Board 8 > Labyrinth of Ishiene, Topic 3 [CYOA/Forum Game] [ITD8]

(+) Yeah! (+)

it wasn't animated, it just had mostly puppets. dorothy was played by a real girl.
---

I never heard of the sequel either, but wow. what is wrong with you, Dorothy

Jess as subversion of that trope is pretty neat. it reminds me of a book I read (Every Heart a Doorway) that deals with kids who were taken to various magical worlds, and then kicked out for one reason or another, and their struggles with coping/re-integrating into the "normal" world. most of them would do anything to get to go back and it's basically destroying them inside
---

[The Power of Belief]

On the western coast of Arland was a very peculiar and noteworthy place.
One could say that, through all of history, this was the region that defined the West.
During the time of Pangaia, the entire Western Kingdom was based out of this region.
After the split, Arland became its own separate entity.
However, the most prominent feature the country of Arland was the inclusion of these lands.
It was known as the Untamed Lands. The Wild Stretch. This and many other names.
Some called it 'The Wild West.'
This was a place where nature ruled. A place that had never been conquered.
The home to Beast Men, Blood Witches, and those fierce enough to brave the forests that stretched on for hundreds of miles.
It was a place where monsters lived and spirits walked freely.
Deep in the heart of these enigmatic lands was rumored to live an Eternal Witch.
Men often went seeking the Fountain of Youth, but it was unlikely that any ever returned.
That's because these untamed, wild jungles could never become enslaved to the whims of man or any other living creature.
Even during the Cosmic War, this land was unmolested.
Even during the Demonic Occuptation, Humans survived and thrived here in the West.
After the world split in two the United States of Arland were established.
Those ran just along the border of this stretch.
That's because there wasn't a single person who thought it was a good idea to try and claim these lands.
Even now, as the Fairy forces besiege Arland and have conquered most of the lands...
This place, here, stands. Unconquered. Impossible to conquer.

Here, at the border of Redgard and the Wild West, important things were about to take place.
This is where Majore had gone. And where he went, he believed that great things would happen.

"You are all unstoppable."
He held, in his hands, the silent keeper.
An instrument of truth and fiction.
"Look ahead, fill chests with bravery, and know that what I say is true."
"That space where your heart once lived has been hardened."
Unlike many, unlike most, he did not shout.
He did not try to whip these men into a frenzy.
They were lined up before him now.
Row after row after row.
Hundreds, thousands deep.
And his voice reached every one of them.
They were rapt with attention.
They had only eyes, only ears for him.
"Your bodies once had limits, but those limits no longer exist."
"You are capable of doing the impossible."
"Before us is the place which had never been conquered in the history of this rotten world."
Majore glanced that way, a look of disdain passing over his face.
"Not a shred of fear exists in your bodies."
"You are free of pain, free of exhaustion."
"Let me tell you this with certainty: You have the power to win."

His voice was soft. Calming. Soothing.
An instrument of truth.
That which turned his fiction into reality.

"Now... we will go and make history."

---

The southern edge of Arland was framed by cliffs.
Especially as one moved further west.
However, below the cliffs, at certain lengths, were great diamond studded beaches.
They sparkled beneath the light with a supreme beauty.
Sunrise and sunset were equally awe inspiring.
Rutherford Hayes watched it from the deck of his ship.
And although the sea was beautiful he found himself missing the land.

One evening he was standing on deck, leaning over the railing, and looking out across the sea.
"How many large things do you think lurk beneath? Things we can't see right at this moment?"
A voice came from behind him. It was Dalamar, he saw, as he turned and looked.
---

Rutherford glanced down at the goblin.
"I suppose I didn't think about such things."
He just enjoyed the view.
He wasn't the type to ever think about what was lurking beneath the surface.

Dalamar smiled. It was difficult sometimes to remember that he was an adult too.
Because goblins were naturally smaller than humans, he still somehow looked like a child at times.
"Do you believe in the Gods, Rutherford?" Dalamar inquired.

Hayes thought about the time he had died.
It had been brief, but, in that span of time he had seen something.
It was the thing they called the Red Death.
All reports of those who understood death and the gods...
Could it be a mere coincidence for what he saw to match those same reports?
It seemed, unquestionably, that something was there.
He had seen it with his own eyes, after all.
"Yes, I think so," he answered. "Though maybe not all of our stories are true."
"We're only human, after all. We might get it wrong from time to time."
"And we might have called something a God that was really just a terrible monster."
He thought about the Red Death again. Was that a God? Or just a monster?

"Not all monsters are terrible," Dalamar told him.
"Some of them can be turned to a great purpose."
The goblin adjusted his posture and nearly leaned over the railing.
"I was thinking about the Deep God. I wonder what it is. What it could be?"

Rutherford looked down into the water.
He'd drown before he ever reached whatever was at the bottom.
In that case he'd be meeting the Red Death again, instead.
"It's nothing I want to see."

Then, all at once, there was another intruder into his private time.
A second voice arose from alarmingly nearby.
Just how long had she been standing there?
The person who joined them, who had joined them, was Alura Badaura.
"To behold the Gods is a truly Blessed occasion," she told him.
"I do not think you should deign to take such an opportunity lightly."

She was, after all, a Cleric. It's rumored she had a close relationship with the Gods.
Understood them better than any other person in Purgatory.
Well, then again, who would spread such a rumor?
Who could even make such a claim other than the person who understood the Gods best?
Ultimately, Rutherford was thinking, it sounded like a Devil's Proof.
She was the best only because she said she was the best.
And no one could dispute it unless they were truly better than her.
Although, in that sense, maybe if there was someone better they might have already disputed it.
Or maybe she just had gotten lucky and hadn't met anyone like that yet.

There weren't many visitors in High Point after all, aside from the fanatics that followed her.
Rutherford cleared his mind.
These were negative thoughts. It was unkind of him to think about her that way.

"You'll have to forgive me, my lady," Rutherford said.
"I know very little about such things. I speak only from opinion."
Maybe, also, it was easier just to not argue with her.
He had seen at least one God himself and even he was backing down now.
Had she ever seen a God? Well, there were rumors she had been there when Hepertine appeared.
Maybe they were at least on even footing when it came to such matters.
---

Alura smiled at him. It was a knowing smile. Her eyes seemed to twinkle.
"Opinion is based on experience. Your experience has taught you to fear the Gods."
"That's because you have only seen something that makes you afraid."
The woman looked away, then. "But, Ser Hayes, you need not fear Death."
"Such an outlook is only based on the fragile comprehension of a mortal."
She looked back at him. There was something very odd about this woman.

Did she... know...? What he had seen...?

After sailing for some time they arrived at the southern side of the Wild Stretch.
It was difficult to land a ship here but they were able to find a suitable enough mooring.
Rowboats were able to take them a bit further up the river.
But these soon turned into wetlands and it became difficult and dangerous to move through a swamp.

"Elementals could be lurking around here, and I cannot guarantee they would be friendly,"
Alura explained to the group. "Not to mention whatever monsters might sleep beneath the swamp."
"It is better if we leave the boats here and avoid it entirely."

Prince Winchester, on her advice, turned toward the soldiers and sailors.
"Alright. I'll be sending you and... you. Your boats will go back to the coast."
"Take the ship back to Dunley and contact the garrison there."
"You should be able to use it to transport some forces back to Lighthouse. Reinforcements."

Dalamar looked to the Prince. "Um, why didn't we got to Dunley to begin with?"

Winchester shook his head. "No, that wouldn't do. That is too small a prize."
"There are men in Dunley who would be willing to fight for me, but..."
"The borders at Redgard and Kennessis are heavily disputed areas."

"If we're looking for resistance forces, those would be the places to look,"
Hayes noted, catching on. He also felt the need to participate in the conversation.
"And what of their fighting strength? Will it be worth going all this way just to find them?"

"Forgive me, Ser Hayes," Winchester told him. The prince looked very dashing in that moment.
He climbed onto his horse. Something about his demeanor was very flippant but somehow inspiring.
"I am not the kind of Prince that the people deserve. I am a gambling man."
"Dunley would be safer, but I'm making the risky bet of riding to Kennessis."

"We won't know till we get there," was his answer to Hayes question.

Aside from the two boats that left, they brought nine boats worth of reinforcements with them.
It was a small force that could potentially turn the tides in a close battle as long as the numbers weren't too large.
Winchester and Alura Badaura were not entirely familiar with these jungles.
It was not likely that many would be except for those who lived this deep in them.
However they did have an understanding of the geography of their country.
For that reason it was theoretically possible for those two to lead the group back to Kennessis.
Dalamar seemed fine with this course of action, surprisingly.
Apparently he had a bit of an adventurous spirit as well and he was curious.
He'd never seen anything like the Wild Stretch before and wanted to experience it for himself.
Although he was sad about having to leave his Ion Disruptor back on the ship.
Lugging it through the jungle was simply not practical.

Hayes and Y, then, were left feeling like tag alongs.
Their duty was to protect Prince Winchester, but they had no idea how to do such a thing.
Did he even need protection? And if so, could he be protected from whatever came?
Were they capable of it? These were difficult questions.
---

The trees here were larger than any he had seen before.
He thought that Northern Rock was the greatest mountain on the planet, but now it was hard to tell.
Over the horizon he'd often catch glimpse of great hills and mountains, covered in trees completely.
They seemed to run away forever across the skyline as far as the eye could see.
Only during times when the canopy broke like this and he looked into the distance did he realize how enormous this maze was.
And, without a doubt, it was a maze. It just didn't seem like one until you were trapped in it.
Advancing forward in the direction they wanted often proved difficult.
There were trails where signs of great predators made it risky to advance.
The first time they thought to brave such a trail the group ended up being ambushed by a great tiger.
The monster was four times as big as a man, and he killed a dozen before he was brought down.
Hayes was ashamed to say he had been near the back of the column when it happened.
And he certainly hadn't rushed forward fast enough to go meet it before the battle was over.
After that they began to avoid any signs of monsters.

