Aila patted Ryan on the back. He wasn’t comfortable in the cold winds and he let out a displeased noise that vibrated through his body.
“Not far now.” Aila looked in the distance. A silhouette was re- vealed as the blizzard thinned for a few seconds.
***
In the cold skies above the Stoha Mountains, a lonely figure flew through the peaks. Red and gold wings appeared on his back, flap- ping occasionally as he flew against the wind.
Anthony dove lower; his wings flapped to cut his momentum as he came upon a cave. His wings stabilized him as he stepped into the cave.
There was a sadness in his motions as he walked into the cave.
He reached the traps, turning into a black fog that shot across them all, not disturbing any of them. He reached the repaired wall.
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Anthony touched it and Bruce sent out his power. The wall cracked and turned, creating a doorway. Anthony passed through and walked through the hallway.
97
Reaching the end, he stood within the tomb of the Guardians. Row upon row rested men and women of all races who had stood together, who had given their lives for a better tomorrow. For those they had sworn to protect, they had laid down everything.
Anthony felt a pressure rest on him as he looked at them, some- thing that gripped his very soul. These men and women deserved all of the respect he could conjure.
His eyes swept over them all, seeing the Guardian emblem up- on their tombstones, seeing names he didn’t understand before, but now brought back memories of joy: When he had a beer with them in some tavern, when they had met up and ventured forward into the unknown, or shared a journey to the next town over. Training with them to defend Dena. Working to bring down criminal or- ganiza- tions and clear the lands. Eating hard food in unforgiving places and cracking a joke, laughing; despite it all—maybe even be- cause of it all—they needed those moments.
Anthony took strength from those memories. He felt twisted in- side. Others would see these stones, these names, and they would think of the sacrifice, but they didn’t know the person; they didn’t know the brightness they brought, their favorite jokes, the way they doted on their children, or were chased around by their
other halves.
Knowing all of that, Anthony was nearly brought to his knees in grief.
He walked on, knowing that those here didn’t want his pity or his despair. They had stood for their watch; they had carried out their duty and so would he.
He entered the temple where his broken statue lay and his sar- cophagus had been torn apart.
He let out a snort. “An easier time.” Anthony touched the hole in the tombstone that had been caught around his neck.
He looked at the other tombs. The names here were people he had become friends with, become family with.
“Well, I guess you’ll be wondering what I was doing since I woke up from my nap,” Anthony said, sitting on his sarcophagus.
It crunched slightly; “Ahh!” he yelled, windmilling before he fell backwards.
“Solid rock, just the way I like it. Can’t get that proper firmness with those goose feather beds, that’s for sure!” Anthony’s voice echoed out of his sarcophagus. “Totally meant to go that!”
“So, well, when I left here, I was heading to the south to the Deepwood to meet with the high elves. Still living above that big wa- terfall—place got bigger, too! Met up with a gnome called Tommie, shier but lively—you know, wanted to see the world and was working on a project. You would have wanted to meet him, Tairlyn. Though I’m getting ahead of myself ! Right, so when we left here, we ran into a caravan of a bunch of dwarves heading down south...”
Anthony recounted his adventure, to the southern deeps of the Deepwood, to the eastern shores of Selenus, across the sea to Epan and Ilsal to reunite with Damien and Claire.
“She’s still as beautiful as ever and I thought it about time to make Damien a Guardian. Did it in one shot.” Anthony felt deep pride and he smiled to himself and continued the tale: The crusade to Radal to reclaim the tower. The emergence of Drafeng. How the people, even in this time of turbulence, with some well-adjusted Guardian help, were pushing back.
There was a forlornness in his voice as the happiness, the joy, and excitement withered.
He got up and out of his tomb.
“Well, I don’t think I can hang out anymore. I don’t know if there will be someone to bring back these old bones to rest here.” He chuckled and tapped on Tairlyn and Troga’s tombs. “I guess
that they didn’t want you coming back all pissed off at the crafters. They made your tomb as big as Troga’s, Stone Hammer.”
He patted them one more time and headed out of the under- ground mausoleum.
He looked back over his shoulder, resting one hand on his blade, and raised his hand as he kept walking forward. “I’ll be head- ing out now. Rest easy.” He waved to them as he left.
A green, red, gold, and black mist formed from his limbs, con- gealing into his familiars.
The four had solemn expressions as they bowed to the fallen, holding for a few seconds before they turned to mist once again, re- turning to Anthony.
Silence returned to the mausoleum, once again undisturbed. In the distance, one might hear stone scratch against stone.
***
Tommie marched with the United Army from Radal and Selenus. There were still tensions within the ranks, though they had been pushed since the collapse of the line. They couldn’t deny that there were creatures coming from another plane, entering Dena, looking to slaughter the people of Dena and consume its power.
The first couple of camps that they had engaged hadn’t had much time to set up, making them weaker and unprepared.
