- Pronouns
- He/Him
Slimy_Froggy
Patron
This 'book' consists of 22 chapters from a much bigger book. I'm currently writing a book about Altera, which is going to be quite long, it has got over 50 pages already, without images. I am planning to publish this book when it is done, but this will probably take me a year or more to finish.
Who is in it?
@Legion as General Legion @Naelwyn as Naelwyn @Michcat as Queen Leminth @Seth_Jenkins as Dwarf King Seth @Ced as ranger Ced @Lemarc as Lemarc @ACU20 as commander of the black Salts @Azur_Deathblade as Audric @Valonyx as General Arcturus @james_power as General Grimar Ironheart @Queen Grief as queen Grief @Cubey as Tavish @MRPolo13 as Nameless @bettemus99 as Katherina / Sarah @jakp25 as Greyling @Man5791 as Barroes @ForestRose as Skye @Warwolf as Kharn Sicarus @MaelstromPuddle as Alphos. (If I forgot someone, please let me know )
Now let's get to the point. This thread here is the part from the book describing The End of Days events. It is a draft. So criticism is very welcome, as long as it is constructive. It describes our struggle to survive while constantly fleeing for queen grief, and how we struck back and defeated her. Enjoy ! It will probably take you much less time to read, than for me to write it !
And don't forget to put something up like this:
End of days - Prequel.
Many have assembled, for the Town Criers have screamed. The Exodus is now, the Exodus is NOW! Messengers ran from house to house to tell the news and everyone gathers in the Merry Mead where The Queen speaks to the crowd from above a staircase…
“May these words be repeated, spread… I entrust my scribes to ensure this tale is spread! Let the people of Altera know… The Exodus is upon us! Nay, the FINAL Exodus is here!” All of the sudden, nobody dears to talk anymore, not even a whisper. An utter silence fills the room. “For in these days, we shall fight as never before. This day, we strike against the force of terror… A blow seen not in years before! Yet, those of Altera must be ready… They MUST be STRONG!” The crowd moves impatient on their feet as their hearts beat faster and faster. “For us together, we shall not stop with this strike, nay- Do you hear me people of Altera?!” The crowd cheers and everyone raises their fist in the air. The Queen looks a bit amused “Do you… understand…? The Corruption SHALL be defeated. Prepare! For our enemy will not rest! All those may go to Crown offices, to ensure what they have is not lost. For the Exodus is upon us, and now… we fight… THE FINAL WAR!” The crowd goes wild as they shout and together they chant: “ALL HAIL QUEEN LEMINTH! HAIL QUEEN LEMINTH!” She then smiles ever so faintly and adds “I expect all who heard to be ready… For if the people of Altera are to overcome this challenge, the must be… prepared.” There is a silence… “and we will ensure they are.” She adds as she slings her bow over her shoulder and walks back…
End of days - Book one.
Chapter One.
Waterday, the 13th of Fogwater, 2259. The Season of Harvest… The horns of war resound in the Royal Library of Port Silver. It is a call to arms. Anyone who wants to live, will have to fight. And for our next generations to live, we might have to die. Again the crafters of Altera must face their biggest fears; corruption, grief and death. I lay down my work and stop sorting books. It is time to see what this old Caparii has left of its race’s glorious warrior nature…
No drums sound as I approach the war-camp… No pipes ring out to increase the morale of those who join… Just this deep and lengthy war horn that calls to all that can hear. There is no reason. It is not one fight that will decide the faith of our children, our lands, our homes. No, Alterans have been fighting for weeks now. We are getting tired. The attacks of Queen Grief have never been so relentless in Alteran History. Questions and whispers, “does it never end?”
I hear my hooves tick on the wooden planks that have been laid down to prevent the war-camp becoming too muddy. I walk towards the storage, where I meet Dwarf King Seth. His golden crown proudly on top of his big Dwarven head. He greets me with a smile from underneath his braided beard. Also his hair is decorated with war-braids. His golden armor is engraved with numerous runes in different sizes, forming lines in Horgaahn I cannot understand. I nod to him and grab some chainmail armor from one of the chests. It doesn’t fit… “I could have guessed that they would not have Caparii Armor.” “Oh but we do, especially for you, Rahm.” It is Queen Leminth’s voice. I’ve grown fond of the sound of her voice, charismatic and wise. I look up and see her standing in full war-outfit. A silver war-crown on top of her head with elegant spikes, pointing to the skies. Her silver-white hair perfectly brushed, falling down over her amazingly crafted armor. Who knows who made this for her? A dwarf smith or is it Elven made? She kicks against a chest at her feet. “In here! We don’t want to lose our scribes. I made sure you have some armor.” I raise my eyebrows with a slight grin and walk up to the chest. Upon opening it I see the contents slowly revealed. White as snow is the chainmail that lies within. The chains incredibly tiny and tightly woven. “Treat it well!” She tells me and gives me an encouraging pat on my shoulder before she walks off. Seth walks with her.
