Vitnami was never the most combative of people. There was a reason why she took up the philosophies of medicine and alchemy over the intricacies of marksmanship and spellcraft. She would have rather lived her life as a wandering alchemist, but then she was arrested. The beady little eyes of those mana beast rats would haunt her for the rest of her life, but, despite the minor bit of trauma from that incident, she was sent to live a life behind bars.
She did not dislike being a prisoner, all things considered. It was mentally numbing, sitting in a cell for hours on end with nothing to do, but the guards seemed to like her. Some even asked for tips on how to brew potions, which made her days more eventful than the tax frauds and petty thieves she shared a prison block with.
Then the recruiter came. The conversation between them was nice and short, with the woman making her pitch and Vitnami, without any other plans, accepting a spot as an Auxiliary. A month of training and ‘rehabilitation,’ which consisted almost entirely of the officers doting on her and her potions, passed in a flash. By the end of it all, she was ready to take on the enemies of peace.
It was at that moment when word of a Hive began to spread.
Vitnami, despite her old village’s insistence, was not stupid. It was quite the opposite, in fact. As soon as rumors about a Hive began to spread, she ordered a large amount of potion materials and got to work making potions that she believed could save her life.
Making a single potion was quite different from making dozens of them. Making a dozen doses of the same potion was actually easier than making a single dose, since she would be in the right mindset after a half-dozen doses. With such an advantage, she managed to make a large battalion’s worth of potions by the time they landed at the Fortress’ location. That number only grew as time went on, but it all passed in a blur. That was, until she and a group of her fellow Auxiliaries were loaded onto a skiff piloted by a madman and sent at the Aekan Pass wall.
She considered it pure luck that she was not crushed by the falling wall. It was only because of the efforts of Cecilia that she survived. That, paired with their shared moment of bonding, made them fast friends once the grind of siege warfare began. It did not take long before Vitnami’s flirtatious side escalated into a full relationship.
There were a few odd things about her relationship with Cecilia, like her bonehawk. That bird glared at Vitnami every time she cuddled up with Cecilia. It was odd, but she had more pressing matters to concern herself with, like the unending waves of Clockworks assaulting the walls of the fortress.
After every battle, the frequency of which was steadily increasing, much to her dismay, she had to tend to the wounded. She gave potions out so regularly that she soon had to ration them. She was forced to resort to sigil-based healing spells by the time she noticed an odd rumor pass around the fortress.
It all came at once. One day, they were simply holding out with the Joint Liberation Force council making strategy, and the next, that council had been overthrown. Rumors ranged from a group of undead seducing the members to a complete slaughter and reanimation scenario, but it was unclear as to what truly happened.
What was clear, however, were the small group of undead that suddenly appeared around camp. They made themselves scarce in most cases, only appearing in camp when some supplies were needed within the keep, but they were always present at battles. Or so the soldiers she treated claimed.
At first, she did not notice much difference. Less soldiers were sent to her hut to be healed at first, which lightened her workload from exhausting to merely numerous. It gave her more time to spend brewing potions or cuddling with Cecilia, which was fine by her. The next day, however, not a single person was sent to her tent. As much as it confused her, she simply spent her time brewing potions, healing minor, work-related injuries, and being close with her girlfriend.
The day after, however, was different. While the number of soldiers she healed that day was far fewer than her normal workload, they babbled about immortal Clockworks slaughtering the servants of the Demon of the Clock. She did not put much stock into the ravings of injured men, but the next day brought more of the same. That night, when Vitnami mentioned the oddities to Cecilia, she was met by a sigh, “Looks like the lich’s back,” was all that Cecilia said before falling asleep.
The same thing happened for the rest of that week. Soldiers trickled in, telling tales of immortal, antiClockworks. Her curiosity grew every time she heard tales of the undead, and she soon acted on it.
Cecilia, thankfully, was allowed a day or two to rest, and used that time to escort Vitnami to a relative high point within the fortress, the mast of some trading vessel. They waited there for almost an hour before the fabled usurper arrived at the eastern gate. From afar, the woman was just that. A woman. Winged, sure, but that was hardly the strangest feature Vitnami had seen from the people of the Vast Dust. But, even from that distance, she had a niggling feeling that there was something fundamentally different between herself and the winged woman.
On top of that, she carried a strange kind of rifle, one that Vitnami could only explain as the treasure of ages past. The gun, which appeared closer to the lance of the Creators, sliced through some odd Clockwork in an instant, destroying it in a single shot. Cannon shots continued, but the lady did not appear concerned, and simply flicked her wrist at the oncoming horde.
That flick of the wrist was all that was needed to summon the supposedly immortal army.
From the shadows and last rays of light sent from the falling sun came clusters of armored, alert knights. And knights were the best way to describe the undead that appeared from thin air. Some fired their guns, lancing through the Clockwork armor with scorching heat and crushing force. Most, however, opted to rely on their bayonets. Those knives tore through the plated layers of the Clockwork armor like water through a raging flame, cutting the metal into shrapnel.
The battle, no matter how in-favor of the undead, was not without casualties. Small clusters of undead failed at avoiding the cannons of Clockwork armor and were met with a cannon shell as recompense. Despite her expectations, however, those unfortunate ones who met with such force did not return to death. Instead, they slowly stood, firing shots into the offending armored Clockworks.
The battle was soon over, and the scavengers sallied forth to pick apart the remainders of the battlefield like vultures. Vitnami sighed as she slumped against the mast of the skiff they were ‘borrowing’ as a viewing platform. Cecilia, who had sat beside her throughout the whole battle, shook her head and leaned against Vitnami, “Yep. Definitely the lich alright.”
“You’re definitely obsessed with that lich,” Vitnami teased, pecking Cecilia on the cheek. The lizardman woman smiled and shook her head, “Oh, you don’t have an obsession with another woman?”
“I don’t,” Cecilia laughed, “It’s just… I have a history with her, and that was probably the moment where I thought my life would end. Skeletal visage, flaming eyes, searing pain, Vitnami, it was like I was in the grip of death herself and she was dragging me to the chamber of the Creators to be judged. It was… impactful, to say the least.”
“Well,” Vitnami pouted, “If death wanted to take you away, I would give her a piece of my mind.” Cecilia laughed and hugged Vitnami closely, “At least till you let me sleep with you,” she added, getting another laugh for her joke.
Just as they were about to leave whatever poor merchant decided to take up the cause of liberation alone, lights flashed, and a massive explosion erupted somewhere out in the distance. The dragons above them danced in their deadly ball while a light show erupted on the ground. Lances of light shone across the field and, presumably, did something. As they watched, however, there was an oddly efficient pattern to the firing. Pairs would fire, then duck while another pair fired, and finally fired once more after a few seconds.
There were odd things about the battle, like the very powerful artillery, the sudden arrival of a mage willing to engage a battlefield with dragons flying around, and a pair of oafs who decided to join the immortals in their firing line.
It all came to a head when, all at once, the immortals charged, bayonets held high and greaves slamming into the sand. After a moment of tense waiting, Vitnami could hear a voice call out from the base of the gate, “My name is Mori Athanatos, and I’ve come to rejoin the battle against the Forgeheart! Open the gate!”
Cecilia paused for a moment, then huffed, leaning into Vitnami, “Yep, definitely that damn lich again,” she muttered, keeping Vitnami from leaving. It was not all that bad, though. Being that close to each other was quite cozy.
Howldawg· Jun 16, 2022
