Crissyfox

Sorry about the delay, was struggling a bit with depression and havent really had the energy to write. but i wanted to get the first book finished. We're so close to the end of book 1. I hope everyone is enjoying it right now. the next few chapters are going to be fun to write.

Kat loved reading stories about ancient battles. The stories of seemingly insurmountable odds being overcome by sheer determination. And what stood in front of her were undoubtedly insurmountable odds. Thousands of undead versus a handful of adventurers and just about three hundred guards. She knew the other side faced a similar situation.

After their initial attack, the undead began to swarm the walls. She thought that they wouldn’t be able to surmount them due to lack of siege weaponry, oh how wrong she was. As the skeletons reached the walls, they began to climb each other. Forming an improvised ladder of bone. From their place in the back lines, the enemy mages cast their spells. Fire, ice, wind, and stone striking the walls. Their mages shielded to the best of their abilities, despite this they had already suffered casualties.

“This is horrifying,” Erral commented, looking out over the undead horde and the corpses of his men.

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere safe?” Kat asked.

“I am,” he smiled, “there's no place safer in this city than by your side. If you were to fail, this city would be overrun anyway.” 

She nodded, not needing a reminder that the fate of tens of thousands are relying on her. She hefted her borrowed bow and knocked an arrow before aiming at the wight and letting loose. The missile buzzed angrily towards the undead, just before the bold made contact an zombie hound jumped in its path. The wight looked over at her, a smirk on his featureless face. Without any visible command, a group of archers near the Wight turned and loosed their arrows at her.

With a flick of her wrist, she swung her sword wreathed in blue fox fire, slashing at the incoming projectiles. A wave of fire slashed out in an arc, burning the arrows it passed through, making the rest of the projectiles fall uselessly around them. 

“My life flashed before my eyes there,” the lord remarked from the floor.

“Miss Kat!” Velloran called. “We could use some assistance.” 

The big man was struggling against a group of twisted and deformed bodies. Their arms terminating in wicked looking blades made of chitin and bone. The strange undead raining blows down on the large man's shield. Kat sheathed her sword and shot forward, drawing it and slashing at one of the undead. Her blue flame wreathed sword sliced cleanly through one of the undead. Blue fire wreathed the undead monstrosity's spine as its torso fell to the ground. It flailed madly as the fire slowly consumed the undead with its purifying flames. 

Kat took up a stance as she swung again, her sword lancing through the air faster than the eye could follow. Catching another of the undead unawares as it too fell uselessly. Stepping forward, she swung again, by now the undead aware of her presence, slicing off one of the monster's arms as it spun to face her. Before it could do more than stare at her impotently, she swung again, her horizontal slash cleanly removing the monster's head. 

“That was impressive,” the big man said, using his weapon to crush one of the distracted undead.

“It was nothing,” she said humbly. 

Kat and Velloran took up positions near each other, guardian each other's flanks.

“Where’s the others?” she asked, slicing one of the undeads arms off.

“They are along the wall assisting where they’re needed. I was positioned here where the line was the thinnest.”

“Why was it thinnest here?”

“Because it's where you were,” he explained with a nonchalant shrug, crushing another enemy under his hammer.

She just nodded her head and kept swinging her sword. Each swing dealing death to another undead abomination.

“Jeeze how many are there?” she asked after killing her tenth.

“I think they are coming up the ladder,” the cleric placed his warhammer down and removed a necklace from under his plate armor. “Begone, foul undead!” he yelled as a pulse of blinding white light exploded outwards from the holy symbol. The nearest undead turning to dust as they get blown away. Farther ones, simple fleeing in every direction, many falling over the edge knocking each other down and toppling a pair of ladders.

“Just doing that now?”

“Sorry, I can’t do it that often, so I had to be strategic,” he smiled.

Kat took an opportunity to scan the walls, the defenders were forced into small pockets of resistance, their opponents mostly weak skeletons.  Resulting in only a handful of casualties. As she was overseeing the situation, there was an explosion along the wall and a large swath of the undead were thrown outwards. Rirarryu stood in the center of the explosion, a twisted smile on his face as he glowed slightly. 

“That man is terrifying,” Velloran remarked.

“He is a sight,” she agreed, watching him cackle as he shot blasts of green liquid. The liquid dissolving the skeletons but leaving everything else unmarred. Further down, she saw more undead go tumbling off the wall. Volyun’s sword swinging through the air, embedding the tip in the stones behind him as it finishes its arc. 

A volley of arrows streaks from the nearby roofs into the massed undead. A blast of spells following shortly after. The spells blasting everything where they land. 

“Cease your futile efforts and accept your fate,” the wight said, his chilling voice cutting through the chaos. “No one will leave this city alive, my master has already decreed it.”

“Who’s your master?” Kat asked, magically amplifying her voice.

“You shall find out in time, for he shall be your master too,” the Wight mocked.

“I serve no one but myself and my sister,” she retaliated.

“Than you shall die,” it said, pointing a finger at her. A dark beam of light jetting out, aiming straight towards her. Before the dark energy could strike her, Velloran jumped in front of her, his large shield glowing with a white light as he blocked the beam. The dark lance ricocheting off and striking a tree. As the beam struck its trunk, the tree turned into a fine powder before falling in a pile.

“That's a pretty nasty spell,” Velloran commented, looking at the sizeable scar on his shield. 

“Thanks,” she said, the fur on her tails standing on its ends.

“No problem,” he smiled, “we need to take that guy down, I think.” 

“Yea probably, but he's at the back, and we don't have enough men to fight on the ground.”

“That is true, so what will we do then?”

“I don’t know, I need to think of something.”

She stared at the wight, rubbing her chin as she wracked her brains for an idea.