I arrive at the first gate, dressed in my white Caparii armor. It molds to the body like a second skin. The Queen has just commanded scouts to explore the area and points to me. I have to go with them. We rush through the grass and before we reach the narrow streets of Port Silver. There stands a man. It is General Arcturus, he limbs towards us, bleeding. “Harlaus… They are coming… from Harlaus!” he manages to say. The Queen is notified and rushes towards him. “There are many portals… They are streaming.. streaming out!” He says to her. Queen Leminth of Arduin kneels and narrows her eyes as she hears him whisper. “Generals.” She looks at General Grimar. “Shall we march to war?” Adrenaline rushes through my body. Another portal, another wave of monsters from the fiery chasms of nether, another victory if fighting by the side of such leaders! Grimar nods. “WE MARCH!” General Arcturus falls to his knees because of the injuries, “Get him to the medical tent! Quickly! We move… To Harlaus!” The Queen shouts…
Chapter Two
Many boats leave from Port Silver, packed with legions of Alterans ready to fight. We approach Harlaus and see the red tentacles of corruption smashing the city to ruins. Even the huge Earthspawn from the Pakgu family drops his jaw at the sight of the huge tentacles above our ships. We hit the shore and rally in formation behind our Queen and general Grimar Ironheart. “Troops! Gather at my bow and Ironhearts blade!” She shouts after which she eyes the lands with distaste. Grimar draws his blade. “Clean the demon hordes from this land!” He shouts and he sprints forward into the city. A detachment of troops by his side. They slay the monsters and zombies which have already infested these lands. Grimar moves as a solid foe towards the zombies, looking over his sword, then kneeling on one knee while he swings the sword above his head and so cuts the zombie in half. We move into the city, fighting what comes on our path, yet there is no sign of a portal. The queen sends out scouts and while the troops hack and slash into the netherspawn, the queen talks to the general. “I don’t like the looks of this…” She says while eyeing the direction in which the scouts have left. “I don’t like the look of any battle, your grace.” “No I-,” The Queen thinks and then says “Did you recognize the Arcturus’ gear? His armor?” The general replies in denial, saying it was not Arcturus’ made… The face of the Queen goes straight. The earth shakes, my hooves slide over the stone as it moves underneath me, I struggle to stay standing. The sound of bricks being smashed together fills the air. Some fall to their knees while others grab anything to support themselves. The queen falls to one knee and then looks up cautiously. “it’s a trap…” She whispers. “That was a portal. Troops! FORM UP BEHIND ME!” The scouts come running back shouting. Barroes, one of the scouts, reaches the queen and speaks. “The portal! We’ve spotted it, it’s dead ahead!” The Greyling scout shouts as well “Straights aheads!” Barroes catches his breath “The City Square, your grace.” His head drops between his shoulders as thunder breaks the skies…
It rains… “Form up in line with the Queenz!” The huge Earthspawn shouts. Everyone obeys his order. It is simple, the archers shoot the monsters from afar and the warriors keep their ground. We strike the hardest blows with a cannon. We stand in front of the portal, ready to fight, yet all we hear is the rain falling on our armor. “Come Grief, Your creatures will die upon my blade like they did thousands of years ago” Lord Axex Hawklight whispers, as if he stood face to face with Queen Grief herself. Nothing happens. Not a single creature comes out of the portal. The men look at each other, not knowing what is going on. Then it happens, another thunder and in the light of the bolt, we see creatures swarm out from the portal, running in all directions. Whither skeletons run right past the arrows of our archers, towering above us and mowing our troops away like a bunch of ants. The Earthspawns are the only ones big enough to face them and bash their skulls from their bodies. More monsters are summoned forth from the pits of Nether, Zombies crawl out, slowly marching towards us while catching a rain of fire. These meat shields served their goal, as now the spiders run from behind them and lunge at our first line of soldiers. They try to hit us with their venomous jaws while Elves and Dwarves stand back to back defending themselves from zombie hordes and offensively drive the monsters back. A loud noise disturbs the battlefield and shoots exploding bombs towards the portal. The Greyling that fired the cannon looks at the bomb coursing towards the portal. It breaks… “I dids it! I saveds us!” The Greyling cheers happily. But Queen Leminth is skeptical. “This was easy… Too easy.” The sound of Queen Grief’s voice we all hear in our minds. “How… Dare all of you… Destroy… My portal!” She screams in our minds, confusing and scattering our ranks. People pray and curse to every god I’ve ever heard of. “Sons of Korog.” “By Kilrox’s toenails.” “We need the luck of Jax.” “And the might of Rahas.” “Theodra keep our bows steady…” When the shock is over, the Queen tells us what to do. “There has to be more than this one portal…” She orders our troops to follow her and to tend to the injured. “I cans eats the injureds?” The Greyling notes. The Dwarf King silences him. “Shur’ up Greylin’!”
On our way back to the boat we run into Alphos. The queen raises her hand slightly “HALT!” She asks him what he is doing here and why he is not at the war camp. “Duke Arcturus… Killed… Smoke.” He then replies. A shock goes through the surrounding crowd that could hear his words. “I was there.” He says. The Queen hesitates and then realizes her presumption was true. It was a trap, a distraction. “Port Silver.. NOW! Everyone MARCH!” “March, Double time!” Grimar Ironheart shouts to the troops. On our way back she explains her presumption. “The man we saw earlier was not General Arcturus. His gear was not Arcturan… It must have been a demon taking the shape of Arcturus. I want you, Rahm, to use those Caparii legs of yours as soon as we hit shore and run to the War Camp as fast as you can. Find Duke Arcturus and bring him to me.” She orders me and so as soon as we hit shore, I run off…
Chapter Three
General Arcturus reacts thunderstruck. He is offended that we want to escort him to the Queen. “I just arrived with reinforcements, I did not kill Smoke. You- OBEY ME!” He arrives at the Queen. “Griffin.” She says. “Did you come stumbling from Port Silver just a moment ago, with odd make armor and a tale of an attack on Harlaus?” She asks to test her theory. “Come stublin- What? I was in our lands of Novus. I just came back with reinforcements.” He goes on, protesting. “The Demons can disguise as us!” The queen now shouts. “General Ironheart?” “The Demon can take our shape?!” He replies. “Spread the news…” She says calmly.
