The power struggle between the Three Thrones had taken a toll on all nations, but none had suffered to the extent of the citizens of Selinófoto. Once a thriving nation inhabited predominantly by Lykans, Liontarí and Lágos, it was home to both beastkin and humans alike, a form of peaceful coexistence between races rarely seen on Moros. However, this all changed due to a political shift at their borders in the west.
The nation once known as Chutemarteau on the Nirion peninsula had seen a change both in name and leadership, seeing as the previous king was usurped by Beorn Tenebre, a former farmer turned war criminal, who would later become known as King Beorn the Ruthless, first king of Domitor. Nobody knew what had transpired within the nation to make such a quick change possible, but within the first month of King Beorn's rule, the nation now known as Domitor had taken over the neighbouring kingdom of Ferorg by crossing the mountain-range separating the two nations through an old tunnel-passage long forgotten by all others. How the king had gained information of such a tunnel even existing is widely disputed, but according to eyewitness reports from the time, it was relayed to him by a mysterious nameless Seer clad in yellow robes, which he had appointed as his court-mage shortly after taking over the country.
Taken completely by surprise and seeing its capital overrun by their invaders, Ferorg surrendered almost immediately to keep civilian loses at a minimum. The populace was not too happy about the sudden change in regime, especially after Domitor started drafting all able-bodied men and women and assigned them to work that would support the war effort.
To quell rebellions in their bud, King Beorn ordered the public execution of any who went against his orders along with their entire family, a most effective strategy. Shortly afterwards, he attacked the last remaining region of Nirion not under his control, Machina.
Unlike Ferorg, Machina was known for its, by human standards, overwhelming military strength both on land and water, thus putting a quick acquisition out of the question, or so they thought. Two months after Domitor had started its assault on Machina, their ports were attacked by demons of the Vepar and Focalor families, which had formed pirate syndicates that were feared all over the Mitis Ocean, which separated the desert continent Caligo from the human continent Corus. These demon-clans had allied themselves with Domitor so they may colonize parts of the conquered nation and strengthen their presence in the sea, as political tensions on Caligo had reached an all-time high.
Seeing as the merchants of Nirion had a long history of being attacked by demons, this decision was widely frowned upon, but what came next even topped this seemingly nonsensical alliance. In order to quickly expand their territory into the east, King Beorn hired the Shāyú Yá mercenaries, a tribe of orcs which had left their home to find an honourable death in battle, or so they said, as their real reason for joining Domitor was due to them having been exiled Guan due to the various crimes they committed. Opposition to the seemingly insane king started to rise, but again, where silenced by the royal guard, and Selinófoto too was forced into submission.
But how came the loyalty of the king's soldiers stood unwavering even when the king had first given order to execute rebels no matter their age or affiliation without mercy? The reason for this was a prophecy of the Dark Age, relayed to him by the Yellow Seer, of a catastrophe even greater than the cataclysm that had split the moon in two.
It was told that humanity had to stand as one and take the entire world under their control to even stand a chance against the evil that would soon make its way into the realm. At first, nobody but him believed in the prophecy, as similar predictions had been made countless times and not one of them came true.
However, deep within the catacombs of the royal palace laid a being chained to the walls by powerful magic, which had claimed to serve the great evil lurking in the unknown. The creature's biology defied all mortal understanding, and its grotesque appearance induced nausea in all unfortunate enough to be graced with its presence. It was as if a carcass that had rotted for ages at the bottom of the ocean had suddenly decided to climb onto land, its 5 unmatching eyes seemingly randomly placed on its skull, and its two mouths were filled with crooked, yellow teeth, which did not belong to any creature known to man.
The Yellow Seer himself took it upon him to interrogate the being, as the ear-grating noise of its voice made it near impossible for others to form coherent thoughts. Despite no progress being made in the interrogation, one glance at the abomination was enough for any soldier to swear their allegiance to the king of Domitor, as the mere thought of an entire army of such creatures made even those who prided themselves in their bravery shake in fear.
Two such skilled individuals were the brothers known as Castor and Pollux, members of the liontarí tribe of beastkin, which resembled humanoid felines. They were firm believers in the cause the rebels of the nation formerly known as Selinófoto stood for. To go against the tyrant and liberate their brethren, they would assassinate high-ranking officers and nobles who supported the regime.
