Gray Gray Gray

"FIRE!"

All four of us dodged into the alleys, the volley of arrows mainly going straight, while others swerved thanks to a talent. We managed to kill, what? Somewhere between a thousand and two thousand? I reconfirmed it with the other shades. Yeah, that's about right. We each caught a few arrows, snapping them before burning some blood before the heads exploded.

"STAY ON GUARD!! THEY COULD BE ANYWHERE!" The guy was hounding me with his soldiers. Sucked that there were 'targets' as everyone called them mixed in with the others. They were slowly figuring out the things that worked well on our bodies. Namely explosives, but it couldn't take more than a few days before someone figured out silver and other methods for everyone.

"TRACKER, YOU BETTER FUCKING GET OUT THERE AND DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!" There was a small revolt earlier today, the white banner guys refused to do their jobs as well as they could. Probably didn't help that they saw their friends get run through, or shot in the back.

We helped each other climb the building from the alley. Loudly breaking in through a window, to where my new best friend was sitting with her arms crossed. Old headless, standing there gallantly. A red cape hanging from their shoulders. Two of us moved to grab the bottom of the cape and make it flutter, much better.

"The fuck are you doing?" Claire, the head poked out from atop the rafters. Unlike old headless, she was crude and didn't need a body to talk. Her hair moved like spider legs, but she wasn't. We all turned to squint at her insanity.

"Isn't it obvious?" The two of us kept fluttering the cape, while the other two watched outside.

"They broke inside the church, sir!" Tracker guy said, one of us waving at the people surging into the alley we escaped through. That one gave them the one-finger salute, ducking inside before their leader told the others to fire. Terrible form really, they'd get so much done if they fired at will.

Claire hit one of our heads, her forehead bashing against that one body doing half the fluttering. "Don't you ignore me, you masked bastard."

Her hair was threatening to choke us, as the two let go of the cape. "Fine." We groaned, "They're about to enter the first floor, still kinda weird that the bottom is designated to the main god while the top is all the others."

Claire shook a ball of hair shaped like a fist at the poor body she chose. "Then go down and meet them! Do it with flourish, we can't slaughter them all and I need you to tell me which ones to kill, dumbass."

The bugs told us that they had surrounded our little church, twenty breaking off from the fifty to break through the front and back doors. The other thirty had their bows drawn, just in case we tried to escape through the windows. Really, why were they letting us win like this? It'd take at least thirty of them to successfully pin us down and kill us. They didn't even know how to kill Claire's bodies, were they hoping to stumble upon something here?

We slumped, "Going." We had to leave the poor body behind, as Clair climbed on top of our head with a huff. The outcome was already certain, sure we didn't know what talents they had, but that didn't really matter with the White and Blue banner people. Sure, some of them had something like; 'Undead Hunter,' or 'Vampire Slayer.' They'd get one of our bodies, then we'd just teleport close slit their throat. We weren't exactly hurting for people to convert here, if anything we had too much. The thrall buddies were even silently leaning forward on the pews below while they pretended to pray.

Reluctantly, one of us walked to the center where an alter was as the soldiers took their first attempt at breaking in. The stained glass was left unharmed, for absolutely no reason. The other two bodies were chilling at the top of the stairs, ready to walk down with lit candles. Torches hung on their sconces to give the place an eerie culty feeling. Claire had absolutely no taste when it came to this stuff, we just barely managed to convince her to not have blood run down from the pillars. Seriously! Think of the floors and the wood damage.

"CHARGE!" Ah, they didn't get it on try two. Now the candles had wax rolling down the sticks. We crossed our arms, tapping our biceps while we politely waited. "CHARGE!" The doors buckled inwards, not quite enough to do the job either. It was honestly surprising that the guy hadn't screamed his voice hoarse yet. "CHARGE! WE WILL SLAUGHTER ALL THE MONSTERS IN THIS DAMNED CITY!"

The soldiers broke through both sides, looking at the thrall buddies with confusion. They started rocking a little as the chorus tried their best to play along. The look of confusion was kind of neat, even as our alter body spread its arms wide. "Welcome! Brothers and Sisters! To the sermon!"

The Lieutenant blunk with his men in obvious confusion. "Why are there people here?" He looked at the headless bodies standing by the pillars with only armor and a weapon. Suits that were controlled by Claire, just like old headless.

Our two bodies at the top of the stairs started to descend with their flickering candles. We spoke in unison, "You have come to witness something."

All of them tilted their heads, even more confused. "Witness... something?"

We stopped, "Look, I'll be real with you here. I'm not good at improv, I thought about telling you how the thralls in the pews are people that were converted. All twenty of them, mind you." Alter body wagged its finger, "Pretend I said something grandiose and epic, since you're all going to die. Woo, look at how edgy I am." All three of us did jazz hands, while poor number four was being strangled just a floor above.