As they traveled, Hayes noticed that the Prince and his bride almost never showed affection for each other.
It seemed an odd thing to him. He didn't particularly like Alura.
In fact, her very presence made him uncomfortable.
She had a habit of saying things that she seemed to think were reassuring,
But often made others feel very uneasy instead of putting them at ease.
However it couldn't be denied that she was very attractive.
Maybe that was Hayes problem.
He only ever admired the scenery and never cared for what might be hiding beneath.

"Not all monsters are terrible," Hayes grumbled to himself.

Even after clearing the wetlands there were occasional environmental hazards.
Sometimes a sheer cliff face would appear seemingly out of nowhere and they'd be forced to go around.
Other times going around didn't work and they needed to backtrack.
Or they'd choose to climb.
Or they'd climb, only to find that the way forward couldn't be made, and they had to climb back down.

It wasn't all bad. Just mostly. They also saw interesting things.
Hayes met a talking plant one morning while searching for breakfast.
It told him of bird eggs in a nearby nest. He thanked it and went off.
He'd gotten the eggs, but the bird had almost gotten him in return.
He had not expected to meet something with a wingspan of seven feet.
The eggs, in the end, made for a fine meal. He shared it with Winchester and Dalamar.
Y refused his offer. And with that their seemingly endless journey continued.

"Tell me, Y, about the place you came from," Hayes implored.
Making conversation was a good way to kill the time.
Truthfully he missed Blackwater on days like these.
That man always found a way to make conversation.
Even if their banter was often stupid nonsense.
It was better than riding in sullen silence.
He wondered how his dear friend was getting on at this time.
Hayes couldn't picture Blackwater doing well in battle.
He thought of the man disobeying orders or sleeping in and arriving late to his post.
Although such an irresponsible move could prove costly,
Hayes couldn't but smile when he pictured Devan as the one doing it.
"They called it Sea-Quartz. I've only heard some details but it sounds like quite a place."
---

"It was. At one point," Y told him. The Neonite was quite terse.
At first it seemed as if he didn't want to talk about it.
But, well, reading people from other dimensions was difficult.
His manner of speech was odd. His diction and syntax felt off somehow.
However, he did continue telling his tale.
It meant on some level he must have wanted to talk about it.
"I was... born... during the Time of Litany. I think born is the correct word that you all would use."
"However, the way I was conceived is different from how a human would be conceived."

"I can imagine as much," Rutherford observed. "You don't seem much like a Human. No offense."

Y looked at him as if he didn't know why he should be offended.
Then, the man continued to ride while continuing to talk about his home.
"The portal here leads to the Negative Zone. And through there you will find Sea-Quartz."
"It is nothing like this world. Much of our great kingdoms and countries sank into the ocean long ago."
"However, the seas there were once beautiful. And the islands and clifftops that remain have their own appeal."

"The largest remaining island is called Bent Shell. An odd name, I know."
"It was chosen by Speakers during the Time of Borrowing."

"Speakers?" Rutherford found himself growing curious. "And what were those?"

"I never met one so I cannot say for sure. I only know what was written down."
Y hesitated. "Speakers existed in the time after the fall of the sunken kingdoms."
"They thrived during the period in which efficient communication was developed,"
"But ultimately had fallen out of fashion by the time language first had value as poetry or description."

"So they weren't creative fellows," Rutherford explained in another way.
"Named Speakers solely on their qualification that they were capable of speech."
"Bent Shell, because it-"

"It looked like a Bent Shell sticking out of the ocean, yes." Y was smiling now.
He seemed to be remembering something funny. Then all at once his expression grew glum.
"On our planet there were beings called Wights. They likely still exist, some of them."
"They are most similar to what you call humans here. But they are not so pale."
"Creatures of various different colors. In any case, they mostly live in the underground below Bent Shell now."

"An underground society below sea level? That doesn't sound like the best place to live,"
Rutherford answered that. "And it's funny, because here a Wight is something more like a monster."

Y shrugged. "No, they are not monsters. They are timid folk."
"They seemed to have descended from the sunken kingdoms lineage."
"In any case I do not think they would live there if they had a choice, but,"
"The surface has been mostly destroyed by Glimmering and his forces."
Glimmering was the Fairy who had conquered the world of Sea-Quartz.
"In fact he left long ago. It's only a token force of husks that patrols our world now."
"The place is ... " Y didn't know how to describe it. "Well, I'll leave it at that."
"If the surface was a place they could live the Wights would have returned there by now."

Rutherford felt a bit bad. The thought about those people living below Bent Shell.
He thought about the fact that they could be there right now, liberating that Kingdom.
Did he truly belong here? Lost in some jungle? Fighting for the people of Arland?
They had their Silver Prince to protect them.
They had Alura Badaura, strange woman that she was.
---

What did the Wights have? They had nothing. They were a lost people.

When they reached Kennessis there was no signs of any good news.
There was a fortress being constructed right at the border.
Apparently the Fairy forces had succeeded in pushing the resistance this far back.
The fighters must have retreated into the jungle.
It was hard to say if they could have even survived after going out there.
But this fort was going to be intended to stop anyone from retaking the local settlements.

"There's nothing we can do with the forces we have here," Alura Badaura said.
She took her husband's hand and held onto it firmly. She looked up at him.

Winchester did not look happy.
He said nothing for the rest of the day, or the day after that.
With their force of less than a hundred men they couldn't have disrupted that small army.
Even with ambush tactics they would've been overwhelmed and swarmed.
Instead, the went deeper into the jungle and around Kennessis.
They were pushing further and further north now.

"Things were already this bad," Dalamar said to Hayes, as they rode together.
"I'm not so sure it was wise for us to come here. Or keep pressing north."
"Our journey took us well out of the way and we ended up finding nothing worth finding."

Hayes looked at the Prince.
Winchester would not want to hear this.
Luckily he was not within earshot.
"We're in a difficult situation," Hayes responded.
"The Prince has already bet on this course of action."
"It looks like he'll lose now but he hasn't lot yet."
"He's not going to throw away everything he has invested without seeing it through to the end."
And that determination, it was really just the Sunken Cost Fallacy.
Ultimately if they kept pressing north it was entirely possible they'd still find nothing at Redgard.
It was possible they might just die along the way.

They found the last of the resistance fighters in a settlement west from here.
Deep in the jungle.
It had taken them out of the way but they saw signs that men had passed through.
Apparently the retreating forces, at least some of them, had been in too much of a hurry to cover their tracks.
This was not a camp which was established by the Arland soldiers.
Even Hayes was able to recognize that immediately.

This was a village where Beast Men and Beast Kin lived alongside the wild men of the west.
And they had accept the fleeing Arland soldiers to join them here, at least for the time being.
There was also a Blood Witch who had a home in the trees.
But she seemed quite secretive and did not show herself to them.
Hayes was fascinated by what he saw here. There wasn't much like it in Esland.
Animals with human traits who could walk and talk as men.
Humans with animal traits who lived by a feral code.
And, somewhere along that spectrum, even some creatures that were an unclear blend between the two.

"My Prince!" the soldiers cried out when Winchester made his presence known.
Accepting another several dozen men into the settlement was probably a bit of a strain.
But this was the Silver Prince of Arland, after all.
Though these titles meant nothing to the denizens of the wild lands.
Still, it was clear that the Arland soldiers would be moving soon.
Maybe for that reason this seemed more like a pleasant holiday rather than an imposition by an invading force.
"I had thought you were still up North, in Cardbridle. They said you were wounded in battle. Near death."
---

"A decoy, nothing more," Winchester told him. The Prince looked pained to know that his double had been injured in his stead.
But, on some level, he must be feeling relief that it wasn't him.
"I've used the opportunity to come here in secret. We'll be making a move soon."

"To retake the Kennessis border?" One of the soldiers inquired. They looked hopeful.
They thought... they thought that Winchester had brought reinforcements.
They didn't realize this was all there was.

"Redgard," Winchester said. "I'll be taking you with me, as well."
"We need to push through here and then return east, toward the Peninsula."
"To Glemoor."

It was clear the men gathered here looked uncertain and unenthusiastic.
Something was clearly wrong with this picture and with what he was saying.
They probably had many questions they wanted to ask.
One that should immediately arise would be 'Why would we go back to the Silver City?'
'Our chances of retaking the Silver City seem bleak at best. Hopeless, more like.'

However, there was something even more important.
Something Winchester could not have known about because he was not here.

"My Prince, forgive me, but..." The soldiers hesitated.
"You do know that Majore had lain siege to Redgard."
"That was where you-... Your double was wounded, and barely managed to escape."
"All three of the King's Guard were slain in battle."
"Why would you want to go back-... to go there?"

Winchester's face looked empty. He was devastated upon hearing this.
His double was nearly killed in his place.
The land where they wanted to go was under attack already by the enemy.
And three men he had probably known his entire life were dead.
They had been killed, thinking they were protecting him, while he was hiding hundreds of miles away.
While he was enjoying the comforts of High Point and the company of his bride.
Then, all at once, he forced himself to smile.
"Did you think I'd let them off so easily after such a defeat?" Winchester said.
"This is precisely why I must go to Redgard. We'll see this through to the end."

That was known as 'going all in.'
Prince Winchester was fully committed to the course of action he had bet on.
Though, at this point, Hayes did not see how it could ever pay off.
He wished again that Blackwater was here.
That man would have at least pointed out how ridiculous their situation was.
How hopeless and pointless their journey had been, and how much more it would be.

No. These were negative thoughts.
It wasn't kind to think this way about a Prince.

