Prologue.
The silence is deafening, As the old saying goes; where the only sounds are the wind whisping around you, and the breathless pants of the men who are about to die. The only man out of thousands who stands without trembling was the Blue robed Sentinel, who stood a head higher than anyone else.
His long flowing hair shines a divine golden sheen in the low sun light, and is kept out of his face with a dark blue head-wrap that is tied around his forehead, and trails in the wind with his matching silk scarf. His shining silver armour has an engraving on the chestplate of what looks like an ivy branch growing up his torso. The whole thing wrapped loosely in the long, almost translucent silk robe that flows freely beneath his gold rope belt. He stands facing the brisk winds head on, idly twirling his long oak staff between his fingers, as the two blue scraps of silk tied at either end of the weapon trail behind it hypnotically.
Fox felt a slap on his shoulder and Turned sharply to the stranger, reflexively balling a fist, but he eased upon seeing the young mans soft face. The boys hand still firmly on his pauldren, admiration gleaming in his eyes as he too looked at the man before them. The boy leant in close, grabbing foxes blood red robes and pulling him down to his level and into earshot, his whispy brown moustache tickling Foxes stubbly ginger cheek as he did so.
'Damn...' Fox cursed silently
'he must be no older than 16 storms...'
"His name is Harran Buune," the boy whispered excitedly, his eyes still locked on the blue silked soldier. "The hero of Heartwater! Legend has it he single handedly defeated over a hundred Roaches at the Heartwater Lagoon with no reinforcements!"
Fox shrugged the boys arm off of his own and said in a low gruff voice
"fairytales mean nothing on the battlefield boy, just you remember that."
The boy deflated instantly, slumping his shoulders and pulling the hood of his emerald green cloak over his head, but after a moment he huffed and nodded sharply.
"Then lets write our own tales in the blood of these bastards." he growled in retort, and for a moment the corner of Foxes lip, curled into a smile.
Or was it a snarl?
A cold shadow swept over the men and the silks of Harrans robes dropped with the wind, and with that he roared. Thrusting his staff high into the air as his army echoed his battlecry ten-thousandfold. Fox raised his two cutlasses high into the air and clattered them together as He screamed, still not actually able to see the opposing force that gathered on the other side of the valley, whom he had been ordered to kill.
'I don't even know who I'm fighting beside, never mind who I'm fighting against...' Fox sighed to himself.
There was little time to analyse the situation, as the soldiers around him had already started marching forwards and Fox was dragged along with the tide of men. The emerald robed boy was one of the first to break into a jog, but the surrounding men In equally lavish greens and yellows followed shortly behind him and soon enough all the warriors were sprinting. A full forced charge towards the swarm of what Fox could now see was the largest pack of roaches that he had ever seen.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of the beasts, all snarling and yapping at the approaching men as they skulked out of the pine forest and down the other side of the ravine towards the shallow stream, that will shortly be their battlefield.
But something was off about the ginormous pack, most roaches are no bigger than a wolf, however their black leathery skin is completely furless with only 3 rows of bone like spines protruding from their backs.
The blind creatures are completely eyeless, relying on their acute sense of smell to track their prey. Their powerful rear legs are perfect for pouncing and with their strong jaws and 4 front legs baring claws as long as a grown mans finger, it was difficult to escape their advances. But the thing that caught Fox's eye was that one of the pack leaders seemed even larger than a wolf, He could barley see at this distance but one of the Jackal like beasts looked almost the size of a horse.
'No wonder they have such a damned ginormous pack...' Fox cursed to himself again.
Usually two Alfa roaches would fight until death and the winner would take control of the loosers pack. But many of the betas across the Revene would have conceded to the titanic beast and followed him without question...
'Target acquired.' He muttered to himself as the beast howled and the pack of roaches break into a full charge.
"We may outnumber them!" Harran called mid charge "but the demons are sly! Keep your heads, and lets take theirs!"
As the 2 waves closed in on each other, Harran vaulted with his staff, flying high into the air, higher than Fox thought any man possibly could, completely clearing the stretch of water that the soldiers now began to charge through, and landing on the opposite side of the bank in the centre of the hideous beasts. Sweeping his staff upon touchdown and sending several of the hellish hounds cartwheeling in the air with a single blow, Harran had already started twirling the staff for a second strike before Fox had even taken his next step, and his gaze dropped from the silked soldier to the mass of underlings that barrel towards the men. Then there is a roar of metallic thunder as the wall of warriors crash against the pack of beasts.
The soldiers in the front line were caught by the brunt of the force, including the man directly in front of Fox. He vaulted over the soldier as the Jackal pounced, locking its demonic jaws around soldiers throat with a spray of warm crimson mist. Fox was able to barrel roll in the air, his blades slicing through the hell hounds spine, once, twice, thrice. And he slid across the wet sand upon landing, slashing his blades in two frontal arcs to clear the space before of him. His blade caught one of the beasts even as it attempted to jump back out of Fox's reach, but the Demon hunter was too fast.
