A man walked towards them, dressed in some kind of demonic platemail. It looked as if there was flesh inside the platemail, fused with the metal itself to hold it together. The armor alone looked like it was straight out of hell's armory. Then there was the man himself, with those cold dead eyes. He had fair skin, with a completely hairless head. The way he walked was quite threatening in itself. This man was a Ylside, although very little was known about them besides their incredible strength and speed. Out of the blue, he drew his massive two handed sword. It was clear that he was intending to attack the outpost. It was then that five other guards ran out, all bearing long swords. Two archers stood at the bridge, both of them preparing to loose their arrows. It was then one of the guards walked out in front. He had black hair, but was balding so what little hair he had was all at the back of his head. This man was Ortiern, captain of the king's armies and commander of this outpost. "Turn back, or we will cut you down where you stand!" He yelled out to the man in the heavy platemail.
The ylside did not listen. Instead, he charged forwards with incredible speed. No human should ever have the ability to move that fast in full platemail, especially when it was that heavy looking. The ylside swung straight for Ortiern's head, but fortunately he managed to duck just in time before the ylside then gave him a swift kick to the face. It felt like he was being hit with a hammer. Blood poured from his nose as the metal met his face. The force was so great, it almost knocked him out. Ortiern hit the ground back first as his men let their arrows fly. As soon as they made contact with the Ylside's armor, the sharp steel tips were quickly blunted, and the wooden shafts snapped. The Ylside's footsteps rang out as he charged straight towards the guards. With an overhead chop, he cleaved a guard's head straight down the middle, causing blood to splatter over the blade as it cut through chainmail, bone and brain.
Karlock swung his long sword straight at the back of the ylside's leg, hoping to cleave through the tough armor, but all it did was scratch up the armor. Before he could do anything else, the Yelside quickly spun around, giving Karlock a strong backhanded punch with his armored fist. His upper right front tooth was broken in half from the cold metal slamming into his mouth. Intense pain shot through his mouth, causing him to stumble back, recoiling in agony. He could only watch in horror as the heavily armoured man swung his sword horizontally towards one of the other guards. The guard tried jumping back, but the long blade still tore right through his abdomen. He was disemboweled right where he stood, his intestines slipping out of the massive wound as he dropped to his knees. Slowly, the guard was dying. The crimson fluid pooling underneath him.
Hadrian and another guard slammed their swords into his armor, but it didn't seem to do anything but anger the heavy weapon wielding man. "Shit!" Hadrian yelled before the ylside swung his sword at the other guard. The blade sliced right through the other guard's neck, blood spurting out of the gaping wound with every heart beat. The metal pommel of the two handed sword swung by the ylside slammed against the side of Hadrian's head, knocking him down to the ground. Dark red droplets began running down the side of his head, matting his short brown hair. Hadrian was about to push himself back up, but before he knew it, that ylside was there, looming over him. Two more arrows shattered against his armoured back as he raised his sword, about to plunge it right into the guard below him. Hadrian thought it was over, but at that moment, Ortiern jumped onto the ylside's back.
Ortiern covered the ylside's eyes with one hand whilst plunging a dagger into the side of his neck with the other hand. "Die, bastard!" He yelled as the ylside dropped his sword. The loud metal clang of the sword hitting the floor rang out through this cavernous place. The ylside dropped to his knees before slamming his heavily armoured elbow right into Ortiern's ribs, almost breaking them. "Get his sword!" Ortiern yelled to Hadrian as he twisted the dagger, opening up the ylside's veins. Blood sprayed over the blade as well as Ortiern's hand as the ylside grabbed the dagger, pulling it out of his neck as Ortiern tried to push it back in.
Hadrian quickly crawled over to the two handed sword the ylside dropped, grabbing it with both hands before standing. He brought it up over his own head, about to cleave this ylside in half. "Ortiern!" He yelled. Ortiern immediately let go of his dagger, jumping back just in time to see the ylside hold his neck with one hand whilst the other hand looked to be reaching up for his sword. Hadrian brought the sword down with all his strength, closing his eyes for a moment as he felt the blade hitting something followed by a metallic, and slightly fleshy sound. When he opened his hazel eyes, he saw the Ylside, holding up his hand that was now split in two, right down to the wrist. Blood soaked the stone floor underneath this ylside. For a moment, there was silence, but that silence was then broken. Demonic laughter left the ylside's lips. It was unusual, no man should ever be able to make that sound with his vocal chords. As he laughed, Hadrian noticed white smoke emanating from his armor. Something was wrong, very wrong.
"Get away! Run!" Ortiern yelled to Hadrian as he retreated back to the bridge.
Hadrian dropped the two handed sword and ran for the bridge as if his life depended on it. The ylside's demonic laughter only grew louder, and louder until it all ended with a big loud bang. It sounded as if a massive battering ram had just smashed down the doors to a castle. Hadrian looked back just in time to see his body suddenly disappear in a big fiery flash, his body scattered all over the place into pieces so small, they were hardly even noticeable. Once Hadrian had a chance to calm down and think, his thoughts turned to his friend. "Karlock!" He yelled, seeing him still on the other side of the bridge, spitting out blood. Hadrian came to his aid, seeing how messed up his friend looked. "We need to get you a potion for that..." He thought aloud.
"The bastard broke my tooth... Fuck it hurts..." Karlock kept his right hand to his mouth, hiding just how much pain he was in.
Whilst Hadrian escorted Karlock back to the city of Arx, Ortiern walked to the spot where the demonic man once was. Nothing remained but blood and the weapon he was once carrying. He got a very ominous feeling from this sudden attack. He felt as if this was only the beginning of something far more insidious.
Author's note: I wrote most of this whilst listening to the background music in the troll caves level. :3 Anyway, thank you all for reading. If there are any questions you wish to ask, just do so and I will answer them in the next chapter! Oh, and I wanna thank Alteya on Deviant Art for the awesome picture I am now using for this cover! Go check the picture out on Alteya's profile. You might not be able to see it on here, but there is a chicken in the picture somewhere. XD