Before midnight, we all know about the demon’s ability. Unrest now spreads through the camp, as some think we cannot longer trust each other or our leaders. This unrest is increased when we hear a distant howl, as if from a terrifying beast. “we’re gonna need ae bigger wall” The Dwarf king states sarcastically… Not long after the howl, a horde of zombies walk towards the wall. The men in front of the walls are trying to hold them off and I come to their aid. The zombies aren’t a mighty foe, but they are with many. The sword that was given to me I swing above my head and cleave a zombie with it. I circle while twirling the sword as well, hacking off limbs as I go. Every man has to face three zombies at least. It feels like we are being overrun. In a moment of brief rest, I look up. The Queen knows she has to do something, I can read it from her face. “we must…” She doubts, it is the strongest Airship Altera has ever known. “We must bring in the Stormbringer.” She then states undoubtedly. General Arcturus looks at her with unbelief. You can tell he’s questioning her reason, to bring in the ship of Kharn Sicarus, but he does not show it to the Queen… More troops come to our aid and we manage to hold the weak rotting walking carcasses off. We return within the wall. Scouts are send out to reveal what is making the terrifying howling noises…
Unrest breaks loose again as the scouts are taking far too long and the howling in the distance continues to grow louder. General Grimar states “Your majesty, I do not like the sound of this.” Yet the Queen remains calm, even with the soulshaking howls from the dark horizon. “We wait for the scouts.” Another eternity goes by waiting. Now Dwarf King Seth questions her. “Are ‘te gates strong ‘nough? ‘ave we gor any explosive defences?” She raises her blade and says. “We wait for the scouts.” The waiting is an agony and Grimar tries it again. “Your majesty, with all due respect. We don’t have the time…” And Arcturus nervously adds a question “When does the Stormbringer arrive?” But the faith that our Queen has in the battle-plan and her scouts is unshaken, solid. “What part of ‘We wait for the scouts’ did y- … Did I stutter or something?!” The Generals now retreat, seemingly respecting her words. They wait. Grimar mutters “By the sound of that it’s coming close.” But Leminth answers surely “We are not going to run in blind…” Grimar refuses and heads out of the gates to meet the scouts on their way back to camp. As Queen Leminth grabs her bow, a soft rain falls on her skin. Refreshing her. Making her think even clearer than before. She eyes the rain and looks through it. Looks in her memory and then she knows…
Queen Leminth of Arduin has read about this before... The Howling in the Distance… Books of Yore mention a fear that could not be named. An enormous monster with a size it could use the entire Royal Palace as a mere chair… She knows what malice this beast can bring and what power it requires to summon it forth from its lava-lit caves of the Nether…
The scouts return, panting. “We barely made it out” Barroes tells the Queen. “Tendrils… everywhere. Portals…” He breathes Heavily. “and?” The Queen asks shortly. Audric, another scout, takes over. “Aaaand that thing!” “Bloody Nether” Barroes adds. “Thing.” Leminth states, skeptical. “Aye.” Audric replies shortly in between his breathes. “Speak quick Barroes.” General Grimar orders him. “Give me sizes.” The Queen adds. Skye, another scout, now continues. “… Nether it… Near the palace… He could probably use the palace as a bath” “By Korigon’s Blade” Dwarf King Seth curses. Leminth’s face goes straight. Very straight. All the muscles in her body seems to tighten while the muscles in her face relax. It is terrifying to see a leader so charismatic, proud and fearless look so stressed. “Where? Exact location.” “By the old Palace, across from it. Across the bridge.” Audric speaks with his last breath and then sits down, panting still. “LET’S MOVE, TROOPS!” The Queen shouts, her voice skips… She runs past Audric and the heavily breathing scouts. “TO THE READY MEN! MARCH!” General Arcturus adds. “MAAAARCH!” Shouts General Grimar Ironheart.
Chapter Four
Audric gets up to his feet again as the troops pass and manages to catch up with the queen before they reach the gate in front of the Silver Palace. “We are going towards that thing?” He asks. “Yes, yes we are.” Queen Leminth replies assuredly. We reach the gates of Port Silver. “Anyone that doesn’t stay behind me I’ll take for a demon.” The Queen shouts sharply as she prepares her bow. “Your majesty, I suggest we move with extreme prudence.” General Arcturus whispers. We carefully, silently walk into the square. Every soul in our party is wary, ready to react to the slightest of threat. “Your majesty, she told us to come back… Her surprise…” The scout Skye tells her. Leminth merely grimaces. “Skye. She is not the only one with a surprise.” The voice of Queen Grief dwells through our minds again… “You… Come… to us…” and then all goes silent again. Like the silence before a storm, for all of the sudden giant cubes of magma and slime fall out of ball-shaped portals that appeared in the sky as Queen Grief spoke to our minds. As these fiery slimes fall down, lava and magma spats in every direction, burning our troops. Again we form up and move towards the threat that has surrounded us. In a great circle we fight, on the very square in front of our Royal Palace, our last defense…
A circle of 5 men thick and over fifty men around. Side by side Elves, Earthspawns, Nakam, Greylings, Dwarves, Men, Caparii and even Halflings, fight. Our quarrels be forgotten, old enemies now protecting each other and watching each other’s backs. The cubes of magma splut and splat, squash and burn. We cut them in half, but the halves just continue going. We cut them again in half and again and again! It is to no avail. The ground is literally littered with hot burning magma. Men that fall down in the fight are burnt alive. Hope seems lost, when suddenly! Rain. It pours down as if Shalheranna herself is by our side. The monsters of Queen Grief taste defeat. Nobody cheers, for we know the foe we have to face is mightier yet. This time the Gods have helped us in our time of need, but will they also do so when we face the beast of the nether?
We move up through the palace and make way to the bridge. While we run over the bridge to face the biggest enemy Altera has ever seen, we hear it howl and smash. The foul laugh of Queen Grief flies through the air. “There’s the corruption! Charge! Leave NOTHING STANDING!” General Arcturus roars as his mouth reveals his teeth, aggressively running towards the huge tentacles that now come in our view. Many zombies walk around us, attacking us with their rotten claws. Many blazes fly around us, shooting balls of fire at the center of our detachments. “Kill the demon hordes!” General Grimar screams. The scout Barroes shouts as we approach “The portal is ahead!” We look in the direction the scout is pointing and then all of us stop running. Stunned by what we see, all knowing we all think the same thing: “Oh… bloody nether…” The laugh of Queen Grief seems to darken our hearts, after she stops laughing it is silent. Then she says a mere: “Surprise…”
What once was sea, now lava lights the night sky. From it, something rises. Something enormous slowly seems to walk over the bottom of the lake of lava. He ascends the side of the lake, his head now very slowly coming up above the surface of the heat. We are stunned, the gigantic monster freezes us in our place. All of us, but one. Nameless shouts to all of us “Fight on, brave men of Altera! Hold on for your lives’ sake! We will survive this war, and ANY OTHER!” He raises his weapon in the air. He rids us of the fear and we become alert again. Moving, running, hacking, slashing, dying, jumping, living... We fight the netherspawn on the hills, while the titan moves further and further out of the lava lake. His head is now completely above the surface showing his grotesque blood-red teeth and his awful burning eyes. So this is the face of corruption… Grimar Ironheart grits his teeth, staring at the monster “Demon scum!” This giant is beyond any size. “Shoot into its eyes and mouth!” Bronn Arcturus shouts, commanding a detachment of archers. They shoot at the titan, some actually hit his face. The giant retracts his face as if bothered by a fly and then roars. He raises his foul hands above the surface of the lava and as he makes a fist of his one hand, the land underneath the archers is instantly corrupted. Not knowing what this corruption will do to them, they anxiously run off the corrupted ground. The Nether titan roars more and shoots thousands of balls of fire from his mouth as he roars scarily. Does it end like this…?
