The First Seal

by Jared Zakarian

  A jaded expression crossed his face as he cut into a second demon with the half-length sword and struck the demon’s heart before his blade melted away completely.

  Baskla cast aside his bladeless hilt and took his shield in two hands, thrusting it down on the demon’s neck, finishing the evil being before it could mend itself. Black blood coated the shield, and part of it melted away.

  A new demon slammed into Baskla’s side and threw him off his feet. The general tumbled, jarred by the attack. He glanced around and saw the incoming follow-up assault. He lifted his shield just in time to block a raking attack of claws and kicked the demon away.

  He jumped up to his feet and prepared for the demon’s next charge, stance wide with shield before him. His eyes were locked on his adversary.

  Suddenly, a deep bellow rose nearby. Baskla’s gaze shifted, and his jaw dropped as he saw three gargantuans approaching beyond the gate. His heart sank, and his hope wavered, but only for a moment, before he refocused and regained his resolve. He had to remain strong for his men; they must fight for their lives and not give in to death.

  He charged the demon who had attacked him and shoved the beast with his shield. The demon raked its claws across the elven armor and left cuts along the metal.

  Baskla dodged an attack from the demon and slammed into the creature again before leveling his shield and swinging its edge into the demon’s throat, crushing its airway and spine. The general recoiled and swung the shield over and over into the demon’s throat. It collapsed to the ground, and the general finished the job, killing it.

  The general huffed air, and his chest expanded greatly with each breath. He glanced down at his shield and saw it was smaller, melted. He glanced around in a daze as the haze of war overtook him. He saw a nearby shield and picked it up, dropping his melted one.

  A bellowing roar rose on the air as a gargantuan advanced across the outer gate’s threshold. It stepped on demon and elven soldier alike, uncaring for its own kind.

  Baskla looked up at the massive beast as it towered over him and, for a moment, felt his body relax and give in to the coming end. He released a heavy breath and waited for the gargantuan’s next move.

  But another, nondemon roar sounded from the east, and the flapping of leathery wings grew louder. Baskla glanced in the direction of the sound and watched as the Great-Horned dragon slammed into the gargantuan before him, with all four clawed limbs piercing and ripping the gargantuan’s flesh.

  The massive demon roared and tried to swat at the terrifying lizard, though it failed to do any damage.

  The dragon clawed and raked the demon until it collapsed and died beneath the vicious onslaught. The dragon sat perched on the dead gargantuan and roared at all who surrounded it.

  A second gargantuan entered the titanic battle as it punched the dragon’s side. The horned lizard was thrown off the dead carcass, crushing soldier and demon below. The flying beast quickly rose to its feet and spun toward the new adversary, bowing low and lunging at the gargantuan. The dragon raked the towering evil being’s face, cutting into its eyes and throat.

  The gargantuan struck the dragon again, but the dragon held firm to the evil creature’s face as it fiercely cut and scratched. The dragon lacerated the demon’s throat, and the gargantuan’s fate was sealed; its arms and legs buckled as it gasped for air and lost consciousness. The beast slammed into the ground, and the dragon stopped its assault.

  The horned dragon spun to its feet and took to the air, leaving the carnage behind. It had taken heavy blows to its side and flew like it had a broken rib.

  The scene surrounding the outer gate was unorganized and intense, a fight for life and death. Mortal versus immortal. A war the age had seen before. Chaos flourished as demons surged forth and mortals defended.

  Chapter 21

  Fading

  At times he will have a clear identity and the person once known will shine through.

  The Ikalreev Prophecies 22:22

  The sun was descending, and the sky was growing darker. The cloud cover thickened as dusk approached. The inner gate was rocking in and out under the strain of a gargantuan’s fist.

  Caedmon’s eyes were glowing green. His hands were raised as he focused on reinforcing the inner gate. Vines grew from the ground and extended upward along the entire height of the tall inner gate. The vines wove back and forth in a net. They thickened and forced the doors shut. The doors moaned under the intense strain as the wooden boards bent under the gargantuan’s assault.