That night he was approached by a beautiful woman with the eyes of a hawk.
She was something exotic. Unlike anything he'd seen before and not like anything he'd see again, chances were.
Rutherford thought that if he marched north with Winchester he was likely to die.
He thought of the women he had fancied in his life. The ones he had loved.
It felt unkind to cave here. If he was a true Knight he might have refused her advances.
But he was only a man after all. Only human. He could not resist.
That night he lay with her, and by the morning they were leaving again.
---

The hawk-eyed woman came to him while he was already in his saddle.
She touched his leg and looked up at him.
"We will have two sons. Twin boys." Her expression was odd. Impossible to read.
It was unclear how she would have known such a thing. "The blood of a Knight will run through their veins."
At that, she looked proud. Then, she wondered aloud. "Would you like to meet them?"

Rutherford... this was difficult to understand. To take it in.
If he was truly going to have sons of course he wanted to meet them.
But how could she know that? And how could it... how did it happen?
From just a single night of passion. Had something so drastic truly resulted?
Hayes had only married once and his wife died of fever before long.
He had not been able to remarry after that. He never had children.
If he could return here, to the village west of Kennessis, and meet his children, of course that was something he could want.
It was not possible to imagine himself abandoning his children.
But the way she asked made it sound like such a responsibility was not implicit.
Did that mean he could say no if he wanted to?
And if he was thinking about that, did that mean he truly wanted to say no?
Rutherford felt sick. He felt like he couldn't ride right now.
He felt like he was going to fall off of his horse.
The others were leaving.
Now he was left all alone on his horse. The end of the column was disappearing into the trees.

"I will return," Rutherford told her.
He kicked his horse and rode away.
He did not know how to feel at that moment.
He did not know how he looked to the rest of the world.

This place was nothing like Esland.
Hayes did not know... mentally... if he could continue to endure this unfamiliarity.
Something which would fundamentally change his entire existence, his life as a person, had just transpired.
And yet it had unfolded like nothing, like just another event without consequence.
Even the hawk-eyed woman had treated it as only a footnote.
But to him this dissonance made the unease continue to grow.

"Mark this place on our maps," Hayes heard himself saying.
He didn't even know who he was talking to.
But that person seemed to take his command and they would probably relay it to someone who could do it.
"I'll want to come back again after the fighting is done."

The men who joined them had moved about in the jungles between here and Redgard often.
That was during the battles of the previous year or two.
By joining forces with these stragglers they gained valuable guides who could lead them quickly the rest of the way.
They were making much better time for this leg of the journey.
And the further away they got from the village of beasts the more it all felt like a distant dream.
And yet Hayes couldn't banish the thought from his mind.
He was distracted.
He often wondered what his sons would look like, and if he would ever meet them.
To do that he'd have to survive whatever came next.

They stopped at the pools of Amor and rested for almost a full day.
They had been traveling hard and fast up to this point.
The place was known to be safe and peaceful, at least to the men.
Sometimes elementals were known to come by but they were friendly ones.
Rutherford found himself bathing naked and didn't care who else was with him in the pool at the time.
He was so covered with dirt and exhausted.
All he could do was sink into the water and relax and...
It felt like if he closed his eyes he might be able to sleep forever in this pool.

"Don't worry," Winchester said, with a slight laugh. "If you faint I will be sure to fish you out."
"I wouldn't let you drown, Hayes. You seem a good enough man. A true Knight of Esland."
---

Hayes felt his eyes snap open. The Prince was here with him?
He knew he wasn't alone but he did not expect to be bathing with royalty.
Rutherford sunk beneath the water. He closed his eyes.
Then, after a few moments, he emerged again.
He looked at the Prince.
What would Blackwater say if he were here?

"Do you ever feel like this quest has become hopeless?" Hayes asked, seriously.

Winchester smiled. For some reason, at that moment, he looked very dashing.
His response, strangely flippant, made him look all the more confident.
"Not even for a moment," the Silver Prince said. "Because I have Faith that we will succeed."

Blackwater would have said Faith was a fool's currency.
Hayes rolled over in the water and floated on his back, looking up at the sky.
"Will that be enough? Your Faith brought us this far. But we have to cross the finish line to actually win."

"Never doubt the power of belief," Winchester said.
"Your fear of failure will drown you, if you let it. Here in this pool or elsewhere."
"With blood rising in your lungs after a dagger finds your side."

Hayes felt the scar on his side burning. He wondered how the Prince knew.
Then he remembered they were both naked and his scars were clearly visible.
What an odd trick to play. Pretending at omniscience at a time like this.

"But I think that our belief can take us into the sky," Winchester said. "If we have Faith in our own wings."

As far as Rutherford knew, though, he didn't have any wings.

Then, it seemed, all at once, they arrived at the border of Redgard and the Untamed Lands.
There was a settlement not far to the east of here.
Resistance forces were still holding out but they were surrounded on two fronts.
Militia forces from nearby settlements had come in to harass the enemy from time to time.
But this was only the case because this area had only recently been attacked with such force.
The truth is that the Arland resistance was bleeding strength with each week, each day of the siege.
And the reality is that if this continued they would eventually fall.

"What do you think?" Winchester asked. "Will a hundred men make the difference?"
He seemed amused for some reason. Almost as if he were laughing.
But this was no laughing matter.

There were two thousand enemy soldiers down there.
Maybe even more. It was obvious there was nothing they could do here.
This fool Prince had brought them on a fool errand.
So far away from their original goal that Rutherford was afraid that Queen Lana might be captured or dead.
Maybe the Esland Navy had been wiped out. This was the last time he trust foreign royalty.

"Dalamar..." Rutherford said, looking at the goblin he had followed this far.

Dalamar, however, did not know what to say.
Then, Hayes remembered something.
Back in Kennessis.
Dalamar had begun to have doubts.
Maybe, back then, they could have turned back.
It was Hayes own words that had given Dalamar faith to continue walking this path.
That was the power of his belief.
It had doomed them all.
---

Y looked at him. Then at Dalamar. Then back at him.
It seemed even the Neonite understood the situation they were in.

At this point Hayes did not even know how it would be possible to return to his companions.
Getting back to Lighthouse from here seemed like a quest all in its own.
The war might be lost or won before he ever saw Blackwater or Queen Lana again.

The Prince took his horse and began to ride it down the hillside.

He began to sing.

'The water is rising; It's like going home.
Can I go alone?
Can you go alone?

The weakness of man is the weakness of beasts,
but I am the King of the Marsh.
I steel my resolve and consort with the frogs,
Reality seems very harsh.'

He failed to protect the Prince, Rutherford Hayes realized in that moment.
He failed to protect this foolish Prince from his own foolish self.
Now they were all going mad from this hopeless crusade and its bitter end.

[Chapter End]

8. Who does Alura Badaura implore for help?
A. Hepertine the God of Wind.
B. The Deep God.
C. Red Death.
D. The Quiet One.
---

That night he was approached by a beautiful woman with the eyes of a hawk.
She was something exotic. Unlike anything he'd seen before and not like anything he'd see again, chances were.
Rutherford thought that if he marched north with Winchester he was likely to die.
He thought of the women he had fancied in his life. The ones he had loved.
It felt unkind to cave here. If he was a true Knight he might have refused her advances.
But he was only a man after all. Only human. He could not resist.
That night he lay with her, and by the morning they were leaving again.

8. D
---

hawk eyes
---

Twin Blood Knights incoming. Also I'm not quite sure what to make of all this. Enough work has been spent painting a bleak picture to seem grim, yet enough talk of faith has been spoken to have hope. Though hope without anything to back it up has almost always failed us in these stories.
---

man I want a Keyuri story but I'm not sure how likely she is to actually help
---

B
---

Gatarix posted...

man I want a Keyuri story but I'm not sure how likely she is to actually help

I wouldn't include an option that did "nothing," for the record. also I believe you're unfamiliar with the past 2 or 3 games since they weren't on board 8. in Catharsis Keyuri is featured during a few major sections of the games. she brings up the fact that she can't get involved directly but she does help in indirect ways, including basically tutoring multiple champions that fight on her behalf and are intended to make a huge difference in the war(s).

Trauma, set on an alternate earth, features a collection of Devil characters who ultimately form a group at the end of the story. they know that Devils are not supposed to get involved in mortal affairs but they realize the spread of Darkness is becoming too problematic across various dimensions and they need to do something to stop it or all of existence will be overwritten and erased.

essentially what I'm saying is that the rule of Outsiders not interfering is pretty arbitrary (look at Jess for example) and often self imposed -- and things have gotten bad enough that even Devils and "Gods" such as Keyuri are starting to break or fudge their own rules.



Reggie To...
Vera's Cape
Broken Isles III
Untamed Lands I

Alura's Prayer...
Hepertine
Deep God I
Red Death
Quiet One I

The next chapter is going to be another Martin POV, I think. I know he was already given a POV already but with him having taken an arrow already this essentially makes him the perfect 'observer' type who can hang back while everyone else gets engaged in most of the action around him.
---

Deep God
---

JeffreyRaze posted...

Twin Blood Knights incoming. Also I'm not quite sure what to make of all this. Enough work has been spent painting a bleak picture to seem grim, yet enough talk of faith has been spoken to have hope. Though hope without anything to back it up has almost always failed us in these stories.

also yeah this is by far the weirdest chapter I have ever written for anything like this. you probably know by now most of the stuff I write tends to end on dramatic moments or cliffhangers. there's like a rising hotblooded action scene which either delivers on the premise or is turned on its head as the characters get devastated. or alternately the characters are crushed beneath a wall of despair before pushing back up against it (sometimes with heavy losses, other times not...)

I basically fully committed to do a Fish Out of Water story here (Eslander out of Esland?) and so most of what was going on was just Hayes trying to adjust to all of the strange shit going on around him. it feels like there are huge things going on but he's not directly involved in any of them, even the ones that involve him he feels distant from. and ultimately there is no dramatic TURN at the end. it's just a slow march toward certain doom.

it's worth noting I took care to place a lot of very small details in here. Hayes actually is able to tell when Winchester is "bullshitting." It's when the Prince starts randomly looking more 'dashing' and 'flippant.' Yet somehow he never makes the connection that this is what is going on, even though he observes it directly multiple times. Including when he bullshits his own soldiers and Hayes knows he is lying. Cognitive dissonance is serious.

