13 Days Till Alageasia's Downfall:
Nasuada was propped against an old oak tree, hidden from view behind a thick bush of emerald green leaves. The cool, night, breeze calmed her body into a state of rest, but her mind was panicked. Every night her mind was plagued by images of the attacks she had witnessed. Sleep wouldn't bring her peace of mind, it couldn't. As long as she was awake, she had control over what she thought, but in sleep, where dreams are uncontrollable, she had no choice but to relive every experience again and again.
However, rest brought the opportunity for her limbs to be extinguished from the fire that burned her joints and muscles. She had been running for days, running from something she didn't know, or someone...
She had been on her own for days when the soldiers charged with protecting her were killed while fending off a group of seven Ravtelr. Among the chaos, blood, and cries of pain she was able to make off with a discarded sword, in case she may ever need it later. With her weapon she fled, fear overtaking her body, as the monsters finished the soldiers and began pursuing her.
She had no clue how she escaped them, but before long she couldn't see them anywhere. It was only two hours later that she came upon an old house nestled in a bend of the surrounding forest. It looked abandoned and was already falling apart, windows smashed, doors hanging by single hinges, and overgrown weeds climbing the base of the wooden structure. Despite the seclusion of the area and the probability that someone wasn't around, she still proceeded with extreme caution, something her and her guards were lacking before they were attacked.
Her tired legs dragged her feet through the knee-tall grass and slippery mud underneath. The mud confused her, it hadn't rained neither was there a lake or river that could have flooded. Making her way to the gravel path that lead to the house, she noticed that her feet were covered in blood. Probably busted blisters or cuts she received earlier have opened up, but she didn't feel any pain.
She saw a large rag peeking out of the grass and, reaching for it so she could wipe off her feet, discovered that it was weighed down by something heavy. Placing the sword at her feet she bent down and tugged on the rag a little harder, only to stumble back in shock as the rag slipped off the object that was holding it down; a body.
She had pulled hard enough to bring the body out of the grass up to it's torso. It was a man. She nearly screamed.
*What happened here?* She asked herself, holding her hand over her mouth to muffle the scream she was hoping wouldn't escape. Then she realized her hand had touched the dead man's shirt.
She jerked her hand away, feeling tears fill her eyes. Nasuada looked away, a million things flying through her mind; What? Who? And Why? The Ravtelr. They did this to this man.
That was when she noticed the other bodies. Over a dozen of them, lying in the grass, their blood spilling into the land. Their blood, not hers. It was their blood on her feet. But the attack was fresh, and that was what concerned her. Was this the doing of the Ravtelr that were chasing after her? If so, then she led those killers here, led the death that was sure to have never happened if she wasn't heading this way. She caused this, it was her fault these people were killed.
She couldn't bear the weakness she felt, her legs shook until she fell, catching herself with her hands. Tears poured from her eyes in a steady stream. Why was she even alive? She should have stayed with those soldiers, fought till she couldn't. Then she could finally say that she fought for her country. But she wasn't striving to survive for the people of Alageasia anymore, though she hated to admit it. She was staying alive for Murtagh.
She ran for the house, bursting into the living room where she collapsed on the ground. The walls of the building would provide some protection from the dead bodies outside. She was so torn from the sight of the family that she instantly fell asleep, cast into a world where nightmares were strongest.
(Later)
Nasuadaopens her eyes and sees only darkness. She knew she was still within the house because she can feel the carpet under her trembling fingers. With a quick jolt she sits up and notices soft moon-beams of light entering through broken windows and holes in the ceiling. Without blinking her eyes scroll the living room, absorbing every detail that she could make out.
Several chairs lay on their sides several feet from her, one of them missing a leg, and a rough, oak table is propped against the farthermost wall. Upon scanning the room, she notices her sword just to her right, exactly where she left it when she fell asleep. The resemblence of the dream to real life was astronomical. She felt as though she never slept, but she knew that that wasn't true. Ever since her nightmares started, she could always tell the difference. They had a sinister feel to them. But how could her mind replicate every detail so persicely? Was she really awake?