  Horsemen’s swords hummed through the air, and screams echoed as bodies fell around the wolf guardian. New tunnelers exploded out of the ground at random and let loose new waves of demon foot soldiers into Lesley.

  The sky began to rumble with thunder, and Caedmon glanced up at the dark clouds above. A flash of light was seen, and the wolf guardian closed his eyes against the brilliance. A boom of thunder snapped on the air and rolled away.

  Caedmon opened his eyes and glanced around. Several more bolts struck nearby and turned demons to ash on contact. Their dust blew in the wind.

  Thunder rolled and lightning struck all around Caedmon and the horsemen but only caused harm to the demons. The elven soldiers were scared and confused by the sky’s fury. The soldiers fled and hid or curled up in tight balls on the ground.

  “Caedmon!” A cry came from behind the wolf guardian.

  Caedmon tried to look back but could not turn far enough around to see the person.

  “Caedmon!” A second cry sounded. The source was growing nearer.

  Aili walked up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  Faolan walked up next to her with an emotionless expression. “How can I help?”

  Caedmon looked over at them. He could see Aili was hurt, and Faolan was not himself.

  “This gate is about to be breached!” Caedmon shouted over the thunder. “The crossbeam has broken!”

  “What would you like me to do?” Faolan shouted.

  “See if you can distract that gargantuan on the other side! I will continue to reinforce the doors.”

  Faolan and Aili ran up the battlement stairway. A dragon flew overhead as they ascended, flying toward the south and away from the battle. The dragon’s wings were torn, and a stream of blood fell from its left hind leg.

  “We must hurry,” Faolan said.

  They raced up the stairs and reached the battlements atop the inner gate. They looked down over the wall at the enormous gargantuan and saw its spiraling horns rising over the top of the wall. They both watched as the gargantuan reeled back on its hind legs and slammed a heavy fist into the gate below. The gate heaved inward and sprang back into place.

  “What are we going to do?” Aili said.

  Faolan thought for a moment as he looked out across the military ring. He saw a constant rain of arrows descending out of the canopy before him as archers retreated. He could see Lesley’s defenses were being crushed and overrun.

  “Can you freeze its arms?” Faolan said.

  Aili nodded. She moved close to the wall and concentrated; ice developed around the gargantuan’s fingers and extended up its hands. The ice expanded up its arms to its shoulders. The gargantuan’s arms grew heavy and dropped to the ground below, weighed down by the thick ice.

  “Good,” Faolan said. “Now its legs.”

  Aili concentrated again. The gargantuan’s legs froze from the toes up to its waist.

  “Its head,” Faolan said.

  Aili encased the gargantuan’s head in ice and froze it all the way through. The additional weight of the ice on the massive demon’s head was too much. The gargantuan’s head sped toward the ground and crashed into the stone road, shattering its skull on impact. The gargantuan was dead.

  “Great work,” Faolan said.

  Aili smiled.

  A screech was heard above them, and a flyer flew overhead. Aili ducked at the shadow in fright, then another flyer raced by, screeching.

  A third flyer r
aked an archer nearby and threw the poor elf off the battlements.

  “Stay low,” Faolan said.

  They looked out over the military quarter and watched the battle unfold. They tried to figure out what else they could do. Faolan’s eyes locked onto a fireball just before it exploded far below. He saw Ehreion fighting for his life down in the middle of the military ring. Small dense fireballs flew in all directions, piercing demons at rapid speed, and pulsing cones of fire erupted sporadically around him.

  Ehreion slammed the ground with his axe, and a wave of fire radiated around him. He breathed in air and then released a giant stream of fire from his mouth like a dragon. His fire scorched all the demons near him, though some were resistant to its effects.

  Faolan also saw Ireli close to Ehreion, using her wind magic. She threw demons high into the air with gusts and shoved demons into each other. She pushed waves of evil backward, but Ireli was burdened with a heavy weight on her shoulder. She was carrying someone in her arms and was unable to use her magic to its full potential.

