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1 Battles and Retreat
Ryban kneeled on the black cushion in his summoning chamber. His black hair was tousled and his eyes seemed even darker than normal. "Razar." Ryban yelled throwing a ball of energy into the circle. It burst into a portal and Razar stepped out. "You're sword failed."
"My sword did nothing of the sort. It was your lackey that failed." Razar's voice almost dripped with evil. Ryban screamed and black energy coursed into the demon. Razar barely noticed it and just smiled at the enraged king. Ryban poured more of his energy into the shocks. Razar stepped forward and slammed its fist into the shield the runes put up. The wall exploded outwards and Razar stepped through.
Ryban tried to stand and run but Razar reached forward and grabbed Ryban's head in his large hand. "You dare think that you can command me. You insolent mortal. I am the commander of the demon armies." Razar squeezed and Ryban's head exploded. Claws dug through the gore and the demon turned as a smaller demon like Razar stepped out of the portal.
"My lord." The smaller demon bowed and its voice was full of respect for the larger demon.
"Transform all of the people you can find in this pathetic kingdom. We need an army to take out the Chosen. And begin to open the larger portals that we will need to bring in my army."
"Are they that strong my lord?"
"Not yet but I'm not taking any chances this time around. I was locked in the cursed portal for a thousand years and this time I will feel their brains between my claws myself."
The demon smiled at its sadistic leader and turned back to the portal. It made a signal and demons of every description poured through the portal.
*Kari*
I sat in the room that they had Kyle locked in and was watching my friend sleep. He didn't look happy to be sleep however. He was sweating a lot and moaning softly in his sleep. I walked over to my friend and ran a finger over Kyle's forehead. His skin felt like fire was underneath it. I wanted to do more to stop his suffering but ever her powers were worthless for this and Takeru and Sora could do nothing for this kind of sickness.
"He's going to be all right." Said Tai walking into the chamber and putting an arm over her shoulders. He pulled her shivering form close to his body and tried to calm her.
"It feels like it was my fault." Said Kari. "If we hadn't been taken away by Takeru he wouldn't have been hurt."
"Kari don't you dare sink into that pit of self pity. Remember when I started to blame myself about what had happened to Mom and Dad. I want you to tell me what you said."
"But…"
"Kari tell me." Tai's voice was insistent.
"That…we have to put…the blame where it…needs to be." My voice cracked several times and tears slid down my face.
"Yes. Ryban is the person that we need to blame." Tai held me close and I broke into tears in his strong arms.
*Third person, Delfak*
Razar ran one cruelly tipped claw across the metal of Ryban's throne. A loud piercing sound came from where the claw moved across the gold surface and Razar smiled as the soldier that stood in front of him flinched from the noise. He had plenty of reason to flinch, too. The entire army and surrounding villages except for him had been changed into demons and he was the only human left alive. Of course he would soon be changed as well but he didn't know that.
Razar looked at his claw and admired how the light glanced off of its black edges. Edges that had not been dulled even after multiple killings. Razar stood and walked over to the human and paced around him. The human cringed back from him and Razar enjoyed watching the human sweat.
"You know what I can do to you right?" The demon's voice was almost playful as he taunted the human.
"The same thing you did to everyone else."
"I could but the problem with them is that their minds have been crushed and unfortunately they have lost the ability to think rationally. I only have enough freethinking demons to act as generals. So I want to know if you want to be a general. And remember that this is not a request. You are a general or you are a mindless zombie."
"Y-Y-Yes." Stuttered the soldier.
"Good." Razar drew his sword and drove it through the soldier's back. Electric energy coursed over the soldier. "We move at dawn." The lesser demon nodded and moved off to get the army ready.
*Izzy*
Bright sparks flew as the heavy head of the hammer slammed into the heavy iron of the plow. Corded muscles moved the hammer easily up and down as I worked. I reached up and pushed a lock of spiky red hair that had fallen into my maroon eyes. I loved how I could bend the iron so easily to my will under the heavy blows from the hammer. I put a few finishing touches onto the blade of the plow then placed it on a flat table to cool.
I removed the leather apron that protected his lean but muscular chest and slipped a tan long sleeve shirt on. Dirt rose from the ground as I walked out of my small forge. "Hi lover." Said an almost musical voice as two thin arms draped seductively over my shoulders. A smile broke across my face and I turned underneath her arms until I faced my wife.
Mimi stood in front of me and was looking up at me with her chocolate brown eyes that always seemed to make a smile come to my face. Her long hair that was the same color as her eyes turned and whipped about in the strong breeze that blew across the town. She was dressed in green pants and a shirt that hugged her figure.
"Hello, love." I said back kissing her quickly on the lips.
"How is work?"
"It's harvest time and tools are breaking all the time so we should eat well for the next few days."
"I wouldn't care if we didn't have firewood over the winter. We could keep each other warm." I could feel the heat rush to my face and looked up. Suddenly a loud horn call broke through the silent air of the late afternoon. Both of us looked towards the entrance to the town. The horn was the call for the town's militia to form up at the town's entrance, but it hadn't been blown since I had forged the horn years ago.
Mimi turned and grabbed her mahogany staff that was tipped with iron at the ends. I walked back into my forge and picked up my war hammer from hooks on the wall. The hammer was one of the few weapons I had forged that didn't get used. I had made it for a noble but he had decided he didn't want it after I was done so it was now my own personal weapon. I grabbed its adamantine rod ending with its mithril head. Opposite of the head of the hammer was a long spike.
I came out of the forge at a full run and Mimi fell into step beside me. We skidded to a stop at the town's entrance and glanced around at the farmers that made up the town's militia. They were armed with various farm implements and I grimaced to think what the fighting would do to the blades. I looked up and saw what the watchman had blown the horn for.
