"Dammit," Abraham growled out. "We're too late."

Before they even made it to the farms on the outskirts of the capital, they could see a large plume of smoke rising up in the air.

Without looking back towards the others, the elder knight shouted, "Ride harder! We have to get a hold of the situation and deal with whoever gets in our way. Go!"

Darren snapped the reins of his horse and leaned forwards as the beast responded to his command with increasing speed. A quick look confirmed that Cooper and Declan were still at his side and easily kept up with him while a mental check told him that the roaches were following at a comfortable pace underground.

He turned back towards the front. They were just about beginning to come up over a ridge towards the first of the farms when Abraham suddenly slowed down his horse to a halt at the rim. Confused at the sudden stop, Darren rode up next to Abraham to see what was wrong. What he saw made his hands tighten around the reins.

Men with sashes displaying Serenity's symbol were rounding up farmers and raiding their homes, burning buildings and fields in the process. Anyone who didn't comply with the shouted orders of surrender was beaten senselessly, the traitor soldiers heedless to the pleas of their victims. There were pockets of resistance that could be seen from his vantage point, but Darren spotted many more areas where hostages were being taken away.

In the distance, the walls of Vasilikos stood tall, but the city within it was overrun by chaos. And while he couldn't actually see inside the city, the screams Darren heard tipped him off to the state of the people within.

Gilbert rode up to Abraham, an intense glare kept on pandemonium in front of them. "Your orders, sir?" he requested with a low growl.

The Captain of the Guard's gaze roamed back and forth across the farms before he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and when his eyes opened, Darren saw a tranquil fury bubbling just beneath the surface of a calm facade.

"Gilbert, take half of the men to deal with the forces out here," Abraham ordered. "Once you've done that, ensure that the people will be able to adequately defend themselves before moving in to secure Vasilikos. Everyone else will follow me to take care of the situation within the capital as best we can."

Gilbert nodded, yet he still sported a troubled look. "I can understand wanting to deal with this matter as soon as possible, but I still feel that I must advise against this course of action. We are just one squad of knights against what could potentially be an army's worth of enemies. Splitting our already meager forces in this manner may ultimately do more harm than good."

"I know, I know," Abraham responded with a grimace, "but we don't have the time or the means to properly rally our forces for a counterattack. We'll just have to push through and hope that-"

"Actually, I might be able to do something about that."

The two knights turned to Darren with a questioning glance.

Once he got their full attention, the zerg leader continued with, "I have more summoned creatures that could help even the odds in our favor, but I need you guys to trust me on this."

"How many are we talking about here?" Abraham asked with a raised brow.

"A lot."

Gilbert deadpanned at the frankly open-ended reply and was about to demand a more precise answer but was stopped by a raised hand on Abraham's part.

"Can you promise that no innocents will be endangered by your summons?" the Captain of the Guard asked quickly.

Darren nodded. "I can."

Abraham turned back towards Vasilikos. He gave a hard glare towards the soldiers now sacking and looting as they pleased. He faltered faintly at the sight of the huddled farmers shivering in fear, all of them powerless to stop the men pillaging their homes.

The older knight looked towards Darren. "We'll take whatever help we can get." Abraham's posture straightened, his resolve reinforced his next words. "Do it."

Darren nodded again and got off his horse. Stepping forward with a deep breath, in and out, he looked around the area until he eyed an open clearing nearby. He nodded. This will do.

Focusing on the spot, Darren willed his main base to respond to his mental call.

RUMBLE

Darren heard uneasy mutterings and disturbed whinnies from behind, however, he didn't let that distract him as he continued to call upon his Swarm.

RUMBLE

As the ground shook beneath his feet he ordered, no, demanded his zerg to follow his commands to the letter.

RUMBLE

BOOM

"SCREEEE!"

And he was answered with their ferocity.

From the clearing burst forth the signature toothy mawed head of a Nydus Worm followed by its long and brawny body. Its appearance and deafening bellow made both traitors and civilians halt in fear, especially from those that were unfortunate enough to be near the epicenter of the sudden arrival. Sinking back into the earth up to the head, the Nydus Worm's jaws gaped open in a parody of a demented flower.

As waves of zerglings, roaches, hydralisks, and banelings poured forth from the maw, Darren watched with quiet pride as his forces moved swiftly into position. The traitor soldiers backed away quickly, most abandoning their positions to group up with the rest of their comrades while conveniently leaving their hostages unguarded.

