Back here again, the place that marked my first defeat. My greatest failure.

The bodies of our fallen brethren litter the field, their flesh feasted upon by crows and ants as they fatten their bellies.

It is a disgrace to leave our dead here. I know we had little choice and no time to retrieve them, but I wish we could at least put them to rest before we go to battle.

My army waits, every soldier lined up, side by side, their arms at the ready and their anger on standby. Some shake, remembering the sky demon as it decimated our comrades.

Everyone has some sort of protection, be it a shield or heavy armour that covers their entire body. Hopefully, it will keep them alive when the arrows fall.

Near the archers are these large bow-like devices. Alex told me they are called ballistas. I just hope he is right to tell me that they can take down the flying beast.

The wind blows. Time passes. Minutes turn to hours. We wait. Then the faint sounds of marching and war horns creep closer to us. I step in front of my army with my shield with magic crystal fused to the metal plate. Provided by Dust’s protegee.

In this battle, I will take the first step against the Cinari. I will take the first step, so the rest will follow.

The closer their war drums beat, the hotter my blood boils. The louder their marches and chanting of orders, the wider my grin becomes.

The Cinari march over the hill, already in formation. Their horses cover the flanks while their infantry wave the banners of their weak Empire.

From archers and spearmen, to the speedy horse riders, they stand there, as a single flying sky demon hovers over them. There have to be thousands of them! The largest Cinari army I have ever seen. Perfect! More of them to die here and now.

Hoorooom!

The blasted beast rings its horn. My army braces itself for its lightning attacks. Some Dogs are fearful, flinching their bodies as if they want to run away. But they don’t break, scared but ready.

A man on a horse runs to the middle of the field, waving a white flag. ‘I come to speak to your leader!’ He shouts.

‘Is this a trick?’ Alex walks up to me.

‘It could be. If he does anything funny, take him out.’

Alex nods reluctantly as I walk to the man.

He is wearing armour of black and gold, with elegant shapes and imagery carved onto it. A remarkable piece of armour, but not good for battle.

He takes off his helmet, revealing an old man underneath, with short, dark hair. He looks down at me with a humorous smile.

‘You!? Their leader?’ He laughs. ‘I didn’t know they allowed half breeds that are half-blind to lead their people.’

‘Who are you meant to be? A moving target for my archers? Tell me why you call me here before I strike you down,’ I growl.

He gestures his arms to his army and the sky demon.

‘This here is my army, and I am its General. You seem to not have half of the amount of soldiers I have at hand. Not that it will matter when I have the Dragon Fleet to finish what remains of your rebellion. So tell me, Dog. Who are you?’

I snarl at the figure. ‘I am Marak, king of my people. So are you going to continue to insult me, or are you going to explain why you called me here!’

I rest my hand on the hilt of my sword.

‘I came to propose to you, and your people, a way out of this unnecessary violence. If you surrender to me, I will promise that you and your people will live.’

I scoff. ‘Then what?’

He reaches his hand out. ‘Then, the Empire will bring you back to your rightful place. To serve the Empire once more.’

In a fit of rage, I slap his hand away from me.

‘How dare you! You came here to suggest my people to go back to be slaves to your weak Empire? I have a better proposal. Surrender now or I will use your people’s blood to water my crops and feed my soldiers.’

The man puts his helmet back on. ‘I always knew your kind were barbaric monstrosities. The way you make your armour and weapons, the way you wage war. It all goes to show what needs to be done to put your kind down. My people gave you the loving grace of civilisation, and yet you would all cast it aside! May the Gods have mercy on your wicked souls!’

I grin at his humorous speech. ‘When I send you to your wretched Gods, tell them I said “hi”.’

The man yanks his horse as he rides off to his army. I calmly walk to my own, smiling along the way.

‘What does he want?’ Alex asks.

‘War!’

I walk back into formation with my people as we ready ourselves for our final battle that will change the course of this war.

Their flying rock shifts and turns, the sound of the lighting cannons buckling, charging up.

Hoorom!

Its horn blows as the sky demon flies towards us.

‘Are they ready Alex?’ I shout, staring at the oncoming beast of slaughter.

