A/N: 'Hand pulls self from the mountain of apathy that I built for myself' I. Am. Still. HERE! And have a semi-curbstomp for the side of Hollow Nest. Hopefully I added just enough hints for the reason of the curbstomp. Next up, a scene I wanted to write since I had this idea.
The man swung his sword, as he was supposed to. The sword hit a metal object, his opponent having blocked it, as they were supposed to.
Following with that motion, he tried to swing in a different direction. Moving it so fast caused pain to rise up his shoulder, but that didn't matter as he should attack the Insect in front of him.
Insect… Why was he fighting an Insect again?
"For the Glory of Reconquista."
That was right, it was for the glory of his home country. And, killing and fighting these Insects meant bringing that glory home.
He swung again, but missed, the dark made it hard to see.
That was right he was in a cave, fighting them in their home turf.
Hallownest, he recalled how many of the elders and nobles would complain about it. How it undermined Albion as the premier source of Wind Stone.
While their country had an abundance, so much so that it could fly, it paled in comparison when the Insects could dig deeper and last longer within the caves that held them underground. Their mining golems only made it worse for them.
The ones older than he was hated them, the people that ran his country hated them, and as such he hated them as well.
He was eager to fight back.
Until…
Albion…
The grip on his sword faltered as the memory came back, a pause in his movements. The Insect in front of him took advantage, and sliced him in the stomach.
The pain hurt, but it didn't affect him. The force of the attack however, did.
He was pushed back, and suddenly the ground under him vanished. The rocks that he fell onto gave no comfort, their jagged sides piercing his skin and breaking what bones that they could reach.
The Insect gave chase, leaping from its high point with the lance it had been using.
The man saw the other Insect, body as tall as a room with a blade to match. Swinging it around and killing swaths of his countrymen without a single pause. The fear, the fear returned and made hi-
"For the Glory of Reconquista."
Despite the pain, he moved.
That was right, for the glory of Reconquista. He remembered the words of Cromwell when he had approached him and the others that didn't want to fight. He had said those words, and until today he and the others were inspired them.
He swung his sword once more, it missed due to the arm holding it having broken at the wrist. The pain-
"For the Glory of Reconquista."
-Didn't bother them, even when his sword clattered to the darkness of the caves around him. He lunged forward towards the Insect with his other hand, swung a fist at what he thought was its face.
The pain-
"For the Glory."
-Kept him moving, and he struck again and again. Until it grabbed it with its claws. He lost all feeling in his arm, when the Insect tore it off.
He-
"Glory."
-Kept standing an-
What little he could see infront of him started to him, and it took him a moment to realise that his head was spinning in the air.
His eyes widened, and he saw the face of the Insect that had decapitated him with its weapon.
"Gl-"
The man final actions was to scream in utter horror and fear, before his brain functions stopped as his head fell to the ground.
[Scene]
The dragon inhaled, and breathed out the fire in its throat. It should have burned all that stood in front of it, it should have torched whatever prey it could find and scare off whatever predator came towards it.
The giant rock worm responded to the flames by twisting and nearly taking its head off with its teeth. The dragon let out a screech, scrambling backwards even as its rider told it to move forward.
Fear filled the animal, as the stronger creature withstood its attacks. The fear only grew when its normal methods of escape was lost to it.
The caves, it hated the caves that it was in.
Not only was it not where a dragon should be in, but it smelled of marked territory where it was not welcomed.
Every movement was something it had nothing to deal with, and with the other humans leading it towards the main predators in the area, it couldn't even hide away and learn.
As if to prove a point, a braver dragon and an even braver rider, tried to move past the rock worms. It flew above the ground, not touching any rocks or anything that would jostle it.
But the wings of the dragons were strong, they had to be to carry them in the air. What it didn't disturb with their claws and feet, the wind from their winds shifted the rocks and formations.
Vibrations that the rock worm used.
Two screams from both a dragon and a human echoed in the caves again, as one of the rock worms broke through the ground and snatched out right out of the sky.
More and more fear filled the dragon, until finally.
"W-Woah!"