A group of thirty humans were moving towards the village and their weapons were obvious even in the dying sunlight. The humans however were hunched over strangely and some were even dragging their legs like they didn't work. "Stop or you will be fired on." Said the man in the tower. The humanoids kept coming however.
The defense forces with bows nocked their arrows and fired them into the flock of humanoids. All of the arrows hit their marks in the ranks but none of them even acted like they felt the arrows in their bodies.
"What the…" said Mimi from beside me. The front row of humanoids had come close enough to attack and I could see what they were.
"Zombies." I slammed my hammer down onto the closest zombie's head and it exploded into a puff of dust. A sword dove towards my ribs and I yanked my hammer back to block the sword. It bounced to the side and I slammed my hammer through the zombie's legs. I glanced over and saw Mimi knocking a zombie's head off of its body.
Suddenly something grabbed onto my ankle and I looked down. One of the zombies I thought I had killed was hanging onto my ankle. Sharp claws dug through my flesh to the bone. I yelled and smashed its head with the top of my hammer. I jumped back into the battle with renewed fury.
The town watch was well trained and even though they fought with weapon normally used as tools they could fight well. They weren't used to fighting against enemies that wouldn't die when you cut their heads off and the zombies were making progress. "Retreat." I yelled. The remaining fighters of the defense force that hadn't been cut down formed up as a pyramid with me at the tip. My hammer slammed through zombie's bodies as we drove through the enemies. We burst though the enemies and ran down the street towards the back of the town.
A loud snarl made me turn and I slowed my run so that the farmers passed me. A group of five zombies was jumping from the roof of one of the houses. My hammer lashed out and one of the zombies curled around the hammer as it blasted through its stomach. I whipped the hammer in a quick backhand and the spike drove through another of the zombie's heads. When I brought the hammer back in front of me it had the zombie's head caught on it.
I didn't have enough time to fire off another blow however because one of the zombies landed on my chest. It knocked me to the ground and the zombie's open mouth shot forward at my throat. I put the shaft of my hammer between its razor fanged jaws and held it away from me. Its sharp fingernails that were as strong as any steel still slashed at my arms, and drew long lines of blood down my muscular arms.
A flash of brown shot above my head and slammed into the top of the zombie's head. Its skull couldn't stand up to the metal bound staff and the zombie flew away from me with its skull crushed in. I climbed quickly to my feet, confident that Mimi could protect me while I stood. I heard the sound of bone cracking and when I turned back to the zombies, one was holding a broken arm. A downward chop took care of one from my hammer and Mimi finished off the other with a chest-crushing jab with her staff.
I winced as the adrenaline from the battle faded and I could feel the slashes on my arms.
"Are you all right?" Asked Mimi.
"Fine." I said pushing away the pain that was coming from the wounds. Mimi knew that I was lying but knew that I could take the pain. We both turned and ran to catch up with the fleeing farmers. We met them as they were running up the tall hill that was behind the village. My heavy boots tore into the soft soil as I moved myself up the steep grade of the hill.
I could barely understand why I fell to my knees and pulled Mimi down beside me, but the slashing claws that passed through the air that I had been standing in answered the question for me. I looked up and saw the creature that had attacked me flying through the air.
It looked like the bloated form of a dragonfly except that it was more than twice the size of a human. Gossamer wings extended from its back. Each of its long legs was tipped with two cruel claws that dripped poison. The gossamer wings seemed too weak to hold up the bloated body but it moved almost to fast to see.
"Chazems." I said, recognizing the creature from a book that I had read once. It was an only minor demon from the opposite dimension but deadly enough. The chazem turned around and flew down at the farmers that were trying desperately to get away from the demon. Its two front legs stabbed forward and caught one of the farmers around the neck. The farmers scream came out garbled as blood flowed up from his torn throat. The demon plunged its razor sharp teeth into the top of the man's head and his screams stopped.
The chazem dropped the farmer to the ground. Even in the dim light I could see that the top of the man's head was missing and blood dripped from the wound and stained the ground. The demon swooped back down at us but I cocked my hammer behind my head and threw it.
The weapon spun head over handle as it flew at the chazem. The heavy weapon slammed into the creature's chest and blasted the life out of it. We kept running a grabbed my weapon from the creature's broken body as we went past. The farmers collapsed in exhaustion at the top of the hill and Mimi and I took up defensive positions around them.
"Izzy look." I glanced over at Mimi and saw her beautiful face pale and drawn. One of her arms was pointing back towards the town. Izzy followed her arm and looked across the fields around the village. Hundreds of torches dotted the open plains and the village's houses were already in flames. The dancing flames showed the forms of more zombies and some different minor demons.
"We need to tell the king. He can bring the army out and stop them."
"Is his army going to be any good against these demons?"
"We'll find out."
*Matt*
I sat on his dad's throne and massaged my aching head. I still couldn't think of it as my own throne even though I had been king for a few weeks now. Takeru had told me about the ancient scripts that they had found in the library and the half of a prophecy. I couldn't understand any more of it than any of them could and it frustrated me.
I could feel things closing in on him. I hadn't wanted to be king so early in my life and definitely not the way that I had gotten to be king. I could barely remember anything about before I had become king. None of the happy days when I had gotten to act like the child I was. The only thing I could be happy about was that this hadn't happened to Takeru. My brother had tried to act older than he was but I could tell that he loved being a kid.
The sound of the huge doors opening brought me out of his contemplation. I could see Tai and Sora leading in a man and a woman. The man was injured on his arms and carried a large hammer. The woman wasn't injured but the way she carried her staff showed that she had been in a fight as well.
