Wind howled across the bare fields on the outskirt of the Vatur borders. She stood alone, staff in hand, looking up at the clear autumn sky. Her cloak fluttered as she took one last inhale, finalizing her decision.
“Lady Aurelia. Everything is prepared, we have sent word to all of out people in Perriman’s town to leave immediately.” The elven scout spoke from behind her.
The grass bent with the wind, as Aurelia simply nodded in acknowledgement of the scout’s words, still focusing and channelling her magic. She could feel the mana of the gate in the distance, telling her the portal was forced open. Time was of the essence; she could not let the invaders bring in more of their hellish machinery.
Not far away from the High Elf, the royal siblings and their personal guard stood. They had their reservations about the plan, unsure if the cruelty that would soon befall the treacherous Duke and his people was truly necessary.
“My Lady, I...” Lymlock spoke up, much to the dissatisfaction of his sister and the guards.
“I must ask once more, is this truly necessary? What of the humans within the town? Would attacking the Duchy not be equal to declaring war on the kingdom of Marbella itself?”
“I am not surprised at your aversion to my methods, Lymlock.” The High Elf spoke up, her back still turned to the group of elves.
“It is not something a Low-born could understand. Perriman’s treachery has not escaped my foresight; however, he is not to blame for this alone. The Dragon Soul Queen is at fault for not keeping her dogs properly restrained and obedient. A ruler must not allow their subjects to fraternize with the enemy behind her back. If she had lost her edge, this will hone it.”
“But.” The elven prince began, but a sudden gust of wind from Aurelia stopped him mid-sentence.
“I take no pleasure in this. I pity the people, for their lives were thrown away by Perriman, in his pursuit of power.” She said, lying through her teeth.
To a High Elf, the lives of humans were as valuable as the lives of weevils. A race that was neither blessed by any gods, nor particularly good at anything besides spreading across the world like some sort of invasive plant. Humans rarely caused trouble, but every once in a while, some of them would aim well above their means in pursuit of power, wealth or land.
In such times, reminding them where they stood was important. Did she take pleasure in it?
Does a farmer tending to his fields take pleasure in keeping the vermin at bay?
“Moreover, how many more family members must you watch perish or become cripples, before you understand that annihilation is the only response those beyond the gates understand?” Aurelia asked the young elf, her cold tone sinking like a dagger in his heart.
Lymlock spoke not a single word more, merely glancing over at his sister, seated in her chair, feeling a familiar hatred blaze within him. A hate towards all those who wore the skin of men, but were monsters underneath. The ones that took his sister’s joy and legs away.
Feeling her mana resonate deep beneath the soil, Aurelia turned to her left, pointing her staff toward a lone cave that jutted out from the field.
A single, gaping hole made of dirt stared back at her, darkness concealing its sleeping denizens below. It was no mere cave, but an entrance to a hive, dug deep into the soil. No mortal mage was powerful enough to bind them, no brave her strong enough to slay them, no madman foolish enough to even set foot near their nest.
“Blessed Goddess, mother of all divine and pure, giver of immortal light! I beseech you! Grant me power to awaken the foe of everything that flies. Grant me the power to wrestle them into submission!”
She struck the tip of her staff into the ground, the soil rising and falling beneath her, rippling like water. Again and again, nine times she struck the earth, sending ripples far and deep into the field. And the field rumbled back, the slumbering beasts beneath the soil awakening.
The hive stirred, the ground swelled as they moved upwards, towards the cave entrance.
The elves, who watched this display of power, felt a chill running up their backs. Such magic was far above what a single mage could ever perform.
Darkness parted slowly, pairs of eyes shining from with the cave, as the creatures slowly crawled outside, one after another. There was only a few of them, long horns decorating their scaly heads. One stood above the others, both in ferocious looks and in size, the leader of the Hive. They rumbled, filling the air with a static, the clouds slowly converging into one mass in the sky above.
With a deep breath, Aurelia struck her staff against the ground a final time before pointing it at the giant reptiles.
“Hear me! Beasts of the sky, you who rule below only dragons. Hand your might to me.”
Her eyes began to glow, pupils disappearing in a while light as she cast her spell, linking her will to the minds of the beasts.
“Kneel before the High One, the Goddess of the Light. Her enemies are your enemies. Her wrath is your wrath. Your claws and fangs are her spears and blades to command!”
Slowly, one after the other, the beasts before her bent their heads, their eyes shining as her did.
“You know where the enemy hides. Fly! Take to the sky and rain death upon them. Their lives are yours to feast upon, my gift to your hive.”
With a shriek, the creatures unfurled the scaly wings and took to the air. More and more poured from the cave, until their numbers were too great to count. They enveloped themselves in the cloud above, now black and spewing lightning on all sides, and set their sights on the Duchy.
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At least, Aurelia collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily and clutching her staff for stability.
To command such a number of beasts took a lot out of her. Her guards rushed over, carefully helping her back to the group, where she sat on the grass, basking in the sunlight and feeling of triumph that was soon to come.
***
Perriman was awestruck at the sight before him. The portal gate, once mostly serving as decoration in his lovely town, now hummed with life. Cables, made of material he never seen before, were attached to the gate on multiple places. He reached out to touch one, only for a female soldier to slap his hand away.
“I’d not do that Perry. They’re insulated, but still, don’t touch.” Jeremy chuckled, while the duke rubbed his hand.
The sight of such technology reignited Albrecht’s faith in the success of his plan. With a clearer mind, he thought about what the soldiers told him in the garden. Being an inquisitive man, the duke turned to Jeremy and asked.
