Chapter 12: Far From Done
The Dark Lord looked over the image of Devil’s Crater, his smile hidden by his hood. He let out a rumbling laugh. “Well, it looks like we made the first Demons stronger than we hoped.” He glanced at Boran-al, who looked confused.
“Wondering why I’m not flying into a rage?” the Dark Lord asked, amused. “Well, I guess it is time that I showed you what I used all the power contained within your citadel for. Give new orders to the Horde and the champions. Have them pull into the cliffs around the crater. See if they can find weaknesses and a way to get into the crater. They are to kill as many as they can. There are still a few hundred thousand left.”
“Yes, my lord.” Boran-al bowed and worked his interface. His eyes fell to the Bone creations that walked through the carnage of the battlefield.
The Dark Lord saw the look of anger and jealousy in Boran-al’s face.
I am impressed with the power that these Stone Raiders have shown. Wherever they have been, they have gained more strength. One of them was even able to use my power of conversion and channel it into a weapon. We have a year and a half until the portals start opening of their own accord. Then Emerilia will be washed with death and darkness.
Boran-al finished his final inputs, following behind his lord. They teleported far away. They looked upon a desert, one that Boran-al had not seen in decades. Crystal formations seemed to move in the distance.
The Dark Lord laughed as Boran-al’s eyes widened.
“Yes, your citadel was able to break the barrier between these two planes. Now we are able to harvest more Mana than ever before.” Powering all of my magic that I have been restricted from for too long.
***
Alkao sent his brigade to chase down the Demon Champions who were fleeing Unity, heading out toward the cliffs of the crater where the rest of the Demon Horde was still free to roam.
He wiped blood from his eye. Krenua and his guard fell in around him. He waved off healers; there were others who needed their help more.
He studied the armor and weapons his people wore. Between the shoulder blades, a soul gem glowed under the steel armor. Another one in the hilt of their swords and in the centers of their shields. The armor looked simple but it had given them the edge that they had needed.
He looked out over Unity. There were smoking craters and broken walls. Bodies littered the street: civilians, DCA soldiers, Demon Champions.
Gold-wearing warriors prowled the streets with the DCA, looking for any champions who might be hiding, using their advanced magics to search them out.
They all said that they were Stone Raiders but it was clear from their expressions that they were learning a great number of things for the first time. Instead of asking myriad questions, they continued their work, looking to keep the people safe first instead of sate their curiosity.
Alkao opened a chat with Lucy. “How goes the battle?” Alkao asked, his voice tight.
“We destroyed what was left of the Horde within our formations. Vrexu, Malkur, and Josh are working on a plan to hunt down the remaining members of the Demon Horde. We’re going to start having fresh Stone Raiders who died in the battle coming across in the next four hours or so. They’ll be leading the hunt. Most of the Stone Raiders are ready to drop,” Lucy said in her no-nonsense manner.
Alkao breathed a sigh of relief.
It was close. Our casualties were heavy, nearly half of our strength killed or wounded. If not for the armor, or the golden warriors, we wouldn’t have been able to fight off the Demon Horde and the champions raiding Unity.
Alkao ran a shaky hand over his face, coming away with dirt and blood from a nasty cut on his brow. He had been so close to losing all that he had fought for. It had taken more than a little work and more sacrifices than Alkao could think of right now.
He took a deep breath, trying to bring his body and his emotions under control. They had bought time. They had not yet won the battle. There were still parts of the Demon Horde out there. Any one of them a possible champion for the Dark Lord. They would not be safe until they were all hunted down and destroyed. They might have just escaped total defeat but now was not the time to relax.
“I have a bunch of your fighters here in golden armor helping my people out. They look a bit lost,” Alkao said.
“Ah, the new recruits—good. I’ll have a talk with Cassie. Once we’ve got everything sorted out, we can start searching from Unity outward through the crater and then its cliffs. We won’t stop until all of the Demon Horde and the threat they pose is eliminated,” Lucy assured him.
“Thank you, Lucy. I will make sure that Unity is secure and then I can lead the searching forces from here,” Alkao said. “Also, I think it would be best if we all got together for a meeting, try to figure out what our next move is going to be.”
“Perfect. I’ll contact you with more details.” Lucy cut the chat.
***
Suzy looked over Alkao’s keep. Wounded lay around the courtyard, calling out in pain. Medics rushed to and fro. People with bad injuries were carried into healing tents, where Jules and her medics healed them up enough to only need healing potions or their armor’s natural healing abilities.
Suzy didn’t want to estimate how many would have died if not for the healing component in Dave’s conjured armor.
Healers were being fed Mana potions as they performed area heals in different areas. Within minutes, people who were gravely injured were back on their feet, looking at their bodies, checking for the grievous wounds they’d gained.
The Demons and Beast Kin assisted. The Stone Raiders’ medics had gotten good at putting people back together with the amount of injuries and near-death experiences that the Stone Raiders went through. As long as they killed the beasts in their way, dying was a small price to pay.
