Today is the day I die.
Looking out on the battlefield makes me shutter, the slight fog in the air swirls around lazily, dampening my face. The morning sun reflecting through it giving an odd luminescence to the clearing that separates the city from the surrounding forest. The forest of peace we call it, how laughably absurd.
Large shadows, incorporeal and elusive settle at the bottom of the denser sunlit fog in the distance... Writhing, twisting, screaming, crying... I could almost hear their hearts breaking.
I was well aware of what waited for me in the mist, ten thousand angry, hateful, vengeful demons howling for my blood, and the blood of my whole race.
Demons are emotional creatures, fiercely loyal, and strong enough that no sentient creature in Allucia would tread on them without great strength of their own, or a death wish. It was how their kingdom was governed. The king wasn't just a king, but a father to them all. And his subjects were treated like his children. An insult to the lowest ranking demon would be met with overbearing hostility from the whole of the kingdom, and the king himself would execute you for looking down on even a beggar.
For there was no beggar who wasn't there by choice, or to pay penance for his crimes or to fortify himself in the fires of hardship.They were all loved.
In the beginning years of the Rickard monarchy, Demons were sought out and slaughtered at any cost. They were monsters to be feared and hated, the church preaching that their forms were a cruel punishment of the gods given only to the most depraved and wicked, and that killing them was a mercy.
Through the countless centuries of war and massacre one king among the demon race stood up. He refused to be be hunted like an animal, to watch his children die and kill for nothing to show for it except pain. Ethis Palehorn. That name would be forever carved into history. Not for his power, though his power shook mountains. Not for his bloodshed, though rivers ran red before his peace was achieved. No, it was his mind that he was most known for.
Ethis, a bold and powerful demon strode in to the stronghold of the humans with a devious plan.
Changing his outward appearance to that of a human noble he infiltrated the Rickard hierarchy and did what no Demon would have ever done, he helped strengthen the kingdom. Not for nefarious purposes, but to prove that he and his race were not some beasts that couldn't be reasoned with, that they deserved to be equal to the humans, and to show them the festering corruption of the church.
His infrastructure plans as well as his reformation of battle magic were revolutionary. His idea for the windmill, and crop rotation allowed the kingdom to rely less on outside aid and build power. His liquid rock roads were now the lifeblood of the whole kingdom allowing trade to blossom. And all the while, the church embezzled the new incoming funds, put villages to the torch claiming collusion with Demons, and committed treason trying to aid foreign powers in raising an army loyal only to the church.
Ethis waited, and watched. Collected every scrap of evidence he could, and made sure there was no way a single member of the church would live.
When he presented the damming evidence to the king, he also came with a solution. A cunning plan to destroy the church without a single loss of life was presented to the king, and executed flawlessly.
After the victory, the king rewarded Ethis with a dukedom. After countless small contributions, uncovering a plot to destroy the kingdom and being given a dukedom, he felt he’d proved his point.
After his great reveal, that he was in fact the king of all Demons, a great many were alarmed, and many were ashamed. The churches atrocities were too apparent to be refuted as Demon lies. He had forced the kingdom to recognize his peoples worth, and saved the kingdom in the process.
That was a thousand years ago.
Now, the tenth king Ethis has been murdered. It wasn't even a secret assassination plot, he was murdered in cold blood in front of his son and the whole of his court. His murderer teleported away before anyone could make a move, leaving only a cooling body with the symbol of the old church branded in it… and shrieking laughter echoing in the halls.
There was never any question on how this would end. I would fight and I would die and with no one left to protect the city, they would share my fate.
A demon, a little over six and half feet slowly walked in front of the adjacent army, his body fully in demon form paid no notice to the small depressions covering the distance of the clearing that were purposefully created to keep an opposing army off balance. His ash blue hair stretched to his shoulders and his bangs were braided around his head like a crown. His blue eyes were emitting light that caused the fog in front of him to glow an eerie green in the golden ambience that refracted around them. Blood streaming down his angular cheeks, dripping from his chin and covering his hands gave him a terrifying appearance. Elongated ears gently sweeping backwards matched his sharp features giving him a bladelike ellagance. Slowly he walked closer towards our army his mouth moving but the deafening roar of the demons in front and the clinking of rattled armor from the fearful and shaking men around me, made his voice impossible to hear, or at least it should have. "Father... you killed him, we did nothing… I'll kill you all.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Father... don't leave me, I'll kill you all...
I'll KILL YOU ALL!"