It shook of its human rider and flew away. Where, it could not tell, nor did it care. It heard its human rider scream angrily at it, before it heard them scream.
It flew away regardless, it hit the ceiling and the walls due to just how unused it was to its environment.
Its flight came to halt when something appeared in front of it. It couldn't recognise the figure, all it could see in its panic was the color red.
It roared, simply out of fear of the unknown thing in front of it. It spread out its wings, it bared its teeth, it did all it could to scare back whatever was in front of it.
There was a moment of stillness, every moment filled the dragon's heart with more and more fear. But to its relief, the red figure suddenly left, flying into the air and going above and over the reptile.
It continued to flee, and flew deeper and deeper into the caves.
[Scene]
The Mage paid no mind as the soldier guarding her died. Her mouth was moving as fast as it could to chant her next spell, and with a gesture of her wand, she casted it.
Her mouth spread out into a grin as the flames engulfed the two Insects, their screams overshadowed by the roar of her flames.
"Brimir," The Mage sighed out as she fell back, wincing as she landed her butt on the rocks. Her eyes, enhanced by magic, looked in front of her and she couldn't help but click her tongue in disappointment.
Two Insects, just two of them, and they had managed to slaughter the seven guards that she had with her.
"Worthless," She snapped, kicking the head nearest to her. Commoners that, if Wardes was to be believed, had balked at fighting the Insects after one had managed to get past them back at Albion castle.
Part of her knew that they were incompetent, but seeing them fail to handle two Insects, after having been given Cromwell's 'Blessings' no less, told her that they were extremely incompetent.
She stood up, wincing at the pain and exhaustion of her body, before reaching down and grabbed the map that was closest to her. It was covered in blood, and unfortunately she was not in any shape of form adept enough in Water magic to move it.
Despite that, the mage followed what little she could read.
The plan was in shambles, maybe if she had been an Earth Mage she could still go there alone and hoped to crumble the walls and foundations of Grape Vine to bury the place. But she was just a Fire Mage, and unlucky for her she was not strong enough to handle a whole city of those wretched things.
With a couple of chants, the Mage was moving through the caves. The map in her hands was going to lead her to somewhere she could stay safe, even with the incomprehensible words (She was unlucky enough to grab one that the soldiers hadn't bothered to translate) she tried to move towards the largest place on the map.
How the Insects could manage to build such a massive building underground, without any use of Magic, the Mage didn't want to know. It burned her inside how these Insects had suddenly appeared and undermined the Nobility.
She held her anger every time an Insect brazen enough to live in Albion praise a different deity, a worm at that. How some of them eschewed magic with their machines.
She was always vocal of her hatred, and she was never afraid to call them out like Elves with their twisted ways.
After a while, the mage finally reached the building. Around the building were tons of discarded flowers and other trash that she had to be careful not to step on.
Her eyes looked up, her eyebrows furrowed as she saw the entrance look like it was a massive Insect.
Two eyes for the window, with the door being the mouth. Multiple horns growing from the 'head' and more than a few spikes on it's segmented body. And above the door were five carvings.
Three of them had faded away, age or vandalism had rubbed away all the details.
Above the three were two other carvings, those however looked clear.
One of them was a square Insect head with two horns, while the other was a more angular hear with the same number.
She stared up at the carving for a moment, before she simply shook her head.
Whether they were words, or they were symbols she did not care.
She stepped inside, her enhanced vision allowed her to see things just enough that she could see inside.
And stepped on something wet.
She paused mid step, and her eyes saw the blood on the ground. A second later, a drop blood fell into the growing puddle.
Immediately something told her to look up. Her head snapped upwards and saw them.
Strung together in the air, corpses floating above her as their blood dripped onto the ground below.
She heard something land in front of her, she turned to the source.
Red, Black and White.
The red dress almost blended with the blood on the ground, her black eyes were nearly hidden with the darkness around her.
But the white shell of the Insect, made it certain that she could not hide from her gaze.
Another object entered her gaze, a shining white blade. Thin like a needle was pointed her way.
Its eyes stared into her own, and it spoke.
"Friend or Foe?"
