One day later, 60 miles South of Prehg

The past five days were, to put it simply, uneasy for the aligned army of Mainland. Ever since the news of the capture of Prehg by the new faction of evil described by the survivors who witnessed it, the Holy Temple declared a crusade be made in order to wipe out this new brand of darkness threatening to plague the homeland of mankind.

The Holy Temple's authority over the two other nations were undoubtedly absolute, given the fact that many, if not all of humanity, shared the same religious belief of worshipping the god who created them, Helios. There were also many small and various cults of different beliefs who worshipped other gods that were often, if found, executed publicly in the name of Helios. Due to this, many of them have chosen to operate in secret.

The Holy Temple was a symbol of Helios, a symbol of the ones chosen by the god who created them. The High Priest of the Holy Temple was akin to the standing of Helios himself in the eyes of the people, for he was the one who had the highest connection to him throughout all of the mortals on Mainland. The people from all nations revered him far and wide, and because of this, what he said was law no matter what nation you were from.

They also housed the strongest humanity had to offer, the Paladins. Each one was akin to an average army's strength themselves. Legends of man, they were under the direct command of the High Priest.

When the King of Carthage decided to not join the alliance in the fight against the Immortals, however, the other nations of Mainland were baffled. He did nothing but send them a severe warning: the Immortals were not something humanity could afford to offend.

The Holy Temple questioned the King of Carthage's allegiance to Helios, and the Emperor of the Eastern Empire proclaimed that once the Immortals were wiped from Torathul, the king should pass his crown over to his son, who would be more courageous than him in the face of war.

The expedition then began, and the aligned army started to march towards the city of Prehg.

The first two days were of little tension. Many veterans of the second Great War were in the army, and the two nations were used to working together. They were familiar with the terrain of Prehg, for they have been there many times going to what was now the Deadlands in order to fight the armies of the Demon King. Due to this, the different commanders of the aligned army had a clear confidence in their victory.

As they made their way closer to their destination however, the soldiers of the aligned army started to notice many peculiar things. It started small: men having troubling sleeping and waking up with little sleep for no apparent reason, clouds being passed overhead for hours on end without sunlight ever shining on their faces, little snowflakes falling down the sky and seemingly disappearing as they made contact with the soldiers, not even the moist texture of water or any hint of coldness able to be felt. That started on the second day.

The third day was when everything changed.

Soldiers were woken up with the feeling of intense cold. Snow was seen everywhere; only a thin sheet covering the ground but alas, snow indeed it was. The clouds above turned darker as time went by that day. It seemed they were marching into the night, for when some looked behind them, they could see in the far distance a speckle of sunlight telling them to come back. When night came, that light was to never be seen again.

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Men awoke with screams in the dead of the night. Drenched with sweat and giddy with agitation, no one could sleep but the templars and few paladins of the Holy Temple and some of the more elite portions of the Eastern Empire's army.

Even they, however, could feel the darkness gnawing at the edge of their mindscapes, threatening to penetrate into their subconsciousness and make them have visions of what they feared most.

On the fourth day, a faint aura of death lingered throughout the campsite of the aligned army. All could smell traces of corpses and blood, and the more sensitive and powerful ones of the army could feel the faintest waft of killing intent. Not once in their entire lives have they felt this way far from an enemy, so the ones with high authority and power within the army believed an ambush would arise that day, but alas, it never came.

As they edged closer and closer to Prehg, the clouds grew darker and darker and the killing intent rose more and more, until the average soldier stood on guard all hours of the day and refused to even take leaks alone. The difference between day and night was incomprehensible, the only light allowing them to see in front of them was the torches that blazed brightly from magic since no sunlight was able to pierce through the dark cloud which seemed to cover the skies. The once thin sheet of snow was now more than a few inches deep and soldiers grew more and more tired and frantic as time passed on and many felt a form of disconnection to their god of light, Helios.

On the fifth day, the blizzard came.

It was in the middle of the routine marches. The soldiers in front and commanders on horseback could see the giant storm heading straight for them. The head Paladin of the Holy Temple assigned to lead the aligned army, Gahariet, shouted to them when some voiced their opinions to let the storm pass:

"BRACE THROUGH THE STORM! WE MUST MAKE HASTE TO PREHG AND DESTROY THE VERMIN THERE; WE HAVE DELAYED HUMANITY OF THEIR VICTORY FAR ENOUGH WITH YOUR LOUSY MARCHING AND PETTY FEARS! WE WILL SEE THE CITY, AND ONLY THEN WILL WE REST! NOW, ONWARD!"

When Gahariet, the head commander and Paladin of the aligned army, finally saw Prehg through his holy abilities that let him see through the blizzard, he abruptly stopped and shouted for the rest of the army to stop as well. Only the faintest light could be seen from many red flames, thought to be torches, burning from the distance.

The men stopped and caught their breaths, struggling to sleep but not being able to. They cursed the evil 'Immortals' that were giving them this hell of a march, but there was also a great fear in many of the soldiers, a question that they didn't dare ask themselves:

"If all of this could be done before we make contact.. what in the name of Helios will happen on the battlefield?"

They could not help but occasionally think it in their minds, only to force it back into the far stretches of their subconscious, lest they lose their courage and commit desertion; they didn't want to be executed. The veterans of the second Great War had it even worse, however -- the fearful question popping up more and more for them than for the ones who haven't fought against the demons, for even the demons did not give the soldiers of the aligned army of Mainland as much a fear as the unknown threat known as the Immortals is giving them now.

Gahariet told the aligned army they would be attacking in two days. Some while later, the blizzard came to an end.

The next day the soldiers of the aligned army of Mainland awoke to see a sight of snow, black as night itself.