Chapter Five
A strange hum comes from the distance, we do not know what it is. Axes are swung at zombie faces, Othrandos swings his warhammer into the body of a spider, killing it instantly. All these small victories count for nothing when a vast army of skeletons appears at the top of a nearby hill. More and more come and I stumble backwards in fear. They prepare their bows and nock awfully made arrows. We know we will be doomed when this horde of skeletons fire their ammunition. Queen Grief laughs over the battlefield once again. “Shall I… let them?” She plays with us, the skeletons await her command. She enjoys the terrified screams of our soldiers. “Rain down… upon them…” Queen Grief then says and the arrows block out the light of every single star. I brace for impact, knowing I will be hit by the arrows like everyone else. But then, the arrows do not fall. All of us look up and see the sky is still invisible. The light of the stars still blocked… “THE STORMBRINGER!” An Elf shouts and everyone looks at the clouded sky in hope. A flash of light comes from the cloud, which shows us that it is indeed the enormous airship of Kharn Sicarus, that has come in the time we most needed it. The most powerful Airship Altera has ever known took all the arrows from the skeletons in its hull. Suddenly we hear an explosion and we see other lights flash and more explosions are heard. Bombs are fired into the horde of skeletons, defeating them within seconds. We cheer and shout “Kharn Sicarus! Hail Kharn Sicarus! Hail Queen Leminth!” We laugh…
The airship now throws out ladders and I move up along with other soldiers to man the many cannons the ship has got. The titan roars ferociously and shoots fireballs at the ship, making parts of it catch fire and ladders burn down, making the men fall to their death. The titan of the Nether raises his body above the surface until his breast. He claws with his long arms at The Stormbringer, but he cannot reach it. He falls back down…
Inside the airship we carry bombs, load the cannons, aim the cannons and light the fuses. There is no rest on board, we have to keep firing. We fire charge after charge. Queen Grief shouts a scream of despair as we blow holes in the titan’s hands and arms. Queen Grief screams in our minds, but we do not stop. Loading the cannons, firing the cannons. No rest, it’s a dangerous job. Until someone makes a mistake… The man that used the cannon to my right loads the cannon wrongly, causing the charge to explode while it is still in the cannon. The cannon bursts apart, shooting iron shards through the ship. An explosion louder than any before fills my ears and makes me hear nothing more than a very high pitched tone. I’m bashed into the wall when something hits the right side of my face and a surge of pain goes through my right cheek and horn. My vision blurs and I see nothing but blackness. I lose consciousness…
Chapter Six
I wake up very dizzy. With blurred vision I see this room is white. My head aches as if it’s crushed by a hammer. Every movement makes it hurt more. I touch the place where it hurts and feel my skin. It feels very hard as if burned and touching it hurts. I see my right horn lay next to me on a white bed. My pillow is blood red. I lose consciousness again…
Later, when I recovered, Lemarc tells me what has happened on the ship.
“You got hit by an iron shard from the cannon that exploded. It drove a hole in your face, but you’re lucky. If you would not have had your Caparii horns to protect you, then you would have been dead. Right after the cannon exploded on the ship, the Titan lost its balance and seemed very vulnerable. Kharn Sicarus made use of this and aimed his biggest cannon at the skull of this Ancient malice. An explosion rocked the skies as his cannon fired. The Titan was hit in the skull, the entire left half of his head broken to bits. He stood there, out of balance. He shuddered and slowly fell to splash into the lava, the evil menace was defeated. This angered Queen Grief beyond compare and she swore to take The Stormbringer as compensation for her loss. Many corruption-tentacles flung towards the ship and all of us had to jump down into the water to flee. If it wasn’t for Lord Syr, you would have gone down with the ship. He carried you to the stairs and there he yelled at me. “Help me carry this Caparii! He’s still alive!” We carried you out to the hole in the ship from where we could jump into the water. We threw you down and dived after you. I then pulled you out of the water and brought you to the medical tent.” “But what happened to the stormbringer?” I ask him, feeling a severe pain in my mouth, that cause me to say these words in a very peculiar way. “Kharn Sicarus jammed the wheel onto a course out of that hellish place. “I hope it will glide long enough to reach safety…” Kharn said to us. The grief he had for losing his proud and powerful ship was unbelievable. He seemed to have lost all will to live, this captain that loved and cared for his ship… I dragged you onto the path and looked down on you. You looked horrible, the awful spike of iron sticking out from your face. I managed to get myself together enough to jerk out the spike, but it caused something I did not foresee…
You began to bleed. A lot. A river of blood streamed down the path and in it, some of your teeth drifted. I was terrified and looked around. I heard almost nothing, just the vague sound of groaning men, crying soldiers and dying Alterans. Queen Leminth then spoke “Search for injured… We fought a Titan today, and we WON!” But her speech did not sound very convincing. I know she must have felt the same. We lost so many today, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our morale, our airship… I took you to the medical tent and there Patrician Alphos tended to your wounds. He tried to stop the bleeding but he couldn’t do it with a mere cloth and medicine. So…” Lemarc sighs, finding it hard to explain. “So he burnt your wound shut. Your face is a mess Rahm… You are lucky to be alive and that your jaw is still in one piece, but your upper skull and skin, it’s all torn and burnt together again. While Alphos was trying to tend to you, you coughed up blood and teeth, only when he burnt it shut were you able to breathe without gurgling. I was sitting next to your bed when Alphos was done with you, when Leminth came in. “I want you all to prepare.” She said. “This was not the last. Let us tend to our wounded and sharpen our blades.” She said plainly, heartlessly, drivingly. She felt like we all did. Queen Grief is relentless.” Lemarc sighs again. But I haven’t heard enough. “What did- Queen.. Say?” I manage to say, pain surging through my head. Lemarc replies while he hands me some water. “Queen Leminth, I heard her talk to the men outside the tent. A speech. “We lost a mighty airship, the Stormbringer… But we brought down a mighty demon roughly twice the size of the Stormbringer… Before it could stand tall! Aye men! We brought down the force of the Nether and the might of Queen Grief!” She shouted to the men, and they cheered. Even the injured that weren’t unconscious made cheering sounds inside or clapped their hands.” Lemarc grins a bit. I can see he has hope. If a captain like Lemarc has hope, then so have I…
The end of days they call these days… Well, maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe the day it will end is closing in… The day that Queen Grief will end and her menace with her!
