The internal grumbling and ranting intensified as the human led the gathering of snake-people to where his fellow cultists resided. It was a long march, too, as the lone messenger had apparently ventured off on, well, his own at the behest of the Primordial Serpent itself.
How the hell a human with the basic abilities that he had was able to make it so deep into such dangerous territory was an unknown thing, but given the fact that supernatural forces, of which included actual Gods that actually intervened in ways that could be easily seen and felt, were a thing now, it stood to reason that one or two of the many supernatural factors were at play here.
Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it was luck. Perhaps it was whim and desire, or the favor of a higher power. Either way, it didn’t matter in the slightest, as the messenger had delivered his message alive and was leading his cult’s new masters back to where he and his cult had been exiled to.
As the menageries of humanoids of various appearances made their way across the shattered hodge podge of several different cities which had been brought together across all of time and space, their leader, Lyrhea, couldn’t help but feel like a flag was being raised. The utter ease at which this journey to reach these cultists was being made was alarming to her.
Knowing her luck, there would be an ambush when she reached the humans. Either that or they’d all be dead or dying. Or maybe this was all just a trick and-…
She stopped herself there. She was working herself up and the more she did so the more her subordinates began to notice and end up on edge as well. If she wanted to make sure they’d be ready for an ambush, if and when it occurred (which she had a damn good feeling would happen eventually) then it would be in the best interest of everyone to only get paranoid when the odds of an ambush happening exceeded those of it not.
She forcibly calmed herself, and as a result, so too did her people calm down. According to the guide, she was only a few dozen kilometers away from where they had hidden themselves. The cultists, I mean. Once they got a bit closer she would start scanning around for any hint, no matter how insignificant, of a sneak attack in the making.
Primordial Serpent willing, she would see her foes before they could strike, alert her people, and hopefully avoid a defeat or a Pyrrhic victory.
…
“Just a moment, my masters. I will gather the faithful and-.”
“No.”
The leader of the cult paused, obviously taken aback by the word spoken by Lyrhea.
“Please, forgive me, Your Holiness, but what do you mean? Are we not we-?”
“Shut up and get down.” Lyrhea barked as she dashed forward and shoved the teen to the ground. A mere moment after he landed, an arrow streaked through the air and right through the space that his neck once occupied.
“Ambush!” Lyrhea yelled. “Get ready!”
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As if on cue, another few arrows shot out from inside shattered buildings and from atop them. At the same time, a few tens of humans, all armed and armored the same, filed out of another building and quickly surrounded the twenty people that had come along with the cultist leader.
The Lesser Lyrheans growled and hissed, withdrawing their weapons from where they were held and got ready for a fight, but Lyrhea held up a hand and shot them a look before looking over at the armored human who looked to be the leader of the ambushing force.
“I did not come here to kill you or anyone else.” Lyrhea said bluntly. “I just want to take these cultists and be on our way. More than likely we will never cross paths again in any respect so long as each of us lives, and I’d much prefer it that way, thank you very much. May we gather these zealots that you seem to despise so much and leave you in peace, or will we be forced to defend ourselves against your blatant and intentional act of aggression? What say you?”
The heavily armored human said nothing for a few seconds. Perhaps he was simply pausing for effect. Perhaps he was surprised that she could speak a language he could understand. Or, perhaps he was simply trying to intimidate Lyreha and her kind. Either way, he wasn’t having the effect he seemed to want to have brought about and finally opened his mouth to speak, though his words were distorted by the helmet that he wore.
“We do not negotiate with sub-human filth. Nor do we negotiate with those that abandon their humanity to serve such beasts. You have nothing to offer us but your deaths, and that is all that we desire. You and those brainless slaves to darkness will die here, and then we will move on, having purged more Infidels and Heretics and Mutant freaks from the world. And, as we leave your broken, crippled, dying bodies, the world and the Gods will weep with tears of joy, for we will have ridden the world of another abomination.”
Now it was Lyrhea’s turn to pause, though not for effect, but rather because she hadn’t expected that level of xenophobia.
“Did you, by chance, play the Imperium of Humanity in Battlemace 80k? Because you sound like you did.”
The knight, sitting atop his horse, was flustered by this.
“How the fuck would a monster like yourself know about that?!”
Lyrhea shrugged.
“I didn’t choose to be turned into what I am, you know. You were given ‘gifts’ and ‘blessing’s by your Gods. My God forced theirs on me, along with them becoming my God, to begin with. I didn’t choose to be what I am, but you did. You still can.” Lyrhea looked at the knight and swept her gaze across the others. “Every one of you has a choice to make. A choice that will decide the fates of yourselves and those you care for.”
Looking back at the mounted knight, Lyrhea narrowed her eyes.
“Walk away now, or you won’t be able to ever again. This is your only warning. Peace can be achieved, and it need not be through force. The lessons of Old Earth still hold true, and we can, hopefully, solve our problems like civilized beings, rather than stooping to wanton barbarism and base savagery. This is your chance to change for the better. Walk. Away. Now.”
There was silence for a time as Lyrhea’s words hung in the air. And this silence was broken by growing laughter that came from the armored humans and their archer supporters.
The mounted knight stopped laughing and spoke in a cold, cruel voice. “There will be time for peace aplenty when the monsters and Sub-humans are dead. Onward to eternal victory and glory, men! HUMANITY FIRST! DEATH TO SUB-HUMAN FILTH!”