In the dead of night, at the southern gate of the Todtec village.
The only source of light being a set of floating, green balls of fire, spread outside the village wall. They illuminated the perimeter, so that the night guards could identify and attack threats, whether they be man or beast.
Magical in nature, and untouchable through physical means. Yet, somehow, someway, at the southern gate, these flames began to dim, and to flicker. Slowly, the eerie light started receding, the fire losing its mystical properties, turning into nothing more than embers without fuel, easily scattered by the passing of a gentle breeze.
*Pit* *Pat*
*Pit* *Pat*
Though hard to see in the almost pitch black cover of the night, a group of warriors slowly started cascading from the earthen wall. At the front, a young woman with braided blonde hair was leading the charge.
Attacking the enemy base while being outnumbered two to one, and having to do so while avoiding the nocturnal predators that could easily tear them to shreds, it wasn’t looking good. But Hellena had a card up her sleeve, or rather, a map. One given to her by Kaleb, which detailed a very complicated, yet relatively safe route to the Omoshiro village.
‘Mother, Markus, I shall avenge you tonight.’
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Omoshiro village, northern gate.
Unlike the mystical green flames used by the Todtec tribe to secure their perimeter, the Omoshiro village didn’t have mana to waste on ominous lighting. So, they just planted torches around the perimeter, and set them aflame.
Though they’d have to manually replace them at the end of the week, and also make new ones every week, beggars couldn’t be choosers. At least the orange fire was both warm and easy on the eyes, making the night a bit less scary for those stationed on the walls.
“Yo, Jarvis, you seeing this man?” whispered a lanky bald fella to his friend.
“What you on about dude? I don’t see shit.” shouted a different lanky fella, this one only half bald.
“You serious man? I swear to you, I saw something moving out there. What if *gulp*, what if it’s an elder abomination?”
*Gulp*
“You sure dude?” replied Jarvis, terror slowly creeping up his face.
“I’m sure man! I swear on the Goddess that I saw something moving out there.”
“Alright my guy, on three.”
Then, they started counting up in unison.
1
*ba-dum* *ba-dum*
2
*ba-dum* *ba-dum*
3
*BANG*
Both Harvis and Jarvis banged on their alarm drums.
The loud, crisp sound of two drums being hit with such precision that their sounds became one, travelled unimpeded all throughout the northern part of the village. And when the other guards heard it, they too hit the alarm.
Within but a minute’s time, the whole village was alerted of enemy presence. And the Guards, following the string of alarms being rang, eventually made their way to the northern gate.
What they found there were Jarvis and Harvis, both impaled through the head by throwing spears. And out there, just beyond the reach of the torch light, they saw the rough shape of a giant, stone spear, which glowed with an ominous green light.
It was small at first, only about the size of a man. Yet within the span of a few seconds, it grew to about as big as a tree, and then, the floating weapon started adjusting its position, aiming its sharp edge towards the wooden gate.
Then they heard the sound of a man shouting.
“Fire!”
They barely had time to leap off the wall.
*Whoosh*
And the village gate, as well as the surrounding walls, were hit with great force.
*BOOM*
The splinters and the rubble flew with great speed into the surrounding buildings, shredding them to pieces. Some unlucky people, who thought the gate sturdy, also got shredded.
A few of those that managed to jump in time were uninsured, but they were in the minority. Everybody else was either bleeding, concussed, or both.
“Charge!” shouted a blonde woman with a shrill voice, leading a group of two hundred warriors from the dark forest and into the Omoshiro village.
She had flawless ivory armour, and wielded two black swords of equal size in both hands.
Those unfortunate enough that leaped outside of the village took the brunt of her attack, and though the explosion affected them, they managed to hold their ground… at least for a short while.
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As there were barely two dozen of them, however, the Todtec forces overwhelmed them quite easily.
They started falling one by one, yet a slight smirk could be seen on their faces as they dropped onto the cold earth below. Though they didn’t last much, they managed to buy enough time for those behind them to regain their bearings
And these warriors fell also, holding on just long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
Slowly, more and more Omoshiro villagers started trickling in, creating a perimeter around the broken gate, and not allowing a single intruder to pass.
It was a bloody, chaotic scuffle. With weapons, flesh and blood flying all over the battlefield. Bodies dropping on the floor every few seconds, only to be trampled right after by both friend and foe.
This inadvertently created a makeshift wall of flesh, and as more and more bodies were added to the pile, it started splitting the two sides apart ever so slowly.
“Fall back!” shouted the young woman at the front.
She was covered in blood and guts from head to toe, originating from enemies and allies alike. Her once flawless ivory armour turned into scraps of bone, yet somehow it was still clinging on to her figure.
The Todtec forces in the front started backing up slowly after her order, while those behind them assisted in the retreat.
The Omoshiro warriors wanted to follow, and some hot blooded ones did, yet they were quickly made into examples as soon as they stepped over the pile of corpses, which they now became a part of.