I sat up straighter in the throne and put on the best diplomatic look that I could summon on short notice. "What is it Sora?"
"Izzy and Mimi here both came from a village that fell under attack by a large army of demons." Said Sora gesturing to the two. "They can probably tell you the best."
The man that I guessed was Izzy stepped forward. "Your, highness." His voice was strong and gave a sense of curiosity. "Our village is a small place with only a population of fifteen families. I had just come out of my forge when the call for the town guard rang through the air." Izzy went through the whole story of the battle and then the run to the castle.
I sunk back into my throne and let the information wash over me. Our kingdom actually had quite an expansive army but all over our neighbors were extremely testy nations. Our army therefore was spread to all of our boarder bases and only a few hundred troops were even stationed in any of the bases within a day's ride of the castle.
"Joe." My voice was barely a whisper. "Joe." This time my voice was stronger. The general walked into the room from his position outside of the door.
"Yes your highness." Said Joe bowing.
"Izzy, I want you to tell Joe your story but please keep it down to the bare essentials." Izzy told his story again. "Thank you. Sora will take you to the medical wing so you can be looked after. If you need anything else just come to me and I can see what I can do."
"I'll show them the way." Said Sora leading the two away.
"I'll get Takeru and Kari." Said Tai following the three out.
"Joe, before they come back tell me what options we have in this?" I ran a hand through my sweat soaked hair.
"From what Izzy said I can guess that the army is still two days away from the castle. Even with pulling up the militia from all towns a day away and all of the soldiers anywhere close we'll barely number over a thousand. By the number of torches Izzy said there were I would guess that the enemy has almost seven thousand."
"We wouldn't stand a chance against a force of that size."
"No. The only thing that we could do is make a stand here in the castle while we send riders to gather the rest of the army from the border bases."
"Fine, do that." I waved Joe away and he bowed one final time before he rushed out the door to carry out my commands.
Sora, Tai, Kari, and Takeru walked into the throne room. "I think that we have found our demons from the prophecy." I said guessing that Tai and Sora filled the other two in on what had happened.
"Then we're going to need the rest of the necklaces and users." Said Kari. "Just like it says in the prophecy."
"We're gathering our army right now but we're going to have to make a stand in the castle and hold until the rest of the army gets here. Before the army comes you four going to leave with the civilians." I said.
"But Matt…" I cut Takeru off before he could say anything else.
"Even with the whole army in the castle we couldn't beat the demons. We are going to need the other six of the people with the necklaces if we are going to stand any chance. Also we are going to need all the food we can get if they decide to turn this into a siege so we don't need people that can't fight here." I met Takeru's eyes with my own. Silence stretched over the room.
"Fine." Said Takeru breaking the silence. The four left to get ready and I stared at my brother's back.
"Please understand that I'm just trying to protect you." I whispered at my brother's retreating back.
*Takeru*
I pushed some traveling clothing into my leather pack and slung it over my shoulder. I couldn't believe that Matt was just pushing me out of the castle when I was needed the most. I pushed the door to my room open but my anger made me push it a little hard and it smashed against the stone wall. Sora was standing outside of my door and looked at me in surprise.
"You know that Matt is doing this to protect you." My sister said.
It was my turn to act surprised. I hadn't known that it was that obvious. "I'm not a little kid anymore. He doesn't have to protect me like he did when I was five or six." I could feel myself flushing in anger.
"But he feels he has, too. Takeru, Matt tries not to show it but he is cracking underneath the pressure of ruling. He doesn't want you to have to go through what he is going through right now. He sees you growing up too fast and he wants you to just slow down and have fun being a kid. I do, too."
"What's the point of being a kid. I want to be in this war."
"Takeru, remember when me and Matt went off to that battle at the border." Sora crossed her arms across her chest. I could remember it all right. One of our neighbors had tried to storm our border and dad had sent Mat and Sora to look over the army. When they had come back they wouldn't tell me anything that had happened.
"Yes." I said slowly. I really wanted to know what had happened for years and this was my chance.
"I was in the battle. War is nothing like the sparring matches we have. Not even like the fights we had the hallway. There is nothing fancy. You just slash as much as you can and hope that you can kill somebody before they kill you. Only a few minutes into the fight you're slipping over blood and just hoping that its not your own. But it doesn't last for just minutes. It lasts for hours. Near the end you are so tired that you think your arms are going to fall off, but you stop fighting and you die."
"Then comes the worst part. The fight is over and you have to find out if any of your friends survived the fight or if it is their blood that is covering your body. Takeru, war is not a grand thing like the bards sing about. It is horrible and should never happen if it is at all possible." I stepped back from Sora. I could tell by the look on her face that she was being serious.
I sighed and hung my head. "Sorry Sora it's just that I always feel that Matt thinks I'm still a kid."
"Takeru, you barely aren't a kid. Enjoy being one while you still can. Promise me that at least." Sora's voice was hopefully.
"Sure." Suddenly a loud ringing echoed through the halls. "The alarm bell." We both ran down the hallway with drawn weapons. We came out of the castle along one of the walkways and ran over to the parapet. I glanced up at the guard ringing the bell and he pointed out over the fields.
A mass of zombies shambled along towards the castle, and I could see a line of torches coming out of the tree line. The low light of the torches was enough to let me see the faces of the trolls holding them. "I thought they weren't supposed to arrive until tomorrow." Yelled Sora. I kept watching the line and noticed that after the first line of torches there were no more.
"It's not the whole army. They must have sent a force to scout out our defenses."
"Yeah, well we only have the castle guard right now."
