"There is smoke in the distance!" A guard said as he entered a tent.
"So far away from the frontlines? Where?!" The captain of the encampment shouted with his husky voice.
A large man six feet tall stood alarmed from a wooden chair that clacked on the ground as it collapsed. The man was muscular and shirtless, showing off a hairy chest with a couple of arrow scars and one large burnt right in his stomach.
With dark and grey short hair, a thick and well taken care of mustache, his skin fair and eyes sky blue. It would be difficult to tell he was already forty years old if it didn't have his white strikes on his hair.
"Inside our borders!" The footman steps aside as the large man rushes out of the tent.
He is in the middle of a large square encampment filled with hundreds of red square tents. His is the larger one from them all, patrols of men similar to guards rested near campfires, most seemed to not worry at all. Lightly dressed with wooden jugs in their hands.
"Squire! Horse!" The large man yelled.
From behind the tent, a young boy with brown messy hair and freckles threw away the brush he was using to pamper a white horse.
"Inmedietly, Captain Freund!" He replied, his voice wobbly and panicked.
The boy couldn't be older than fifteen, dressed in fine clothes with only a breastplate as protection. He hurried with the leashed horse and in seconds Freund was on top of it.
He quickly rode towards one of the two entrances to the encampment that was surrounded by a wooden palisade, each entrance with a pair of towers. The men and women let aside their drinks and games and stood up when seeing their captain hastily ride on the dirt road. The squire following not far behind on top of his own horse.
Freund stepped down from his ride and rushed inside the tower. Once he was at its highest point the two guards saluted him. They too were heavily armored, with red tabards on their torsos and backs showing off the silver lion.
"Captain!"They said at the same time.
"Over there" One of them pointed in the direction of the smoke.
"I'm not blind" Freund whispered as he stared at the dark raising columns of smoke "Why haven't you blow the horn?" He then turned to one of them.
"But, the frontlines-"
"BLOW THE HORN!" Freund shouted as he turned around to descend from the tower.
The guard nodded furiously and grabbed the large horn hanging by a thread from his belt, blowing hard on it. Making everyone in the encampment rush inside their tents to arm up.
Once down, the squire had already prepared the pieces of Freund's armor on top of his horse.
"Good job, Nett" He praised the boy, causing him to smile in satisfaction.
Freund turned his back on him and lifted his arms to his sides, Nett then began dressing him with precision and speed.
"Orders?" One of the guards at the gates asked him as it approached on top of his horse.
"Half of the men guard the encampment, The other half stand outside the entrance with their shields raised. If conflict comes, they only defend and send a messenger to the barracks of the nearby city, All scouts with me"
Wasting no time the rider went full speed, the clip-clop of the horse loud on the hardened earth. The guard yelled the orders as he went.
"W-What is going on? Are we under attack?" Nett asked clearly frightened.
"I don't think so, but a village must be burning for the size of the clouds I saw" Freund made sure the breastplate was correctly secured.
"But, couldn't it be just a fire that got out of control?" Nett inquired nervously.
"If that's the case the more hands they have to help the better!" He then chuckled lightly as he got a glimpse of his scared squire behind him " We must always help those that need it, an important lesson to remember in your way to knighthood"
"Yes, Captain Freund!" Amazed by the air of righteousness emanating from his knight, the young squire smiled and seemingly forgot he was scared just a second ago.
"I told you already..." He got on top of his horse and grabbed a helmet with a red horizontal crest that Nett held towards him "Call me Fred, boy. Now ride your steed!" He orders as he places his helmet on his head and closing its visor.
Fred raised his right arm with an open palm and from within his tent, a large war hammer shot up to the sky and then went in a straight line in his direction, rumbling through the air.
His open palm shinned with a white rune. Soon the war hammer stopped its descent in an instant as its handle laid on the palm on his hand. It was clearly a weapon of war as a piece of art itself. Complex symbols and silver details. A solid block of steel at its head and a single large white rune in its left side emanating mana.
