“Ready!” Vernim yelled from atop the large wooden wall.
To the right and left of him were near a hundred archers. Each one of them was trained to the utmost before being stationed. An archer was one of the most crucial roles atop the great wall at the edge of the abyss. They needed to be pristine, any arrow missed was a large detriment.
“Fire!” The tall man signaled, thrusting his arm forward as if it was a flag.
Instantly, every archer had let go of their bow strings that glowed with an exotic, purple-blue color. Arrows that were dipped in tar and brimstone before being set aflame.
The arc of brimstone shot across the top of the abyss like the four suns’ burning flame. They harshly fell, crashing into the taran. Horrific screams followed.
All of the archers cheered. Then the ground squadrons let out a cheer before charging forward to meet the first wave of taran.
This was the most efficient tactic against the taran. A single one could completely destroy a taran. ‘So long as they aren’t amplified…’ Vernim grumbled within. The number of overall taran had been increasing in recent days.
“If any more than ten of my men die today, then I will tear those taran apart myself!” The older elmannise growled, revitalizing the archers.
“Archers! Draw!” Vernim yelled out.
Simultaneously, the ninety-something archers reached to their left and grabbed an arrow, the ends coated with tar. They then held the arrows to their right before dipping them into a mixture of sulfur and ground lilifith.
Fwoosh! Fire crackled as the ends of the arrows caught flame. Subtle mixtures of tar and small crumbs of sulfur fell to the bottom of the wall.
The archers were specially settled on small platforms a couple feet outstretched from the wall so that falling brimstone would be collected within a willed trough. This kept both the archers and soldiers safe from harm's way.
‘We needn’t pray to our Abyssia to know that there's enough of that around here.’ Vernim thought before ushering out another command. “Ready!”
The archers, once again pulled back on their purple-blue bow strings. The tension could be heard in the air, piercing through a fortified silence.
“Fire!” Another command rang out.
In an instant, over thirty taran were engulfed in flame. Their name was not without meaning. The tar-like quality they were named after made them incredibly flammable. So flammable, that any taran below that of an amplified level would nearly crumble in an instant.
There was a downside to the brimstone though, which was why they had not switched to using it until recently. The engulfing flames denied the result of harvesting meat from them. Thus, it was only once the waves grew too powerful—three months ago—that the archers began their bright method of undoing.
Taran erupted in momentary screams that warped before quickly subsiding. Their black flesh contorted and bubbled up to around three times its regular size. Long had they stopped talking, walking, or breathing when their organs ruptured within. They had swelled and shattered through their bodies. What was left behind was no more than a pile of pink and red, fleshy goo littered with a substance akin to tar.
Vernim looked down upon the destruction with a satisfied smile. ‘Thirty percent accuracy!’ He stepped back slightly.
“Archers! You have outdone yourselves!” The leader of the wall cheered the archers on. Group morality was important. Although the archers had done exceptionally, it was not out of the ordinary.
Vernim had cheered them on specifically because of what was to come. When he looked down upon the destruction, he noticed a problem. There had been no amplified or titan taran among the group. What was attacking them was merely the beginning, and the weakest part of the attack.
The next moments would be crucial.
Again, the archers were commanded to draw their arrows from the barrels beside them. Then they were told to be ready.
Finally, Vernim spoke in a complete voice. “Hold your arrows, archers!” The leader of the wall was waiting for the perfect moment to have them fire.
Despite the already brutal sounds from ahead the foot of the wall, Vernim focused. He clearly saw the entrance of the chasm. Waiting, silently waiting for the true battle to begin.
Several minutes went by as many archers began to groan. Their muscles were strained, bulging and unable to rest. The strings on their bows were especially tight, making holding the arrows for so long a terrible form of torture. They felt their muscles burn. Many of them fought the urge to plead with Vernim to allow them to un-assume their positions. None did though. Vernim often had them hold their arrows for long and no archer would call out after witnessing the disciplinary measures taken to the last archer that made that mistake.
‘There they are!’ Vernim grinned as he saw fifty amplified enter through the chasm's entrance. Satisfaction, then horror. He did not command the archer, he would only do that after the current wave had entered.
His pupils dilated as ten more amplified entered, but what shook him was not this pitiful threat, but what lurked behind. ‘Five titans…’
Vernim hesitated for a moment. He knew what he needed to do. “Archers! Aim for the titans!”
All of the archers sighed once able to relax their arms. They looked calm in the face of the largest wave of taran they had ever needed to face. The resting had not lasted long though.
“Archers! Draw!” Vernim’s voice wavered as he spoke.
He had watched no less than another five titan taran emerge from the chasm! This was incredibly dangerous. Any given group of six could easily kill an amplified taran as long as they had less than ten merged taran. Fifteen was pushing it, but they could enlist a helper from a neighboring group. This was precisely the reason that groups alternated between the elite and mundane.
Titan taran required the help of no less than three full groups causing regular taran to be able to slip through the cracks that were left behind when groups merged. So, Vernim knew that he needed to completely cripple the titans to let the ground groups of soldiers quickly dispatch them.
