Heroes Rise and Fall (Tales of Grandeur Book 1)

by C. J. Strong

  “Hold down the fort?” Gallagher asked as he broke free from Valdar’s grip. “What do you mean?”

  “I have to meet some friends in Ulteria, and only a small group will be able to sneak in. I need for you to command my men in my absence,” Valdar said.

  “But why can’t I go with you?”

  “Because I need you here! I’m not asking, I am telling. Omna, Moldur, and my boy will leave with me at sundown and I expect you to keep my men alive while I am gone.”

  Gallagher opened his mouth as his eyes grew wide, and his body slumped down in bad posture. He started to speak once more before catching himself and returning to normal. Gallagher wanted to go with Valdar and his friends, but understood that Valdar was entrusting him with an even greater responsibility, leadership. “Oh al-right. I should’ve expected as much. After all, I am pretty much the coolest warrior you have.”

  “I wouldn’t necessarily call you a warrior, but you are getting there kid. My men will have orders to follow your every command while I am away, but no funny business understood? You are only to help maintain the encampment and defend it if an attack occurs.”

  “Got it!”

  “Before I go, Rule #7 is that an army cannot fight on an empty stomach, so why don’t you try conjuring up some food while I’m gone.”

  “Conjuring food?” Gallagher asked as Valdar started to walk away.

  “Write stuff in your damn book, boy!” Valdar yelled with his back turned, already on his way.

  But… I don’t even know how I summoned that thing in the first place, he thought.

  Gallagher watched as Valdar rounded up his friends and prepared to leave for Ulteria. Before he knew it they were already leaving the now fortified outpost, and Gallagher ran to wave goodbye. Within seconds of their departure, soldiers all around began to look towards Gallagher for guidance. Caught off guard by the whole situation, Gally spun around in circles staring back at each one who stared at him.

  “What do you guys want?” he said.

  “We are awaiting your orders, commander,” one said as he approached.

  Gallagher was a bit taken back from this. Valdar asked him to watch over the soldiers, but he failed to realize that that actually meant making decisions for them. He had never been in an authoritative position in his entire life, and didn’t know what to do.

  “Orders? I don’t know. Do whatever the hell you guys are supposed to do.”

  “But sir, Commander Valdar said before he left that you would tell us what we are supposed to do,” the soldier said as he greeted the new commander.

  “Ugh, of course he did. Alright, you, what is your name?” Gallagher asked.

  “My name is Rogan the Sly, and I am a hold the title of Sergeant of the Tilturian 5th Regiment.”

  “Cool cool, well Fox Boy what do you think everybody should do?”

  “Well…” Rogan said as he looked around. “I would have them reinforce the entranceway that Valdar’s group just left from, and maybe order some of our men to build more watch towers…”

  “Good! Do all that. From now on, if you got a question for me, ask this guy,” Gallagher said as he wiped the sweat from his brow and started to walk off. Soldiers flocked to the new man in charge, and Gallagher was off to solve the mystery of his newfound powers.

  Gallagher walked over to a safe place away from the crowd and began flexing and snapping his fingers at the center of the camp, attempting to reenact the battle he had previously been in. Not shortly after he had started, a horn sounded off and he noticed the Tilturian workers all around him suddenly freeze. He looked around in confusion as the workers took up arms and headed towards the southern gates where Valdar and company had left from. Gallagher pushed past the crowd until coming upon Rogan who was yelling at soldiers who were firing arrows from a newly built tower.

  “What the hell is going on?!” Gallagher said amongst the chaos.

  “Ghouls Sir, an entire platoon of them are headed this way,” Rogan said as he motioned towards the crowd to take formation.

  “Great, I’m in charge for less than an hour and we’re under siege already?” Gallagher said as an army of Zormites approached.

  “Prepare for battle!” Rogan shouted out, and soldiers unsheathed their swords in a coordinated fashion.

  “That’s not going to work. Only magik can hurt these guys,” Gallagher said to the frontlines as the Ghouls started to break down the fortified wooden gates.

  “The commander is right, transform!” Rogan the Sly said before morphing into a ferocious fox.