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Guy'Spears

"This is one of the hells," poor Ink whimpered.

We bolted the second those things left the area, my hands still shaking as I couldn't get the image out of my head. No one knew how long we had been hiding here, some boarded-up shop that had blood stains and signs of fighting. It was clear we weren't the only group of deserters running around this damned place.

Ink was being held by Patches, as she continued, "T-the demon king, he really is the king of all demons."

Wheels snapped back, "Shut up! Those aren't demons out there! Those are fucking monsters, that want to eat us! If you keep saying their name, they'll come!"

It was so much simpler when all I had to do was polish spears. We at least managed to get some water skins and dried jerky for stumbling in here. All of us running into the first defensible area we could find when we heard one of those thralls call out. Our weapons were ready, but we had no idea how to kill the things, besides what Ink told us earlier." Thankfully, the monster passed us by without checking inside our hiding spot. I shivered, just thinking about what might have happened.

"Come on guys, we can't give in." Wheels tried his best to perk everyone up, even after snapping at Ink. His words felt kind of hollow, but everyone was eating and drinking. We took shifts relieving ourselves, the comfort of a real toilet barely changing anything. They even flushed, which was a luxury only the richest could afford!

Nobody responded to Wheels trying to rouse us, as he scowled. "Look, if we stay here, we're going to die right?" He looked to me for some help.

I shook my head, trying to motivate myself, "No idea, the streets might be crawling with those things. Others were obviously here before us. We're probably deep in the frontlines of our enemy, if we get sighted they... those things will scream." It was hard to think of the thralls as someone other than who they used to be. I still felt sick for stabbing Drummer. My hands shook again at the thought. We were supposed to be better than those bastards that shot us in the back, this was different, why couldn't I convince myself of that?

Edge grunted, "Magic." We all turned to look at the man, as he scratched his beard. "Magic, kill?" He was getting angry for speaking more than one word.

"Yeah, I see what he's getting at." Slowly, I got back up. "Can anyone here use magic to fight? Any talents?"

Wheels grunted, "I have a talent for repairing wagon wheels. Not that anybody here couldn't have guessed that if they saw me working."

Bucket chuckled, "You call putting your hands on a broken wheel and some nearby wood, work? Fuck, at least I can splash people with water. Not even a real user, but the curse is thin for me."

"Edge..." Hammer said after a pause, "Hone..." He stated about five seconds later.

"Anyone else? I'm guessing this is all the talents we have, right?" I looked around, watching them nod. It kind of made sense, all the good talents went to the rich folk. If you weren't somebody with good connections, then you'd better hope the fortune teller didn't sell you out. They were paid by the kingdom to check every kid for a talent. If you were lucky, you'd get some coins for the 'donation.' "What do we have magic-wise?" I started with Patches.

She hummed to herself, "Stitcher? Not sure what you Eastern folk call it. I can only use it while touching. My spit helps the blood scab, though it does taste nice." She licked her lips, then smiled as she hugged Ink closer.

"F-fire user, but I only practiced snuffing. They don't let us practice, you know that." Ink swallowed hard, "We're going to die here, aren't we?"

Silence passed over us, as we lowered our heads. "We probably will." Wheels chuckled, then we all started laughing. It was the truth, but we couldn't help it. Once someone laughed, it got us all to chuckle. We accepted it by this point, we were going to die. Some of us laughed harder, tearing up. Even Edge was smiling and giggling in his way.

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I clapped my hands, "Alright, yeah, we're going to die. It isn't much, but how about we die on our terms? Can anybody else here use magic?"

We all looked at each other, hoping someone would come out if they did. Straps grumbled before rubbing the back of his neck, "I can sense bugs. Can't tell'em what to do, but maybe if we get hungry?" He gave us a cheeky grin.

There were a few of us laughing this time, "Good enough, they have to be eating something. You think they're monster bugs or what?" Wheels looked at him.

Straps shrugged, "They're all around us, mate. Thing is, they seem to like the ghouls. There were nests or something on them, it's how we stumbled into them. Glad you lot came as quick as you did."

Everyone was quiet, as we just stared at Straps. Wheels broke the silence first, "The bugs like the ghouls? We can use that to avoid them, can't we?"

Straps shook his head, "If we rely on it too much, then we won't notice the ones that don't have any bugs. I didn't want to say it because I kind of don't want to get caught."

We nodded at that, no one here wanted to be caught. "How about you let us know if some are coming towards us, while the rest of us take up the front and rear?" I offered, "We're in vampire territory, we need all the advantages we can get. There are sixteen of us here, I'll lead with Wagon, Marker, and Wheels. Patches, Ink, Straps, and Edge, you guys will be in the center. The rest of you should be in the back and sides, switching out when you can."