"And me." I concentrated on my feather necklace and it started to glow in response. Golden light flowed out of my body and covered me completely. When it disappeared I was covered in my golden armor and my sword had taken on a golden sheen.
The sound of armored boots on stone let me know that the castle archers were coming. "Aim for the trolls. The zombies won't even feel the arrows." The archers drew their long bows to the full extent and the arrows flew. The arrows sleeted into the trolls and several fell to the ground dead or wounded. The ranks of the enemies didn't even slow as arrow after arrow hit the trolls.
The sound of a loud crank broke through the sounds of marching feet as the ballista was loaded. A spear sized shaft ripped through the air and tore through one of the troll's body. It kept going and went through two others before it stopped.
The wood of the door creaked as the zombies pounded their dead limbs against the heavy oak. Kari drew an arrow and fitted it into her bow. "Arrow storm." As each of the arrows hit the zombies they burst into flames. The flames jumped from one zombie to another.
A bolt of lightening tore past my face and caught Kari in the chest. It threw her off of the stone walkway and slammed her into the opposite stone wall. Kari slid down the wall and I could see that the stones where she had hit had cracked. A black char mark marred her pink armor. Another lightening blot hit the door. The door cracked underneath the power of the blast but held. At least until the next bolt hit and knocked the door down.
Zombies poured into the courtyard and the soldiers drew their swords and met them head on. I jumped off of the walkway, using my wings to slow my fall. I could see Kari lying on the ground trying to get to her feet. A zombie charged her and slashed with its claws. She managed to get her bow in the way but the hit tore the weapon from her grasp.
"Optic flare." The burst of light hit the zombie in its face but it didn't need its eyes to fight. Long claws found a crack in her armor and dug into her shoulder. Bright red blood flowed out across her chest plate and onto the zombie's arms.
I used my wings to angle my fall and slashed my sword down. It cut the zombie into two equal pieces and they fell to the ground. I kneeled beside Kari and grabbed the zombies arm at the wrist. "This is going to hurt." I warned before I yanked the offending arm away. Kari hissed in pain and the blood flow grew bigger.
Kari ignored it and grabbed her bow. She nodded to me and we charged into the zombies. They fell in piles at our feet.
*Kyle*
I woke to the feeling of the stones shaking underneath my body and the sound of battle drifting to my ears. My pain filled mind couldn't immediately place where I was, but then it came to me. I was in the Gathis castle.
The bed underneath me shook and I fell onto the hard stone. My head banged against the unyielding stone and I groaned in more pain. I slowly pushed myself to unsteady feet and managed to stumble to the door with only falling once. My guard wasn't there but the clash of steel filled the air.
I needed to be out there helping my friends, not stuck in here wondering what was happening. I glanced over and saw the sword lying in its bubble of gold energy. I managed to stumble to the globe and put my hand on it. Dark smoke curled up from my hand as the energy burned my hand. I drew back and slammed my hand into the globe. A single crack appeared but I kept slamming my hand into the globe into it shattered. The energy faded and disappeared.
I grabbed the hilt of the sword and it burned more than when I had put my hand to the globe. My skin stretched as bones and muscles increased their size three times. My head bulged out and razor sharp teeth filled my mouth. The blade replaced my right hand and a scale shield formed on my left arm. A short tail extended from my back and I leaned forward to balance myself out.
I could feel the evil energy reaching towards my mind but I was ready this time. The energy met my metal shield and couldn't get past. A low hiss escaped my throat as I charged the wall. I hit the wall with my shield and the stones shattered underneath the blow. The shards of stone rained down on the battle below and several stuck into zombies below the tower.
Muscles stuck out from underneath my scales as I tensed. I jump from the tower and hit the ground in a run. "Dark flame." Flames of the darkest ebony flew from my mouth and hit the zombies in front of me. I ran into the burning zombies and my sword flashed as it cut through decaying flesh. I had soon cut down all of the zombies near and rushed off to find more enemies.
*Kari*
I looked across the courtyard of the castle. Dead zombies and human soldiers lay all over the ground. There were many more zombies than humans on the ground but the Gathis army couldn't take the losses. Plus the fact that the doors were to the castle were broken.
I had changed back into my regular clothes and but even though my clothes were clean my skin was covered in dried blood. Most of the blood was my own, too. Pain throbbed through my hurt shoulder but I ignored it with the sight of death in front of me.
I turned around and saw Takeru staring blankly at the carnage in front of him. His sword trailed from his hand and the tip rested on the stones of the courtyard. He was as covered in blood as I was but I was sure that most of his wasn't his own. I walked over to him and put my hand gently on his shoulder.
"Takeru are you all right?" I had seen the same face before. It was the same face that I had on when I had seen my first battle.
"It was exactly as Sora said." His voice showed no emotion as his face.
"What!?"
"Sora told me that war would be this way. I didn't want to believe her though and wanted to fight. I wish I had listened to her." Takeru's sword dropped to the ground and put his head in his hands.
"I know how you feel Takeru. The same thing happened to me when I was ten."
"How did you live with it?" Takeru looked up at me.
"I realize how many people might have died if I hadn't fight. I don't forget that I killed people but I realize that I can't feel guilty for it." Takeru looked down to me and pulled me close for a kiss. I knew that Takeru needed the support. After he broke the kiss Takeru looked into my eyes.
His blue eyes were still sad but I could see the confidence I had fallen in love with returning. "I love you, Kari."
"Me, too."
End Note: That was the end of the sixth chapter and I hoped you like it. Next we get to go and find the rest of the necklace wears powers. I'm going to be gone for two weeks in the mountains so it may be a while til the next chapter but I'll work hard when I get back.
