Storymania - The Darkened Kingdom Chapter 3 by Wang

The Darkened Kingdom Chapter 3
Wang

Chapter 2: The Battle

Leroy’s eyes flickered as he heard a high pitched scream exploding from a figure before him. His vision blurred as he barely saw the demon threw a surprised look to his chest revealing blood dripping from a sword. The man withdrew his sword allowing the demon to fall face first onto the solid ground. “Father?” Leroy whispered as everything faded into darkness.

“L…oy…Leroy!” a feminine voice cried out into Leroy’s ear. Leroy fell back onto the green grass and in the process hitting his head onto the stable wall. “Ouch…my head, who’s the …oh it’s you,” he said as he rose his head to meet the girl that was kneeling in front of him. “Ah sorry Vienna, I was dozing off.” Leroy yawned, “So why did you come to us last night?”

Vienna got to her feet as she walked over to his side and leaned on the burgundy stable wall. “I’ll be sleeping at your place for a bit, Kratos already knows.”

Leroy in a surprised expression asked. “Really, you rarely stay here with us anymore. You seem to like your elfin friends more than us,” Leroy chuckled as he rose to his feet.

Vienna frowned as she made a friendly shove from behind. “Their so strict, if I were to do something even remotely wrong, they would probably kick me to the curb.” She says as she points a finger as if to correct a gigantic mistake. “Those elves are far too strict for me for all I know; they probably would’ve worked me to death back there.”

Leroy lay back on the glossy grass,” So why are you staying with us again?”

Vienna’s expression was replaced with a more serious look as she began to speak. “Well the other night, the higher elves decided to change their tradition of isolation and propose an alliance to the king of Stotra to deal with the-”

Leroy nodded as he interrupted, “The sudden increase of demons.” Vienna nodded gravely.

Leroy had already heard all about the problem. Ever since the incident back in the woods, many people had heard rumors of demons attacking merchants and travelers. This was quite the problem for the king of Stotra and the lord of the elves. The kingdom’s merchant ships were raided by “hideous monsters” as they attempted to trade with other nations and many of the merchants were afraid of the attacks to leave the docks. Therefore economy for both kingdoms had plummeted.

Vienna knelt down to pick her amulet up and placed it in her pocket. “Has it gotten so severe for the elves to propose such a treaty?” Leroy wondered out loud.

“Yes Leroy. And no more questions. I’m not allowed to explain the details to anyone but the King. I must prepare for tonight, I hope you don’t mind if I take some of supplies. I am running short. I’ll see you later at dinner.” She walked to the stable and inserted her items into her white traveling pouch. She sighed and responded, “And please Leroy, do not touch my possession without my permission again.” She then grabbed her traveling pouch and turned to leave for the cottage.

The rays of sunlight given off by the sun slowly disappeared from the land of Midgard as the citizens of the nearby city of Alpas, prepare themselves for another night of rest. The moon illuminated the forest surrounding the city, revealing shadows concealed in the darkness of the night. Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek stretched across the sky as shadowy figures covered the skies causing the city of Alpas to be engulfed in complete darkness. The city’s alarm was rung as footsteps hammered the stairs of the many bunkers housing soldiers. The clanging of weapons and armor had sounded the halls. Farther into the bunker, a man with short black hair in his thirties ascended from his chair.

“Demons…” He fastened a sword to his waist and rushed toward his regiment. He lets out a quick sigh and prayed, “May the gods watch over us.” He and his regiment left the bunker and looked onto the overwhelming ranks of monsters raiding their city. “For The King!!” he shouted as they sprinted into the hellish war zone.

“Hm? What’s that sound?” Leroy turned his head toward the direction of the abrupt sound. Suddenly, the door flew open violently as Kratos rushed in.

“Prepare yourselves, we are going to enter battle,” Kratos draws his sword calmly as he motioned Leroy and Vienna to hurry.

“Wait…W-what?” Leroy stands in shock.

“Get ready! Were surrounded by dem-” Yells and screams filled the room as Vienna walked to a nearby closet and equipped her elfin armor while stringing her bow. She threw her quiver full of silver plated arrows and placed her daggers on her leg.

“Just listen to Sir Kratos! Let’s go!” Leroy nodded and finishes his preparation which was to fasten his sword and dagger belt. Leroy left the cottage behind him as he looked at the raging battle before him. Kratos had already run into the group of demons. He cut a demon in the face causing a gash on his right as he approached the demons right flank. Kratos cut down horde after horde of demons while entering the middle of the demon’s group and places his hand onto the floor. A second later a detonation exploded in the surrounding area Kratos stood. The demon’s bodies and blood filled the sky as Kratos move onto another division.

Vienna crossed Kratos’s location as she used her bow to fire arrows into four demons behind Kratos gracefully and swiftly hacked into the demon behind her causing it to screech in pain. Leroy stabbed one demon and pushed it behind him to look for others. One of the soldiers nearby from the militia let out a wail of pain as demons broke through the right flank.

A group of demons headed in Leroy’s direction while he was preoccupied with some other demons. One of the demons tossed itself onto Leroy sinking its claws into his flesh with its feet and hands.