  Zorm’s army banged on the doors, sending shockwaves throughout the fortified encampment and caused one of the guards to fall from a nearby tower. Gallagher looked on in horror as screams came from the other side and the gate’s durability began to fail. An unnamed soldier who had yet to transform rushed to the front and pulled the pins, opening the gate, and the fight was on.

  Soldiers on both sides flooded through in epic fashion, clashing as good met evil. Rogan turned his attention from Gallagher towards his enemies, and his mouth foamed as if he was possessed by rabies. He leapt into the battlefield, pouncing on Ghoul after Ghoul and tearing into them.

  Gallagher was caught off guard by the sudden change and took a few steps back from the bloodshed. I need to do something… But I haven’t figured out how to use my powers yet, he thought for a moment. “Screw it, I don’t need a stupid book to help fight,” he said as he sprinted through the lines of battle, pushing his way towards Rogan. By this time, his 2nd in command had already fought his way into the center of the encounter.

  When Gallagher finally got to him, Rogan was on top of a Ghoul, and had just bit the throat out of his opponent causing it to turn to ash. “Hey, Rogan!” Gallagher yelled and the fox swung his body around and faced the young hero. “Come here, I need to use you as a weapon.”

  Rogan tilted his head a bit before Gallagher ran over and lifted him up. He then held the fox by the hips, and charged into his enemies while Rogan chomped at them. The two of them mowed down line after line of Ghouls, before the rest of the army was even able to come through the gates and push the Zormites back. Together, they were able to take out twice as many Ghouls as Rogan was able to on his own, which made Gallagher feel useful.

  Gallagher spun around and flung Rogan at a nearby foe before starting to flex and strike different poses similarly to earlier when he was trying to summon his inner magik. Come on... I just need to focus, he thought as Ghouls surrounded him. Gallagher used his hand as a visor and looked through the endless ranks for a leader of some kind, but just as he did a Zormite struck him from the side.

  He was knocked to the ground, and lifted his arm up to reveal a deep wound already beginning to bleed. “Damn! Rule #3,” Gallagher said to himself before getting back up. He then took off in a sprint and swatted the Ghoul in the head who had scratched him as he passed by. Gally held his wounded left arm and ran around, dodging all the enemies as they swiped at him. I gotta do something, or else I’m done for.

  Gallagher spotted Rogan the Sly up ahead, who was crouched down and circling around a Zormite in a suit of armor. “A Zealot! That must be the one in charge of this group,” Gallagher said as he caught up to the encounter.

  Just as Gallagher arrived, a nearby Ghoul blindsided Rogan and both him and the Ghoul tumbled to the ground. The Zealot then turned its attention from the fox and swung its sword towards Gallagher, smashing it onto the ground. “I guess this means it’s time to dance,” He said with a crackle in his voice.

  All around him Tilturians and Zormites clashed, and it was finally his turn to do battle. After letting go of his injured arm and letting it slump down at his waist side, Gallagher focused all of his attention to the opponent that stood before him and his heart began to pound. “This is it, now or never!” He said as the Zealot charged.

  Gallagher flinched and closed his eyes, but without a moment’s notice, he opened them again and his eyes shined red and blue. Magik power erupt
ed from his right eye and a shot of pure energy pierced through one of the Zealot’s gardbrace and pauldron. The Zormite however, was unfazed by the blow and still continued to come at him with its sword. “Well, that at least makes us even. One arm against one,” Gallagher said as he caught the Zealot’s blade strike with his uninjured arm. He easily pushed the attack away, and noticed that the Zealot’s shoulder had already begun to heal.

  “That’s not fair!” he yelled as he dodged a second swipe .Gallagher hopped around with the Zealot giving chase, and eventually created enough space for him to safely summon his conjuring book into his good hand. “Shit, with my arm in this bad of shape, I don’t know if I can write.”

  Just then, Rogan reentered Gallagher’s field of battle. “Hey, I’m pretty sure that if we kill this guy then the rest will fall. Just like last time,” Gallagher said. “I already weakened his shoulder, think you can bite into it?”

  Rogan nodded his head and said, “Yes, I think so. But I’ll need you to distract him if you’re okay with that Commander?”