  They watched as Ehreion ran over to Ireli and gripped her arm. A torrent of wind began to swirl around them, and then fire erupted and expanded through the protective tornado. The fire tornado burned all demons that drew near and protected the two mages within. The fire tornado moved toward the inner gate.

  Faolan studied the details of the battlefield below. Very few of the allied soldiers remained. Those still alive were outnumbered and quickly falling. Most were huddled in a group not far from the inner gate.

  “You see them?” Faolan pointed out the friendly soldiers to Aili.

  She nodded.

  “Can you create an ice barrier around them?” Faolan asked.

  “Yes,” Aili said. A moment later, a thick ice wall encircled the defenders and provided them with a moment of respite.

  Faolan watched as demons began clawing at the ice and could see them cleaving chunks off its exterior. He focused on them and commanded lightning down on the enemy. Bolts of intense electricity shot from the clouds and consumed the evil creatures attacking the ice barrier.

  Rolling thunder roared on the air as the lightning erratically lit up the grounds below. The lightning bolt’s end leaped from location to location as it struck wide swathes of demons at a time. The hot lightning turned the demons into dust on contact.

  “Can you create an ice wall all the way to the inner doors, protecting them and the entrance?” Faolan asked.

  “Yes, give me a second,” Aili said.

  An ice wall extended outward from the present barrier and toward the inner gate. It created a funnel for the soldiers to move down. The ice wall reached the gate and then expanded outward and around the dead gargantuan. The ice wall cut off the gate and the soldiers from the advancing attackers. Lightning bolts struck down any demons caught within the protective ice walls and secured a safe escape avenue for the isolated defenders.

  “I must tell Caedmon to open the door,” Faolan said. “We must get them inside.”

  Aili nodded.

  Faolan ran down the battlement stairs and made his way over to Caedmon, who still held the doors shut with thick vines.

  “Caedmon, open the door!” Faolan shouted.

  “What? Why?”

  “We have soldiers on the other side. We have to get them in here,” Faolan said.

  “We cannot open the doors. It is too dangerous.”

  Faolan shook his head. “It is all right, Caedmon. We have killed the gargantuan and blocked off the demons with Aili’s magic. The soldiers are right on the other side. We can bring them in and then shut the door behind them.”

  Caedmon hesitated.

  “Quickly!” Faolan shouted.

  “Fine,” Caedmon yelled.

  The vines retracted in the middle of the gateway and allowed the doors to move free of one another. A band of soldiers opened the gate on command, and the defenders on the outside rushed through the cracked gate. The bloodied soldiers filtered into the inner city. Ehreion and Ireli brought up the rear.

  “Close the gate,” Ehreion shouted as he shot a fireball through the small opening.

  The inner gates shut. The thick vines re-extended across the doors and gripped them into place once again.

  Faolan rushed over to Ehreion and Ireli.

  Ireli was crying, and Faolan’s eyes locked onto the person in her arms. His heart dropped, and he found it hard to believe what he saw.

  “Gavina,” Faolan gasped. “How?”

  Ireli’s sobs intensified.

  Ehreion spoke for the quivering human. “A tunneler tore into her. I do not think she felt it. It was instantaneous. Its claws were in her back.”

  Ireli fell on her knees and held Gavina’s cheek against hers, tears dripping onto the dead general’s face.

  Ehreion looked at Faolan with a sad gaze. “She was still standing, but her life was already gone.”

  A tear rolled down the dwarf’s cheek.

  “Her eyes . . .” Ehreion whispered.

  Ireli kissed Gavina’s forehead.

  Aili ran toward them, gasping for air. Her tears began to flow as soon as she saw Ireli holding Gavina.

  Faolan closed his eyes and walked away. Heaviness filled his chest and made it hard to breathe. He had failed again: Auvelia, Kellen, and now Gavina. The muscles in his jaw tensed. He clenched his fists as tears rolled down his cheeks. Anger and sadness swirled within him and mixed into a dangerous cocktail of emotion. He sobbed and burned with rage simultaneously.

  “I failed,” Faolan whispered.

