Chapter 9 – Civil War
Midgard, Cathedral City
"It's here somewhere." A girl carrying a large suitcase said as she walked through the streets of Cathedral City, the girl looked at the screen of her large cell phone, with each step she took a 'BEEP' she exited the cell phone.
'BEEP'
'BEEP'
'BEEP'
"I'm getting close." The girl walked faster and entered an alley.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
"This one." The girl put her cell phone away and looked at the thing in front of her, in the alley there was a big crack, it wasn't in the wall, but floating in the middle of the alley.
"A rift in reality, it seems stable that must have been how Edric ended up in this branch, which means he comes from another timeline. But which? None of the recorders found a knight named Edric in other branches." The girl approached the crack and touched it.
"OUCH!" Only to wince in pain as the crack shocked her.
"You won't let me pass, will you? Fortunately, I am full of tricks." The girl dialed a number on her cell phone.
"Hello?" A voice said from the other end.
"This is ARDG — 07865435790966432, requesting protocol FnA72."
"Please wait." The voice asked.
A few minutes passed in silence until the voice returned.
"Protocol authorized, have a nice day." The voice ended the call.
The crack opened in a flash of light and lightning, a strong wind blew the girl's hair back.
"We'll see where you came from, mystery knight." The girl said as she entered the crack, disappearing into a bright light.
On the other side of the crack, the girl found herself in a dark void, water was running down her shoes, a thin mist floated around her, white lights glowed among the mist forming humanoid outlines.
"Where am I?" The girl said as she walked forward, each step making a splash as it hit the water.
Suddenly, in front of the girl, lightning split the void, creating a rift through which a strong light passed.
"Who are you?" A young voice came from the rift.
"I'm the one who ask. Who are you?" The girl said as she walked towards the rift.
"I am The Monumental, and you are not welcome here."
"What place is this?"
"You are in the mist that separates the worlds, now go away".
"I can't do that, a flaw in reality gives access to this place, a man named Edric came from here, and his presence caused trouble."
"The Slayer of Demons is free to do as he pleases, his services are no longer required, but he will always be welcome in the Nexus, as are all other Demon Slayers. Now get out invader."
When the voice said that, a strong wind came out of the rift and forced the girl backwards.
"Hang on! I still have questions! Monumental? Demon slayer? Nexus? What does that mean?!" The girl screamed as she shielded herself with her arms and tried to advance towards the rift.
"Disappear! Your interference does not extend to our world!"
The wind got stronger and the girl was blown towards the crack, returning to the Cathedral City, the crack in the middle of the alley closed.
"This… This is worrying, I couldn't access this branch, and this Monumental guy prevented me. The fog that separates the worlds? What is Nexus? I need to report this, if my investigation doesn't yield any more answers, I'll have to confront Edric personally."
The girl ran further into the alley and, making a turn, disappeared in a flash of light.
If the girl had stayed in the alley for a few more seconds, she would have seen the consequence of her actions, as forcing the crack open allowed something to enter Midgard, a black sword, the sword shot out of the crack like a cannonball, cutting through the air, the sword crossed the sky of the Cathedral City until it entered through the window of a cathedral tower.
"AAAHHH!" A blond-haired, red-eyed boy in the tower screamed as the sword flew into his room, almost hitting him if he hadn't taken a step back.
The sword stuck in the wall of the tower room, on that wall there was a drawing of a person with an X marking the area where the heart was, the sword hit that X.
"What… What is this? How did this sword end up here?" The boy said as he grabbed the hilt of the sword and removed it from the wall that was his biggest mistake, when the boy touched the sword he heard the call.
"Bring me more souls."
The events that brought the sword into the boy's hands were improbable, almost impossible, but causality kicked in once more. Who knew how much energy it took for the crack to launch the sword all the way to the tower? Who calculated the wind speed and direction? If the boy hadn't left his bedroom window open, he might never have found the black sword.
Now it was too late. Perhaps the various variables made no difference, after all causality always finds a way, one way or another.
With empty eyes and wings of mist at his back, the boy went in search of his sister.
TIMESKIP
Edric's POV
"My investigation led nowhere." I said to Eupherbia as we walked towards the guild.
"You worry too much. So what if nobody knows how those invaders got here? You beat them up, didn't you?" Eupherbia asked, sitting on my shoulder.
"Not exactly, if the invader is already dead, killing him again will send him forward to the afterlife, but if the invader is someone alive, killing him will send him back to his world, allowing him to invade a new world whenever he want."
"So does that mean they can come back?"
"Yes, and who knows how many vengeful spirits roam around, it's not just the living we should be afraid of."
Eupherbia shuddered "Please stop it, I want to sleep tonight, the thought of the dead coming back… I don't want to wake up at dawn and see my grandmother's spirit pulling my foot."
