Boom. Boom. Boom.

The rhythmic sounds of the war drums brought her attention back into focus.  All around her were faces contorted with fear.  She stood among many others.  Conscripts, the lot of them.  She was a simple farmer when this all started, working at her family’s farm.  A simple life, but one she was content with.  All of that changed when the rift opened.  At first it was small.  Few demons were able to pass through, and the kingdom’s army was able to hold them off.  As time went on, and the casualty count of the professionals began to swell, the kingdom was forced to begin conscripting from the general population.  Soon however, the rift expanded, and holding the rift became impossible.  Now, the kingdom was forced into a final confrontation.  A confrontation to decide the fate of the kingdom. 

A rattling drew her attention to her hand.  She was shaking.  She tightened her hold on the leather grip of her blade in an attempt to stop the twitching.  It succeeded in stopping the noise, but it had no effect on the fear she felt coursing through her veins.  Atop a horse at the front of the army, a man draped in reds and golds.  The Golden Prince, The Lord of War, The Man of a Thousand Battles.  He had many names, but the most relevant for this day was, The Undefeated.  Such a nick-name was a mockery of the gods she had always believed, and maybe that would be the deciding factor for today.

Across the plains in which the army was situated, a massive rift was in view.  It looked like a scar cutting across the air, the boarders were a dark, menacing green while the center was an opaque black, a portal leading to a land of untold death.  The breach had been inactive for several months.  If what the rumours said were true, the inactivity was the work of the Wizard of Fates.  But, like everything else, the inactivity did not last forever.  The rift let off a pulse of energy as the first wave passed through the rift.

This was the first time she had seen these nightmares.  They were small, even from a distance.  They probably only stood four feet tall.  The foot soldiers of the Abyss.  They had an ape-like body, with thick muscles and wiry hair.  They charged towards the army, and by extension, at her.  Every time they took a step forward, they opened the space behind them.  This space was quickly filled by an exact copy of these beasts and the endless army advanced.

She was not lucky with her placement.  Her battalion was near the front of the army, on the left flank.  The army was perhaps one hundred thousand strong, and she was on the front lines.  The Golden Prince drew his sword and raised it in the air above him.  The shining blade caught the sun at an angle and sent out rays of light.  He slashed downwards in the air, and the army released hundreds of arrows at the advancing monsters.  Some missed, some hit, but it made no real difference.  The deceased monster corpses turned into a black tar as another took their place.  This was hopeless.  And they all knew it.

I am going to die

Death.  That was what was on her mind as the thumping sounds of the mighty war drums managed to mask the sound of her rattling teeth.  She never was a brave person, not even in the end.  The only reason she was here on this destined field was mandated conscription, and even that barely got her here.  She, like all the other young faces around her, knew death was coming.  It stood across from them.  Not in the form of any cloaked, scythe wielding figure, but rather in the form of an army of monstrosities.  A portal to another dimension.  But what did it matter now?  She was to be fodder.

“Jeez, you’d think our last meal woulda been better than stale bread, eh”

I glance to my side, at my friend since childhood.  Her long-blonde hair, the antithesis of mine, flowing in the wind unable to be restrained by the leather helmet adorning her head.  Even in these circumstances, she still cracked jokes.  Although, the way her hand was shaking in her gauntlet, the visage was ineffective.

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She stood in a small battalion, in a small division, on the front lines of the largest battlefield ever recorded in history.  The girl, barley eighteen, shifted her grip on her bastard sword.  She was still green in combat.  And even greener in warfare.  A farmer, not but a few months prior.  Now a soldier.  One who stood in terror of the approaching army.  It only took minutes for the advancing monsters to reach them.  Previously fired arrows peppered the bodies of the closest monsters.  Non-lethal as they were, it did reassure her that they could be wounded.

The sounds of war erupted around her as the wave crashed down on them.  She watched as claws met swords.  Blood as black as tar mixed with the red blood flowing from the fallen soldiers.  Faces contorted in horror as they were quickly overtaken and mercilessly slain where they stood.  She could see the monsters now.  There was only three people in between her and them.  Out of the corner of the girl’s eye she sees flowing blonde hair charge.  The blonde’s sword slashing in whatever direction would bring the death of a demon.

One of the creatures launched over the front of the line, landing a mere few feet from her location.  It snarling face showing a pair of knife-like canines.  It eyed her, with a blank nothing in its eyes.  It ran at her, the sharp ebony claws forecasting a bloody and painful death.  Her sword was out before she could process what was happening.  She held it in front of her like her instructors taught her to.  When the thing was within striking range, she slashed out with all her might.  Her sword met claws as a powerful rattling ran up the blade and into her arm.  The vibration was to strong, as her grip loosened enough for the sword to fall and land on the ground.

It fell close.  So close.  It wouldn’t even take a second to pick up.  But that second would kill her.  As the monster seemed to grin viciously.  Her most powerful strike had been repelled by the claws of a four-foot tall ape monster.  Not only that, but her strongest swing has caused her to drop her blade.  Her lifeline.  The only thing she had to prevent this monster from killing her.  She had nothing left.  No way to defend herself or her fellow soldier.  She did the only thing she could do.  She turned and ran.

The sprint was quick.  Faster than she had ever ran before.  She heard screams from behind her.  The scream of soldiers dying in droves.  She could not be certain if the blonde’s was among them.  She did not turn back.  She couldn’t.  As she ran, she entered the woodlands, the trees offering protection from the sun but not from anything else.  Even in here, the sounds of the battlefield haunted her.  She could not tell if it was the real battle or just the resounding thuds of terror.  Her heart was still pumping too quick.  For several minutes she ran.  Away from the battlefield, away from the rift, and most importantly, away from the demons.  With her adrenaline being higher than ever before, she heard the snap of a nearby twig.

She turned towards the sound.  She had made sure while running that nothing chased her.  She should be in the clear.  She glanced around, looking for anything to fight with.  There was nothing.  From behind the trees, a group of demons appeared.  Each showing their own razor-sharp teeth and claws.

‘How! How did they get behind the army?!’ She screamed in her head.

The demons started to advance.  Claws glistening.  She had ran away from the army into such a worse fate.  Once again, she found herself running through the burning of her lungs.  Above her, she spotted a hawk resting on a tree branch.  It watched her with beady eyes.  As the demons got closer, the bird took flight.  Disturbed by the noise, but not in fear of death.  How she envied that bird.  If she could fly, she could get out of the situation.

Suddenly, her feet stopped finding ground.  Had her wish been granted?  Instead of rising, she found herself falling.  The cruel mistress that was gravity having no mercy for such a wishful thinker.  She dropped a foot before finding the steep dirt cliff rushing up to hit her.  She rolled down the cliff for what felt like an eternity.  The bottom of which appeared to be a chasm.  As she rolled for her last time, she found herself falling with nothing to catch her into the chasm.

There was a dark light at the bottom.  It felt familiar, but not in any good way.  She fell another ten feet before remembering where she had seen that black and green light before.  It was the same colour as the rift.  Though clearly smaller.

‘Huh’ she thought ‘so that’s where they came from’

               Without another thought, she lost consciousness as her body fell into the rift.  Disappearing from sight.