When Fox felt the tear of black leathery flesh he kicked off the ground with his back foot, lunging up into the screeching Roaches rib cage and piercing its cold heart, and the screeching silenced as black smoke and ichor bled from the wound.
He landed on a rock that protruded out of the water and pulled his blade cleanly out of the dead dogs chest, darting to the next stepping stone while being careful not to let his feet land in the now deepening water.
His eyes locked on to the next of the beasts, and it centred itself on him. But when the Roach pounced towards Fox it sent sand, stones and water arcing through the air as it's back feet slid on the shallow riverbed, and as it flailed weakly in the air, Fox's blade arced up into its falling neck and He barley even felt the bone separate as the dogs head flew one way and it's husk fell the other.
"Hmph. Harran was right on the choice of terrain. With all the water the dogs can barley move, never mind smell us." Fox muttered to himself as he licked his lips, he could taste iron and burning charcoal, the blood of brothers man beasts. and his lip curled.
This time, it was definitely a snarl.
The spray of the demons dark blue blood dissipated in the air to reveal another Roach behind its dead brethren. This one was larger than the last, nearly as long as Fox was tall. Clearing the water between them in one powerful bound the jackal speared Fox straight off of his perch. His chest plate tearing beneath the force of the beats 4 frontal claws, but barely cutting his torso as a result. Fox attempted to reverse his left sword to block the dogs jaws, but he was too slow, and instead the hounds teeth clamped down on his gauntlet, breaking his forearm and loosing the grip on one of his weapons.
Jarring the Demons head back with his captured limb he sliced through it's throats with the other sword, cutting straight through the dogs jugular and wind pipe, the moment before they crashed into the water below.
The water was black with ichor and the wind was blown out of Fox's lungs as the huge Roaches body landed on his now dented and torn armour, the jagged tears in the metal cutting painfully into the wounds on his chest, and his gauntlet, that he eventually pulled free from the monsters slack jaw, was still twisted and crushing his arm agonisingly. He writhed and kicked at the corpse and was only just able to haul the husk off of him. Finally breaking through the water and heaving for breath.
Even as he tried to blink the blood from his eyes and shake spinning stars from his head, Fox still twirled his remaining blade fluidly, sending demonic blue blood arcing in the air and turning to smoke. Ready. Waiting. Even as his other arm hung limply at his side,
His vision still hadn't cleared by the time he had pulled off the crumpled gauntlet and cut the leather binding of his chest plate, causing them to fall to the floor with a splash. And if it wasn't bad enough that the waters current threatened to pull him back under, then the sudden change of weight in his apparel made the world spin.
He stood for a moment trying to regain his senses.
'Damn, must'a hit my head harder than I thought...'
He tried to filter the greeny yellowy coloured streams from the black smudges that raged around him and attempted to focus on any approaching threats. But just as Fox's vision was beginning to clear he was struck hard in the side by a warrior who was wielding a large two handed club. Fox had to turn as he fell to see where the blow came from, only to see the club coming down from above for a second strike. He set his feet in the sand and steadied himself painfully against a nearby rock with his broken arm, raising his remaining blade and swiping the blow aside, parrying the weapon into the stream.
Fox looked into the cold, glazed over eyes of the warrior before him who had a jagged bone like barb sticking out of a dry and cracking wound in his neck, that seemed to spread by the second. The man was already dead... He was being controlled by a Stinger.
Fox's eyes darted around wildly to try and find the creature that was sure to be close by. He noticed the dagger like shadow under the water only a few feet away and He leapt from the water, kicking off of the dead mans chest, and back flipping onto a large rock behind him. Fox's sword flashed mid flight, and his blade sliced open the flesh of soldiers throat, tearing out the embedded barb and leaving a jagged wound that leaked blackened blood freely into the stream, and the large man fell with a splash into the now pitch black water, making the stream around Fox's perch completely opaque.
He stood. And he waited. His eyes scanning the water for any break in its surface, even with his vision now clear, his heart raced, one strike from this thing and it's game over.
The lobster like beast darted out of the water and into the air, hovering just a few feet out of Fox's reach, it's wings, 6 bug like strips of translucent membrane were barely visible but hummed in a piercing high pitch as it wrapped its armoured tail under its body so that its soft stomach was protected, and its sting was aimed directly at him.
It strafed left, then right, then left, and then struck. But the feints didn't fool Fox and when the flying crustacean attacked he swiped to the side with his blade directly into the Stingers flight path, making the beast bank sharply and causing it to outstretch its tail yet again to support the manoeuvre, when it did so Fox jumped to keep in rage of the beast, his strike flowing from his side to below, and up into the creatures soft spot.
He landed cleanly on another rock as the Stinger splashed gracelessly in the opaque water below. And with his vision now clear and no immediate threats, Fox could now see the chaos all around him.
