There was fire; fire began to dot the city giving it a blood red glow and smoke darkened the night sky. Great balls of fire had come down and struck the city not ten minutes ago. Fire balls could only be summoned by Entities or Gods as the humans call them, and the Iys were known to be Godless warriors. The fire balls struck the western wall which opened a gap for the besieging Iysian warriors to pour into the city. No doubt her husband was desperately leading the defense of a doomed city.

She was horrified at the screams that echoed below and the now smoldering buildings that were hit by stray fire balls. The smell of ash and burnt flesh stung her nostrils. She would need to go now and aid her people below, but a thought of hopelessness crossed her mind which she quickly swatted away; there is always hope.

Amaye turned from the Temple throne room balcony to look upon her personal servants, she had long shimmering platinum hair that spilled over her shoulders, unnaturally deep crimson eyes that were filled with sorrow, and soft milky white skinned face that looked sixteen though she was far older than that. This is Amaye Goddess of fertility; her specialty was healing the sick and making food appear for the hungry. Her husband was Hiur God of Forests which was actually more of a nickname because of his odd obsession with growing forests. Strange how when they first met he was a demonic God and how dramatically he has changed.

Through her sorrow a small grin appeared on her face and she murmured "Where did they go?" The servants gave her puzzled expressions and one was almost going to ask before she soon said "It is time we go, I must aid my people and you will help put out the fires." She must now compose herself for what must be done and let nothing else get in her way, it vexed Amaye that this strange emotion of love that she received from her human subjects could be so weakening. The Gods have no use for such emotions yet it caught on like a disease, so foreign it is to the Entities. Even the physical form that the Entities manifest into is not of their choosing. Perhaps this luck that seems to control everything the Gods don't is really the ultimate Entity that rules with an unseen hand.

"By the Gods, what the hell is that?" This call and similar ones suddenly rang out across the battlements of the western wall as the defenders of Definol stared upward at the sparkling night sky. He stared too before realizing that the strange objects were really flaming balls of fire surging toward the 120 or so soldiers that were lining the wall. He suddenly muttered "Holy crap," and then yelled "You bastards! Get off the damn wall!" Hiur took a firm hold of the three closest men, leaped off the wall, and landed thirty yards away. Hiur was only able to save three, the rest were either dead or wounded; the wounded would soon be killed by the coming horde of thousands of Iysian spearmen. Suddenly as he surveyed the area of scattered bodies a strange emotion erupted within him, a great urge to save the wounded from their sealed fate, but there was no time, no time for silly emotions, only time for war.

Hiur, formally known as God of battles, prided himself as a strategist but pondered at the possibility of defeat, this one was called fear, he knew that much and he decided it was just another one of those silly human emotions. "You three, I am forfeiting this area, for now, move to the eastern part of the city and get everyone underground, I will send more aid."

"Yes my lord"

They were just militia but at least he could trust them, loyalty is a luxury he was unable to sport in the past, thus he cherishes it now. As Hiur leaped over the rooftops of the houses and buildings of Definol he thought if it was possible to use his demonic powers here. No, he would kill his own people, Amaye would have his head if he tried anything like that; she was such a bitch. Hiur grinned. It seems that this time he would need to rely on his own strength and the strength of his warriors. Hiur frowned at this, he didn't like his odds, and what's worse is, how will he get Amaye out of the city? She was no warrior. No, he mustn't think of that, it will only cloud his judgment. Oh how Hiur cursed this emotion of love.

"Curses men, get that barricade ready! If you plan on out living the night I suggest you move your fat asses now!" Damn it, how the hell did Hiur expect to survive this! As captain of the defenders of Definol and personal friend of Hiur, Kenbuyn had the right to question the strategic judgment of his deity. If any other soldier felt the need to do this he would have the right to be killed on the spot, though Hiur rarely did that anymore.

"The Iys, they are here!" cried one of the men.