  “Yeah sure, I don’t care. As long as we get this bastard,” Gallagher said as he put away his book and the Zealot charged once more.

  This time, Gallagher stood still and waited, as Rogan watched on from the sidelines. The Zormite swung a devastating blow with its sword and Gallagher stuck his hand out and stopped it, nearly falling to the ground by doing so. The blade cut deep into his hand, but it didn’t matter as long as the creature was distracted. He turned and nodded toward Rogan, and the fox jumped into the air and aimed for the exposed chink. While holding onto its sword, the Zealot pivoted towards Rogan in order to absorb the blow, but Rogan had predicted it perfectly and latched onto the nearly healed shoulder armor. Gallagher held the sword tightly as Rogan’s foamy mouth met cold steel.

  Rogan the Sly bit down into the metal, crushing the cracked armor around the arm and causing Zealot to drop to its knees. Foam from the fox’s mouth dripped over the enemy, and Gallagher let go of the sword knowing that the battle had been won. But just as the Zealot started to disappear into smoke, it swung its weapon one final time. The blade glided through Rogan like a knife cutting through butter, decapitating the fox as all the Ghoul’s around them faded to nothingness.

  “No!” Gallagher screamed before racing over and sliding to his knees, catching the head of his fellow comrade before it fell to the ground. Gallagher’s eyes returned to normal as he held the head tightly within his arms before beginning to cry. He looked around to see Tilturian warriors of all shapes and sizes, animals and humanoid, who had just ceased combat.

  As a crowd started to form around the teenager, he looked down to see that the head of the fox within his lap was no longer a fox, but that of Rogan’s humanoid form. “People will know of his sacrifice today,” a young Tilturian said as he approached the corpse. Gallagher rose up from the ground, plotted over, and gently handed the severed head to the soldier who spoke.

  “Bury and honor the dead. Let’s head back to camp,” Gallagher said with his head down before dragging his feet through the gore of the battlefield.

  Chapter 26

  Andrum, Ashurd, Uriella, and Yuralia had all been betrayed. Zorm the Demon Lord had managed to take control over all of Ulteria while they were gone, and they were now prisoners under his rule. Not only that, but Andrum had unknowingly given him the one thing that he had promised Xurion not to, the book. They were taken to the dungeon, where the possessed Nifflarian guards left them. It seemed as though all was lost, and as the prison cells slammed shut behind them, Andrum had nearly given up completely. Andrum and Yuralia were placed in one cell together, and Ashurd and Uriella in the other across from them.

  “Styir, that bastard! I’m going to crush his skull under my boot when I get outta here,” Ashurd screamed as he tried to bend the metal bars.

  “It’s not his fault, he is under Zorm’s control,” Uriella said.

  “No, it’s not his fault. It’s mine,” Andrum said as he walked back and sat down on the only bench in the cell.

  “What do you mean, your fault?” Yuralia asked.

  “Hey! Speak up over there, we can’t hear ya,” Ashurd hollered out while sticking his face half way through the bars.

  “Andrum said it was somehow all his fault,” Yuralia relayed back to Ashurd and Uriella.

  “All his fault, preposterous! How were we to know Ulteria had been corrupted. I blame Styir, never should have left that coward in charge,” Ashurd yelled.

  “No, I am to blame!” Andrum shouted. “I changed history, and because of it, Benry along with Zorm’s evil was able to escape the Eternal Lands.”

  “Changed history?” Yuralia asked.

  “Yes, in order to save you my love. You were doomed to walk the Eternal Lands forever, until your soul burned away. With the book that Xurion gave me, I was able to re-write history and change your fate. But when I did… Zorm took the opportunity to escape as well,” Andrum explained.

  “Then we are far worse off than I had originally feared. All that work. Everything. And now evil will spread across the land,” Uriella said as she lowered her shoulders and walked away from the cell bars. “How could you have kept this from us Andrum?”

  “I-I’m sorry. I was just trying to be a great leader, and part of being a great leader is sometimes keeping things from his people, like dad did. Instead I’ve doomed us all,” Andrum said.