The soldiers around me shake, gripping their weapons for hope. My body begs for me to run, to get to safety and away from that beast. But I have to stay. My people’s eyes are on me. If I run, they will too.

The cannons of the flying rock emit electric sparks which fries and cracks the air around it.

‘They need to get closer!’ Alex yells.

My mouth dries. Come on, Alex! Take it down already!

Finally, its thunder forms around the tube of the lightning cannon a volley of bolts goes through the flying demons’ heart, causing wood and metal to burst and splinter out from the other end.

The lightning misses us, hitting the forest behind us.

I jolt in fear and in surprise, almost ready to bolt to the forest.

My fear turns into a smile of joy as I raise my sword into the air, cheering that we have hit their sky demon.

Another volley strikes through the demon, finally bringing the beast down as flames of blue erupts from its body. It slowly falls behind us, crashing into the forest with a sharp hum.

My people cheer, screaming in joy that we have brought down their mighty weapon.

The Cinari stand in silence, gripping their weapons tightly while they shake in fear. Their General sits on his horse, almost as still as a statue.

I grin as he looks back at me.

‘Midrax! I need you and some of your men to finish off the sky demon. Make sure it won’t get back up!’

Midrax barks at some of his Dogs to go with him while they cheerfully rush off into the forest.

I blow my war horn, ordering my eager men for the battle ahead. As we march towards them, a hail of arrows rain down from the sky, blocking the sun as their deadly shadow covers us. But we don’t halt. No! We keep on moving, smiling along the way as we raise our shields above our heads.

Some died from the arrows, but I don’t care. None of us do when we can enact our revenge on them.

As we got closer, their horse riders rush down the hill to our left and right flanks.

I blow the horn twice, stopping just in front of the hidden spikes. They rush towards us, spears and shields at hand, shaking the earth in their hasty advance.

‘Pull the rope!’ Alex commands.

Through the lines, others repeat his order until it reaches the front ranks.

Hidden spikes emerge from the earth as the Dogs pull on the rope beneath their feet. With no time to react, the horse riders impale themselves on the wooden spikes.

Those who were behind them retreat to their main army. Only half of them made it out alive. My spearmen rush up to those who are stuck or too slow to run off, ending their pathetic lives as they tear them apart limb from limb.

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I blow the horn once more, ordering us to advance towards the cowering Cinari.

As their General shouts his orders, his underlings wave colourful flags. Their army march towards us with two men in silver and blue armour leading from the front, both wielding spears with a curved blade and a single large teal gem at the centre of it.

Something is off about them. They don’t follow typical Cinari formations. I blow the horn twice to halt my army, I turn to Alex and his archers.

‘Prioritise the centre of their battle line!’ I shout to Alex.

Alex gives the thumbs up.

‘Archers! Load, aim, and-’ Alex loads his bow, steading himself before launching his arrow towards the Cinari. ‘Loose!’

His archers and the large mechanical machines next to them launch a volley of bolt and arrow towards the Cinari, making them stop in their tracks as they raise their shields above their heads as arrows fall upon them. The bolts however devastate whoever they hit, splitting the Cinari in two and ripping their armour apart.

From the corner of my eye, I see a hail of their arrows rain upon my archers, striking down those unfortunate enough to be in the way. One arrow grazes Alex’s leg, making him drop to his knee.

‘Alex!’ I cry in worry.

I want to turn and run towards him. I need to know he is safe. But I can’t leave formation, I can’t break the battle line!

Alex struggles to stand up as blood oozes from his leg. Thank goodness, from the looks of it, it doesn’t seem too bad.

I turn back around, the person next to me falls to the ground with smoke and hot black metal spew from his chest.

Then another Dog falls to the ground as a ray of bright white light passes through his shield to melt the flesh off his face.

The two figures in silver walk down towards us as a beam of energy emanates from their oddly shaped spears.

Their Cinari comrades follow behind them, their weapons pointing towards us.

We have to keep going! We need to meet them head on!

I blow my horn again while I shout our war cry.

I march with my men, halting every so often to brace for their arrows, or to launch our arrows at them.

