XL
The enormous crossbow on the roof of the palace was positioned, a champion weapon representing Fulcan’s kingdom. I ordered the guilds to spread along the top of the east castle wall, preparing to defend against the first wave of Ceiros’ attack.
Tarsus had spoken to the people of the nation, taking initiative as a leader and equipping some of them with the armoury’s spare armour. He had instructed them to repair any damage on the wall from the approaching forces, reinforcing the wall to provide a greater resistance. As for other civilians that proved to hold some fighting experience, they were immediately drafted into the Army of Light and Purity, a prestigious army that wouldn't have been remotely as easy to join before the wars occurred. The spirits of the city were bolstered; the fighting force was filled with a new found rage as the men and women fought from their very homes, for their very lives.
“Ulterium!” The figure behind the crossbow yelled. “My squadron is hopeless without me! Can you take my place?”
I nodded my head and quickly rushed inside the palace, climbing the stairs until I reached the rooftop.
“The king suddenly pulled me from my group minutes before the invasion. If I don’t hurry back, my squad would basically be running into a suicide. Thanks a lot, Ulterium.”
General Zartan, a master with the crossbow but better with the blade, patted my shoulder and quickly flew down the stairs, returning to the battlegrounds and finding his squad. I came to realization that I had never actually operated the champion crossbow as I stood before the intimidating siege machine, let alone a simple crossbow. Sylvan was nowhere in sight, and by the time I called him over to replace me, the stampeding wave of extraterrestrials would have already demolished the front ranks.
The controls, however, were not intimidating. The golden plated crossbow had mechanical parts attached here and there, and a nice low seat behind the enormous bow for the arbalest. In front of the seat, attached to the curve of the bow, was a metal wheel and a lever beside it. I figured the wheel would control the rotation of the weapon while the lever powered the crossbow on and off.
To my relief, I was correct. Quickly jumping behind the wheel, I yanked the lever down and veered the weapon towards the nearest approaching Faedrix. The enormous siege machine rumbled violently in my grip as the first barrage of arrows pierced through the emerald sky of aliens, killing the cloning Faedrixes by the masses.
All attention in the sky suddenly converged towards me as the Faedrixes witnessed their fallen brethren from my crossbow. On the battlefield, the Decimos had already arrived at the outskirts of Tenebris, recklessly parading through the farmland, mercilessly sparing nothing behind.
The Faedrixes dropped out of the sky, one by one in rapid succession as I steered the bow left and right. As I jolted back and forth on the lethal machine, every shot was fatal, and more were killed than could be duplicated. As the congregation got closer and closer, the maddened Faedrixes suddenly spread apart, a flying net of aliens targeting a lateral weapon. I pulled the wheel downwards frantically, hoping for the crossbow to aim upwards, and as if it was designed to my hopes, the crossbow swerved upwards and continued its Faedrix massacre.
Overlord Ceiros soon realized this wasn’t a solution, observing that the Faedrixes had no chance of spawning against the champion weapon. He quickly signalled something, and all the Decimos ceased in action while the flock of Faedrixes quickly retreated. I quickly switched the lever down, instantly powering the weapon down and conserving what was left of my ammunition. A grim thought crossed my mind; surely, I was about to run out of arrows very soon.
With another whistle, the overlord resumed his march, but this time, the Faedrixes were flying low to the ground, completely concealed by the monstrous Decimos. I turned on the weapon again, only to have the arrows ineffectively rebound off the thickly armoured Decimos. The Faedrixes began multiplying again, and if they weren’t stopped, they would quickly regain the number they had started with.
The Army of Light and Purity had its main force at the gates of Tenebris, while I saw two lines of Fulcan’s men on the right and left as well, concealed behind a hill and a forest. From my vantage point, the tallest point of Tenebris, I was granted the ability to witness every movement. Tarsus had redirected both guilds to the ground, every member behind a soldier on the front lines to confront Ceiros. Some of the army had already begun attacking the approaching Decimos, but they were easily flung to the side or crushed underfoot the powerful giants mercilessly.
Titans filled the horizon, a hundred of them holding the capability of demolishing the royal fortress in minutes. Most of our cannons had been destroyed in the war against Helterium, and the champion crossbow was now ineffective against the shielded, rapidly cloning swarm of Faedrixes. Even some of the guild’s weapons proved to have negligible damage against the overlord’s army, Foku’s electrical lance scraping the giants and Kadava’s sharp kunai deflected by the Decimos.
