CHAP.0-6:The last days of the DarknessDays (6)
Northeast of Forest of a Thousand Wonders - 7:13 am:
The air vibrated. The ground itself was shaking.
Once a haven of magical beauty, the Forest of a Thousand Wonders was nothing but ashes and madness. The magic spotlights ignited the skies, while the deaf buzz of the Solorian and Nebulae echoed above the twisted trees.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers went to the charred edges of the Forest. The shadow of the black trunks formed a border between horror and freedom. The smell of burnt wood mixed with that of the blood of monsters.
Suddenly, howls strouted from the forest:
Deformed creatures, from three to seven meters, covered with scales and armed with fangs, emerged from fires and crevices. Others galloped on all fours, screaming at death, some with bloodshot eyes. Flying beings with torn wings descended from the tops, making shrill cries. Small or gigantic, human or bestial, all advanced towards a single goal: destruction.
At the head of the army, Aryna raised her sword and screamed:
"CHAAAARGEZ!!! "
The shock was cataclysmic. Screams, metal and flesh exploded in the same splinter. The soldiers formed disciplined lines, but the horde sometimes broke their shields and spears.
BOOM!
A salvo of the Nebulae pulverized an entire horde. Purple flames zebrated the sky.
TSSSSCHHH–BOOM!
The Solorian's plasma cannons razed an enemy line with a green ray, leaving a smoking mark on the ground.
But always, the monsters came back. Again and again.
Flaming arrows crossed the air like a rain of sparks, pierced the creatures.
Soldiers were devoured by monsters, sliced with claws, others were even dismembered, and some were crushed.
But they did not stay without doing anything, they decapitated the monsters, sliced them, planted them and cut their limbs.
The magicians used all the spells within their reach. They invoked ice, fire, wind, water, land, allowing them to cut and eliminate monsters. Some used implosions and others launched energy cages to immobilize or annihilate monsters.
It was total chaos, but they eliminated as many monsters as possible.
At the heart of the carnage, five heroes stood out:
Raiden in the vanguard, his eyes fixed straight ahead, blade in hand, his aura of golden flashes deployed. His sword pierced massive torsos, cut out arms, sliced mouths and decapitated heads.
Garran, roaring like a lion, smashed the monsters smiling on his lips, his fists being strengthened thanks to his stigma. Each blow sent waves of force. He smashed a staggorat of an uppercut, reducing his skull to bone dust.
"Is that all you have?! I'm bored here!" He said with an excited look
Sylpha was spinning, fast as the wind. Invoking blades of air, ice, and fire. She jumped over a six-armed monster and decapitated it in mid-flight. His green eyes shone with a fierce intensity.
Kaelis, cut the monsters naturally, his movements were unpredictable and precise. He used his shadows with dexterity, moving and swapming with them, while letting them absorb the monsters. His purple eyes gave off a threatening glow.
"DATURA" he whispered, to free a huge dark wolf who swallowed an entire horde of monsters.
In the air, Valen was the conductor of the carnage. Floating in the middle of the two ships, he directed the flames and the celestial stars. He slowly raised his hand, palm towards the sky, his eyes shining with a divine blue.
"Heavenly fall. Second act. "
Dozens of blue spheres fell in chorus from the sky.
BOOOOOOM...
BOOOOOOM...
BOOOOOOM...
The trees ignited, the monsters were shredded by the impacts. The heat deformed the air around the soldiers. The ships released more salvos, plowing the ground with light and fire.
And despite all this... the monsters were just coming back.
While most of the monsters exploded and disappeared, the monsters cursed by Yshvar's magic reformed and their limbs were re-glued, as long as their core was not destroyed.
But the soldiers did not lose heart.
In the tumult, the voice of a soldier rose among the others:
"FORWARD! FOR THE FUTURE! FOR THE EMPIRE! "
The ground was red with blood. The purple sky was a fire.
A monstrous howl split the air: a titan of shadow and bone, approached at speed, his viscous skin melting with every step.
But before he could approach, Sylpha sumped, her green eyes lighting up.
"Loan me your flame, Selenis," she whispered.
His blade ignited with a black and blue fire. In an instant, she crossed the colossus and sliced it into several pieces.
In the heart of the black forest:
A deadly silence reigned in the heart of the forest.
The trees blackened by corruption, held their breath. The heavy and saturated air vibrated with impure mana.
On his obsidior throne, Yshvar remained motionless, his golden eyes scrutinizing the horizon, seeing Raiden and his soldiers through miles.
A smirk appeared on his lips.
Then, slowly, he got up.
A shiver instantly ran through the forest.
The roots that snaked from his throne retracted as if burned.
The trees, once frozen, bent with a single movement, their branches cracking like broken bones. The leaves roted quickly and fell into ashes, blackening the atmosphere.