Darren turned back to the knights with a grin. They stood stock-still and stared at the Nydus Worm with open-mouthed awe. "What do you think? Helpful, right?" the zerg leader teased.

Abraham was the first to recover, his expression settling on a grin of his own. "Can you split your forces to assist my knights while we make our way to the castle?"

"Sure. If I wanted to, I could probably send half of my creatures to take the city by themselves without much trouble."

"That doesn't sound terrifying at all," Gilbert muttered.

"We'll keep the plan as it was, but this time with your creatures' help," Abraham said, ignoring Gilbert. "I want you, Jones, and a few of my men with me to fight our way to the castle. Gilbert will lead the second group to help the farmers. Your forces will be split to help both teams. Any questions?"

There were none.

Darren leaned forward while he rode on top of one of his roaches as it ran towards Vasilikos' gates, Cooper and Declan at his flanks and half of the knights just behind him. A quick look confirmed that the gates had been barricaded shut with spikes of wood placed haphazardly around the entrance to ward off any attackers. Too bad it would achieve nothing here.

Just moments ago, after everyone had gotten over their shock at seeing his zerg, the group had decided that about a fourth of Darren's considerably sized army would assist Gilbert's group in defeating the traitors outside the city walls while the rest would enter Vasilikos. Darren would lead the charge with his zerg spearheading the group as Abraham advised from just behind him. While the main goal of Darren's group was to advance towards the castle as fast as possible, they would also deal with anyone they came across accordingly.

Up ahead of their charge Darren watched as they closed the distance from the gates to themselves. With a thought, Darren ordered his mount to slow and his banelings to do what they did best. He was met with euphoria as his banelings charged headfirst into the barrier without hesitation to follow his commands.

B-B-BOOM

The banelings exploded as they smashed against the barricade, the volatile acids that were safely kept within their bodies melting through the hastily made fortifications. Some of the banelings had survived the initial push and made a path to let him through while falling back into the group. As Darren got closer, he saw that the damage to the capital was far more extensive than he initially thought.

No building was spared from the initial attack on the capital as damage ranged from broken glass to entire walls having been torn down. Fires burned in the streets in the aftermath of whatever chaos occurred. There weren't any bodies lying around, something that didn't reassure Darren as he still saw signs of some fighting in the area. But he couldn't focus on that now.

Traitor soldiers had gathered at the gates ready to fight off whoever came. What they weren't prepared for however was an explosion of acid. Those unfortunate enough to be situated close to the fortifications were on the ground in various states of injury, some still howling in pain as parts of their body melted while most quietly liquified into green puddles. The ones who survived backed away in fear, unwilling to share in their comrades' demise, but they still were determined to fight.

Darren internally winced at the damage he had caused but soon steeled himself. In a battle like this, especially for one so important, holding back would only be detrimental for him and his allies.

Attack!

His Swarm roared at his command and charged into the fray. Serenity's goons fought back, but they were outmatched. Claws tore through flesh and bone, spines punched through armor like paper, acid rained down indiscriminately.

It was a massacre.

Within moments the group of traitors fortifying the entrance were reduced to the single digits, those few who survived escaping through tightly packed alleyways. Darren called off his units and turned to look at the knights behind him.

They were uneasy, it was clear to see among them. The eldest of the knights seemed somewhat disquieted by the carnage yet accepting of the outcome as the most any of them showed was a slight grimace. The younger ones on the other hand did not hold back their revulsion at seeing the bodies being torn apart so easily, a few losing their lunches at the sight.

Jones almost followed suit. A hand was clasped tightly around his mouth as he turned pale. His eyes darted back and forth before landing on Darren, but he turned his gaze aside before the zerg leader could tell what was going on through his mind.

Darren looked away, a little stung by the action, and saw Abraham. Like the more experienced knights, he was calm and collected, only giving a passing glance to the dead. Peering over at Darren, the Captain of the Guard nodded.

"Keep moving forward," Abraham commanded sternly. "We'll deal with the clean-up after this mess is over and done with. Darren, continue following the plan."

With an affirmative nod of his own, the zerg leader ordered his zerg to split up into groups and spread out. As the knights began to spread out to follow their designated assignments, Abraham and Jones stayed with Darren.

Darren's group would have the majority of his units to be able to push through the enemy while the smaller groups would mop up whoever was left. Not the most complex of plans, but with the time available to them it was the best they had.

