"I am Fang, a chosen one. Pleased to meet you.
No, too weird. Maybe Like that?
Hello, is it possible you are a chosen one as well?
No... not good."
Fang has arrived at the fort, his scout has been patrolling around the walls from the treetops, full of determination to serve his master.
The fort was a wide square of tall stone walls, several times taller than Fang. They were gray and old, aging in the middle of the forest all alone.
There were four corner towers, high and dominant. The towers were covered by rotten moss, black and dead.
"It seems it is abandoned... although the walls look sturdy I don't really know much about forts. I guess there is only one way to lure her out if she's even here."
Fang unsheathed his katana as he walked towards the trees around the fort. After cutting down several trees, and gathering some dry dead branches, Fang finally started his plan.
Ten minutes later there was a huge fire In front of the wooden gate, but the gate itself wasn't damaged at all.
" I should keep my distance and let my ghost alert me when she's out."
While Fang walked into the bushes nervously, the entire fort was filled with smoke. It didn't take long before the ground below the fire crumbled and swallowed the fire whole.
"It seems as if she noticed me..."
The fort had a main building in the middle, it resembled a hall of some sort with gray smooth stone stairs leading to the entrance. Suddenly the long wooden doors were blasted away towards the bush Fang his in. They flew in an arc only to land on where he stood a moment ago. A quick response was the reason he wasn't crushed right now.
"I mean no harm! I am a chosen one as well!"
Fang quickly understood that her stay in this world wasn't wasted. To blast those doors like that is something quite difficult.
"STATE YOUR NAME!" A strong female voice has demanded to know.
"I am Fang, I am a-" A sudden tremor cut him off and he was forced to move aside.
"I ONLY ASKED FOR YOUR NAME!"
The smoke started clearing and Fang saw something quite interesting. Although it sounded human, the one that had spoken was not a human.
'he is made of weird rocks, but it still looks like a human.' The golem wasn't well built. It was missing a hand, and its right eye socket was empty, unlike the left glowing rock he had for an eye. It looks like he was injured quite recently.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT? SPEAK!"
"I am a chosen one, I am on a mission to recruit chosen ones so we will have protection away from the kingdoms. I offer refuge and aid, is there a chosen one in this fort?"
"A chosen one you say? Don't make me laugh. My master is far superior to you, lowly dog."
"I want to talk to her. As I see it, you're nothing but a servant so how about you let your master decide?"
The golem was vexed with Fang immediately, but he still complied and reentered the hall.
As Fang waited, he ordered his ghost scout to get to the roof of the hall and try to listen to find information but the range of Fang's connection wasn't long enough, and soon the ghost dissipated...
A few moments later, the golem returned.
"My master will let you in..."
The inner wooden Gate opened instantly, and there were pieces of wood stuck in it from the previous explosion that blasted the outer gates.
Creaking and plucking out the long-grown grass as it moved, the gate was still quite sturdy considering it was very close to the blast.
The inside of the fort was less impressive. stables that hadn't cleaned in a while, a few golems that were guarding around, and a huge blacksmith station that would make Hephaestus green with jealousy.
"It seems like your master has a passion for creation."
The golem did not respond but it was obvious he had something to say. In a matter of seconds, Fang entered the hall while the golem stayed at the entrance.
A soft feminine voice, tired but still warm and kind spoken from the end of the hall.
"I'm sorry I can't really close the outer gates, it seems like Gralac didn't hold back again." she shot the golem a look and sighed.
"Please have a seat."
The first thing Fang saw was a long table which reminded him of Nordic tables he read about in the Viking stories he found. The next thing he saw was the woman who sat close to the end of the table on a throne.
She was wearing a black dress, it covered her to the neck. She was gorgeous, nothing less. A petite body with hips curvy and enticing. Her small but womanly chest showed how young she was but it wasn't the interesting part.
Her facial features were pale and fine, and her dark hair was braided beautifully but there was something else...
She had horns. Demonic horns.
