The invasion of Zagliastrua chapter 4- Why does it always have to start at night?
The devastating sound of multiple explosions abruptly interrupted Leind's sleep, who lifted his head from the pillow in confusion. No time passed for him to wonder what it was happening that immediately, he heard the sound of an elven horn.
He did not remember that sound but it was not difficult to understand what was happening.
This means….
Putting his head on the pillow he begged the skies to continue his rest.
pleasepleaseplease let it be anything but the invasion...
Hurd's voice, who was already on his feet, startled him
"Leind get your ass up! This is the horn of the invasion, I'm not sure how it's possible but they are here"
NOW? Of all the possible moments NOW?
Considering the hours he felt he had slept, Leind guessed the time was between deep night and the beginning of dawn.
In a hurry, he donned his combat armor and picked up the dwarven weapon, delivered to him a few days earlier, along with his old sword, companion of many adventures, and headed for the exit of the tent.
The light was dim and faint and it was early dawn, as he had guessed after waking up.
Loudly Londse's voice echoed throughout the encampment, "Platoons Sword of Oricalcos and Bloody Scabbards take up positions in front of the valley! Platoons Grey Fang and Night Strike deploy behind the first two, the others prepare artillery at a distance!" he was commanding all of his elite groups to get into formations. Wasting no time each of them arranged themselves.
As soon as they were all positioned Leind noticed something in front of him, that had not caught his attention before. Now he wondered how it had been possible not to notice it earlier.
The valley was immense, it might have contained several small villages within it and the size of the thing emerging in the center of the valley itself would have obscured any of them. A black portal loomed so high, it looked like a small mountain, while its width was such that it occupied over a fifth of the entire valley. All around the portal the land was wasted and destroyed.
Words were not coming out of his mouth
Impossible! Such a thing is not possible!
Leind had never heard of portals larger than a medium-sized house, and those alone required dozens and dozens of experienced sorcerers with synchronized movements, all with a large reserve of mana and life energy. Opening a double fracture in the fabric of reality required enormous efforts. And now before him loomed something paradoxical...
Was it perhaps an illusion? It was impossible, an illusion would not have created a magical wave capable of destroying all the traps set in the valley...
While he was lost in his thoughts the arrival of three powerful discharges of essence swept through the entire valley. The three big shots that had been talked about had finally arrived and they had each positioned themselves at one side of the valley, almost forming a triangle of separation. To Leind's eye, that distance was nothing absurd, and so he had a chance to observe those three legends "up close".
The first to stand out in Leind's eye was Kserma, the ruler of the neutral lands. She was a woman of undoubted beauty albeit with a very large scar that furrowed her face from her left cheek to her right eye, which was closed. Short, black hair contrasted with the armor she wore, which was completely made of gold and had distinctive and delicate ornaments. She kept her right hand firmly on the pommel of the sword while her left hand held the shield, which size was that of a grown man.
Leind could watch the seriousness in her unhesitating expression, which reflected both confidence in her abilities and an awareness of how dangerous was the situation.
The thing that stood out most, was the immense Golden Lion at Kserma’s side, large as four men, with a golden glowing-colored body and eyes resembling two suns. Those spiritual beasts, considered sacred in some cultures, were as rare as they were dangerous! The harmony between the woman and the lion was undeniable; after all, Leind well remembered the sad history of the order of the Golden Kings on which tales were also told to frighten children.
Still, now was not the time to get lost in childhood memories and Leind shifted his gaze from the warrior ruler to the second of the three big shots.
Hisey of the Storm, the so-called prodigy of Ksamin, wore a unique dark-blue suit decorated with golden lines at the edges and in the center; he also wore steel gloves and leggings, probably of a particularly durable type. The boy with no hesitation had his gaze fixed on the portal and what struck Leind was the expression on Hisey's face. He did not look like a soldier ready for war, no.... he looked like a child ready to unwrap the gifts promised by his parents. He must have been about Leind's age when he had joined the army but that sorcerer's expression of excitement was so uncanny as to give a soldier as he the chills. Now as never before Leind was thanking fate for having him on his side.
Last, but not least, was Sharden, the famous Oneironauta. She was the leader of Deloa's army and was now in her full battle gear. It was hard to notice her features given the helmet that covered her face up to the middle of her nose. The only notable body characteristic was her long red hair that waved in the wind, which had started to rise.
The most peculiar thing was her armor that distinguished itself over any other ever seen. The material was something Leind, personally, didn't know what was. It shone, reflecting the dawn's light, and was so adherent to Sharden's body to look like cloth. Moreover, the whole armor was furrowed with small orange lines that outlined precise geometric shapes on it. Watching closely it was like the very light of the sun was carved into her body. An orange crystal ball stood out in the center of her armor, at Sharden's chest level, while veils of energy, with a color similar to the crystal itself, departed from her shoulders and arms, moving in harmony with the movements of the oneironauta's hair.