His roar vibrated my armor, and fear gripped my heart. Yes, today is the day I die. Not for honor, nor for glory, or self sacrifice, or any other noble bullshit the knights get spoon fed. I'll die today because My "Queen" is a psychotic bitch who can't bear to have her love rebuffed.
Fire burned away the morning mist, the elegant demon that raged in the center of the battlefield had flames rolling off of him in waves red and angry. The ground beneath him scorched black, and the sudden lack of moisture in the air caused my skin to dry and feel cracked.
The smell of urine was heavy in the air, and who could blame them? This was a seventh tier spell body of flames. His entire body was fire, intangible and all but the most potent of water or ice spells would even slow him in this form. With the mist burned away the eerie shadows writhing in the distance opposite became nightmare fuel. Ten thousand demon voices stopped as they looked across to our kingdom, even from eight hundred feet I could see their eyes glowing slightly, as well as the streams of blood falling from them. The elegant demon raised his hands and the surrounding heat shifted, a hot wind blowing from behind me as he gathered it to himself above his head. Well shit, looks like there won't even be a battle, this is an extermination"
The tier nine spell, ashes to ashes burned hot enough to turn bones to ash and melt orichalcum into puddles. Fuck this! I drew my warhammer and leveraged it against my right shoulder and ran. I'm not a brave man, just stupid. Too stupid to know when to stop, too stubborn to admit defeat.
I dreamed of being a mage when I was child, even when they told me my intelligence and wisdom stats would never allow it I studied. Born with abnormally high strength and endurance as well as a respectable dexterity and constitution, I was born to be a soldier. Just like my father, and his father before him…like my entire family.
Unlike my family though, the growth rate on those attributes were also four times the normal standard allowing me to increase them to levels almost unheard of. But my intelligence and wisdom suffered for it. A measly .2 growth rate, with the standard being 1.0. "You are blessed to be free from such a frivolous waste of time" My father would say "You can be the strongest soldier in our kingdoms history, just let go of this childish fantasy and embrace your destiny!" He was right of course, If I would have just focused on the attributes I excelled in I probably wouldn't be in this shit position on the frontline. Like I said though, I'm stupid. Even if it would take me hundreds of years just to be an average mage I still pursued it hoping against hope there could be a way.
A twinge of regret came unbidden into the forefront of my mind, so many missed opportunities, so much I wanted to learn, so much wasted time, so much wasted. Running towards the elegant demon I could feel the heat deepen, and sweat started to pour from my head into my face. Closer, the dry air surrounding him was brutal, like standing near a forge fire. Closer, each step I took was agony, I could feel my armor getting uncomfortably hot. Closer, I felt burning rivulets of molten metal rolling down my back. Just a little closer, the metal haft of my warhammer was almost glowing red.
when I was almost at the range where unleashing the hammer strike would connect with full velocity, I was stoped cold. One more step, all I needed was one more step…but that last step was hell.
I activated Unbreakable mind.
My armor was melting, rivers of dark grey running across my body, my hands were leaving impressions in my warhammers haft, inside the metal the enchantments screamed in protest, on the verge of collapsing.
*step* “UWWWAAA”
As I swung, my left vision went dark. That one step was more than my body could take. With so much heat my eyes were melting out of my skull and my flesh was blackening, agony was my whole life. I was only going to get one shot, but that would be fine. As the warhammer tore through the air I hit… nothing. I fucking missed, wonderful.
My legs finally gave out and sent me sprawling on the ground. The last thing I saw before my eyes fully melted out of my head was a flash of blue coming from behind me, then a noise. The sound of a bell being rung, except the bell would have to be 150 foot tall with a massive radius and hit with a warship to make that kind of sound. The reverberation of the bell was all I could hear. My sight was black. All I could feel was pain.
I knew what I was doing was suicide, even if I hit him with my hammer it would just pass through him unnoticed, hurting him wasn’t the point though. I was going to die on my terms not his, I refused to die like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. “How am I having these thoughts” I asked myself “I should be dead in a pile of ash and molten metal. Oh shit, don't tell me those crazy priests were right about the afterlife!” A million things were going through my head trying to remember what they said and trying to find a way out of this deep pile of shit I've gotten myself into. BANG! A door slams open and I hear a cry "Captain! The demons are marching through the forest of peace they'll be at our gates within 30 days!"
My eyes shot open as I jumped up sending wild glances trying to figure out where I was.
I was in my quarters, in the barracks, laying on my bed a few moments before. I Looked at the man in my doorway with shock "You've got to be fucking kidding me"