Neither side was doing much fighting now, with the Omoshiro fighters throwing spears intermittently at the retreating invaders, and the Todtec warriors using small circular shields, this ones made of a black metal, to deflect the incoming projectiles.
An uneasy atmosphere soon settled onto the violent battlefield, with both sides taking a breather and regrouping.
After all was said and done, the Todtec troops managed to retreat back into the cover of the night. Yet they weren’t sitting idle, as another earth spear was slowly being formed in the distance.
“Move back.” commanded a tall man, with a lustreless bleached purple bone armour, the skull of a three eyed abomination resting on his face.
The villagers quickly shuffled to make way for the Grand Warrior as he made his way on top of the pile of corpses, and into his enemies’ line of sight.
“Fire!”
*Whoosh*
The earthen spear flew true once more, heading straight for the man standing on top of the mound of flesh.
Yet, to the shock of the Todtec sorcerers, the spear flew off course, ricocheting off of the air surrounding the man in purple. It then proceeded to plant itself into the dirt floor on his left, with nothing but the tip sticking out.
A few pebbles flew around at great velocities, yet they too bounced off before touching Grand Warrior.
“Come fight me, leader of the Todtec warriors.” he challenged, with a deep and calm tone of voice
Hellena, unafraid of the man, slowly steps forwards; her steps calm and composed.
“Come fight me then… if you dare, that is.” she taunted.
The Grand Warrior slowly makes his way forwards.
“My name is Haxen, and I shall have the honour of putting an end to your life.”
“It shall be my honour to squash that dream of yours.” countered Hellena.
Both warriors stopped when reaching a distance of ten steps from one another.
Haxen took out his great battle-axe, which put even his tall stature to shame, for the axe was a whopping two and a half meters in length. It’s wide handle sporting engravings of mystical patterns, flowing from down the pommel all the way up to the blade; which was made out of one perfectly cut semicircle, the edge being as smooth as a baby’s butt, and as sharp as an obsidian edge.
With his great stature, and pristine purple armour, and the ability to deflect giant projectiles without lifting a finger, Hellena was at quite a disadvantage.
With her face bloody, her armour on the verge of falling apart, and a smile on her face, she unsheathed her dual swords.
Haxen, seeing her unmoving, decides to strike first. With a quick step back, he moves his battle-axe sideways.
*Swish*
And cleaves the air in half, distorting it on impact, and launching his slash towards her from a distance. A faint glow could be seen on the handle afterwards, as the runes engraved in it lit up ever so slightly.
But she had no time to admire her opponent's equipment, for the slash had already travelled to her face. So she dropped on the floor, backwards, barely escaping the attack.
Haxen, however, never planned on hitting her with such an attack. He knew better than to not have a contingency plan, and with Hellena on the floor, scrambling to get up, his second attack would easily end the fight.
*Stomp*
The Grand warrior brought his right foot down, stomping the earth. The earth cracked in a zig-zagged manner, as the wave of force travelled from him to her.
*Boom*
A stone pillar shot out of the ground, sending the young woman a dozen meters in the air, shattering her armour in the process.
Haxen, having killed their leader, turns to the remaining soldiers.
“Now, warriors of the Tod-”
Before he could finish his sentence, a dozen spells flew his way. Fireballs, followed by blades of wind, then spears of rock and a few dozen magic-less throwing spears, quickly bounced around Haxen as blood started flowing from underneath his helmet.
The few seconds it took for him to dispatch Hellena were just long enough for the enemies to prepare this overwhelming attack, yet he managed to endure all of it, though not unharmed.
“Heads up, you big oaf!” a shrill voice made its presence known from the sky above.
*BOOM*
And she landed on top of him, blade stuck inside his forehead through the skull’s third eye.
Although her enemy was dead, she wasn’t much better off, having fallen unconscious with a few bones sticking out of her.
*Swoosh*
An elderly man of short stature and pale skin, with grey braided hair hanging off his sunken face, instantly appeared next to the Vadir’s sister. It was his duty to protect her after all, though he didn’t do a great job based on her current comatosed situation.
Not wasting any time he grabs her off of Haxen, and dashed behind the Todtec warriors in but a split second.
-Defend me while I heal her.- he signs to his fellow men.
“Defense formation around old man Wisker!” shouts a blonde man, who was the second in command as well as the leader of the sorcerer division.
The group quickly created an oval-shaped perimeter around Wisker and Hellena, to protect them from the Omoshiro villagers, as well as any beasts lurking in the forest.
Though the Omoshiro warriors looked in bad shape, they were still in their home grounds. They were protected from beasts by the Tree of Life’s presence, while the remains of the Todtec troops, which were only around half of their initial numbers, were stuck out in the open, surrounded by enemies from the front, as well as their flank.
“What - de - fuck?!” shouts Boltana, as the pile of corpses surrounding the northern gate enters her field of view.
As Boris proceeds to throw up his dinner from a few hours ago.
While Haptky looks solemnly at the scene as he spots the remains of Haxen, with a black sword sticking out of his skull helmet.