The Field

Landing near the middle of THE FIELD, the aura around me only strengthened in it's size and it's violent lashing of blue streaks of magical energy.

"Come Demon. Face me."

I held my head low. My vision was severely hindered by wails of the ones who haunt me. I was charged with protecting them, and failed so utterly.

Behind me was the Outer Wall defense. Over two thousand Teutonic Knights stood ready on front line. A multitude of support weapons teams were lined up in the deep trenches and bunker that spanned the entirety of the seven mile wall of the South Gate. Five hundred Pershing Heavy tanks and three hundred Sheridan-Class Heavy Tanks. AT-Guns lined the trenches. Tank traps and spiked wire prevented direct assault on the wall. On the wall itself, a hundred feet up were Iron Trebuchet's that threw exploding balls of pure light energy. Also charged to protect them, were over three thousand machine gunners, snipers and stingers teams - Not all on the wall at once of course - But enough to replace any who fell during the battle to come.

We are all willing to die for Feign.

I'm am ready to defend it to my last breath.

Before long, I had reached the field before the castle walls of Feign. There was a very familiar figure awaiting my arrival.

"My, my, my... Ramius Craven!" I said, slowly descending, my voice still bellowing. "It has been too long..."

I began to shift forms. From the towering monstrosity I was, to the more tolerable, human-esque form. My wings hung elegantly tattered from my back and my claws became less monstrous. I retained a... relatively human form and found myself down to Craven's level. To the unwary observer, I would seem like an injured Dragonkin... but I was not. Not anymore.

"The last time I saw you, your father was still alive. Tell me, does Craven the Senior live? HE could provide some sport," I scoffed, staring Craven up and down, doubting his battle prowess.

Holding the Mannifesta at my side, I glower at the demon who taunted me, "My father is not here Valkaire. It is only you and I." I said confidently, managing to keep the vigor of my swirling energies at a minimum.

Yes. I might as well acknowledge it now and allow the hate to take over seeing as the monster who murdered my father is a mere walking distance from me. Might as well allow myself to release these shackles of the high and mighty Grand General, if only momentarily. This is a chance that I will NOT waste with words.

"Valkarie Voloshanz of Locust, by the power bestowed upon me as Archon of this city and by Kingadent Horatio Valus, in the name of the Eternal Lights I hereby place you under arrest and sentence you to death."I barked with both great anger and a feeling that I believed had long left me. My aura, despite how much I wanted to hold it in, increased exponentially as I said a statement so many times over rehearsed.

"Foolish boy!" I whispered silently, "Do you believe the beast inside you to can parallel my own? Do you truly believe your power is akin to mine? Such insolence. Just like your father before you, you know not the powers you meddle with. You look at me as a monster... a soulless beast. Perhaps that is true. But look at yourself, you fool. Are we so different? Though you feign loyalty to your precious sanctuary, you only truly wish for one thing: vengeance. It's as clear as day, even your comrades can see it. Why do you think those who approach you shy away? They see it in your eyes... the hate... the desire for blood that long goes unfed. You're starving: for battle, for freedom, for something more then what you have in your life now. Things that you'll never have for you are duty-bound. But I... I can free you, child. I can sever the chains that hold you in your pitiful place. This is a gracious offer I am offering you... a seat of power, filling the elites of my own ranks. You would be making your father proud..." I said.

"The blood of your ravaged heart is ALL that I want!" I screamed as I created phsysical projectiles with my aura and launched them at the dragon, "MY father would rather dispatch me HIMSELF before I join you and your wretched malitia!"

I held the Mannifesta pointed at Valkarie, the fiery blue projectiles followed suit and soared through the air, consuming everything in their path, "My allegiance will always be with my King! Stop playing games you harpy and fight me!" Perhaps these were words of a hopeless old fool, but for too long have I gone without a decent battle. For too long have I commanded and idly sat as I watched my men - no, Castors men - fall like dominoes. I WILL show Valkarie that I am MORE than my father EVER was! I will consume him and add his head to my mantle.

