They entered the Altar as a man in full armor held up a sword, flat on both his hands and a goddess standing in front of him placing her hand on the blade. She stopped as she saw the two of them enter, before walking towards them, ignoring Helena and walking right to Vidian.
"Lord Krranus, Helena is back," She walked away from them. She was Helena's height, with silver hair that was braided, yet nearly hit the floor. She wore a very revealing set of armor that had two longer plates over her legs. A tall man stood up from a sort of throne. He wore a full set of armor that shined blue in the light. Helena knelt as he stood.
"Lord Krranus, I have returned without the man you have sent me to find, but with a man of great power that is willing to help us."
"I do not see what you mean," There were four of them, four gods. Lord Krranus, the silver haired goddess, a goddess that had the same armor as Helena's but her metal had a black tint to it and the leather was more reddish than hers, the last was a god, wearing an armored kilt and a horned helmet and had a large great sword, with a jagged edge, leaning on his legs, "Have you lied to her?"
"I might have, Lord Krranus, I might have," He let his helmet get unformed, revealing his hideously, blessed face, "I have met your call."
"Vidian of the Great Desert, Helena and Killian, leave us for the moment, and bring Vidian the carrier that Halvard the Dark sent you, with the message," She bowed and left, leaving the four gods with Vidian, "I, am Krranus, God of War, these are my gods, Lord Tridanmer, the God of Bloodlust, Lady Resiliencia, Goddess of Resilience and Lady Violenta, the Goddess of Violence."
"What is my work, or, my works, Lord Krranus?"
"Go ask Helena and her brother, they will explain their little situation, which will be my work, the work you need to do, the only one."
"Yes, Lord Krranus," He got up and bowed his head, before walking out of the stone building that was the Altar of Krranus. He saw Helena heading back to the Altar. He grabbed her shoulder as she walked passed him, "What is the situation you have here?"
"Situation?"
"Yes, about Halvard the Dark, who is he?"
"A demon from the gorge of the deep, a demon that can only die to another demon, but his minions can die to us humans."
"Have you been fighting him for long?"
"My parents told me stories of him, and that he was a long gone enemy, but he came back, so we needed your help, but does that, does that mean you are a demon?"
"No, but I'll figure it out."
"He has sent us a declaration of war, a carrier bird came in with the message, and apparently he attacked."
"How long ago was this?"
"He sent it 2 weeks ago, but if we are to even survive, we need to get ready," Helena sighed, "But I am no real expert, nor are any of my men."
"I'll do it, I need to know which men know how to fight, what weapons you have, stockpiles and so on, I need to know what army he had when he attacked and if there are any documents from when he was attacking the village."
"Um, yeah, I'll, I'll see what we have."
"And get me a table," He stood in the middle of the village's main square, a dirt square with a few stores here and there. He sighed and began pacing around, slowly, "So, he is a demon, that Lord Krranus has given me as a work to kill, or at least, I assume, now, to plan our possible advance, well, mainly defense," Helena returned with a pile of scrolls and a man placed a table on the ground in front of Vidian, "Do you have a map of the area?"
"Yes, I took it just in case you needed it."
"Perfect," He unrolled the map and as soon as he let go it rerolled itself, he unrolled it and slammed on of his fingers into the table, before it being a blade and then removing it, making space for a new one, before doing it four times, "So, how far, how many men do you have?"
"137."
"In total."
"Oh, 342."
"How many are too old to fight?"
"I don't know."
"How many have families?"
"I don't know."
"Then get me that information, I need it to make the army I need."
"Army? What are you planning?"
"To kill Halvard the Dark, tooth for tooth, blood for blood."
"I will call for a general meeting, you'll have everyone."
"Do that."
A few minutes later, all the villagers stood in the main square, only five men were missing, the sentinels. Vidian stood next to Helena and her brother, Killian.
