The ground rumbled then started breaking apart. Out of it, a massive temple emerged.

A sense of familiarity hit Tillon, like he’d seen it all before, a sense just before a flood of forgotten memories… other emotions ran inside him, overshadowing this uncanniness.

“Halt!” Hound roared, echoes of his voice reaching miles away. The god took out a pocket watch then chanted something in a tongue Tillon couldn't understand. Shafts of black smoke swirled out of the watch and grabbed soldiers who stood closest to Hound. The poor men broke into panic before convulsing. Finally, green smoke appeared around their eyes.

Utter fear engulfed the whole army and massive groups of soldiers started backing off from Hound.

“It’s not a battle like I thought,” Melodra said. “It’s something... like a sorcery ritual, isn’t it?”

“Whatever it is, we have got to stop it--”

Tillon had sensed it and he was right: something in the sight of an army being possesed brought memories he never knew he had . Pictures appeared of him stuck in an orphanage, serving sorcerers, him facing the powers that be with Guardian inside a temple, him witnessing Guardian make a deal.

“What…” he could only utter to himself.

Some soldiers hastened their pace of retreat while others started breaking rank as Hound’s sorcery engulfed more and more.

Tillon looked around. Inside the chaos, a green army moved against the grain, advancing while all the other soldiers retreated.

Without another thought, Tillon rode after them. As he got closer, the Swords of the Guardians became faster as well, as he had to stop and evade heaps of fearful men, the Swords slowed. He was stuck, screaming for people to move out of the way.

His steed must’ve sensed the desperation in his voice and galloped at full speed, blowing every obstacle out of the way without a second thought.

Tillon’s eyes locked on Finn. “Stop!” he shouted. “We were wrong! Stop!”

Finn managed to stop the army barely a couple dozen feet away from the Hound, shouting orders and flinging commands with raised hands.

“What is it with you, boy?!”

“It’s sorcery! Hound’s using sorcery to draw power from this army!”

Hound laughed without and shook his pocket watch. The slight movement let more smoke come out of it which formed a barrier around the army of feeling men.

“You’re smart for a human.”

“Why do you need all these men when the power you sacrificed to save me, the power that has been in my blood all these years, is more than enough? You don’t need anyone except for me!” Tillon spoke with passion in his voice.

“That’s true, but, as someone who’s lived by orders, who’s never truly led, you don’t understand one thing: power is power. Indeed, I came to the Indigo mansion all for you, but, stepping through the door, I had a realization. I could get so much more power if I drew from all your forces combined. I could have more than a fighting chance to reclaim the Hall of Ceremony, before that fool Hunter dooms us all.”

“You’ll kill hundreds of thousands just for power?”

“For power that will save the world...” Hound said, getting slightly annoyed. “One question remains: how will you stop me? I know your memories have returned and you know you have power, but how will you use it? No one--no ordinary sorcerer, no priest--will teach you.”

“Then I guess I will fight you the classic way.”

“Finally, you’ve made your mind.” Finn drew his sword and all the Swords of the Guardians followed, Melodra and Devina having just arrived.

The other soldiers were already far away and in terror -- the company had to finish the matters on their own.

Before swords started swinging and guns started firing, out of the army of men in green, a lonesome old man in rags emerged. His skin was plagued and hair was full of bloodstains. The man ordered in a foreign language.

Tillon’s eyebrow furrowed.

“Hunter?” Hound said.

“Hunter,” the man in rags spoke, now in the common tongue. “Jack returned to me. We’re already in the depths of the Hall of Ceremony.”

“So you’ll try to save Helen and let Everia run loose, ravaging the world?”

“What else is there to do? You know me well, Hound.”

“Humans don’t have words to explain how bad of an idea that is, but I could say ‘coradage sa cora v’blogisare,’” Hound said. “At least it’s better than the ideas the others had.”

“The others have plans?”

“They will let Jack see the truth, if you haven’t told him already, and will give him all the strength they have collected in the prairie.”

“He’ll kill me and Everia then he’ll kill you.”

“You’re still calling it Everia?”

“That thing is not her.”

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“But it is and it doomed us. Now, you’re in the Hall of Ceremony, but… why have you come here and why in this odd shape?”

“Sure, sure… I’ve got no clue why the Cups of Eternity put me here, like this.”

“Oh.” Hound put a hand in his pocket and took out an arrow. “You’re here for this.”

“Is that what I think it is?”

“The wrds are one the arrowhead.” Hound chucked it at Hunter. “Now, run from here. Run as fast as you can.”

Hunter shot Hound a questioning look.

“A vision of the Cups of Eternity lets Everia break out into the place and time where you are. It takes you back to ‘reality’, but also causes havoc after you leave,” Hound said. “I know because I myself once conjured their power. You don’t know because… it happened right before we were driven away from the Hall of Ceremony.”

“That means--” Hunter stopped mid sentence, fear filled his eyes and he broke into a run.

Tillon raised his sword back up. “Melodra,” he said, trying to get the attention of the dazed company.

“You heard this Hunter,” she said. “He’s disappeared. He’s just unleashed something terrible upon us.”

An aura of white smoke--like the one that had appeared in the Indigo mansion--started to swirl around Hound’s head. He let go of his dogs and fired smoke which flung soldiers to the hounds to be mauled.

***

With every person they slaughtered, the hounds became larger whilst more tendrils of smoke crashed into the soldiers..

Tillon’s horse neighed and frantically jumped around.

