by Ajax Lygan
“Now, Tempest!”
When the melee began, everything felt like it moved in slow motion. Tempest thrust his arm forward, sending Riika hurling toward Vesstian on his new snake mount. This time she was a bit higher but produced the same result. She held Lightning Breath out as she streaked forward along the snake’s body, cutting its head off, before whipping the blade up and into Vesstian, slicing the elf in two, from crotch to brow. Bringing her blade back down again, she sliced the snake into crescent moon shaped chunks as she continued her flight.
Tempest was up next, pulling his serrated blades off of his back, swinging them like extensions of his arms into two foes that lurched at him. His blades ripped into their flesh, allowing Tempest to use their dying bodies as projectiles. He turned and threw their bodies into their companions with a force blast.
Tempest felt air hit his face as one of Bram’s crossbow bolts soared past his head, piercing the bodies of three more approaching enemies. Tempest turned and gave a smile as Bram shouted at him.
“Dinnae fret, lad, Uncle Bram’s got yer arse covered, too.”
Tempest turned and let himself slip into the flow of battle. Letting go of the hilts of his blades, he brought the blades up beside him. He pulled the daggers out from along his belt, sliding one between each of his fingers. When he released them, they spun in crisscrossing circles around his body. When his hands returned to the hilts of his serrated blades, Tempest rushed into the largest group of enemies.
He danced between foe after foe, slicing their flesh as he swung his arms. He spun like a stage artiste performing a recital in front of a noble audience, only instead of a room filling with applause, the field around him was filled with howls and screams. Whenever an opponent got too close, a simple glance was all that was required to fling one of the handful of daggers that spun around his body.
He carved his way toward his lover, using his force magic to spin his serrated blades in a circle like an enchanted saw cutting through bodies instead of wood. With a dagger thrown perfectly between a wulven’s eyes, Tempest reached the back of his woman as she cleaved through two attacking bearin.
Riika spun with a killer’s look in her eye that froze Tempest when their eyes met. Her bloodshot gaze softened as she looked around to ensure there were no more threats before clasping her sword to her back with a grunt.
“Are you okay?” Tempest asked.
“Yeah,” she responded. “Are you?”
He nodded and Riika smiled, tapping the front of her plate armor. “Who knew wearing armor would protect you from claw attacks? This shit is good. Their attacks all glanced off with no problem.”
“That’s good. Let’s go check on the others.”
As Tempest and Riika walked back along the bodies of the butchered, he noticed the blood from the fallen flowing like an underground river into the snake.
“Get away from the snake!” Tempest shouted, pulling Riika with him as they jumped over the piles of corpses. The blood filled in the gaping wounds caused by Riika’s blade, sewing the flesh together like a seamstress patching a coat. Severed arms, legs and torsos rolled toward the snake, digging themselves into its flesh to create a grotesque armor.
Vesstian’s body repaired itself like a zipper before his torso folded into the top of the snake’s head. The undead creature rose from the ground, speaking in a deep voice as it curled its head toward Tempest and Riika.
“You wiggling, little maggots. How dare you scar me a second time! I am Nysit’s chosen. I will rend the flesh from your bones while you dissolve in my stomach for an eternity. I’ll…”
A charged strike of blue lightning immediately followed an escalating hum. Drops of bloody rain painted the nearby sands red as the blast detonated the creature’s flesh. There was nothing left except for a scorched snake tail.
Tempest quickly looked to his right where Riika was holding Lightning Breath extended towards the snake’s remains, the third rune briefly flashing and then disappearing.
“I would have slit my own throat if I’d had to listen to one more word come out of that pretentious ass’ mouth,” Riika said, sticking the point of her blade into the sand and leaning on it like a crutch. The two smiled at each other, the white of their teeth the only thing not covered in red gore.