"Finally..." he whispered, his voice resounding in the mind of each living being miles around.
"Let's watch them for a while. "
He snapped his fingers, and a rumble made the earth tremble.
Meanwhile on the battlefield:
The Ingrissian army continued its advance towards the heart of the forest with determination and courage.
Raiden, at their head, had just killed yet another monster. His sword and hair being already dyed with the blood of the monsters, he stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky.
"It's weird, it's been a while since we entered the forest, but still no sign, whether from Yshvar or his disciples." he thought
While he was still immersed in his thoughts, he felt a huge pressure that made his body tremble.
Valen in the air, felt the same oppressive pressure emanating from the center of the forest.
Before he could do anything, the sky suddenly changed color turning blood red.
His gaze froze, shocked and terrified by this sudden change of color.
On the ground, the monsters fighting against the human army stopped, turning their heads towards the center of the forest. The weakest fled to hide in the shadows of the forest, while the most powerful began to scream in fear.
The soldiers were perplexed by the sudden change in their behavior.
Raiden, was also shocked by the sudden change in their behavior, wondering what was going on.
Raising his head to ask for a report from Valen, his gaze froze when he saw the sky having turned red.
Suddenly the sky... splits.
A black fault appeared above them like a crack tearing the clouds. The noise of the scrum stopped in the space of a breath. Then, the silence was crushed by a mischievous laugh that chilled the blood.
Two silhouettes emerged: Rhazak and Myrren entered the battlefield.
As soon as they appeared, the alarms of the two ships screamed:
"ALERT! DIVINITY DETECT! ALERT! DIV—"
"Huh?" Valen remained frozen when he saw a black ray crossing his face lightly touching him.
FSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH—BOOM.
The Solorian exploded in mid-flight, its protective runes were unable to stop a black ray launched by Rhazak.
"Too noisy" said Rhazak, his deep and distorted voice made the battlefield vibrate.
The fire consumed his shell. Fiery pieces fell like a hellish rain. The soldiers shouted, some were crushed by the debris.
Myrren, a smirk, observed:
"Hey Rhazak, it's not nice to destroy their invention so quickly... it shows they had to work hard to create this flying object. "
"Let me show you how to destroy their pride... in a more fun way," she said calmly.
So she stretched out her hand towards the Nebulae, her white strips waving like snakes around her, suddenly stretched, stretching like lianas and crossed the sky in a fraction of a second.
The Nebulae tried to fight back by loading its energy cannons, wanting to launch a large-scale attack, but Myrren's strips pierced his hull and destroyed his armor.
A few moments later, Myrren's strips began to surround the entire ship, exerting enormous pressure on it, the lianas made of strips violently tore the wings of the Nebulae, causing explosions at each of the removed wings.
The burning mechanical wings were thrown to the ground crushing dozens or even hundreds of soldiers.
After that, the lianas exerted even greater pressure, the hull was unable to withstand the pressure and broke slowly, the soldiers on board screamed in fear while the strips destroyed the hull of the ship. The ship completely trapped inside the strips was not long fire and exploded under the pressure, reduced to crumbs like paper.
The debris was burning and raining like meteorites hitting the battlefield.
The two royal vessels... annihilated.
"You see, this slow way of destroying an invention... is more fun," says Myrren, looking towards the ground with a contemptuous and intimidating air.
Panic invades the ranks.
The soldiers retreated, disoriented. But Valen, still in the air, watched his burning creations fall to the ground, his coat beating under the breeze. Squeezing his jaw and his eyes emitting a glimmer of rage.
"You... you will regret what you did," he said in a threatening voice and an angry look.
He deployed two huge magical circles in his back, his face filled with anger, and his hands freeing from the blue flashes.
Meanwhile, Myrren and Rhazak ignore the threat, chatting as if the heroes were just insects.
Myrren, fingers playing with one of his bloody strips, turned his back on Valen.
"Rhazak... do you think the Master will let us keep some humans as toys after that? I love hearing their screams of pain... it's a real delight for my ears." she said excitedly as she tasted the blood that was on her strip.
Rhazak adjusted his mask, indifferent.
"These things are useless and too noisy. I don't understand your obsession with them. "
Meanwhile, Valen raised his right hand to the sky accumulating a large amount of energy, his blue eyes giving off a blue glow, the giant magical circles behind him burning the air. Blue lightning surrounded his arms, and in the palm of his right hand, a sphere of crystallized mana took shape, a concentrate of pure mana.
He directed his hand towards Yshvar's disciples and whispered:
"Star Magic - fourth page, fifth act: astral deflagration"
A neon blue ray springs from his palm, thick as the crater of a volcano, split the sky roaring. The pure energy tore the red clouds and the sky, leaving nothing behind.
To be continued...
Information:
- The Staggorat is a demonic deer; it can stand on its two hind legs, and it has arms similar to those of a human.