When she reached for the sword, the sound of creaking wood exploded from one of the rooms, disturbing all silence there had been. She froze- her breathing stopped by the pounding in her chest. As far as she knew, she was alone. The only nearby humans were the corpses outside, but anything can happen in dreams. Except she wasn't in a dream, right?
She felt her hands wrap firmly around the wired handle of her weapon, lifting it to her side so that it reflected any moon light she encountered. She slowly made her way to the room where the noise came from, stopping cautiously whenever there was a sound. But she kept going, not stopping when she heard another creak or when the deep breathing of some large animal started.
Continuing on with her search, she took a step into the room with the noise. That moment the sounds stopped and nothing was visible within the room, which was actually a kitchen fitted with two stone stoves, a couldron, and several tables. But no living creature.
A shadow flickered behind her.
With a twist she turned, but saw nothing. Holding out her sword she took several steps backward, expecting something to enter through the door way. Unfortunately she continued back to far and bumped into one of the chairs, causing it to scrape across the floor, sending an echo through the house and out into the woods. She froze, overwhelmed by the beating of her nervous heart.
It was unimaginably quiet during those longest minutes of her life, the silence nearly driving her insane. She couldn't comprehend why it was so silent, she knew she wasn't alone, something was watching her.
Suddenly the walls were ripped apart, along with the sound of howling wind. The ceiling was lifted off the building and into the sky, which had changed into a large, dark mass of clouds. Nasuada gripped her sword and circled around as debris cycled around her in a frenzy.
She didn't notice it but she was screaming, her eyes closed. Seconds later everything stopped and she opened her eyes to see, instead of the house, a dark, cave-like prison chamber. Her sword wasn't in sight and her arms and legs were bound to a wall behind her by chains.
The air was stale and moist, and somewhere came the echo of dripping water. The only light came from a hole above her that allowed moonlight to filter to the ground. She heard no other noise, besides the shallow breathing eminating from her mouth. She struggled to escape her bonds, trying to rip them from the unrelenting stone behind her.
She was now a true prisoner to her nightmares, unable to move as her worst thoughts came to life. Something was scampering through the tunnel in front of her, or crawling as if it were injured. She saw a glint of light reflect from metal in the darkness, then a man came crawling into view.
"Murtagh?" She said quietly, trying to step closer to him.
Then she saw it. A saphire sword protruding from his chest, it reminded her of Brisingr, Eragon's enchanted weapon.
"Murtagh! What happened?" She was beginning to doubt whether this was a dream, but it couldn't be.
He reached for her, but failed as his skin turned white and he collapsed. At that moment a rumbling sound filled the tunnel, it sounded like running water. And it flooded into the cave so quickly, she hardly had time to take a breath. Her lungs began to burn as she was forced to breathe in, but only sucked in water. She began swimming up to her suprise, as her chains dissolved.
When she breached the surface she pulled as much air into her body as she could, only to freeze in shock as she noticed that it was now day, and she wasn't in the cave anymore. But the sky was a deep orange and filled with smoke and a constant flow of shooting stars was shooting from the heavens and pelting the ground, and the ocean wasn't water, but a dark red liquid. Blood.
The many races of Alageasia was visible thrashing in the blood as the ruins of the capitol loomed in the distance, crumbling into the red sea. Meteors impacted the city, blowing great portions of it into the sky. Urgals' size and strength was no match agianst the great waves of blood that dragged them down under. Werecats had trouble to stay afloat, they were seen bobbing in the waves. Elves had the most luck, their flexibility gave an opportunity to swim with expert movements. Dwarves were hard to notice, their heads barely stuck up from the surface. And humans were nothing but dead bodies floating amoung the others.
