The First Seal

by Jared Zakarian

  As the beast fell to its knees, Faolan was revealed behind its falling form. The guardian’s right eye glowed bright white with Ikalreevian magic while his left remained sinister and unnerving.

  Aili shuddered at the sight of Faolan, relieved but scared of what he was becoming. She crawled out of the way and stood up.

  Faolan ripped his swords from the beast’s torso, and the amalgamation demon collapsed onto its back, weak and dying. Its back lay against the base of Igtharia’s statue where Aili had cowered in fear. Its breathing was labored, and its eyes rolled up to look at its attacker. The beast saw Faolan. Saw him for what he truly was, behind the veil between realms. It would be looking for him when it returned.

  The guardian looked down at his enemy with rage seething below the surface. His stare was intense, and his mind was quiet.

  “Look away, Aili,” Faolan said.

  Aili looked at him from behind for a moment, then lowered her eyes and closed them.

  Faolan ended the beast’s life and sent its black soul back to where it had come from. Its now-lifeless body lay limp and harmless, but Faolan’s yearning for retribution was not satisfied, and his heart was not at peace.

  “Faolan,” Aili said quietly.

  He refocused, and his attention returned to her. He turned his head to look over his left shoulder with his left eye.

  Aili stepped back in astonished realization as she witnessed a scene similar to her first vision. She saw Faolan standing before Igtharia’s statue. Her stone wings had been torn down, broken and shattered on the ground. Faolan was looking over his left shoulder with that otherworldly eye, the same as in her vision. His intense stare pierced her soul.

  “Aili!” Faolan ran over to her. “You are hurt!”

  She looked down at her left leg and saw blood staining her white dress near a tear in the fabric.

  “I-it must have c-cut me at some point while I was running,” Aili said. “It was not hurting before now.”

  He lifted the side of her dress to get a glimpse of the wound. The laceration was a good size and still bleeding.

  “Was it by claw or tusk?” Faolan asked.

  “I-I cannot say,” she said.

  He believed she would be all right; the laceration was not very deep but would need to be cleaned and bandaged.

  Faolan wrapped his arms around Aili and held her close.

  “Why did you leave the room?” Faolan asked.

  “I was thirsty, but I became worried when I could not find anyone,” Aili said.

  “Where did the demon come from?”

  “There was a hole in the ground, along the main road before the castle gate. It ambushed me and chased me here.”

  His loving embrace relaxed.

  “Faolan, do you hear all that noise?”

  He listened, hearing faint screams and the clash of metal. He did feel the ground vibrating a little but was unsure why.

  “What is happening?” Aili said as she began piecing the sounds together.

  “They are the sounds of battle. The demons are attacking, and the citizens are fleeing through the garden gate. I should go see if people need help.”

  “No! Please do not leave me!” Aili jumped at Faolan and wrapped her arms around him.

  He caught her leaping form and embraced her in return. “I will not leave you, but I must see if anyone needs my help. Will you come with me?”

  Aili was hesitant but nodded.

  “Come, we are safe together.” Faolan took her hand and began to walk out of the maze. She leaned on him for support. She felt pain from her leg wound as the adrenaline faded. Even though the wound on her leg was not deep, it still hurt considerably. She was not used to feeling such pain.

  They made their way out of the maze toward the battle consuming Lesley. They turned north and walked through the open castle gates. One door was off its hinges, and claws had shredded the wooden beams.

  As they walked up the main road through the trade and forge district toward the inner gate, they passed the crazy old man, who still sat on the same barrel as before.

  The crazy old man was not saying anything this time. He was just rocking back and forth with his eyes locked on Faolan. The man’s stare made him rather uncomfortable, so he passed the old man as quickly as possible.

  But Aili stopped and kept Faolan from going farther. “Should we not help him?”

  Faolan hesitated.

  “You said you wanted to help people.”

  “Yes, you are right.” Faolan gave in.

  They turned back and approached the old man on the barrel. He was sitting cross-legged, rocking.

  “Hello. Can we help you get to a boat so you can flee with the other citizens?” Faolan asked.

  The old man shook his head.

  “You do not want to leave?”

  Again, the old man shook his head.

  “It is not safe here. Come, we must go. I can carry you,” Faolan said as he grabbed the man’s arm.

  The man resisted and cried out. He pulled his arm away from Faolan and swatted at the air.

  “Stop that. I am only trying to help,” Faolan said. “Come now, if you stay here you might die.”

  “Please, sir, come with us,” Aili added kindly.

  The old man shook his head crazily. “N-no! Not . . . time. I s-stay . . . h-here.”

  Faolan stopped trying to grab the old man and looked at Aili. “There is nothing we can do here. We should see if we can help someone else.”

  Aili felt bad for the old man but realized that he would not allow them to help him. She nodded to Faolan.

  “We will try to come back for you,” Faolan said as he backed away from the old man.

  He took Aili’s hand and kept walking north toward the inner gate.

  “I do not understand him,” Aili whispered to Faolan.

  “He is peculiar. Something is not right about him,” Faolan said. “If we go back for him, be careful.”