Also one of the subtle parts I loved is when Hayes gives in to the hawk-eyed woman, he thinks that if he was "True Knight" he'd be able to resist and then says that he's not. The very next scene Winchester tells Hayes that he won't let him drown because he is a True Knight. But if he's not a True Knight.... welp. Yeah, this should have been a huge red flag moving in toward the final scene.

Not sure if the ending was as powerful as I imagined it in my head but it should seem like Winchester is pretty much fucking insane and Hayes is just realizing this for the first time.
---

To be fair last time Keyuri got involved she was indirectly responsible for Blue Wing getting YS

Also now that I think about it, I think Hayes is the only character ever who got laid in one of these stories (well during the story itself anyway)
---

For the record here's what we know about the Silver Prince's ancestors, based on previous games.

Dia Winchester, from Into the Dungeon 5. She leads her squad into Glemoor at the beginning of the story and they are all massacred. Later she gets involved in a defensive battle to protect the city while it's under siege. She almost dies and has to be bailed out by a player character. Then, leading the defense, she basically is in a hopeless situation where she cannot win. Has to be bailed out by a player character. Ultimately is crowned the Silver Queen because of her role in the defense of the city, but.... ??? Seems like she just kinda screwed everything up along the way and was bailed out by others.

Herical Winchester, we don't know much about him aside from the fact that he was Dia's ancestor. The reason the Winchestr family became famous is because he was known as riding to the Dusty Shore and helping to defeat the Kraken during one of the southern invasions. Now, note that no other Winchester between Herical and Dia did much of anything. And Dia herself was basically a failure and a fraud. On top of that we have reason to believe this claim is suspect. Every single instance of the Kraken being defeated at the Dusty Shore in history (it happened during four separate southern invasions), there was always a group that gets credit for it and another group that was actually responsible. The Pre-Ganthian ITD 1 Era Heroes like DANT were given credit, as everyone thought the Ganthian Knights saved the south... but it was really Blackburn the Titan who went with them, and received no credit in the end.

What I'm saying is that we have reason to believe the Winchester family is essentially built on the premise of bullshitting, screwing things up, and needing to be bailed out by others. I mean heck just thinking what we know about this guy his country was being invaded and he fled to hide out somewhere else while letting his body double lead the resistance in his place.
---

MariaTaylor posted...

it should seem like Winchester is pretty much fucking insane and Hayes is just realizing this for the first time.

yep.

let's go C
---

Voting D.
---

Reggie To...
Vera's Cape
Broken Isles III
Untamed Lands I

Alura's Prayer...
Hepertine
Deep God I
Red Death I
Quiet One II

hope you guys are cool with the 'every other day' update cycle we've got going here. this gives me more time to think about the large scale events that happen between each chapter and stuff.
---

You missed my Deep God vote
---

whoops, sorry. fixed!
---

Whatever schedule works best for you. I'm having fun with this in any case, so this just means I get to enjoy it longer, haha
---

playing some bloodborne tonight. I will update but it's gonna be later on. if you still haven't voted and want to, feel free to vote. we actually won't see the results of either choice right away so I have time to think about them.
---

if the deep god or whoever gets voted turns out to be ebrietas or odeon or the moon presence or whoever, I'd be totally ok with that
---

8 D
---

[9. Spade to High Cross]

After the battle at Lighthouse, Martin Spade had two important things to take care of.
For the first time in his life it was not the highest priority to plan the next step in his strategy.
The glance forward. That came second.
His first duty was to find Arti after the battle.
Being the Lord of Spade, he had plenty of territory under his rule.
It was fully his intention to make that man into a landed Knight for saving his life.
However, there were important considerations.
Doing it here on the battlefield would have been dramatic, sure.
But he had even greater things in mind.
He brought Arti with him to meet Queen Lana, and Knighted him before the Queen.
"Rise then, Ser Arti, a True Knight of Esland. Fully in service to the Queen and House Spade."
He would be given the lands south of the Barron Cliffs.

Once that was done he went back to planning the strategy for advancement.
He met with Liona Brezwicz and Kennedy Erensworth, but soon they would all be parting ways.
Sunday was already gone, off on her own mission to build a defensive curtain for him.
Then, within a few days, he found himself leaving the garrison at Lighthouse behind.
In war the flow of things changed so quickly.
There was no dull period where the minutes felt wasted.
Instead he was in a dynamic world that always changed.
The great game never ended. He felt at home here like he never had before.

The first ride took them from Lighthouse to South's Reach.
They'd be moving inland like this and trying to cut off the head of the peninsula.
Both he and Liona had agreed this strategy should work to secure Glemoor and hold it.
Even if a continued front of war emerged here to the west it would fundamentally change things.
Arland, effectively, would be its own independent country again.
Even if it was one third of the size. They'd have their Silver City back.
Fighting from here was different than being chased into the woods and slaughtered like animals.

Devan Blackwater came to ride beside him at this time.
"Listen, um, Martin, I, ah, just wanted to say, you know,"
Devan seemed flustered for some reason.
Not the cool and stoic face he was presenting from before.
"You seem kind of young, that's all. It was hard for me to accept your orders because of that, you know?"
It was a shit excuse.
Martin was still angry with him.
It had only been a few days since the battle at Lighthouse.
For now it was better not to respond.
That day he wanted to throw Devan into the ocean.
Or, at the very least, leave him back at Lighthouse and let him be someone else's problem.
However, something had stopped him.
He wasn't sure yet what it was. But he never even told Brezwicz what had happened.
Martin slowed the pace of his mount and let the other man ride alone, ahead of him.
He'd been taught to try and hold his tongue if he didn't have anything kind to say.

South's Reach was taken quickly and without any warning.
It appears that forces from Lighthouse had not been sent here to spread word of the coming attack.
This meant that whatever riders had been sent out were directed to go somewhere else.
There was a more important location they were all gathering.

Martin sat and ate with some of the camp followers that evening.
He didn't say anything but merely listened to them talk.

"I'm not shittin' here. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Must be you're getting old already. Your eyesight failing that bad?"

"I was only a few meters behind the man. I saw what I saw."

"That guy from Nothern Rock?"

"San, I think. Or Saru? Somethin' like that."

"And you're saying he-"
---

"It wasn't like nothing I've ever seen."
"He charged alone into a dozen pikemen."
"I ran after him on instinct, thought maybe he'd need some help."
"Could've gotten myself killed for being so foolish."
"Then he smashes right through the line without slowing down."
"Before long he's right on top of the enemy commander."

"I did hear that he captured the enemy commander."

"Yeah, I told you! I'm not lyin' here."

"Shit. You were really there? He really did that?"

"Well... you know... I didn't see it myself. But my mate did."

"Oh! Piss off, man!"

From South's Reach they continued to march north and west.
Leading the Vanguard, it became Martin's job to break the enemy hold over these lands.
He was always the first into any new territory and it was his job to push as far as possible.
They rode to Galt, Yarston, the Fort at Prosper. All uncontested victories.
Martin began to realize that he was very good at this.
He'd always been interested in playing the game but he wasn't sure how well he'd do in reality.
Books and strategies and playing at war were different than the real thing.
But he'd quickly adjusted to the differences.
Not only was he quickly and cleaning making his way down the line but he was barely losing any men along the way.

Soon he received a coded letter detailing a certain event.
Queen Lana had been captured by an enemy special unit.
Brezwicz was going to pursue her but there was no guarantee.
Suddenly the idea of bringing their Queen to fight a war on foreign soil hadn't seemed so wise.
But, then again, it had been Lana's own idea.
There wasn't any way they could have talked her out of it.

Lawlier seemed distraught at this news.
Even Sen of Northern Rock looked unsure of what to do next.

"Lawlier, you were on Catharsis, weren't you?" Martin asked.
Truthfully he already knew the answer to this question.
He was well familiar with history, especially those involving wars.
But most especially the wars that took place during his lifetime.
He'd read the Scrolls of Yoren which detailed the events on Catharsis.

"Yes," Jess said.

Martin nodded. "Queen Lana was captured back then, too."
"Do you remember what happened?"

"... Setsuna failed to protect her," Jess said. "But it wasn't his fault."

"I'm asking if you remember what happened after that," Martin insisted.
Jess could be a bit timid at times. He'd quickly learned of the need to be direct with her.
"She was sitting on the throne of Esland, so clearly she must have gotten away."

"Yes." Lawlier looked as if she hadn't really been putting that much thought into it, herself.
Her reaction had been purely emotional. "Queen Lana escaped on her own."
"Even though she had been left behind with no one to protect her."

Martin looked at Sen of Northern Rock.
"She'd been captured by Blue Wing and she managed to escape all on her own."
"We should not underestimate our Queen. And it's definitely not the time to turn back."
---

"In war you can only win if every person does the thing they are good at,"
Martin told them. "They have to stick to it and do it most efficiently."
"Brezwicz has her job. She'll rescue the Queen, if it comes to that."
"Our job is to cut off, my job, is to cut off the peninsula. That's what I intend to do."
He thought about Sunday, whose job was to create a curtain behind him.
Well, he had the feeling Sunday would probably changed her plans once she got this letter.
He'd have to prepare for the eventuality of forces from Vera's Cape reaching this far.
But it seemed unlikely so it was not a high priority.
Sunday or Erensworth might have obliterated those forces already.
And even if not it would take them a while to get this far West.
At the very least Erensworth seemed like a responsible man who would stick to his duties.

Then, Martin began to think about Liona Brezwicz.
It wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last.
Based on the contents of the letter she seemed to agree with him here.
She had not told him to change his course of action.
Brezwicz was smart. Too smart. It frustrated him at times.
Truthfully, Martin didn't think he could ever be happy unless he went up against someone like Liona Brezwicz.
But fate had been unkind to him and put them on the same side of the field.
Some nights he would lay awake and imagine what it would be like to lead an army against her.
Could he beat her at land? What tactics would she use? How would he respond?
Could he beat her at sea? Probably not. What was his strategy to stem his losses?
But this game of chess that he played with himself wasn't the real thing.
It had to be Liona. There wasn't anyone else who could replace her.
Even if he lost. All he wanted was the opportunity to face an opponent who gave him a real challenge.