"Use those stones to reinforce the barrier! And move faster! I won't have my glorious rewards be withheld from me due to a few slow muttonheads."

Eric rolled his eyes as the Magi, he hadn't bothered to remember his name, started to complain. Again.

Moving over to one of the piles of stone that was once the wall of some administration building, Eric made a show of doing some work before ducking behind the ruins. The soldier sat on a stone before taking off his helmet. He put his head in his hands and sighed heavily.

A couple of weeks ago after his shift, he had been approached by his commanding officer with an enticing offer. He would have the chance to earn an entire year's worth of pay in a single day, all he had to do was show up for a meeting a few nights before the event. It sounded suspicious, who wouldn't have thought that, however, the money he could make from this was just too tempting to give up.

Now Eric wasn't some simple fool just born yesterday, no. His folks taught him better than to believe every single word he heard, the product of a hard life in the fields, but when he arrived at the meeting to hear that the event was in fact to overthrow the king, he was more than ready to book it to the nearest city guard. He wasn't the only one who thought that though as someone else tried to get out before him.

Eric still remembered how the man burst into a fine red mist.

Anyone who fought back was similarly dealt with.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the only option that Eric had was to reluctantly go along with those willing to follow through with the plan to survive. And so he did.

When he got home, for the first time since he was a child, he lied to his parents that everything was alright. Things were great even, that there was even a chance that he might get paid more than ever before. His parents celebrated, congratulating their only child on how far he had gotten in life, that he would pull himself out of the muck and live in a good home with a good family.

And he had never felt more like a shitty person than in that very moment.

When the day finally arrived he was handed a sash with a weird symbol on it and told to put it on when the Magi his group was assigned to told him to. The waiting was the worst part, he had never felt more nervous in his life.

He had barely processed the explosion before everything fell into a blur. The Magi making his barriers, the civilians screaming, the chaos in the streets, it all went by in an instant. Then there he was, staring down an eerily empty road his spear in hand. Things slowed down from there, Eric could recount every second that passed after that moment, and he passed the time just following orders till now.

"Hey, you."

Eric looked up and saw another soldier staring at him with crossed arms.

"Get back to work. Those stones aren't gonna-"

FWIP

A jagged spike of something sprouted from the man's throat, choking off whatever he was going to say. Eric yelped and fell off his rock, kicking his feet out to scramble backwards until he was up against the crumbled wall. The impaled man had collapsed to the ground with short convulsions before falling still.

"Fight back you dogs!" Eric heard the Magi yell behind the ruined wall. "We're under attack! Protect me while I- Arrgh!"

With short and shallow breaths, Eric shakily stood and peered over his cover. His blood ran cold at the sight that greeted him.

A horde of creatures armed literally to the teeth flooded the recently empty cobblestone street. The barrier managed to stop the first of them, but then the wave just behind the first simply used the bodies of their comrades as a launchpad to boost themselves over.

Archers at the rear fired off arrows, but they were stopped as more of those spiked projectiles like the one from earlier were shot towards them. Eric thought he saw a creature on a nearby roof with a serpentine-like body shoot off the spike, but it ducked out of sight soon after.

Suddenly stone spears flew through the air and struck some of the four-legged creatures. Ripping through flesh and chitin, the stone spears made short work of those that were hit. One of the monsters landed heavily on its side, a spear pierced through its collar and out its back. It let out a pitiful whine before dying.

The Magi, Eric still didn't remember his name, was on his feet though he was leaning heavily on a piece of wood as a makeshift cane. The man was covered in blood, a hole just near his neck still bleeding steadily.

"See!?" the Magi yelled. He seemed unhinged, probably delirious from blood loss. "They can die! Now get up and-"

A spike borrowed its way into his eye. Then one became two, then four, then eight, until it became countless. In seconds the Magi's head turned into a literal pincushion, not a single part of his head was recognizable. The corpse fell forwards.

SPLAT

The head, now little more than chunks of meat, splattered across the floor in a messy pile of gore. What soldiers that were still alive had fallen to their knees and threw down their weapons. They gave up just waiting to die.

Eric's mind ran a mile a minute. He stared uncomprehendingly at the body that was once a Magi, a being that wielded power beyond anything a normal human was capable of. What manner of beast could kill a Magi?

"Demons," he muttered, a shiver running down his spine. Yes, they had to be demons, for what other thing could be so brutal? He turned away and stumbled ready to run for his life.

GROWL

Eric froze as his hair stood on end. Another demon, one larger than the rest, had snuck up behind him. The two pincers on its back twitched.