"Damn it, those bastards couldn't give us a few more moments, okay then, archers move to the front, ready…" Kenbuyn had at least sixty men under his control, there were perhaps 500 or so soldiers throughout the city. The odds were three to one for the entire city, not very good odds, and the odds for his unit of soldiers at this moment was more like five to one. "Fire!" Twenty arrows shot out and brought down the front line of the charging Iysian warriors. These are narrow streets that gave him some advantage. "Rooftop archers, fire!" Arrows fell down upon the enemy from above and more Iys fell, but not enough. The enemy returned fire, arrows crashed down on his men. "Shields, raise your shields men" too late for some of his soldiers and they went down, Kenbuyn heard their cries and gurgles as the stone tipped arrows pierced their armor. The Iysian warriors reached the barricade and attempted to clamber over it, this is where the infantry come in. "Archers fall back, infantry move to the front, defend the Barricade!" Some of the Iys got over the Barricade, but the soldiers just hacked them down, the defenders became beasts; that was the only way to survive a war. The Iys soon began to swarm over the barricade; Kenbuyn swung his broadsword into the skull of an Iys. He then quickly turned to face another opponent who was currently raising an axe over his big ugly head. Kenbuyn side stepped left, parried, and swung his broadsword into the Iysian's side. His enemy then buckled over and collapsed on the ground, unable to breathe. An Iys stuck a spear through one of the soldiers standing next to Kenbuyn; he gurgled and died on the stone floor. More and more of his soldiers fell and more Iys swarmed over the Barricade like rats drawn to a morsel of cheese. Kenbuyn was no longer fighting on stone, but on bodies and pools of blood, a smell of ash, blood and sweat permeated in the air. He had only four men left, this fight was over. "Retreat, head to safer ground, we lost the Barricade!" Kenbuyn's men immediately began to run; it was something they desired to do long before he gave the order. Their loyalty was uncanny for them to have held out this long. Kenbuyn noticed he still had an archer on the rooftop firing down upon the enemy, what loyalty. "Archer fall back!" he called in a desperate attempt to let him know it was over.

"Sir, we have to get the hell out of here," one of the soldiers called to him.

"You men go without me, I will catch up later."

"But sir"…he began to object.

"That was an order soldier, now go!"

"Yes sir!"

Just then an arrow pierced the man's throat, blood spilled out from the wound and onto Kenbuyn. The man fell to the ground just like his comrades before him groping at his neck, eyes wide with fear and pain. He couldn't be saved but perhaps there was still hope for the archer on the roof, perhaps he could still save him. Kenbuyn made a mad dash for the flat roofed house that the archer took his stand. He tried to cry out to the archer again but his voice could not be heard over the raging fires and the war cries of Iysian barbarians. Kenbuyn was now hacking away left and right at Iysian warriors, he swung around and caught one in the shoulder then turned back to see his progress. The house wasn't far but he wasn't getting any closer with all these bastards swarming around him. Then he saw it when he turned around, an axe coming down to slice off his arm. It all happened in slow motion, Kenbuyn then tried to swing his sword to parry the attack but he knew that it was too late. But the Iysian axe man suddenly stopped and then collapsed on the ground, there was an arrow in his back. It was the archer, Asehn, who then proceeded to fill more Iysians with Definol arrows. Asehn then began to go down the stairs; he was a man of early twenties and held an air of invincibility that came with youth. Asehn then stopped half way down the stairs from the roof and fired another arrow; Kenbuyn didn't care where it went.

"You old fool why the hell did you come back here, you know I can take care of my self!"

"Like hell you can!" He then looked behind to see what became of his soldiers as Asehn was conjuring a retort. All he saw though were Iysians, Iysians ahead and Iysians behind, it was getting lighter out. There was no time they needed to get out, another Iysian axe men came out to attack, no, four more. So Asehn finally shut up and the two men got to work, perhaps they could hack their way out, as mistress Amaye taught, there is always hope…