Firmly in Sharden’s hands was a spear as distinctive as the armor, which also emitted splashes of orange light. The material looked a lot similar to the one that covered the warrior. It was said that she had split a mountain with her spear, and now that Leind saw her before him and felt the passive power she emitted, he had only one question:
Had she split just one?
Leind, observing those three sorcerers, which seemed so confident and powerful, had, for a few seconds, forgotten about that horrible dark rift that was looming before them. It was Londse's yell, which echoed in his ears, that brought him back into reality "Be ready to send to Medriot whatever comes out of that damned hole!".
In the distance he could hear the other generals, both from Ksamin and from the other countries, saying very similar things, albeit, in different languages. Leind had no trouble imagining the usual speeches made before a battle; He did not know if this would be his last but, damn them all, it was anything but his first.
At last, a noise began to echo through the valley and a few figures began to emerge from the dark portal. Although from a distance they looked very small, thanks to his sight Leind estimated them to be over 40 feet tall. They were almost completely naked, hunched over, with giant shoulders, long arms, and armor covering their bellies and backs; they were the so-called titans of the earth.
Following them was a handful of smaller and indistinguishable creatures, surely various pseudo-sentient races, all armed with the most disparate tools. Some creatures were unrecognizable, looking like abominations of nature, while others were more distinguishable.
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For the sacred and benevolent Medriot...
There were tens, no hundreds of thousands of them and they did not hint at halting to come out of the portal...
How many...how many had they gathered?
Attacking them before the total muster would have been futile. It was common knowledge that a fracture in the dimensions provided protection in both areas until the fracture closed itself. Moreover, attacking early would have caused those troops, and all those behind them, to move earlier than expected, taking away valuable time for both their and allied artilleries to prepare stronger spells, which unfortunately was not feasible pre-battle.
Finally from the portal, emerged a large throne, held by four swamp giants, unclean, filthy, fat, and tall beings of about sixteen feet. Following the throne were thousands of human beings, the clothing was very disparate but they all had one thing in common, completely black eyes with grey irises, at least for the one whose face was uncovered, and a black pendant around their necks. They were undoubtedly the Lord's cultists.
Immediately after the cultist parade, followed an entire army composed of tens of thousands of skeletons! Leind had heard of sorcerers capable of reanimating the dead... apparently, some of these were in the Lord's army. How fortunate!
The throne, composed of some black ore, was as immense as it was simple. It was made of perfectly smooth cubes and parallelepipeds that made it look as if it had formed itself in the darkness of a mountain, untouched by human hands. Seated on the throne stood out a figure, a little larger than a man of ample stature.
The first Lord had appeared.
He had white skin sprinkled with black veins, a black crown, two additional arms behind his back, probably composed of Essence, and an immense hole in the center of his chest that certainly made him stand out from the rest. The Lord dressed only in a cassock, tattered and black, surrounded by black chains with a violet glowing.
Among all of the monstrous characteristics of the Lord, two things caught the eye. The first was the eyes of that being, black with a gray iris from which gushed tears of a deep blackness, Leind did not know how else to describe them ... it seemed to stare into a horrible abyss, it seemed to have ended up in a world without light, without life or death, an endless pit full of despair. The second was his presence…There was no need for the throne, the arms, the hole, or even those fearful eyes. Leind had known it right away, it seemed as if existence itself had lost its meaning as if he had been isolated from the whole world, alone and impotent before that obscure god... All of this just the after that being had stepped through the portal.
What was someone like Leind doing there? He was nothing compared to that monster. Wasn't it better to end it now instead of waiting for a slow and painful death?
His hand trembling and damp from sweat had begun to pull the second weapon out of its scabbard.
It was really better to get it over with. One sharp blow and all would be...
Just in time, he grabbed his arm with all the willpower he could muster.
NO!
NO!
His breathing was labored, his vision fogged, and his ears were ringing while his whole body was shaking. But he had managed to hold on.
Now he understood why only elite troops had been sent to the Valley while the base troops were deployed back in defense of the various cities of the island. Whoever would have suffered those effects without an adequate base force would have ended his life in a matter of moments...
Gradually looking around him Leind saw many others, who like him, were either out of breath or trembling. He glimpsed Hurd also full of sweat, Akser looked better than them but not completely fine while on the other hand General Londse did not seem to blink, in contrast to many others. Past the visual fog, he noticed the other lines as well.
The people of Sanctum, who arrived together with Retn Names, had made strange movements and were now surrounded by magma automatons, now a whole army ready to follow the nobles of Sanctum into the battle. Leind didn't catch how they were able to do that but apparently, Retn Names wasn't lying, now before him, there were thousands of automatons.
The elves started to pray while beings composed of branches, earth, and Essence began to rise beside them.
The dwarfs, which at the end came with their weapons, entered their metal automatons, which slowly raised, even if in a completely different way from the ones from Sanctum.
The immense warriors of Vernem, whose faces were barely visible due to the giant helmets and armors they wore, seemed to have been illuminated by an inner light and now their helms and joints shone like giant flashlights of white fire.