The truth was simple, and it had to be spoken. There was no way we could win this war.
The frontlines were soon crushed. The Decimos slowly approached while the Faedrixes darted in and out from behind the giants’ protection, an effective strategy slowly destroying the strongest army of Grozorg.
Fulcan and his generals were trying everything they could, but they were restricted by the balance of an effective strike to the overlord’s forces and saving as much of the army as they could.
The left and right squadrons ran out from their hiding positions and flanked Ceiros, Fulcan’s sharpshooters slaying the Faedrixes from behind the line of extraterrestrial giants. Ceiros waved his arms around in response and the two ranks were instantly killed by another stream of meteors.
I quickly positioned my bow towards the unguarded Caelomancer and switched the lever on. To my dismay, two arrows bolted out before the weapon hopelessly clicked rapidly, signifying the end of its nearly unlimited ammunition.
The two arrows soared through the sky, travelling the long distance, only to have the first arrow accidently deflected by a soldier’s raised sword. The second arrow soared a bit higher, past the blade, continuing its deadly path towards the Caelomancer’s heart.
Kadava must have seen my plan, because the arrow was soon tailing a fast kunai. A Faedrix soared up to take the full impact of the arrow, only to be slashed to the side by the heavy kunai. As the Caelomancer turned around, the arrow sank into the dark cloak, and the Mancer instantly disappeared in a cloud of black mist.
Ceiros didn’t seem to notice. The march continued without the master of space in their arsenal, and the Army of Light continued to fall to the impenetrable throng of Decimos and Faedrixes.
I hopelessly sat behind the empty crossbow, hands still firmly clutching the thin wheel. Nothing seemed to be working, nothing hindered the march. I lowered my head, and my eyes caught the golden gleam on my right index finger. The Ring of Aquilla.
“Tarsus!” I hollered above the deafening stomps, running down the tower. “Bring the men to Helterium’s island!”
Tarsus had learned to listen first and question later. It was probably the most significant change in him that made me admire him when I got to know him better. He quickly ran into the palace where the only other significant figure inside was the king.
Within minutes, the command spread throughout the entire army, and the Army of Light slowly retreated, fully revealing the unprotected walls of Tenebris to Overlord Ceiro’s army. I scrambled down the tower and met up with Tarsus and our guilds, retreating with the army and the king.
“What’s the plan?” Fulcan asked as he brushed towards me, moving through the masses of golden-plated men and women.
“Bring them to Helterium’s island. If we reach the Confederacy in time, we could turn this war around!”
“But then Tenebris would be left abandoned, wide open for Ceiros to seize it!” Tarsus exclaimed.
“What would make them follow us?”
“Pride,” the king immediately responded. “Ceiros is a man of pride, like the rest of the overlords. Quick, run to Hestia and alert the Confederacy!”
Fulcan leapt to the front of his army and exclaimed in a loud roar, “Ceiros! Where’s your dignity if your massive army can’t even catch up to mine?”
Ceiros roared a command in return, and his troops picked up their pace. The Faedrix now followed an obscure, chaotic pattern, wreaking havoc among any soldier nearest to them without the careful darting in-and-out from behind the Decimos as before.
The army began to run. As I moved down the valley towards Helterium’s island, the stampede of the Army of Light and Purity began to follow. The two guilds had stayed behind to assist the king’s men, and if I didn’t make it fast enough to Hestia, the war would not be in our favour. Mainland Grozorg was fairly planar, with the frequent occasion of knolls and hills, bodies of water, and a forest here and there. As I pushed myself to keep my legs in a constant motion through the all-too-familiar land, the blue horizon soon appeared above the green flatland.
But then I recalled that the bridge was burnt.
It was a coincidence, however, that we were given time to pack before Ceiros declared war. I quickly pulled out a coil of rope, realizing the potential it could’ve served if I had it on me during the previous wars. After tying a noose and swinging it overhead, it sailed across the sky and hooked on successfully. Smoothly leaping off the edge of Mainland Grozorg, I drifted through the empty atmosphere, a lifeless flight for a few moments, landing softly onto the edge of Helterium’s island.