Their next goal was Geris, and they expected it to be fully defended.
There was a keep here and plenty of natural terrain that made it easy to hold their position.
Martin had to deal with several difficult eventualities.
Moving his men up the steep slope was something he couldn't avoid.
There was a small mountain formation that provided a natural defense on two sides.
The keep had been built on the high ground intentionally to make it difficult to approach.

Before he could fully establish his battle plans, however, Martin found the situation quickly changing.
Stein had rode far east, scouting along the river, under Martin's orders.
And he was definitely not going to regret making this decision.
According to Stein the enemy forces were moving east toward the river and hoping to escape across it.
Martin realized they knew they'd likely lose Geris and merely wanted to stall him out there as long as possible with a skeleton force.
In the meantime they could send the bulk of their soldiers back toward Glemoor.
If he let them escape today he'd be forced to take them on at a later date.

"The forces from Lighthouse are still coming up behind us?" Martin asked Stein.
Stein nodded. "As far as I know."
Martin thought carefully for a moment.
"Leave a mixed regiment here. No more than fifty men."
"We'll harass those in Geris from a distance and keep them stuck in place."
"I want to lead the rest of the Vanguard east and stop those soldiers from crossing the river."
"When reinforcements from Lighthouse get here they can lay siege to the keep."
"We shouldn't be wasting our time in a place like this. We need to advance as quickly as possible."
---

At the battle East of Geris, Martin Spade found himself riding with Sen of Blackwater.
After hearing rumors in the camp he wanted to see for himself just what this man was capable of.
They had fought together at Lighthouse and, truthfully, Sen was probably the rest he was still alive.
There was probably no safer place in this kind of open battle than with the Northern Rock Knight at his side.

The Esland forces hit the enemy from behind and drove them into the water.
Sen was wearing twin blacksteel bracers, one on each arm, and wielded no other weapon.
In a traditional fight the man with a weapon had the advantage over one without.
The person with a shield and sword beat the one holding just the sword.
However, in this case, the cycle was completely broken.
Sen would rush into his enemies in a way they were completely unfamiliar with and unprepared for.
Their attacks bounced off of his bracers as he effortlessly deflected attacks.
It was not an understatement to say that his skill, reaction timing, and especially his strength played a large role in this.
If he was not quick enough or skilled enough to defend an attack it would have slipped past his defense.
Granted, his armor gave him a bit of security from a stray sword or axe that managed to strike him.
But his armor wasn't perfect or impenetrable.
Blacksteel was heavy and even Sen couldn't wear full blacksteel plate.
The bracers themselves, then, were his first line of defense.
His fists were also his weapon which meant that he did have a single flaw in his fighting style.
His primary means of defense and offense were the same.
It was as if a man was attacking with his shield.
---

This would only work if you were strong enough to always overpower the opponent.
Luckily for Sen, he also had enough strength that he could rely on this tactic as well.
Martin, following timidly behind him, poked at enemies with his rapier along the way.
Sen ended up killing four husks, three men and two hulks. Martin killed one man.
He doubted very much he'd be able to defeat Sen in a duel.
But it was interesting to study his fighting style and think about how he'd try to take the man down.
This was by the time they actually reached the river.
At this point men began to slip in the mud and wade through the water.
It was a gruesome scene.
A blow that might not be lethal normally would sink a man.
He'd be trampled as he flailed beneath the water.
Dying in battle was harsh and cruel, but being trampled to death and drowning seemed terrifying.
However, Sen of Northern Rock didn't seem to hesitate at all.

Four enemy knights wearing full plate suddenly formed a wedge and held their ground.
They couldn't retreat into the water any more and so this became their only option.
They tried to push back and get back into the shallows.
And, surprisingly, this panic and fervor gave them the strength to start cutting their way back out.
This seemed to inspire the other Geris forces which began to rally around them.
This would quickly become-

CRASH

A wave of water rose around the site of battle.
Then, with a roar, something appeared.
Water began to rain down all around them.
Martin had forgotten to take note of it earlier, but Jessie Lawlier had gotten her pegasus back.
Only, that thing was not a pegasus. He had to keep reminding himself of that.
It was a shapeshifter.
Now she was on top of a twelve foot tall dire bear as it landed on top of the enemy knights.
All of a sudden their courage melted away to piss and they began to fall.
Those knights had been thinking this before;
"It's better to push forward and die fighting than to fall back and drown."
Now, with this monster on top of them, breathing hot breath onto their necks.
Salivating and dripping blood from its wild maw, the severed limbs of an ally hanging out from between its teeth.
They craned their necks up but lost the strength to raise their weapons against it.
Their way of thinking had changed completely.
Jess had changed their outlook on life.
Now it was something like this;
"I'd rather fall back and drown than have to fight this thing."

Sen of Northern Rock, not to be outdone, began laughing wildly and jumped into the middle of the melee.
Martin saw him lift a man in full plate over his head and body slam the opponent.
Martin saw him grab an opponents knife, break his arm, and shove it in the eye of the man wielding it.
Sen grappled against two fighters at once and then, with a twist and a flex of his torso, slammed the two against each other.
It was pretty likely one or both of them had died from the impact.
But either way they weren't getting back up.
And Martin...
---

Martin felt a sharp pain in his side.
He howled and collapsed into the water.
His hand went to his side.
Then he realized that an arrow had hit him.

When he woke up only a few moments had passed.
Yes, that was probably a good thing.
He felt someone's hands beneath his arm pits.
They were dragging him across the battlefield.
He could feel both of them slipping and sliding in the muddy banks now.
If he had passed out in the water and no one grabbed him, he would have drowned.
His vision was foggy but he was still looking ahead.
The dire bear had a hulk pinned under its foot and was drowning it effortlessly while fighting off a squad of soldiers with its other hand.
Meanwhile, Jess, perched on its back, was thrusting down at any who approached with her lance.
Sen of Northern Rock was still out there as well.
He snapped a spear in half with his bare hands and then grabbed the wielder by the throat.
He began to use that soldier as a bludgeoning tool to smash the ones around him down to the ground.
Hell, Martin realized at that moment, no one else was even around Sen.
It wasn't like he needed other soldiers to support him.
Rather, the soldiers must have realized, they'd only get in his way.
There's no way they'd be able to kill anything if they fought near Sen.
That was because Sen simply murdered any enemy that was within his reach.

Then, all at once, Martin looked up and saw Devan Blackwater was the one holding him.
"Stray arrow," Blackwater said in a cool fashion. "Happens to the best of us."

Martin had to smile. "... Yeah."

After the battle they gathered their forces again, and moved west from the river bank.
They needed to stop and rest and plan their next move.
But breaking camp too close to the river was not an option. Too many dead piled up around the place.
No one could relax in that sort of environment.

Blackwater had hastily treated the wound on the battlefield.
He said that if he left it in there it would cause more problems later.
Removing it immediately would cause bleeding and Martin could well bleed to death.
But he promised that he'd be able to stop the bleeding for now and it was worth the risk.
Martin really had no choice. He couldn't deal with the arrow stuck inside of him like that.
After the battle was over they found a surgeon to stitch the wound.

"Listen," Martin said. "About before. I hope you understand why I was mad."
"But... despite what happened in the past... I'm still grateful for what you've done today."
Martin however was not sure if what happened today was enough to make up for that.
However, he was at least smart enough not to say it.

Blackwater stood back, away from the medics who were treating Martin.
"Eh, you just walked away without saying anything." Devan shrugged.
"Honestly I was expecting to be chewed out or worse. Being ignored wasn't so bad."

Martin had been yelled at before. And punched. Over saying the wrong thing.
He didn't like it. Maybe that's why he didn't yell at others all that much.
There was a slight hiss of pain as the needle threaded through his skin again.
But even though his side was stained with blood he didn't feel so bad.
"Maybe I'll be hanging back from now on," Martin concluded.
---

The thick of the battle was definitely the more exciting place to be.
However, he quickly learned that Lighthouse had not been a fluke.
The more time he spent off of the battlefield, the better his forces tended to do.
Teswalt and North Yarston were even more decisive victories than the ones leading him here.
He'd chosen to leave Ser Arti back there to deal with the situation in Geris.
Art was loyal but he was more valuable because of his ability to make his own decisions.
Martin could trust that man to handle the siege when the Lighthouse forces arrived.
It was better to keep men like Stein with him who could be trusted but who were better suited to following orders than command.
Blackwater, who didn't particularly like fighting in the melee anyway, decided to stay with Martin.
Maybe he wanted to see it for himself too.
Back then, at Lighthouse, he had doubted Martin because Martin was young.
By staying near Martin, then, Blackwater was able to see him lead the battle first hand.
He was always the type who found it easier to accept something if he saw it with his own eyes.

North Yarston had a theater house which made a convenient base of operations.
Martin called Sen and Jess to meet with him here. Blackwater and Stein had followed him.
The captain of the mercenary group, a man named Cutler, also attended their meeting.
It felt odd, Martin realized in that moment, that he had developed his own war council.
Back in Esland, and even back at Lighthouse, Brezwicz had brought people together.
Martin was one of the pieces that was under her command.
But now Martin was off all on his own. These were the pieces under his command.

"The Northern Rock Knights finally arrived," Martin announced.
"They're moving up the river so it shouldn't take them long to catch up with us."
"Given your experience on the field and familiarity, I think it's a good idea for you to lead them, Sen."

"Well, I was never much of a commander, you know," Sen told him earnestly.

"I'll be using them as a strike force anyway," Martain replied.
"I won't need you to do any clever tactics. Just be ready to receive my orders."
"You'll just need to go where I tell you to go and smash everything that gets in your way."