Over the years, they were feared as the Fog of Death, as they used their vapour-elemental magic to create a curtain of mist which would completely hide their presence while they stalked their prey. However, the tell-tale fog would also announce their proximity, which prompted the current king of Domitor, Beorn V., to use himself as bait by arranging a festival in Selinófoto's former capital city and lure the two into a trap.
The brothers took the bait, and were swiftly dealt with by the king's guards, who wanted to execute them on the spot. Yet the king intervened, despite the duo having been the most feared criminals in the history of Domitor, with a bounty that not only included mountains of money but would even have included being made into lesser nobility, placed on their head.
The reason for this was a simple one:
Having the two on his side would even further increase his military power, as the infamy of the Fog of Death had quickly spread across the entire continent. However, the sight of the abomination confined within the deepest dungeon of Domitor did nothing to change the minds of the two assassins, which caused the King to afflict them with the slave-crest, the curse which chained a servant's life to the will of their master, to prevent them from ever going against his orders.
Shortly after the king's newest acquisition, rebel headquarters all across the kingdom were raided by royal guards, as the information regarding their whereabouts had been given away by the Fog of Death. Those who managed to escape the raids disbanded their groups and went into hiding to await an opportunity to revive their organisation. This opportunity presented itself in the Edenian War.
As most soldiers were needed at the battlefield, the rebels seized the opportunity and went straight for the capital, where their leader, Ophelia Sklíros, faced off against the Fog of Death, as they were tasked to guard the life of the king during the war.
The sight of her former comrades being shackled to the very tyrant they had spent most of their lives to try and rid themselves off pained her greatly, compelling her to end their misery, and therefore, their lives.
The battle was hard fought, but ultimately, the rebels emerged victorious, and the Fog of Death was no more. Upon reaching the king himself, they were confronted with the abomination of the king, controlled by the Seer clad in yellow. The king, full of confidence that they would not stand a chance against the creature, gave the command for his court-mage to release the monster and kill the rebels, but the Seer had other in mind, and let the monster target the king instead. The Yellow Seer had loathed the latest kings incompetence and ignorance to his counselling, which brought an end to centuries of nurturing the greatest piece in his plan to rule over the continent, as he never intended to go to war against the other members of the Three Thrones, at least not in this manner, as he wanted to make them distrust one another and collapse on their own instead before cleaning up whatever remained of them. With one last maniacal cackle as the monster had finished to tear through the body of the king, the Seer vanished, and the monster with him.
Nevertheless, an end to the war was still not in sight, as shortly after, an Unborn Lord had risen from the battlefield and brought a legion of undead under his control. The rebels, once fighting against the guards of the country that had suppressed them, now saw themselves fighting side by side with them against the hordes of undead which threatened the continent. Among them, Lady Sklíros, which had put an end to Castor and Pollux, became known as the war-hero Thirío Drakos, the Beastly Dragon, due to her violent temper and ability to use skills which mimicked those of dragons.
"...and this sums up what happened during your absence.", Liam Faex concluded his briefing of the events that had transpired in the timeframe the brothers had spent dead.
"And why do you tell us all of this? Aren't undead supposed to blindly obey their masters?", Castor asked.
"Yeah, that's what we thought at least!", Pollux chimed in.
"There is truth to that, but my mistress believes that there is much more benefit to be had by giving the two of you certain freedoms... that is, as long as you do not step out of line." Liam explained.
"Well, we will see about that, but if our demands are met, we will hardly complain.", Castor said with a sardonic smile.
"And what would those demands be?", Liam inquired, annoyed by the attitude of the liontari.
"An ample supply of prey is all we crave. It does not matter to us if someone else benefits from our actions, it never had before. Right Cas?", Pollux purred questioningly.
"Indeed, Lux.", the other answered in the same sickly-sweet way.
"I knew that we would come to an understanding.", Liam exclaimed happily, and ushered the two forward to meet his mistress.
"By the way, lich, is that mongrel still among the living, or mayhaps even under your control?", Castor asked, his expression having shifted to sinister anticipation.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"The one who ended your life? Do not worry, if you do not disappoint our mistress, she will surely grant you your revenge, as she did for me."
"Good...", the brothers mumbled in unison and continued to follow after the lich.