Even with rays of unblockable light slaying some of us, we keep marching, fearless and determined to let them meet our blades.

I can smell the Cinari, their sweat and their blood. My mouth waters as I hear their heartbeats.

Their horses run around their infantry brothers. It seems they are planning to strike us directly at our left flank.

‘Ring the bells!’ I shout as I blow the horn twice.

The ground rumbles and shakes below the Cinari. Before they can react, the ground collapses around and within their battle line, as an army of white maned Dogs spew out in droves, causing chaos all around them.

Max’s forces from the forest see this as an opportunity. They rush towards the horse riders to catch them off guard.

Their formation is breaking. Our moment to strike is now!

‘Charge!’ I shout as I rush towards the Cinari.

The two silver figures kept on firing their beams at my charging horde, swiftly cutting down any Dog that dares get near them. They move their spears like dancers, their movements smooth and methodical. Like a hot sharp knife through flesh, their curved blades slice cleanly through armour as if it was nothing. They are my prey, my desired prize.

One turns towards me. She aims the spear as light forms around the tip.

Without a second thought, I raise my shield to cover my body.

As the beam of light shoots towards me, the crystal of my shield reflects the deadly ray into the other figure in silver, cutting him in half.

‘No!’ She screams. ‘You bastard! I will mount your head on my wall!’

I smirk at her mistake. ‘I’d like to see you try.’

In a fit of rage, she sprints towards me. Firing her beams of light into me as I block them with my shield, redirecting them in random directions, hitting friend and foe alike.

The silver women avoids every swing and thrust of my sword with grace. Even in full armour, she moves like an acrobat.

As she gets close enough, she swings at my sword, cutting it in half. She goes for my stomach, only for me to hit her spear away with my shield.

I don’t know how or why, but it seems their attacks cannot harm or damage the crystal on my shield.

In frustration, she strikes at my shield. Only for the blade to bounce off.

‘Don’t think killing me will be easy!’ She screams at me.

‘I hope not. Your friend was too easy for my liking.’

She rushes at me to continue our melee, her blade bouncing off my shield. At times, she gets close enough to cut off parts of my armour. She is almost impossible to hit as she avoids all of my attacks.

I use my shield as a weapon and only line of defence, smacking her spear away while trying to hit the nimble bastard. I can only land a few scrapes on her armour, maybe dent it if I am lucky.

We both step away from each other. Taking in our breaths as my army surrounds us. We must have fought for far longer than I thought, as the battle is already over.

‘You might as well give up now. I have already won,’ I tell the beast.

‘This isn’t over until I say it is!’ She rushes towards me.

I throw myself towards her with my shield in front of me, hoping to crash into her with it.

However, she steps onto the shield to jump into the air to go behind me.

I slam my foot down to twist my body to smack her in the face with my shield. Causing her to crash onto the ground headfirst.

She rolls on the ground with blood gushing out of her nose and mouth. She raises her spear to protect herself from me. However, I have enough of this pest.

I raise my shield above my head.

‘Help!’ She screams.

There is no one left to help you. There never will be.

With a grin, I drive my shield down to the centre of the spear. Causing it to snap in half before the shield lands right on her neck, decapitating the pathetic Cinari.

Her face is frozen in total shock, her dead eyes staring directly at me.

I discard her helmet as I lift her lifeless head above me to show my people my achievement.

They all raise their weapons into the air, howling that the battle is finally over.

On the hill still stands the weak General and a few of his horse riders, looking down at the carnage before him. Like a coward, he turns his horse and runs away.

‘Should we go after him?’ Alex walks up to me while covered in Cinaris blood.

‘No, let him live. If he is leading the Cinari, he will be our ticket to win this war.’

I turn towards my people, noticing they are paying attention to me.

‘We won this war today. We pushed them back with their tails between their legs. We may have lost a few good people, but the Cinari have lost everything! Tomorrow, we will march on to build a new kingdom, a new Empire for the world to fear. For this day forward, we are rulers of this island. And I will lead you all to freedom, not as your chief, but as your king!’

Alex and the rest of the Dogs howl and bark, cheering on for our victory. My victory.

If this is all the Cinari had? They have lost it all to me!