That seemed more like something Sen of Northern Rock was capable of doing.
Stein was going to take the role that Arti had once filled,
His job was to stay with Martin and help to relay orders to different groups on the field.
It was important because this prevented Martin from having to ride around too much.
It was better for him to stay in one location and keep a birds-eye view on things.
And, with his wound still not recovered, it was too risky for Martin to get close to the battle anyway.

"We could develop a system of flares or command flags," Stein suggested.
"Similar to the ones that Admiral Brezwicz used while we were at sea."
"My commander in the Disputed Kingdoms wars also used command flags."

It was a good idea for long range communication, but Martin was worried about all of the commanders needing to learn them quickly.
This could absolutely cause mistakes during battle if even one person messed up.
For that reason he decided that he and Stein would use the flags for now to communicate while separated.
And, along the way, they'd begin teaching their code to a few select individuals.
This kept the pool of people who needed to learn the new code to a minimum.
It made the impact far less wide-reaching but also reduced the chance of error.
Martin trusted that neither he nor Stein would mess up, so it wouldn't cause problems.
---

Cutler had been recruiting militia forces along the way as they marched north.
By this point he had enough men to form two different combat groups.
Although he had lost some of his men along the way, truthfully, their losses had been minimized by Martin's tactics.
And the new recruits they picked up had more than replaced them.
He wanted to promote one of his own sellswords in order to lead the new group separately.
Martin thought the mercenaries had been doing a great job so far.
He had no problem about them promoting from within their own ranks.
However, he made it clear that he did want to meet the person.

Martin thought that their final move should be to take High Cross and hold position.
This location was far enough north that the enemy couldn't slip past.
Additionally, with the defensive line he'd left training behind him, it meant a "front" had been established for the war to come.
If Sunday, Liona or Queen Lana managed to take Glemoor then their liberation of the peninsula would be complete.
And Martin would be waiting to stop whatever forces turned east to try and retake the Silver City.
The Knights of Northern Rock came with boats full of reinforcements.
They also had a message from Liona Brezwicz.
She'd been studying maps and thought that Martin should take Far Ridge and High Cross, then halt his advance.
Considering this is what Martin himself had been thinking, he couldn't help but smile.
Additionally she had gotten a good lead on Queen Lana's location and was going that way now.
He relayed this information to the others which definitely made them feel more at ease.

The push to Far Ridge was more treacherous than Martin Spade could have imagined.
His tactic had been to commit a small force without over extending.
He wanted to test the strength of the enemy forces while roughly matching their front flank evenly.
Unfortunately, something had gone wrong.

Cutler was killed, half of the mercenary forces were wiped out, and even Sen had been wounded during the fighting.
The Northern Rock Knights had formed a defensive line and covered the retreat.
If it hadn't been for that, Martin might have lost as many as thirty per cent of his forces.
And, ultimately, he still had no idea what had gone wrong.
From up here on the ridge all he could see was what should have been a normal battle.
But instead of being a close, pitched encounter it was a rout.
The enemy had fewer numbers, though it was close, but they fought with unbelievable efficiency.
Even the Northern Rock forces and mercenaries couldn't stand up against them.

"Just what the hell was that?" Blackwater exclaimed, watching the battle with him from below.
Martin thought about it for a moment. But he couldn't come up with any answers. "Mm...."

Cutler's replacement was the aptly named Nine-Fingers, often just called Nine.
He'd been promoted to lead the second mercenary group and the Arland forces they drummed up along the way.
With Cutler perished and half as many men to lead, Nine was put in charge.
And, ultimately, he was the one Martin had called up for answers.
Sen was still recovering after the battle but Martin heard that it was a head wound.
If it was serious then Sen might be in a lot of trouble.
But if it was minor then it was also the type that wouldn't cause any lasting harm.
Ultimately it came down to luck at this point.
Losing Sen would be devastating for Martin.

"Why do you think, Nine?" Blackwater asked. "You were down there. What the hell happened?"
"I can't say for certain," Nine responded. "But the men have been talking."
"Rumors?" Blackwater inquired.
Nine shook his head. "Not our men. The ones from Arland."
"Seems they have an idea of what we're up against here."
---

Martin, curious, watched the conversation unfold like a hawk.
His side was burning with pain but he felt he could ignore it during moments like these.

Blackwater looked to Martin. "The Arland militia and resistance forces have been fighting here longer than we have."

Martin nodded. "So what were they saying?"

"These would be Majore's forces. Though no one said they saw him here."
Nine shrugged. It wasn't like he knew what the guy looked like so he couldn't say himself.
"Majore has been the commander of the southern occupation forces for a while."
"They say his soldiers are... different... from normal opponents. Turns the tides of battle."

"Magic?" Blackwater scoffed. "On such a large scale? Sounds impossible."

"It gets creepier," Nine went on. "They say the guy is off in the west right now, in Redgard."
"Say that he's currently working on capturing the Silver Prince," Nine explained.
"But... guys I talked to... they said it wouldn't surprise them if Majore's forces could fight even this far away from him."

"So it's not magic," Martin speculated. "That kind of range and duration would be beyond belief."

"Keep in mind these are Fairies we're dealing with," Blackwater added.
"My reaction was a bit premature. Now that I think about it..."

"Yeah, anything is possible," Martin concluded.
He'd seen Blue Wing cut a ship in half effortlessly.
The idea that there might be a Fairy who could use magic to enhance his troops,
Even from a hundred miles away... well, it seemed ridiculous.
But it might be possible.

Nine looked unsure. "Well, it's possible he just leads a truly elite squad."
"Maybe he sent some of them this way to delay us, or left them behind at some point."

"Either way," Martin said, "The husks you fought... they were... really...?"

"Oh, without a doubt," Nine responded. He didn't even hesitate.
"I don't know if this Majore is responsible or whatever. But I wouldn't contest that point."
"They didn't feel fear or pain. They didn't grow tired. They were stronger and faster than the ones we fought before."
"Heck, I saw them doing stuff that shouldn't even be physically possible."

Martin shook his head. "Shit. This is the last thing we need right now."
Brezwicz would be counting on him to take High Cross.
He didn't want to let her down. He didn't want to let himself down.
He didn't want to lose to this Majore guy who wasn't even around to face him.
That was just embarrassing.
How could he lose a game to a person who wasn't even sitting at the table?
Martin wanted to grab something and throw it.
He kept his emotions in check.

"Did you capture any prisoners?" Blackwater inquired.
"Um...?" Nine hesitated. "What?"

"The Arland forces do take prisoners, don't they?"
Blackwater looked shocked for a moment. "I hope we aren't just butchering everyone."

Nine shook his head. "The husks can't be taken alive," he explained.
It seemed like Blacwater should have known this from previous battles.
But, honestly, Martin didn't know either. He was embarrassed to admit it so he kept quiet.
"We captured some of the turned human soldiers in the past."
"But we couldn't really trust them to fight on our side."
"We weren't sure what to do with them in the previous battles so we been sending them back to Lighthouse."

Martin thought for a moment. "What about at Far Ridge?"

"I don't think so," Nine said. "We were too busy fleeing to take any prisoners."
---

Blackwater was oddly insistent on this point.
He sent Nine out to talk to the Arland militia forces.
Additionally, he had Stein go and bring a message to Sen.
Apparently, they had tried to capture some of the enemy soldiers.
But something strange had happened.
Normally the husks would fight to the death and couldn't be captured.
The human soldiers, however, were just human.
Often times they would surrender once it was clear the battle was lost.
Although the Esland forces had definitely lost this battle,
Martin hated to admit it, but it was true,
They should have still been able to capture some wounded enemy soldiers.
This just naturally happened during the course of a long engagement.
But instead, the behavior of the human soldiers was different from normal.
They acted more similar to the husks.
Once captured they continued to resist and try to fight and escape.
And, ultimately, the idea of taking prisoners had been impossible.
Nine and Sen both confirmed this.

Blackwater concluded something; "Whatever this Majore is doing to them..."
"These guys can't think for themselves. We can use that."

Martin thought about it for a moment.
In the previous battles he had learned that they could always take advantage of the husks.
That's because of their lack of free thinking.
If there wasn't a commander personally leading them, they were very susceptible to tactical trickery.
The enemy commanders in previous battles had taken steps to mitigate this weakness.
But Martin exploited it whenever possible.
Now, here, it seemed, Majore made his forces stronger.
But at the expense of doing that he seemed to have made even his human soldiers more similar to the husks.
Did that mean they'd have better odds if they tried to trick the enemy?

"We'll test it out tomorrow."

The second battle at Far Ridge went much differently.
Martin commanded his forces to use hit and run tactics, and to fight at range.
The Northern Rock Knights were best utilized to cover defensive gaps,
While the mercenary forces were held back for most of the fighting.
Instead he chose to rely on his longbow divisions, one led by Stein and one by Blackwater.
Jess and her cavalry, as well, were pivotal in keeping the enemy distracted.

He didn't anticipate being able to defeat this force in the field today.
This was the largest enemy force they had encountered so far.
But he did want to exchange with his opponent again and learn more about them.
It was a lot like fencing but on a grand scale.

And Martin gave special instructions to each of his most valuable pieces.
Their goal today was to keep as many of their own men alive as possible.
That was the highest priority.
Additionally, that's because, this was an intelligence gathering operation.
And the most important detail to check for was going to be pivotal to Martin's strategy moving forward.
At the end of the day they fared much better than the previous engagement.
Now that Martin knew what he was dealing with, he'd adjusted his tactics accordingly.
The others came back to report what they had seen.

Nine-Fingers, Jessie Lawlier, Sen of Northern Rock, Blackwater, Stein.
Not one of them had seen an enemy commander during the entire battle.
No one seemed to be leading the Far Ridge army.
---

"They can't think for themselves," Martin speculated out loud.
"He gives them a command and they... they simply perform that command."
"It's because of their insane brute strength that this strategy can work at all, but,"
"Ultimately this is the weakness of his strategy as well."