  “Well… things could be worse. Zorm’s physical body is still imprisoned in the Eternal Lands is it not?” Ashurd asked.

  “I believe so. But none of that matters, with the magik powers of the book he will be able to free himself in no time,” Andrum said.

  “Not necessarily,” Yuralia said as she sat down next to Andrum on the bench while facing the other cell.

  “What do you mean?” Andrum asked.

  “I’ve been… fighting off this strange feeling for some time now. But something tells me that Zorm cannot free himself. At least not yet,” Yuralia said as she put her head down.

  “But how do you know? What feeling?” Andrum said as he put her arm around her.

  “I’m not sure exactly, but I’ve felt different ever sense we escaped the Eternal Lands. I was with Benry, I was the one who found him. Err… He found me,” Yuralia paused. “I think I may already be under Zorm’s influence.”

  “What?!” Andrum said as he leapt up from the bench while Ashurd and Uriella both came to the front of their cell. Andrum tried to be strong and hold it together, but it had seemed like he had lost everything to Zorm. His people, his home, and now potentially even the love of his life. Although he had the magik of a god, he had never felt more weak and powerless.

  “I’ve been feeling him inside my head, trying to manipulate me, but I haven’t given in. Maybe it is because I was only briefly alone with Benry, or perhaps this is some sort of sick trick Zorm is playing on me, but I do still have my free will,” Yuralia said before pausing and placing her hands on her head. “I can feel him though, his control over me is growing, and I have no idea how to stop it.”

  Andrum could feel Yuralia’s pain, and seeing her like this tore his heart into a thousand bits. The entire time he had been drowning in his self loathing, Yuralia had been struggling to maintain her sanity. Andrum had continued to put the burden of everything on himself, but had yet to stop and think about the others around him. Ashurd, Uriella, and Yuralia had all completed this journey with him together and yet he had only just realized the pain they must have been going through. A true leader does not hide things from others, Andrum knew that now. A true leader stands tall, even when things don’t go their way. They unify the group, strengthening each member and keeping them together. “Don’t worry Yuralia, you are not alone in this battle. All this time you have been trying to fight him off, but it’s time we helped you,” Andrum said as he walked over to Yuralia and put his hands on hers as she gripped her head tightly.

  “But how… how can any of you help?” Yuralia asked as she shoo
k her head back and forth.

  “Zorm wants to spread his influence to as many people as possible, does he not? Well let’s let him. If we let him inside each of our minds and fight him together, then maybe we can expel him from you. We may not be able to free everyone else, but even saving you would be a victory,” Andrum said.

  “I think I know a way we can do that,” Uriella hollered from the other cell.

  “You do? Well then out with it woman,” Ashurd said.

  “Are all of you familiar with the ancient technique Ohmin-Nak?” Uriella asked the group.

  “Ohmin-Nak… Yes. Isn’t that where two souls join together?” Yuralia asked as she continued to squeeze her head tightly. Andrum tried to help by keeping his hands over hers, but he couldn’t help but lose focus for a moment. Ohmin-Nak must have been the same ritual that Xurion used on him. If this were the case, then all four of them would have to embody one single person, which could pose a problem.

  “Yes, precicely. Only instead of completely joining souls, we only link our souls together,” Uriella said.

  “You can do that?” Ashurd asked.

  “Of course. It used to be a tradition for all of the council members to, but we did away with it because there was a slight chance that the members might go insane if the link was severed,” Uriella added.

  “I’m already going insane! Please, help me,” Yuralia said.

  “Wait a minute, but what if this is a trick?” Ashurd asked.

  “How dare you—“ Andrum began.

  “Now, now, hear me out pipsqueak. Yuralia already admitted to being under Zorm’s influence, so what if this is somehow his way of tricking us into becoming his mind slaves? I’ve already been a slave once and I don’t ever plan on being one again.”

  “Regardless, it’s worth the risk. I’m not saying you have to Ashurd, the choice is yours, but we could use your willpower to help,” Andrum said and Yuralia stomped her feet back and forth.

  “Whatever we’re going to do, we should do it fast. I think being so close to others who are controlled by him has worsened things,” Yuralia screamed.