Dirik hobbled to the window and watched as the queen raised all the dead soldiers and sent them after his friends. The dead they had brought over the bridge and into the walls of the fortress also rose.

The soldiers in the courtyard were more than capable of dispatching them quickly. Of course, that didn't stop the nobles, who had run into the walls once Draros' army arrived to muck things up. They shouted and hollered and made a mess of things by getting in the way.

One Steel Sentinel, who wore the armor of an officer, took control of the few soldiers not rattled by the undead's appearance and charged the undead. There were hardly a few dozen undead, which would not cause them trouble.

The real trouble was outside the wall, across the bridge, and coming for his friends. The two Cosmarian spirits laughed at the disparity of his friends. Dirik shook his head. To think a day would come when the old enemy would arise and stand at the brink of wiping out his kingdom.

They had been played. Played by two spirits who hadn't even worked together, but still, they had taken control of two of the strongest people in the kingdom. Played by a king's arrogance who sacrificed his wife and brother to these evil things.

The Wardens backed up to the bridge along with Meera to make a final stand. Pallas raised a massive shield wall, which the undead would crash against in mere moments. Dirik couldn't wait for his body to heal. He had to do something, and he had to do it now.

Even if it was day, he could still manipulate the Shadowsteel to form a metal staircase down to the courtyard. The only problem was that he wouldn't be fast enough to get to his friends. He pounded his fist on the metal railing so hard that it left a dent. He flashed his hand to the railing adjacent to the fortress wall and used the Shadowsteel Manipulation skill to form a staircase, and the fortress complied.

Then he heard his voice.

"Raise the bridge!" The king commanded.

Rokibor had just hobbled out of the fortress's main door into the courtyard. He stood with one hand on the wall and the other on his chest, huffing like his life depended on it. Just seeing the cowardly bastard again made Dirik's blood boil. He would have gutted him in the throne room if he had the opportunity.

The soldiers—the ones not fighting the undead—stopped. Either they were too stunned to see their king emerge from the fortress or because of the cowardly command he had given.

A couple of the Phoenix Protectors ran to the king. They tried to see if he was okay. He pushed them off and went into the courtyard.

"What are you staring at me for?" Rokibor barked. "Fall to command and raise that fucking bridge."

The soldiers burst out of their stupor and ran to raise the bridge. The undead had already crashed against Pallas's shield wall. It wouldn't be long before they broke through and overwhelmed them.

Dirik saw everything move at once. The undead attacked, the soldiers moved for the gate, and the king gave a hint of a smile.

"No…" Dirik yanked out his Shadowsteel sword from its sheath and jumped off the last step. He didn't have time to make stairs. He had to get this done. He had to save them…he had to save everyone. If Dirik couldn't, then perhaps he could.

The ground approached rapidly. When he was about twenty feet up, Dirik stabbed his sword into the fortress. The fortress's wall ripped open from his sword, and his descent slowed. All eyes were on him now. Some soldier called for him to stop as he was coming straight for the king.

The king shuffled back in terror. The two Blazers stepped forward with their fiery blades in hand.

"Stop!" The Blazer roared. "In the name of the king, stop."

Dirik landed on a knee before them. "Step aside. I have no time for the likes of you," he said in his real voice.

It gave the king pause. He frowned at him. "W-Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

The Blazers didn't step aside, but they were close enough to the Shadowsteel fortress that when Dirik waved a hand, two arms reached out of the fortress, pulled the Blazers to it, and locked them in place. In time, they could melt the metal and be free, but not fast enough to stop Dirik.

He turned on the king, took off his mask, revealing his face, and made many, including the man who had ruined his face, gasp.

"It's high time we've had a chat…father," Delkoris said.

The Blazers must've recognized him as they stopped their fidgeting and stared slack-jawed, as did a lot of the other soldiers who knew him. He had apprenticed under Uncle Narikas, so he spent a lot of time here. He was well known in Tearsfell Prison.

Rokibor was aghast. “Delkoris…I-I—”

"What? You don't like your handiwork. Have you forgotten that you did this to me!" Delkoris barked. "All because I made inquiries about my mother's whereabouts, who never returned from the inspection of Itris Prison. I raised a few questions, such as why I wasn't allowed to see her if she was sick. There was never a doubt in my mind that Mother would refuse to see me, no matter how sick she was. So, you did this." He motioned to his face.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Delkoris knew time was of the essence, but he also wanted everyone to see what sort of a man would do this to their own child. He needed to break his hold over the soldiers so they would defy his command.

"You could've have gone to the healers," Rokibor said. "They would've made you like before."

"Like you did to mother all those years," Delkoris barked. The snake, who called himself Delkoris's father, was taken aback. "Yes, I know about that, and you know the only reason you're alive is because she asked me not to do anything, or I would've made her a widow a long time ago. If I knew you would've given up your wife…my mother, for power, I would've sliced your throat years ago."

"You have no right to talk to me like that! I am your king and father, and I will be treated with respect." Rokibor spat.

Delkoris drew heavy breaths. "You did this!" He screamed. "We're in this predicament because of you! This war was of your making! This bloodshed could've been avoided if you weren't such a power-hungry piece of shit." Delkoris grabbed him by the throat and drove him back until his head banged against the wall so hard that his golden crown fell off his head. "Take back your command. You raise that bridge, and we're all dead."

"No." Rokibor's eyes belched fire.