He fell to his knees as his mind raced with regret. He shouldn't have agreed to this job, he should've just left when he had the chance. The demon got closer til its face was just inches from his own. Its eyes lit with an eerie glow. A word not of his own reverberated in his head.

Surrender.

It was at this moment that his brain had enough. Before everything faded to black, Eric swore that he heard the demon groan in exasperation.

Darren shook his head with a sigh as his vision came back to him after piggybacking off one of his roaches.

Right, that could've gone better.

As his zerg had moved on up ahead to rip apart the enemy, Darren took the time to oversee his zerg in other parts of the capital. While he trusted his zerg to follow his orders without complication, he still liked to check in with his units from time to time. Most of the time his worrying amounted to nothing of importance and the knights accompanying his zerg could take care of things, but there were a few moments that stood out to him.

A father defending his family from a group of traitors.

Children huddled terrified beneath a makeshift fort of rubble.

A dog doing its best to protect its master while nursing a broken leg.

And the most recent, a sudden and large amount of zergling deaths. When those lives were snuffed out almost instantly, Darren acknowledged it but some part of him regarded it as inconsequential. What kept his attention though was the last zergling's suffering, the pain that dominated its mind before passing on.

To say that he was just a little pissed off at that particular situation was to say that heat was hot. In response to the deaths, Darren ordered his nearby hydralisks to eliminate the offending Magi with extreme prejudice.

It was only after the man's head became a messy stain on the floor did Darren consider that he may have overreacted just a bit. He tried to salvage what little he could from the situation by demanding the surrender from a nearby soldier unharmed during the fight, but…

Maybe diplomacy just isn't my strong suit.

"Darren? You okay?"

The zerg leader turned to look at Jones with a bit of surprise. It was the first time the junior knight had looked at, much less said anything, to him since the gates.

Darren shook his head a bit before replying, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just getting some feedback from my creatures, that's all."

They rode on as an uncomfortable silence fell between them. Jones spoke again. "Hey. About earlier. I don't blame you for that." When Darren gave him a questioning look Jones explained, "At the gate. Uncle Abraham keeps telling me that some things are just unavoidable and I think that was one of those times, so I don't blame you for doing what you did. I just wanted you to know that, okay?"

Darren stared at Jones, shocked that he had picked up on his unease, but soon let out a chuckle then a hearty laugh. Jones' face was flushed with embarrassment, but before he could retort, the zerg leader said, "Yeah. Yeah, thanks for that. We're good." He grinned. "You know, you're a good guy, Jones."

The junior knight straightened in his saddle as he also brightened up.

Abraham, who had stayed silent as the two had their heart to heart, addressed the younger men with a small smile, "We're nearing the castle boys, make sure you're ready for whatever comes."

"Got it," the younger men chimed. With a nod to show they were prepared, Abraham nodded.

"Good. Darren, move on ahead and assess the situation."

Darren moved up towards his units, Cooper and Declan trotting alongside his roach.

BOOM

FLASH

Darren was thrown from his mount as the concussive force of an explosion blasted from behind him. Disoriented but unharmed, he scrambled to his feet as Cooper and Declan ran to his sides with a pair of worried whines. He quickly evaluated the situation with a look behind himself.

The explosion had turned the nearby buildings into rubble creating a barrier of burning debris. A mental recount of his troops shows that a third of them had died in the explosion while those that survived were separated by the barrier. As he looked around he noticed with a moment of panic that Abraham and Jones were missing.

"Abraham! Jones! Where are you!?"

"We're alive!" the voice of Jones sounded behind the barrier. "We're here! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'll start digging from here, you-"

"SCREEEE!"

Darren was tackled to the side as a splash of water violently burst just where his head was a moment ago leaving an indent on the barrier. He looked up and saw Cooper and Declan.

"Guys, what-!?"

"Kill them now!"

His roach, the one he rode just earlier, moved in front of its master as a squall of wind suddenly howled around them. He closed his eyes as he brought his arms up to protect himself and the two zerglings from most of the attack, but a ribbon or two of air still made it past the roach and sliced parts of him. Once everything quieted down Darren opened his eyes and peered past his roach.

In front of him was a contingent of traitor soldiers at the ready with a shield wall formation; they were probably hidden just beyond the senses of his zerg before moving in. Behind them stood three robed Magi, one in blue, another in green, and the last in white.

