Black Clouds of War

Galorian stood on the wall surrounding Kylia. He leaned against the parapet overlooking the Eastern territories. The Great Divide was a blue shimmer on the horizon. The land was an ardent green save for a large swath of dark red. It was still a little before noon and the dark red mass was moving towards Kylia.

'The Eastern Empire made it past the Great Divide without alerting us.. something is different this time..' Galorian stood musing to himself. This wasn't the first time that the Eastern Empire tried to attack Wastria but this was the first time the Empire caught them unaware. 'Could this be related to that boy?..' Galorian stroked the slight stubble that grew on his chin. "How did they get through our defensive network without triggering it?" Galorian spoke to a Mage a few feet behind him.

The mage was a middle aged woman who resembled a frog. she had a large wide face and bulbous eyes. Her mouth seemed to just as wide as her face when she responded, with a low voice. "We are unsure, but we believe that the Eastern mages were able to disarm our enchantments." Galorian had been through this multiple times, while discussing with the Queen and council of advisors.

Galorian pondered what Helfga said. It seemed nigh on impossible that the Empire could disarm every spell that covered the Great Divide. Generations of Wastrian mages had laid different enchantments meant to not only defend but also warn of intruders. It wasn't that it was impossible per se but with an innumerable amount of enchantments guarding the Great Divide, it would take years to disarm them all. Not to mention the Guards that would patrol the area would see whoever was trying to disarm the enchantments.

'What are we missing? I know Drindle could do it, but he is the only one capable of it?..' Galorian wondered to himself while looking at a distant cloud. 'If there was a mage who could destroy a velthum... maybe they could do it..' Galorian observed the cloud; it rose up in the air seemingly forever in a puffy white mass of cottony fluff. the base of that cloud was a dark shade of purple and black in the rays of the sun. 'That is a bad omen...'

"Helfga, Rally every Apprentice mage we have to the walls. Then begin long distance assaults...." Galorian was cut short by a tingle in the back of his head. He closed his eyes and heard Professor Nora rushedly speaking in his mind.

She quickly summarized her situation and said a name that resonated deeply in Galorian's psyche. 'Salgathar' The old man's heart skipped a beat. If someone was following them with that ability..

"Sir.." Nora spoke. When their minds were connected like this it was hard not to feel some emotions leak through. Galorian prided himself on not letting his emotions out of check. but if Drindle was right and Salgathar's method of Velthum summoning had been prefected.... Galorian's fear leaked through the mind bridge and Nora felt it. Her response was one of trepidation.

Galorian spoke through his mind steeling himself. "Nora, we are under attack from the Eastern Empire. We won't be able to send reinforcements. Stick close to Drindle, and whatever you do protect Lionel." If there was someone after Lionel who could use Salgathar's method, the amulet would be incredibly valuable and possibly world changing.

"Sir, Drindle has already sent Lionel on to the Library." Her voice gave away her fear that Galorian would be upset, but to her surprise the old man responded unexpectedly.

"Very good, best keep the boy from the hands of the enemy. there are too many moving parts for this to be a coincidence.." the old man pondered aloud in his mind for Nora to hear.

a moment of silence dragged on before He spoke again. "I must go we have to prepare for war." Galorian pulled himself out of his subconscious and back to his surroundings.

The Empire was less than a day away and if they chose to, they could start attacking that night. "Helfga, Call on the infantry and Calvary. our Mages will provide support and healing."

The frogish woman turned to distribute Galorian's orders but his next words stopped her dead. "And Helfga, have a servant fetch me my armor."

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Nora watched Drindle step down from the wagon and pat the hind quarters of the horse Harthling. It was strange that Her master did not get upset that the ancient geezer acted on his own. Galorian would always complain about Drindle every chance he got. "Something must be wrong.." she mumbled under her breath. She stepped down from her horse and watched Drindle. She knew that stopping was a bad idea. Her heart began to race. 'I must prepare myself.' She closed her eyes and felt her Vervane pulsing with energy. it was comforting knowing that she could call on this life force at anytime to protect herself. She cast a few enchantments around herself. Her amulet she wore would provide some modicum of protection from physical attacks. so her enchantments of protection only focused on her mind and Vervane.

A raspy voice suddenly broke her concentration.

"Prepare yourselves, They're here."

Nora's eyes snapped open quickly. She looked around to her left and right. Fire flowed on her fingertips and she had a spell readying I'm her mind. There was nothing there. Matthew, Galorian, and Nora were in an open field and nothing could be seen. The knee tall grass swayed in the breeze but no other movements caught her eyes.

She stood breathing, slowly scanning the area around her. Had he been wrong? Was there anyone even following them? a dark shadow suddenly caught her eye. It was moving incredibly fast and was low to the ground. the grass almost fully blocked the shadow from view. She moved her hands forward quickly. A spear of fire and light shot from her fingers and bisected the moving creature.

the inertia from the creatures speed carried it's torso and head another 30 meters before it stopped. Only now did she realize that it was a Gardgan. The beasts mouth was open in a scowl and it's yellowed fangs protruded. That image stopped her for only a moment.

there was constant movement all around them now. shadows were moving rapidly towards them.

Nora fired spear after spear into the thick grass. the spell she was using, Light Spear, was her favorite. Both Drindle and Matthew were firing off spells as well. Nora was so busy it was hard to pay attention to what either of the other two were doing. The only reason she knew they were firing spells was the constant flash and noise of the bodies hitting the ground around her.