*****

The house had an ominous feel now. The moment they opened the front door, they were assaulted by skeletons and zombies. They were quick to dispatch the undead, Myrra speared some with her thorns, Evelyn used earthen spikes to impale some, and Rudeus used some kind of spell that caused them to crumble into dust.

“The necromancer is definitely here after that little display,” Myrra whispered. 

“But why my house?” Rudeus asked.

“Probably because it was empty for so long,” Evelyn offered.

“My family only used it during holidays, and after they died it took me a while to settle their affairs,” he replied.

“You lost your family?” Myrra asked bluntly. “What happened?”

“It happened while I was studying in the academy. My parents and siblings were on a taking a trip to the island nation Avarten, but they never arrived. I didn’t learn about it for nearly a year. Apparently, some wreckage from their ship floated ashore and someone recognized my family's emblem.”

“Why’d it take a year for you to find out? Didn’t they just suddenly disappear? Someone should have told you, right?”

“I lied about where I was, my parents didn’t want me studying magic. But It's something I have to do. So when they vanished, their associates went to where I was supposed to be and found me missing as well,” he clutched his chest, his breathing becoming shallow and rapid. 

Myrra rested her arm comfortingly on his shoulder, “That had to be rough.” 

“The last thing I did was lie to them. I never even got to say goodbye,” he said, tears welling in his eyes.

Myrra pulled him close and patted his back. “I’m sure they were happy you survived, at least.” 

He buried his face in her shoulder and wept. His chest convulsing as he hiccuped. 

“I’m sorry, we don't have time for this,” he said several minutes later, rubbing tears from his now bloodshot eyes. “Let's go, the necromancer is probably going to be in the basement.” He stood up and began walking down the hall. The girls followed him after sharing a look of concern.

As the three of them rounded the corner, a loud clunk sounded followed by a massive bolt flying towards them. Myrra and Evelyn reacted instantly, forming a wall of vines and stone respectively. Slowing the bolt enough that it fell short and embedded itself in the floor. The undead that were manning the ballista rushed forward and were also turned to dust by Rudeus.

“How many times can you do that?” Myrra asked, poking the pile of ash with her rod.

“I can use it as long as I have mana, but it is a pretty big drain,” he said, removing a blue vial from a pouch on his waist and downing it. Putting the now empty vial back in his pouch.

“Where's the basement?” Evelyn asked.

“Through this door,” Myrra said, turning the handle of the door on her left. The door burst open and a tall, pale monster stepped out. It stared at the group, its razor teeth filled mouth opened, dripping saliva that sizzled where it hit the wood. It raised a hand, its fingers ending in razor sharp claws. Its body was twisted, moving in ways not possible without breaking every one of its bones.

It threw back its arms and let out an ear shattering shriek, causing all the glass in the hallway to shatter. Before it finished, it whipped its arm faster than the eye could follow. Aiming the blow at Myrra. With a squeal, she fell backwards, the monster's claws leaving deep gouges in the wall.

“Myrra!” Evelyn cried.

“I'm fine,” she replied, dusting herself off. “What is this thing?”

“It’s a ghoul,” Rudeus answered, hefting the staff of the overlord. “Beware, it's fast and deadly.”

“I can tell,” snarked Myrra as she raised her rod.

Evelyn giggled, making Myrra blush, as she pulled out what looked like a powder rifle. But where the flint striker would be was a glowing gem. She touched another glowing gem on her belt, creating a pair of glowing sigils on the ground. In the center of each sigil appeared a golem, one made of plant and stone and the other made of metal and crystal.

The golems rushed forward as the creature swung at the fallen Myrra. The crystal golem placed itself in the path of the attack, raising its arms over its head. The claws bouncing uselessly off the crystals on its arms. The other golem wrapped its vine arm around the monster as Evelyn shot a blast of intense concentrated fire from her gun.

Rudeus gathered a black energy around the head of the staff. He put a hand in the energy, forming a small nimbus of energy around it. Drawing a line in front of him, he shot three bolts of black energy. Two of the bolts struck the monster, turning into black crackling flames. The last struck the wall and dissipated harmlessly. The monster wailed and flailed its arms, smashing the walls and furniture in the hallway.

A chair next to Myrra exploded as jumped to the side, shooting several thorns into the monster's side. It let out another scream and swung its whip like arms at her. They whistled harmlessly over her head as she ducked and shot several more thorns into its side as the flames continue to spread over its body.

With a bang, Evelyn shot a large icicle at the monster. The ice spike glancing off its head, leaving a deep bloodless gouge in its face. The creature turning its attention to Evelyn as it lumbered towards her. Its steps heavy and labored. 

With a mechanical clang, the golems hand transformed into a spear. Leveling its arms, it pointed at the monster's and fired. Its hand flew through the air, a chain trailing behind it as the hand embedded itself into the creature's back. The other golem wrapped its vine around the metal golem and tried to help drag the monster back. The creature continued walking towards Evelyn as its flesh begins to melt off of it. Her face going pale as it continues to advance towards her.

“Begone!” Myrra commanded, putting herself between the monster and Evelyn. As she raises her hand, a pillar of light envelops the monster. The horror wailing as the light strips flesh from bone, turning it to dust layer by layer until nothing remained. As the light fades away, leaving everyone stunned, Myrra falls to one knee, her breathing becoming labored.

“Are you alright?” Evelyn asks, helping the exhausted girl to her feet.

“I’m fine, I just need to rest,” she replied.

“Thanks by the way,” she said, her cheeks slightly pink as she lifted Myrra onto her back.

“I just couldn't stand to see it hurt you,” she replied, her cheeks going pink at the implication of her words. The two girls fell silent, as they looked awkwardly in different directions.

“We should get to the basement,” Rudeus said, breaking the silence.

“Yes, lets,” the two girls said in tandem, before giggling.