1 Battles and Retreat
Ryban kneeled on the black cushion in his summoning chamber. His black hair was tousled and his eyes seemed even darker than normal. "Razar." Ryban yelled throwing a ball of energy into the circle. It burst into a portal and Razar stepped out. "You're sword failed."
"My sword did nothing of the sort. It was your lackey that failed." Razar's voice almost dripped with evil. Ryban screamed and black energy coursed into the demon. Razar barely noticed it and just smiled at the enraged king. Ryban poured more of his energy into the shocks. Razar stepped forward and slammed its fist into the shield the runes put up. The wall exploded outwards and Razar stepped through.
Ryban tried to stand and run but Razar reached forward and grabbed Ryban's head in his large hand. "You dare think that you can command me. You insolent mortal. I am the commander of the demon armies." Razar squeezed and Ryban's head exploded. Claws dug through the gore and the demon turned as a smaller demon like Razar stepped out of the portal.
"My lord." The smaller demon bowed and its voice was full of respect for the larger demon.
"Transform all of the people you can find in this pathetic kingdom. We need an army to take out the Chosen. And begin to open the larger portals that we will need to bring in my army."
"Are they that strong my lord?"
"Not yet but I'm not taking any chances this time around. I was locked in the cursed portal for a thousand years and this time I will feel their brains between my claws myself."
The demon smiled at its sadistic leader and turned back to the portal. It made a signal and demons of every description poured through the portal.
*Kari*
I sat in the room that they had Kyle locked in and was watching my friend sleep. He didn't look happy to be sleep however. He was sweating a lot and moaning softly in his sleep. I walked over to my friend and ran a finger over Kyle's forehead. His skin felt like fire was underneath it. I wanted to do more to stop his suffering but ever her powers were worthless for this and Takeru and Sora could do nothing for this kind of sickness.
"He's going to be all right." Said Tai walking into the chamber and putting an arm over her shoulders. He pulled her shivering form close to his body and tried to calm her.
"It feels like it was my fault." Said Kari. "If we hadn't been taken away by Takeru he wouldn't have been hurt."
"Kari don't you dare sink into that pit of self pity. Remember when I started to blame myself about what had happened to Mom and Dad. I want you to tell me what you said."
"But…"
"Kari tell me." Tai's voice was insistent.
"That…we have to put…the blame where it…needs to be." My voice cracked several times and tears slid down my face.
"Yes. Ryban is the person that we need to blame." Tai held me close and I broke into tears in his strong arms.
*Third person, Delfak*
Razar ran one cruelly tipped claw across the metal of Ryban's throne. A loud piercing sound came from where the claw moved across the gold surface and Razar smiled as the soldier that stood in front of him flinched from the noise. He had plenty of reason to flinch, too. The entire army and surrounding villages except for him had been changed into demons and he was the only human left alive. Of course he would soon be changed as well but he didn't know that.
Razar looked at his claw and admired how the light glanced off of its black edges. Edges that had not been dulled even after multiple killings. Razar stood and walked over to the human and paced around him. The human cringed back from him and Razar enjoyed watching the human sweat.
"You know what I can do to you right?" The demon's voice was almost playful as he taunted the human.
"The same thing you did to everyone else."
"I could but the problem with them is that their minds have been crushed and unfortunately they have lost the ability to think rationally. I only have enough freethinking demons to act as generals. So I want to know if you want to be a general. And remember that this is not a request. You are a general or you are a mindless zombie."
"Y-Y-Yes." Stuttered the soldier.
"Good." Razar drew his sword and drove it through the soldier's back. Electric energy coursed over the soldier. "We move at dawn." The lesser demon nodded and moved off to get the army ready.
*Izzy*
Bright sparks flew as the heavy head of the hammer slammed into the heavy iron of the plow. Corded muscles moved the hammer easily up and down as I worked. I reached up and pushed a lock of spiky red hair that had fallen into my maroon eyes. I loved how I could bend the iron so easily to my will under the heavy blows from the hammer. I put a few finishing touches onto the blade of the plow then placed it on a flat table to cool.
I removed the leather apron that protected his lean but muscular chest and slipped a tan long sleeve shirt on. Dirt rose from the ground as I walked out of my small forge. "Hi lover." Said an almost musical voice as two thin arms draped seductively over my shoulders. A smile broke across my face and I turned underneath her arms until I faced my wife.
Mimi stood in front of me and was looking up at me with her chocolate brown eyes that always seemed to make a smile come to my face. Her long hair that was the same color as her eyes turned and whipped about in the strong breeze that blew across the town. She was dressed in green pants and a shirt that hugged her figure.
"Hello, love." I said back kissing her quickly on the lips.
"How is work?"
"It's harvest time and tools are breaking all the time so we should eat well for the next few days."
"I wouldn't care if we didn't have firewood over the winter. We could keep each other warm." I could feel the heat rush to my face and looked up. Suddenly a loud horn call broke through the silent air of the late afternoon. Both of us looked towards the entrance to the town. The horn was the call for the town's militia to form up at the town's entrance, but it hadn't been blown since I had forged the horn years ago.
Mimi turned and grabbed her mahogany staff that was tipped with iron at the ends. I walked back into my forge and picked up my war hammer from hooks on the wall. The hammer was one of the few weapons I had forged that didn't get used. I had made it for a noble but he had decided he didn't want it after I was done so it was now my own personal weapon. I grabbed its adamantine rod ending with its mithril head. Opposite of the head of the hammer was a long spike.
I came out of the forge at a full run and Mimi fell into step beside me. We skidded to a stop at the town's entrance and glanced around at the farmers that made up the town's militia. They were armed with various farm implements and I grimaced to think what the fighting would do to the blades. I looked up and saw what the watchman had blown the horn for.