"Oh child, you know so little."

I reared my head and roared mightily and sonic waves erupted from my mouth, destroying the feeble projectiles Craven sent my way.

"You don't even know the kind of man your father really was... You remind me of him, you know. That same hatred in your eyes... only his hate was for his country, not of me. There are secrets of your nation that you cannot even begin to comprehend. Secrets that only a few people left alive bear. Your father was one of them. Do you even know the true origins of the Archon project? No... no, of course not. Your father would have you believe it was to protect Feign: but in reality, Archons were born to destroy, not protect. But alas, my breath is wasted here. You have made a grave mistake declining my offer."

I willed Original Sin to my hand. Black flames formed around my arm and spun around like yarn, creating an elegant blade of shadow magic. I swung it through the air once to manifest it's form completely.

"Let us see how you fare against my swordsmanship... you are not fit to fight me in my true form. Your father taught me, you know..." I said, sneering wickedly.

"En guard!" I said letting the the blue aura engulf me entirely, but not yet had I transformed. I held my blade with both hands and steadily approached the demon, "What you say is a lie harpy. My father protected this nation with his dying breath at your hands. He was a great man. Unlike yourself, you pillage, and torture, and destroy as you see fit. Words cannot describe the hatred we feel for you, that your own people feel for you. My blade, the Mannifesta, was given to me by my father long ago Valkarie. While your blade burns with destruction in mind, the Mannifesta only seeks to heal. Blessed in the most holy of all magic, it is invulnerable to destruction. I am the steward of the dead Valkaire, and the souls of the damned are mine to mourn. You may very well destroy me, like you destroyed my father. But what you don't know, is that you can't kill an Archon. You won't.

As I inched closer, I swung my blade downward at the fake tattered human form that was General Valkarie Voloshanz.

I didn't even need to respond to his insincere attack. I sidestepped the halfhearted swing impulsively and brought my foot down on the blade, pushing it into the ground.

"You toss these accusations around, these false truths you've accepted to be reality. You know nothing. Do you believe you and I are so different? Your so called DUTY and RETRIBUTION is nothing more then cold blooded vengeance. You are merely serving yourself: not your country. My troops haven't even arrived yet... And yet, here you are, on the front lines waiting for me. You're not leading your men into battle. You're indulging in your own selfishness and seeking out what you want: as am I. So before you begin to paint me as the villain, realize that you are just as corrupted as I."

With that, my body began to ooze shadow, resembling smoke from a fire. A burst of shadow magic erupted from my body, blasting like a nova.

Still clutching at my blade I look down at the ground, remaining silent for a moment.

"Be that as it may Valkarie. But since you know so much about Archons like myself. Do you want to know where the Castor Government got the energy to imbue us with?"

I let go of my blade and stood up as straight as I possibly could. My words were calm now. I pushed my anger out of the way. I looked straight into the dead red eyes of the demon and awaited his response.

I swung my head back to avoid the upward swipe. I knew what was coming.

"Enlighten me, Craven." I said simply.

"You know her Valkarie. You're closer to her than any of us."

I gathered all the strength that my anger allowed me and prepared unleashed it all in one nova of a shockwave. That's it. No more playing around. I allowed the souls of the dead to take over completely. My body was now completely engulfed. I AM the Archon of this city and I will NEVER allow it to fall!

"Your dearest friend, Xanth de Reverie."

I hovered over Valkarie momentarily, then as I reached critical mass, I released the power of a god upon his undeserving ass.

Something snapped inside me then. Memories of Xanth filled my head. If I still had a heart, it would now be filled with sorrow and pain. But I no longer have a heart. Not since my humanity was stripped from me so very long ago. But this child doesn't deserve to even utter her name. He will pay. His arrogance will be the end of him.

"No more mercy..." I whispered to myself.

I burst outwards, taking my true form once again. I matched his Archon nova with my own magic. He was tiny compared to me now. But regardless, the power he was supplying was much more then his own. He's truly gambling with this. If this attack fails to wound me drastically, his power will be severely diminished. Our powers clashed against each other, creating a crossing of the elements and powers. Thunder bellowed from the clash, signaling the entire continent that the war had truly begun.