Now the camps that they found could have one or two conver- sion towers and decent fortifications.
They could no longer surprise attack the fortifications as they had roaming patrols of chaotic beasts and Drafeng.
The wildlife around the Drafeng crystal fortresses were either de- stroyed as the mana in the area was sucked dry, or they were twisted by the Drafeng chaotic power.
Now the army was moving toward the north. The paths that they had fought on before, they were now marching up, side by side, headed toward the infamous Shivernsin Stronghold that was able to weather Radal and Selenus’ assaults.
Snow came down heavily in the mountains, blanketing the force.
They huddled in their clothes and armor.
A ripple ran through the force as they saw a fiery comet arcing across the sky.
It seemed to be dropping toward them.
“Show-off,” Tommie said. But the corner of his mouth twitched. He moved to the edge of the marching formation and held up the Gnominator’s hand.
The “comet” altered its direction, resolving itself into a man with wings. He flapped his wings, cutting his momentum rapidly.
A wash of wind and dust covered Tommie and he turned away. The glow from the man died down and Tommie looked over to
Anthony.
“You always like to make a grand entrance.” “Just like fast ones,” Anthony said.
“Why didn’t you drop out of the sky then?”
“Well, that gets my armor dirty.” Anthony pulled a cloth out of his “neck” and started to polish his armor.
“How are the flames going?” Tommie asked as they walked to- ward the army once again. He had grown up quickly, not knowing whether his father was alive or dead; he continued to carry out his tasks and duties without complaint.
“I must’ve got tens of cities and towns. I helped out where I could. There are Drafeng everywhere, it seems.”
“You heard from Aila?”
“I haven’t. Claire said that she was able to reach her home. Sounds like there was some trouble but Aila dealt with it. She is on her way back to Shivernsin as we speak,” Anthony said. “Have you heard anything about Cheon?”
“I heard that they were able to establish a beachhead and
a de- fense. They’re having a hell of a time pushing into Cheon with the Drafeng there. They’re getting reinforcements. Tamarra has shifted
the armies that were supposed to be going to Radal and Selenus to assist.”
“Damien has turned control of Selenus over to the clan spirit council. They will be in command until the end of the war. The beast kin are gathering together, pushing through Selenus. A net- work of Guardian Flames has been established. We are pushing back the Drafeng. It looks like they weren’t truly prepared to launch their war and were spurred on by the changes in Ascen.”
“In the last war, you must’ve severely weakened them,” Tommie said.
“Though, I can’t help but feel uneasy. The Drafeng might look like brutes, but they’re smart. They’ve planned this attack for cen- turies. They’ve returned to the Northern Basin just like they did be- fore.” Anthony sighed and then shook his head.
“They know the lay of the land, and although we can stop them coming out, it will be hard to nearly impossible to push them back into the Northern Basin with all of the routes blocked by them.
“We are pushing them back now, but still we don’t have the strength to dig them out. We’ll need the help of Dena’s armies to root them out of the north and Cheon.”
“Didn’t you once tell me one thing at a time?” Tommie asked. “Sounds much too patient to be something that I said. Want a
ride up to Shivernsin? I heard that they have been practicing the old arts of gnome creation since their founding.”
Tommie’s eyes lit up and he coughed awkwardly at Anthony’s grin.
“Well, purely for research purp—”
Anthony grabbed Tommie as he screamed out the last of his sen- tence. “—ose!”
Shooting off into the sky as snow was thrown to the side by the powerful flap of Anthony’s wings that had sent them shooting up in- to the sky.
“Off we go!”
***
Leader Khurok read the report that Oru had brought him.
“Seems that we were not fast enough,” Khurok said. “Send out our chaotic beasts to reinforce Enya. Tell her to create a new defen- sive line, one out of the reach of these ranged weapons. Send out the chaotic beasts to attack continuously and weaken the enemy’s lines, wear them down. We just need more time to complete the plat- forms.”
“Understood.” Oru bowed his head and departed Khurok’s con- version tower to pass his orders on.
Chapter: Legion’s War Horns Sound in the East; Army’s Drums Sound in the West
Skalafell was battered and broken in places. Their once-sturdy walls were filled with rubble in some locations; branches and plants in oth- ers. The men and women on the walls didn’t have armor that shone in the light. Their unwashed faces and dull eyes looked out at the Drafeng.
There was a call from the skies as a platoon of aerial beast kin spi- raled down toward the city. People cheered as the force came in to land.
Dion saw them coming in as he looked out of his castle’s tower, which had been turned into a command center looking over the city. The other towers had scouts and the Legion Camp Leader Ja- clu.
Seeing them come in to land, Dion hurried down the stairs. His armor was dirtied and scratched, signs of the battles that had raged on for the last couple of days.
He entered the courtyard that they landed in. They looked hag- gard and tired, their numbers thinner than when they had left.
