Uploaded 21/11/2018
Ike_/ Welcome back, browsers of the internet.
Fred_/ Another chapter is here for your enjoyment.
Ike_/ So it is. By the way, a big thank you to all our readers here. This got a way bigger response than we expected.
Fred_/ We did?
Ike_/ Yes. Followers and favourites within the first day are a first for us. Or even followers and favourites at all.
Ryan_/ Obviously the fans of the original don't know about this yet, or there would be more reviews too. Lovely people, they are.
Fred_/ Before we begin, we have a review!
Minecraftfan - We're happy you like it! Unfortunately, our mix-matched life schedules make getting chapters out regularly near impossible. But worry not, we won't give up the story!
Ike_/ Anywho, let's get on with this.
Prologue II: Brothers Through Battle
'thought'
"speech"
*sound/action*
"John, this is a decent plan." Shay said, his voice betraying no emotion.
"Shay, are you alright? You've never complimented me without also insulting me in the process" John asked sarcastically. Shay seemed to ignore him.
"I've gone over it a hundred times, and this is the only plan where we have even the slightest chance of victory. And the odds are still heavily against us. I fully expect that most of these men will not survive."
"As opposed to all of these men, that's pretty good I'd say." John countered, the humour completely gone from his tone. Shay kept quiet after that. Then both brothers' eyes snapped to the gate when a loud snap was heard.
In a tent in the camp of a certain militia, people cried. People mourned. People sat in despair. But one woman paced back and forth, muttering to herself. Worry was clear in her eyes, but she did not grieve despite the circumstances.
"Shay said he would be here with John an hour ago..." She muttered, running a hand through her silken hair. Then, without hesitation, she stormed out of the tent heading towards the center of the camp.
Arrows lit aflame flew from the village like rain from a cloud, filling the sky and putting on a strange and terrifying light show. The creaking and crunching of bones against dirt and stone filled John and Shay's ears, as an undead army charged down the streets of their hometown, a dull purple glow now coming from their empty sockets.
"Get behind me, these arrows won't pierce my armour." Shay spoke urgently, turning his back to the sky and using his sword to cover his exposed neck.
John quickly crouched behind Shay, listening as arrows bounced off his armour and blade like metallic rain, while others planted themselves in the ground around them with a soft thunk. As soon as the arrows stopped, the two brothers drew bows, nocked arrows, and began shooting down as many of the approaching undead as possible. Despite that, the foot soldiers were on them an instant later, swords and axes swinging. The brothers dropped their bows, and brandished blades, quickly parrying attacks. Shay deflected a short sword and used the momentum to follow up with a downward slash that cut the skeleton in two. John ducked under an axe swing and thrust his sword between the eyes of the offending opponent, quickly sidestepping as another outrealm soldier swung his greatsword down, not caring about the fallen comrade he shattered. The skeleton swung his sword down again, and John sidestepped while guarding his left side with his sword. The stone blade slid down the side of John's iron sword shooting sparks into the air, and John quickly swung his sword at the exposed arms of the undead soldier. The blade sliced into the rotted bone like butter, unlike the stone sword John had used previously, which had given him a great amount of resistance.
Without its arms the creature lurched towards John, snapping its jaws. John instinctively sidestepped the desperate attack and thrust his knee where a man's stomach would have been. Instead, he felt a dull pain and heard a pop as his knee knocked part of the skeleton's spine out of place. It fell to the ground, quickly being replaced by two more undead monsters. John ducked under the swing of a sword, cutting the skeleton in half as he passed, and launched an attack at the second enemy. The skeleton deflected it easily with a flick of its blade and pressed in on John. With a swing faster than John had ever seen before. John jerked back but still received a nick on his cheek, sending droplets of blood flowing down the side of his face. He ignored it and deflected another swipe of the opponent's blade. John suddenly heard a creak on his right, and rolled under an axe swing that would have relieved him of his upper torso. He quickly regained his footing just in time for the skeleton with the sword to bat his sword out of his hand. The sword came back around for a slash aimed at his neck, and John dropped to the ground and swept the legs of the creature. It hit the ground, and John kicked its head with all his might. A sickening crack reached his ears as he dove for his sword, inadvertently dodging a deadly attack from the axe-wielding skeleton.
John shot back to his feet and spun around, quickly batting away another attempt to sever his head. Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Shay running towards him preparing to swing his sword down for a killing blow. The skeleton attacked again and John sidestepped it, letting the skeleton stumble forward into the devastating attack which split it down the center. As it crumbled to pieces, Shay made contact with John. A silent meaning was passed between them, and they ran in the opposite direction. Before the two of them had the gap between the gates slowing the advance of the enemy with a choke point. Now, the full force of the enemy was behind them. But so was salvation. The moment the last outrealm skeleton ran out from the gates, the Order Of Rose came charging from around the corners on either side of the wall. The charge started as a clustered group but slowly formed into a pincer formation, effectively surrounding the outrealm warriors. As forged iron met carved stone and blades met flesh and bone, Shay spun on his heel swinging his sword, beheading two of the skeletons following them. John spun around and cut down a warrior that had been on his tail. With the main force now focused on the Order, John and Shay had considerably fewer outrealm warriors to deal with.
