W

indzer knocked on the entrance of an underground shelter, calling out to whoever was within. The metal trapdoor that led to the underground passage was securely bolted from

the inside. The latch slowly unlocked, the trapdoor opened, and a man stuck his head out.
“Tell everyone to get out now,” Windzer ordered.
The man frowned. His visage was wrinkled with anxiety and fear. “Why continue? We’ve lost. Let us surrender and end this already.”
“Get out!” Windzer barked. “We’ll fight until the end.”
The man nodded and hesitantly called for the others. Anguish had made him lose heart. He obeyed Windzer because that was the code they always followed. But regardless of his obedience, he sincerely believed that it was hopeless to continue the fight. To him, this war was already over. No matter what they did, it would not change that fact. But to Windzer, this was not the end—far from it.
A sound came from behind them. It sounded like something heavy was being dragged across the dirt. Windzer glanced back. Rendall was limping over rubble. His leg was badly hurt. His skin was burnt all over. He was not able to escape the last attack unscathed.
Outraged, Rendall said, “I thought you knew what you were doing! I trusted you!”
Windzer said, almost mockingly, “Tell me, what did I do wrong? There was a slight miscalculation, to be sure. But I did what I could. Most of the citizens are alive.”
“The city is destroyed!” Rendall exclaimed. “There’s nothing left! What do we protect now? We now have nothing! Our home, our utopia, is now gone—up in smoke!”
“Is that all?” Windzer took him by the shoulder and waved at the city with his hand. “Look! Look clearly at this world of yours and understand this: the walls, buildings, and the very foundations of this city meant nothing from the beginning! I would never waste my effort to protect wood and stone. What is important among this rubble? The lives of the people. As long as the people still stand, my purpose is fulfilled.”
Rendall removed Windzer’s hand from his shoulder and said, “We’re alive for now. If they toppled our fortress in less than an hour, how little time will it take to wipe us out? You say you’ll protect the people, but with what means? There is nothing to protect them with!”
“Calm down,” said Windzer slowly. “This isn’t over. Their show of force was merely a bluff. They spent all their strength in one blow to crush our city. They should be greatly weakened.” Windzer held up the pendant in his hand, letting it dangle before Rendall’s eyes. “You put your trust in me—and I will not betray that trust. So listen to me. We can fight them and win. We have nothing left to lose but our lives.”
Rendall lowered his head and rubbed his finger across his temple in thought. “What do you propose we do now?”
“They will be coming in full force from all around,” Windzer replied. “They’ll attack from earth, sky and sea. I want everyone to hide and pretend to be dead. Their forces will be unsuspecting. Then, when they are all in the city, we will ambush them.”
At that moment, the final trumpet echoed across the sky.
“We don’t have time to prepare,” said Rendall. “They’re coming!”
Everything around them was in turmoil. All nature was in chaos. The immortals tripped and fell as the land rattled fiercely. The waves of the ocean rose higher and higher, crashing against the cliffs, overflowing into the fields. The skies rumbled. The winds played a tug-of-war, pushing and pulling everything with powerful gusts that went to and fro.
“Then just make sure everyone is armed and ready to make a stand,” said Windzer. “We can still win this without an ambush! As long as the people are willing to fight—”
“Please stop! No more!” cried the townspeople. “We surrender!”
The immortals crept out of their hiding places. Fearing for their lives, they took off their armor and weapons and fell to the ground in reverence. “Don’t hurt us anymore! We don’t want to die…” They sobbed and bowed repeatedly toward the sky in repentance.
“What do they think they’re doing?” said Windzer in disdain.
Rendall said, “It seems you’re the only one who wants to keep fighting.”
Windzer drilled the shaft of his scythe into the dirt. “That’s because I know that these Guardians will not accept surrender! It is too late for that! Are we going to let them destroy us without a fight?”
The hundreds of great lights that hung over the despairing multitude began to scatter toward the earth like fiery shooting stars. The Guardians, which were now in human form, were fast approaching, appearing as warmongering soldiers descending from the twilight sky. They charged with their elliptical shields in front; the Guardians brandished their double-edged swords and giant spears, all imbued with the power of their respective elements.