“Aim for the titans again and fire!” The leader commanded.
Screams did not erupt from these titans. It was like these abominations had merely been slapped, the fire had difficulty igniting them. Their skin did not bubble, nor did their organs rupture.
Vernim wiped at his large, black eyes. He focused intently on one of the titan taran. It wore dark fur around it like a cloak. This was gravel bear fur. They had begun to hunt these creatures.
Vernim swayed slightly upon seeing this, so did all of the archers. Their grey cloaks that were uncannily similar to the ones worn by the titan taran could be heard ruffling somewhat. This was not a simple matter, the way that they were wearing it.
‘No. No!’ Vernim yelled within. This matter is much more serious than he had thought. ‘They are adapting too well, learning from us, from our people! Taking our things!’
Throughout his full sixteen years of leading the wall and its forces, he had never wanted to burn down the taran so bad. This fire of passion raged within him.
“Archers! Draw, ready and fire! At your will!” Vernim yelled, his voice nearly blood-curdling.
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Volley after volley of arrows, flew so close to the roof of the abyss before falling down. The titans never seemed to catch flame. They were so aloof, evading the elmannise’s brimstone like a gravel bear to the four suns.
Vernim scrutinized them further as several full squadrons of his ground soldiers cried out, dying. ‘These damned…’ The titan taran had managed to utilize their tar-like bodies to meld stones underneath.
“Archers! These titan taran are invulnerable to our attacks! Focus on the amplified taran instead!” Vernim fumed with passionate hatred. Every single one of their attacks on the titan taran had turned out to be useless. As a result more than triple of the originally predicted soldiers would inevitably die.
‘No. It’s not only my fault. There were supposed to be eight titans! Not fifteen! It was our analysts they, we. I! No! I did not… I did, I've killed them.’ Vernim fought with himself internally.
Vernim made slight corrections and orders based on the way that the battle progressed. Eventually the archers lost their use. All of the taran had grown too close to the soldiers to safely be targeted, so they put down their bows.
Each and every archer grabbed their own glow-tree sheet, bathed in its purple-blue glow, and then smothered the brimstone flames to their right. The scent of this brimstone mingled with the heavy iron pungence of crimson blood from the foot of the great wall.
The elmannise fought against holding their nose shut. Along with their incredible eyesight and hearing were smell and enhanced strength and durability. All of these were desirable until one thought of the consequences.
With superior sight one could not revel in the beauty of the sun. With superior hearing one could not take a moment to listen to the words of a friend. Other, lesser sounds tainted romantic moments with ugliness. With superior strength, they accidentally mishandled goods and hurt each other and with superior smell they were reminded of their failures.
Vernim walked the long wall above the ground squadrons. All of his failures tormented him. The further he moved from the archers stations, the less pronounced the scent of sulfur became. With the lessening of the sulfur, came stronger pungence of the blood. With the pungence of the blood, a furthering of the curse of the elmannise.
Several familiar scents rushed up with the blood. Many of his friends' signature scents had greeted him, intertwined with blood. He knew who died and why they died. It was him. Vernim had killed them.
Vernim knew that he could not save them now. The fall from the top of the wall to the bottom would kill anyone stupid enough to jump. The staircases were much too far away and it would take no less than half an hour for him to arrive at the foot of the wall. By then, the battle would already have long concluded. All he could do was grit his teeth and snuff out occasional tears as his friends and subordinates were torn apart.
The leader of the wall stepped through the doorway into the analyst section. This was a unique section of the wall that loomed at the end of it, where the wall met the right side of Abyssia.
The analysts would head out and investigate the tarans movements while the suns were asleep, then return and deliberate before delivering the news mere hours before the attack. This detailed how many taran and their classes.
“What the hell happened last night!” Vernim roared in anger.
“Nothing out of the norm.” Htornor spoke indifferently. It was not that he had not witnessed the battle, he enjoyed watching the battles at the foot of the wall. It was instead that he did not care for the soldiers.
‘This snob…’ Vernim took a deep breath. “Then why were there seven more titans than you designated and more than a dozen extra amplified!?”
“It seems our Jhythian risen enemies have learnt a great deal from the gravel bears. Not only how to wear them but their mannerisms as well.”
“Do not play around Htornor. You yourself told me that it takes several hours for taran to merge into a titan at the minimum. They could not hide underground.”
“I am not lying to you, Vernim. These taran have gotten much more crafty, they have become quite the adaptable species. Do you not remember the very first time they merged into titans? You should, if I remember correctly that was the night that—”
Htornor felt his throat close as he was pushed against the dark and rippling floor. Vernim had closed the gap in a single instant and instilled fear deep within the lead analyst’s eyes.
“Listen here Htornor and listen well. If your analysts are off by a mere two titans the next wave… I will tear your arms in two, take your fingers from your hands and cut your calves and thighs before letting the four suns devour you!”
Silence, Htornor was too shocked to answer.