Who is in it?
@Legion as General Legion @Naelwyn as Naelwyn @Michcat as Queen Leminth @Seth_Jenkins as Dwarf King Seth @Ced as ranger Ced @Lemarc as Lemarc @ACU20 as commander of the black Salts @Azur_Deathblade as Audric @Valonyx as General Arcturus @james_power as General Grimar Ironheart @Queen Grief as queen Grief @Cubey as Tavish @MRPolo13 as Nameless @bettemus99 as Katherina / Sarah @jakp25 as Greyling @Man5791 as Barroes @ForestRose as Skye @Warwolf as Kharn Sicarus @MaelstromPuddle as Alphos. (If I forgot someone, please let me know )
Now let's get to the point. This thread here is the part from the book describing The End of Days events. It is a draft. So criticism is very welcome, as long as it is constructive. It describes our struggle to survive while constantly fleeing for queen grief, and how we struck back and defeated her. Enjoy ! It will probably take you much less time to read, than for me to write it !
And don't forget to put something up like this:
End of days - Prequel.
Many have assembled, for the Town Criers have screamed. The Exodus is now, the Exodus is NOW! Messengers ran from house to house to tell the news and everyone gathers in the Merry Mead where The Queen speaks to the crowd from above a staircase…
“May these words be repeated, spread… I entrust my scribes to ensure this tale is spread! Let the people of Altera know… The Exodus is upon us! Nay, the FINAL Exodus is here!” All of the sudden, nobody dears to talk anymore, not even a whisper. An utter silence fills the room. “For in these days, we shall fight as never before. This day, we strike against the force of terror… A blow seen not in years before! Yet, those of Altera must be ready… They MUST be STRONG!” The crowd moves impatient on their feet as their hearts beat faster and faster. “For us together, we shall not stop with this strike, nay- Do you hear me people of Altera?!” The crowd cheers and everyone raises their fist in the air. The Queen looks a bit amused “Do you… understand…? The Corruption SHALL be defeated. Prepare! For our enemy will not rest! All those may go to Crown offices, to ensure what they have is not lost. For the Exodus is upon us, and now… we fight… THE FINAL WAR!” The crowd goes wild as they shout and together they chant: “ALL HAIL QUEEN LEMINTH! HAIL QUEEN LEMINTH!” She then smiles ever so faintly and adds “I expect all who heard to be ready… For if the people of Altera are to overcome this challenge, the must be… prepared.” There is a silence… “and we will ensure they are.” She adds as she slings her bow over her shoulder and walks back…
End of days - Book one.
Chapter One.
Waterday, the 13th of Fogwater, 2259. The Season of Harvest… The horns of war resound in the Royal Library of Port Silver. It is a call to arms. Anyone who wants to live, will have to fight. And for our next generations to live, we might have to die. Again the crafters of Altera must face their biggest fears; corruption, grief and death. I lay down my work and stop sorting books. It is time to see what this old Caparii has left of its race’s glorious warrior nature…
No drums sound as I approach the war-camp… No pipes ring out to increase the morale of those who join… Just this deep and lengthy war horn that calls to all that can hear. There is no reason. It is not one fight that will decide the faith of our children, our lands, our homes. No, Alterans have been fighting for weeks now. We are getting tired. The attacks of Queen Grief have never been so relentless in Alteran History. Questions and whispers, “does it never end?”
I hear my hooves tick on the wooden planks that have been laid down to prevent the war-camp becoming too muddy. I walk towards the storage, where I meet Dwarf King Seth. His golden crown proudly on top of his big Dwarven head. He greets me with a smile from underneath his braided beard. Also his hair is decorated with war-braids. His golden armor is engraved with numerous runes in different sizes, forming lines in Horgaahn I cannot understand. I nod to him and grab some chainmail armor from one of the chests. It doesn’t fit… “I could have guessed that they would not have Caparii Armor.” “Oh but we do, especially for you, Rahm.” It is Queen Leminth’s voice. I’ve grown fond of the sound of her voice, charismatic and wise. I look up and see her standing in full war-outfit. A silver war-crown on top of her head with elegant spikes, pointing to the skies. Her silver-white hair perfectly brushed, falling down over her amazingly crafted armor. Who knows who made this for her? A dwarf smith or is it Elven made? She kicks against a chest at her feet. “In here! We don’t want to lose our scribes. I made sure you have some armor.” I raise my eyebrows with a slight grin and walk up to the chest. Upon opening it I see the contents slowly revealed. White as snow is the chainmail that lies within. The chains incredibly tiny and tightly woven. “Treat it well!” She tells me and gives me an encouraging pat on my shoulder before she walks off. Seth walks with her.