When the immortals saw the army of Guardians raining down from the heavens, they raised their hands high as a sign of abandoning their cause. The people continued to cry out to the Guardians, “Forgive us! We surrender!” But the Guardians showed no apparent evidence of desire to stop the war.
Windzer called out to the weeping mob, “Listen to me! They will not stop! You must fight or they will trample over your bodies mercilessly!”
But all of the immortals ignored Windzer’s voice and continued to stretch out their hands, reaching for the sky. Everyone stuck together, forming one large conglomerate mass that waved thousands of open hands in the air. They wailed for mercy in unison and begged for their lives to be spared.
“These people will not listen to reason!” sputtered Windzer. “I don’t understand. We can win this only if they stand to fight.” He curled his lip. “Why won’t they listen?”
“Maybe they’re having a relapse,” said Rendall. “Their fear of what happened nearly a hundred years ago remains in their hearts. There was nothing they could do then, so they must still be thinking that there is nothing they can do now.”
The people moaned in their despondence. The salty tears would not stop flowing. While the Guardians above bellowed their war cries, the immortals below screamed out their cries for mercy. It was a sight that Windzer found repulsive.
Since the townspeople resigned themselves to simply wait and do nothing, Windzer finally decided to take matters into his own hands. He glared at the crowd of immortals and screamed, “Run and hide, you pathetic cowards! You may have given up all hope, but I have not! You undeserving nation, why won’t you stand up and fight to save your own lives? I will fight your battle! Remember until the moment you perish that I fought for you!”
Windzer turned his glare to the Guardians that were prepared to storm the remnants of the land. He squeezed the scythe with his grip and twirled it around. Shades of purple swirled with intense energy and formed an aura around him. He then, with a mighty blow, struck the head of his scythe against the ground; the visible energy was shattered, dissipating into the earth.
Windzer told Rendall, “Protect me.”
Rendall wasn’t quite sure of what Windzer was doing, but he nodded back.
Windzer became enclosed in a radiating ray of violet. “Come forth my minions—all you creatures, beasts and monsters of the earth! To battle! Today you shall fight for my sake as I have fought for yours!”
The galling noises of screeching and cawing filled the air. The forests weaved and stirred. All of a sudden, a massive black cloud formed in the distance and soared toward the capital. The cloud was actually the combination of hundreds of monsters. They flew overhead as one flock, casting a massive shadow over the weeping immortals. All sorts of beasts were in the sky: bat-like monsters called Ruevens with six beady eyes and a neck that twisted like rubber; odd beasts known as Vaiers, which had long bodies shaped like the quill of a feather, long and flat; the reptilian Zortzels, which were capable of spewing acid through holes in their tongues; and many other strange things came to fight on Windzer’s behalf. Together, these monsters formed a thick shield around the immortals, preparing to intercept the enemy.
Once the Guardians got closer, the swarm of flying beasts scattered and burst forth like pellets from a shotgun blast. Shrieking wildly, they attacked the Guardians with whatever they could, whether it was by clawing with powerful talons or gnashing down with serrated beaks and teeth. The Guardians tore through the monsters with their blades, spilling copious amounts of blood.
While the battle between the monsters and the Guardian spirits raged above them, Windzer kept still and silent within the beam of light. He appeared to be meditating with his eyes closed and his breathing regulated.
Rendall said, concerned, “What are you doing?”
“Don’t speak—to me—unless important,” said Windzer, his face strained. He spoke as though it was hard to form words. “I need— concentration—for control. Every creature—demands attention.”
Suddenly, many helmets began popping up from the ocean. Guardians rose up and floated upon the surface of the water, as if they were buoys. Water dripped from their drenched armor as they headed for shore, walking calmly upon the waves. Once the whole army reached the beach, they fervently charged at the ruined capital together, dragging their swords across the sand.
Seemingly in tandem, many hands broke out from under the dirt at the outskirts of the capital. Covered in speckles of sand and rock, the Guardians pulled themselves out of the earth. They dusted off the grime from their faces and brandished their weapons so that they could join their comrades in war.