"You won't end me so easily, child!" I yelled.

I continued to supply energy to my barrier. Shards of his Archon energies slipped through, grazing me. But as sincere as this attack was, it would not match my own magic. Hatred and rage filled my magic, fortifying it. No one hates like me. No one's rage is as intense as mine. My barrier would not falter. His, however...

Cracks in between our nova's began to form. "Who will break first, I wonder?" I thought to myself, chortling within my head.

"You gravely mistake me Valkarie."

Managing to keep my barrier up, I make myself point blindly at Valkarie and with a thought, I forced myself surge like a launched cruise missle at inhuman speeds towards his barrier, my Archon energies clashing with it prevented harm to me. Shattering through it, I was flying like a stray bullet toward the demon with a velocity that can surely only be matched by a shooting star.

"It is you who is mistaken. You play with things you cannot comprehend."

Original Sin instantly transformed. It is a weapon of magic, and therefore, is whatever I wish for it to be. It leaped from my arm and transformed into a sizely shield, creating a fortified wall behind the barrier. Original Sin is a weapon that only be cleansed by a master of the Light: and there's only one person to date who has been able to repel it's darkness... Andame Stormwreath. Xanth is a user of the schools of magic: but dabbling in the Light was never her forte. Craven will not pass.

Quickly swerving around the newly erected shield, I stop as I semi-circled Valkarie. Now directly behind him, I formed a magical bow and arrow in my hands and pulled back the ethereal cord. Charging up a shot I cursed my old body. Already was I losing myself. My power is not an issue, I could on like this for quite a long time. But as I continuously abuse my abilities, so do I enrage the spirits that haunt me. They want control. They want, for however a short time it will be, to take over my mind and use my body as their vessel. I do not blame them though. It WAS Valkarie that ended them. How long can I hold out before they completely manifest themselves?

I let go of the cord and a large burst of ethereal energy went flying at the harpy's back.

The arrow pierced my body and went flying straight from my back and through my chest. My barrier slowly faded away until it was gone completely. I turned my entire body to look into Craven's eyes.

"Well played. It would seem as if I have underestimated you."

My army could be heard rumbling towards the capital in the distance. Roars and screams echoed throughout the forest and sooner than imagined, they emerged from the forest and began charging towards the castle wall.

"Tell me, Craven... now that my deception is out in the open, how does it feel to have your supreme desire for vengeance go without being quenched? Now is the time you shall pay for being the duty-bound dog you are. Enjoy the pleasantries I have brought along with me, and from the bottom of my heart... have fun." I said, chortling deeply as my mirror image began to fade away into nothingness, shattered by the sudden attack from Craven. I could practically feel his anger forming. For what could he do now? The war has begun. He has no time to chase after me. His duty makes him weak: bound to a sense of morality that renders him incapable of exacting his retribution on me. The entire time Craven THOUGHT he was fighting me, but he was only fighting an extension of myself. A mirror image concocted from ancient Arcane magic. My words and my powers were transferred to the mirror, copying my movements. Through my own will, I controlled the form of the image, while maintaining my somewhat human form. The nova wasn't truly to match Craven's... I could just have easily let my mirror image fall there. But not without insuring my passage into the city. The nova blew a hole through the city's magical barrier, forging my entrance. Using a potion I concocted with the collaboration of the Oracle and Shade himself, I took the form of a member of the Feign Royal Guard. Now... now I can easily slip through the city and retrieve the amulet I came here to seize. Not even Craven knows of the form I now bear. All he knows is he squandered his time and effort fighting something that wasn't really there.

I looked back at my troops charging out of the forest and towards the castle wall in pride before stepping inside the magical city of Feign via my new entrance point and closing the gap with my magic.

Now the siege of Feign... has TRULY begun.