I arrive at the first gate, dressed in my white Caparii armor. It molds to the body like a second skin. The Queen has just commanded scouts to explore the area and points to me. I have to go with them. We rush through the grass and before we reach the narrow streets of Port Silver. There stands a man. It is General Arcturus, he limbs towards us, bleeding. “Harlaus… They are coming… from Harlaus!” he manages to say. The Queen is notified and rushes towards him. “There are many portals… They are streaming.. streaming out!” He says to her. Queen Leminth of Arduin kneels and narrows her eyes as she hears him whisper. “Generals.” She looks at General Grimar. “Shall we march to war?” Adrenaline rushes through my body. Another portal, another wave of monsters from the fiery chasms of nether, another victory if fighting by the side of such leaders! Grimar nods. “WE MARCH!” General Arcturus falls to his knees because of the injuries, “Get him to the medical tent! Quickly! We move… To Harlaus!” The Queen shouts…
Chapter Two
Many boats leave from Port Silver, packed with legions of Alterans ready to fight. We approach Harlaus and see the red tentacles of corruption smashing the city to ruins. Even the huge Earthspawn from the Pakgu family drops his jaw at the sight of the huge tentacles above our ships. We hit the shore and rally in formation behind our Queen and general Grimar Ironheart. “Troops! Gather at my bow and Ironhearts blade!” She shouts after which she eyes the lands with distaste. Grimar draws his blade. “Clean the demon hordes from this land!” He shouts and he sprints forward into the city. A detachment of troops by his side. They slay the monsters and zombies which have already infested these lands. Grimar moves as a solid foe towards the zombies, looking over his sword, then kneeling on one knee while he swings the sword above his head and so cuts the zombie in half. We move into the city, fighting what comes on our path, yet there is no sign of a portal. The queen sends out scouts and while the troops hack and slash into the netherspawn, the queen talks to the general. “I don’t like the looks of this…” She says while eyeing the direction in which the scouts have left. “I don’t like the look of any battle, your grace.” “No I-,” The Queen thinks and then says “Did you recognize the Arcturus’ gear? His armor?” The general replies in denial, saying it was not Arcturus’ made… The face of the Queen goes straight. The earth shakes, my hooves slide over the stone as it moves underneath me, I struggle to stay standing. The sound of bricks being smashed together fills the air. Some fall to their knees while others grab anything to support themselves. The queen falls to one knee and then looks up cautiously. “it’s a trap…” She whispers. “That was a portal. Troops! FORM UP BEHIND ME!” The scouts come running back shouting. Barroes, one of the scouts, reaches the queen and speaks. “The portal! We’ve spotted it, it’s dead ahead!” The Greyling scout shouts as well “Straights aheads!” Barroes catches his breath “The City Square, your grace.” His head drops between his shoulders as thunder breaks the skies…
It rains… “Form up in line with the Queenz!” The huge Earthspawn shouts. Everyone obeys his order. It is simple, the archers shoot the monsters from afar and the warriors keep their ground. We strike the hardest blows with a cannon. We stand in front of the portal, ready to fight, yet all we hear is the rain falling on our armor. “Come Grief, Your creatures will die upon my blade like they did thousands of years ago” Lord Axex Hawklight whispers, as if he stood face to face with Queen Grief herself. Nothing happens. Not a single creature comes out of the portal. The men look at each other, not knowing what is going on. Then it happens, another thunder and in the light of the bolt, we see creatures swarm out from the portal, running in all directions. Whither skeletons run right past the arrows of our archers, towering above us and mowing our troops away like a bunch of ants. The Earthspawns are the only ones big enough to face them and bash their skulls from their bodies. More monsters are summoned forth from the pits of Nether, Zombies crawl out, slowly marching towards us while catching a rain of fire. These meat shields served their goal, as now the spiders run from behind them and lunge at our first line of soldiers. They try to hit us with their venomous jaws while Elves and Dwarves stand back to back defending themselves from zombie hordes and offensively drive the monsters back. A loud noise disturbs the battlefield and shoots exploding bombs towards the portal. The Greyling that fired the cannon looks at the bomb coursing towards the portal. It breaks… “I dids it! I saveds us!” The Greyling cheers happily. But Queen Leminth is skeptical. “This was easy… Too easy.” The sound of Queen Grief’s voice we all hear in our minds. “How… Dare all of you… Destroy… My portal!” She screams in our minds, confusing and scattering our ranks. People pray and curse to every god I’ve ever heard of. “Sons of Korog.” “By Kilrox’s toenails.” “We need the luck of Jax.” “And the might of Rahas.” “Theodra keep our bows steady…” When the shock is over, the Queen tells us what to do. “There has to be more than this one portal…” She orders our troops to follow her and to tend to the injured. “I cans eats the injureds?” The Greyling notes. The Dwarf King silences him. “Shur’ up Greylin’!”
On our way back to the boat we run into Alphos. The queen raises her hand slightly “HALT!” She asks him what he is doing here and why he is not at the war camp. “Duke Arcturus… Killed… Smoke.” He then replies. A shock goes through the surrounding crowd that could hear his words. “I was there.” He says. The Queen hesitates and then realizes her presumption was true. It was a trap, a distraction. “Port Silver.. NOW! Everyone MARCH!” “March, Double time!” Grimar Ironheart shouts to the troops. On our way back she explains her presumption. “The man we saw earlier was not General Arcturus. His gear was not Arcturan… It must have been a demon taking the shape of Arcturus. I want you, Rahm, to use those Caparii legs of yours as soon as we hit shore and run to the War Camp as fast as you can. Find Duke Arcturus and bring him to me.” She orders me and so as soon as we hit shore, I run off…
Chapter Three
General Arcturus reacts thunderstruck. He is offended that we want to escort him to the Queen. “I just arrived with reinforcements, I did not kill Smoke. You- OBEY ME!” He arrives at the Queen. “Griffin.” She says. “Did you come stumbling from Port Silver just a moment ago, with odd make armor and a tale of an attack on Harlaus?” She asks to test her theory. “Come stublin- What? I was in our lands of Novus. I just came back with reinforcements.” He goes on, protesting. “The Demons can disguise as us!” The queen now shouts. “General Ironheart?” “The Demon can take our shape?!” He replies. “Spread the news…” She says calmly.