Suzy had been concentrating on her creations, first fighting among the Demon Horde. Then she watched the Stone Raiders’ backs as some of the Demon Horde had flanked around them, trying to hit them in the rear.
Now they’d been given a minute to take a breath, she could see the destruction the Horde had brought. Nearly a million from the Demon Horde had died, but at the cost of over a hundred thousand inhabitants of Devil’s Crater and its army. More than thirty thousand sported some kind of injury, from minor cuts and bruises to broken bones and life-threatening injuries.
The Stone Raiders used their own gear and Health potions to fix themselves instead of taking the bed of a POE. They had all earned a ton of levels; dying might remove some of them, yet they could come back. If they lost any of the POEs, they couldn’t come back.
It was simple math: the Stone Raiders chose death instead of losing future allies.
The Devil’s Crater Army might not be the most well-armed and armored force, but they were one of the larger forces on Emerilia, with most of their force over level 100.
The Dwarven artillery brought her back out of her thoughts. They bellowed; Mana projectiles raced over the keep to slam into the cliffs around Devil’s Crater.
Fresh Stone Raiders and the new applicants from the Golden Sabres rushed up the road leading to the keep, continuing in their mad dash through the keep and out toward Vrexu and Malkur’s forces. They would run support to the DCA brigades, using their skills of detect life and their battle abilities to take down the Demon Horde.
There was just a third left of the Horde. With a starting size of two million, they had nearly six hundred thousand still looking to break in at another location.
The battle was far from over. The defense of Devil’s Crater had just begun.
***
Oloh Kragr, lady under the mountain Aldamire, looked through the powerful telescopes of her mountain.
She was a handsome woman, with a permanent scowl on her face. Wrinkles brought about from the stress of her position emphasized her age. She wore a simple miner’s garb with a war hammer on her hip that glowed with enchanted energies.
Scars covered her arms an
d her body. She was a miner first, but she had trained as a shield bearer for many years. She just wished to mine in peace but she was ready to defend her home and her people. Over the centuries, Aldamire had become synonymous with the best defended position in Emerilia. It had never been breached. It was said that millions of Players and POEs had fed the ground around Aldamire with their bodies.
Every so often there was a kingdom or empire that tried to crack Aldamire. Players also did the same. The single mountain rose out of the ground like a spike of the gods. Across it, different positions could be seen. Artillery cannons peeked out from batteries, ready to rain Mana rounds down on their foes.
Dwarven Warclans roved the area around Aldamire, visiting the city-states that surrounded the mountain, trading with them and creating their own group.
Few empires and kingdoms had tried to attack Aldamire in the last decade. The mountain stronghold had become stronger, and also their ties with the cities around them grew stronger. The city-states that lay around Aldamire traded in all manner of items. Aldamire was one of the few places where you could get foodstuffs. Not many people were looking to start farms outside of a walled city when everything wanted to kill you.
These ties had become so strong that they put no thoughts toward attacking one another or Aldamire, creating a symbiotic relationship.
Aldamire had even supported them with the Dwarven Warclans when they had been attacked by other powers or even strong beast stampedes.
Oloh Kragr frowned. The telescope was not pointed at these cities to see how they were doing. Instead, it pointed to the northwest.
Since the morning, the mages had been sensing massive amounts of Mana being used.
The Dwarven artillery corps had reported seeing Dwarven artillery in the area.
A memory seemed as if it was trying to get through; she felt as though she had heard something about this. She opened up her interface and moved through her messages.
Her frown turned into a curious noise as she opened up an old message from the Council of Anvil and Fire.
To Lady Kragr,
One of our Dwarven Master Smiths has warned that you might see some sort of display to the northwest of your mountain in the coming weeks. He says to not be alarmed. If you desire to speak to him, we can arrange that.
-Council of Anvil and Fire
She dismissed her interface, holding her elbow and tapping her chin in thought.
“Bloody kobolds!” She turned and ran from the telescope room, rushing toward the command center.
Her guard rushed after her as the Dwarven spotters looked to one another and shrugged before they scanned the surrounding area, ever alert for a possible attack.
Kragr ran through the halls. People got out of her way.
It can’t be possible, but why else would the council be there? She tapped out a message to the council, sending it as she reached the command center. She stopped over the massive map that had been carved into the floor. She stood on Aldamire in the middle of the floor, heading for the northwest of the map. She pushed a table and chair out of the way.
Underneath, there was a puckered-looking crater.
“Devil’s Crater,” she said to herself, getting odd views from those around her.
She whirled around and looked to the command staff.
“Wake the Warclans. I want them armed and ready to move within the day! I want telescopes focused on Devil’s Crater. Get those who can conjure long-range familiars to send them to Devil’s Crater. I want to know what is going on there and I want to know it yesterday! Bring up the defenses. Do not make it visible. All of the cities are looking to us for warning signs if a force is approaching. I don’t think anything is coming toward us, and I don’t want to freak them out. I’m going to need time estimates on how long it will take our ready Warclans to reach Devil’s Crater with minimal supplies!” Kragr’s voice snapped. The room turned into movement with her orders.
