages above low apprentice classification are requested to aid in the recovery effort.  Apprentices are to assemble in teams directed by a high mage.  If you do not have one already working with you, head to the base of the spire and wait.”

“I hope you didn’t exhaust yourselves, as this will likely be somewhat rough, despite how many of us there are.  There are only a few spires close enough to the destruction to help, the others will be aiding the damaged spires.  Let’s get going, and I will explain our roles along the way,” Morris stated, waving them to the doorway.

Once everyone had emerged back into the hall, Morris waved a hand at the door, resulting in it switching over to locked mode, and then he headed towards the stairs down.  As the group followed, he explained, “While earth magic is easily understood, as it is useful for both shifting debris and rebuilding, the other forms are less obvious.  In this case, we have flooding, which needs to be directed to the sewer system, hopefully quickly enough to avoid more deaths.  Light is rather clear as well: the larger light spell will fade, and we still need to be able to see what we are doing.  Air magic can be used to make sure that air reaches those trapped in the rubble, help clear dust, and provide a cooling breeze to those who are overheating from the work.”

Morris paused in his explanation to catch his breath before continuing, “Fire magic can be used to provide heat in colder areas, assist with lighting, and boil off water that has been gathered in safe locations.  This level of water is beyond what the city is designed to handle, so that will be important as well.  Oh, and I almost forgot that air magic can be used to locate people who are trapped.  Given our mix of skills, I will be assisting in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.  Thomas, Viera, and Richard will focus on finding and assisting survivors, directing earth mages where to recover people.  Miana, Dawn, and Niphru should focus on dealing with the water.”

As they left the tower, he stated, “Don’t worry too much about the areas close to the spire, other groups with less skilled apprentices will handle the lesser issues there.  We will be heading towards the heaviest hit areas.  Don’t feel like you can’t help along the way, though, if it is quick, easy, or will save lives.”

Expressing their agreement, the group split up to match the goals he had explained, following his brisk pace toward the outer wall of the city.  Along the way, they only stopped thrice, freeing a man from beneath a collapsed balcony and a woman who was struggling to free her leg while trying to keep her head above the water she was trapped in.  Finally, they also put out a small fire before it could grow any larger.

The direction they headed was clearly a disaster area, with large, flaming chunks of meat standing out even from several streets away above the roofs.  As they got closer, they began to hear cries for help alongside the sound of falling stone.  Upon arrival, there was a swath of partially collapsed buildings, stone fractured and crumbling.  In many cases, the collapsed structures formed small cavities that were beginning to fill up with water.

As they began to split up into their different tasks, there was a groaning noise as one of the massive chunks of flesh shifted, the top story of the building it had landed on unable to support it any longer.  Seconds later, a loud crack echoed out as the walls gave way, allowing the full weight to drop on the first story, shattering it as well.  Fortunately, a man escaped out of the front just before it was flattened and, upon seeing them, informed them that he was the only one present in the building.

Worried about similar occurrences, they quickly got to work, with Morris bracing himself and dragging stone from the street upward into braces to help hold up the visibly weak areas.  Meanwhile, wind whipped through the cracks in the ruined buildings, catching on edges and swirling around.  As people or bodies were located, Viera marked their locations with orbs of colored light.

Miana, meanwhile, focused on the most damaged areas at first, removing the deepest pools of water and bringing them to a crater for Dawn and Niphru to boil off.  Soon the markers for survivors began going up, and she shifted focus to each of those areas, trying to ensure that none of the survivors drowned while waiting for assistance.

However, while Morris was still focused on bracing the large chunks of exploded monster, one of the buildings with a survivor in it collapsed further.  A quick check by Richard brought a frown to his face, and he directed Viera to change the light to signal that there were no survivors before moving on again.  By this point, other groups began arriving and spreading out to the nearby streets, working similarly to their own team.

Occasionally, the crackle of a breaking building rang out; however, Morris was able to stabilize all the buildings in their area that still had survivors.  After the arrival of a runner from another area, however, Morris left them to go help elsewhere, instructing them to continue, with Thomas switching to carefully removing rubble to free those they had located.

Before Thomas began, however, he took a moment to raise a thin stone bowl from the street on supports, keeping it above the ground.  Once it was capable of holding many dozens of gallons of water, he stopped and quickly began working on the task of freeing the survivors.  Taking advantage of his construction, Miana moved the water into the container as Dawn and Niphru moved their fires below, making use of the heat rising from the flames rather than only the flames themselves to speed the boiling process.

Around half an hour into their work, it began to become difficult to draw in ambient mana, as it had been nearly completely drained by the many teams of mages.  Luckily, it seemed that the less experienced teams closer to the spires had finished, as members of them started to arrive with bags full of charged mana stones.  As they raced into the center of the various areas mages were working at, they placed down their cargo and took off back towards the central areas.

Several hours later, all of the survivors had been evacuated, and corpses were being excavated from the ruins.  While this was an unpleasant task, they had at least saved quite a few people who would have otherwise perished in the aftermath.  Sometime along the way, the masses of flesh above had ceased burning, their flickering light masked by the bright mage-light hanging above the devastation.

Eventually, Morris returned to the group, explaining, “I am sorry for running off.  Another group had their earth mage injured when a structure collapsed and sent several fragments into him.  He made it to a healer, but was unable to continue supporting his group, and they had not yet stabilized the areas around the survivors.  And rather obviously, I trusted you could handle the rest of this area, just as you did.”

With his assistance, it only took a few dozen more minutes before all of the deceased were laid out on the damaged street, and Morris stopped them, exclaiming, “Alright, we can stop; nothing else desperately needs magical assistance for the moment.  Everyone has earned a good long bath and sleep, wouldn’t you say?  While I’m sure it doesn’t matter for any of you, this will be credited to you, so you won’t need to continue assisting with draining mana to refill the mana stones.  This is one of the benefits of the hard work at the center of the destruction.  Feel free to head back to the spire; I’m going to keep working for a while longer to tidy up a bit.”