Fonti
“For the glory of Father! Forward you little shits, we shall feast upon their flesh and make Father proud!”
The little ones scream with unfettered excitement as they respond to their leader’s command, compelled forward by their endless desire for fresh meat and violence. Their instincts compel them to follow the will of their stronger kin, and their simple minds are more than happy to follow. The promise of food in their bellies and the potential to become more, to become like their bigger kin, driving them forward with much vigor.
They look up to their larger kin and their simple minds grasp onto the desire for more, that they too may one day be able to become like them. Their big Brothers and Sisters. Power that could potentially one day be theirs as well!
Fonti watches from atop his mount as the little ones run past him in the tens of thousands, carpeting the snow-covered forest floor with the scampering of little green feet. Hooting and hollering with joy as they stream past in nearly endless numbers of little green bodies.
Fonti wave them forward as he swings his club in the air, excitement for the coming battle filling his blood like fire, his heart beating in his chest with pride as he dreams of receiving Father’s favor. To hear Father say that he is proud of him!
“Forward, hahahahahaaaa!!! Slay Father’s enemy! We will make him proud!”
Off in the distance, explosions continue to ring out, decimating large numbers of the little ones with every blast, shrapnel from decimated trees and pulverized earth sent flying in every direction to cut through countless more. But still they move, unperturbed by running over red stained snow and scattered bodied parts, uncaring as they trample over their own wounded.
Time draws by as they continue to move under a rain of death, pushing through without dropping morale in the slightest, even as those in front are reduced to a fine mist for those following to run through and turn their green skin red. As their ears bleed from rupturing, sinuses fill with debris, and eyes water from smoke. As the soles of their feet become shredded from running without care for their own physical well-being. They are too full of excitement and adrenaline and hunger to be stopped now, their every instinct screaming that they are drawing closer and closer, and that soon they will be able to feed. That, soon, they will be able to grow.
Closer now, closer to where Father’s enemy resides. They can hear the booms of the canons in the distance now as they draw ever nearer, pushing through the rain of death, compelled forward by the will of their King to slay his enemies. Besides their own desires, nothing else matters but to fulfill their King’s will.
Fonti looks forward, always forward just like Father commands. It won’t be much longer until they arrive. Not much longer until his forces will-!”
…
Fonti’s thoughts are cut short as his body is blown away by the force of an explosion going off, but a couple meters away, throwing him from the body of his mount that mercifully died instantly, a meter long splinter of wood spearing it through the heart.
He falls to the snow-covered snow with half his body scorched black and several organs reduced to paste. With several broken bones and massive internal bleeding, his body hits the ground and rolls until he smashes into a tree, his head hanging limply to the side from a broken neck.
Before his heart can stop, Fonti’s eyes watch on as his people continue to charge towards their enemy.
We will make Father… proud!
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Temy & Jae
“Come on Sister, hahaha! We’re almost there we can almost see them!” Temmy shouts as she runs beside her sister, the two of them sprinting together with spears held in hand as they lead the charge ahead of the little ones, wind flowing through their hair as the joy of running fills their hearts.
“Yes, Sister, this is so much fun!” Jae shouts back, her joy filled voice calling out over the sounds of the raining artillery fire.
These two Sisters, almost literal in that they have always been together since birth, even managing to earn Father’s gift together and evolve as part of the same generation, have discovered a love for running. Even if they hadn’t managed to gain the gift of magic like their more powerful siblings, they have never felt sad for lacking it. So long as they can run together, then they don’t care about anything else. They just need each other and the air filling their lungs.
“There! I can see it! Just up ahead through the clearing! Charge!!!”
“Charge!!!”
As they run, the Sisters fail to notice the cameras strapped to the trees, the small devices watching with unblinking eyes as they laugh and run past, their only thoughts of charging forward, together, as the head of the spear for their leader’s forces. To fight for their King’s honor. To make him proud!
The cameras continue to watch in silence, letting more and more of their people to fill the area as they charge through with renewed vigor now that their enemy is right before them.
As Temy and Jae leave the woods, they can finally see them. Far off in the distance, across a clearing of snow-covered fields is a wall of wood and steel, figures standing atop those distant walls and moving about with purpose.
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Jae calls out as the two come to a stop, smiling at the sight of their people’s next conquest. Pointing towards the distant wall, “My people, our enemy is there! Do not stop! Never stop and always look forward, always forward! Charge!!!”
Temy joins her call and screams for the gods themselves to hear. “Charge!!!”
And then, just as the little ones are beginning to catch up and join them in the clearing, everything behind them explodes. In a single moment it is as if the earth around them is suddenly being forced up into the air in a great upheaval of earth and snow, blowing everything for hundreds of meters sky high.
…
Coughing, Temy drags herself out of the snow, clawing her way out one fistful of snow and dirt at a time until she is finally able to take a gasping breath of fresh air. With her ears ringing in her skull, she looks back at the way they had come, gaping at the sheer destruction. Everything for quite some distance is simply gone, reduced to a mess of upturned trees, scattered boulders, and broken bodies, a level of destruction beyond what even some of the strongest of her siblings are capable of.
She coughs, blood staining her blue lips crimson as she stares with wide eyes. A pang in her legs finally draws her attention away from the decimation and back down towards herself. Looking down, she finds her right leg is missing, blown away at the knee and bleeding profusely.
“Ah… ahh… Jae. Jae, where are you? Jae!”
She is strangely numb to the pain, shock dulling her senses. Her only thought beyond feeling at where her leg used to be, is the missing presence of her Sister, the person who has been beside her for as far as she can remember.