"Well, how did your grandmother die?"
"She was eaten by a spider."
"So there's a chance she'll show up to pull your foot."
"I told you to stop!" Eupherbia screamed in fright.
"HAHA! I am just kidding."
We finally arrived at the guild and opened the door, we had a strange sight, dozens of adventurers in front of the quest board, on the other side of the guild counter I saw the attendants running everywhere, carrying, signing and stamping papers.
I approached the counter and saw Reha, she looked awful, her clothes were rumpled, there were dark circles under her eyes indicating lack of sleep, and her hair was messed up.
"Reha, what is going on here?"
"Edric! Glad you're here! I need you to sign these documents, put your initial here, here and here!" Reha handed me a paper and quill, and pointed to the places where I was supposed to sign.
"Reha calm down! What are these papers?"
"Your enlistment papers."
"Enlistment?" Eupherbia and I asked simultaneously.
"Yes, to war!" Reha said.
"War? What war?"
"Intoner One and Intoner Three have declared war, they are demanding the enlistment of all capable adventurers."
"Declared war on whom?" I grabbed Reha by the shoulders.
"Against each other." Reha replied.
I let go of Reha and went towards the quest board, pushing the other adventurers aside, I grabbed one of the papers.
"Through this note, I Intoner Three declare war on Intoner One, all capable hands shall enlist in my forces, and together we will fight for the glory and prosperity of Midgard, overthrowing my sister's tyranny."
I grabbed another paper that was on the board.
"I, Intoner One, declare war on Intoner Three, I declare my sister mentally unstable and unable to rule, join my forces, together we will free Midgard from Three's uncontrolled madness and repair all the damage caused by it."
Eupherbia and I glared at each other, realizing the seriousness of the situation, and then we hurried out of the guild.
We ran through the streets of the city, on the way we saw carriages leaving the blacksmiths' forges, carrying swords, spears, shields and armor, men were in front of houses saying goodbye to their families, we ran until we reached the Missa tavern.
"Missa!" I opened the tavern door.
"Oh! Edric, you have not been here for a long time." Missa said, the usual cheerfulness of her voice absent.
"Have you heard the news?" I approached the counter.
"Yes, it looks like I will lose a lot of customers." Missa said as she cleaned a glass, I saw the concern in her eyes.
Looking around, I noticed the tavern empty.
"Missa, I need your help, your knowledge of rumors. What do you know about this war?"
"Considering the situation, I think I can do this for free, Three and One disappeared for a while, no one has heard from the two, until today, one has declared war on the other, with the excuse that they each one cannot rule, Four has allied with One, Two and Five have remained neutral, but Three's forces are moving towards the Land of Seas."
"Thank you Missa, but now I have to go; I promise that when I get back I will throw a party here." I told Missa as Eupherbia and I walked out of the cave.
"Edric wait!" I heard Missa scream, but I didn't stop.
"Edric, where are we going?" Eupherbia asked.
"To the Land of Seas!" I replied.
"Are you really going to join this war?!"
"Yes, the Invaders, the disappearance of Three and One, and this war must be connected!"
We ran out of town until we reached the forest and in a clearing I found the black dragon sleeping.
"Dragon wake up!"
The dragon woke up with a grunt and stretched. "What do you want human? Another one of your missions?"
"No, this time we are going to war!"
The black dragon's reaction was not what I expected; the dragon quickly got up and gave me a smile "Fine! What are we waiting for?"
The black dragon took flight, turned and flew towards me; I saw Eupherbia clinging to my shoulder as the dragon's paw came close and closed around me, carrying us.
Land of the Seas
"Come on men, fight!"
"Archers!"
"Raise your shields!"
The Land of Seas was under attack, but not by humans, the enemies were thin, tall, with claws on their hands and feet, their faces were set in a permanent frown with glowing red eyes, the skin of these things was gray as stone.
Gargoyles, gargoyles flew across the Land of Seas, forming great clouds that blocked out the sun. Five's forces fought hard to finish off their enemies.
A group of soldiers fought a group of gargoyles on a rocky beach, their battle cries echoing across a landscape that would once have been considered beautiful.
The area consisted of a stone and sand beach with access to the sea, in front of the soldiers there was a large stone fortification with archers on top and a metal gate, behind the soldiers there was a similar construction, with archers, spread across the beach, there were pieces of ruins with archers on top shooting their arrows at the gargoyles.
"Come on, keep fighting!" A soldier said as he slashed the gargoyle on its chest.
"Fire the arrows!" Another soldier shouted from behind, a line of archers fired arrows towards a group of gargoyles approaching the soldiers.
The soldiers appeared to be winning, as the last gargoyle was brought down, the soldiers cheered, but their celebration was interrupted by the sunlight being blocked by something.