  She agreed.

  He could see her limp was worsening.

  “Are you all right?” he said.

  “Yes, I will be fine. Let us keep going.”

  “I can take you to your brother so he can help you.”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea where he is, and I doubt he is still at the infirmary. Not with all this going on.”

  “Should we go look for him?”

  Her heart dropped at what she thought, but she knew he needed help more than her brother. She hoped Leith would be safe, that he would escape Lesley with the other citizens. She would just have to have faith that her brother would make correct decisions.

  “No, I will survive for now and I am sure he will be fine. It sounds like the soldiers need you,” Aili said as a tear for her brother rolled down her cheek, and she wished for his safety.

  “But, your leg . . . and your brother.” Faolan hesitated.

  “I know. But you can hear the screams and sounds in the distance. You saw the beast that attacked me. Others need your help now. This is about more than just me and my brother.”

  Faolan did not agree as he began to think about it with more biased emotion. His concern was truly only for her. He wanted to take care of her and make sure she was safe. If they went north, then she might get hurt. If he did not find her brother, then her heart might ache for the loss of his life.

  “I will be fine, Faolan. Please, think of the others,” Aili said.

  Faolan was conflicted between her safety and her request.

  Aili smiled. “As long as we are together, I will be fine.”

  He looked at the road before them. His thoughts shifted abruptly, and his demeanor changed as he started looking around with a drifting gaze. “The battle has come so swiftly. This feels like a dream. Like we are not really here . . . people are dying, but they feel distant.”

  Aili did not know what to say to his unexpected words and could see he was distracted. His conversation had rapidly changed topics with no transition.

  He did
not really understand what he was feeling or how to express it in words, but ever since he woke, every step he took felt as if he was walking with someone else’s feet. Surreal senses battered at him as the world began to shift in appearance. He was seeing shadows in his peripheral vision, and his reality was teetering.

  “Faolan,” Aili said quietly. “Are you OK?”

  He blinked and refocused on her. “Yes, sorry.”

  “You are acting strange, Faolan. Are you seeing things?”

  He looked away in shame. “N-no. I am just tired.”

  She was uncertain if she should believe him.

  “Come, let us keep going,” Faolan said. He took her hand and walked north again.

  They traveled up the main road and reached the formation of Lyvnevar’s cavalry. The fight between elven horsemen and demons raged on the main street.

  Faolan and Aili were thrust into reality.

  Soldiers fought on horseback and others on their feet against demons emerging out of tunnels. Bodies of both sides laid lifeless across the road. Blood was spilling and staining the stone. Screams echoed through the air as lives were stolen.

  A dragon’s roar could be heard in the distance.

  Chapter 20

  Haze of War

  A haze of war will descend on the battlefields between mortals and immortals. Chaos will reign as life and death struggle for supremacy.

  The Ikalreev Prophecies 23:12–13

  The outer gate doors curved inward from a powerful force; the crossbeam moaned and cracked. The spiked-log defense pinning the dead serpent to the gate bowed and snapped. The doors relaxed and swung back to their neutral position.

  Baskla roared orders above the sounds of battle. “Eclipse formation hold! Ballistae load bolts!”

  The siege equipment ratcheted back with heavy clanking, then long bolts were loaded on their table boards.

  The outer gate doors heaved inward again from the powerful force, and the crossbeam split and splintered. The doors parted, and several demons spilled through.

  The eclipse formation remained tight, and the demons charged the soldiers. The shield men pushed back against their weak charge, and the spearmen behind pierced the demons’ torsos and heads with precision. The demons collapsed before any damage could be done.

  An unworldly, deep roar radiated from the other side of the tall wooden barrier.

  Baskla glanced back at his formations and saw their readiness. He knew their strength was at their greatest now, and the true battle for Lesley was just beginning.

  The gate doors burst open and gave way to the massive gargantuan’s fist. The towering beast roared through the broken gateway as numerous arrows protruded from its hide, and demons began pouring through the front gate.

  The eclipse formation met the charge with a formidable defense. The elven soldiers did not waver and executed their shield push–spear strike maneuver with skilled cohesion.

  The demon bodies began piling up before the eclipse formation and started to create a high ground for the demon incursion. The shield men behind the spearmen shielded their offensive men. Demons leaped and crashed on top of the rear-sloping shield defense, rolling and raging as they could not get through the tight formation.

  The lieutenants in the pangolin formations commanded in unison: “Advance!”

  The soldiers, encased in shields with spears protruding from all crevices, marched forward with a beating chant by the lieutenants. “Huh. Rah. Huh. Rah.” And in unison they stepped forward to assist the overwhelmed eclipse formation.

  The pangolin formation speared the demons that began to leap and pour over the eclipse formation rear shields. The demons roared as they tried to outmaneuver the marching tanklike formations, but they failed as spears met their bodies and finally stole their souls from the mortal carcasses they inhabited.

  The massive gargantuan roared again as it charged the gateway but was stopped as its massive spiraling horns hit the top arch. The battlements trembled beneath the gargantuan’s efforts to break through as its horns ground against the cold stone.

