(Author's Note: This chapter has proven to be longer than expected. As such I will divide it into three parts. This is the first part of "Nightmare".)
Chapter 21: Nightmare, Part 1
The storm had turned violent. The winds whipped across the shelters and they shuttered at each lash. The horses were led into the caves along with a few of the refugees and wounded soldiers. Others have chosen to spend their last nights within the confines of their own lodgings. They would have at least one last night of silent peace before they ventured into the dark abyss.
Banquo had set a few low lying campfires inside the cave to fend off the chilling winds and keep the cave warm for those who resided in it.
He threw a few more wet logs from a pile to keep one of the campfires going before he set himself beside it. The others were huddled around the campfire's warm glow. I however shunned its light and kept to the entrance of the cave, keeping a wary eye upon the gate.
"Orias…do you see it?" Banquo had suddenly asked.
I did not turn to him but I returned his question with one of my own.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you see our future? Our fate?"
"How do you--?"
"You're staring out into the unknown. As if you were trying to see the future through the dark and intangible mass of nothingness. Mages do the same thing you know or at least they try to. You concentrate so forcefully, that I would think you would have already seen countless futures by now, boy. Ha! It's no use looking for something that has not been made to come into plain sight. After all, the future comes when it comes. In the mean time, come in deeper to the cave and share the warmth of the flame. There's a deadly chill out there. We don't want you to start dying out on us already! Ha!"
"I have already treaded too far into the deepness of the caverns. What I found deep within the cavern was a different kind of warmth. Such warmth had turned me cold. It had turned me…"
Banquo had taken pause to my words. I could sense that he was trying to contemplate my cryptic response.
"How do you mean when you say that, boy?" Banquo said in a low voice.
"I say it…out of nothing. I merely try to spin words. Idle minds often try to comprehend things out of chaos."
"Is that so? Hmph…well in any case. How has Anteus been brought about? Has Anteus chosen to stay his ground at the gates?" Banquo digressed.
"Yes, he would stay there upon the grounds."
"And should the Undead come pounding upon the gates?"
"He will stay his ground and remain strong. He has resolved to stay his ground and not to move from it. He regrets deeply how weak he had turned when he chose to turn away. I gave him the option before to turn back and he refused. Because he believes as I do. We must take away life in order to preserve it. Even if it means our own."
"There will be many of them staying. Do you believe it to be too many?"
"One life lost is too many. Yet they would stay to sacrifice their own."
"Sacrifice…do you think maybe they have started to believe again?"
"In their purpose?"
"Aye…purpose! A purpose that they, as soldiers, will fulfill now. Fate had only allowed them an extension upon life. They wandered and trudged through what I could only describe as a listless hell. But fate would have them die here. Heh…funny how fate works."
"Do you believe it to be fate? Do you believe that it is our destiny to die here, even when we can not foresee our outcome?'
"You're asking the wrong person, Orias. After all you are the one trying so hard to see the future. Heh, heh…"
Banquo wandered away from the conversation and busied himself with sharpening his axe. I looked out into the storm and a small dark figure appeared quickly from the rainy mist.
It was Menteith. He had covered himself with a long cloak and hood to protect him from the rain. He had rushed past me and headed straight for the fires.
"It's a chilly, gusty, bloody mess out there!" Menteith shouted in a blustered fury.
Menteith warmed his hands and quickly reached in his cloak for the metal flask that was given to him by Kelv. He drank deeply from it and put it down only to take a quick breath.
"What drove you to go out there in the first place?" Menteith's brother inquired.
"Preparation! All for preparation!" Menteith grinned.
"What for?"
"You'll see."
"Ack! Are you at least done with it?"
"No, still a few more things." Menteith said as he looked about the cave entrance.
"Yes…there are still more things to do."
Menteith continued to grin. Banquo shook his head and did not question him any further. Mentieth went on to drink from his flask again. Banquo observed his brother taking more than his usual share of ale.
"Are you nervous, Menteith?" Banquo asked.
"What?! Nervous about what?" Menteith shouted.
"About the attacks and--"
"I ain't nervous about nothing! Nothing! Let them come! I'll blast the bastards back past whatever hole they came from! Nervous? HA! I'm glad they're coming here. I'll show their insides the shell casings of each of my bullets! I'll probably make a new record for myself! Ha ha ha…"
Menteith took another deep sip from his flask again. His brother shook his head and directed his attention toward me.