Martin had been taught something else by his mother at the Spade estate.
She told him that if something wasn't broken you shouldn't waste time fixing it.
Thinking on his strategy he had used in Geris... Martin realized exactly what they needed to do.

It was risky.
Martin had always made the most sure play up until now.
But sometimes in war you needed to make risks.

Martin decided to ignore Far Ridge and push on to High Cross.

"Defend Far Ridge from all who would approach it."

If the enemy was given that sort of command then they could be left alone.
That's because they would never think to march east on their own.
If Majore was truly all the way west, in Redgard, then he couldn't come here and tell them what to do.
At least not any time soon.
Martin was relying on the fact that he could safely ignore these guys and keep pushing North.
His job, after all, was to get to High Cross as quickly as possible.
The more time he wasted here the more chance that enemies could bolster their defenses at High Cross.

Deciding to hedge his bets, Martin left Stein here to distract the enemy forces.
He was ordered to draw them out each day and retreat to see how they might behave.
If things started to deviate from the plan then Stein could send a messenger to Martin and the others.
Meanwhile, Art should be approaching them from the south.
Once Art got here he could take over the siege of Far Ridge as he had done with Geris.
This would free up the bulk of the Vanguard to move on High Cross.

It was hard to say, because Martin couldn't exactly verify a negative,
But he did not receive any word from Stein during his march north.
For this reason he was under the impression that his tactic had likely worked.
By the time they reached High Cross Martin was... honestly, taken offguard.
He knew he had been doing well in this campaign but he didn't realize how well.
It wasn't until they arrived at High Cross that he realized how effective and decisive his campaign had been.

The enemy forces hadn't even been able to move a full garrison to High Cross yet.
The keep here was defended but they had no siege preparations in place.
Since Martin hadn't lost many forces along the way, aside from his one loss, he was still at near full strength.
Well, near to the strength as when he had left Lighthouse.
The defending force was barely a third of the size of his invading force.
And they weren't even in a great position to hold the gates by the time Jess got there with her dire bear to smash them down.

High Cross had several landed estates outside of the city walls.
It was definitely a good idea to send out patrols to seize these holdings.
They could start returning them to the Arland Knights, those who were still around.
The remaining lands could be gifted to those who fought honorably in the battles to get here.
And, likely, the battles to come.
Martin did not feel as if he was qualified to start giving away lands, however.

Additionally, a small city was contained within the great walls of High Cross.
This was the largest city he had encountered thus far on his route.
It was not far from the shore, and from the battlements he could actually spy North Port.
They were close enough that he might need to worry about the naval movements on the northern coast.
---

After capturing the city there was apparently a skeleton force defending the eastern quarter of the city.
These Fairy-aligned rebels had fought hard, and a force needed to be sent in to put them down.
Martin found himself riding there just to make sure things went smoothly.
He met with Jess and Sen and Blackwater outside of the stables at the site of the battle.
There were bodies of friend and foe alike littering the place.

"They fought harder than I expected," Sen remarked. "No idea what they were trying to defend though."

Martin looked around the area. He investigated it with his eyes.
At a first glance, at least, he didn't see anything worth noting.

Then he went to one of the nearby corpses.
It had a slight discoloration to it.
Not exactly like a dead body that had lost its color.
But, rather, like a creature that had a different skin tone to begin with.
Something from another Dimension, perhaps?
"Fairy?" Martin guessed.
He touched its eyelids and opened them.
Beneath he saw a trail of stars.
Though the sky within had grown dim.
This was definitely a cosmic being. "Hm..."

Just what was the enemy commander doing here at the stables?
He had fallen easily enough that Sen didn't even realize it was a Fairy.
And why had they fought like that even to the end...?
It didn't seem like they had much of a chance of winning.

Martin stood back up. He tried to think for a moment.
However, his normal routine of thinking things through was interrupted.

A messenger approached them.
"Forgive me," the man called out. "I received word that the commanders were all gathered here."

"More than you know," Martin said. He looked at the body of the Fairy commander again.
"Word from Stein?" Martin inquired.

The man shook his head. "I came up river, was with the Admiral for some time."
"She sent me to contact you. Well, begging your pardon, it's for Lady Lawlier."

Jess climbed down from her mount clumsily.
Martin had left his own horse tied up near the stable post.
The woman retrieved something to help steady her balance and went that way.
It was still a bit jarring to see her transition from one state to the next.
While riding she seemed to move elegantly and was an unstoppable force.
Due to the loss of one of her legs, even with the prosthetic, she was far less graceful on foot.
Lawlier went to the messenger and received the letter.
She found herself reading over it multiple times.
"I think Liona is nearby to where Lana is," Jess explained to the others.
She seemed to be mulling something over for a moment. "But something is wrong."

"Wrong?" Blackwater inquired. "What do you mean, wrong?"

"Aside from the Queen being captured," Sen added.
---

Jess shook her head. "I don't know. This doesn't seem like Liona."
"If there was a way to save Lana she would have done it already."
"But she doesn't seem to be asking for help, either."
"I wish there was a way we could get there quickly..."

Then, her mount changed forms again. It transformed into that of a Pegasus.
Plath was the named of the magical creature. Martin remembered that now.
For some reason he had been told before but it rarely came to his mind.
The Pegasus walked over to Jess and dipped its head.

Jessie smiled at him. She put her hand on its head.
"You rescued Lana once before, didn't you?" she said to him.
"I think I'll be fine if you go without me," Jess told the creature.
"But I don't know if Lana will be fine if you don't go to her."

Martin felt his heart beating more quickly for some reason.
Though he wasn't really sure why.
Jess gave her mount a more formal goodbye.
Then, all at once, the Pegasus vaulted into the air and flew off with a clip.
Just what was this feeling Martin was experiencing.
He looked over at Jess again.
"You could have gone too if you wanted, you know," Martin said.

"We each have to do what we're good at, Martin," Lawlier told him.
"That's what you said to me before. I think you've done a good job so far."
Jess smiled. "For now I think I'll follow your way of thinking till we get to the end of this war."

Martin heard the cry of a hawk in the distance.

Sen of Northern Rock casually turned, glancing up at the sky.

Blackwater moved to his side an threw an arm around Martin.
"Yeah, don't worry. We've all put our faith in you up till now."
"Even though you seem kinda young, it's clear you're good at this."
Devan began to snicker. "Maybe you'll even impress Lady Brezwicz with this."

"Impress?" Martin asked. "Why would I-"

"GET DOWN!" Sen shouted.

Martin felt something hard slam into him and he realized as he was falling that it was the Knight of Northern Rock.
There was a crackling sound and his ears seemed to split as his eyes filled with light.
A snapping motion, like a whip made of light, cut through the air.

The building on the far side of the street erupted.
Stone, going black, burst forth from the wall.
Shattered rocks rained down on the group.
Blackwater stumbled the other way and nearly missed being cleaved in two by the beam of light.
Jess, unable to maneuver much, managed to stumble to the stable post and lean on it.
"Horse!" Jess shouted.

Martin coughed, pushing Sen off of him.
The back part of Sen's breatsplate had been ripped off.
His back was stripped, exposing blood and flesh beneath.
And, Martin thought, he saw what looked like a bit of bone sticking out.
Sen was so heavy that Martin couldn't get out from under him completely.
And the Knight didn't seem to be moving. "No," Martin muttered. "No, no..."

There was a rushing of wind as something swept over them.
Then, with a spiraling motion, it descended into the city and landed in the street.

"The fuck?!" Blackwater cried out. He backed up to the wall, near where the hole was.
With his back against the stone he felt his chest rising and falling out of terror.
"What the fuck is that thing? It can't-!! There's no way, it-"

"Martin!" Jess was shouting. "Devan!"
---

Martin couldn't even look that way.
His eyes were fixed on the creature before them.
It looked like a Storm Drake, but everyone knew that Fiends couldn't be corrupted by the Darkness.
This was one of the reasons that Fairies ultimately had trouble taking over Purgatory.
Even with their many campaigns, this was a difficult hangup that made this particular Dimension difficult to deal with.
Fiends were known to be weak willed and easily controlled, especially by Demons.
However, Fiends seemed to generally hate Outsiders of all kinds and would attack Fairies on sight.
The Storm Drake, its wings were crackling with electricity, but its eyes were endless black wells of Darkness.
Even when the Angels had fallen back to the Heavens' Gate and closed it,
Even though the Angels had been defeated by the Fairies so long ago,
That had only ushered in the Age of Fiends.
That was a time when primal beasts like this ruled the planet.
They had dined on a mountain of Fairy corpses and scared those Outsiders away for thousands more years.

But this thing before him, it was... it was...

"Martin!" Jessie cried out again. "I can't-"

Martin grunted and tried to roll.
He couldn't lift Sen but this way he got the heavily armored man off of him.

There was another crackle as the man behind them, the messenger, started to draw his sword.
The bolt of lightning cleaved through the air and blasted the man in the torso.
It left a hole in him and he fell to the ground a lifeless corpse.

"It's not a Storm Drake!" Devan suddenly cried out with confidence.
"Whatever it is they must have brought it here from another Dimension," he concluded.

"I don't give a damn what it is!" Martin spat in return.
He didn't have time to think. He couldn't think of what to do next.
Then his eyes drifted to the right.
He saw Jess, struggling to get onto the horse that he had ridden here.
She glanced back at him. "Get me up!" she shouted.

Martin, not thinking, simply acted on instinct.
He began to run in that direction.

The air behind him crackled and charged ions were ripped through space.
A lightning bolt tore the sky in half and cleaved the street in two.
Sen, who he had pushed to the side, just happened to be laying on the right side of this dividing line.
If Martin had not moved him... he would have been instantly killed, most likely.

Martin charged into Jess, practically tackling her, and put his arms around her hips.
Her leg, her real leg, was curled upward. Her foot struck him in the face and somehow he didn't even care.
Martin wasn't a particularly strong guy. The ascent was clumsy.
His side was still weak and irritated from the arrow wound he has suffered not long ago.
But, somehow, he managed to push her into the saddle.