The wieght of the dead pressed down upon here. These were the people she failed to save, and now they have returned to torment her, to punish her for her lack of ability to protect. But again, what could she have done agianst thousands of humungous beasts?
llirea was sinking in the blood of those it sheltered. Firery bombs from the sky continued to rain upon it. Part of the catidel broke apart and slid into the ocean, stirring up a huge wave that grew in size until it was nearly fifty feet tall. Before it reached her, however, an explosive burst of smoke flew skyward as a black dragon shot into the sky, slowing to a stop and opening it's wings as wide as it could, just as the wave crashed down on her.
Everything became a slight tint of red and Nasuada was pushed all over the place. The screams from living creatures filled her ears through the thick crimson liquid, and the dark sillohettes of those struggling at the surface were visible. But all that was fading. Darkness was once again taking over, and soon nothing was visible.
It's a pity, all this.
Dead bodies filling the streets of llirea . Fire, blood, smoke, corpses, destruction.
My dreams of a better world, my visions of the future, didn't include this.
War, famine, death, drought. Refugees striving to survive. Entire armies declined to a dozen soldiers. Cities in dust.
Alageasia was better off under my control. Sure it wasn't picture perfect in the eyes of the rebels, but... every great empire has a height and then a fall, if anything can be learned from history.
Ravtelr killing millions. Dwarves fall, humans on the verge of extinction, Urgals all but gone, and the Elves being the last resort for survival.
A dark magic has been awakened, Nasuada. You think you'll be safe with the Elves? No. they can't defeat this enemy. Why do you think they left their ancestrial homeland? Because they were overwhelmed. This has happened before, but in another corner of the world. They won't stop, this war, this war agianst mankind, it has only begun.
"And why should I trust you?"
Ha! I leanred a few things before the Fall. But that is an interesting question. Why should you trust me?
"I shouldn't."
Okay, fair enough. But next time you see Murtagh, ask him what really happened during his exile.
"What do you mean?"
…
"Wait!"
…
So you changed your mind about listening to me?
"How are you still alive? And why are you helping me?"
Isn't it obvious. We both have a common enemy. We both want them killed off. We can both help each other win this war. And about my being alive; well lets just say that dragons are not the only creatures capable of remaining in the overworld after death.
Nasuada shot to her feet, sword in hand. She was back in the house, nothing appeared different or abnormal. The moon was replaced with the sun, and everything felt new, energized, and refreshed. But the dream had really unnerved her to such an extent that she didn't know if she was dreaming or in reality. Her reflexes were on edge, and with every chirpping bird or squeking squirell she lashed out with the sword, hoping she would injure some invisible enemy. But what froze her in place was the creaking of wooden floor panels, coming from the kitchen.
What is up guys! Lets celebrate, because this is the first chapter written with my new laptop. Now, I have had my new computer for a while, but the last several chapters had already been planned and prepared on my tablet, so I finished up those and now I'm moving on up... to the east side.
The official fanpage has been made. It's a Twitter account. I haven't done anything special yet, but I have some plans for artwork and such things. If you want to show support follow Alageasia. The name of the account is Alageasia's Downfall.
Reply to Reviews:
Niet boeiend- haha. Sorry about th whole deja vu thing. Cannons, yes the powdered ones. It's alright about the size of the review, your point got across. Can you guess who the person talking to Nasuada was?
Skierider- I hope this chapter was a good development. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Restrained Freedom- That was a good point about why Murtagh went hunting instead of Thorn. I wasn't thinking about that when I wrote it. I'm glad you enjoyed the M/N scene, it was one that took me a while to create. Thanks a lot for your support.
Luckyponygirl- Thanks a lot. If you need help coming up with M/T scenes just let me know, i'd love to help. It really makes me feel good to know that my work is inspirational to you. I'm glad you liked the M/N colaboration. I am enjoying writing a lot, esspecially now that I am writing on my laptop. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, just sorry it's so short.