It stood there, looking down upon the man in steel.

The man gazes up from the ground, blood trickling from his mouth, his nose, his ears.

“So I meet one of the mysteries, eh?”

The man sputters out, blood falling onto his lips each time he wheezes out air. His hand reaches for the sword stabbed into his armor, and grips the handle. Only to have that handle become slick with the blood that drains from his body.

“I can’t even take out a simple sword..” The man looks up at the creature before him, the pale white skin reflecting the moonlight. “Do you mind? I’m trying to die here. Unless the legends are true to the word.” No response comes from the creature above him, and he lets go of the sword hilt.

His hand falls to the ground, a puddle of blood forming from his comrade’s body. The clinking of chainmail reminds him of his friend’s missing lower half, and feeling that his heart is slowly wearing out, reaches into the chest cavity of his friend. Gripping something warm and squishy, he yanks out what he hoped to be his friend’s heart.

“The legends say you need this to grow, so how about it? Show me something good in my last breaths.” Holding up the heart, he squeezes it slightly and tries to imitate the beat of his heart. The creature stares at the man’s half covered face, and reaches out to touch the man’s helmet.

“Oi! Don’t go touching that! Let me die like a warrior on this battlefield, instead of your midnight snack!”

The man shouts and following that are a few short, but bloody coughs. The man looks to either side of him, as the creature pokes his helmet while bent over his body.

“I’m just going to ignore you now..”

The sound of something being torn ripples into his ears, and he looks back at the creature to find its mouth fully covering his hand. The hand that held his friend’s heart. The man chuckles.

“I don’t even feel that now.. I wonder how I’m going to break the news to Devin that his heart wasn’t taken by a woman, but by a legend of battlefields.”

The chewing begins as his hand is ripped away from his arm. “Well, don’t wait for me. It’s not like I’m dying or anything.” The man rolls his eyes sarcastically, but the sound of chewing and the sound of corpse-birds flying circles near him is his only reply.

The man closes his eyes, as the creature continues its chewing. The sound of something tearing and being scraped from the inside is heard, but the man ignores it to cough out more blood. He smiles as the sound of chewing resumes.

“What an odd lullaby to die to… I guess the stories of the fallen have some truth to it. I never knew I would die to such a horrendous song…”

The man twitched his fingers no more, and the creature stopped its chewing. It opens its mouth as if to release a yawn.

“Good.. bye.. Dev..” The sound of chewing resumes, as the Morphlling devours the rest of the brain from Devin’s skull..

--

The history of the world never started with a war, nor did it ever start with love of war. It only started when words were exchanged, and as such the world never grew from what it could be.

The Empire of Malur counts its stories back to the ages of man. When man was just learning the practicality of magic, and knowledge. The first man of the Malur, was the first to speak words of knowledge, the words of power. The gift of magic.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

At least, that is how the stories of the Empire went. In other territories such as the Principles of Gernarch, or the country of Sixan, the stories told of a being that gifted man with magic. Some stories even went as far as to suggest that the being was God himself. The creator of all that they know.

The Empire of Malur, the Principles of Gernarch, and the country of Sixan all have something in common on their one continent. Knowledge was power. As such, all nobles or peasants that gained ability to use magic were all enlisted into their magic research centers.

Those that had no magic, or knowledge of magic, were enlisted into the nation’s armies. Drafted and forced to fight a never ending war.

The war itself had lasted a millennium, but actual battles were not frequent. This allowed the appearance of another group to appear between the lull of battles.

The Warlock Conglomerate.

These were the people who opposed the warring nations. Various tribes of magically enhanced people appeared from the oceans, from another place far from the expanding war zone. The people on the continent didn’t know what happened when they appeared on the ocean, and soon one third of the continent was conquered. They named themselves the Warlocks, but other smaller and less known groups made themselves a part of the Warlocks, and as such the war begun anew.

The Principles of Genarch were no more, as the Warlock Conglomerate had seized the capital and taken the land. Essentially, this new faction from across the seas had become the new rulers of the eastern side of the continent.

The Empire of Malur was made in the center of the continent, where lush forests were a plenty. Unlike the more desert-like Sixan, or the grasslands of the now known Warlock Conglomerate.

The appearance of the Warlock Conglomerate was a threat to the Empire, the one area on the continent that had the highest ranking magic fluctuations and the highest population of magic users.

But the Empire of Malur had the least amount of magic users, as the high magic fluctuations caused newborns to become stillborn in some cases of birth. This caused the warring borders of the Empire and the Warlocks to become a slaughter.

Mages became precious in the Empire of Malur, and soon only warriors with little talent in magic were sent to the front lines. This gave the Empire an advantage over the Warlocks as the Warlocks actually didn’t have the physical ability to counter steel. Magic allowed some leeway, but in the end the border of the Warlock Conglomerate stopped expanding, and the Empire of Malur was able to keep its dignity as the largest nation.

As such, the beginning of this tale begins on the day of the fallen, and the birth of another legend.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Teenreader here, sorry that I haven't updated anything lately. This story has been in my head and I've been writing and rewriting it until I could put it out here. It's a story with a horror tinge to it, despite the nonexistent tag. I will update as soon as I can for my other stories. Enjoy the read? I'm glad you want more