The commander of the force separated herself from her leader- ship, who went to tend to their people.
Jaclu marched over as well. “How did it go?” Jaclu asked.
“We were able to take down three gates using long-range bom- bardment and those poison powder bombs. We lost about twenty percent of our forces. We sent out scouts to other cities.” Her voice rose slightly. “There is word from the capital. They have released the Imperial Legions, who are cleansing the land, gathering the forces of Selenus, and clearing the lands. A United Army is coming from the Deepwood, made up of all the races. They should be here—”
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“What’s that?” Jaclu asked, her ears flickering.
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Dion listened, not sure what she was hearing before he looked at Jaclu in shock.
“War drums? Humans?”
“Tell us what you see!” Dion said to the commander.
The other commander nodded and flapped her wings. She was tired from her journey but a new energy filled her as she flew up-
ward.
Horns joined the drums, braying in the distance. Dion felt his blood boiling.
“By the spirits,” the commander said. She forgot to flap her wings for a few seconds.
She hurriedly beat them again and turned around.
“To the south, the United Army marches through the different roads. To the west, I can see united banners, but among their ranks stand the armies of Selenus and Radal. To the north stand the le- gions. I’ve never seen so many.”
On three sides, armies were forming up and linking with one an- other.
***
“Well, it certainly seems like a good day to fight.” Damien held the war hammer on his shoulder.
“Yes, Guardian Damien,” General Jaxus said. The stoic-looking man had been a lowly commander, pushed to the rear. He had ac- tive- ly charged beast kin with war crimes as they had attacked and killed innocents and people of Radal.
He had become old, grizzled, and shunned, but with the Guardians spreading through the ranks of the legion, he had been
discovered and elevated to the commander of the Imperial Legions by the unassuming man beside him.
“You lot ready?” Damien turned to the newly minted Guardians behind him.
They all pulled out their weapons.
“Are you sure about this?” Jaxus asked.
“The people of Skalafell will need our help to hold and it’s a Guardian’s duty to protect the weak,” Damien said.
Jaxus nodded as he looked over the battlefield. The land around Skalafell had been reduced to ash, the Drafeng destroying it with their mere presence. Through the forests, the three different armies met one another, creating a boxy U around Skalafell, with the base in the west and the opening pointing to the east. The Drafeng army had created different crystal defensive works staggered from one an- other, facing Skalafell in all directions, like thorns jutting out of the ground.
Most of the Drafeng and their chaotic beasts didn’t fit into the defensive works, which weren’t more than a crystal wall facing Skalafell. They had reformed into units, facing the three armies.
“We will cover you.” Jaxus looked to the aide beside him.
The horns of the legion sounded out. The melee fighters moved forward, the archers right behind them.
Damien looked back to an elven mage. A purple light appeared in their hand as they coordinated with the other Guardian mages in the other armies.
The Deepwood’s United Army to the south readied their ranged forces, as did the Combined Army to the west.
A ranged Drafeng elite let out a burst of chaotic power that shot out toward the United Army in the south. It hit a mana barrier in front of the army, resolving the blast.
The other Drafeng started to attack the other armies in every di- rection, spitting out beams of chaotic force.
Around the Drafeng, the ranged forces were deployed and read- ied as their mages, shamans, and others worked on protect- ing them. “Archers! Fire!” A horn cut through the noise and ar- rows rained down on the Drafeng from three directions. Those
who were too far
out from the defenses and close to the armies were cut down in the rain of metal and wood.
They continued firing, focusing their attacks and pushing the Drafeng back.
“Time to get into this thing.” Damien lifted his hammer off his shoulder, holding it in his other hand.
He stepped forward and the Guardians followed him. The le- gion ranks peeled away and they ran forward, a ragtag group of people we
aring purple emblems on their chests.
Buffs and spells landed on them as they accelerated across the battlefield. The archers of the legion stopped firing for fear of hit- ting them.
Damien and the Guardians spread out and they left the legion ranks.
Beams shot out at them; mages threw up shields, taking the hits as they pushed forward. A mana barrier failed under the assault; a shield-using dwarf blocked the remaining power of the beam but was tossed backward.
The barriers started to fail more frequently as they crossed three- quarters of the distance between the legion and the Drafeng posi- tions.
Guardians dodged a few of the beams, but not all of them were lucky.
Damien sidestepped a beam that shot past him. On shaky foot- ing, he swung his hammer, connecting with another beam, and he kept running. On two sides, the Combined and United Armies con- tinued to hit the Drafeng with long-range attacks to keep the pres- sure off the charging Guardians.
Chaotic beasts ran forward and the Guardians closed with them.
Damien yelled; he swung his hammer, meeting the chaotic beasts.
The two forces hit like waves crashing into a sandcastle against one another. Guardians cut into the Drafeng position. They created a wedge with Damien in the lead, melee types along the edge, and ranged moving into the middle.
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