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Another slash, but Sara was quick to sidestep it. She was getting more and more annoyed at the two undead liontarí prancing around in the fog, but no matter how often they attacked, she managed to evade every single attack thrown her way. Soon after, the mist started to fade, and in front of her, the undead brothers had returned to the same position they had assumed at the beginning of their fight, leaning at the ruins of the castles gate with the smuggest of grins on their faces. Next to her, Haris was trying to catch his breath.
"Tch... you alright, Haris?", she asked while rising back on her feet, and earned herself a grunt of affirmation as her comrade did the same.
"Yeah, just a bit rusty, is all. I distinctly remember granny Ophelia mentioning how annoying those guys were, but never expected them to be this much of a nuisance.", he grumbled.
The mention of Ophelia's name caused the brothers to be ripped from their bored stupor and become more attentive immediately.
"Did he just say Ophelia? As in Sklíros?", Castor asked his brother.
"Did he say, granny, as in, grandmother?", Pollux replied with a question of his own.
"Yeah, what's it to ya?", Sara inquired, as the faces of the undead liontari started to distort into enraged grimaces.
"The one who wronged us?"
"The one who mocked us?"
"THE ONE WHO MURDERED US!"
"Her kin stands before us. What would she say?"
"Ooh, what would she indeed, if we brought her their heads?"
The ramblings of the two started to drive off into insanity as they kept going about how they had dreamed of this day to happen.
This caused Haris to shoot a questioning look at Sara, who was quick to reply.
"Granny told me of the two. They were apparently big names in the resistance against Domitor, loved by the people and feared by those who obeyed the regime, but once she had taken over the position of leader, she found out that they were just maniacs looking for easy victims to torture and murder. The only reason they had joined the resistance was so that they could murder and torture the targets they were assigned to while still remaining on good terms with the general populace, which was why she kicked them out. After that happened, they got mad at her and tried to assassinate the king of Domitor while putting the blame on granny and the rest of the resistance. However, they were too stupid to see that the king had used himself as bait, and they got themselves captured. The two would later claim that they were put under the slave-crest, but they just used that as an excuse to continue their murder-spree and be set for life in case the rebellion would manage to usurp the king. Granny just never told anyone about it after she defeated them because they were still regarded as tragic heroes by the people.", she stated, which ripped the two undead assassins out of their delirium.
"Did she call us stupid?"
"She called us maniacs!"
"Let us show her, Cas!"
"After you, Lux!"
And with that, the mist returned, and the two vanished from sight yet again.
"Haris, think you got this?", Sara asked as she evaded a blade thrown through the mist.
"No problem, let's end it quickly though, I can feel my leg acting up again.", she heard him grunt in affirmation.
Trusting in the words of her comrade, Sara closed her eyes and tried to determine the position of her attacker.
"...GOTCHA!", she yelled triumphantly as she lunged to her right, driving one of her swords into the hiding liontari's stomach, and the other one smashing into his head, though without cracking the skull. The hits to her opponent, which turned out to be Castor, did no real damage to him, as he was only startled by it.
He quickly remembered that he was no longer among the living, and thus would neither feel pain nor could be killed by this amount of damage, thus he jumped away from Sara and retreated back into the mist. Shortly after, she could hear a similar sound not too far away from her, which meant that Haris managed to see through the attack as well. Thus, the fog dissipated, and the brothers now stood visibly shaken in front of them, with Pollux missing his left arm.
"HAH! Did you really think these methods would work on us? You might be able to catch people off guard with your petty tricks, but there's nothing you can do we haven't been told about.", Haris gloated while spinning his halberd, causing the liontari's faces to contort into enraged grimaces.
"They are mocking us, Cas!"
"They will regret this, Lux!"
"Let us use her gift!"
"Good idea!"
The two joined hands, as Castor raised what looked like an uncut gem above their head.
"I won't let ya!", Sara barked at the two as she ran at them at full force.
However, right before she came into contact with them, a blinding light stopped her in her tracks, and she retreated from it. Replaced by the light was a new undead creature, seemingly born from the two liontari having fused together.
The creature was almost as tall as the walls behind it. Three arms, which held the three scimitars of Castor and Pollux, sprouted out of its back and a single head, which was now covered by the combined scarfs of the two brothers on top of it. Its chest, which had opened up during the transformation and transformed into what appeared to be a vertical maw with jagged teeth, which was comprised of ribs in all kinds of different sizes and arrangements, now did nothing to conceal what was beyond it:
Wedged into the remnants of their rotten organs was the very same stone that had caused their transformation.
