X’lyssa landed before me with an army of darkness at her back. Looking back now, I was unbelievably careless. That woman could have plunged the continent into hell with what I had given her that day. Instead she simply stepped between Tuara and I. We faced the possessed soldiers together.
“Lovely, aren’t they?” She snaked an arm around my elbow and leaned close.
“I have one question.” I said, not pulling away in the slightest. “Are they undead, or merely possessed?”
“Their bodies, brains, skills, and memories are mine and very alive. I could return them in any state you wish: as they were, mindless puppets, zealous fanatics to any cause...”
I nodded in understanding. This was insane. I took a moment, and a plan began to take shape. The siege may be broken, but it was now time to send a message.
I stepped away from X’lyssa and walked a few paces away. I nicked my finger and let a drop of blood fall to the ground. Without turning around I raised my voice so everyone could hear me.
“If you know their minds and memories, I trust what I’m about to request is possible. Refuse if you wish. I want you to divide these people. Bring forth any that did not take pleasure in the suffering of their enemies. Leave any sadist, murderer, or rapist where they stand.” I awaited her reply. I would look foolish if she refused or couldn’t pull it off.
“That’s all? Hmph.” She smacked my behind with her right hand and snapped her fingers with her left.
A relatively small group shuffled away from the huge force. A few thousand out of the nearly fifty thousand separated from the main group into neat rows. It was a surprisingly diverse group. They seemed to mainly be non combat types like laborers and craftsmen. Even so, there were some soldiers and knights apparently whom kept their morality even during war.
There was a silence and tension so thick from the observing crowd that I unconsciously cleared my throat. What would this scene even look like to a regular person from this world? I glanced at my closest allies. Yugal was watching me with an expression that hovered between admiration and fear. The Dark Alfar maintained serenely calm expressions that seemed to broadcast that this was all to be expected from me. Don’t act like I do this kind of thing all the time!
The mountain giant fighters and Thrym were suitably in states of shock, and the dwarves were hard to read since the ones not wearing full helmets were all beard and eyebrows.
“I am going to Crown City.” I announced to a scattering of gasps and surprised grunts. “once there, I will open a gate.”
“Ohh, another banquet?” X’lyssa asked hopefully.
“Not today.” I answered. “Can you read my thoughts?” I thought as clearly as I could and directed them her way.
“Of course.” Her voice came to my mind. So she is just fully telepathic, then.
“When the gate opens, send the main force of these scumbags through and restore their minds as you do. Will you do that for me?” I asked in my sweetest mental voice.
“When you put it like that, how could I refuse?” She said out loud to the confusion of the others. “Why restore their minds?” She asked silently.
“You’ll see.” I took care not to advertise the surprise with my thoughts. I was actually getting pretty good at feeling which thoughts I was advertising to mind readers, it’s kind of an art form.
“The rest of you, please be patient. I am going to send a message to King Gault that will make him never want to do this ever again.” I spoke mostly to the dwarves and giants.
“We expected to be meeting Thragnofir by now, so a nice rest in the fresh air won’t make us grumble any.” Ramthrag chuckled and gave a signal to his army. As a disciplined unit they all plopped onto the stone and began chatting with each other light heartedly and passing flasks around. Dwarves sure are resilient.
“My lady.” Van finally found the courage to approach his apparent patron. He took a knee and bowed his head - a look that did not suit him at all.
“You’ve been a good kid.” X’lyssa scratched his wiry hair affectionately. “I’m always entertained by your web of schemes, and when you scared that old fatso for those two kids I laughed so hard I broke my throne.”
Van suddenly had tears staining his ruddy cheeks. He had been working so hard and for so long, to finally have his mistress acknowledge him in person and feel her hand on his head was too much. “Thank you, my lady.” He managed to keep from blubbering just long enough to say.
“Run along back to your king, he’s too much of a meathead to handle things properly on his own.” She could be surprisingly motherly.
“L-lady Overfiend...” Thrym stepped forward and stuttered for probably the first time in his life as he bowed.
She regarded the king of giants curiously.
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“Are you perhaps acquainted with our great ancestor Behemet?” He found the courage to finally ask.