A group of thirty humans were moving towards the village and their weapons were obvious even in the dying sunlight. The humans however were hunched over strangely and some were even dragging their legs like they didn't work. "Stop or you will be fired on." Said the man in the tower. The humanoids kept coming however.
The defense forces with bows nocked their arrows and fired them into the flock of humanoids. All of the arrows hit their marks in the ranks but none of them even acted like they felt the arrows in their bodies.
"What the…" said Mimi from beside me. The front row of humanoids had come close enough to attack and I could see what they were.
"Zombies." I slammed my hammer down onto the closest zombie's head and it exploded into a puff of dust. A sword dove towards my ribs and I yanked my hammer back to block the sword. It bounced to the side and I slammed my hammer through the zombie's legs. I glanced over and saw Mimi knocking a zombie's head off of its body.
Suddenly something grabbed onto my ankle and I looked down. One of the zombies I thought I had killed was hanging onto my ankle. Sharp claws dug through my flesh to the bone. I yelled and smashed its head with the top of my hammer. I jumped back into the battle with renewed fury.
The town watch was well trained and even though they fought with weapon normally used as tools they could fight well. They weren't used to fighting against enemies that wouldn't die when you cut their heads off and the zombies were making progress. "Retreat." I yelled. The remaining fighters of the defense force that hadn't been cut down formed up as a pyramid with me at the tip. My hammer slammed through zombie's bodies as we drove through the enemies. We burst though the enemies and ran down the street towards the back of the town.
A loud snarl made me turn and I slowed my run so that the farmers passed me. A group of five zombies was jumping from the roof of one of the houses. My hammer lashed out and one of the zombies curled around the hammer as it blasted through its stomach. I whipped the hammer in a quick backhand and the spike drove through another of the zombie's heads. When I brought the hammer back in front of me it had the zombie's head caught on it.
I didn't have enough time to fire off another blow however because one of the zombies landed on my chest. It knocked me to the ground and the zombie's open mouth shot forward at my throat. I put the shaft of my hammer between its razor fanged jaws and held it away from me. Its sharp fingernails that were as strong as any steel still slashed at my arms, and drew long lines of blood down my muscular arms.
A flash of brown shot above my head and slammed into the top of the zombie's head. Its skull couldn't stand up to the metal bound staff and the zombie flew away from me with its skull crushed in. I climbed quickly to my feet, confident that Mimi could protect me while I stood. I heard the sound of bone cracking and when I turned back to the zombies, one was holding a broken arm. A downward chop took care of one from my hammer and Mimi finished off the other with a chest-crushing jab with her staff.
I winced as the adrenaline from the battle faded and I could feel the slashes on my arms.
"Are you all right?" Asked Mimi.
"Fine." I said pushing away the pain that was coming from the wounds. Mimi knew that I was lying but knew that I could take the pain. We both turned and ran to catch up with the fleeing farmers. We met them as they were running up the tall hill that was behind the village. My heavy boots tore into the soft soil as I moved myself up the steep grade of the hill.
I could barely understand why I fell to my knees and pulled Mimi down beside me, but the slashing claws that passed through the air that I had been standing in answered the question for me. I looked up and saw the creature that had attacked me flying through the air.
It looked like the bloated form of a dragonfly except that it was more than twice the size of a human. Gossamer wings extended from its back. Each of its long legs was tipped with two cruel claws that dripped poison. The gossamer wings seemed too weak to hold up the bloated body but it moved almost to fast to see.
"Chazems." I said, recognizing the creature from a book that I had read once. It was an only minor demon from the opposite dimension but deadly enough. The chazem turned around and flew down at the farmers that were trying desperately to get away from the demon. Its two front legs stabbed forward and caught one of the farmers around the neck. The farmers scream came out garbled as blood flowed up from his torn throat. The demon plunged its razor sharp teeth into the top of the man's head and his screams stopped.
The chazem dropped the farmer to the ground. Even in the dim light I could see that the top of the man's head was missing and blood dripped from the wound and stained the ground. The demon swooped back down at us but I cocked my hammer behind my head and threw it.
The weapon spun head over handle as it flew at the chazem. The heavy weapon slammed into the creature's chest and blasted the life out of it. We kept running a grabbed my weapon from the creature's broken body as we went past. The farmers collapsed in exhaustion at the top of the hill and Mimi and I took up defensive positions around them.
"Izzy look." I glanced over at Mimi and saw her beautiful face pale and drawn. One of her arms was pointing back towards the town. Izzy followed her arm and looked across the fields around the village. Hundreds of torches dotted the open plains and the village's houses were already in flames. The dancing flames showed the forms of more zombies and some different minor demons.
"We need to tell the king. He can bring the army out and stop them."
"Is his army going to be any good against these demons?"
"We'll find out."
*Matt*
I sat on his dad's throne and massaged my aching head. I still couldn't think of it as my own throne even though I had been king for a few weeks now. Takeru had told me about the ancient scripts that they had found in the library and the half of a prophecy. I couldn't understand any more of it than any of them could and it frustrated me.
I could feel things closing in on him. I hadn't wanted to be king so early in my life and definitely not the way that I had gotten to be king. I could barely remember anything about before I had become king. None of the happy days when I had gotten to act like the child I was. The only thing I could be happy about was that this hadn't happened to Takeru. My brother had tried to act older than he was but I could tell that he loved being a kid.
The sound of the huge doors opening brought me out of his contemplation. I could see Tai and Sora leading in a man and a woman. The man was injured on his arms and carried a large hammer. The woman wasn't injured but the way she carried her staff showed that she had been in a fight as well.