Deloa's soldiers stood as still as Ksamin's own soldiers waiting for an order.
Will seemed to have abandoned no one. The enemies would have had to do much worse to end the war so quickly.
Then, as if it were requested, they did worse...
"Why do you resist?"
A voice began to echo in his head. It was calm and melancholy, charged with a sense of heartbreaking sadness. Just hearing it, began to tear Leind's mind apart... The Lord was talking into their minds and Leind was forced by an irresistible urge to look at the monster.
"You fight to live an ephemeral existence, short and sprinkled with pain, to leave marks that in time will disappear. Is this your reason for living? Do you not feel the weight of the chains that this cursed circle imposes on you? To live, to fight, to struggle for a future that is nothing but a disappointing illusion."
A small pause followed by the gesture of spreading his arms
It was pure torture. That damn strong sense of oppression again. Leind was in the dark again, isolated from the rest of the world and accompanied only by that frightening voice.
"We can all together remedy the problem here, right now. Oblivion awaits us."
No, get out of my fucking head you fucking monster! GET OUT!!!
No matter how hard he tried, he felt his will slowly being worn down by the Lord's presence. Surely almost everyone there had to feel like him... Soon his body would be moving on its own.
Not like this, Not like this, Not like this...
"Let yourself be fre..."
Suddenly that sense of oppression vanished and Leind returned to reality.
An immense energy with an orange hue covered the entire valley. Sharden had made the first move and neutralized the Lord's strange mental power with her own. Leind turned his gaze, filled with admiration, toward that warrior. She had surely saved many fighters from an ignominious end, before the beginning of the real war.
"SCREW THIS!" a frightening scream, too much to be natural, began to echo through the valley. Leind had only time to look in the direction of Hisey, the boy prodigy, that the latter, releasing a monstrous amount of essence, thrust himself in the Lord's direction. Hisey was practically in the opposite direction of the valley, almost hundreds of kilometers away from them, yet the shockwave that reached Leind was as strong as the strongest wind he ever felt.
The destruction of the part of the ground, where the mighty sorcerer had previously stood, accompanied by a thunderous sound, did not even give Leind time to look for Hisey, who had launched himself straight at the most frightening being he had ever seen. As soon as he turned his head to look at what was going to happen, a thunderous roar shook his ears.
Turning his gaze back to the valley he was stunned... At the spot where the portal and the entire enemy army were, now stood a dome of transparent crystal. That dome was so large that it could have contained an entire large village within it and had appeared out of nowhere in a fricking instant! Much faster than even the camp of Retn Names...
Looking closer he could see that in the center of the dome, Hisey had struck his first blow, cracking it slightly.
Had all this happened in that small handful of seconds?
Hurd, next to him, had started to mutter "Holy shit, what the-" he must have been at least as confused as Leind was. His companion was not able to finish the sentence as he stared back into the valley.
The small cracks on the dome expanded until they covered the entire width of the giant construct and, after a moment's pause, it shattered into thousands of pieces that, instead of falling into the valley, partly remained suspended in midair turning into crystalline beings and partly headed toward a common point.
In the center of this spectacle, practically in front of Hisey, was forming a skeleton, made of the same substance as the dome, with mighty wings, an armor of colors that went on the metallic but with a luster completely different from any metal ever observed. It seemed that everything belonging to that monster shone like the crystal of which it was composed.
There was no doubt about it, the aura it conveyed, so different yet at the same time so similar to the other being... In the valley, the second Lord had just appeared.
The monster, now fully formed with two big wings and horns on his skeletal face, had burst into laughter as thunderous as it was deep
"FINALLY AN INTERESTING ONE. I LIKE IT! YOU WILL BE THE FIRST ENTERTAINMENT OF THE DAY!"
The voice was loud, so loud it made one's head droop at just the sound of it. But when Leind had forced himself to lift his head again and looked up to observe Hisey, the boy seemed not at all shaken, neither by the quick series of events nor by those words.
Indeed, the retort that followed left little room for interpretation: Hisey had simply thrown himself headlong again, this time toward the new lord, with the same excited look he had the first time.
The movements that followed were too quick to follow and the only sign of battle were the devastating sounds that thundered over the valley.
Finally, the titans let out the first war cries and began their charge, the smaller monsters started to follow them as the cultists began to prepare their spells.
Abandoning all hesitation, his forehead still beaded with sweat, Leind gripped his two swords, so hard that his own knuckles turned white. He let out a shout with all the breath in his lungs and then charged. He was soon followed by all his comrades while also in the other allied lines, there were roars and shouts as they forcefully threw themselves inside the valley.
As Leind ran toward the enemies, giving the artillery time to prepare the heaviest shots, he thought of his family, of how much he wished they survive this war. By now he had no more doubts, he would have given his life so that his loved ones, like all civilians in Ksamin and other continents, would have a future.
The war had begun, and they would have won it, no matter what the cost.