With their patron saint Malek leading the charge, the Sarafan soldiers regained their zealot fervour and attacked with renewed determination. The vampire clans were forced to retreat almost to the very walls of Dark Eden, the siege of the ruined fortress now truly underway.
Malek was ruthless as he sliced through the troops of clan vampires in his way, his sword cutting them down by the score. He was utterly fixating of hacking his way through our lines and refused to give any quarter; pushing forward, leading his men deeper and deeper into the clan troops; forcing them back further and further.
Even with my assistance, the vampires were fighting a loosing battle. The Sarafan had superior numbers and the added boom of a legendary warrior, giving them both the resource of his skills and a dramatic increase in their overall morale.
"Vorador!" He cried as he charged at our lines. "I've come for you!" Vorador fought beside me, his own blade red with blood as we battled back to back.
"I thought you killed Malek?" I asked him, parrying away a slash of a Sarafan claymore before lashing back out in retaliation.
"So did I." He replied, slicing his sword across the throat of a solider as he turned an unleashed a blast of magic straight across their numbers; sending several men flying high into the air. "I saw his armour crumble and his spirit fade. This I do not understand." I risked a glance up and saw that not all the fighting was occurring on the ground.
High in the sky above our heads, Janos and the Druid Aurora exchanged destructive spells as each attempting to best each other in magical skill.
"The legendary Janos Audron." Aurora said with a smile, his hands held up in front of himself, sparks of a lightning spells crackling between his fingers. "I never believed I'd actually be seeing you, let alone be your designated opponent." The spell rocketed forward with a snapping sound and it took a great deal of aerial grace for Janos to dodge it. "Amongst all the vampires throughout history, you are the one I hold the most respect for."
"You have a remarkable peculiar way of showing it." Janos replied; drawing the runes needed for a barrier spell in the air with two fingers. As a second lightning spell crossed the distance from the Druid to the vampire, it struck the invisible barrier and flowed out either side.
"I am not a zealot like Sabre, Janos." Aurora stated, flying higher to try and gain a height advantage. "But I want the Pillar of Energy. The promise of a Guardianship is far too great to allow personal inclination to get in the way."
"The pillar that amplifies the power within a person's body, making them capable of spells that could never manage on their own?" Janos asked, flapping his wings as he soured after his opponent.
"Precisely." Aurora declared, holding out his hand; a ball of energy sparking to life between his forefinger and thumb. "That's why the master chose us for the pillars we are candidates for.
Myself, the greatest spell caster in our army, for the Pillar of Energy.
Swift, the deadly assassin shade conjurer for the Pillar of Dimension.
And even Malek the previous Guardian of Conflict returns to reclaim his Pillar."
"That's not how the Pillars are meant to be used!" Janos told him, flying close enough for that the Druid could not fire whatever spell he was calling forward. The ancient vampire landed a kick across his chest, forcing him backwards through the air. "The Pillars are more than simple amplifies of ability."
"How right you are. They're the lock on a prison door aren't they?" Janos scowled in response to that question. "Why not let me win?
If we win the election then your immortal enemies, the Hylden, remain trapped in the demon realm forever. To suffer indefinitely." For the first time, a surge of guilt passed through Janos at the thought of the binding. "Isn't that what you want?"
"No I…" But that moment of hesitation was all Aurora needed to discharge a blast of intense magic that struck Janos full in the face and sent him tumbling towards the battlefield.
The final vampire in his way fell and for the first time in centuries, Malek caught sight of Vorador.
Slowly, he rose up and with his sword in his hand he walked slowly through the chaotic melee around him towards the ancient vampire.
Vorador saw him approach and stood up straight himself, blood dripping from the tip of his own blade.
"You are the reason I may never again feel the warmth of another human body. Or the sensation the wind against my face. Enjoy a meal or a tankard of Mead." The two opponents stood before each other, eyes meeting. "Because of you, all that defined life was stripped out of my existence."
"Your Sarafan hunted down my family and killed them without mercy." Vorador replied without blinking. "And then tore the heart out of the one I considered a father, leaving me alone in his dark, dying world."
