Chereads / The Commoners Adventure / Chapter 7 - Chapter 7: End of a Battle, Beginning of a Journey

Chapter 7 - Chapter 7: End of a Battle, Beginning of a Journey

Nefre held his ground with the rest of the soldiers as the main enemies force charged in, lead by a man who must have been half-giant. Yet he wasn't scared at the moment, not since General Abrius had taken the field exuding a palpable aura that washed over everyone and bolstered their resolve. Yet he knew that it might not be enough for them to win. Lenwall wasn't a country dedicated exclusively to the military as it seemed Ducomor was, and with their army bearing down upon them, it was hard to believe any victory was possible. Nefre was quickly turning his mindset to just survival at the moment.

The mountain of a man who was leading the charge broke away from the group moving faster somehow in the plate armor and carrying that massive axe. Nefre looked to see General Abrius stride forward sword in hand, planning to meet this man's charge to stand against him. It seemed impossible, but yet here it was happening right in front of his face. With a mighty roar, the two Legends clashed right in the middle of the battlefield axe and sword smashing against each other the sound like thunder, what felt like a heatwave of energy washed over everyone. Not in his wildest imagination could Nefre had imagined that Abrius could lock swords with such a monster and hold his ground, and yet here was doing such that.

"Units form up! Hold the enemy and support the Captain!" A call came from some Captain that was still standing, Nefre was pretty sure he had seen the young Captain of the militia dead on the ground earlier, but he couldn't be sure. Quickly everyone formed up as best as possible the rest of the militia allied with each other knowing that this was out of their league, but they had no choice. As the battle cries went up, the first wave smashed against their lines and quickly devolved into a frantic frenzy trained soldiers doing their best to hold the line to let the Calvary get back into the fray. Nefre with the militia though found themselves overwhelmed, the units they had been fighting before were physically the same and maybe even skill-wise at least close. These soldiers outclassed them in every way; they had to be of a higher Promotion in the world.

It was a tooth and nail fight Nefre joining up with two others to take on one man in little more than chain mail for protection. Yet hitting him proved impossible; he was more skilled, faster, and stronger. Their blows swatted aside as he moved in on them, growling like a rabid animal while swinging his sword. Nefre got his sword up to block, but the man's axe snapped another militiaman's blade burying right into his neck, nearly decapitating him as a fresh spray of blood came out, and he collapsed to the ground dead instantly. That was the moment Nefre realized he needed to run, but there was nowhere to run, and odds are he wouldn't make it far. The warrior seemed energized by his first kill and began moving in for his second one. Nefre raised his sword, ready to meet his end.

Yet that end wouldn't come, or at least not as Black Plated Knights came moving up from behind him and others, knights whose steeds had been injured unable to ride again and now they joined on foot and not a moment too soon or the whole flank the militia had been covering would crumble. With swords and shields they began to fight one quickly dispatching the warrior who had held off three of them with relative ease. 'But will they be enough...Are they enough" Nefre found himself asking as he caught his breath for a moment no longer right on the front line of fighting his hands beginning to tremble from the overflow of adrenaline and fear. Yet in the end, it didn't matter if they were enough. This battle was coming to a close. He didn't know it yet.

In the sky, as the lightning continued striking overhead striking down at a blue shield that kept them from piercing onto the battlefield, the sky continued to darken even more than the mages of the Ducomor army had planned. A large shadow moved above the dark clouds as if drawn by the crashes of lightning, the swell of magical power, and maybe even the smell of blood and death from the battlefield bringing it. Soon it began to come from the sky, scales black like coal went down first with blue lines streaking through them. Then the head dipped down, coming through the clouds; its face looked like what a dragon should be. Though its eyes were like storms, lightning seemed to crackle in the sockets. Its body had no legs or wings. It was just a long body that descended from the sky. By the time anyone realized that it was coming down, it was much too late.