  The archers were still in deep hand-to-hand combat with flyers as they descended wildly and clawed viciously at the wall defenders.

  Gavina shouted, “Fall back! Fall back!”

  But the archers could not retreat while they fought for their lives and their brothers. If they ran, they would be torn apart from behind.

  Gavina looked to Saalkain. “Help us get out of here!”

  Saalkain nodded and began striking down demons along the battlements. He aimed for their heads every time, finishing the kill with one strike per demon. His blades did not melt, remaining true and strong. His killing agility was exact and flawless.

  Gavina turned to Ehreion and Ireli as their magic assaulted the evil covering the lands below. “We must retreat! Can you provide covering fire to my men?”

  Ireli glanced at the dwarf, and they agreed in unison.

  “Lass, can you make it harder for them to fly?” Ehreion asked.

  “Yeah,” Ireli said, and threw up her hands as she commanded the air currents downward in a fury of pressure, an instant microburst of gales.

  Flyers were shoved out of the sky, crashing down and crushed against the masses below.

  Ehreion was charged by her magical strength. “My turn!”

  The dwarf created small, intense balls of fire in his palms, then focused on his targets, who were attacking the archers around him. He threw one of the dense balls of fire at the nearest flyer, and its intensity was so fierce that it pierced straight through the demon’s heart. The little demon lost control of its body as its life escaped, and it released its grip on the archer. It fell lifeless to the stone at the archer’s feet.

  The archer glanced back at him gratefully and turned to aid one of his elven allies.

  A crazed smirk crossed Ehreion’s face as he said to Gavina, “Watch this, lass. I am better than your archers. No training at a range needed.”

  He whipped up his hands, and small dense fireballs were propelled from his palms. They pierced the demons at extremely high velocity without harming any of the archers.

  Ireli and Gavina’s eyes widened as they saw the shooting gallery that Ehreion produced. Numerous demons died from the rapid projectiles, clearing the battlements of nearby opponents.

  After the last of them fell, Ehreion laughed in crazed elation. “This is never going to get old.”

  Gavina took a deep breath, worried about the dwarf, but had no time to speak with him.

  “Archers, retreat!” the general yelled down the battlements, the command echoed by the soldiers.

  The archers descended the stairways or leaped into the redwood canopies of the outer ring, abandoning the outer battlements.

  Ehreion and Ireli remained on the battlements covering the fleeing soldiers until they were the last two, Ehreion firing his high-speed fireballs, and Ireli using high-pressure wind bursts to push coming flyers from the sky.

  Gavina retreated down the battlement stairway to the chaos below where Baskla roared.

  “Scindia formation, fire!”

  The three ballistae fired at the gargantuan as his horns pushed through the mortar and stone of the battlements above. The stone gave way and collapsed on its head as three long bolts pierced its enormous skull. The gargantuan died, and its heavy body crashed to the ground below, shaking the earth and causing those nearby to stumble.

  The gargantuan’s body crushed many smaller demons beneath it, creating a brief respite before a new wave rushed around it.

  Baskla commanded, “Reinforce eclipse! Swordsmen formations, move up!”

  Several elven formations advanced and provided a second line of defense should eclipse fall.

  Abruptly, the ground shook, and tunnelers exploded out of the ground in clouds of dirt and stone, clawing the nearest soldiers.

  Baskla cursed. “Ring formations around the tunnels!”

  His men fell into formation and planted a firm defense a
t the buckling rear.

  A tunneler roared through the ground in the midst of one of the pangolin formations, causing the formation to erupt outward. Soldiers were thrown in all directions by the massive demon.

  Soldiers screamed in pain as the tunneler ripped into the collapsing formation. The men scattered, but not many were able to flee as demons began to pour out of the new opening.

  The ranks began to crumble as demons poured through the passageway. The elven soldiers tried to combat the surging demon horde but met superior opposition in both force and resiliency.

  The weapons of the soldiers who did manage to strike demon flesh melted on impact, and without the squires bringing fresh supplies, the men quickly began to lose ground.

  Ranks of elven soldiers began to fall.

  Baskla saw the buckling defense and knew it was all or nothing now. “All formations, charge!”

  Elven, dwarven, and human ranks roared battle cries and charged forward in a chaotic melee frenzy. Stoneskins accompanied the dwarves in their charge with their heavy footfalls and massive crystalline bows. Their gem arrows pierced rows of demons, covering the dwarves as they advanced.

  The outer ring fell into all-out battle, and the haze of war beset them. Screams of pain met roars of evil as dirt flew and more tunnelers erupted from the ground.

  Baskla unsheathed his sword and hefted his shield, joining the battle with an unyielding resolve. He roared, “Lieutenant!”

  A soldier ran up to him with red-and-black blood mixing together on his armor, the filth of war painting his face.

  “Release the dragon!” Baskla commanded.

  “But, sir!”

  “Do it!”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.” The lieutenant sprinted off through the chaos and disappeared from Baskla’s sight.

  Baskla tore into a nearby demon with his sword and split the demon in two, his blade melting from the demon’s molten core, leaving only half the sword intact.