Before midnight, we all know about the demon’s ability. Unrest now spreads through the camp, as some think we cannot longer trust each other or our leaders. This unrest is increased when we hear a distant howl, as if from a terrifying beast. “we’re gonna need ae bigger wall” The Dwarf king states sarcastically… Not long after the howl, a horde of zombies walk towards the wall. The men in front of the walls are trying to hold them off and I come to their aid. The zombies aren’t a mighty foe, but they are with many. The sword that was given to me I swing above my head and cleave a zombie with it. I circle while twirling the sword as well, hacking off limbs as I go. Every man has to face three zombies at least. It feels like we are being overrun. In a moment of brief rest, I look up. The Queen knows she has to do something, I can read it from her face. “we must…” She doubts, it is the strongest Airship Altera has ever known. “We must bring in the Stormbringer.” She then states undoubtedly. General Arcturus looks at her with unbelief. You can tell he’s questioning her reason, to bring in the ship of Kharn Sicarus, but he does not show it to the Queen… More troops come to our aid and we manage to hold the weak rotting walking carcasses off. We return within the wall. Scouts are send out to reveal what is making the terrifying howling noises…
Unrest breaks loose again as the scouts are taking far too long and the howling in the distance continues to grow louder. General Grimar states “Your majesty, I do not like the sound of this.” Yet the Queen remains calm, even with the soulshaking howls from the dark horizon. “We wait for the scouts.” Another eternity goes by waiting. Now Dwarf King Seth questions her. “Are ‘te gates strong ‘nough? ‘ave we gor any explosive defences?” She raises her blade and says. “We wait for the scouts.” The waiting is an agony and Grimar tries it again. “Your majesty, with all due respect. We don’t have the time…” And Arcturus nervously adds a question “When does the Stormbringer arrive?” But the faith that our Queen has in the battle-plan and her scouts is unshaken, solid. “What part of ‘We wait for the scouts’ did y- … Did I stutter or something?!” The Generals now retreat, seemingly respecting her words. They wait. Grimar mutters “By the sound of that it’s coming close.” But Leminth answers surely “We are not going to run in blind…” Grimar refuses and heads out of the gates to meet the scouts on their way back to camp. As Queen Leminth grabs her bow, a soft rain falls on her skin. Refreshing her. Making her think even clearer than before. She eyes the rain and looks through it. Looks in her memory and then she knows…
Queen Leminth of Arduin has read about this before... The Howling in the Distance… Books of Yore mention a fear that could not be named. An enormous monster with a size it could use the entire Royal Palace as a mere chair… She knows what malice this beast can bring and what power it requires to summon it forth from its lava-lit caves of the Nether…
The scouts return, panting. “We barely made it out” Barroes tells the Queen. “Tendrils… everywhere. Portals…” He breathes Heavily. “and?” The Queen asks shortly. Audric, another scout, takes over. “Aaaand that thing!” “Bloody Nether” Barroes adds. “Thing.” Leminth states, skeptical. “Aye.” Audric replies shortly in between his breathes. “Speak quick Barroes.” General Grimar orders him. “Give me sizes.” The Queen adds. Skye, another scout, now continues. “… Nether it… Near the palace… He could probably use the palace as a bath” “By Korigon’s Blade” Dwarf King Seth curses. Leminth’s face goes straight. Very straight. All the muscles in her body seems to tighten while the muscles in her face relax. It is terrifying to see a leader so charismatic, proud and fearless look so stressed. “Where? Exact location.” “By the old Palace, across from it. Across the bridge.” Audric speaks with his last breath and then sits down, panting still. “LET’S MOVE, TROOPS!” The Queen shouts, her voice skips… She runs past Audric and the heavily breathing scouts. “TO THE READY MEN! MARCH!” General Arcturus adds. “MAAAARCH!” Shouts General Grimar Ironheart.
Chapter Four
Audric gets up to his feet again as the troops pass and manages to catch up with the queen before they reach the gate in front of the Silver Palace. “We are going towards that thing?” He asks. “Yes, yes we are.” Queen Leminth replies assuredly. We reach the gates of Port Silver. “Anyone that doesn’t stay behind me I’ll take for a demon.” The Queen shouts sharply as she prepares her bow. “Your majesty, I suggest we move with extreme prudence.” General Arcturus whispers. We carefully, silently walk into the square. Every soul in our party is wary, ready to react to the slightest of threat. “Your majesty, she told us to come back… Her surprise…” The scout Skye tells her. Leminth merely grimaces. “Skye. She is not the only one with a surprise.” The voice of Queen Grief dwells through our minds again… “You… Come… to us…” and then all goes silent again. Like the silence before a storm, for all of the sudden giant cubes of magma and slime fall out of ball-shaped portals that appeared in the sky as Queen Grief spoke to our minds. As these fiery slimes fall down, lava and magma spats in every direction, burning our troops. Again we form up and move towards the threat that has surrounded us. In a great circle we fight, on the very square in front of our Royal Palace, our last defense…
A circle of 5 men thick and over fifty men around. Side by side Elves, Earthspawns, Nakam, Greylings, Dwarves, Men, Caparii and even Halflings, fight. Our quarrels be forgotten, old enemies now protecting each other and watching each other’s backs. The cubes of magma splut and splat, squash and burn. We cut them in half, but the halves just continue going. We cut them again in half and again and again! It is to no avail. The ground is literally littered with hot burning magma. Men that fall down in the fight are burnt alive. Hope seems lost, when suddenly! Rain. It pours down as if Shalheranna herself is by our side. The monsters of Queen Grief taste defeat. Nobody cheers, for we know the foe we have to face is mightier yet. This time the Gods have helped us in our time of need, but will they also do so when we face the beast of the nether?
We move up through the palace and make way to the bridge. While we run over the bridge to face the biggest enemy Altera has ever seen, we hear it howl and smash. The foul laugh of Queen Grief flies through the air. “There’s the corruption! Charge! Leave NOTHING STANDING!” General Arcturus roars as his mouth reveals his teeth, aggressively running towards the huge tentacles that now come in our view. Many zombies walk around us, attacking us with their rotten claws. Many blazes fly around us, shooting balls of fire at the center of our detachments. “Kill the demon hordes!” General Grimar screams. The scout Barroes shouts as we approach “The portal is ahead!” We look in the direction the scout is pointing and then all of us stop running. Stunned by what we see, all knowing we all think the same thing: “Oh… bloody nether…” The laugh of Queen Grief seems to darken our hearts, after she stops laughing it is silent. Then she says a mere: “Surprise…”
What once was sea, now lava lights the night sky. From it, something rises. Something enormous slowly seems to walk over the bottom of the lake of lava. He ascends the side of the lake, his head now very slowly coming up above the surface of the heat. We are stunned, the gigantic monster freezes us in our place. All of us, but one. Nameless shouts to all of us “Fight on, brave men of Altera! Hold on for your lives’ sake! We will survive this war, and ANY OTHER!” He raises his weapon in the air. He rids us of the fear and we become alert again. Moving, running, hacking, slashing, dying, jumping, living... We fight the netherspawn on the hills, while the titan moves further and further out of the lava lake. His head is now completely above the surface showing his grotesque blood-red teeth and his awful burning eyes. So this is the face of corruption… Grimar Ironheart grits his teeth, staring at the monster “Demon scum!” This giant is beyond any size. “Shoot into its eyes and mouth!” Bronn Arcturus shouts, commanding a detachment of archers. They shoot at the titan, some actually hit his face. The giant retracts his face as if bothered by a fly and then roars. He raises his foul hands above the surface of the lava and as he makes a fist of his one hand, the land underneath the archers is instantly corrupted. Not knowing what this corruption will do to them, they anxiously run off the corrupted ground. The Nether titan roars more and shoots thousands of balls of fire from his mouth as he roars scarily. Does it end like this…?
