I stood at the top of a grassy hill, a monstrous forest behind me as I inhaled deeply, the scent of anger and hate swirling through the air like thick dark clouds. A giant wall surround the fields and forest I stood in, grey brick stacked taller than anything I had ever seen. Seeping with emotions, a dark festering pit of a hole ripped through a section of the wall, I could practically see the enemy Zlatá standing inside it.
Gasping, shock knocked my breath from my chest as thousands upon thousands of leather and iron clad soldiers poured in from the broken wall , like cockroaches from a deadly, poisonous hole. my captain, standing next to me, raised his diamond-filled sword, his dark red eyes staring into mine as he waited for my command.
His lips were drawn down in a frown, thick eyebrows pulled together in worry, his husky voice betraying even more of the emotion he was making a weak attempt to hide from me. "don't let us die." A scream of pure fury left my blood red lips, and I raised my own double bladed sword to the sky. behind me, howls of rage filled the air with burning emotion, flowing from the Hailier souls like lava from a newly erupted volcano.
.
to war we went.
I ran as fast as my leather-clad legs would let me, my army running out behind me like baby ducks following their antagonized mother.
This is not how I imagined my first war at all.
I could feel a link between my captain and I, our thoughts racing into each others heads as he worked out where he was most needed, and I concentrated on preparing myself to smash as many skulls as possible.
As our front lines collided, I knew there was no turning back.
the first Zlatá that came close to me lost his head, blood spattering the Hailier warrior that stood behind him, and I cringed as I heard a gurgling laugh escape his lips. From the side of my vision, A flash of metal slashed at me. Spinning to avoid it, I brought my own blade up, ripping into the Zlatá's chin while with my free hand I clawed out his left eye.
As another sword came my way, I turned to attack it and realised it was followed by three more. A string of profanities left my lips as I realised that I was surrounded. my double bladed sword dropped to the ground as I took a moment to actually take in what my Hallier warriors and I were up against.
growls of pain ripped from the surrounding Zlatá’s as they transformed, and tall, black, lethargic creatures shredded the normal human bodys they used to inhabit .
A large cloud of grey mist surrounded the creatures heads, smoking points of gold the only thing that could be seen of their eyes. Their shoulder blades were protruding from their chests, their arms hanging backwards instead of forwards. their backs were arched, all stooping backwards as their too long arms dangled to the ground. no fingers existed, just nubs or long twisted tendrils that dripped blood, dragging across the grass and dirt. Blades stuck from what could only have been the palms of their hands.The things had two backbones, one that jaggedly stuck out their backs, bending over backwards as another followed the same line, this second one sticking out the front. They weren't wearing anything other than their rotting black flesh, shredded and clumped everywhere, even hanging off in certain areas.
I knew that we were something special, but I didn't know that we were things like these. hell bent creatures of death and destruction. confused, I searched for my captains awareness in my mind, shooting him a question.
his response was unexpected.
This is what we really are, our true form.
we were originally creatures that sucked the darkness to us, out of the souls of corrupt human beings. the older our species grew the darker we turned. at certain times, the shadow clouds can even create black holes, sucking up whole planets in their hunger for darkness.
My captains thoughts were abruptly cut off as the Zlatá closest to me swung his arm up, a blade growing from his bone, shredding his rotting skin from the elbow up.
I couldn't give the others a second to react, as my falter had already cost me precious time. I grabbed the bladed arm of the attacking Zlatá, rearing my blade up into his face, surprised when, for a second, the cold metal disappeared into the Zlatá’s shadow cloud as he fell to the ground, dead. I danced around to the next attacker, breaking his ribs open and pulling out his heart as I stabbed my third attacker in the throat with my free hand. no thoughts came to my empty mind as I rushed towards the broken wall, until, that is, I heard the screams.
they weren't really screams, but were more murderous shouts, something that sounded between a laugh and a scream, a loud high pitched racious yell. I could see normal flesh colored skin of human beings dropping and falling as huge creatures grew from the men, Zlatá and Hallier alike.
Feathers grew from the Halliers skulls, waves of black surrounding the men from head to toe. My Hallier men looked much the same as the Zlatá, with only slight differences. Instead of finger nubs as the Zlatá had, they instead had three to four blades, all fit for shredding. red feathers stuck up from their heads, their eyes red instead of gold. A long, limp tail hung from their backs, spikes sitting on the end.
fear struck me hard as thoughts slowly crawled into my brain. this is what we were? nightmare creatures that just suck the life out of every human? for now, I decided that I should give up on thinking.
only a few more steps to the safety of the wall.
Up from the ground came a giant creature, at least ten feet in diameter and indescribable in height. berserker. insane black buzzing clouds surrounded its body, its eyes flaming a swirl of green, red, and yellow light; two huge horns swirled out from its face. opening its bloody mouth, the thing let out an awful scream, and billions of tiny razor teeth shredded the sound. I was sent flying as its long arms ripped up from the ground like tree roots being pulled.
I didn't know if my men could deal with this, but something had to be done. I needed to find the Zlatá leader, and learn how to transform. And I needed to do it fast, before I was slaughtered by the disgusting black things surrounding me.