Sara and Haris looked at the undead abomination in horror, but an intimidating roar, which reminded them of that of a dragon, quickly ripped them out of their stupor.
"What the hell did that stone do to them?", Haris asked, as he readied his weapon.
"Beats me, but who cares? It's not as if growing a few sizes changes anyth- ", Sara answered, but before she managed to finish her sentence, the being sprang into action, and with speed far beyond anything someone of this size should have been confined to, attacked Haris with all three of its swords.
The seasoned veteran reacted quickly to the assault, but blocking the attack with his halberd caused him to be flung several yards backwards, and his weapon to break in the middle.
Seeing as Haris would not be able to take another hit, Sara now engaged the creature by herself, but even though she made sure to attack the creature's blind-spot, her own sword was blocked by two of the undead giant's scimitars. The reason for this made itself known in a face on its back peeking out of the shreds of leather armour still clinging to the undead creature, which started to hiss at her.
"Eugh, so that's what happened to the second one. How cute...", she remarked sarcastically, before dodging the third arm now heading towards her.
"You okay, Haris?", she called out to her comrade as she tried to gain some distance, which ultimately failed, as the abomination always closed in on her in an instance.
Instead of getting a direct answer, however, a large spear sunk into the face on the creatures back, causing it to stumble and growl in anguish.
'Guess that's a yes?', she thought with a grin, as she used the distraction to drive her own weapon into the giant undead.
"Greet the devil in hell from me, ya freaks!", Sara cried out, as she channelled all of her anima into her short swords, causing them to glow red-hot.
The necrotic energy of the walking corpse quickly reacted to the glowing metal, causing it to catch on fire and spreading the flames across its entire back. Sara quickly dodged the flailing arms of the undead as it frantically tried to put out the growing inferno on its body. However, the futility of its actions seemed to set in, and the undead let out a blood-curdling screech, before charging Haris, who had already picked up another spear from the ground to throw it at the creature, which know had all three arms flailing around as it charged him like a rhino.
Despite throwing his weapon with all his might into the undead's face, it did nothing to stop the blazing inferno that closed in on him at a frightening speed. He tried to dodge, but the giant had anticipated this, and stretched out his arms in the last second, as if he was trying to hit him with a running lariat.
Though the blade of the scimitar was extended too far away to hit, since the undead creature could not see Haris due to the spear lodged in its head, the arm to which it was attached did not miss its target. Sara could see the white lykan try to block the giant arm with both of his own, but it was as if he tried to stop a house thrown at him by a tornado. With a sickening crack, Haris was knocked to the ground by the creature, which shortly after stumbled and crashed to a halt a few yards away from them, where it remained unmoving.
"no...NO!", Sara yelled out, as she sprinted towards Haris's body, which laid unconscious on the floor.
"Come on! Don't do this to me! Haris! Please!", she yelled, her voice wavering in panic as she checked his vitals.
She could hear the faint pulse of a weakening heartbeat, but the lykan had stopped breathing. Reacting quickly, she used a technique her grandmother taught her, which used fire-anima to stimulate the body's natural regeneration and focus it on vital organs.
"Come on! COME ON!", she yelled out in frustration, as she poured more and more anima into the body of Haris.
Just as she was about to break down into tears, a gasp for air escaped Haris, and he started to cough.
Haris's eyes opened weakly, causing Sara to break down in tears of joy.
"...did I get hit by a mountain or something?", he asked confused between pained breathes, as all of his ribs seemed be broken.
"Something like that...yeah.", Sara answered meekly as she tried and failed to wipe her face free of tears.
"Hey, you didn't think I'd croak here, did you? I still haven't told you I love you, did I now?", he continued with a grin, prompting Sara to hold back to not crush him with a hug, but instead kiss him passionately. After the moment had passed, the two stayed in each other's embrace for a while.
"Guess the feeling's mutual then, eh?", Haris chuckled, before grunting in pain.
Sara could not help but snicker at this, before rising to her feet and carefully hoisting Haris on her back.
"Let's continue this back in town, okay?"
"I'm looking forward to it."