I look in disgust as the mirror image faded into nothingness. My one chance to exact vengeance and I lost it fighting damn dupe!The spirits of the aura wailed in agony, but after a few seconds calmed down and I returned to my regular state. But my appetite has not been quenched yet. I hovered toward the wall and descended upon the front of one of the trenches. As I touched down I immediately started walking toward the South Gate. All of the soldiers contained within instantaneous recognized my mantle and stood at attention. The entire Teutonic knight legion waited for orders.

One of the field commanders ran up to me and I shamefully continued walking, "Sir? Your order."

Under my breath I said, "Fire at will."

He took the hint and screamed out to the rest of the defense, "FIRE AT WILL!!!"

What happened next was an unprecedented wave of, "ATTACK!" and, "FORWARD PUSH!" calls from all over the battlefield.

Machine gun nests opened up and our melee swordsman waited anxiously in case the Horde penetrated the nests onslaught of bullets.
The Iron Trebuchets heaved their burdens and made horrific explosions of light at the edge of the forest.

The screams. The horror. The pleasure it brings me to hear the Horde wail, wither and die.

I made it to the South Gate and it opened up for me. Turning once more to stare at the sky, I shamelessly reentered my city.

[Scenario Change]

The bunkers had failed to keep the enemy at bay. The trenches had failed to keep the soldiers housed within safe. The tank traps and barbed wire were useless. The fodder and masqueraiders simply leaped over them, or ignored them altogether. The Iron Trebuchet's were out of ammunition. The machine gun nests were now shooting into a wave of black nothing, hopelessly trying to defend their rotting city.

But it was all for nought. Chimeras utterly decimated the lesser troops who tried to slash at them with their pitifully mortal weapons. Langoliers shot up through the ground and broke dug in defensive positions. Twenty-Five pounder artillery barrages were bombarding the Horde, but with every point of contact only seemed to increase the black armies numbers. Hundreds of thousands of black dots exited the Looming Forest and the beach head at Trenya was still overflowing with reinforcements, whilst the reinforcements from Argos were no where to be found were no where to be found. All across the battlefield, warp holes opened up and spit out the endless legion of the 501st and 83rd Undead Infantry Legions. At the roof of the world, the clear blue skies were quickly turned gray and full as in the distance, a great danger parallel to the AmostGrad flew ever closer.

The remains of the ancient high dragon flapped it's boney, fossil encrusted wings ever more. Skorm the Terror of the skies lives on! The Dracolich was approaching at a steady pace and would make contact within mere minutes. If only to add to the horror, smaller, undead wyverns and lesser dracoliches followed Skormed approach.

The Outer Defense had fallen. Now the only thing holding back the amalgamations of the Horde was the magical barrier that formed over the city itself.

General Craven had no choice to order a full retreat behind the safety of the wall.

START THE INCANTATION Captain Moor telepathically screamed, which echoed the thoughts of field commander Shade exactly.

The Necromancers of the Horde all gathered in deep, concentrated thought. Standing in a large semi circle, the incomplete half facing Feign. The necromancers began chanting in some unknown language that they all seemed to have a profound connection to. From the outer ends of the incomplete circle, the necromancers began signing with their hands. What one did on one end, was mirrored by the one parallel to him. Starting from the ends, and working toward the necromancer at the center, the chant was getting louder. More violent as a summing sigil was scorched into charred earth below them. From this circle of magic, a condensed ball of pure energy began to take shape between all the necromancers. This procedure was taking place at three different places in the Looming Forest.

With only seconds to spare, General Craven had retreated back to the forward command post where Judas was stationed, if he had stayed on the wall any longer then he would have been obliterated by the next action by the Horde.

Meteor-like spheres of dark matter energy were hurtling in the air directly toward the walls.

They created large impact craters in the barrier that reverberated through it.

With only three shots did the entire barrier shatter. With the shattering cacophony of sound broken glass, the hail of these large sphere now directed themselves at the Outer Wall itself.

Crashing, pounding, concrete and debris flying in every which way. Dismembered corpses being hurled through the streets, blood spattered walls and an endless stream of undead and demonic forces climbing their way in through the broken wall.