Looking up, the soldiers saw a flock of gargoyles coming towards them; the soldiers prepare to fight to the death, knowing that this would be the end.
Soldiers raised their swords; archers ready their arrows, but before the gargoyle flight could close in, a series of fireballs hit the gargoyles, destroying them in a huge explosion.
A flapping of wings was heard by all; a black dragon approached and hovered above the beach, dropping a rider onto a fairy.
"Eupherbia and I will take care of things around here, you help the battleships." The knight said to the dragon as he pointed towards the sea.
The sea was full of battleships, metallic vessels with chimneys belching smoke, the ships fired their cannons, hitting the clouds of gargoyles, but they were slowly being overcome.
"Since when do you order me around? But I might consider complying with them, as I will be fighting a bit." The black dragon responded as it flew towards the sea, going to destroy the gargoyles attacking the ship.
"Identify yourself!" One of the soldiers demanded as he pointed his sword at the knight.
"My name is Edric and the fairy is called Eupherbia, she is with me, we are adventurers and we have come to help!" Edric said as he showed his adventurer plate.
"Thanks to Intoners, we were in dire need of help." The soldier answered as he extended his hand to Edric.
Edric accepted the handshake.
"There are more approaching!" An archer shouted from the top of the rear ramparts.
More gargoyles landed on the beach, the gargoyles where carrying rapiers and crossbows.
"We'll have to save the greetings for later." Edric said as he drew his Blue Blood Sword and Adjudicator's Shield.
"I agree, but think of the reward, if we survive this Mistress Five will reward us handsomely." The soldier said with desire in his voice.
"Why do you always drag me into this kind of thing?" Eupherbia asked as magic covered her body.
Edric let out an irritated snort and advanced toward the gargoyles beside the soldiers.
One of the gargoyles fired his crossbow, but Edric blocked the dart with his shield, seeing that Edric approached the gargoyle drew his rapier and pushed it forward trying to pierce Edric.
Edric took his shield out of his way and parried the gargoyle's blow with his sword, then delivered two blows to the gargoyle's chest, ripping out stone fragments, the gargoyle recovered from the blow and tried to pierce Edric, but such a slow blow would not take down an experienced warrior.
Edric stepped to the side allowing the blow to miss and sliced off the gargoyle's arm, the sound of breaking stone was followed by Edric's second strike which decapitated the gargoyle, and the stone being fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
When the gargoyle died, small blue orbs popped out of the gargoyle and flew away from Edric.
"Souls? First the Latria Tower gargoyles and now souls? What's going on here?"
Edric could ponder no longer, as more gargoyles approached, three gargoyles in all.
A gargoyle aimed its crossbow at Edric, but before the gargoyle could pull the trigger, its hand and crossbow were destroyed by a blast of magic, looking at the source of the shot the gargoyle saw a fairy with hands outstretched towards him.
The gargoyle tried to skewer Eupherbia with its rapier, but Eupherbia easily moved out of the way.
"You're ugly!" Eupherbia said into the gargoyle's face as she hit its face with magic, ripping off part of the gargoyle's face.
The gargoyle tried to hit Eupherbia once more, but missed.
"And you couldn't hit a giant if he was in front of you!" This time Eupherbia hit the gargoyle's legs, destroying its legs and knocking it to the ground.
"And one more thing, you are dead!" Eupherbia pointed her hands at the gargoyle's head and destroyed it with magic.
Eupherbia looked around seeing Edric and the soldiers fighting the gargoyles, the soldiers were having some difficulty against their enemies, Eupherbia hesitated for a few minutes, she would like to go back to Edric's side where the chances of survival were higher, but for a while moment she remembered the conversation she had with the knight.
Eupherbia decided to give it a try. Maybe Edric was right?
Eupherbia flew across the beach, magic covering her body, Eupherbia fired magic at the gargoyles that were busy fighting the soldiers, the faerie focused on hitting the gargoyles' knuckles.
Suddenly the gargoyles found themselves without their arms, legs or sometimes head, this made it easier for the soldiers to finish off their enemies.
Eupherbia noticed that more gargoyles had arrived, this time attacking the archers on the fortifications; quickly Eupherbia flew towards the fortifications where the archers were doing their best to defend themselves using their bows and daggers.
Eupherbia flew over the top of the fight and bombarded the gargoyles with magic, destroying the gargoyles' stone.
"Thanks!" The archers said as they waved at Eupherbia.
"Hump!" The fairy muttered as she crossed her arms and looked away, and then the fairy returned to the fight.
Meanwhile Edric fought against the two remaining gargoyles, Edric blocked a blow from the gargoyle to his left with his shield, simultaneously Edric slashed the chest of the gargoyle to his right, applying more strength to his shield, and Edric pushed the left gargoyle away and repeatedly struck the gargoyle on the right, shattering its stone body.