Brother fought against brother as thousands of the men were controlled by the barbs protruding from the weak spots in their armour. The living were being cut down by their dead comrades before they knew what hit them.
The demons had tricked us all. There must have been hundreds of Stingers lying in wait beneath the waters surface. And if the Stingers or their victims missed anyone then the remaining Roaches would tear them apart. Fox saw the colossal Alfa running along the stream cutting down several men with each stride, tearing off limbs with its huge jaws and dragging along or trampeling down any that avoid it's bite with its four front legs. The Alfa was being followed by a pack of large roaches who seemed to revel in the parade of carnage with savage yaps and howls.
Across the stream Harran stood in a circle or demonic corpses, with his robe torn away and tied to the end of his staff, waving it through the air back and forth like a flag, staring painfully at the battle he had lost. Fox looked at the flag for a moment with a scowl. "What are you doing..." He muttered to himself, and as he read what might have been a prayer on Harrans lips, the commander swiped the flag down to the earth, his eyes gazing upstream.
Following the commanders gaze Fox now saw the small unit of men at the top of the hill that were surrounded by empty barrels. He immediately sniffed the air. How did he not notice before!? Hidden beneath the common aroma of blood, death and demonic brimstone, the stench of oil that flowed past him on the waters surface was unmistakable.
"No..." Fox said "not yet." and he ran straight towards the massive Roach as the unit of men threw a burning torch into the stream and the oil ignited with a audible hiss. The flames dancing along the rivers surface to the screams of the the living and screeches of dead.
The Roach was closing in and his pack seemed to be crazed at the prey that was running towards them, when Fox could see the dark glint in the Alfa's eyes it pounced. Fox leapt as well, his remaining sword aimed for the beasts chest, but as the hound drew in close Fox hooked the back of his blade around the beasts shoulder, swinging under its swiping claws and up onto his back.
The Alfas hideous howl eched around the valley and in its hatred as it leapt and bucked again and again, the following Roaches clawed at Fox but did little more that scratch the rear of the massive hound that he had mounted. As the beast ran further down the river Fox could hear the roar of flames get closer, and feel the prickling heat in the back of his neck. He leant down and grabbed the blade of his sword, the edge digging into his palm as he held on for his life and pulled the makeshift reigns to the left. Towards the dry bank where Harran stood.
Fox was barley able to reach the dry bank that Harran stood upon, before the water behind him lit up. As the dog bucked and writhed on the dry bank Fox leaped into the air off of the beasts back, bringing his blade high above his head he span the weapon round and brought it down upon the beasts skull, landing on his knees and pinning the beasts head into the ground and it's whimper fell to silence, the spray of navy blue blood covered him and his blood red robe and started to hiss as it turned into fine wisps of dark vapour, Fox looked towards the horrors in the water below, seeing the burning dogs that were biting at his heels only moments ago screeching in the flames, one stood upon its powerful back legs, it's four frontal claws cursed the heavens as it howled and it fell into the fire where a few men still struggled towards the banks, covered in flames screaming.
Fox looked down at the huge corpse of the bear sized beast that had already begun to smoulder and turn to ropes of black smoke that trailed into the air, the blood on his robes doing the same leaving an eery cold upon his chest. But even as the blood evaporated, Fox began to see the colour spread, the blue stain on his blood red robes slowly growingarger and larger until the whole cloak was an unusually dark blue, almost as black as the night itself. Sentinel blue.
'Target eliminated' Fox snarled at the sight.
Harran looked like a pale shadow of the man that Fox had seen not even an hour before. His headband had been lost, leaving his blonde hair draped across his face, dripping with smoking dark blood. And his chest plate without the blue robe appeared dented and scratched. His eyes stared out empty and unblinking as he watched his enemy, and his own men burn. As Fox Stood beside him he could tell that when Harran looked at him, he could see pretty much the same. His arm was broken and bleeding, he had lost his chest piece completely, along with his gauntlet and sword, and though his new blue robes disguised the blue stains of demon blood, his face was still covered in the cold evaporating liquid.
They stood for a moment wordlessly as the shadow passed and the sunlight washed over them. till Fox finally broke the silence.
"The mission is a failure." He croaked grimly.
Harran simply huffed, "the enemy's dead along with your target, and the city still stands. Mission complete." And he turned from the burning Brooke trying to ignore the sight, but his twitching nose and wincing eyes betrayed the fact he couldn't escape the sickly sweet stench of burning flesh and brimstone, he shook his head and began to walk away.
"Wait..." Fox said weakly, still unable to tear his gaze away.
"No." Harran snapped back at him as he looked over his shoulder, his glare burning into the back of Foxes skull "You completed your test and received your robes, now head back to base for re-assignment..."
He continued walking, attempting to escape the smell.
"This battle is just the beginning."