His zerg had gone on the offensive, zerglings charging mindlessly into the fray while supported by spines and acid flying overhead. Darren was about to turn back to the barrier to dig a way through to Abraham and Jones until he saw a light shining through the battle.

The Magi in white had her hands clasped tightly with her head down. As a pale white light emanated from her hands, strands of that same light stretched out to envelop the soldiers in front. The two Magi stationed next to her were focused as well though much more animated. Arms outstretched, the Magi willed a protective buffer of water and wind. It protected the soldiers from the worst of the zerg forces and for those few attacks that did get through, the white Magi's magic healed the relatively light damage.

Darren's hands clenched as the situation unfolded before him. He needed a plan. Checking on the zerg that were with him, he may have had one. All the banelings that survived the ambush were on his side of the blockade.

He sent one forward to get a feel for the Magis' defenses. It didn't reach the soldiers before the winds detonated the baneling while the water diluted the acids to safe levels. He then tried three banelings. The effect was much larger this time, the acid reached the shield wall melting a few of the shields and wounding some men.

Perfect.

Darren kept this up while also sending his forces to poke the group of enemies. The two Conjuration Magi would be forced to deal with incoming explosions while also having to redirect projectiles coming from the hydralisks and roaches. His zerglings now had an easier time assaulting the soldiers which forced the Restoration Magi to work harder.

This wasn't going to last though. While Darren was doing some damage, he still lost units at a steady pace. It became worse as one of the Magi sent out an order for the traitor group to begin pushing forward.

Darren was running low on banelings but he still kept up the pressure while pulling his forces back. He kept his focus on the group of traitors as they got closer.

Come on, come on, Darren thought to himself as they moved further in to trap him.

Then they passed the threshold. Yes! Now!

B-B-BOOM

From below the zerg that he had ordered to burrow earlier burst into the ranks of the soldiers and around the Magi. Darren had been using his banelings as a distraction, hoping that the acid mixed with the Magi's water would serve as decent cover to screen his units from sight. To make sure that the soldiers or Magi wouldn't notice his plan, he doubled down and used a portion of the units he had available.

The blue and green Magi at the back quickly made a barrier around their group of three, cutting off their protection and healing to the soldiers effectively abandoning them to their fate. At that point, Darren sent in the rest of the banelings to deal with the soldiers while they were being softened up by his ambush.

Without the protection of the Magis' magic, the acid made short work of the soldiers. Darren turned his attention to the Magi as the soldiers that survived the initial blast were being mopped up. This was taking too long, he still needed to deal with the debris blocking the knights. This had to be over and done quickly.

Overwhelm them.

Roaches moved in to surround the three Magi as zerglings came to plug up any possible exits. The Magi saw this and in response tried to escape. The blue Magi kept up the shield while the Restoration Magi wrapped her arms around his neck, the blue Magi doing the same to the green one. The green Conjuration Magi held onto the other two as he aimed at the ground and released his magic, pushing their group into the air towards a nearby roof.

They made it a few meters before a hydralisk spine made it through the water shield. Without the wind Magi to focus on aiding in defense, he couldn't deflect the projectiles that were fired at them.

The spine flew true and pierced the water Magi's flesh just on his forearm. The water Magi's defenses faltered for just a moment as his body was wracked with pain, but a moment was all that was needed. The combined fire of the hydralisks and roaches tore through what little shield was left as well as the Magi. They were dead before they hit the ground.

"Alright, I'm done here," Darren said as he turned back to the pair of knights on the other side of the debris. "I'll have some of the roaches melt this stuff and we can keep going."

"No." Darren paused as Abraham spoke up. "We'll split up from here."

"But I can-"

"I don't doubt the abilities of your creatures, Darren, but we've wasted too much time just by being here. Move with whatever units you have and we'll meet you at the castle."

"Trust us, Darren," Jones added. "We'll be fine."

Darren said nothing for a few moments. He nodded. "Alright. But I'm making sure you're safe too. However many of my creatures are on your side will be staying with you until we meet up again. Got it?"

"Got it," Abraham responded. "Good luck, Darren."

"Good luck!" Jones yelled.

Darren grinned. "Thanks!" He turned forwards, hopping on a nearby roach while ordering his zerg forward. "I'm gonna need it."

A/N: This took way longer than I thought it would and I hate that it did. Then again school has been taking up most of my time and I'm also learning Unreal so there's that.

Next chapter is when things should come together nicely. Hoping that one isn't going to fight me as badly.