Tillon gripped the reins as hard as he could with his left and steadied his revolver with his right. He’d lost his hope to get near Hound.

The Swords of the Guardians who’d rushed in had formed a wall of corpses around the god.

Melodra and Devina rode in circles around it, firing nonstop. Devina managed to slip through a few times, slicing the power a couple of times.

A clearing right where his revolver’s barrel aimed opened up. Tillon took the opportunity, emptying his gun.

All the bullets hit the god and turned to dust, only his attention to Tillon. A shaft of white smoke fired into the sky.

Tillon’s shaking hands reloaded his revolver then aimed it, but froze as his eyes caught a glimpse of the sky.

A huge lightning-like bolt of smoke crashed into his steed and smaller tendrils decimated the area around it. All the men who were near fell dead or corrupted.

He’d jumped away just at the right time.

Dirt rained down.

He put his hand over his head and stood up, revolver aimed straight at Hound. He shook his head and aimed at the massive dogs. The gun in his grip thundered six times.

Six huge wounds appeared on the dog’s head. It whimpered and blood splattered from it, but it returned to mauling everything living around it.

“Stop wasting your ammo on Hound!” Tillon ordered, realizing what fools he and his army were. “Fire at the dogs!”

Hundreds of bullets, swords and spears hit the animals. They slowed down even more, blood covering every inch of their fur.

“Come on!” Tillon shouted, bringing heat into his men’s hearts. “We can do a whole lot more!” he threw his own sword.

The blade soared and chopped off one of the dogs’ head off. The body that remained turned to stone.

Finn shouted something, yet the chaos of the battle obscured his words. A group of around a hundred men, half of what remained of the Swords of the Guardians, formed behind him. Finn shouted one last cheer and rushed Hound’s dog.

Tillon grinned as the adrenaline of the battle and the euphoria of leading other men mixed. He gestured for more men to join Finn’s rush, but then his smile dropped.

The dog had made a brutal last stand, killing everyone, apart from two, who’d rushed it.

Tillon’s heart dropped and he stumbled back.

Bruised up, bloody and without their steeds, Melodra and Devina returned by his side.

“The odds ain’t in our favor!” Devina said.

“That white smoke took at least thirty thousand soldiers already,” Melodra spoke, despair on her face. “And all but a handful of our company are dead.”

The aura of smoke grew larger around Hound, the tentacles were everywhere and surrounded the massive army like a storm.

“No, no, no,” Tillon repeated. “We’re not lost yet.”

He backed away from Hound and found a small hill of three dead horses. He climbed atop them and cleared his throat.

Hound brought his attention to Tillon and fired a pair of slow tendrils of smoke.

“What is this fear inside of you?! You are soldiers. Indeed, you’re from different lands and your rulers bicker, but this is not about that. Who cares that your nation is better when a bigger enemy wipes you all out?! Don’t you think we should stand together and fight as one?! Not as a nation, a company or alliance, but as humanity against the alien!” Tillon roared. His voice cracked and his vocal cords started to fail, but he didn’t care as long as what he said was heard.

The soldiers stopped retreating and skirmishing. They froze and murmurs went through their ranks. Then, they drew whatever weapons they had--swords, revolvers, daggers, shotguns--and charged Hound.

Tillon turned and smiled. “This is it,” he said to Melodra and Devina as a sea of men passed all around. “I don’t know what this battle will mean. Perhaps it is in vain or maybe not. We do not know our enemy, yet it knows us inside out. Though I don’t care. I know I will fight. Not only because it’s my duty as a soldier, but also because this has been my dream. I hope you join this final stand. If not, then please, save yourselves and don’t die running.”

Melodra and Devina nodded and turned to Hound as well.

Tillon grabbed a sword off the ground and loaded his revolver with his final bullets. Then, he charged with allies and enemies by his side.

A mountain of soldiers rose around the Hound. Swords shattered as they tried to pierce the god, bullets evaporated and men fell to the white smoke. Some, who weren’t killed and whose eyes had dyed green, turned against the living soldiers.

The battle raged like the fury of hell.

Tillon fired his last bullets and sliced through the ranks of corrupted men. He wiped the blood off the sword in his hand and climbed the huge hill of the dead around Hound. He jumped at the god, but froze mid air.

A tentacle of smoke caught him, burning every inch of his skin. Hound stared down at Tillon, glimmers of white smoke visible where his eyes would be…

The agony was worse than death and felt like it lasted for centuries...

Worst of all…

...Hound chose not to kill him.

***

He slumbered through the windy pine forests of Rednaro. He had lost control of his mind and his body, yet he could still perceive everything that happened.

A sea of corrupted men walked behind. This army was quiet. It stopped once having reached a massive wrought iron fence.

Tillon started to climb it.

A growl sounded from within the shade of the trees. A pack of wild wolves emerged and started to feast on the corrupted men who still hadn’t started climbing the fence. Then, one more wolf--with orange eyes and large scar--jumped out and darted towards Tillon.

He waved his arms trying to fight the beast.

The wolf gnawed and brought him down. It ripped his chest open and feasted upon his guts.

Tillon’s mind managed to break through the control of Hound and his lips shook. He mustered up two words:

“Thank you.”

He’d lived his whole life trying to forge a destiny, reach his goals of greatness. Many years brought him no closer, except for these last days. Though all of it was deception.

He fought by the skin of his teeth, but, in the end, he had to realize: he couldn’t decide his destiny.