Chapter Five
A strange hum comes from the distance, we do not know what it is. Axes are swung at zombie faces, Othrandos swings his warhammer into the body of a spider, killing it instantly. All these small victories count for nothing when a vast army of skeletons appears at the top of a nearby hill. More and more come and I stumble backwards in fear. They prepare their bows and nock awfully made arrows. We know we will be doomed when this horde of skeletons fire their ammunition. Queen Grief laughs over the battlefield once again. “Shall I… let them?” She plays with us, the skeletons await her command. She enjoys the terrified screams of our soldiers. “Rain down… upon them…” Queen Grief then says and the arrows block out the light of every single star. I brace for impact, knowing I will be hit by the arrows like everyone else. But then, the arrows do not fall. All of us look up and see the sky is still invisible. The light of the stars still blocked… “THE STORMBRINGER!” An Elf shouts and everyone looks at the clouded sky in hope. A flash of light comes from the cloud, which shows us that it is indeed the enormous airship of Kharn Sicarus, that has come in the time we most needed it. The most powerful Airship Altera has ever known took all the arrows from the skeletons in its hull. Suddenly we hear an explosion and we see other lights flash and more explosions are heard. Bombs are fired into the horde of skeletons, defeating them within seconds. We cheer and shout “Kharn Sicarus! Hail Kharn Sicarus! Hail Queen Leminth!” We laugh…
The airship now throws out ladders and I move up along with other soldiers to man the many cannons the ship has got. The titan roars ferociously and shoots fireballs at the ship, making parts of it catch fire and ladders burn down, making the men fall to their death. The titan of the Nether raises his body above the surface until his breast. He claws with his long arms at The Stormbringer, but he cannot reach it. He falls back down…
Inside the airship we carry bombs, load the cannons, aim the cannons and light the fuses. There is no rest on board, we have to keep firing. We fire charge after charge. Queen Grief shouts a scream of despair as we blow holes in the titan’s hands and arms. Queen Grief screams in our minds, but we do not stop. Loading the cannons, firing the cannons. No rest, it’s a dangerous job. Until someone makes a mistake… The man that used the cannon to my right loads the cannon wrongly, causing the charge to explode while it is still in the cannon. The cannon bursts apart, shooting iron shards through the ship. An explosion louder than any before fills my ears and makes me hear nothing more than a very high pitched tone. I’m bashed into the wall when something hits the right side of my face and a surge of pain goes through my right cheek and horn. My vision blurs and I see nothing but blackness. I lose consciousness…
Chapter Six
I wake up very dizzy. With blurred vision I see this room is white. My head aches as if it’s crushed by a hammer. Every movement makes it hurt more. I touch the place where it hurts and feel my skin. It feels very hard as if burned and touching it hurts. I see my right horn lay next to me on a white bed. My pillow is blood red. I lose consciousness again…
Later, when I recovered, Lemarc tells me what has happened on the ship.
“You got hit by an iron shard from the cannon that exploded. It drove a hole in your face, but you’re lucky. If you would not have had your Caparii horns to protect you, then you would have been dead. Right after the cannon exploded on the ship, the Titan lost its balance and seemed very vulnerable. Kharn Sicarus made use of this and aimed his biggest cannon at the skull of this Ancient malice. An explosion rocked the skies as his cannon fired. The Titan was hit in the skull, the entire left half of his head broken to bits. He stood there, out of balance. He shuddered and slowly fell to splash into the lava, the evil menace was defeated. This angered Queen Grief beyond compare and she swore to take The Stormbringer as compensation for her loss. Many corruption-tentacles flung towards the ship and all of us had to jump down into the water to flee. If it wasn’t for Lord Syr, you would have gone down with the ship. He carried you to the stairs and there he yelled at me. “Help me carry this Caparii! He’s still alive!” We carried you out to the hole in the ship from where we could jump into the water. We threw you down and dived after you. I then pulled you out of the water and brought you to the medical tent.” “But what happened to the stormbringer?” I ask him, feeling a severe pain in my mouth, that cause me to say these words in a very peculiar way. “Kharn Sicarus jammed the wheel onto a course out of that hellish place. “I hope it will glide long enough to reach safety…” Kharn said to us. The grief he had for losing his proud and powerful ship was unbelievable. He seemed to have lost all will to live, this captain that loved and cared for his ship… I dragged you onto the path and looked down on you. You looked horrible, the awful spike of iron sticking out from your face. I managed to get myself together enough to jerk out the spike, but it caused something I did not foresee…
You began to bleed. A lot. A river of blood streamed down the path and in it, some of your teeth drifted. I was terrified and looked around. I heard almost nothing, just the vague sound of groaning men, crying soldiers and dying Alterans. Queen Leminth then spoke “Search for injured… We fought a Titan today, and we WON!” But her speech did not sound very convincing. I know she must have felt the same. We lost so many today, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our morale, our airship… I took you to the medical tent and there Patrician Alphos tended to your wounds. He tried to stop the bleeding but he couldn’t do it with a mere cloth and medicine. So…” Lemarc sighs, finding it hard to explain. “So he burnt your wound shut. Your face is a mess Rahm… You are lucky to be alive and that your jaw is still in one piece, but your upper skull and skin, it’s all torn and burnt together again. While Alphos was trying to tend to you, you coughed up blood and teeth, only when he burnt it shut were you able to breathe without gurgling. I was sitting next to your bed when Alphos was done with you, when Leminth came in. “I want you all to prepare.” She said. “This was not the last. Let us tend to our wounded and sharpen our blades.” She said plainly, heartlessly, drivingly. She felt like we all did. Queen Grief is relentless.” Lemarc sighs again. But I haven’t heard enough. “What did- Queen.. Say?” I manage to say, pain surging through my head. Lemarc replies while he hands me some water. “Queen Leminth, I heard her talk to the men outside the tent. A speech. “We lost a mighty airship, the Stormbringer… But we brought down a mighty demon roughly twice the size of the Stormbringer… Before it could stand tall! Aye men! We brought down the force of the Nether and the might of Queen Grief!” She shouted to the men, and they cheered. Even the injured that weren’t unconscious made cheering sounds inside or clapped their hands.” Lemarc grins a bit. I can see he has hope. If a captain like Lemarc has hope, then so have I…
The end of days they call these days… Well, maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe the day it will end is closing in… The day that Queen Grief will end and her menace with her!
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