Wheels pursed his lips, "Why are they switching out?"

"Watching the flank sucks. We're used to not having anything come out behind us. If they switch, then they will keep their focus. If we find more survivors, we'll work it out as we move. Let's grab everything we can while we're here. How's that sound?"

Wheels grumbled, "Fine, makes sense. I'm taking point though, I'm not about to be led around by you, Spears."

I shrugged, "You got it, Wheels." The guy was obsessed with being in charge or something. Everyone grabbed a water sack for themselves, the four in the middle carrying extra weapons to give us should anything be lost. With water and rations, we set out onto the dark streets again. A loose formation, since none of us wanted to take anything we found head-on.

Deeper into this damned city, not even sure which way we were going. We had a couple of close calls, with packs of thralls moving between the alleys. Thankfully, we weren't noticed. Even as we found a church of all things. The stained glass windows were broken, and blood was all over the ground with very few limbs remaining. We stood there, staring at the scene with the broken doors. The holy site was desecrated and profaned with the bloodstains. Twisted into something sinister.

Wheels walked towards the entrance, I grabbed his shoulder, "What are you doing?"

He looked over at me, pointing at a piece of blue banner. "The blue boys were here. The army is advancing, there might be some decent weapons in there."

I looked at the others, who were a bit squeamish, "Alright, we need to find an armory after, sound good?"

"Deal." Wheels grinned, as we entered the broken church. It was even more eerie inside, with broken pews. Places scorched, stone spikes rising from the ground to impale some victim or another. Metal armor twisted with a stray arm left on the floor with those black bugs chewing on it.

"We... might not want heavy armor unless it's got some good runes." I pointed at the mangled scrap of metal. The others looked at it, coming to the same conclusion.

Wheels just started laughing, "Fucking amazing, ain't it? Who do you think won?"

"Fuck if I know, probably the vampires since there aren't any bodies here. We need to see if we can't find anything to use." I started looking around.

Most of the weapons left here were standard gear for the blue boys. A couple of swords and daggers, an ax by one of the guys with a talent for such weapons. The bows were all severed, with arrows scattered around. "Anyone know how to use bows?" Wheels asked while we searched. We weren't exactly trained to do anything beyond marching. Half of us didn't even know how to properly use a dagger, let alone a bow. Understandably, no one said anything.

Then we heard knocking from the floor upstairs. All of us froze, as someone continued banging. Was it a vampire? A thrall? Possibilities raced through my mind, as Wheels started heading up one of the two stairs. I looked at the others, "Four of you watch the entrances, the rest of you keep searching. We'll see if we can't figure out what's up there."

"Be careful," Patches warned. I gave her a nod, before heading up behind Wheels.

He looked back at me, as we poked our heads into the second floor. The one with more alters and no pews, designated to all the gods in the Golden Circle. There was a coffin at the center, tied shut by some kind of dark silk. "Get me out of here!" Came a voice from inside. Wheels and I looked at each other, slowly moving towards the coffin. "Fucking vampires! I don't want to die like this!" We could hear them sobbing.

"Do they sound familiar, or is it just me?" Wheels looked over at me.

"Yeah," I said while tapping the coffin. They stopped knocking, "What corps do you serve?"

"Tracker! White Corps, sir!" His voice was shaking.

The two of us kept looking at each other, unsure if we should open this coffin or not. "Why did the vampires put you in this coffin?"

"Fuck if I know, sir! They said the thralls would come to pick me up later! It's been a while!" Tracker cried back.

I pulled out my dagger, while Wheels grabbed my wrist. He whispered harshly to me, "What if this is a fucking trap? How do we know it's actually Tracker in there?"

"We don't, but this seems like a lot of shit to do just to make us lower our guard. If it is a vampire in there, do you think it wouldn't be able to break out?" I broke Wheels' hold on my wrist and started to cut the strange silk.

Wheels huffed, readying his spear. "Don't you dare move, Tracker. If you do, we're going to kill you on the spot!"

"O-okay?" He probably curled up inside the coffin.

I finished cutting the last few strands, then pushed on the coffin lid. The wooden door opened from the hinges on the side, making it extra weird. I looked inside to see Tracker laying as still as he could. He was entirely covered in blood, laying in a pool of it. I offered the poor man a hand, he took it without hesitation. "What happened here?"

Tracker jumped out of the coffin, trying to rub the blood off him. "Fucking lieutenant brought us here with one of the scouting forces. We were supposed to map out the area when he caught sight of a vampire. He was hoping to get some favor by bringing back some vampire heads. He made me use my talent to chase after them as we came deeper and deeper into the city. We surrounded the monsters, then a hoard of thralls came out of nowhere and got everyone."

His eyes darted around, as he started to shake. "The masked ones, they can teleport. They slaughtered the others while suits of armor started to just fucking move. There were fifty of us, but I think maybe ten ran away, give or take five? I got captured, while the thralls dragged the bodies away."