I sat up straighter in the throne and put on the best diplomatic look that I could summon on short notice. "What is it Sora?"
"Izzy and Mimi here both came from a village that fell under attack by a large army of demons." Said Sora gesturing to the two. "They can probably tell you the best."
The man that I guessed was Izzy stepped forward. "Your, highness." His voice was strong and gave a sense of curiosity. "Our village is a small place with only a population of fifteen families. I had just come out of my forge when the call for the town guard rang through the air." Izzy went through the whole story of the battle and then the run to the castle.
I sunk back into my throne and let the information wash over me. Our kingdom actually had quite an expansive army but all over our neighbors were extremely testy nations. Our army therefore was spread to all of our boarder bases and only a few hundred troops were even stationed in any of the bases within a day's ride of the castle.
"Joe." My voice was barely a whisper. "Joe." This time my voice was stronger. The general walked into the room from his position outside of the door.
"Yes your highness." Said Joe bowing.
"Izzy, I want you to tell Joe your story but please keep it down to the bare essentials." Izzy told his story again. "Thank you. Sora will take you to the medical wing so you can be looked after. If you need anything else just come to me and I can see what I can do."
"I'll show them the way." Said Sora leading the two away.
"I'll get Takeru and Kari." Said Tai following the three out.
"Joe, before they come back tell me what options we have in this?" I ran a hand through my sweat soaked hair.
"From what Izzy said I can guess that the army is still two days away from the castle. Even with pulling up the militia from all towns a day away and all of the soldiers anywhere close we'll barely number over a thousand. By the number of torches Izzy said there were I would guess that the enemy has almost seven thousand."
"We wouldn't stand a chance against a force of that size."
"No. The only thing that we could do is make a stand here in the castle while we send riders to gather the rest of the army from the border bases."
"Fine, do that." I waved Joe away and he bowed one final time before he rushed out the door to carry out my commands.
Sora, Tai, Kari, and Takeru walked into the throne room. "I think that we have found our demons from the prophecy." I said guessing that Tai and Sora filled the other two in on what had happened.
"Then we're going to need the rest of the necklaces and users." Said Kari. "Just like it says in the prophecy."
"We're gathering our army right now but we're going to have to make a stand in the castle and hold until the rest of the army gets here. Before the army comes you four going to leave with the civilians." I said.
"But Matt…" I cut Takeru off before he could say anything else.
"Even with the whole army in the castle we couldn't beat the demons. We are going to need the other six of the people with the necklaces if we are going to stand any chance. Also we are going to need all the food we can get if they decide to turn this into a siege so we don't need people that can't fight here." I met Takeru's eyes with my own. Silence stretched over the room.
"Fine." Said Takeru breaking the silence. The four left to get ready and I stared at my brother's back.
"Please understand that I'm just trying to protect you." I whispered at my brother's retreating back.
*Takeru*
I pushed some traveling clothing into my leather pack and slung it over my shoulder. I couldn't believe that Matt was just pushing me out of the castle when I was needed the most. I pushed the door to my room open but my anger made me push it a little hard and it smashed against the stone wall. Sora was standing outside of my door and looked at me in surprise.
"You know that Matt is doing this to protect you." My sister said.
It was my turn to act surprised. I hadn't known that it was that obvious. "I'm not a little kid anymore. He doesn't have to protect me like he did when I was five or six." I could feel myself flushing in anger.
"But he feels he has, too. Takeru, Matt tries not to show it but he is cracking underneath the pressure of ruling. He doesn't want you to have to go through what he is going through right now. He sees you growing up too fast and he wants you to just slow down and have fun being a kid. I do, too."
"What's the point of being a kid. I want to be in this war."
"Takeru, remember when me and Matt went off to that battle at the border." Sora crossed her arms across her chest. I could remember it all right. One of our neighbors had tried to storm our border and dad had sent Mat and Sora to look over the army. When they had come back they wouldn't tell me anything that had happened.
"Yes." I said slowly. I really wanted to know what had happened for years and this was my chance.
"I was in the battle. War is nothing like the sparring matches we have. Not even like the fights we had the hallway. There is nothing fancy. You just slash as much as you can and hope that you can kill somebody before they kill you. Only a few minutes into the fight you're slipping over blood and just hoping that its not your own. But it doesn't last for just minutes. It lasts for hours. Near the end you are so tired that you think your arms are going to fall off, but you stop fighting and you die."
"Then comes the worst part. The fight is over and you have to find out if any of your friends survived the fight or if it is their blood that is covering your body. Takeru, war is not a grand thing like the bards sing about. It is horrible and should never happen if it is at all possible." I stepped back from Sora. I could tell by the look on her face that she was being serious.
I sighed and hung my head. "Sorry Sora it's just that I always feel that Matt thinks I'm still a kid."
"Takeru, you barely aren't a kid. Enjoy being one while you still can. Promise me that at least." Sora's voice was hopefully.
"Sure." Suddenly a loud ringing echoed through the halls. "The alarm bell." We both ran down the hallway with drawn weapons. We came out of the castle along one of the walkways and ran over to the parapet. I glanced up at the guard ringing the bell and he pointed out over the fields.
A mass of zombies shambled along towards the castle, and I could see a line of torches coming out of the tree line. The low light of the torches was enough to let me see the faces of the trolls holding them. "I thought they weren't supposed to arrive until tomorrow." Yelled Sora. I kept watching the line and noticed that after the first line of torches there were no more.
"It's not the whole army. They must have sent a force to scout out our defenses."
"Yeah, well we only have the castle guard right now."