"Orias! How about you? You're not in so much in denial as my brother are you? Heh…Orias?"
A strange feeling overtook me. I felt faint and weak again. I gripped the sides of the cave wall in an attempt to balance myself.
"Orias?"
"I'm fine. I…I will be in the town hall. Keep watch, Banquo. I will return." I said as I stepped out into the storm.
The town hall was not far from the cave. I was upon the steps of the town hall within a few moments. But I treaded slowly as I felt that I might collapse under the weight of the armor. The armor had suddenly turned heavy upon me.
I entered the town hall through one of the doors. I slipped in carefully and closed the door behind me. The room in the town hall was dark save for a glimmering light of a fading candle stick.
I reached for the walls and ran my hand across it. My gauntlet skidded across its surface as I soon fell to my knees. I was weak. Too weak to hold myself up now.
The candle…the candle's light finally drowned in the very fuel that sustained it. I was in complete darkness.
My other hand that kept me up had finally given way and I collapsed upon my back. I took in long deep breaths. I was desperate to breathe. I felt as if these breaths were my last.
An unfamiliar feeling came over me. I looked through the slits of my helm in a daze. My eyes grew tired of seeing. My body grew tired of movement. I let myself be taken by this feeling. Sleep…I have not known a restful sleep in a long time…
"Orias…" A voice called me from the void of darkness.
I could not open my eyes but listened carefully for the voice again.
"Orias, awaken." The voice beckoned again.
Slowly my eyes grew wide. A renewed vigor had allowed me to stand up again. The voices beckoning had a strong influence upon me. I looked about to find this forlorn voice.
"Orias…"
I looked out in the darkness and found a strange white mist floating about the room. The mist descended and moved out of the room toward the door. I was compelled to follow it. I moved quickly so as not to lose sight of the strange apparition.
The mist fled out of the room to the outside. I reached for the door and flung it open.
My eyes grew wide at the sight.
"Socrates…" I muttered.
The mist had taken form to a ghastly apparition of Socrates. Have my eyes turned to deceive me? Or have they longed to see this old mentor of mine, that my mind has started to play tricks? Yet…I felt strongly that this was the same Socrates that I have known for so long.
"Orias, you must follow. Follow along this path." Socrates had spoken without moving his mouth or uttering a sound.
He had floated along quickly down the path. I followed without hesitation or thought. I was compelled to follow this path.
We have moved through the Central Town toward the peak. I knew this trail all too well that I felt no apprehension or regret with each step. I followed willingly until he halted at the top of the peak.
The ghastly figure did not face me once I arrived at the peak.
"Socrates?"
I reached out with my hand in attempt to sway the ghost's attention. But instead the apparition disappeared. I now stood alone at the peak.
I looked about myself in a wild and frantic search for my missing guide. Where could he have gone? Why did he bring me up here? Of all places why here?
A sharp searing pain struck me again. The armor…it had started to burn into my skin again! It burned more intensely and with an unremitting, painful fire that shocked every sensation that my body possessed. My body did not feel as if it were burning but felt more like a transformation into the fire itself.
Screams and howls of pain fell silent on top this barren peak. My eyes look out toward the skies but I can no longer see the misty, storm. Instead I see the skies had turned into a bloody shade that surrounded the once bleak heavens.
I cried out again in pain and still the cries went unanswered. I would scream for a quick relief and end my torment but the armor weighed me down into this world.
A muttering fell upon my ears but I could not understand. It was faint and unintelligible. Through the pain, I continued to listen for the whisper.
It grew louder but I could not understand the meaning of the words.
"Fashef laruk Ishaera…" The voice muttered.
"What…? Why?!" I cried out in pain.
"Zasephen gellar Rias!" The voice shouted
The pain had stopped in that instant.
The relief was quick but was a welcome feeling. My body fell but fell into nothing. The solid ground could not be felt upon my back or the gusts of the storm upon my body. I felt nothing.
"All too simple…" The voice was now clear and sounded deep within my own mind.