"Good day to all of you," He began, "I shall begin by introducing myself, I, I am Vidian of the Great Desert, the man that your god has call for to help you with Halvard the Dark, I might seem normal and maybe not enough, but that is why I am not counting on doing this alone, first, I need the men that are part of the warriors here to move to that side," Most of the village men did, Helena elbowed him, "Oh, and the women as well," Around 50 women moved with the men, "Now that's done, men with families, that are not warriors, step forwards," Most of the men did, "Who is willing to fight alongside me to fend off Halvard?" No one moved, "Who is willing to fight to secure a safe future for their children?" All of them lifted their arms, "I need the ones who have other skills to move there, blacksmiths, farmers, whatever," A few dozen men moved to the side, "Men with no families, move behind us," He looked at the ones remaining, "Mothers with children, unless you want to fight, I won't ask, keeping children safe is more important right now."
"Sir," A woman spoke up, "I want to fight, but I can't leave my children, my husband is a warrior, who will take care of them?"
"Hmm, any woman willing to take care of more than their own children?" A few raised their hands, "Good, there is your answer, now, the ones that don't want to fight can go back to their work, the men and women that have skills, like blacksmiths go back, the warriors and others come here, I need to talk to you," The several hundred men and women walked forwards, "From those who aren't warriors, who have skills?" A few raise their hands, "Then you don't need to fight, but the rest, I would like you to fight," The few left the group, leaving the men and women that wanted to fight, "Helena, how many weapons do we have?"
"We have, um, 452 swords, 157 bows, 5,467 arrows, 18 sets of heavy armor, 157 sets of chain armor and 240 for leather armor with reinforced padding."
"Who here knows how to shot with a bow?" Only a few lifted their hands, "I need more of them, who is willing to start learning?" More lifted their hands, "Good, Helena, can you have their names recorded and count how many there are?" She nodded, "The rest, I assume you will want to fight as a frontliner? Then we shall train you to be a front liner," He began pacing back and forth in front of them, "You will start tomorrow, at sunrise, I want all of you here, this is for the future, of this town."
"I have a question sir," A younger looking woman spoke up, "If I am not a warrior or an archer?"
"Then what are you?"
"She is a mage, sir."
"Perfect, you'll come talk to me later, I need to test your skills."
"Yes sir."
"Well, maybe you are asking yourself, why did Helena give responsibility to this guy? I'll let my actions be my answer, once I bring you the head of Halvard the Dark," The people standing there remained still, focused on him, "Good, now, see you for training, tomorrow at sunrise," The group dispersed into the village, except for the mage girl, she walked towards Vidian as Helena finished recording names, "What's your name?"
"Katie."
"Katie?"
"Katie Kilbourne,"
"I am Vidian, just Vidian."
"Okay, you wanted to test me, um, what about?"
"With your magic, what magic do you control?"
"I can use Aqua magic, but I am useless when there isn't a source of water or rain nearby."
"Well, let's go for a little walk, and train your skills, without any pressure."
They stood on in the middle of a small field. She was shorter than him, with short, light brown hair that was cut just above her shoulders. She wore pants that seemed a little small on her and an equally small top, that revealed her belly. She looked around and seemed to hesitate to say anything.
"No water?"
"Um, I can't use my powers, like, now."
"Okay, I'll show you mine then," A ball of water began forming in the air in front of him, "I can use the humidity from the air to draw water, as if I was creating water," He smiled as the water moved following his movements, "I don't know if you could get to this level of drawing water but this is something you can aim for," A horn sounded from the village, "What is that?"
"The alarm horns, Halvard the Dark! His troops are probably coming!" She broke into a sprint back towards the village, "We'll never make it in time," His wings unwrapped from his body and his horn helmet unformed. He pushed off the ground and projected himself, not very high off of the ground but moving much faster than Katie. He caught her as he passed her and held her in his arms as he beat his wings moving towards the village.
He put her down and then ran out, without his armor formed, to where the warriors were waiting for Halvard the Dark's troops. He moved in front of them and looked at the top of the small hill that lead into the Gorge of the Deep, a few hundred meters from the village, "Get in the village, I'll deal with his troops."
"What?!"
"Do as I say, we can't take a loss this early, get in and have the ones that can use a bow, use a bow."
"Okay, we are depending on you, Vidian."