There was no time to waste. The heavy brushes of metal on metal were approaching as the king and his army neared the dead end. I tucked my coil of rope away and sprinted to a nearby ship on the shore. The jack had a different design, the insignia a merge of all the different fleets that made up the Confederacy. Below that flag waved a smaller jack, and it flew the Vindors’ emblem.
“Hestia!” I called out frantically. “Hestia!”
I took out both blades and waved it around in the air, still in a full sprint towards the docked ship. The bright sunlight gleamed off my moving krises, hopefully attracting the attention of someone onboard.
Reaching the base of the large pristine ship, the buccaneer on board greeted me with a shout of joy, calling for Hestia immediately. Within seconds, the captain appeared above me over the railing of the ship with a large smile. It was a miracle the captain was on this specific ship and none other.
“We need your help!” I demanded instantly. The smile on the captain’s face was wiped with an austere look. “Ceiros is attacking, and we were forced to come here! The Confederacy is our last hope; if you don’t assist us, all will be lost!”
“Sound the horn!” Famming called immediately.
Instantly, a deafening bellow was emitted from the tallest crow’s nest of the ship as a sailor blew into an amplifying instrument. In a moment of silence, five foghorns responded in the distance, all at staggered intervals.
“The Confederacy will be here quickly. I’ll send some of me buccaneers to assist the king in the meantime,” Famming called down.
A stream of men and women leapt out of the ship, sliding down coils of rope to join me on the glistening sand as I began the sprint back to Fulcan’s island. The ragtag group of corsairs matched my pace as we ripped through the soft beach, grains of sand flying through the humid air as we reached the edge of the open island.
“There’s no bridge here! How’re we gunna git across?” A large pirate observed to my right, catching his breath.
The king and his army had reached the edge of Mainland Grozorg. In the distance, a horde of green and a stampede of giants closed in on them, but they were still a distance away.
“When’s the Confederacy coming?” I asked impatiently.
“We’ve never had to sound the horn before,” a girl to my right spoke. “This is the first time the Confederacy horn is sounded, so it might take a bit of time.”
“We don’t have time!”
“How’d you even get here? There’s no bridge!” The man to my left insisted.
“I flew! That’s not important, we need to help the king!”
I looked around helplessly, as if a solution would just be lying in front of me.
“Join Hestia when she comes back,” I told the crew. “You won’t be able to make it to Mainland Grozorg.”
As I finished, I took out my rope and swung back to Mainland Grozorg, joining the first of the retreating soldiers trapped by the dead end. I navigated through the ocean of metal plated warriors until I found my guild, surrounding the king and his generals near the frontline.
The attacking force was a couple hundred meters away and closing now, their fuel-raged pace unrelenting.
Within a minute, the two armies merged, the thick cloud of reborn Faedrixes hammering against the gold emblazoned shields of the Army of Light and Purity.
The ground shook as the Decimos thundered toward us, ripping through the frontlines at ease. Luckily, they weren’t the fastest beings, so some swift soldiers of the army were able to evade the titanic steps milliseconds before their lives were lost.
We all knew the outcome; this war was a lost cause. There was still no sign of the captain or the Confederacy, and our final stand was slowly diminishing while Ceiros’ swarm contrastingly increased in numbers at an exponential rate.
Slowly but surely, Ceiros’ chaotic army moved closer and closer to the edge of the island, sparing no life behind. A line of many lifeless bodies lay still on the green grass, proudly bearing the insignia of the Army of Light and Purity on their crushed chests.
All hope was lost. The final stand, the final confrontation. Was it really the best idea in bringing the army here?
Did I really mess up for the nation?
What happened to...improvise?
Soldiers left and right fought valiantly until their last breath. If not ripped apart by the monstrous Faedrixes, they were trapped by the titans, crushed underfoot by the never-ceasing steps of the Decimos. Cries filled the air as the Army of Light and Purity fell to the extraterrestrial forces, the last hope of Grozorg quickly diminishing. I fought with valour, with anger, and I lost sight of all my guild members as they dispersed throughout the army. Dashing around the crushing stomps, I slashed my blades at overhead Faedrixes, only to have more multiplied. The war was over before it began. A new era of Grozorg had begun.
Then there was a boom.
A thunder shook the ground, an all-too-familiar thunder.
And another boom.
The sky was littered with a barrage of lead payload, a glorious redemption soaring above us.
The Confederacy had finally arrived.