My eyes lay fixed upon the bleeding skies. A sun emerged from the celestial sea of red. I looked intently and saw that the sun was burning with an unnatural color. One that seemed to darken rather than illuminate its surroundings.
"You mortal creatures are all too simple to manipulate."
"What--What are you…?" I beseeched the dark sun.
"Merely dangle an opportunity to grasp power and like so many parasites, you cling and feed off of it."
"What have…what have you done to me?!"
"Insolent. Foolish. Arrogant. A wonderful number of these qualities to choose from and manipulate. Is it not so…Orias?"
"Why have you brought me here? Why?!"
"Questions upon questions and nothing more. You creatures are better off in lame ignorance. Such is a more blissful state than to suffer the complications. Yet you and so many others choose to direct your own fates, when in truth you have no power. You have no control."
"Release me…Release me!!!"
"Again…another futile attempt at control. Were you so willing to offer yourself as a tribute in order to reclaim control? Is that not why you took the power you now possess? Such power you were all too willing to take for yourself in order to purport your own desires. Is it not so, Orias?"
I could not resist this ethereal, omnipotent creature. It had a hold upon me that I could not comprehend.
"What are you?"
"I am something that had existed for an age beyond an age. A time when I reigned free upon this realm. Before the blasted Titans had chained me under this shell of a world. I have no name that your kind can comprehend. 'Old Gods' we have been called but more than mere gods we were. But to be cast into my current existence is…a complication that I must step over. My kindred have tried as I have to free ourselves. To be rid of this shell of a world. But you mortal creatures have proven to be almost too resilient and this world persists. Our powers are restricted by the many chains that bind us. But a drop of our will can fill the many oceans of your world. A drop of my power was cast out in the very place where mortal creatures would quickly find it."
To my horror, I realize what it all meant now.
"Creatures that had passed into this world. Creatures filled with demon blood. With their desires to claim this world as their own, they were drawn all too quickly to it. They took it for themselves but only to have it pass into another's hands. In thought and theory, this tangible form of my power would fall into hands that would quickly be consumed by it. My will however…was rejected by a mere mortal. The fool had sent it away. Cast aside and for a time forgotten but to emerge again into this worthy candidate. Turmoil and despair reeks within your mind. I have sensed it. But there is also hesitation. Something that must be rid of quickly. Something that I shall amend for now…"
The sun burned more fiercely in the red sky and its dark light overwhelmed this hellish realm. I was soon consumed in it.
"Look on and observe pitiful creature. Look on in your wretched state. You shall soon learn the fate of many. The fates that you have so long desired to take control…"
The relief was sudden. A quick breath and all had become clear. My senses had stretched beyond its former boundaries. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and feeling had turned into one omnipotent sense.
My surroundings quickly changed and once again I could see the cloudy skies and pouring rain. I could feel the whipping gales. But I was no longer upon the peak. I did not feel as if I had existed in this moment. Yet…I see and feel everything.
My newly founded sense allowed me to see where I have been taken. The sight of the muddy trails had led me to the sight of the beaten gate.
By the light…why was I brought to the inner gate? How was any of this possible?
My senses drew me to many different sights and sounds. Every drop of rain that fell upon each puddle, I could hear with the utmost clarity. Each breath the gate guards breathed, I felt as if the breathing was my own. But these senses were not restricted solely upon the area around the gate. I could see Banquo still at work with his axe and Menteith half-awake struggling to stay alert. I could see all these things but my presence was not within this plane. I was everywhere and yet I was nowhere.
Something was amiss…
I felt the link to their presence. I have felt this link before but only faintly. This link between them and myself…they have come again.
The mist did not conceal them from my sight any longer. The whole of their legions were revealed to me. But the sheer sight of their army was a horrible wonder to behold. How can there still be so many left? Is there no end to these monsters?!
The staggering masses waited silently just moments beyond the gate. They kept to the mist as it provided cover from the guards. There was movement however stirring from the front of the bulging masses.
An Undead dressed in strange dark rags and masked in a cloth marked by an unknown emblem. I could see the emblem was a depiction of a raven and a broken mask. I have never seen an army marked with that symbol.
The burning eyes of this ragged one were like that of the Undead I have seen among the meat wagons in the previous attack. This one stood at the head of the army.
It looked out towards the gate and surveyed the surroundings.