Their victory was short-lived, however, as the sounds of the shifting sand to the west indicated the approach of the goblin horde. The two turned to find a line of goblins looking down at them from the edge of the sea to their south, extending along a ridge nearly to the horizon to their north. The front-line goblin troops yelled with cackling cries that nearly drowned out the rest of the battle. The ogres and hobgoblins acted as platoon commanders, keeping the smaller ones in line. The towering trolls carried tree sized clubs, ready to crush anything in their path. Tempest and Riika both took defensive stances, readying their weapons once again.
“Doesn’t this feel odd to you?” Tempest asked. “Why are they just sitting there?”
“This doesn’t seem right,” Riika said. “I’ve never seen a goblin horde in this large a number. This is almost more terrifying than the things spilling out behind us. They are staying in formation, marching and following orders. They almost seem…intelligent.”
The two companions tightened their grips around their weapons as the clanking of equipment evidenced a shift in the formations above. The horde split in two, parting like a green sea to let a troll shuffle forward. The troll wore a platform shrine like a makeshift backpack that also acted as an elaborate headdress.
Tempest initially thought this was the group’s leader until the troll walked a bit closer. The makeshift pack wasn’t a shrine, but a giant chair for the small green goblin sitting on top. They’d made it from wood, stones, and mud, as if someone had described to a goblin what a throne looked like, and the horde had built one out of the ingredients of the forest.
When the troll approached to less than twenty feet away, it went down on one knee, leaning forward, allowing the goblin a clear view.
The goblin wore a crown made of ivory, with skull shoulder pauldrons to match. Her outfit was little more than scraps of leather tied into a bra and skirt. She wore raw furs wrapped around her shins.
Tempest didn’t immediately recognize the female goblin, given the changes she had gone through. She was a bit taller and thicker than she’d been when they’d originally met, but when she spoke, he recognized her voice.
“Husband!”
“Zix?” Tempest asked, his arms dropping to his sides.
“Husband?!” Riika growled, looking at him with fire in her eyes.
“Hold on,” he said, clasping his weapons to his back before holding up a hand. “I don’t think it’s what you think.”
The goblin tapped the wooden floor of her platform with a staff she carried. The skulls tied to the top rattled when she did so. The troll raised its hand, allowing the goblin Queen to step onto its palm before lowering her to the ground.
She sprinted to Tempest, dropping her staff as she ran. When she reached him, she grabbed the front of his pants, pulling him down to one knee and jumping into his arms. In a bizarre form of affection, she began lapping the blood from his face, like a long-lost pet returning to its owner.
Tempest turned slowly when he felt Riika’s piercing gaze burning into his back. She glared at him; her arms crossed.
“Mm…you taste of snake blood. Very yummy,” Zix said, giving Tempest a moment of respite as she pulled back from licking him.
“Zix, what are you doing here?”
“I followed the trail of your blood, husband. When the trumpets sounded and the big boom happened, I could feel your presence.”
“Is this your army?”
“Oh yes, all follow my control.”
“You’re controlling them?”
“Not by my mind, follow my command. I unite those who will follow. I’m big boom Queen.”
“Wow, you’ve been busy since last we met,” Tempest said, chuckling.
>
“All in search for you. The bigger the army, the easier the search. Now I find you. You come back with me and give me another taste of magical cock.”
“What was that?!” Riika asked, stepping forward. “I don’t know who you think you are, but he is not going anywhere with you.”
Zix’s lip curled as she growled, “No one ask you, she-orc. Go chop wood.”
“Listen here, you little shite…” Riika growled, flexing her hands. “Tempest is mine and I’m not about to let him be stolen from me by a swamp Queen I can punt out to sea.”
Zix jumped off of Tempest and summoned a dark ball of energy to her hand, inciting shouts from the horde of goblins. The troll, who was easily within squashing distance, should it become more agitated, stirred.
“Both of you stop!” Tempest shouted. “Riika go cool off for a moment and let me handle this.”
Riika spit at the ground in front of Zix, before jerking her sword out of the sand and slinging it over her back.
“Orc need to learn place. I’m Queen and she beneath me.”