There was weight to those words, almost enough to make her kneel. But she withheld that desire, instead she glared at the Insect that dared to speak her language.
Her spell was chanted, her wand was pointed forward, all she had to do was say the name and she would burn another Insect.
She saw a flicker of movement.
The spell died on her lips as did her words. Her eyes went wide as her mouth hung open. A moment later, she coughed.
Agonising pain went up her throat, and that was before the blood spilled out from it and into her mouth.
Something had pierced her throat, going through it like it was air.
The worse part was that she couldn't enough even fall to her knees. Something was in her throat holding her up standing, she could feel a thin line where her throat had been punched through. Her hand reached towards it, and she felt an even thinner thread.
It was already slick with her blood.
Her eyes moved to the Insect, if she could she would have begged for mercy.
Instead she saw another flicker of movement, before everything around her went dark.
[Scene]
He was leading fifteen men when he entered the caves, they were not the soldiers with empty looks in their eyes. They were all proud to follow him as they marched to take over Hallownest.
He was leading ten when the first ambush struck, they came from the shadows as the ground under them exploded with Insects far larger. Two of them swallowed when the appeared from the ceiling. The other three were picked up by the ones that could fly instead.
When they had to scramble in panic, he had lost three of them as they navigated the caves. He didn't know what happened, but maybe in their panic to escape the ambush he had simply left them behind, and was now stuck with eight.
Seven was left, when one of them slipped from the edges of cave and fell screaming.
He lost a staggering four when two giant Insects, the same ones that had knocked down the walls of their original route, suddenly descended from the ceiling. A hole that they couldn't have known was there, and didn't seem like it would even fit them, had been above them. They had crushed one with their mass alone. And when they swung, he swore it felt more like a spell from a Wind Mage than an actual club.
He didn't even know when he lost the last three, because by the time he was aware.
He was alone.
He marched through the dark caves, with only a sword in his hand. And when he saw light, he tried to chase after it.
And saw something he did not expect.
To his shock, it was massive metal cages held by equally massive chains of metal. And the weirdest thing of all, in front of the largest cage.
Was a stall. And behind it were a whole bunch of trinkets, half of which were incomprehensible Insect garbage. The other half were objects that were clearly human made. The audacity of the stall having a sign that said 'Tourists' only made it more obvious.
Then he heard a noise, it was the chittering of the Insects that he had been listening to for the past who knows how long since he had entered the caves. And a small, child sized figure emerged from behind the stall.
It was… a fly.
It paused when it saw him, and it tilted its head "Human?" It asked, confusion in its voice.
He gritted his teeth, clenching his sword as it looked at him.
It sighed and shook its head "Very disappoint," it looked up at him with a seemingly angry look, he could not tell "Spend time, build stall and carry object to sell. But attack right now? Profits loss."
The words baffled him further. Profit? What was it planning to do before the attack?
"Don't like lost profit," and the angry look grew "Don't like lost profit, because of dead customers as well." It wagged a finger "You will regret!"
At that point, the bafflement, the stress, and the fear that built up inside him reached a boiling point. He didn't even think to yell or scream, instead he just ran forward with his sword.
He saw a glint of light. Before he saw the fly pull out a massive hunk of metal, nearly twice the size of the fly. It lifted it over it's head like it was nothing.
And swung it, just as easily.
The only thing worse than the pain was him hearing sounds of his men charging after him. That, and how the fly suddenly dashed forward with the monster of a blade that had sliced him in half.
[Scene]
Above ground, the Insects did not fare as well as they could have under.
The flames of the dragon burned at the ground, and while they could fly the open spaces belonged to the Dragons.
The Insects and what few soldiers that lived in the village tried their hardest to hold back the attacks. But with the flames of the dragons and the occasional bombardment, it meant that it was a losing battle.
So it came as a shock when they noticed a large size of soldiers rushing to the village's aid.
But they could spare the men.
A group of Dragon riders flew towards the group, aided by those already on the ground. Some diverted the Griffon Knights, other instead moved closer to the main group. As they approached they saw to their absolute shock the Princess herself was within the group.