Helena made the warriors enter the fortified village once more as Vidian formed his armor. A black horse broke from over the hill, charging down towards the village. A man in full armor with a helmet that had a face engraved on it was riding it. He had two holstered swords on his back. The horse disappeared from beneath him and he landed on his feet as if having no momentum and began walking towards Vidian, then stopped. Vidian walked towards him until they were decently close, a few paces from each other.
"Who are you?" His voice had a mocking tone, "Another human willing to defy me? Or do you really think you have a chance?"
"I am Vidian of the Great Desert, the man that will kill you, sooner or later, I am the wall of defense between you and the village, you will not harm a single soul on my watch," Vidian said as his arms morphed into beast hands with large claws.
"I am not here to fight you," He laughed from behind his masked helmet, "I am here to warn you, in 4 days' time, I will come, by the 5th day there will be no more village," He turned, laughing wickedly, "My troops will wait until the break of dawn on that 4th day, you'll see what is coming for you," The demonic horse appeared and he jumped on it, "But I hope that you live up to my expectations," His horse broke into a gallop and left him once more. The troops on top of the hill turned and entered the Gorge of the Deep once more, disappearing from sight. Vidian turned and ran back to the city.
As he enter the city, still running, he called out all the men that Helena had recorded, "We need to train now! We only have so much time."
"Why? What did he tell you?"
"4 days, 4 days of peace until he sends his troops, and probably he himself will come to fight with them, get the men training, we need to work and work now, Katie, come with me, we need to train some more, Killian, choose the men that will frontline with me, with the heavy armor and train them to fight, we need the best we can get in 3 days actually, and make sure they all know how to fight, well."
"Yes, Sir Vidian."
"Here, try to call forth water," A blue aura formed around her hands but nothing came forth, she was straining as much energy as she could muster but nothing happened, "Lord Inventaariy, can you help me teach her?"
"Ah, aqua magic, it is very powerful, but to grasp her potential, she needs to have a reason, that follows a strong emotion, whether it be affective or life threatening, maybe you can help her with that? I sense that you have a great way of doing it, so you might as well."
"Thank you, then I might as well," He turned to her as she began to give up, "Hey, Katie," He walked closer to her, "Has anyone ever complimented you on your beauty?" Her face turned bright red, "I guess not, but you are gorgeous."
"S-S-Sir V-Vidian, don't make me nervous, you won't help me improve like this," She stammered her way through a choppy sentence.
"You aren't married I guess."
"Why would you care?"
"I don't know why, but I like you," She stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth open as if about to speak and her eyes wide open, "I really think I do."
"Y-Y-You are lying."
"I would never lie about that."
"Do you actually like me?
"I do, love at first sight, I guess?"
"But why now?"
"I don't know," He grabbed her hand, "I love you."
"Y-Y-You do?" He nodded, "I don't know what to-," He pulled her towards him and pressed her lips against hers. She had wide eyes but didn't push against him. He moved back and her cheeks were still red, "I don't know what to say."
"Hey, can you try your magic again?"
"Right now?" He nodded, "O-Okay, but I am not sure I can focus," A blue aura formed around her hands and before she even began straining, water began to gather in front of her hands, "What? Are you doing this?" He shook his head, "How did I, how? I couldn't do this two seconds ago."
"Heh, well, I have to tell you something."
"Yes, Vidian?"
"The reason I came out right away, was that it helps with your magic potential as well," She looked shocked.
"So it is fake?" She sniffled.
"Did I say that?"
"I don't know," She began whispering again, "Can you kiss me again?"
"I didn't hear you, what did you say?"
"Can you kiss me again!" She shouted what she had just mumbled, catching Vidian off guard. He took a step back as if recoiling from her shout, "Sorry, I shouted a little loud."
"Don't worry," He held both her hands and let her lean in to kiss him, slowly, without any sudden movements. Her hands inched behind him and pulled him closer to her, holding him tightly.
"Will you fight with us?"
"Why would I not? I came here to help, and Lord Krranus gave me that task."
"Is that yes?"
"Yes, I will fight with you and your village in order to protect it."
"Thank you, do you think that my power will last?"
"If you believe in yourself, it will."