“Jae… Jae, where are you? Jae! Sister!”
…
Crawling forward and trailing blood behind her, Temy continues to call out for her Sister, desperate to find the one person that has always been by her side. And she eventually finds her. Laying half buried in snow and dirt, Jae lies there, not moving, not breathing, not blinking as her eyes stare off into the distance.
“Jae! Ahhhhh, Jae, Jae, Jae!!!”
Temy crawls forward, clawing at the earth to try and pull her sister free, grabbing her by her clothes and pulling on her body. But she won’t budge, her Sister’s lower half trapped beneath the weight of a fallen tree and ran through by its branches.
“Jae! Jae! Ahhhh~!”
Slowly, she begins to weaken, the blood loss slowly draining her, vision fading, and mind growing heavy.
She collapses forward on her precious Sister’s body, Temy’s head resting on Jae’s chest in a final embrace.
“Sister… We’ll always... be, together, won’t w…….”
…
…
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Dem’tri
Explosions, so many explosions… Dem’tri watches as his forces continue to charge forward, his captains standing near to relay his orders when needed.
It has been some time since the Goblin forces have arrived, swarming out of the woods like so many ants from their hill. Charging towards the walls, many of Goblins find themselves stepping on land mine, tripping claymores, or getting blown away in large swaths by fields of buried C4, the traps sprung the moment that just enough are present. Those that avoid the explosive traps might instead find themselves falling into spike filled pitfalls, or stepping into narrow holes, their legs getting stuck inside, trapped as they try to pull themselves free by downward facing spikes and blades that dig into their flesh. Others fall face first into carpets of razor wire, getting tangled into the mess of metal and pushed further in as others step on their backs.
Dem’tri scowls as more reports come back from the front, his captains informing him that their forces are stalling too far from the walls, unable to get any close. Any of their forces that manages to get past the traps ends up being gunned down from afar.
From the side, a Brother comes running over and yells, “Big Brother Dem’tri, Big Brothers Gaz and Leti have arrived, they bring strategies for fighting the humans!”
More forces arrive from the north, having suffered a loss at the airport, though many of them are counting it as a victory because the hateful building was destroyed, reduced to a burning wreck. Their Earth Mages that survived the engagement, teaching the others how to make their siege weapons.
Dem’tri commands his forces to begin their work and gather materials to use. To construct shields and gather ammo for the launchers to be hurled into the field in an attempt to create cover for their forces.
With time passing and the sun steadily setting, Dem’tri gathers his fellow Brothers and Sisters to try and come up with some strategies that could help them close the gap to the wall without losing all their forces pointlessly.
...
“Ok, hear me out. We put the little ones in the launchers and send them flying towards the walls! They will cover so much distance!” Says a crazy Sister that is obsessed with the idea of flying.
“I’ll put you in a launcher, you dumbass! They obviously won’t make it all the way!” Screams back a Brother.
“They don’t have to make it all the way, just most of the way so they can get there faster! You’re the dumbass, not me. Dumbass!” She retorts, also screaming. “Screw you, you’re the dumbass. My plan is great! It gets them there faster. How is that a bad plan!?”
“Because if we are launching the little ones, then we can’t launch the other things! Then what will we use for cover to reach the wall, dumbass!?!?”
“We won’t have to if they just get there faster! That’s the point, DUMBASS! See, that’s why you are a Dumbass!”
Dem’tri just puts his face in his hands and sighs, getting tired of listening to these two idiots arguing. Eventually he just has to snap at them.
“Will you two idiots shut up! Obviously, we can’t launch the little ones through the air, because then they would just be easier targets for the enemy. There is no cover in the air!”
“Ha! See, I was right, your idea sucks!” The Brother laughs.
Dem’tri snaps at him as well. “Like your ideas are any better! How would we even be able to build a giant rabbit? And why would the humans even accept it? Think! We need something we can actually do… Leti, how did you come up with the idea with the launchers?”
“Hmm? I didn’t come up with it. Zezeze did, but he died to the Demons…”
“Oh… Well, how did he come up with it?”
“He was complaining about not being able to reach them and wanted to throw stuff at them. Afterwards, we figured out that we could make our own cover by using the stuff we are throwing at them.” Leti says with a shrug.
“Hmm, but that won’t work here, the launchers can’t reach far enough, even when we hit them really, really, hard… Does anyone here have any idea for how we can make more cover? The little ones are getting slaughtered out there.”
“What if we build the launchers closer?”
“No, we would be putting our Earth Mages in danger. And we already know that the Demons will try to hunt them again. They will be in too much danger out there…”
Gaz slowly raises his hand. “What if they had cover, so they can build the launchers closer?”
“Yes. But how!? That is part of the problem!” Dem’tri screams.
They all sit around in silence, a dozen Hobgoblins wracking their brains as they try to think of a plan. Meanwhile, their Fire Mages are off lighting fires to ward off the coming night.
Eventually, Caiven, one of the Water Mages stands up and shouts out his idea. “I’ve got it! If the Earth Mages need cover so they can build the launchers closer, then they just need to make the cover. We will dig!”
“Hmm?”
“We dig a trail towards the wall so that the enemy can’t hit us! Then we can get closer and not get killed. We can even destroy their traps as we find them, instead of rushing into them!”
“Mmm, it would take us longer to get there, but it would be safer… Gather the Earth Mages! We shall dig, and when we get close enough, we will use the launchers to attack their wall! For the King!”
““For the Glory of Father!!!””