“We won't be far off now. Hopefully, we'll make it before dark! Giddy up!” his shout was the only sound heard during the return journey home. As serene as it looks, pure white snows keep on falling, painting the whole scenery with white. Huff, Huff, It was so cold you could see mist coming out from the people's and horse's mouth. He could see those trembling hands holding the reins; he knew they were at their limit. Any leader would have given the word to camp now and heat their bodies back by a bonfire. An irregular shake, he knew the horses were at the limit too, but still, he didn't say the word to stop.
It wasn't that he was an idiot, far from it he was very experienced with leading an army, leading a dozen men traveling home would be a walk in the park for him. Ever since he started the long journey to the Castle of the Fallen at the center, he already felt it. It was faint but clearly there, tugging at his heart. A feeling of something terrible that is about to happen. The same feeling he had felt years ago when he was but a rebellious teen. Back then it had he thought it for a day, he thought nothing of it and slept like he usually would. He woke up the next day expecting something to happen, or maybe someone he knew that passed away.
Ever since he was a child, his mother would always tell him stories of her past. A particular kind of story would always capture his entire heart. Her mother could foresee the future, sometimes in her dreams, some would come in the form of vision when she touched something, and some would be a heavy feeling, tugging at both her heart and head. The later one would always about terrible things to come. Her mother always said, ‘should you ever feel one of these things, especially a strong nagging feeling that weighs down your heart, always, Always let me know. It is a warning dear, we receive signals of them early as so we could warn others. The longer it lasts, the more terrible the things to come’. And he kept it close to his heart, always.
But that day, he had a fight with his mom while waiting all day for something to happen. Still furious with his mom, he decided against telling her mom of the nagging feeling. He shut himself in his room and somehow fallen asleep much earlier than usual. In the wee hour of the night, he was awoken by a terrible dream, waking up drenched in a cold sweat. The small tugging at his heart felt so clear it felt as if a hand was grasping his heart tight. His pulse ramped up, ‘What's wrong with me? This… this is just a bad dream', he thought to himself.
He lies back to the bed, pulling the thick quilted fur blanket and hoping to fall back asleep. The sudden mixed feelings and emotions make him feel afraid far from his dream of being an oracle like his mom. Before long, he felt a pair of an eye staring at him, every single thing felt exposed to the pair of eye. Every hair on his body stood up, his eyes closed shut, and his hand grips the blanket so tight it's trembling.
“Mommmmm!” he screamed or at least thought he was. No voice was released from his wide-open mouth. ‘No! Why won't my voice come out.’, he raged inside. The floorboard near the window creaked once, his breath stopped. Twice. His heart froze before pumping with so much vigor. Adrenaline surged, ‘Move!’ He screamed inside, mustering every ounce of his strength, and like a miracle, he falls from his bed.
Thud!
A loud sound slammed against the door of his mother’s room, waking her up. Without any delay, she rushed toward her son's bedroom. Seeing the state her son was in, drenched with sweat and trembling beyond belief, everything came clear to her. ‘Foolish boy, he must've waited for something terrible to happen. I should've known then, did I not do something similar when I was his age? That dream of having a supernatural power.’ A grin showed on her mouth before she lets out a shout so loud that the entire village shook.
Not a stranger to these shouts, the villagers hurriedly geared up for war. No questions were asked, nor would anyone doubt the oracle's ability to foresee danger, which had saved their lives countless times. In less than half an hour, every villager took up their agreed position, and right on cue, lizardmen arrived. Though they came with a slightly bigger entourage, the villagers were seasoned with countless of their night raids, this time-proven the same. A few villagers died, but everything else was safe and sound.
‘Strange, why would I remember of such an event at this time. Wait, could this be what mom calls’ “Past life would flash before our time is up.” With a steady hand, he reached for something. “Chief-" his men called but was totally ignored. His clawed gauntlets hand grasped a wooden carving of a lion, which he stared at for a while. Without warning, the wooden lion was crushed by his steel fist. The dust went against the wind and formed a towering figure of a golden lion.
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RRROOOOOOAAAAARR
The loud roar filled the entire surrounding with a majestic presence of a king. Even the snow stopped falling in that region. A mysterious feeling of vigor and courage filled the party. The trembling hand stopped, exhausted breathing turned steady, and the wobbly tired run of the horse became an energetic lighting sprint. Their body exuded a high heat that melts the surrounding snow, and their journey starts a new with faster speed.
“Koff!”