“You called them SPADs. Self-Propelled Air Defence. However, so far you’ve only clashed with the elves and hired adventurers. Unless they have all learned how to fly in droves, in the last several months, I have to ask what warrants the need for anti-air weaponry?”
Clyde, who was looking up at the sky, noting the sudden absence of clouds, spoke up.
“Pray that you never find out, Perry.”
Not too fond of the nickname, but too entranced with the technology that was powering the gate, Perriman decided to let it slide.
With a low boom, the gate lit up for a second, creating a thin veil like portal. The duke’s eyes were as wide as saucers, looking through it to the other side. They were truly massive. Nightmares in shapes of four legged spiders, made of metal and wires, painted a mix of black and green. On top of each were two pairs of long pipes, attached to an armoured base. They were longer than any spear or weapon he had ever seen.
“Gods… Those must be the anti-air defences.” He muttered.
“Right you are baby. 30x173mm rounds. Firing at 1300 rounds per minute.” Clyde said, slapping Perriman on the back.
The noble’s jaw was on the floor at that point.
“One thousand… per minute.”
What foe would warrant such a machine? He dared not even think about it. The beasts that covered the skies of their world must have been horrors straight from fairy tales, to force these people to develop such defences.
Clyde laughed, taking a bullet from one of the nearby boxes and handing it to the awestruck duke. Albrech just stared at the thing in his hand.
“When people say: ‘God Bless America’, they mean HEI rounds.” The massive soldier laughed, taking the bullet back from the noble and placing it in the box.
Perriman just walked off to the side, sitting on an empty crate next to his guards, who ever equally at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure if he should be ecstatic or terrified of the people he chose to ally with.
“How we looking?” Jeremy asked one of the soldiers who was monitoring the gate output on a small screen.
“Looking good Sir, a few more minutes and the portal should be 100% stable. Then we can begin with the transition.” He replied, glancing up at the humming gate for a second.
Clyde walked over to the duke and his guards, leaning on the wall next to where they sat, eyes occasionally looking towards the sky.
“Now, some might say this ain’t our A game. Sure, we got cooler stuff. But considering what we need it for, these things will do just fine. Plus, the boys upstairs said we have to clear out the backlog first, before we can buy and use more modern toys.” He mumbled that last part.
The town centre was empty, windows closed, doors locked, shops taking a day off. Guards and hired muscle were more numerous than ever before, keeping the townsfolk from the project. But the people were growing suspicious of the renovations, once the humming of the gate could be heard. Ears heard and imagination filled the blanks that the eyes could not see.
Jeremy, Clide and Marcel knew Perriman could not keep everything under wraps indefinitely, the word would eventually reach the Queen of Marbella. But for what it was worth, the duke did a fantastic job making sure that word spreads as slow as possible.
The reports from Jeremy’s drones, which were sent out towards the next town over, to the East, told them soldiers the Queen was on her way. Riding with a small band of elite soldiers, like the devil was nipping at their heels.
It didn’t matter, as she would arrive too late anyways. As for the elves, there was not much they could do either, or so the group thought when they first began the project two weeks prior.
Now, Clyde felt like that confidence was about to come back and bite them in the ass.
“We might want to pick up the pace, before that storm clouds hits. If we could get this over with before the rain, I’d be delighted.” Marcel walked up to his comrade and spoke.
The tall soldier squinted his eyes, watching a single black could moving towards them from the direction of the Vatur kingdom. He’s seen this before, the very first time they tried crossing over to this world, almost a year ago.
“Hey, Perriman. Remember when I told you to pray you never find out why we need SPADs?” He asked, leaning over to the duke, eyes still locked on the cloud that grew bigger.
“Yes.” Replied the duke.
“Did you pray?”
“No.”
“Well, you should’ve.” Sighed Clyde, stepping away from the wall and moving towards his unit.
“Everybody, pick up the pace, on the double. I want at least one Spider on this side of the gate by the time that cloud hits.” He ordered.
“Non essentials. Pack your shit, pack our gear, everything we don’t need to keep the gate afloat and high tail it out of this place, back to camp. If you do not hear from us in the next 24h, report back to command for relisting and fresh orders. Move it!”
The soldiers immediately hopped to their feet, following orders despite their confusion.
Jeremy walked over to Clyde, equally as confused.
“What’s up with the attitude change?”
Before the mountain of a man could give his friend an answer, Perriman walked over, asking pretty much the same question.
“Perry. Time for you to hit the dusty trail. Run back to your mansion, get your family, get your servants, forget about packing shit, just get as far away from the town as you can, preferably towards the woods to the south of here.” Clyde replied, before pointing to one of Albrecht’s guards.
“You, run to the warning bell, sound it. Start evacuating people.”
“I can’t just tell people to abandon their homes for no reason.” The guard protested.
“Fine, sure. Tell them the invaders have attacked the town. Or, tell them a flock of Wyverns are on their way to stop this shitshow we’ve started here.” Clyde answered, rushing over to help one of the soldiers load a big box into a carriage.
“Wyverns?!” Perriman shouted, catching the attention of bystanders.
“Yep. There’s a nest of them, a huge hive, North of here, in the grass fields between the this town and the southern Vatur borders.” Replied the soldier, while moving about and helping the rushing soldiers.
“That’s why you need the anti…” Whispered the duke to himself, looking up at the sky, finally coming to realize that the single, massive storm cloud was not a cloud at all.