“Hm.” She nodded in confirmation. “No complaints about the guy, keeps to himself but could stand to loosen up a little.”
“He hasn’t responded to our sacrifices of livestock or our priests’ prayers in many years. We are worried he abandoned us or perhaps even perished.” Thrym said.
“He probably can’t hear you. Pretty sure he went hunting in The Pit with those other two battle maniacs Azitet and Kuriel.” She struck a pensive pose as she mused. “Prayer reception is a no go down there. He’ll be back though.” The longer X’lyssa was around, the more I could see the fearsome and all-powerful image she cultivated relax.
“Yugal.” I resisted the urge to make a cell phone/prayer reception pun and decided to take Yugal’s telepathic link for a test drive. “Did your evolution give you any way to fly, or at least not get hurt from a long fall?”
“Lord Gray? It is a strange sensation to have your voice in my thoughts. Yes, my wolf companion can grow large enough to serve as my mount and carry us upon frozen clouds.”
“Seriously!?” I gotta stop making subordinates that are more epic than I am.
“Alright everyone, I’m going.” I announced when there was a break in the conversation. “Tuara, Kitha. Keep an eye on things here until we return. Yugal, mount up and come with me.”
At a command from Yugal, Frosthowl let out a ridiculously powerful howl and was engulfed in a cloud of dense frost. His mount form emerged from the cloud fully three times his normal size. He would look down on an African elephant. On top of that, a great crystal blue saddle and barding complete with icy spikes now adorned his majestic body. Yugal mounted Frosthowl as though he had done it a million times. The spectacle was enough to stun even the dark alfar ladies.
“It appears we have fallen behind, dear Tuara.” Kitha muttered.
“Mm.” Tuara agreed. “We must redouble our training efforts, aunt Kitha.”
The land shrank rapidly beneath us as Yugal and I flew side by side. I only had to slow down a small amount for Frosthowl to keep pace. The great wolf ran hard on clouds that appeared and froze solid where his paws stepped. He left a trail of glittering ice in his wake like the tail of a comet.
Twenty minutes later, we looked down on Crown City from nearly a mile in the sky. Night had fallen fully, and the half moon cast a deep purple light on the sleeping metropolis below.
“Is your serpent ready?” I asked Yugal.
“Yes, she has encircled the city below the ground.”
“Eh? Encircled?” I felt a sudden panic attack coming on for some reason. “Just how big is Cinderwyrm?”
“According to the knowledge granted to me when I was awakened to this form, Cinderwyrm is the beast that swims in the mantle of the world and could one day devour the planet’s core. Though she is a newborn, she will never stop growing. As to her size, I suppose she is currently as long as the city’s outer wall.”
I was now manually breathing as my eyes darted around, following the miles-long line that was Crown City’s outer wall. What was I even doing to this world at this point? Too late to fuss over the details now, I guess.
“I see. Well then, it’s time to show the kingdom the price of their expansion.” I locked eyes with the Ragnarok Titan. “You are my Herald now, Yugal. Go and say hello for me.”
“With pleasure, Lord Gray.”
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King Gault III was growing nervous. Everything had been progressing perfectly to plan. The Red Knight would have destroyed The Usurper’s base and brought Filam back to its senses. Typhon had gone to intervene personally against the wretched dwarves. Soon the flow of ore and minerals from Grandring would replenish his royal coffers and grant him the resources to finish crushing the animals of Rakashi.
Then what resistance could those worthless celestials offer? He would imprison Saet and and add her to his harem, The Black Knight could easily enslave her for him. The rest of the winged rats could submit or die, he only wanted the precious wood of their great tree. Such a bounty would yield a thousand invincible warships, and he would finally bring all of humanity together into one family against the monsters and demihuman filth. A world where humanity could feel safe and free. He was truly the greatest hero the world had ever known. But something was going wrong. Typhon had not sent any word, and all of the divination mages in his court had suddenly lost contact with their counterparts on the field.
To top it all off he was stuck listening to this never ending stream of incompetent nobles and guild leaders. It had been going since this afternoon. The throne room was filled with complainers and weaklings whom lacked vision. This end of the month tradition of an open audience was a wretched idea from that former head of state and turncoat Raj. Gault decided internally that this would be the last one.
