BLACK HALO

AMELIA

CHAPTER 3

A large committee of soldiers marched through the desert land. They all wore gray armor that glistened under the sunlight. The soldier who led the group was a female general who wore armor painted with both silver and gold: gold on the large breastplate, shoulder and knee pads, and gauntlets and boots, and silver on the rest of the armor. Her name was Amelia, and she had very long, blond hair. Hers was the only armor with a large red cape; her eyes were bright green, and her skin was as fair as the desert sand.

She raised her hand, signalling for her soldiers to stop, then pulled a map out of a satchel she carried around her shoulder. She opened up the map and examined it for a moment, then said, “We're close; keep your eyes open and be alert; we don’t know how many of them are here.”

She and her soldiers continued through the desert until they made it to a large cave in the middle of Nowhere.

“Soldiers, you’re standing on the grounds of horror; the blood and bodies of soldiers greater than yourselves have been buried and forgotten in this very spot. They fought all they could, but their enemies were far stronger, far more capable, and far better equipped,” Amelia said. She collected a bow and a flaming arrow from her soldier, then aimed inside the cave.

“Today... it all changes,” she continued, then released the arrow.

As the arrow flew into the darkness of the cave, she and her soldiers stared silently, waiting for a response from whatever was within. After a few minutes, the ground began to rumble. The nervous soldiers pulled out their swords and held up their shields in anticipation. Amelia smiled. She tore off her cape, revealing a large sword with a golden handle hanging behind her.

As she grabbed the handle of the sword, the rumbling stopped.

“What? Is it gone?” her soldiers murmured among themselves as they looked around in confusion. Amelia held her sword tightly, and her brows furrowed as she stared into the darkness. A large reptilian monster suddenly jumped out of the cave. The monster had bright red eyes and slit irises. Its body was covered with rock-hard scales that had multiple gators of long spikes and a head and color that looked like those of a black fire salamander.

The monster roared loudly as it stood on four legs before Amelia and her soldiers. Amelia held the handle of her sword tightly and slowly pulled it out, making a metallic sound as the blade scratched the walls of its sheath. A long dragon was engraved into the blade of the sword, and two bright red gems hung from each side of the handle’s end.

Amelia held the handle of her sword tightly with both hands and pointed it at the monster. “Today you shall fall, beast, for all the soldiers you have slain and for all the innocent blood you have spilled. For the Kingdom of Dynaris, your head will be mine.” She said, then launched at the monster.

~AMELIA~

“Seth-Healm was once the largest kingdom in the east. People from all around the world came here to seek shelter, food, entertainment, and protection. No wars had been fought for years, so our soldiers grew weak; some became farmers, and others became salesmen because they felt this was the era of peace. This was all before the Septagon order,” King Fredrick explained. He, Aurelia, and the chiefs who worked under the king sat at a large round table.

“Tell me about the Septagon order,” Aurelia inquired with a stern look on her face.

Fredrick leaned forward, then continued, “Over ten thousand years ago, when my forefathers ran the affairs of Seth-Healm, something strange happened. A crack grew between our world and one other. It was unknown to the men of this world, but one man in particular, who never revealed his face, identified it as a path to the pit of hell.