Thanks for reading this far and please review. I hope to get the next chapter up sooner then the other recent ones

Chapter 12: Encroachment

With Sephiran taking Micaiah, Stefan, and Soren to receive the same power I had earlier, it looked like we might stand a chance against the empire. After all that had happened though, I could not see things returning to normal. It had been nearly ten years since that night we fled Daien and now Daien is no longer a nation. These thoughts ran through my head as I attempted to sleep the rest of the night.

I awoke to the noises of people talking and when I opened my eyes, I saw the sun had already risen quite high into the sky. The base was quite cool for the desert that morning. When I rose and walked around, I realized that everyone else was already awake. I wanted to get a chance to thank Sephiran before he left since he was known to disappear for long periods. When I went to look for him, I ran into Brandon.

"You certainly look better today", I said noticing he was walking around and appeared to be in no pain.

"Yea, that Sephiran guy is amazing. He touched me with his staff and all my pain is gone."

"He has defiantly helped us a lot. I think he is the only one of us that actually understands this whole mess", I replied, "You have any idea where he is now? I wanted to thank him before he left."

"Yea he's out side the entrance getting ready to leave. I was going to go get you so you could see him before he left", Brandon answered, "he tried to explain this whole mess to me but I still don't understand nearly all of it."

Therefore, Brandon and I went out to where Sephiran and the others were standing. At the same time we got out there one of our scouts returned to the base.

"I bring dire news", the scout said, "the empire has a force of about 1000 solders less then 20 miles away. They don't seem to know where we are but they know we are close."

"Okay, so what do we do?" I asked.

"We have to make them turn back", Stefan said, "If they find the base then there is no way we could kill all of them before one of them would report it. If however we can force them to retreat by ambushing them then they will retreat and not know anything more."

"It won't be that easy though", Soren added, "They outnumber us two to one as it is. We will have to make sure that the attack can cause them to flee before their numbers will give them the advantage."

Sephiran then added, "This shows the need to perform the awakening galder as soon as we can."

"Go take them then", I said to Sephiran, "it will be worth not having them for a battle when they possess the same power as I do and mine should be enough to handle this situation."

"Don't overuse it though", Sephiran warned me, "your body isn't use to that kind of power so it will exhaust you to unleash it. Stick to your lightning magic alone until you have had time to control the power." After that, Sephiran warped them to the Serenes Forest.

"Looks like I'll be fighting again sooner then I had planned", Brandon said to me.

"You don't have to come with".

"I'm coming anyway", he said cutting me off, and "if we don't win this fight then it is over for us so I will use my lance to make sure we do win."

"Thanks", I said admiring his determination and loyalty.

We set out for the enemy camp. The scout reported that they mostly traveled at night and rested during the blistering desert days. While our army was smaller, we thought we had enough power to defeat them. Our plan was to surround them during the night and the attack while they rested in the day. The night should give us enough cover to hide near them but we would have to be careful that they didn't hear us and did not run into us with their movement. During the night, we took the opportunity to spy on our enemies. Their leader was general Ylexia. She was a powerful warrior with a fighting style unlike anything I had seen before. She had long orange hair tied up in a ponytail as she walked around the camp ordering her men around. Her army possessed a balanced force comprised of about even numbers of sword, axe, and lance users. There were a few archers but most of the army was close-ranged fighters.

As the sun began to rise, I instructed the army to hide among the dunes in the desert. There was not a cloud in the sky so a lightning bolt would indicate to the divided army to attack. They seemed to anticipate an event like this occurring and set several dozen watches out to look for an ambush like ours. Even so, we had to strike now with them less then 5 miles away from the base.

I gave the signal. A lightning bolt struck a nearby sand dune and the army changed at the camp. Muarim switched to his tiger form and he and the rest of our laguz forces led the attack. Their army quickly readied for the attack and the element of surprise would not give us the advantage I had hoped. To start the tigers and the rest of our army were pushing back the lines of the empire. Perhaps we could get them to retreat now.

"Army of the empire", I said loudly, "if you wish to avoid further deaths then leave this desert now".

"Don't make me laugh. Our army outnumbers you and your surprise attack has failed", Ylexia said seeing through my plan, "now all of you rebels shall die."

Two of our archers had hidden behind one of the enemy tents. They saw an opportunity to take down the general so they fired at her. Ylexia heard the arrows and turned to block the attack by using the shield she had in her left hand. With incredible agility, she jumped over the tent and stuck one of the archers with a heavy metal glove she wielded in her right hand. The other archer tried to run but Ylexia ran through him with her glove killing him as well.

The battle on the front line carried on. Our foot solders attempted to bolster the laguz change. I had practiced using my thunder magic, not only as an attack, but also to defend my self with it. I build up the lightning in my hands and send the magic at a swordsman electrocuting him. Then an axmen charged at me but I let loose a swift blast of lightning stunning him for a second giving me enough time to fire a larger lightning ball killing him as well. During the battle, I tried to keep lightning built up in at least one hand that way I could stop an enemy that got around our attack. I grabbed the blade of a swordsman that tried to strike me with my hands protected by my magic. I then proceeded to send the lightning in my hands into his body through the sword. It was then that the battle turned against us.

The general joined her men on the front line. She bashed a couple of our swordsman with her glove killing them. She evaded our attacks by blocking them with her shield or her gloving or oftentimes just dodging them. She was distracted though by those near her she did not see the possibility of a ranged attack. Right as she killed her enemies around her, I changed a ball of lightning and fired it. The attack connected and sent her back several feet. To my surprise, however she quickly got up. No normal person could take that attack so easily. I then charged at her hoping to finish her assuming that attack had at least weakened her.