“Answer me!” Vernim pressed the analyst further into the ground causing Htornor’s pupils to nearly pop out from his skull.
“Y-yes sir…” Htornor spoke in a weak voice as Vernim gradually lightened his grasp on his neck.
Fwhua! Htornor clasped at his chest and took in a deep breath. He coughed for a moment before closing his mouth. “We will go out two—no three hours earlier! I assure you we will not be off by a single titan!”
The lead analyst covered his face, including his eyes. It was only when he heard footsteps leaving the room that he felt safe enough to see again. Then, he huffed and huffed. Htornor was deeply shaken.
Vernim caught more whiffs of the pungent blood as he walked along the main brow of the wall. He was heading to relieve his archers of their post. The battle was nearly over, the archers remained until the end despite their period of usefulness being long over with.
The smell of sulfur was now gone, both a relief and a sadness. Now, he did not have the reprieve away from the scent of his familiar, dead friends. At the same time, it was absolutely a blessing to not have to breath the sour smell of sulfur.
This also made room for a very unfamiliar scent to waft around. It was not even unfamiliar, this scent was unknown. Vernim had never smelled it before in his life. Vernim did not speak the words to relieve the archers yet, he smelled danger.
“W-what is that!?” One archer cried out.
Vernim turned and saw an interesting sight. An acute green light radiated from a creature high in the sky. Flesh dripped from its bones and blood was nowhere to be found.
“It’s an omen!”
“Abyssia! It has forsaken us!”
“Bless us please! Our Abyssia please! Please save us!”
Several archers rang out bringing shame to the entire wall. They were not supposed to speak until they were relieved of their positions. Surely they would incur a harsh penalty later on.
“Quiet you fools!” Vernim hollered. “You bring shame to our wall! If our Abyssia has forsaken us then it is your fools’ faults!”
‘Is it some unique monster? No, how could it get behind our wall undetected by the archers. It could not have originated from behind right?’ Vernim watched the ethereal being with curious eyes for a moment. ‘Why has it not attacked? No matter, anything that is not our ally, is our enemy.’
“Archers!” He commanded, bringing each and every archer to their shooting positions. “Haliften!” This was not a command for his archers, but instead a spell. If there was one thing the elmannise inherited that had no detriment, then it was their incantations.
Instantly, the array of smothered sulfur piles reignited with a familiar vigor. It was as if they had never been undone by the glow-tree sheets. Several archers looked upon these piles with expressions of admiration and splendor.
“Draw! Ready! Fire! Burn down our enemy!” Vernim commanded. It felt odd for him to send a volley of arrows the wrong way. Though it made no difference to him. There was a large void between the wall and the core of Abyssia, no one lived close enough to be hit by such a volley of brimstone tipped arrows.
These arrows thrusted into nothing or at least what was pretending to be exactly that, nothing. They landed in the void between the bones of this odd creature. No blood poured from its wounds and a cry did not erupt, it was a stoic creature. It was almost like instead of blood, the creature's green flames represented the life force, gradually the flames waned until reducing to nothing. As the flames decreased so did the rate at which its bone wings flapped. With the end of the flowing ephemeral flames, so did the flapping. The bone creature plummeted down to the bottom of the wall.
Vernim waited several minutes for a return he thought was inevitable. “At ease archers! You are relieved of your posts!” He spoke, turning back to his archers.
There would certainly be a punishment for those who disobeyed, but the bone creature warranted all of Vernim’s attention for now.
Together with several of his most trusted archers, they marched down one of the staircases down to the bottom of the wall. The path was long and incredibly sturdy, the abyss could not be bent.
Through his superior sight, Vernim could see that this creature had indeed entirely seized. He doubted it had one in the first place but if the bone-winged bird had a heartbeat, he knew it would have entirely seized by now.
‘Oh, what’s this?’ Vernim thought as he monitored the peculiar sight in front of him.
There were a total of five figures sitting down, leaning against the long dead bone-winged creature.
Only one of them was recognizable to Vernim. “Ehtis! My boy!” He called out to his grandson. “Come here!”
His grandson quickly ran over to him, giving his grandfather a hug as a greeting.
“Care to introduce your companions?” Vernim asked, he was especially curious. Not only because of their lack of fear towards the bone-winged creature, but also because of their unique appearances. Two of them were taller than the others, still falling a couple feet short of Vernim himself. The other two were very short, falling a half a foot even shorter than the first two.
Each of the four unfamiliar figures rose. Their figures were further proof that these people were not fellow elmannise. They lined up beside each other, three of them stuttering until awaiting instructions of a shorter person with long and straight, pure black hair.
“From left to right this is Syllis, Korman, Aura and Clyde.”
“Such exotic names.” Vernim caressed his face slightly.
“Oh and this creature down here is Aura’s.”
Vernim was stunned and the archers at his side even more so. ‘What? This small person commands such a fierce looking creature?’
“Is that so…” Vernim said as he stared into the black-haired woman’s sharp, emerald eyes.