"And me." I concentrated on my feather necklace and it started to glow in response. Golden light flowed out of my body and covered me completely. When it disappeared I was covered in my golden armor and my sword had taken on a golden sheen.
The sound of armored boots on stone let me know that the castle archers were coming. "Aim for the trolls. The zombies won't even feel the arrows." The archers drew their long bows to the full extent and the arrows flew. The arrows sleeted into the trolls and several fell to the ground dead or wounded. The ranks of the enemies didn't even slow as arrow after arrow hit the trolls.
The sound of a loud crank broke through the sounds of marching feet as the ballista was loaded. A spear sized shaft ripped through the air and tore through one of the troll's body. It kept going and went through two others before it stopped.
The wood of the door creaked as the zombies pounded their dead limbs against the heavy oak. Kari drew an arrow and fitted it into her bow. "Arrow storm." As each of the arrows hit the zombies they burst into flames. The flames jumped from one zombie to another.
A bolt of lightening tore past my face and caught Kari in the chest. It threw her off of the stone walkway and slammed her into the opposite stone wall. Kari slid down the wall and I could see that the stones where she had hit had cracked. A black char mark marred her pink armor. Another lightening blot hit the door. The door cracked underneath the power of the blast but held. At least until the next bolt hit and knocked the door down.
Zombies poured into the courtyard and the soldiers drew their swords and met them head on. I jumped off of the walkway, using my wings to slow my fall. I could see Kari lying on the ground trying to get to her feet. A zombie charged her and slashed with its claws. She managed to get her bow in the way but the hit tore the weapon from her grasp.
"Optic flare." The burst of light hit the zombie in its face but it didn't need its eyes to fight. Long claws found a crack in her armor and dug into her shoulder. Bright red blood flowed out across her chest plate and onto the zombie's arms.
I used my wings to angle my fall and slashed my sword down. It cut the zombie into two equal pieces and they fell to the ground. I kneeled beside Kari and grabbed the zombies arm at the wrist. "This is going to hurt." I warned before I yanked the offending arm away. Kari hissed in pain and the blood flow grew bigger.
Kari ignored it and grabbed her bow. She nodded to me and we charged into the zombies. They fell in piles at our feet.
*Kyle*
I woke to the feeling of the stones shaking underneath my body and the sound of battle drifting to my ears. My pain filled mind couldn't immediately place where I was, but then it came to me. I was in the Gathis castle.
The bed underneath me shook and I fell onto the hard stone. My head banged against the unyielding stone and I groaned in more pain. I slowly pushed myself to unsteady feet and managed to stumble to the door with only falling once. My guard wasn't there but the clash of steel filled the air.
I needed to be out there helping my friends, not stuck in here wondering what was happening. I glanced over and saw the sword lying in its bubble of gold energy. I managed to stumble to the globe and put my hand on it. Dark smoke curled up from my hand as the energy burned my hand. I drew back and slammed my hand into the globe. A single crack appeared but I kept slamming my hand into the globe into it shattered. The energy faded and disappeared.
I grabbed the hilt of the sword and it burned more than when I had put my hand to the globe. My skin stretched as bones and muscles increased their size three times. My head bulged out and razor sharp teeth filled my mouth. The blade replaced my right hand and a scale shield formed on my left arm. A short tail extended from my back and I leaned forward to balance myself out.
I could feel the evil energy reaching towards my mind but I was ready this time. The energy met my metal shield and couldn't get past. A low hiss escaped my throat as I charged the wall. I hit the wall with my shield and the stones shattered underneath the blow. The shards of stone rained down on the battle below and several stuck into zombies below the tower.
Muscles stuck out from underneath my scales as I tensed. I jump from the tower and hit the ground in a run. "Dark flame." Flames of the darkest ebony flew from my mouth and hit the zombies in front of me. I ran into the burning zombies and my sword flashed as it cut through decaying flesh. I had soon cut down all of the zombies near and rushed off to find more enemies.
*Kari*
I looked across the courtyard of the castle. Dead zombies and human soldiers lay all over the ground. There were many more zombies than humans on the ground but the Gathis army couldn't take the losses. Plus the fact that the doors were to the castle were broken.
I had changed back into my regular clothes and but even though my clothes were clean my skin was covered in dried blood. Most of the blood was my own, too. Pain throbbed through my hurt shoulder but I ignored it with the sight of death in front of me.
I turned around and saw Takeru staring blankly at the carnage in front of him. His sword trailed from his hand and the tip rested on the stones of the courtyard. He was as covered in blood as I was but I was sure that most of his wasn't his own. I walked over to him and put my hand gently on his shoulder.
"Takeru are you all right?" I had seen the same face before. It was the same face that I had on when I had seen my first battle.
"It was exactly as Sora said." His voice showed no emotion as his face.
"What!?"
"Sora told me that war would be this way. I didn't want to believe her though and wanted to fight. I wish I had listened to her." Takeru's sword dropped to the ground and put his head in his hands.
"I know how you feel Takeru. The same thing happened to me when I was ten."
"How did you live with it?" Takeru looked up at me.
"I realize how many people might have died if I hadn't fight. I don't forget that I killed people but I realize that I can't feel guilty for it." Takeru looked down to me and pulled me close for a kiss. I knew that Takeru needed the support. After he broke the kiss Takeru looked into my eyes.
His blue eyes were still sad but I could see the confidence I had fallen in love with returning. "I love you, Kari."
"Me, too."
End Note: That was the end of the sixth chapter and I hoped you like it. Next we get to go and find the rest of the necklace wears powers. I'm going to be gone for two weeks in the mountains so it may be a while til the next chapter but I'll work hard when I get back.