There was a gust of wind as the creature spread its wings and jumped down the length of the street.
It soared over where Sen was, gliding, and knocked down two of the columns from the adjacent building.
The porch area of the inn collapsed.
Blackwater, who had been standing near there, was forced to dive over the railing.
He ended up on his stomach in the middle of the street.
Martin ripped his sword free. No time to untie it.
He cut the rope that was holding the horse in place and let it go free.
It kicked, already being on edge from the appearance of the Storm Drake, and then burst forward.
The horse began to panic and jumped out into the road. It began running the opposite way,
But Jess was doing a decent job of leading it back around in a slow, wide curve.
---

Martin collapsed against the wood and his hand went to his side.
There was blood leaking out of his wound. He'd torn the stitches.
He looked over his shoulder, through the gaps in the wood, and spotted Jess.

The horse suddenly shook itself and, because of Martin cutting the rope hastily, something terrible happened.
The saddle slipped off of the horse.
Jess, falling, somehow managed to grab onto it and hold herself up.
However, the saddle and stirrups were lost.
Seated unsteadily on the horse, she did something Martin never would have expected.
She urged it forward.

The tail of the creature flickered, smashing into the ground, drumming it loudly.
However, Jess did not panic. And because of this, her mount did not panic.

There was a lance stuck in one of the dead foes on the ground.
Jess grabbed it as she passed and raised it over her head.
Without stirrups there was no way she could gain leverage for a full tilt.
Truthfully if she tried to joust she was likely to knock herself out of the seat.
This was one of the major drawbacks to horse based combat since before the stirrups were invented.

The enemy rounded on Jess and began to crawl forward to meet her.
It was much larger than the horse.
Keeping its body low to the ground it was able to block off most of the street.

"Devan, do something!" Martin commanded. "Sen!"

Then, at the lost moment, the Storm Drake vaulted over Jess.
She passed under it, a look of shock passing over her face.
Honestly, at that time, even Jess wasn't sure what she was going to do.
But she was going to at least try to hit it.
Now all she could do was regain control of the horse and try to turn it back around.

There was a rumbling sound and a crack as the enemy landed on top of Sen.
Its claw dug into his shoulder and wrapped around his stomach.
Then it lifted him into the air. It seemed to... fully intend... to smash him against the ground.
The Martin began to feel a chill overtake his body.
The enemy they were fighting wasn't just powerful. It was intelligent.
It knew that smashing the Knight inside of his armor would do a lot of damage.
It was like cracking an egg that was inside of a locked box.
Rather than try to get the box open, all it needed to do was shake the box and the egg inside would pop.

"Eruptio!" Blackwater suddenly called out.
It seemed he had regained control of his nerves.
A brilliant light began to shine within his palms.
That was needed.
In order to cast a powerful shadow you first needed a bright light.
Martin put his hand against the wood and tried to pull himself back to his feet.
He felt light headed. Wasn't sure he could stand at all.
Jess's horse whinnied and then began running at the Drake again.
Blackwater was approaching it from behind.
A brilliant light began to shine, spotlighting the entire street.
And, from the edge of the light, shadow began to take form.

All at once, Sen came to life.
Maybe it was the shock or the pain that had woken him up.
But he did not plan to idly lay there and be crushed in the palm of the enemy.
His legs curled and he began to push outward with all of his strength.
The enemy flexed its claw and then tried to shove it through the front of Sen's helmet.
But he raised his blacksteel bracers, crossing them in front of his face, and protected against the attack.
Since the enemy had loosened its grip to perform this tactic, Sen was able to wriggled free and break loose.
However, the best he could manage was collapsing to the ground.
He was quivering there, trying to rise back to his feet.
---

"Devan, hurry up!" Martin commanded.

Jess couldn't joust the enemy completely, but she was still holding a lance.
During those times before the stirrup was invented there were still men who fought on horse.
This was how they got around that dilemma;
Jess raised the lance over her head like a spear and then threw it into the enemy at point blank range as she passed.
It wasn't exactly a thrust because Jess didn't allow her arm to stay connected during the attack.
But it had the great punching power and momentum from the charge behind it.
The draw back was that she lost her lance in the process.
The advantage is that it was buried in the collarbone of the opponent.

Jess didn't even need to turn the horse.
Naturally not wanting to get killed, it veered to the right and started to go around the Drake.
Up ahead there was a collection of fresh corpses from the battle.
She could probably find another weapon here if-

CRASH!

The tail of the enemy swept through the open street, breaking all four legs of the horse and knocking it over.
Jess flew threw the air for a total of half a second before being grabbed by the free hand of the opponent.
It raised her, unarmored Jessie Lawlier, and didn't even see the need to try and break her.
Unlike Sen she didn't need to be smashed. She was a hard boiled egg, all soft and ready to be eaten.
Its head turned that way and mouth opened wide.
Then Martin saw them.
Two rows of teeth like cutlasses. A mouth bigger than a grown man by a wide margin.
If she went inside there she wasn't going back out.
Jess squirmed and tried to escape but she wasn't Sen of Northern Rock.
Martin stumbled to his feet and swung his sword at the opponent.
It kicked him with its free leg, breaking all of his ribs on the right side and driving him to the ground.
Martin let out a howl of pain, of rage, of futility.
His vision was going black. He couldn't see anything anymore except blood.
Martin's sword spun through the air and then landed point first only a few inches from his face.
The world above him was spinning.
He turned his head sideways and vomited all over the floor of the stables.

Half of Jess's body disappeared into the mouth of the monster.
Her foot rose, pressing against its tooth. Her arms were tightly locked against its fingers.
She was trying to push herself back out.
The teeth smashed down, gnashing. They ripped her prosthetic limb to shreds as it dangled in the mouth of the Drake.
Martin felt his heart starting to beat faster and faster.
Blood was pumping out of his side now, into the hay.
He was decorating the floor. His vision was fading even further.
Everything seemed to be dark now.

Jess somehow grabbed the lance, twisting her body, and pushed against it.
"AAAGGGRRRHHHHH!" she seemed to be wordlessly grunting in pain and desperation.
The monster pulled her away, lifting her, and prepared to throw her head first into the ground.

Everything faded to black.

His elbow, the joint were the forearm met the bicep, faded to black.
His arm faded to black. The jointed at the shoulder faded way, blending in with the shadow.
It reached out behind him, grabbing him, grappling at him.
Though he was the one who was grabbing Jessie Lawlier,
Within moments, he was the one being grabbed.
His flesh and bones were ripped backwards, out of him, and his arm disintegrated into a mass of black embers.
His hand, no longer connected to anything, fell limp to the ground.
Jess, struggling, began to crawl out of it and toward the stable.

The creature howled in pain and swung its tail backwards.
---

Devan Blackwater had always wanted to say something cool at a time like this.
He figured, live or die, this was probably his only chance.
"Hey, you dumb fucking beast!" Devan cried out. "You think you can ignore me?!"

Its tail slammed into a wall of blackness, almost ripping through it.
The curtain of dark magic faltered but at the same time was melting through scale and bone.
Blackwater, unable to fall back at this time, pulled forth his focus from beneath his cloak.
If he was holding onto this he'd be able to keep channeling his energy.
Once his mana ran out it would begin to break down the energy in his body.
And once all of his natural reserves from eating and sleeping were gone...
It would even begin to damage his own body in order to keep powering the spell.

Eruptio lashed out, forming a web of dark masses that stretched at the opponent.
The Storm Drake, too, couldn't back away at a time like this.
He'd likely only be hit from behind and killed while fleeing.
Instead he used his amazing size and strength to bear down on Blackwater.
However, he knew that forcing his way through the dark curtain wasn't the best move.
The shadows were protecting Blackwater now.
The Necromancer's hands were both crackling with energy.
Light in one hand, shadow in the other. And the black miasma was swarming and decaying.
Instead, the Storm Drake used his good arm and even his own torso to hold the assault at bay.
He curved his head downward, pointing it at the man below him.
His wings spread wide and began to crackle.

"Devan..." Martin muttered. "Get back..."
But it didn't matter. He couldn't even try to retreat anymore.
They were simply trading blows, pound for pound.
And whoever won would simply settle the matter in the end.

A bolt of light crackled from within its eyes and its mouth and its nostrils.
Like a great whip of heat it lanced out and down, snapping at Blackwater from above.
Streaks and sparks, light and color, cascaded away from the lightning bolt as it clashed with the shadow.
Devan felt something hot break through and torch his shoulder blade.
He felt a flood of hot liquid gushing from out of his arm and begin running down his side.
Blackwater, doubling down, actually took a step forward.
He raised his other arm high and then put all of his energy into extending the column of shadow.
The beam of light which descended on him brilliantly lit up the area around the two.
And his own Eruptio coiled around it, climbing, swirling, ripping into the chest and the neck of the enemy above him.

Lightning struck twice, biting through the gap, and hitting Blackwater right in the hip.
It cut his body nearly in half and ripped him off his feet, pushing him into the ground.
Driving him with a force that sent blood rippling out of his body in a shockwave.

"NO!" Three voices seemed to cry out at once.

Then, the creature, wavering over him, began to wobble and tilt.
More than half of its body mass had been consumed by the shadow.
It tried to raise its tail, to flick it one last time, to destroy the stable.
If it could collapse that building then Martin and Jess would be killed under the rubble.

Instead, all it managed to do, was open its mouth and spit blood all over the streets.
Then, weakly, the Storm Drake collapsed onto its side.

Martin heard a cracking sound from the support beams around him.

[Chapter End]

longest fucking chapter ever

9. Was it worth it?
A. Nothing is worth it. Nothing is worth anything anymore.
B. (Write in)
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B.) MariaTaylor posted...

You may also feel comfortable submitting a character that you care more about

It was a trap!
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9b: #Worth
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