“You damn brute! Get off me!” Leroy drops his head and swings his sword wildly cutting the beheading the demon’s head. “The odds are against us. I don’t think we can hold out any longer. Where in hells oven are the soldiers of Alpas?” He says as he curses under his breath. The demons rush at Leroy as he yells, “Holy shit! How many are there?” Leroy’s sword rose and is brought horizontally to his front. Digging his feat into the ground to gain footing, he preyed that he and his brethrens would at least live through the nightmarish evening.

“Sir Owens! They have breached the northern gates and are now moving to sector one and two of the city! We are being overwhelmed sir!” The young soldier’s sweat drops crashed onto the floor as he unsteadily held his sword. The other soldiers looked around as they looked lost and defeated. As they sat on large blocks of Alpas’s building ruins, soldiers moaned and sighed as if to show they had took a quick journey through hell.

Owens had lost countless soldiers in his division and the battle raging seemed impossible to win without reinforcements. He fought back the emotions as he wondered if his own loved ones had made it to safety. “All right soldiers, you have all done well! Fought for the kingdom as the honorable soldiers you are! I will not lie to you all; this may very well be our last battle.” Soldiers looked at Owens with despair as he continued to speak. “…But this is also our finest hour! We will never give in! We will never fall to our foes! We are men of Alpas! We will strike with a force like the greatest typhoon and the swiftness of the raging waters of Minotaur Falls! We will give them a fight they will never forget!” Owens raised his fist into the sky with such power and emotion, the spirits of all that died seemed to have cheered with him. The rest of his division yelled in sync as their morale rose. Owens looked from face to face and pointed to a young man who had just joined and seemed fast on his feet. “You, I want you to send six of our best mages and knights to the noble and protect him at all costs as he is escorted out. Understood?” The young man nodded and ran off in the direction of the noble. Owens looked around to survey their surroundings. Electricity poles and lamps were knocked down and survivors hugged their family members that lay forever gone. Buildings were burning like night torches as the fire spread like it had no intention of stopping. Death was everywhere and the stench was unbearable. Children, women, elderly, and babies were all slaughtered by the demons and laid all over the burnt grass. Owens had hoped for the civilians to escape or at least spared but demons had no pity for anything. Owens stretched his arm out and began to walk. “Ready yourselves men. We are going to fight and we are going to fight our hardest.” Owens sighed and turned afterwards to smile. “And we will no doubt be the fiercest warriors ever seen.” Owens turned and cleaned his sword and walked through the bodies of the dead with much determination. The soldiers at his command hesitated but soon followed after him. They had the fear of death in their eyes but also the pride of fighting with their admirable leader to the end.

Leroy leaps back as he dodges demons attempting to cut him. He cuts a demon down from the shoulder and passes from its left to the next demon. The demon turns but Leroy draws his dagger and cuts its face in half. Holding a sword in one hand and the dagger in the other he slashes demons left and right until he finally reaches Vienna. Vienna had parts of her clothes ripped and armor scathed. Her quiver was empty and the blade of her dagger was dull.

“Vienna! How are you doing?” Leroy asks as he stabbed a demon in the chest and backed away. He turned in a three sixty degree circle and beheaded another demon, dropping the head onto the crimson grass.

Returning to Vienna’s region he heard her yell, “It’s far too much! I’ve never been in combat with such an overpowering force! We must retreat!”

“Agreed but I don’t see a suitable exit!” Leroy drew a magic circle in the air and shot magical light beams into a random group of demons.

Not far from Leroy and Vienna, Kratos had been killing as many as he could but knew from the beginning that they would lose the battle. From the corner of his eye, Kratos caught a glimpse of an escape route. It was an opening due to the slacking behavior of demons that left their post to find more victims to kill. He yelled Leroy and Vienna to hurry for the escape route. Leroy and Vienna nodded in unison and fought their way towards the opening and made a break in the direction. Kratos finished the few remaining demons and made a break as well for the route but the demons returned from their post when they saw Leroy and Vienna run. The route had already been blocked off by the time Kratos reached the exit. He was completely surrounded. The demons snickered as it stabbed Kratos in the chest and cut his leg. Kratos cried as he fell to his knees. He attempted to avoid the many lunges thrown at him but to no avail. The demons cut his cheek causing more pain and scraped his back leaving a bloody mark. Kratos in desperation chanted a spell that caused the area around him to explode killing the unlucky ones that were close to him. He stabbed the floor of soil and leaned on his sword for support as he rose to his feet. He started to chant another spell but other demons close in and leap onto Kratos. A pile of demons piled up onto Kratos in a dog pile manner. He struggled to keep his balance but began to fall under the weight of the demons. A few seconds later, a pile of demons were left. As the demons continued to bite into the flesh of Kratos, a flash of white light begins to sear through the mass. A moment later the demons fall to the floor screaming in agony as white fire burned their skin and meat leaving nothing but bones. He bit his finger allowing blood to trickle down to a magic seal that began glowing around him. His body began to glow and flash violently. Drops of tears can be seen flowing down his cheeks as he finished his spell. “Sorry Leroy. I guess I won’t be there to see you grow up.” He then smirked, “Don’t get lazy and you may just make it to Valhalla to see me,” Kratos whispered as he spoke the final words of the spell. A burst of light exploded into the grassy plains causing everything in a one mile radius to be engulfed by an intense white light.