"Kia! Kia what's wrong, Kia?!"
The desperate pleas coming from Iris received no reaction nor a reply from the pale as Death itself girl as her the different colour eyes slowly closed and her head felt heavier on Iris's shoulder. The purple light penetrating the thin black dress began to dim like a flame being smouldered until it shone anew only to flicker and dim again. The fire that was burning in their fireplace soared upwards with unimaginable power illuminating the surrounding area with blinding white light only to disappear the very next moment.
"Kia please wake up!" The elf shook the unconscious girl with unfruitful results.
In haste, she picked up the surprisingly light girl and laid her on the sleeping mat inside of the tent. Kia's erratic breathing parred with her sickly appearance filled Iris with dread and rage. She touched Kia's forehead, in an instant moisture collected on her skin became frozen in a flash.
"Fuck!" Iris cursed "Stop this is no time for panic. I have to do something."
Iris once watched a cleric try to treat a mage with similar symptoms by cocooning the mage with heavy furs and wrapping his head with wet rags. To this day the elf didn't have the faintest of clues what was the cleric doing nor did she knew if this archaic treatment worked but that was all the elf had to grasp upon. Water that what she needed but all their supplies were stored within Kia's inventory. Iris rushed out of the tent remembering seeing water beside the road before they decided to camp. She ran stopping at nothing unbothered at the twigs being caught in her hair or running straight through bushes that filled much of the untamed forest. She waived between trees hoping that no harm happens to Kia.
"What th..." Were the only words that she could utter before she hit an undead who appeared from behind the tree.
Flickering pale blue flames shone from underneath its strange helmet locking onto Iris who had fallen on her back from the impact. The massive undead's black armour was adorned an image of golden sun within which a raised silvery hand held a sword. The symbol of Theocracy.
"Will you finally leave me alone!" Iris bellowed at the undead, her mind to preoccupied with worrying about her savior to regulate her emotions.
The unfazed undead raised its long sword and managed to graze Iris's cheek who was trying to stand up. The putrid undead attempted to swing its sword again but Iris managed to duck underneath the strike. She attempted to avoid the undead by simply sprinting passed it. Her long legs carried her effortlessly past the undead. She gasped as an armoured gauntlet grabbed the back of her collar, yanking it and hurling her backwards. While she tumbled her head impacted a tree and the long sword was plunged down toward her heart.
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"Ahhh!" She screamed as her held up a hand was impaled by the sword which did not stop until it hit her grey jacked.
The decaying corpse unfazed by its failure to penetrate the leather armour pulled out the sword from Iris's bleeding hand. Iris, furious at the undead for stopping her from helping Kia and prompted by instinct hurriedly raised her free hand which caused the undead to be sent hurling backwards.
Iris stood back up, looking at her injured hand she opened and closed the palm feeling the pain that was somehow not there at the same time. Her bleeding injury regenerated in unusual pulsating waves. She squeezed her palm and dashed toward her destination. After moments she arrived at the edge of the forest and ran towards the road. When she walked onto the road and a wave of indescribable fatigue overcame her body. Iris collapsed to her knees, having to support herself with both hands.
"No, not now." She struggled to hiss through her teeth.
Iris with all her will managed to force herself to stand up. She then observed her surroundings, from the left was the dense forest that she came from and on her right was a grassy plain occasionally interrupted by a lone mound or hill. She began to doubt herself and the futility of her action. Upon gazing downwards there was a ditch right from the road, in which a small stream flowed. The elf quickly went over but she forgot any container to hold the water.
At that moment she wanted to die. Brad was right, she was useless it would have been better if she had died and not drag that sweet girl out of the tomb.
No, she could not fail her now. She could not fail her saviour and afford to pity herself. She could not fail her Mistress. A cold feeling ran through her body, washing away all exhaustion out of her body as her face solidified into a cold mask.
Iris pulled off her high boot and dipped it in the stream filling it up. After she filled it and ensures that no water is escaping Iris began to run back to Kia. She ran as fast as she could, dedicated about not to spill too much water. As she runs a sudden strong wind picks up thrashing violently the entire forest around Iris and lightning bolts illuminating the darkness. Leaves, twigs and entire branches start to fly in the air almost hitting Iris on many occasions. The closer she got to their camp the weather around to get worse and worse. She started to curse the aspects and the world which are trying to make her return to living hell. As she neared her destination she began to see pale light shining through the foliage from the direction of the camp. At the thought that something might happen to Kia, Iris redoubled her efforts at the thought of that running like mad through the forest.
Iris managed to arrive at the edge of the clearing on which the camp was constructed and what greeted her sight was a magical vortex of blue and gold coming from where she left Kia. The vortex caused all of its surroundings to bend towards it through sheer might and the trees struggled to not be consumed by the towering magical anomaly.
Iris managed to walk towards the vortex's edge finding Kia in an area of perfect calmness in the centre of the chaos, as the elf took step closer a sudden calmness surounded her causing her to stop. It was like the world itself refused to wake the sleeping undead with the only sign of what was happening outside being colourful strings coming from indecipherable glyphs which followed her arms, legs and torso in an uninterrupted line.
The elf's eyes slowly began to close and even her titanic efforts to keep them open were in vain as the fatigue overcame Iris. This time the weight on her body caused her to lose consciousness before she managed to help Kia.
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The river Súlizon marked the border between the black lion of Angals and the white swan of Catalina, now running red with the blood of thousands of men. The landscape usually overflowing with the pleasant gold of grown wheat now adulterated by the sight of black and silver armours and weapons adorned with ample supply of crimson. Lone standards could be seen beside which the soldiers of the Swan took their last stands.
One could hear the desperate cries of wounded soldiers who miraculously survived the cold night but no man came to rescue them nor did anyone release them from their agony for the battlefield was no realm of man but of the beast, ghouls gather in large packs devouring and desecrating the abandon corpses and wounded soldiers rethinking their apparent luck.
But their sacrifice will not be in vain, for the Lion will unite the lost sheep of humanity and all those who resist deserve no quarter.
"Long live the Kingdom! Long live the Lion!"