"Take back your command. Order the men to fight, or the dead will overrun us, while the monster that controls Uncle Narikas brings down the fortress on our heads. We will have nowhere to hide."

"No…" He wheezed.

Delkoris squeezed his throat. Rokibor fought against his son's grip. Many gasped, but no one raised their voice telling Delkoris to stop, not even the Blazers. His father's eyes turned red, and he would've ended his life right there, but for some reason, unbeknownst to himself, he stopped.

Delkoris roared and tossed Rokibor aside, and turned to the stunned soldiers. "My brothers, my sisters. You know of me as your Crown Prince, but I come to you as a humble son of Azeria, begging you to come with me to save our country. This man," he pointed to a coughing Rokibor, "has doomed us. Outside, my friends are fighting to keep the undead at bay. But they will soon fall if we do not help them. Come with me so we can fight one last time and vanquish the evil that this butcher king has unleashed upon us."

"No…" Rokibor wheezed. "Any who follows this…" he coughed. "Follows…" more coughing. "He will be…put to the sword."

Delkoris fumed, kicked him in the face, and ran towards the gates leading to the bridge. They had started closing the gates, but there was enough space for Delkoris to run straight through. He raced across the bridge to the Wardens, where the undead had already started spilling over the shield wall.

The Wardens were taking care of them with ease. He found Meera staring at him as he ran towards her.

She tilted her head. "So, you're the one I was looking for all this time."

Delkoris would've chuckled if he had the time. "Yes, I'm sorry for another lie, but there is no time for this. Can you raise me high enough so I can talk to my mother?"

Lexa turned at that. "Your mother?" Her eyes widened as it clicked. "The queen…you think it will work?"

"It's the last chance we've got?"

Meera put an arm around his waist. "Hold on tight."

Before he could even respond, Meera shot off into the sky. Luckily, she was stronger than she looked and held him tightly. His eyes widened when he saw the number of the dead. It included soldiers from both armies. When did so many die…

He found his uncle and mother standing off to the side, looking mighty pleased and chuckling about something. It was good that he didn't have Meera's fantastic hearing skill because he did not want to hear their conversation.

"Man, those two are gross," Meera said, confirming his fear.

Delkoris ignored her. "Mother!" he shouted over the shrieking and moaning of the undead. They didn't hear or notice him. "Take me a little closer, please." Meera was unsure, but she complied. "Mother!"

Finally, the two lovebirds looked at him.

"Oh, is that the masked one?" Uncle Narikas or the fiend Erenyx said in her raspy voice.

Doromar gave no response.

"Mother, it is me, Delkoris!"

Doromar shivered but again said nothing.

"Mother, look what father did to me. Please, I need you. Come back to me. Please..."

Erenyx laughed. "He is literally crying for his mommy."

But a tear leaked from the queen's eye, and the whole undead army shivered.

"Mother, I need you. He did this to me when I wanted to come after you." Tears spilled from Delkoris's eyes. "I…please come back to me."

Finally, Doromar's hold over his mother broke. His glowing red eyes evaporated, and Nisaya's natural green eyes emerged, as a flood of tears spilled from her eyes. “Dirik…my poor Dirik.”

Erenyx turned towards her, frowning. "How…"

Nisaya ignored him. "My dear Dirik…I don't have long. Doromar will take hold of me again, but I will…" She thrust her hands into the air and screamed for a long time until she coughed blood and fell to a knee.

"No, Mother!" Dirik reached for her, but Meera held him back firmly.

His mother whispered something, but Dirik couldn't hear over the noise of the undead. Then his mother thrust both hands towards the undead and flung them away as if she were pushing a great weight. The entire undead army was thrown back in pieces.

Queen Nisaya collapsed on the ground.

"Mother!" Dirik screamed.

Meera pulled him back as Erenyx threw shadow daggers at them in anger. Pallas's shield wall fell at the impact of the daggers. Meera had to hold Delkoris firmly, or he would've gone running to his collapsed mother.

But all his fidgeting stopped when his mother stood with glowing red eyes. "Stupid bitch, nearly wasted all her mana getting rid of the border wall and all the Mistblades."

Dirik gasped.

"Did I hear that right?" Tekton asked. "She could do that. From here?"

They were more than two hundred miles from the border in any direction. A small smile formed on Delkoris's lips. She spent all her Mana to give them a fighting chance.

"Too bad she didn't know I have enough of my own," Doromar laughed. "Rise. Rise, my army, and lay waste to everyone in sight."

The undead awoke once more, and Pallas was on one knee. He didn't look to be in any condition to raise any shield wall.

Erenyx placed a hand on Doromar's shoulder. "Let's add to this army. Call forth your Mistblades."

Doromar frowned at first and then nodded. He extended a hand and created a Mistblade. It would have evaporated in the sunlight in a heartbeat, but shadows from Erenyx's hands snaked down her arm to cover the Mistblade in shadow armor.

"They will not evaporate now," Erenyx stated. "Call forth another army, and let's finish this."

Doromar nodded and created an army as they watched. There were thousands of Mistblades backing the undead.

"Well, folks, it was nice dying beside you," Tekton said.

Before anyone could reply, the gate to the fortress smashed open, and a lone woman stood with a book in her hands.

"Soldiers of Azeria!" Hilnoa boomed. "Do your duty to your country and countrymen. For Azeria!"

"For Azeria!" The soldiers thundered.

She charged, and the might of Azeria charged behind her.