John and a skeleton with a sword similar to his own circled each other searching for any openings or weaknesses. The outrealm warrior suddenly charged John swinging its sword low with incredible speed. John parried the attack and countered with a thrust at the creatures head, but the skeleton used the momentum from its botched attack to turn on a dime and swing its sword around to knock away Johns attack. John nearly lost his footing with the unexpected parry but managed to stay upright enough to deflect another deadly slash. Suddenly, Johns sword was wrenched from his hands by an axe, and John was in no position to dodge the incoming swing of a sword. Time seemed to slow as the stone blade closed in on his clavicle. Five inches away. four. three. Suddenly, an arrow pierced the skull of the skeleton, and a second knocked the sword far out of harm's way. Johns' eyes flicked to the battlefield in time to see Cylian nod at him, before returning to his own fight. John quickly whipped out his dagger and threw it into the skull of the skeleton wielding the axe.
"I really must stop losing this..." John muttered as he picked up his sword. Several yards away, Shay was locked in combat holding his own against two skeletons, one wielding a spear and the other an axe.
John began running to help until a deafening boom drew his attention back to where the fighting was most intense. The outrealm general had entered the fray. John instantly began running towards it, despite the sudden shouting of his brother. Johns' gut told him he needed to be there, so he didn't stop. Not even when he began weaving between men and monsters, dodging blades and moving over and around fallen soldiers. Not even when he arrived on the scene and saw the massive battleaxe cleave three men in half with a single blow. John crouched down and grabbed the sword of a fallen knight.
"Sorry friend, but I imagine I need this more than you at the moment," John spoke as if the corpse could hear him.
John stood, brandishing a forged iron bastard sword in each hand, just in time to see the commander of the Order Of Rose charge at the undead general swinging a shimmering diamond sword. The general batted the attack away easily and used the momentum to spin the axe back around for a devastating counter-attack. The commander ducked under it, weaved around the buck of the generals' horse, and plunged the blade into the chest of the horse. It crumpled to the ground along with the general, but the massive skeleton swung his axe as he fell, preventing the commander from going in for a fatal blow. Another skeleton charged into the fray, thrusting a spear at the commander. He barely managed to dodge the sudden attack, but regained his footing and deflected another thrust. Behind him, the general was back on his feet, and about to kill both combatants with a mighty swing of his axe.
Without thinking John upon him in seconds, jumping onto his back and sinking both blades in the general's shoulder. The axe narrowly missed the commander and knocked the spearman off balance. It was just the opening Darien needed, and he relieved the outrealm soldier of his head. John pulled one blade out of the general's shoulder to strike again, but a skeletal hand shot out of nowhere, grabbing him by his head and slamming him on the ground. The axe swung down towards John, and time seemed to slow down for him. The sound of the battle faded from his ears. The axe inched closer and John briefly wondered why his life hadn't flashed before his eyes yet.
'Surely this blow will kill me. That stunt I pulled to save Darien is gonna get me killed.'
Suddenly a greatsword came out of nowhere, parrying the axe and throwing it just far enough of course, that it wouldn't harm John. John was quick to roll away and scramble to his feet, grabbing his sword as he got up. John Briefly checked his flanks, seeing Sigfried and Darien at his sides. Two arrows flew overhead and made a clunking noise as they bounced off of the giant's armour. It wasn't much, but it had the attention of the Outrealm general for a moment. Darien and Sigfried flew at the skeleton, Sigfried's greatsword cleaving the pole of the battleaxe in half, and Darien's sword plunging into the stomach of the Outrealm general. It didn't stop the general though, and he reached down to grab the offending men. John acted quickly, dashing at the creature and using a pile of bones as a step stool to jump off of. John collided with the upper half of the huge skeleton, thrusting his sword into the gap in its helmet, and into its skull.
The tower of bone and metal fell to its knees, then crumpled to the ground on its backside. The spectacle created a huge cloud of dust and made a sound loud enough to hear over the sound of battle, alerting all of the surrounding soldiers. Several moments passed, then the Outrealm skeletons began to flee only to find the way was blocked by the Order Of Rose. The defeat of the general gave the militia a renewed vigour, and a battle cry rose as they slaughtered the remaining creatures. Cilyan joined the group, his hair matted to the side of his face, slick with blood. He held a silver bow in his hand, with an arrow still nocked. John rose from the dead general, his legs wobbling as the adrenaline wore off, and he began to feel the fatigue and ache kick in.
"The Outrealm fiends are retreating, Darien. It would appear that even these creatures of hell can feel fear." Cilyan said.
"Indeed. The day is ours, thanks to the Diamond brothers." Darien said, giving John a nod as he joined the group. Sigfried huffed and acknowledged John with a nod of his own.
"You are undisciplined and reckless, boy. But you risked your life in battle alongside us, and your strategy won us the day. For that, you have my respect." Sigfried said to John.
"You're right. I have no real training, and to be honest I almost died a couple of times. Some actual training would be nice." John said sheepishly, flustered from being complemented by a knight.
"THE CAMP!" The group heard someone shout. They turned and saw Shay running towards them in a panic. And their hearts sank as they looked past him to the plume of smoke coming from the camp.
Fred_/ Well, that concludes the second chapter of the Infected Rose rewrite.
Ike_/ So it does. Lots of action in this chapter. It was supposed to be longer, and have a bunch of plot/storytelling in it but we cut it short for the sake of getting you wonderful people a chapter before Christmas. Before we take our leave, we would like to thank everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed. We love seeing feedback, and it really does encourage us to write.
Fred_/ As I always say, this writing machine runs on feedback. And a large amount of coffee.
Ryan_/ Well that sounds familiar...