'how many are there?' She kept wondering. she had already used her light spear more that sixty times. It was becoming more difficult to put the correct amount of energy into the spell to keep it from becoming unstable. 'Dammit... I'll just have to use a less expensive spell' The enemy was moving in slowly. At first the constant barrage of spells kept the Gardgans at bay, but it seemed both Drindle and Matthew were slowing down their spells. 'come on push through it!' she thought to herself.

She switched over to a Light arrow spell. it took two shots to kill the Gardgans. the spell was dim in comparison to the light spear she was using before but it still arced quickly into her designated targets. Nora then began intermixing so of her weak spells. she used Wind slash, Fire Ball, and other singular elemental spells. All the while the enemies slowly pushed forward towards the trio and the wagon.

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A black smoky figure quickly made his way through the never ending maze of Gardgans. A slight metallic noice could be heard before a beast would hit the ground. Kamatsu rushed through the crowd. killing all the beasts in his path. There had even been one hellhound that he made quick work of. His master instructed him to kill and thin the number of the enemy. so he would kill any and everything in his path. He ran silently cutting heads from gardgans as he did. a sudden gust of wind stopped him on his tracks. Kamatsu turned his head and caught a glimpse of a quickly approaching figure. The smoky being turned and ran towards his master at top speed.

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Matthew used an earth spell that compacted dirt into a small sphere the size of his fingernail. it was a cheaper spell. He would use his life force to launch the Earthen Pebble at incredible speed into his enemies brains. He controlled three of these pebbles and continuously shot them out in every direction towards the Gardgans. At the same time Matthew was controlling a whip of wind. He kept slashing through the field, cutting both Gardgans and the grass down. His visibility increased and he could see a constant stream of Gardgans. Matthew was using his favorite combination of spells. He had many more spells in stock to use and was thinking which combination he would use next when a flick of shadow drew his attention.

There was a slow movement in the distance just outside the reach of his whipping wind. it moved slowly and seemed to be waiting for something.

Matthew breathed hard while cutting down every enemy that came within range. Soon he was only able to control one Earthen pebble. Matthew also began using other minor spells with one elemental base. His Vervane was draining quickly.

Matthew was a master mage who could use some environmental magic. He had difficultly using the energy in the environment when pressed like he was to continue to act. one false move and the enemies ranks would be on him in no time.

Matthew had killed more than one hundred and fifty Gardgans by his account. "How many did you say there were?" He huffed loudly towards Drindle.

An out of breath raspy reply followed quickly and brought a sense of dread. "More than five hundred that I can sense, but something is blocking my ability to see the environmental magic.."

As Drindle finished speaking three large hellhounds rushed out of the tall grass towards the trio and the wagon. Matthew quickly whipped his wind scythe towards the beasts. "Shink!!"

'Oh Crap..' the wind scythe slammed into the beasts and made a noise but there appeared to be no damage. if it had just been one beast the wind could have done hurt or possibly killed the hound. Since all three were hit at the same time the force of the wind was distributed between the beasts evenly, Not even leaving a scratch. Three light spears suddenly shot over Matthews shoulder and hit the hounds directly in the chests.

"Rooourrr...." a beast in pain whined out as the burst of light faded. One hell hound lay on the ground while the other two were slowed and bleeding.

"That's all... I've got..." Nora was kneeled on the ground sweating profusely. her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was incredibly pale. Matthew could tell that she'd used too much magic. She didn't have long before she lost consciousness.

Matthew had to divert his attention from the kneeling mage and instead pushed all of his energy into his Earthen pebble. He let it fly with all his might. A loud "Bang!" could be heard as the earth broke the speed of sound and slammed into the head of the approaching hell hound. the beast didn't make a noise as it clumsily fell to the ground in a heap. the last hell hound looked at it fallen brethren a trace of fear shown in its eyes. It snarled and quickly lunged the remaining distance.

Matthew was caught off guard at the enemy in his face. He tried to jump back but his arm was snagged in the mouth of the huge dog. a pain blossomed from his right arm followed by a strange sense of nothingness. a bright light flashed from where Drindle stood and the beasts head hit the ground.

Matthew looked down at the severed head almost half the size of him. in its mouth was a torn up price of meat. it took him a second to realize that piece of meat was his arm. He looked down at his stub of an arm and yelled. "Whaaaaaaaaaaa...!!!!"

He could feel adrenaline flow into him and his Vervane pulsed brightly. He drew on it and the dirt around him rose up to waist height. The oncoming beasts, both hellhounds and Gardgans stopped. They could feel a tremendous power. Their instincts made them freeze for only a second but that was enough, for Matthew to trigger his Area of Effect spell. The large clod of dirt at waist height suddenly broke into thousands of small pieces and shot off in random directions. Matthew breathed heavily. There was silence all around him, save for Drindle breathing just as heavily beside him. 'Did we win?..' Was all Matthew could think before dropping to his knees.

Matthew kneeled, blearily looking around him at all of the fallen bodies. Nothing moved.

A dark figure in red armor slowly rose from the piles of bodies and in its grasp was a smoky figure. The smoky figure was Drindle's Velthum, Kamatsu.

Matthew couldn't make out what was said. He just sat watching Drindle and the red clad knight talk back and forth. Matthew's consciousness began to slip. His arm was bleeding but he barely felt the pain. He willed himself to stay awake. He watched as the red knight ripped the smoky Velthum in half. A torrent of wind flung Matthew onto his back. He glanced up at the two standing figures. His eyes lost focus and Matthew slipped into unconciousness. The last thing he saw was two swords, both dripping blood. One was jammed through the knights breast plate. The other was jutting out of Drindle's back.