  He shouted with anger so intense he burned from it. He was furious at his weakness, for not being there, for failing. What had he amounted to? The people of Lesley were dying all around him. Gavina was now dead. He was useless. Faolan fell to his knees and slammed the ground with his fist. He punched the dirt over and over. The anger was overflowing, uncontainable, and unquenchable.

  “Why?” Faolan shouted at the ground.

  “Faolan?” A gentle voice spoke behind him.

  His muscles relaxed.

  “Faolan?” Aili said.

  His mind calmed, and he stood up, turning around to see Aili crying. He took Aili in his arms and embraced her. He comforted her as best he could.

  “I know,” Faolan whispered into her ear.

  Suddenly, a heavy impact pushed the inner gates inward. The doors rebounded with the help of the vines. The inner gate doors heaved inward once more as a new gargantuan assaulted the door. A few vines snapped.

  “I will not be able to hold this door!” Caedmon shouted.

  A bloody and battle-worn Baskla shouted at Caedmon, “We must retreat!”

  “No!” Caedmon shouted back.

  “The inner gate is going to fall,” Baskla yelled at Caedmon.

  “If the inner gate falls, then we have no hope,” Caedmon yelled.

  Baskla shook his head. “We have no hope already! Our forces are retreating to the castle walls. We will evacuate as many as we can down the King’s River. We will find a new home!”

  Baskla turned away from Caedmon and shouted, “Retreat! Retreat to the castle!”

  The remaining soldiers broke away from the fighting and ran toward the castle. The soldiers covered each other’s backs as they ran. Only the five Ikalreev mages were left to defend the inner gate, alone.

  ◆◆◆

  Thousands of demons flooded through the outer gate and into the military ring. The ground was pockmarked with tunneler holes. The sky was filled with flyers. A gargantuan pummeled the inner gate. No longer did arrows descend from the canopy. Every defender outside the inner wall had perished.

  Not far outside the inner gate, a tunneler’s hole stopped spewing evil foot soldiers. There was a moment of silence, then Waremasu burst out of the tunnel and stopped at its lip. His wind wake followed, and a violent gale erupted out of the hole, rushing around Waremasu. Dark blood laced his sword as it hovered at his side.

  A heavy wooden crack sounded from th
e inner gate. Waremasu looked up and saw the gargantuan smashing against its exterior. The massive beast reeled back and slammed another heavy fist into the gate. The black fist met brief resistance, but the doors buckled and exploded into splinters and fragments. Wooden boards and vines rained to the ground as the inner gate swung open. The inner gate was breached, and the gargantuan roared through the broken doors.

  Waremasu instantly flashed away. He sliced into the gargantuan’s heels and raced up the gargantuan’s back leg as its limbs buckled. Waremasu ran up its back and over its head, then stopped most of his momentum as he stepped off the demon’s brow. He descended before the gargantuan in a free fall. In a split second, Waremasu had halted the gargantuan’s advance and stared directly into its eyes. As he hovered in the air in front of the gargantuan’s face, he readied his sword for the killing blow. The cold metal tip was poised between the demon’s eyebrows. Waremasu’s irises began to glow through the dark fog enshrouding his face. Waremasu watched, satisfied, as the gargantuan realized the identity of the being hovering before its eyes. Yet there was no time for the demon to react. It knew its life would be taken.

  Waremasu’s katana slipped into the gargantuan’s head, straight between its eyebrows. He released his grip on the hilt and hit the katana’s end cap with an open palm. The katana slid deep into the demon’s brain. Waremasu fell to the ground and landed on his feet. The gargantuan’s body went limp, and its eyes rolled back. The gargantuan collapsed, and the ground shook beneath the dead weight. Waremasu walked over to the lifeless beast and reached deep into the black skull, removing his sword. He spun his sword to the side and sprayed the ground with the black blood that had coated his katana.

  Waremasu felt a presence staring at him. He turned around and looked up the main road. There stood the five Ikalreev mages, and all were staring at him with dropped jaws and wide eyes.

  “Yes!” Ehreion cheered and laughed. “That was amazing!”

  There was no time for pleasant greetings. Instead, Waremasu wrote a single word on the air for them to see: Run!