The Unwritten Wall of Time

CHAPTER THREE - WAR PREPARATIONS

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SONGS OF WAR. ARDONIA, AND OTHER ASSETS OF SONGS OF WAR BELONG TO DAVID R.B. AND BLACK PLASMA STUDIOS.

Preparations finished, the five stood on the podium at the Settlement Square, the common place where merchants and traders would come to do business. Nestoris summoned a small fireball in his palm and fired it at the sole acacia plank amongst the blue and pink wooden planks, setting it alight and triggering the redstone mechanism that would cause bells throughout the Tidesinger settlement to ring.

The Tidesingers gathered at the square. Most were aware of the reason why Nestoris had called this meeting, having seen the drastic decrease in Tidesingers out and about on the pavements of Ataraxia. These Tidesingers were eager to get answers to their questions. Others were slightly more perplexed, but trusted Nestoris as a responsible leader not to abuse his privilege of being able to call a meeting. These looked more bewildered. But none of them, save the Oracle who stood in full battle armour at the back of the crowd where few could see her, knew that their lives as peaceful beings were over.

"As a good portion of you may know," Nestoris began, "Close to one fifth of our settlement has gone missing." Those who had not realised this, looked around in bewildered shock. Whispering began amongst these Tidesingers, until Nestoris cleared his throat loudly. "It is my solemn duty to inform you of the truth, however grim it may be." His eyes wandered over the people. How would the people react, he wondered, to his next words? But he must word it properly, to minimise panic, yet allow the gravity of the situation to sink in. "Our Oracle has revealed," he nodded to her, "that the people were taken and brainwashed to form an army that now moves against us."

Whispering once again started, this time much louder, amongst all of the Tidesingers. "And," Nestoris spoke over the crowd, who immediately quietened down, "that the being known as Death has reformed." Complete, deafening silence reigned for one moment, then two, then ten, as Tidesingers prayed that it was just a mispronunciation, a mistake, and nothing more. They prayed Nestoris had gotten it wrong, and the Oracle would come forward to correct him. Maybe there was some other, smaller enemy with a similar name, because Death could not be reformed, could not be reformed, and the hope of the Tidesingers started to die off into anxiety as nothing happened.

A baby Tidesinger, no older than a year old, started crying in her mother's arms. This set off a chain of exchanges in emotions amongst the Tidesingers, some crying out in despair and fear, some trying to comfort one another, others making battle plans. Families were hugging each other tightly, and so were friends. But to those hysterical, paralysed by shock, not even Nestoris' following rallying speech could get them out of their stupor. Sendaris teleported to their side, but couldn't calm them down, despite being well known as the most persuasive of the five leaders. Mendoris went forward to hug them, and Kaltaris… well, he felt kind of out of place. He only knew how to fight, and he was extremely awkward amongst other people except his friends.

In the end, Voltaris was the one who helped to calm them down. Whispering his plan to his friends, Kaltaris raised a boulder of soil from nearby high up into the air, that covered the entire Settlement Square. As shadows were cast over them, the hysterical, paralysed Tidesingers looked up to see Nestoris' and Voltaris' fireballs launching straight into the soil, growing larger and larger as it left their palms, and smashed into the soil to obliterate the entire chunk. As dust rained down on the Tidesingers, Mendoris raised a shield that covered the Tidesingers. The show of power awed the Tidesingers, mostly due to how swift it was carried out; in a split second, the boulder was being levitated, in another, its dust was raining down on Mendoris' shield.

"My friends, my fellow Tidesingers," Voltaris spoke, and the Settlement Square was silent once more. Voltaris rarely spoke in public, as compared to the other friends. "Today may be our doomsday. It may be the day we all meet our end. But we are not going to do it without reminding Death, that we are not, to be trifled with." He gave a severe look at all of the Tidesingers. "While he has been restored to health, we have trained. We have become strong, and we can fight off mindless armies." He smiled, his voice slightly hoarse and strained from this impromptu speech. "Let us unoite, and make our last stand here, for the whole of Ardonia to see, that Tidesingers will not back down, that we are prideful creatures, and we will not be denied!"

A rousing, answering cheer came up from the Tidesingers, and brought a smile to Voltaris' face. They could do this, he thought. If they banded together, they could hold out, fortify Ataraxia, and protect their homes. As Nestoris and his other friends went forward to take the helm of the operation, Voltaris felt like they were unstoppable. Solid obsidian was raised from the ground, and used to build a wall, led by Kaltaris. Mendoris discussed a rotational shift of Tidesingers to protect the wall with shields, and Kaltaris and Nestoris trained almost eighty percent of the remaining Tidesingers that were above the age of twenty on battle, with Nestoris taking Battle Strategy and Formations, and Kaltaris doing a one on four demonstration using his double bladed swords. 

And as night fell on Ataraxia, the Tidesingers hurried back to their homes to grab some armour, and Kaltaris proceeded to return to the friends' base to obtain armour for those who had none. All in all, they had done all they could, to defend themselves against the army they felt sure would come for them in the middle of the night. Above on a watchtower built into the wall, Sendaris himself stood guard as watch out, ready to sound the rewired alarm at any moment. Kaltaris and Mendoris engaged in small talk, whispering sweet nothings to one another. And at the front of the troops of Tidesingers, Nestoris and Voltaris reminisced, quite aware of the fact that this could be their final night in the world.

"Don't you remember? We were sixteen!" Nestoris laughed. 

"Nope, I definitely did not do that," Voltaris smiled. "I am not such a flirt."

"No, you definitely did. You had the girl swooning all over you too, but you messed up and-"

"Nope, nope, I don't want to remember this any more-" Voltaris covered his ears with his hands, making a face of regret at the floor.

Nestoris and Voltaris shared a laugh at their own antics. They were as close as brothers could be, and they were happy to at least, have these final few moments, before… before whatever would come, because they didn't know, as much as they tried to make themselves believe that they could win, for the sake of their people, they could not make themselves truly believe in those empty words. Because this was Death, one of the two first conscious beings. Compared to him, they knew they were ants. But they could not reveal it, not even to the other friends. Only with each other, they felt comfortable, and as the friends embraced each other these sentiments were clearly shared between the couple.

"You know, I never said this before, but-"

The bells rang around the two friends.