“Zix, Riika is one of my women. She’s kept me alive more times than I can count, and if you care about me, then she deserves your respect just as much as you deserve hers. Now I appreciate you coming to find me, but I can’t just leave with you.”
“Why not?” Zix said, puffing out her cheeks in a pout and crossing her arms.
“Don’t you see what’s happening here? Our world is under attack. If we don’t stop these creatures coming out of that gateway, there won’t be anything left.”
Zix side-stepped around Tempest and rubbed her chin as she stared with a cocked brow at the chaotic battlefield. “So, we kill bads, we win, then you come back with me and we mate, yes?”
“We’ll see,” Tempest said, laughing. “I have a family, already. If you want to be a part of that family, then I can talk with the others. If you don’t, that’s fine, too. I will be happy to mate with you, I just won’t stay with you.”
“Angry orc in the family?”
“Yes, along with Ella, Saïgra, and maybe another.”
Zix propped her chin in her palm as she leaned back, repeatedly tapping her foot. She looked at the battlefield, then back at Tempest; at the battlefield, and then at his groin. She seemed to come to a decision
“Ok, I’ll help. But you promise to give me big bang when done.”
“Okay, I promise,” he said, smiling.
She gave him a pointy toothed smile before grabbing Tempest by the collar and kissing him with her wide mouth. It felt like she could suffocate him that way, if she tried. Satisfied, she turned and sprinted back, picking up her staff along the way. The troll helped her get back onto her throne.
“Where we go?” Zix asked, pointing toward the battlefield.
“Hold on, let me check,” he said, launching himself into the air to get a good look at the battlefield.
Things had gone from bad to worse since he had assembled the wall. Each flank was on the defensive, relying on the piles of broken bodies of their foe to slow the advance of the enemy’s troops. Vatia and Kasta no longer fought, but rested behind the lines, while Orum was down to just relying on his breath weapon alone, clearing waves of troops while dodging blood javelins launched by the enemy sorcerers. The minotaur clans were down to half their size, with very few magical casts coming from their line, suggesting the loss of many of their commanders and their shaman.
Alyndra and her troops were handling the situation as best they could, although Tempest could see that if they didn’t move quickly, Nysit’s army would push his allies back far enough that they could easily envelop the wall Tempest had created.
As he looked out to the waves, there was little movement, save for what was on the edge of the horizon. The endless waterfall of enemies continued into the water unabated, with no signs of ending. Tempest zipped back to Zix, grabbed her around the waist, and flew up high enough to allow him to point out the relevant positions on the battlefield.
“I want you to send your horde evenly across these two groups, okay?” It was clear she wasn’t paying attention as he felt her hand slip under the edge of his breastplate and she nibbled on his ear. He pulled his head back and looked her in the eye. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes, yes,” she said waving her hand dismissively and rolling her eyes. She pointed out the two lines of troops before repeating his statement. “I’ll send half there and there. We kill creatures coming from portal. You want us to kill anyone else?”
“No, no, no, just the things coming from the portal. Everyone else are our allies.”
“Cow meat so tasty, though,” she said with a huff.
“Don’t attack anyone else. I’ll spread the word that you’re coming.”
“Not yet, but soon,” she said with a wink, struggling to reach her hand low enough to stroke her prize.
“Later!” Tempest reinforced.
He set her back down on her throne, and with a quick tap of her staff and a shout, the goblins followed her troll.
Tempest, recognizing his allies would perceive them as another threat, as he initially had done, quickly flew to each of the commanders, relaying a message of incoming reinforcements. Few responded with contempt, they were too exhausted to produce that sort of rebuttal. Most of the troops responded with cheer at the thought of reprieve.
Tempest circled back, landing well behind the front lines where he could hear Vatia and Kasta shouting. Both were in their humanoid forms, with Vatia covered in blood, panting heavily.
“What aren’t you telling me, Vatia?” Kasta screamed. “You’re slower, weaker…where is your magic?”