"it's the first time I encountered your race, I beg your pardon if I'm not familiar with any introduction rituals."
"I am a demon if that was your question. I see you're an elf. Don't get offended, but elves aren't my favorite race by far."
Fang smirked and took his seat as close as he could to the throne.
"so you're a chosen one? How can you prove it?"
"I am the friend of Isgram, a dwarf that reached my cave wounded a few days ago. I took him under my care and now he is my ally. He is a chosen one too. We have been fighting the elves for days now, and we held out pretty easily. My proof Is my memories of the other world I have been in but I guess it might not be enough."
"Assuming you're not lying, what does it have to do with me?" The lady raised a brow.
"Why are we chased by the kingdoms?" Asked Fang with a small smirk on his face.
"we're dangerous to them. We're strong and prominent, that was the reason our gods put us here but I still don't see your point. What does it have to do with me?"
"I don't want to hide from the kingdoms forever. I know that they hunt down chosen ones pretty fast, usually before a year has passed. If I had to be by myself, I would have never survived. I scouted your fort. I see you have many achievements but I also saw your servants. Weak and broken. Tell me, how long do you think you can continue fighting the elves? A month? a year?"
"I suggest you get to the point instead of belittling me..." She grabbed the throne's armrests tightly.
"join me. Let's join our forces and get stronger together. Having more allies is better than having more enemies, right? Join us and we will make sure to treat you as equals and protect you."
"You and what army?"
"I'm a necromancer, but right now only me and my dwarven ally. Until now we killed around 10 elven soldiers that came to investigate us."
She was truly impressed, she couldn't hold her army properly since the elves always attacked her in waves.
"Are you capable of holding out against a hundred elves?"
"you're a turtle. You're closed up in your fort, waiting for the enemy to find you. You defend yourself from inside, using long-range attacks while waiting for them to leave."
"You have an annoying habit of not answering a straight question with a straight answer."
"We are capable of taking the elves before they find us. I don't need to defend myself, I am on the attack. That is how it should be. If someone invades my territory I kill him. Whether I can take on 100 of them... Not now, but honestly? Weakness disgusts me. I will change it as soon as I'm able to access better necromancy spells."
The demon was impressed by his charisma and cruelty. She thought to herself that he could be a strong ally.
"State your terms. I Don't need more enemies and if you are who you say you are then I have all the reasons to join you in your fight."
"our fight." Fang stared at her.
"Our fight." She stared back, smirking.
"Good. Now, the rules are pretty simple. I suggest you move from this fort to our cave, it is pretty much undetectable and no one has ever stepped in the cave and left without my permission. Isgram is a fire mage and he is your ally as well, he is a great inventor and someone who recently saved my life from an elven assassin. I want to make our lives easier so I can assure you that we all have our jobs to do and I will continue to be the leader from now on. Do you object to being my ally while I'm the leader?"
"No, you seem to be a strong young man... I wonder what you'll do when the elves will come."
"I will do what I always did: kill them."
"As befitting to a necromancer. Cruelty."
"You're an earth mage, it's not that different. We both use nature to our advantage."
"I craft my warriors with hard work. You will employ your enemies under your command once you get reanimating spells.
We are nothing alike."
"If you say so... Is it agreed then? Do you agree to me being the leader?"
"sadly, I do."
They shook hands.
"get ready, we're leaving in a few hours."
"What should we do with the fort?" She asked.
"It is pretty close to a certain elf village. Would you want to set the fort on fire and start a forest fire? It would surely damage the elves drastically."
"As I grew attached to this place I realized it is just an old fort.
Not mine.
Never was, to begin with.
Burn it."
"I will start gathering wood then, you go pack."
"I need an hour or two."
"I might need more time to gather enough wood for that so take your time."
And so the darkness seemed to fill the forest.
As the hours passed, the dark forest darkness took a break as a great fire burst into the night.
It took a couple of hours but Fang set out while lighting a big pile of wood he cut off with the help of the demoness golems.