“The queen is dead! Elven queen Euiridas has died!”

At that announcement, a pang shot through Nicon’s heart and he frowned, a surge of emotions rising to the surface. His face twitched as he fought to reign in his emotions.

Control… you must be in control… a king may not be weak, He thought, The people depend on me to be strong in times of crisis!

Despite his efforts, a stray tear trickled down his cheek and he carefully wiped it away before facing his people.

He’d felt it when the queen had died and the barrier splintered—it was like someone had pierced a hole through his chest.

And the calming, peaceful light of a candle blown out, darkness creeping in at all sides as the warmth left the area forever.

Such was her existence—the very light of life itself.

He’d known, even before the announcement had been made, that Euiridas had left the world.

Her spirit is probably in the Ether now, He mused.

He strode over to the site of the attack and took in the scene with wide eyes. The massive demon lay headless in a pool of its own blood, the trees in that area having been flattened within an inch of their life.

The young guardians stood huddled together, clearly unaccustomed to real battle, and Lirya and a winged being stood a little way back.

“Uh… your majesty? King Nicon? The barrier’s gone… what happens now?” Jason asked, wandering over to the king.

He snapped out of his daze and replied, “We need to crown Euiridas’ heir as quickly as possible. You were with her last—did you witness anything? Euiridas would not suddenly drop dead out of nowhere.”

Jason’s face fell, “Yeah… she showed me the barrier, and told me about my father, then she started coughing blood and said something about poison. I thought she’d be fine where I’d laid her—far from the chaos—since she insisted she could deal with the poison herself, but the demon still got her…”

Poison…? There must be a traitor in our midst. But what of their motive? To break in the demon?

No… it’s something else…

Nicon peered at the azure skies above.

A sinking feeling of despair welled up within him and he groaned as the realisation hit him.

“Sound the horns of war!” He cried, “Rally the archers and bring forth every able-bodied man in this city! Look to the skies, for that is where our foes come from!”

In the skies far above Silvardor was a magenta swirling vortex that grew in size as they watched. Beside it hovered a hooded figure. As they watched, the figure raised its hand and another vortex appeared, growing to massive proportions in only a few moments.

This is why they killed Euiridas! Nicon thought, Those are portals! Whatever comes out of those is sure to be dangerous!

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The loud sound of the war horns echoed through the city and beyond, announcing to the entire kingdom that war was at hand. Returning sounds resounded from each of the war towers in every elven city across the kingdom, passing the message along to every citizen of Silvardor.

There had been nothing but peace since the demon war, but the elves maintained their superb physique by training rigorously—when an elf became an adult and chose their new name, they also chose an area to specialise in. That was when the training began—in all fields of study, from weaponry to magic and advanced academics.

As the horns sounded throughout the kingdom, the elves raced to arms.

A spark had been lit and the world set aflame. Whether it would burn to ashes or not was a chapter yet to be written in the chronicles of the world.

The hooded figure flicked its arm and unleashed a spell that flattened the forest and set the vegetation ablaze. Soon, smoke filled the skies that glowed a reddish hue.

The portals rippled and demons burst through, marching in coordinated legions. As each legion exited, the hooded figure warped them to the newly flattened ground.

<--<< >>-->

Far beneath the portals, the young guardians watched in both awe and fear at the demons emerging from the portals in hordes.

Oh, gods above and below, why do we have the most rotten luck? Taryn thought, How can we survive this?

“What are you doing?!” Someone yelled, “Do you think we have time to waste?”

Jaron, dressed head to toe in resplendent silver armour walked up to Taryn, flipping down his visor as he walked.

Taryn asked, “You’re… fighting too? But I have your powers… how can you fight without them?”

Jaron scoffed, and Taryn could tell that, underneath the visor, he had flashed a crooked grin, “You think I need party tricks like that? I’ve been trained in swordsmanship since I came of age! You wait and see… not everyone can rely on their powers like you can.”

Taryn shook his head, but followed the elf, shaking off the tingling sense of foreboding.

They walked up to the edge of town, where Nicon had set up a temporary base of operations. As they approached, he looked up from a map marked with wooden blocks and gave them a tense greeting.

“There are seven legions, two of which are catapult legions, one beast legion and the rest are minions. They are each led by a commander and it would appear that there is a powerful demon in charge of the entire army. Most of these demons, although large in number, are actually very weak,” Nicon summarised, pointing to the wooden blocks, “These mark the location our scouting hawks have seen, where the demon armies have landed.”

He continued, “We’re only a small number in this town and we can’t count on reinforcements, so I’ll be leading a small force around to flank the enemies and disable the catapult legions. Jaron, you and Dethemina will lead the remainder of our forces to the main battlefield to distract them and Taryn, please take the other guardians, who are able to fight, to join Jaron’s group. Those who cannot fight will tend to the wounded. Who else… ah, the archangel! We’ll put him in the back with Aira and the archers.”

Jaron nodded and turned, saying, “I’ll gather the group then. Make sure you take our strongest warriors for your force—we’ve already had one too many deaths, and Silvardor will be shaken if we lose another royal so soon.”

Nicon grinned and waved him off with a chuckle, “I’m not dying anytime soon! Euiridas gave her life to protect our kingdom and, by Mother, do I intend to ensure her life was not wasted!”

Taryn inclined his head in a short bow and then he too left to find his companions.

<--<< >>-->

A loud, nightmarish howl sent birds flying out of trees and a shiver down the backs of even the most seasoned warriors. A giant contraption was rolled out of the portals, pushed by two giant demons. It was a complex wooden structure on six wheels with a large, ivory horn mounted on it. A demon stood on the contraption, blowing into the horn and creating that howl. The portal shuddered as a demon, larger than the others and twice as intimidating, stepped out. He had massive tusks curving out of his mouth and he wore furs beneath a rough chestplate made of interlocking sheets of metal. A lot of jewellery adorned his arms, tusks and ears. He carried a bone-white blade that curved at the tip and had a serrated back edge and a shield strapped to his back.

At the other end of the plain, Jaron tensed, his gaze hardening.

Under his breath he muttered, “Damn! I had hoped Reyneld had scattered your ashes across the Abyss, Tarbork!”