Malum {Undergoing Major Editing}

Chapter Forty: The Preparation.

The alarms were blaring, causing my eardrums to shake. People were running around, woman consoling their children, men in armor, sharpening their swords, woman holding bows and arrows. I followed the Virtues over to the Armoury and they were frantically looking for weapons. Kindness passed me golden armour and handed me a sheathed  sword. Chastity brought over a quiver of golden arrows and a bow. I shouldered the arrows and hung the bow on my belt along with the sword. My heart was pounding in my ears and my eyes were hazy. Joshua barged in dressed in white armour with a sword by his side. Dominic was behind him, wearing silver armour, with twin swords forming an X on his back. Both boys beckoned me to follow them. I jogged out of the room, moving across the palace. Men and woman in armour were running around, their armours were different colours: golden, silver and white.

Valerie was directing children into safe rooms, guarded by soldiers in white. She gave a small child a teddy bear, which he dropped, and gave him a smile. He sniffed and gave her a toothy smile. Now she's being a nice mother to someone who isn't even her child. I groaned in frustration and tore my eyes from her. Dominic was yelling my name in the midst of the chaos, trying to get me to follow him.

We ran out of the palace, into the fields. Thousands of people stood at attention in white armour in the fields waiting for instructions. White Stallions stood beside then in white gear as well. Further ahead, soldiers and horses in silver and then up front were soldiers and horses in Gold. People were filing in slowly but steadily, everyone knew their place. They stood with their colours and waiting in silence. Joshua had joined the people in white armour at the back of the ranks. Dominic instructed me to go to the front and stand next to the virtues. I walked over to the front of the ranks to meet with the seven virtues next to their horses and Valerie, already mounted on hers. Chastity handed me the reigns of a white horse, with golden headgear and a saddle. Thank God I went horse riding with Joshua as a kid.

A trumpet was blown and all the soldiers mounted their horses. I looked around and mounted mine as well. The horse resisted but then relax under my weight. I noticed that the horse had a scar along its neck, it looked like a lightning bolt. I ran a hand over the horses main as Chastity passed me a bag.

"Food for the horse. It's a boy by the way."

I pulled out an apple and fed the horse, "I'm going to call you Lightning."

"That's a stupid name," Chastity murmured. It was lovely how Chastity can still be bitter and rude at a time like this. Valerie rode over to the front of the army and waited. After a few seconds, she got out a whistle and blew it. The horses seemed to hear the sound and they all began to walk at a slow speed. Valerie joined the ranks and her horse started to speed up. Her horse was running at top speed at this point and all the horses were mimicking hers. People were on foot as well, running at top speed, grabbing onto their friends on horses, mounting them to gain more speed. I hear sounds from above so I looked up and saw hundred of people-no wait-angels flying up ahead. Each one of them wearing the three different colours, some with swords and spears, others with bows and quivers.

The horses ran at top speed across the fields of Incompertus towards Hell. In the distance, I could see black figures making their way over to us. As they came closer I could make out the first few people: the Sins. They all wore black armour, their individual colours clear in their eyes. Behind them an army of demons and devils rode their black skeleton horses- "equorum" Lucifer called them. Above them flew hundreds of demons with swords. Right in the center at the front was the King of Hell: Lucifer himself.

Once they had spot us, a loud battle cry escaped them as they charged towards us. I looked over at Valerie who turned around to face someone and nod to them. Valerie raised her sword and yelled as loud as she could and everyone replied with a shout. Now, everyone was charging towards each other. I raised my own sword and yelled at the top of my lungs. People from the ranks behind me, overtook my horse and created a circle around me, shielding me from the approaching army. Arrows flew from above my head in attack.

"Here take this!" A man yelled from my left and he threw me a golden shield. I slung it over my back and pulled out an arrow. I placed it in the bow and breathed. I released it and I saw a horse fall down. The devil was left without a horse and now attacked on foot. Screams of rage and pain surrounded me as I looked over. The virtues were still standing but the circle of guards around me were all busy fighting so it was just me. In front of me was a man in red armour, he bared his teeth and screamed. I jumped off my horse to reach his level. Chastity had spared with me so I had a basic training when it sword fighting but fighting against a demon, that's a whole other level.

The man charged with his sword raised high. I noticed a hitch in his armour that exposed his stomach. If only I could get to that. I grabbed my shield in my left hand and had my sword in my right. He brought his sword down in a swift movement but I raised my shield. The sword hit the shield with a clang that shook my whole arm. The devil was still recovering from the shock when I noticed his outstretched foot. I hooked his leg with mine and pulled, causing him to fall down with a thud. I lifted my sword and brought it down as hard as I could, aiming for the gap in his armour.

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Authors Note:

This author has no note!

Lxrxib.