"There is no wrath more terrible than that of the righteous!" Malek stated, swinging his sword up before charging. Vorador parried the strike away, before lashing out himself. The blade smashed against the armour of Malek's body but did not do much in the way of damage.
Malek darted in close, trying to ram his sword through Vorador's chest cavity but the vampire grabbed his wrist and threw his arm to the side to avoid the stab.
"And there is no vengeance more terrible than that of the unholy!" He declared, a kick landing itself against Malek's chest plate.
Knocked backwards the Sarafan ward, scraped along the ground before he came to a stop.
"The Pillar of Conflict in mine Vampire. I will not let you take it from me!" He stated, hoisting himself up. Vorador forged a grim smile.
"So you are my challenger for the Conflict Pillar?" Malek did not reply. He simply stood there, sword in hand. "How fitting." The vampire slid into a fighting stance, the blood stained blade held aloft. "Come Paladin. Earn back your Pillar!"
Malek charged once more, a battle cry slicing through the air as he moved. Vorador grabbed a Sarafan soldier to his left using telekinesis and tossed him through the air towards Malek. The Paladin brought his sword down, slicing in half one of his own men before he could collide with him and carried on running forward.
Turel's vampires formed a last defensive line before the walls of Dark Eden itself, their shields becoming a near impassable barrier at which the Sarafan soldiers threw themselves against. Behind the Turelim, the Zephonim archers fired volley after volley into the Sarafan hordes.
The canyon was littered with dead bodies and the stench was unbearable.
Any hope the vampires had of holding ground outside the walls of Dark Eden faded when another three Sunlight Knights marched onto the front; raising their hands up into the air and discharging a blast of light from their enchanted armour. Any vampire caught in it, ancient or otherwise, was reduced to dust within moments.
Believing themselves invulnerable to attacks, the knights left themselves wide open without any support from the foot soldiers. This was a mistake I make them regret.
Darting forward from the ruins with the Reaver held ready, I charged them; running through the discharge of light with their magical attacks not doing me any harm.
"Let us see how you appreciate my own tricks!" I shouted to them, wielding the Reaver up and focusing another elemental power through it.
Light erupted from the blade, spanning outsides and colliding with that being emitted by the Knights, forcing it back and back until it returned to them, the sudden flare burning their eyes.
They staggered forward now blinded.
It was a mercy for them as they hadn't the chance to see what was going to happen.
Heads rolled and bodies slumped to the floor and in the stunned aftermath, my sword was slicing through over a dozen Sarafan soldiers before they realized what was happening.
A whistling broke brought the air and glancing up I saw a large object hurtle over my head and crash against a ruined wall, crushing any vampires hiding behind it into the ground.
Trebuchets and Catapults had been pulled up from the backlines and boulders, rocks and even large clumps of earth were being fired at the ruins of Dark Eden. The doors held firm, but the walls and outer structure were being dealt a great dealt of punishment.
The Sarafan Generals stood beside the siege weaponry, watching the battle as it progressed. Even from this distance I could see these men were aging, bald and fat; Petty nobles who were handed the positions for unwavering loyalty to the Order and not because of any tactical skill.
Sunlight knights stood along side them, sending bolts of their own light down towards the vampire, destroying any with range.
"I do not believe we can win." Umah told me, sliding to me left with a Sarafan soldier's throat between her fingers. "We are outnumbered."
"That is plainly obvious." I replied, using a burst of telekinesis to send a solider who was trying to attack me from behind rocketing backwards.
"Go!" She told me. "Before it is too late to do anything."
"Go where?" But even as the words left my mouth the answer came to me. I had the cure and a way of opening the container.
"Now, while there is still something left to save!" Umah cried, darting between two soldiers, her sword ramming through their waist as she went.
"She is right." Raziel told me telepathically. "The clans will not win their battle by strength of arms. Cured however…" He let it hang.
A Sarafan armed with an axe came charging at me from behind. He swung the weapon down but found the blade did not connect with anything. Dozens of bats flew around him, before escaping into the sky.