“I lost it, damn you,” Vatia said, throwing one of Ella’s uncorked potion cups. “Ever since the IRC meeting… Yuria has forsaken me!”
Tempest watched Kasta recoil at the revelation. He remembered the stories Riika had told him about how people changed when they lost the favor of their Goddess.
Kasta approached Vatia, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I-it will be okay. Yuria will see what you’ve done here today and will return you within her graces.”
“Don’t touch me,” Vatia snarled, pulling her arm away. “No one has ever earned back the Gods’ favor. I know there is no hope.”
“That doesn’t mean you need to throw your life away. You’ve been reckless from the very start. Don’t do this, Vatia there are still people here who love y…”
The blood-curdling scream that came out of Vatia’s mouth shocked Tempest to his very core. Her wide eyes and malformed mouth pointed Tempest to the horror she witnessed. He snapped his head around to see Orum falling, pulled from the sky by one of the general’s arms, which had become long strands of tentacles.
The King fell, his body pierced by giant shards of hardened blood. The crash when his body collided with the ground sent a sandy shockwave across the battlefield. As the smoke and sand cleared, the three watched as the beast lifted its long cleaver above the air, severing King Orum’s neck off his body.
“No!” Vatia cried, running and jumping into her dragon form, flying straight at the creature. Kasta followed close behind as the two dragons began their attack on the enemy general.
Losing their commander broke Halairim’s lines. The infantry routed, running from the battle. The goblins, having not yet made it all the way to the eastern flank, faced the brunt of the enemy’s forces as they broke through the allies’ center.
Tempest stood frozen as he watched the rout unfold before him. All became quiet as everything he watched seemed to move in slow motion. Bright flashes of fire and light strobed through the growing purple darkness as the day turned to night. The weight of loss began to hit him as he watched Nysit’s army carve through the Iðnan people of.
Something about this ending was serene. He wanted to let it all go. As if he were just a passenger looking through a stranger’s eyes, he felt something pulling him into deep water. He shouted his companions’ names as he slowly felt h
imself drowning.
A hard blow across his face brought him back to reality.
“Tempest!” a familiar voice screamed. Tempest blinked his eyes as the rush and the sounds of battle crashed over him. He looked down at Ella, who was standing there with blood-stained hands and fur. “Are you injured?”
“No…I…” Tempest’s voice was little more than a whisper. He felt numb.
“Then wake up! Orum is dead! Vatia and Kasta are in a rage over it. You need to lead this army or find someone who can!”
Tempest nodded as he turned, stumbling over his footing in the shifting sands. His mind was still hazy as he jumped, floated briefly, and then landed back on the ground. Exhaustion dragged at his limbs. He didn’t realize the toll the battle had already taken.
Fumbling at his belt, he retrieved and opened one of Ella’s potions, downing the contents. While it wasn’t a stamina potion, the revitalization helped him regain his focus. He squatted and sprang into the air, heading straight toward Van Jütenheim’s golem.
As he circled, looking for the vampire lord, he could see the effortlessness of his army. While the skeletons were rather weak, they could be replenished easily. Each time they killed their foe, the necromancer raised a new combatant. Every second of the battle, his army grew, completely dwarfing the rest of the kingdoms’ armies.
Tempest spotted Viktor and Valentina sitting on two thrones atop the golem, thanks to Valentina’s magical green glow. Viktor jumped up from his chair when he saw the state Tempest was in as he landed next to them.
“My word, your Eminence, are you, all right? Do you require aid?”
“Not for me,” Tempest said, looking down at his bloodstained armor. “Orum is dead; killed by the enemy general. Kasta and Vatia are in a revenge spiral and we’ve lost control of the battle. Can you send some more of your forces to reinforce our troops?”
Viktor furrowed his brow, tapping his finger on his lip before turning toward Valentina. He unclasped his wife’s amulet from his neck, folding the chain so it hung on his chair. “Valentina, please watch over our advancement while I go review the state of the battle.”