Then Edric thrust his sword into the chest of the left gargoyle, kicking the gargoyle to remove his sword, Edric swung his sword in a high slash and decapitated the gargoyle.
Unfortunately the fight was not over, as more gargoyles appeared, surrounding Edric, there were six gargoyles in total, the first tried to pierce Edric, Edric took a step back and slashed the gargoyle in the back, a second approached from the left, and Edric turned his sword cutting the gargoyle on the face.
Out of the corner of his eye, Edric saw the rapier of a gargoyle approaching, Edric rolled out of the way of the blow, which brought him closer to another gargoyle, Edric didn't have time to turn, so he raised his arm and elbowed the chest of a gargoyle, the sound of cracking stone echoed across the beach.
The gargoyle that received the blow in the back approached Edric, trying to pierce him, turning quickly; Edric grabbed the gargoyle that received the elbow and lifted it above his head, throwing it towards the approaching gargoyle.
The gargoyle with the cracked chest fragmented when colliding with its ally, creating a cloud of dust, Edric advanced towards the blind gargoyle and pierced its chest, knocking the gargoyle to the ground, and then Edric raised his armored foot and stomped on the head of the gargoyle, reducing it to dust.
Now there were four gargoyles left, and they all formed a line and pointed their crossbows at Edric, Edric raised his shield again and ran towards the gargoyles. As it approached, Edric slammed his shield into the slashed gargoyle's face, knocking it back. Edric swung his sword and pierced the side of a gargoyle, yanking out the sword and slicing through the side of the gargoyle.
Edric spun his body and drove his sword into the back of another gargoyle's neck, the gargoyle fell dead, Edric spun again, thrusting his sword into the gargoyle's waist where he pierced the side, using more force, and Edric split the gargoyle in half.
There were two gargoyles left, the one thrown to the ground rose and snarled at Edric, the gargoyle grabbed his crossbow and fired at Edric, Edric stepped aside, letting the javelin pass, and the gargoyle lunged with his rapier, the answer Edric went to pierce the gargoyle in the forehead with his sword.
Now there was only one gargoyle left, the last gargoyle let out a shrill screech, a series of squeaks were heard, Edric realized that an irregular shadow covered him, looking up, Edric saw several gargoyles coming towards him.
The gargoyles dove towards Edric, covering him with their bodies, the gargoyle that made the call joined his allies, suddenly a light flashed between the gargoyles that covered Edric, and then all the gargoyles were turned to dust by a powerful shock wave
The sand on the beach receded, revealing Edric holding his Talisman of God.
Looking around, Edric saw that the last of the gargoyles had been killed by the soldiers.
"Hey Edric! Are you ok?" Eupherbia asked as she landed on Edric's shoulder.
"Yes. And you? Did the gargoyles cause you any trouble?" Edric asked.
"No, they didn't stand a chance against the great Eupherbia!" The fairy replied with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out.
"Há! Of course they didn't. Who could stand against the great Eupherbia?" Edric joked.
"Thank you so much for helping us, you two." The soldier who spoke with Edric earlier said.
"It was nothing. What will you do now?" Edric asked.
"We will retreat to Lady Five's shrine, where we will rejoin the rest of our forces."
"Do you mind if I go too?"
"Of course! You will be of great help."
"So let's go."
Edric, Eupherbia, the soldier, and Five's other forces walked toward the now-open, metal gate across the beach, which led toward Five's sanctuary.
But suddenly Edric stopped.
"This feeling… Invaders!" Edric screamed.
Several red circles appeared on the beach, and from each circle came a red, transparent being carrying different equipment.
"Those things again?!" The soldier screamed.
"Take your men and get out of here!" Edric said.
"But you?"
"Don't worry about me, I've faced Invaders before. You are ready Eupherbia?"
"Yes." The fairy answered nervously.
The soldier nodded and ran towards the gate, the archers who were on the front fortification ran towards the open gate while shouting.
"She is here!"
"She?" Edric asked.
CLANG!
The front fortification gate swayed.
CLANG!
Part of the gate was dented inwards.
CLANG!
Another kneader appeared.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Finally the gate fell, raising a cloud of sand.
When the cloud dissipated, everyone could see the source of the archers' fear, Intoner Zero.
"What the fuck is going on in the Land of the Seas?!" Zero screamed.
"Well, we meet again; I can't say it's a pleasure." Edric said sarcastically.
"You." Zero said in a growl.
The two enemies finally met again, in the middle of a meaningless war that will decide the fate of Midgard; meanwhile the Invaders began their attack on the Land of the Seas.
END OF THE CHAPTER
Hello, thanks for reading this far! Suggestions and criticism are welcome; leave your comments on what you think of the story and until the next chapter.