POV : FORT BONE EMPIRE
On the walls near the conquered Faith Settlement, recruits and veterans were fighting the skeletal horde constantly attacking them. There wasn’t a time when there weren’t attacks. But what they saw next surprised them, even the veterans who had thought they had seen it all in their months in the wasteland. A skeleton general on top of a mutated steed was leading a charge across the wasteland. Although some stragglers attacked the walls, most did not. No, they were heading directly towards the center of the Empire, towards Fort Bonetown.
The sergeant in charge said, "Men, fire at will." The crossbows were fired, picking off any stragglers.
THWIP!
THWIP!
THWIP!
Catapults that had been cleverly created br crafters from bone, sinew and wasteland wood also fired at the passing horde.
BOOM!
Men had pikes ready to shove off any skeletons that made it up the wall. Some did scrambled up, especially the bestial ones, but not nearly as many. "We need to send a message to Fort Bone. This is the largest horde I’ve ever seen," said the sergeant. The general had raised his lance and was pointing directly at Fort Bone as he had charged by 15 minutes ago. If Atlas was there, he would have told them that hordes were always drawn to the largest mana source. While the walls used some mana, it was Fort Bone, with their taverns and arenas, that had the most in this area.
The sergeant sent a messenger, and the messenger teleported directly to Fort Bone Castle. There, he reported his findings to Isabella. Isabella had already received a report from Tamara and her squadron of soldiers about the dead bandits. Between these two pieces of information, she knew one very clear thing: that skeleton horde needed to be cleared. But from the reports of her scouts, it wasn’t in the hundreds, it was in the thousands. This was more than Fort Bone, even with its allies, could put together. She needed to make a decision for the security of the empire. But this wasn’t something she could do by herself. She needed to get the leadership team together.
Isabella stood still for a moment, absorbing the weight of the situation. This was a direct threat to the heart of the empire.
She turned to the messenger, her brow furrowing in deep thought, "Thank you. Go take a breather. You’ve done enough for now."
As the messenger departed, Isabella bribed some mini faeries and called for an immediate council meeting.
“Yay! Rock candies! Fly fly! Off we go!”
‘‘‘
In minutes, the familiar faces of Fort Bone's leadership team gathered in the war room: Atlas, standing tall as ever with his commanding presence, John by his side, already scowling at the news, Alexander, as usual, with a grin as if facing thousands of enemies was a challenge worth smiling about, and Barbara, poised and calm.
"We have a situation," Isabella said, pacing in front of the massive table where a map of the region lay. "There’s a skeleton horde—thousands of them. It's heading straight for Fort Bone, and they’re being led by a general on a mutated steed."
Atlas crossed his arms, his face unreadable. “They’re after the mana source,” he stated. “The arenas, the taverns—our entire setup in Fort Bone draws them in.”
“Typical,” John muttered, rolling his eyes. “Always about the mana.”
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Barbara, spoke next. “This isn’t just another raid. With their numbers, they’ll overwhelm us before we can even think of rallying all of our forces.”
Alexander leaned forward, his finger jabbing at the crumpled map spread across the rough wooden table. “Ain’t no time to wait for allies. If we’re gonna hold, we’ll need traps. Lots of ’em.”
Atlas couldn’t help but smile inwardly as he thought back to assembling this team of Portal Crushers during his last trip to Earth. This was exactly why he’d done it. One man could stand strong, sure, but history had proven that Alexander was a brilliant general. And with John, Isabella, and Barbara contributing to the planning, everything was coming together seamlessly.
“Traps won’t hold them off forever,” Isabella replied, shaking her head. “This horde is different. They’re too organized. The general’s got them focused—strategic, even.”
Atlas looked at her, his voice steady, “What are you suggesting?”
“We need to clear them out,” Isabella said firmly, “but not alone. We need to call in every ally, every resource we can. I can lead the defense at Fort Bone, but we need a broader plan. John, can you coordinate with our allies?"
John nodded. “Already on it.”
Barbara added, “We also need to consider evacuating civilians. If this horde breaches the walls—"
“Evacuation?” Alexander interrupted with a smirk. “I reckon Fort Bone’s never needed that word before.”
“Fort Bone’s never faced this before,” Isabella shot back, her eyes narrowing. “We can’t be reckless.”
Atlas finally stepped forward, placing a hand on the table. "Alright. We prepare for war. Get the Portal Crushers ready. Arm the walls. Barbara, begin prepping the MASH unit—there’s going to be casualties. John, Alexander, coordinate with our allies. Isabella, I trust you to lead our defense."
As the group dispersed, Isabella’s mind raced. She knew the stakes. The lives of everyone in Fort Bone depended on the decisions made in this room.
She glanced at the map again. ‘This skeleton general—whoever they are—wasn't going to stop until Fort Bone fell. But she wouldn’t let that happen. Not on her watch.‘
Just as she was about to step away, John cleared his throat, stopping everyone in their tracks. "Hold up. Before we go running off," he said, catching their attention. "I’ve got something to add. And this... well, it might be a bit controversial. Have we ever considered not fighting the Skeleton Horde?"
The leadership team froze, turning back toward John in disbelief. Atlas raised an eyebrow, “John, I’d love not to fight the Skeleton Horde. Do you know where the dungeon is? If we could track that down, we could cut them off at the base.”
Alexander said, “I reckon we’ve been searching all around that area. We still can’t find the gosh darn thing.”
John said, “Of course we can keep doing that, and I love our plan of calling our allies. We should do both.”
Atlas said, “And…”
John said, “Like I said, my plan’s a bit controversial. Atlas, I don’t know if you’re gonna like it.”
Atlas was thinking, ‘This is one of those moments when John is gonna prove his worth. I know it. There’s a lot that I’m not as good, even as the war leader. I don’t want to say I’m soft-hearted, but even after being betrayed and living another life, I’m still a bit of a… I’m still a bit of a wuss. Go on, John.‘ Atlas steeled his heart.
John said, “Atlas, you told us why the Skeleton Horde is coming at Fort Bone, right?”
Atlas said, “Yeah, it’s based on mana density.” That was something he had learned in his first life. The Skeleton Horde had nothing personal against Fort Bone. All they wanted to do was to get stronger, tougher.
John said, “What if we were to change the mana density?”
Alexander said, “No friggin’ way you’re destroying my tavern.”
John said, “No, no. Hold on a second, guys. Let me show you something.” He pulled out a handful of rock candy that he had on him. Just like Amber, he loved to bribe the mini faeries.
Thankfully there were no mini faeries currently in the war room or they would hav3 a ten all his props.
“Now, these represent the skeletons.” He pointed to the candy and then put down a skull that was a trophy from their first days. “This represents Fort Bone.”
“Nice symbolism,” said Atlas.
“Thank you,” said John, with a smile.
“Got any ideas we can use kinda fast? They’re just two days out,” Alexander said.
“Yeah, that’s what the scouts are saying, “said Isabella.
“Between the bandit attacks and everything. What if we created mana pockets so they didn’t go directly towards Fort Bone? That would give us more time to call our allies,” continued John.
Atlas said, “That would work. Even if we don’t get the whole main horde, they could start attracting the stragglers. That general can’t have perfect control. We’ve seen that already.”
Alexander said, “Yeehaw, now that’s thinking.”
Barbara said, “I don’t quite see how that situation would be controversial, John.”
John said, “It’s not; it’s the second part that’s controversial.”
Atlas thought, ‘Man, it’s not fun on the other end of cliffhangers.‘