Rendall said, “Would you consider being surrounded on all sides as something important?”
Windzer briefly opened his eyes and glanced over the two smaller armies that traveled along the ground. “I’ll handle—the south. You—head north. Take Hortmel—and any other—help you can—find.”
Then Windzer broke his concentration for a second and shouted in a thunderous voice, “Come forth, Yvairedey! Crush the southern army!”
The monstrous earthworm violently broke out from the subterranean tunnels below and it emitted such a low, deafening cry that it sounded more like a deep oscillating roar to the onlookers below. The worm slammed its body in a rolling fashion over the army of Guardians, grinding them into the ground.
The Guardians ducked for cover from the relentless bashing that took place. Every powerful strike from the worm caused earthquakes that sent boulders sailing through the sky.
“It’s coming again!” the warriors screamed. “What kind of monster is that?”
Meanwhile, Rendall accepted Windzer’s instructions and proceeded to execute it swiftly. He ran to the throng of immortals, who still had their hands raised to the sky, and commanded them, “Heed my words—the words of an elder! Follow me! We’ll make our stand against those beasts of war that destroyed our homes!”
But in spite of his supposed absolute authority, almost everyone there ignored him and continued on with their grieving. Only a few loyal men and women came up to him and, on bended knee, said, “We will continue to serve you. Please give us your orders.”
Rendall took the few loyal soldiers, along with Hortmel, and they marched to the wrecked northern gates, where the Guardians were running to meet them in battle.
“Can we really win this?” said Rendall. “Taking on a hundred of those Guardians with only a few men? This is absurd! Hortmel, do you have any tricks up your sleeve for this?”
Hortmel grunted in reply. He took his club and smashed it on the ground. The wood chips flew off, revealing a short but stout sword that was hidden within the club. He drew out sturdy chains from his belt and linked it with the hilt of the sword, forming a chain blade. Taking the sword of the chain blade, he twirled it above his head like the beating of the rotor blades of a helicopter; he was spinning it so hard that it whirred and even gained lift off the ground. Hortmel slung his blade forward and it tore through the ranks of the Guardians.
One of the Guardians ran straight into Hortmel’s chain blade and it sliced him perfectly in half. After the Guardian was severed, his body was reformed inside a green crystal.
Hortmel was like a skilled acrobat as he swung his chain blade around. He would thrust the chain blade forward and spin around with it, flailing it about while he performed flips and cartwheels. The result was a massive destructive torrent that left ruin and crystallized Guardians in its wake.
Rendall was quite amazed by Hortmel’s incredible display of power. Now that Hortmel and Windzer were leading the battle, his spirit was lifted; the situation was much brighter.
“Windzer was right! They are much weaker now!” Rendall transformed into a lion and roared to the others with him, “Come on, men! Show them the might of the Immortal Alliance!”

Windzer stood in the same place for ten minutes. He wouldn’t move. He had to remain perfectly still in order to maintain control over his monsters. If anything were to break his hold on the monsters, the result would be an embarrassingly quick end to the battle.

But at the moment, he wondered if it would make a difference because he was starting to have his doubts about whether they could make it out alive. In spite of his best efforts, his monsters would be unable to defeat the Guardians. Slowly but surely, the Guardians were gaining the upper hand in the tide of battle. The dead bodies of monsters continued to fall from the sky, pounding the battlefield with loud thuds. It was only a matter of time before the entire swarm of beasts was crushed.

Falling from the sky, a lucent ball of white fire came hurtling towards him. Windzer took notice of it and commanded several Zortzels to stop it. But the Zortzels, upon reaching it, flared up. The blood inside their veins boiled until their bodies literally exploded.

The ball of fire steadied its approach and gently landed in front of Windzer. The flames subsided, revealing Beld in full view before him. “I knew there was something strange going on here,” said Beld. “You must have told them of our powers.”

“What of it?” said Windzer. He did not particularly fear the Guardian, but there was a sense of powerlessness in this situation that held him in anxiety. He could not move from that spot, and since the others were too far away, there was no one to defend him either.