"The masked one? Did it have a really creepy spider mask?" I gestured with my hands, trying to mime how it looked.

Tracker shook his head, "No, but there are a lot of masked vampires, one in every four according to reports. Though a lot of us were executed to stop anyone else from trying to rebel. It's all gone to shit for our corps, they split us up and put some of us in groups with the blues. It wasn't supposed to be like this, man." He started tearing up.

I grabbed him by the face, "Look at me, Tracker. We'll get through this." I butted heads with him. "We need to focus, and we need to get moving. You just told us the thralls were coming back. We need to leave now." He tried to shake his head, but I didn't let him. "Now, Tracker! We'll talk later, I won't abandon you like the rest."

He gave a small head bob, as Wheels was already running downstairs. "I feel others coming, my talent lets me feel monsters, man. It's too late!"

A sharp sound echoed in the rafters, as I slapped the man. "If we stay here, we're dead. Where are they coming from, Tracker? I need you to focus!" He pointed, his hands shaking. I nodded, grabbing one of them. "Let's go!" We ran down the stairs, "Grab everything and go! That way." I pointed in the opposite direction the thralls were approaching from. "Go, go, GO!" We started running.

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Gray Gray Gray

Claire was pissed at us because we didn't play along. She was resting at the next spot, setting up for something else. She was willing to give us another shot. Not that it mattered too much to us. We did get yelled at by some of the stronger shades, it kinda sucked. The targets went into the church, they scrounged, then they found another target to add to their roster. Sucked that we couldn't make this less painful for them.

Nope, we had to act out everything. All of it needed a certain level of drama performed in a certain way. Succeed where we can, mitigate all failures. At least everyone was doing their part, even if the enemy was slowly moving inwards. How many hundreds were dead already? Thousands? The notes said they were pushing to give their general some breathing room. Their seer needed to see the future and plan appropriately. Even if all he saw was darkness because the ghosts were ready to kill him if he said the wrong things.

Made it all a little worse, knowing that men and women were being fed to us just so some old guy might see the future. They weren't united, more than half of them weren't really trained to fight. Those that were, well they fought alone and it showed when they hurt their friends during that last fight. There was a difference in quality when it came to the banners though. The blues could use magic, compared to the white ones hardly able to use magic, let alone talents.

It kind of made sense though, send in the replaceable people and hope they break through with sheer numbers. Then keep pounding while your enemy was tired. Brutal, but effective. Those destined for greatness would be forged and remolded by the terrors before them. They would rise higher or break.

Such a cruel method was only possible due to the fact that the humans propagated year-round. Their population growth was phenomenal while having the fortunate side-effect of producing those with talents. All it took, in theory, was the correct person with the right talent to win at anything. Just as this small band was 'eluding' our pursuit through one talent and a bit of magic sense.

They hadn't realized that we had eyes and ears everywhere with our bugs. It was pleasant compared to the other banners able to genuinely cast magic. Those pesky entomancers slowly picking at our hives, the green banner wielders were coming next. The grey banner holders took theirs down, signaling something.

Memories taken from those we turned told us that this meant the assassins were making their moves. The lowest cultivators were moving with them. The easy part was over, but this was war.

Eh, all of us shrugged. This kind of thinking was annoying. The other shades loved doing that. Vampires loved that, we just wanted this done and over with. Even if this was going to take an entire week or two. Some of the vampires were already starting to die, though most of them were able to be brought back. They were used to fighting battles with their overwhelming prowess against their natural prey. Only a few of them were capable of keeping up with our 'lesser' bodies when it came to meeting the enemy.

Far too few of our own numbers were ready for this battle. Thankfully, none of them had truly died. There were a few close calls, but our thrall buddies were pulling their weight and then some. Arguably the perfect counter to the Fire Kingdom's tactics. Something, something, throw more meat in the grinder for the pit to swallow. We rubbed our heads, one of us holding Claire's head.

"Hey Claire, we think we've got it now." We gently coaxed towards the head. Her eyes snapped open.

"I thought I told you not to wake me up until it was time." She growled, hissing a little. She liked having her little fits of anger, especially when the body next to her gave a nice head pat.

"Fine... sorry, I guess." We apologized, as she closed her eyes again.

My shift for target watching was over. It was back to the murder-thon. Kill those too dangerous to risk, turn those we cripple, repair the bodies, make a thrall buddy or two, repeat. Pick them off in groups, add numbers to our troops. Chase off targets and lynchpins. It'd be a real grind if it wasn't for how well the Hive was growing. There was too much food for the bugs to eat, we didn't have two weeks for them to evolve into giants and the like. We just had to keep pulling back and slaughtering the enemy as they pushed ever closer towards the manor.