Their careful search turned into an excited charge. The saw her guards panic as they approached.
And when they got close.
Several of them was speared out of the sky by something pitch black, hit with enough force that it launched them free from their Dragons.
The Knights found aid when a small creature darted through the forces of Albion, striking every weapon as it remained aloft in the air.
And to the shock of many that were in the air, when suddenly from where the Princess was found in the middle of her group they saw a massive wall of black flame suddenly emerge to swallow them.
[Scene]
Wardes panted as he fried another Insect that tried to approach him from the shadows, the mage stumbled as he placed a hand on a nearby wall.
He looked around him, and saw that he was alone. There was no one close to him.
'Separated or wipe out,' he thought to himself with an annoyed click of his tongue. His hands clenched into a fist and pounded against the wall he was leaning against 'Damn it, how could they have organise this many guards?!'
At first he had merely assume them to respond to his and his party attack. But the longer he was in the caves, the more and more guards came out of to strike at him. It was as if they were expecting him.
But it shouldn't be possible.
Pushing against the wall, Wardes stared down at one of them that was at his feet. Charred to a crisp, with its armor melted from his lightning, he stared it for a good while.
He shook his head, before walking away.
He need a place to rest, to calm down and arrange his thoughts. It would be shameful, but he would need to leave the caves empty handed and defeated at this rate. His eyes saw one of the cave openings glowing with a bright white light.
When he stepped into the cave opening he saw a massive building in the shape of an Insect's head, with items scattered around the entrance. He narrowed his eyes, and gripped his Sword Wand at the ready before walking inside.
The smell of blood filled his nose at once and Wardes quickly held his weapon forward as he did.
There sitting at the foot of, what he could only assume to be a massive egg, was the Queen.
The ground under her was slick with blood, and when Wardes glanced upwards he felt his eyes widen behind his mask at the bodies that had been stung up above him.
"A warning" The voice was just as powerful as he remembered it, the feeling in his chest when she told them to enter the throne room. She stood up, still in a simple red dress that he wondered was to hide the blood that she had spilled. Her hand flashed out and grabbed a thin needle of a sword that had been at her side. She turned to him, even in the darkness the pale white shell made sure that he could see her eyes staring at him "You return, but are you an ally?"
'Did she know?' Wardes' eyes narrowed, before he shook his head "I have no idea what you're talking about Insect, as if I would want to step foot in this Kingdom."
She walked away from the egg, walking closer to the middle of the room "A mask is used to give a face to those that are faceless, but you already had one." The needle was raised and pointed towards him "You cannot hide away your face behind one, Tristain guard."
He met her threat with his own, his Sword Ward was still crackling with lightning and Wardes already thought of the chant in his mind ready to speak it into existence. But he held his tongue "Don't presume to know who I am Insect. I am merely here to on my own mission." She knew, somehow she knew who he was. That was worse he supposed.
The needle's position shifted slightly, and Wardes saw one of the bodies suddenly fall and splatter on the ground. Her eyes never left him "Tell me, are you friend or foe?"
'Friend,' he was tempted to say that lie. To sneak his way into the city and kill it from the inside. It would be the correct choice...
The jeers and mockery of her findings, laughed at by those that should have accepted them.
All because of them. If that wasn't enough, her suggestion was met with even further disdain.
He could only watch her, wondering why...
She just wanted to help.
He kept his mouth shut, his eyes closed for a moment. He muttered "Foe," he sped through his chant as quick as he could and his eyes shot open and the Captain of the Griffon Knights jabbed his weapon forward "Lightning!"
KRA-KOOM
It arced through the air and headed straight towards the Insect. Queen or not, she would fry the same.
He saw her free hand suddenly pluck at the air around her.
The lightning nearly struck her, before it was suddenly diverted. He watched as his magic was guided along an invisible path and it proceeded to char one of the bodies above her.
What?
The sight baffled Wardes. What had happened?
She lowered the needle and held it behind her, the tip pointed to the ground. He saw her tilt her body forward and the Queen suddenly shouted "GARAMAH!"
Wardes met it with a silent glare as he dashed forward to meet her needle.