The guards at the gate were unsuspecting as the mist misled them to think that nothing was present.
The ragged one soon made a motion with its hand to convey its orders and several skeletal archers stepped forward from the massive crowd.
Each lined themselves on the ground and drew out worn arrows. The bows cricked as they were pulled back and the aim was directed toward the gate. Their targets were each marked by the unblinking dead eyes.
Why are you showing me this? Is this--?
The rag wearing Undead dropped its bandaged hand and the arrows were let loose. The arrows cut through the mist swiftly.
"Schell! You got some more of that drink on ya?" Jerry shouted from the other end of the battlement.
"The one that tastes like troll piss?" Schell responded.
"The same!"
"Ugh…here take the whole damn lot of it."
"Ha! Much obliged!"
"Hell it's not worth a damn to me. I hate guard duty. Always have, always will. Damn it…the freezing rain and the blasted wind. Hey Jerry! You done with the drink? Pass it back already, so I can take a sip myself, huh? Jerry!"
No reply came from the other side.
"Jerry?"
The gate guards were caught unaware. It seemed as if nothing more than a swift wind had passed them. The blood that had painted the air alerted them to think otherwise.
"Oh sh--Jerry!"
The arrows had already cut through Jerry's neck. He collapsed to the ground. Schell was quick to sound the horn but it did not take long before he met the same fate. The arrows soon came in swarms and picked off many of the gate guards.
The cannons soon came to life and let off powerful charges in retaliation. Fiery explosions lit up the darkness and spurred the Undead army to advance.
The explosions have let loose the packs of ghouls and skeletal warriors toward the gate. Abominations lumbered behind them in clumsy rows. Clinking sounds again came from the mist. Meat wagons let loose the metallic disks and brought down a hail of iron upon the gate. They assaulted the gate with unrelenting force.
Cries from the gate had brought the many defenders to its aid. The attack was sudden and they were all caught unaware. There was a scramble towards the gate.
Anteus had organized his knights from the chaos.
"Back towards the front of the gate! Bring in the supports!" Anteus shouted his orders.
Shields were brought up around the battlement to protect the rifleman upon it. Mortars were loaded and fired from behind the gate. Intermittent explosions were heard from either the cannons or Gnomish grenades. But these efforts came to no avail.
The scratching and scraping upon the gate was deafening. The ghouls in fervor raked their claws across the gate. The abominations were now tearing upon the gates with their hooks and slamming down upon it with their grotesque massive bodies.
As it was before, the arrows and gunshots penetrated vainly into these hunks of rotting flesh. A tear, a rip, or a spattering of blood was all that was produced from the attacks.
Down behind the gate, a small mass of archers struggled with their arrow volleys. They fired at will and could aim towards nothing but the blackening chaos.
Howls and groans resonated from the crowd of Undead. So many have already fallen but their numbers were too vast to have mattered. Merely drops of their army evaporated in this ocean of malevolent fiends.
"ANTEUS!" A loud shout was heard above the riot of sound.
Banquo and Menteith arrived at the gate and Anteus beckoned his horse toward them.
"How many of the bastards are out there?" Menteith grinned as he asked in anticipation.
"They've come in full force now. The gate will not hold long." Anteus replied.
Anteus looked about Banquo and Menteith.
"Where is Orias? Why is he not here?"
"We--We don't know…he said he was going to the town hall but he wasn't there. I've tried looking for him but he isn't--" Banquo was cut off by a renegade arrow that had narrowly missed him.
"We will have to make do without him for now. How goes the evacuation?" Anteus asked.
"We were all caught with our pants down across the knees, boy! They still haven't organized everyone in the caves yet! Bloody hell, I ain't stickin' around here any longer! I've got Undead heads that need exploding!" Menteith shouted as he ran off towards the battlement.
Anteus looked back towards Banquo. He grimaced heavily and took up his axe.
"There going to need as much time as we can give them so they can evacuate." Banquo said grimly.
"But without Orias we are unable to--"
"No…we ain't got time. We ain't got Orias. But we still got hell to give! We'll hold them down well enough! Bring what horrors that may come! They won't make it past this gate!" Banquo said as he let loose a battle cry and made towards the gate.
Anteus drew out his sword and called for his knights to rally around him. The final battle has come full circle.