“Your Majesty, I implore you to please reconsider this matter. My house has served as the backbone of The Southern River’s commerce since the Rakashi Cataclysm. If you would permit a tax increase of just a few percent, we could repair the aging bridges and hire more adventurers to patrol the area since the beastkin raids have become such a menace.”
“The people are taxed enough.” Gault shut him down with a wave. “The bridges will survive, and the raids will stop now that Yuther has brought Rakashi back under control. Rest easy and be patient, Baron Gram.”
The baron shrank back and nodded, seeing the king’s magical aura darken just a bit in displeasure.
The hundred or so remaining visitors sensed that the audience was no longer a safe place to air their grievances. When the king began to darken it was best to just suck it up and wait until next month. More than a few nobles and merchants had disappeared shortly after an audience. They began to stand and filter out when the doors to the throne room suddenly slammed open. A panicked royal guard stumbled in, screaming.
“Your Majesty! A monster! A real gods damned monster is coming!” This man was an A Ranked warrior like all of the Royal Guard. His obvious terror and lack of etiquette was a shock to everyone.
King Gault didn’t need any other explanation. He could feel it now. Something truly monstrous was coming. He leaned forward in his throne, his long forgotten heart began to beat rapidly.
Alternating waves of unbearable heat and frigid cold swept the room as the back wall suddenly disappeared into fine frozen ash. A dozen Royal Guards and their captain lined up before the throne. The monster appeared then, and truly ‘monster’ was too weak a word for what they witnessed. This was something else entirely.
The Guard Captain possessed a max ranked Appraisal and his eyes flashed once. His platinum embellished spear clattered to the floor a moment later, as numb fingers lost their grip. The titan, for truly that is what it must be, stood still and observed the room for a moment. The nobles and other elites were huddled against the walls, shivering and sobbing. Two glowing circles of red and blue appeared around the titan and he spoke.
“Inside this ring, your death awaits.” His voice rattled the bones and caused cracks to appear in the stone walls. “If my words displease you, you may enter this ring and contest them with honor. Words from outside this ring I shall deem an interruption. I am the humble servant of Lord Gray and you shall now know his words. Your forces have been defeated. The entire Sea of Stone has allied with both the Celestials of the far south and Ariel’s Gate. You have two days to send an envoy informing us of your unconditional surrender.”
“R-ridiculous!” One fool of a noble dared to spout. “More meaningless bluffs and illusions from The Usurper!”
“To deny my words is to disrespect the words of Lord Gray. Die.” The noble suddenly turned into a beautiful blue flame, and collapsed into a neat pile of ash. “If I am interrupted again, I will boil your rivers for five days. Interrupt a third time, and I will visit a blizzard upon your valley that shall last ten years. This level of calamity has been authorized by my lord.” The titan paused and none spoke.
“Two days, humans. I would avoid going outside for awhile. I hear a heavy rain approaching.” With those cryptic words, the titan turned and left the way he had entered.
Before chaos could erupt in the hall, a peculiar sound came from above. Several successive dull thuds could be heard against the enchanted crystal dome. They were followed by a growing chorus of distant screams.
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From a blood gate a mile in the sky, an unending stream of Kingdom soldiers poured forth like a screaming waterfall. They regained their senses in the middle of a free fall with plenty of time to reflect before the big splat. Additionally, a wide moat of lava had formed, fully encircling the city and preventing any escape. That serpent of Yugal’s really was fit to be a world ending monster.
“When the neighbor kicks a ball in your yard, it’s just common sense to kindly return it.” I said to X’lyssa as she flew next to me watching the horrific chaos unfold beneath us.
“That Pinthalak better not be slacking off.” X’lyssa said as she eyed me more intensely than ever. “One can only become so aroused, you know.”
That night would forever be known as The Night of Screaming Skies. As their finest soldiers rained down, destroying buildings and splattering the streets with gore, the kingdom collectively understood the great lies they had been telling themselves. They weren’t all powerful, they weren’t safe, and The Gray was real.