The giant creature slammed down from the sky, shattering the barrier like it was brittle glass, its roar became deafening as it hurtled towards the armies. Everyone stopped looking up, panic set in quickly, this wasn't any regular monster or dragon it was like a Calamity. "Thunder, Wyrm!" Someone cried out, but it didn't matter; it struck down first into the center of the Ducomor army on the battlefield its massive body flattening and crushing whatever it struck. It then shot forward electricity snapping off its frame, hitting any it neared, and slammed through the lines of the Lenwall army as well. The force from its body blew people backward Nefre included as he shot out towards a field of grass his sword falling out of his hand as he rolled quite a few feet away. Any shouts from any side were lost in the moment as the Thunder Wyrm drowned out everything.

Nefre groaned as he laid there, thankful that he hadn't been to close and that it didn't feel like he had broken anything. As he slowly set up, he saw that the wyrm was continuing to wreak havoc, and the armies were shattered and scattered, trying to run away. He also General Abrius and the giant warrior having stopped their fight with each other, and both seemed ready to face this foe. "They don't think a retreat is an option. This thing intends to kill as many as possible," Nefre whispered to himself. For the first time, he found himself alone since leaving the farm, looking at a scene of chaos that he had been dragged into because some kingdoms wanted to war with each other. For the first time, he didn't feel fear, excitement, or even sadness; he just felt pure anger. He wasn't going to die here, and he wasn't going to die for this kingdom.

Pushing to his feet with a groan, he looked around first and saw some treeline's behind him in the distance, but he intended to make it. As the Thunder Wyrm roared flying up towards the sky, it's body glowing more as lightning seemed to absorb into it, transfixing those still left on the battlefield, Nefre turned and ran. He ran full tilt to the woods as fast as he could push his aching and tired body, praying to whoever would listen that he would make it, that he wouldn't get chased down in all of the confusion. He didn't listen to anything, didn't think, no, he just ran his feet thudding across the ground. The tree line grew closer and closer as the battlefield was left further and further behind him the sounds of Legends fighting a beast straight out of nightmares faded as well, that wasn't the life he was choosing.

So without issue, he burst into the treeline into the dense forward and barely made it a few feet in before he tripped over a branch and felt tumbling forward his body smacking against the ground and rolling before it came to a stop. Laying face down, he groaned the smell of leaves and mud, the only thing that filled his nostrils for the moment. Planting his hands again the ground, he rolled himself over, looking up at the tree's taking a moment to refocus. His head felt lighter; he imagined he had lost the skullcap sometime when he had first gone flying. He could hear the sounds of the battlefield now though it was much fainter, he realized he had rolled more than a few feet into the forest before he came to a stop. Letting out a long deep breath, he closed his eyes, just trying to enjoy the peace for a moment before he got moving again.

His thoughts were suddenly and quickly interrupted by the sound of feet crunching leaves, and his eyes shot open, suddenly looking up. He found himself looking right up into an arrow notched back with the bow. The wielder of set bow and arrow had almost yellow eyes, her hair coming from the hood was a dark red, high cheekbones and plush lips sat her on the attractive scale to him, yet the weapon overrode it pointed at his face. After a few tense seconds, she eased up and put the arrow away. " Sorry, had to make sure you weren't someone just here to attack me. Let me help you up." She reached down with a brown leather-gloved hand clasping his and helped him haul himself up. Getting to his feet, he found himself eye level with her. His mind reeled for a moment, trying to understand what was happening. "Who are you" Was all he could get out. Which, for some reason, made her laugh a bit.

"The name is Eiael; I'm an adventurer and a Hunter of monsters with bounties at least the easier ones. I'm here because I was tracking one before I heard the battle break out and then, the appearance of that Thunder Wyrm out there. Now I have no love for Kingdoms and their military's, and well, it seems you just deserted yours. So want to stand around talking, or do you want to get out of here before someone comes this way?" Nefre blinked at the rapid flow of information but finally nodded his head. "Yes, please." She grinned and nodded. "Good. You'll owe me, but let's not dwell on that too much. Now toss that padding you got on, you'll stick out, and well, I doubt you want to be recognized, and let's go." Turning on her heel, she started to walk away, Nefre watching as her brown cloak fluttered behind her. Shaking his head, he quickly yanked the Gambeson off and tossed it to the side. His life had just changed once again in a week, yet he had no time to question it right now; instead, all he could do was take that step forward and follow Eiael.