In other mountains, people might question her orders. This was Aldamire; they were the mountain fortress of Ashal.
When their lady gave orders, they were followed.
Chapter 13: Red Morning, Bloody Night
Josh looked around at everyone in the room, most of whom were all of the Stone Raiders’ leadership and Cassie. Alkao and a wounded Efri also stood in the room with them, overlooking a map of Devil’s Crater. Icons scattered around it showed where the Demon Horde were reported to be and where the DCA and Stone Raiders’ forces were located. Kala, Malkur, and Vrexu were connected through Mirrors of Communication that the Stone Raiders had lent them.
There was a somber mood to the room. Hard faces and determined eyes paid attention to Vrexu’s briefing. Many glanced to the empty seat where Lezar had sat in previous meetings. Even as Lezar had died—his body found next to Yorai’s, a mound of Dark Champions around him—the Demon Princes continued forward. They were pillars of the DCA and Devil’s Crater. They could not crumble now; their brother had given his life for his people and his home. They would not dishonor him in that way.
“As Malkur was saying, with the Stone Raiders able to track down the Demon Horde, the problem is that we can hit one group of them, but once they hear the sounds of battle, five others will join in. It’s easy to get swarmed and we don’t know when we’ll come across one of the champions.” Vrexu looked frustrated as his wings moved in agitation. “My people are getting tired and hungry. I’m going to need to pull them back for food, water, and some rest.”
“We have the fresh Stone Raiders and our new recruits out there. They should be good for some time. We’re getting the last of the re-spawns from the end of the first battle. We can start hunting down the Demons with parties again. We can take up some of the slack but we just can’t cover an area as large as what Vrexu and Malkur’s brigades can,” Josh said.
“We will have rotating aerial patrols of our best scouts. They can carry Stone Raiders with the best eyes and Surveyor skills to cover a larger area,” Alkao said.
Josh nodded. Having a greater vantage point with less things in the way could extend the range of certain skills and spells that they were using to track the Demon Horde.
“Efri, combine what’s left of your brigade and Lezar’s together. You will be the new reserve force. I want your people ready and able to fly to any of the keeps or cliffs where the Demon Horde looks like they might break through. Move your forces to Unity. Vrexu, pull back your forces first. I will have my brigade move out of the keep and break under my and Krenua’s command. I will take Vrexu’s brigade’s area. Krenua will switch with Malkur.” Alkao looked to his brothers and his second-in-command, seeing their understanding of his words.
“We will switch off the armor that Dave gave your forces to arm the reserve force and my own that will be moving in the field. We have held against the Demon Horde. Now we need our people fed and rested. The battle to come will be one of attrition. We will box in the Demon Horde and slowly whittle down their numbers. We will take our time. Rushing in will just lead to the deaths of our soldiers.”
Josh saw the understanding in the surrounding generals’ eyes.
“I volunteer my force to replace Kala’s. We can hold the keeps, freeing her to take our place in the field,” Malkur said.
“My people are fresh and ready for battle.” Kala looked as fierce as ever, even through a Mirror of Communication.
“Make it so,” Alkao said. “Any more suggestions or questions?”
No one had any.
“Well, let’s get to work,” Alkao said.
Officers started grouping together, talking to one another about how to complete their transition. They all looked weary, most with blood still encrusted on their armor from the battles they had already been in.
Josh looked to Lucy. “Is Dave awake?” he asked as they left the command center.
“Not yet. His body is going through a lot of changes with the amount of power he unlocked.” She shrugged.
“Creating nearly two hundred
thousand sets of weapons and armor.” Dwayne shook his head. A proud grin spread across his face. “We’re breeding monsters.” Dwayne laughed.
The others joined in.
They were doing things that they wouldn’t have dreamed of weeks ago. It was only when they were next to the DCA that they’d been able to see how strong they’d become in their time helping the Aleph.
They’d killed hundreds of thousands of Demons in just the space of a day. They had not won the battle but their force of a few hundred had been comparable to twenty-five thousand soldiers, half a DCA brigade.
The others talked among themselves as Josh moved closer to Cassie, his chest tight with anticipation. He pushed those feelings away. They could wait—the quest and the raid came first.
“Well, it looks like you took our invitation.” Josh smiled as she laughed.
“You have a lot of explaining to do. I didn’t even know that there were Demons or Beast Kin on Emerilia,” she said.
“Well, there weren’t a few months ago. We helped them out and helped them fulfill their quest so that they could move their people back to Emerilia.” Seeing her expression, he hurried on. “A bunch of creatures are coming back to Emerilia. Most of them bad, but then there are others who were almost wiped out because of the perceived threat they were. Like the Demons, Beast Kin, and the Aleph.”
“So, you helped bring the Demons, Aleph, and Beast Kin back to Emerilia? How?”
“Uh, well, we kind of are friends and help out this one dude from the Affinities Pantheon.” Josh scratched the back of his head, realizing just how odd his position was. It kind of just piled up, the next thing and then the next until we got to this point. I wonder where this journey will take us.
Emerilia Series Box Set 2 Page 44