His pure white steel gauntlet now tainted with a brilliant crimson. The dry cough caught everyone's attention, stopping their march in the desolate white field. ‘It's death. Death is near. The whole thing lasted for nearly a month. This would be something that could destroy the whole world. Two or three days of feeling amounted to a full scale attack by lizardmens, what thing could possibly threaten the whole world to emits warning signal for a month?’
“Lord Karavan-"
He raised his hand, a signal for him to stop speaking. Clearing his throat, he spoke. “I told you. I am no king. I'm just a village chief, and you'd do well to address me so. Anyway, prepare for a calamity.”
They stood still, unsure of what preparation they should make. What calamity? This lord clearly has lost his mind. They escort sends out by the Fallen King questioned the sanity of the man they are accompanying. Meanwhile, the guards he brought personally have their weapons and shields at the ready. Some even cast countless amounts of supporting skill, buffing the entire party.
“What are you all doing? There is clearly nothing here, stop wasting time and magic.” The escort voiced out.
“Fool, get ready for a fight!” the chief's guard shouted.
“Fight what? Idiots. I swear they have gone mad from living th-"
A flash of blue light blinded him, stopping him in the middle of blabbing his mouth. A deafening thunder sounded next. A large amount of dark clouds suddenly appeared, blotting out the entire sky above them. Lighting the strike the earth, one after another at a slow interval, which became faster and faster. It was now raining lighting and thunder. Something was obviously wrong.
“Is this what they call a lightning storm? I have never seen it with my own eyes. Luckily chief stopped here. Can't imagine getting caught in one. Wait why are you guys holding a sword, don’t you know lightning is attracted to metal?” the escorts suddenly got a loudmouth.
“This ain't no lightning storm. Lighting only ever struck close to winter or summer. Something is coming to this world. Something that heaven wants to destroy. Perhaps a demon.” The chief words left them mute. For a moment, that is.
“I thought you were serious for a moment, turns out you do have a screw loose.” That comment made the rest of the escort laugh.
Damnable Fallen. His men clearly hold no respect for me. He cursed inside. Then suddenly, his pulse ramped up. His blood racing, but clearly, his face becomes pale. His eyes were wide unblinking. The flash that paints the whole world blue, he saw something in its glare. No, He told himself, I must've been imagining stuff.
But then the world flashed again, again and again. His hair stood up, his muscle tensed, and his breath stopped. In each time the world flashed, he clearly saw something, reaching out from the dark clouds. Something that doesn't make sense, but each time the world flashed, the figure became more evident. His hands trembled as he reached for something he thought he never would use. A long-range communication device, he holds it close to his mouth and shouted a grave order.
“Evacuate. Head for Wargrove City. If there isn't any news from me in two weeks, assume I'm dead.” Then the horn-like device shatters as it was a single-use item.
“You escorts, go back to that bastard Edward and tell him, demon lord have descended on the Cold Mouth. Lads! This chief wants to greet that demon, what says you?!”
“We shall have the glory!” The four roared.
As if answering their determination, massive lighting formed a column between heaven and earth. It was so bright the world was painted blue. A pair of bony hand seemingly grasp the column edges and tear it apart.
BOOOMMMMMM!
The thunder replaced all the sounds in the world, shaking even the mountains. Then light returned, and all eyes were locked to a single figure. A figure so huge and reeked of the word unholy, a skeleton, a huge one. Flashes of blue kept flickering around all over it's body. Terrible feeling of dread surged, drowning them, they struggled for air but a huge feeling of heaviness seems to have replaced all the air in the world.
Realizing everyone around him struggled just to breathe, he pulls out a couple of scroll and proceeds to tear them in half, activating the spell stored inside. Bright white light engulfed all of them and formed a circular barrier, more lights engulfing them again and then forms another barrier creating a five layered shield protecting them.
Finally able to breathe again, the strong pressure surrounding them lifted, he could only took a clear look at the calamity the one they escorted kept reminding. They all trembled at seeing the size of the monster. “My God, It's as tall as the castle wall.” The escorts were stupefied, seeing that massive skeleton.
“Fools, all of you. If only you had listened to what I told you, you might've be far away and on your way to warn the Fallen!” The chief scolded them.
“SCRAMMM!”
The skeleton released an extremely loud shout, a voice so ancient that emanates a powerful pressure on it's own created a shockwave similar to a large explosion. The multi-layered barrier of light seemed to not exist as the shockwave simply blasted right through it and hit all of them without any resistance. They all lost consciousness the moment the shockwave hit them and were blasted far away.