"What the hell are those things, and where did they come from?"
"It doesn't matter now. The better question is what we do about them. They're going through the world like an unstoppable storm, wrecking everything. What is the current situation?"
"Initially there were 8 different armies marching in 8 different directions, but they have now merged into 3 large armies. The largest army of them is directly on its way here to us."
Silently, Frederick Kriel listened to the arguing officers. The mood in the room was tense and cold, which was no surprise in their current situation. In this room sat the smartest people left on the planet Sourge, and yet they had little hope in victory.
"How many are we?"
"Well, we have received all the support from the United Empire of Train and Freud and some from other neighboring empires. Our strength is estimated to be at least 12 million, if not more. "
Startled and enthusiastic calls could be heard from those present, only Kriel remained calm,
"This is the greatest army this world has ever seen."
"Exactly, with such a huge army of brave and proud soldiers, we will surely win. Just let the monsters come, then they can see the power of the humans."
Enthusiastically, people started talking to each other and rejoicing, but Kriel had enough now.
He started laughing almost maniacally,
"Kriel, what's wrong?"
"Have you lost your mind, Kriel?"
Kriel shook his head and couldn't help but laugh,
"I'm...hahaha...I'm not going crazy. I'm just laughing at your stupidity."
Angry murmurs went through the men, and one even stood up. He was King Sert, and the King of the capital city they were in right now,
"How dare you insult us, Sir Kriel, you are but a lowly knight and yet you dare to make reservations to us."
Immediately Kriel stopped laughing and just looked at the king coldly,
"My apologies your highness, but that is exactly why I am laughing. I'm barely the top rider of the local Order of the Gods of Light, but you, you are kings and leaders, the greatest of our generation, and yet it is I, and apparently only I, who sees our hopeless situation. Have you even read the report,"
Kriel reached for a stack of sheets, flipping through them briefly, "I quote, 'The enemy army, after exiting the gate, wich we call the Rift, has divided into 8 equal armies, each consisting of a rough estimate of 8 to 10 million of these demons. We are unable give exact figures. The creatures that fight in the army are powerful warriors and extremely dangerous. However, the creatures can be divided into two groups, one seem to be normal fighters, but show a clear superiority in strength and skill over humans, but even more dangerous are the second group.They are, according to witnesses, able to influence matter around them, as only priests of the gods should be. As far as we know, these mostly have white skin and....,'"
Kriel turned the page a little further,
"'Three of the armies reached the end of the world relatively quickly and joined the army that is now on its way to the capital. The other armies have also joined together to form two large groups. In addition, new creatures continue to come out of the rift, but exactly how many are still lurking in there is unknown. The estimated strength of the army now marching towards the capital is around 30 to 40 million men, or in that case monsters. The other two armies consist of about 20 to 30 million monsters.... '"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Kriel finished his lecture and looked around the room coldly,
"Do you finally understand? Do you finally understand the unbelievable scale of our situation? WE ARE FIGHTING AN ARMY OF PROBABLY 100 MILLION MONSTERS!"
Kriel could not help but raise his voice,
"Watch your voice, Sir Kriel!"
King Sert now roared,
"Of course, your highness. But it makes no difference anyway. In less than a few days, an army of, if we are lucky, 30 million creatures that are not only stronger than normal humans, but also seem to have divine powers will attack us. And that's only half of the enemy army. We don't even know how many of these... things are still lurking in their dimension, just waiting to invade our world. You know what I think, I think this is the punishment of the gods."
The king looked at him,
"What are they trying to say? Punishment for what?"
"FOR YOUR STUPIDITY! FOR THE WARS, THE SLAUGHTERS, THE BUTCHERY AND THE GREED YOU BROUGHT UPON THE PEOPLE."
Now the king stood up with his face red with anger,
"SIR KRIEL, MIND YOUR TONGUE OR..."
"OR WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE ME KILLED? WHAT DIFFERENCE WOULD IT MAKE IF I DIED TODAY, TOMORROW, OR THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW? BUT THAT IS EXACTLY WHY WE ARE BEING PUNISHED. WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO DETERMINE THE LIFE OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING?"
"THE LAW! I AM THE KING AND MAY DO WHAT I WANT! GUARDS! GRAB HIM, I WANT TO SEE HIS HEAD ROLL!"
Immediately guards came sprinting into the room and grabbed Kriel, but he didn't even fight back or show any resistance, he just started laughing again,
"The gods will punish you all. You all deserve death. May the gods of light forgive you afterwards."
With that, he was dragged out of the room. King Sert sat down again with a sigh. The positive mood in the room had completely vanished, and everyone just sat there lost in thought. No one dared to say anything, to break the silence, because they feared the consequences. They were afraid to say what everyone was thinking, and to turn it from thought to reality:
That Kriel was right about everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------
As if in the blink of an eye, three more days passed, during which people prepared for the upcoming war.
The army of the people had increased by another 6 million, which now brought them to a proud army of 18 million men, but the mood was still tense and full of panic.
Kriel was executed just a few hours after his mental breakdown, which caused quite a stir since he was a very important person in the church.
The king sat on his throne and could not sit still, but kept shifting back and forth with nervousness. He did not want to let it show, but he was also full of panic and doubt.
He had put on his golden armor and taken the best sword he possessed. He was just thinking again about the approaching war when suddenly the big gates of the throne room opened and a man rushed in. He knelt down and bowed his head,
"I am sorry your highness to interrupt you, but I have bad news. They are here. The monsters."
The king slowly straightened up,
"Where?"
"Everywhere. "
"What do you mean with... everywhere?"
"They surrounded us, covering all sides. There are many..."
King Sert sighed,
"I know, but that shouldn't stop us from wiping them out. After all, they're just idiotic demons and can't match the intelligence of a human. Get my advisors to accompany me to the wall!"
The messenger nodded and disappeared.
Twenty minutes later, the king and his closest advisors and guards were just going up the last steps to the wall. They opened the door and stepped onto the wall, and went to the edge. The king drew in his breath sharply, because in front of him stretched the army of enemies.
A vast sea of creatures great and small stood still on the ground. But hundreds of these wide-skinned creatures also flew in the air. They all had the same yellow eyes that all seemed to stare at him and seemed to be waiting for something, but the king did not know what. Then he noticed movement as 3 creatures floated in his direction.
They were floating on a black cloud that slowly brought them forward. The king's eyes snapped open,
"Isn't that a human?"
And indeed, the foremost of them was a young man, with dark black hair and white skin. On his head, somewhat crooked, was a golden sparkling crown. The two figures to his right and left looked no more unusual than any other of these demons.
They stopped in mid-air about 200 meters from the wall, and the young man smiled coldly at the king, and his mouth opened as he said something.
It was quite and in a foreign language, yet everyone understood it. It went like an echo through the people and directly into their minds,
"Surrender and I swear on the gods of light, I will not harm you."
He raised his hand to his heart and smiled at King Sert with a horrific smile.
King Sert: "..."