Weapon in hand, Fred turned around and saw thirty soldiers on top of their horses, along with his squire. Waiting for him.
"Follow me and be ready for anything!" He ordered as his horse stood up on its back legs before galloping at full speed.
The rest of the horses neighed as they ran behind him. Slowly but steadily getting closer to the burning village.
A burning village in which thick smoke had now hidden the sun from the hollow stares of the corpses and heads. Who now stared at the two opponents standing still in the macabre plaza instead.
Covered by the black smoke that arose from the burning pyres and now buildings in the village tainting everything with a red color.
Das was sweating, both from pain and heat. He cautiously moved one foot after the other, moving further inside the plaza until he and the knight stood directly in front of each other separated by at least twenty meters.
Sparing a glance he looked at his right arm holding the staff. The bandages were soaked and falling.
"I have no choice..." He whispered as he gritted his teeth "...forgive me, Drachen."
He closed his eyes briefly and his brows drew together as his nose wrinkled. Baring his teeth as a ravenous dog would do when facing a bear. With a primal scream, the bandages burned away in an explosion of red mana that came from his body.
At the same time, his eyes snapped open, the red mana furiously emanating from them as the veins around them turned black. The orb was swallowed by the red mana that waved like a flame, only darker like blood and giving no light.
His entire hands and forearms looked like fresh burn scars. the muscle twisted deep red. black veins ran so clear that they almost looked painted on top of it.
The knight, whose armor and horse's armor was blackened by the fire, raised his claymore once again at the archmage, issuing a challenge.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Das yelled in frustration, his voice making an echo that gave the impression there was more than one person talking "CHARGE!!" He ordered as he pointed his staff mimicking the knight.
Who finally seemed satisfied with the formalities, raising his shield to protect his body, the horse ran ahead at full speed. Its horseshoes loudly hit the stone ground of the plaza.
Das cast three large fireballs in quick succession from his staff, creating a magical circle in front of him.
The knight used his shield to tackle the first one, then the horse used his armored head to take on the second one, screaming in anger. By the time the third fireball was summoned the knight was very close to Das, so much so, that the horse jumped forward ready to ram at the archmage.
He realized this and jumped to the side right as he cast the third one.
However, the knight was prepared. He swung his blade directly to where Das had jumped, whizzing as it cut the air with its speed and strength. Forcing the archmage to raise a barrier as soon as possible.
The fireball hits both horse and knight from the side while the sword manages to sink the barrier and still hits Das in the stomach, but instead of cutting him, it launches him several meters away while the impact from the fireball does the same to the knight and its mount.
His body thumped as it hit the ground, a loud groan escaped his mouth as soon as it did and the heavy body of the knight crushed through a building burning behind him.
"What is this? Is his willpower this strong, or am I facing a monster in disguise?!" Das thought as he struggled to stand up.
The neigh of the furious horse cached his attention. He stared in shock and horror at the creature that stared back at him.
Everything seemed just as before, except that the left side of its torso had the armor melt by the heat from Das's fireball. Yet the body of the horse remained in one piece albeit black as coal with burning cracks all over it.
Soon the knight stood up as well, still holding his shield and claymore, both red hot. His breastplate had melted away with a few remains stuck to his exposed torso that looked just like the horse.
After a moment of remaining still, he began to walk up to his demonic steed.
"That is impossible," Das thought, standing up quickly "DIE ALREADY!!" He yelled in anger as he stretched both arms forward at the knight.
Red mana emanated from them and the building behind the knight shook, the knight turned around and at that moment Das brought the entire structure down crashing on him. Raising a large cloud of smoke and burning embers.
Near his limit, he lost the strength in his legs and kneeled while breathing heavily.
However, the peace was brief.
He raised his head and looked back where the knight stood. The supernatural steed had risen from the burning ruins of the house, soon followed by the demonic knight who spared one glance at the archmage before getting on top of his horse once again.
The anger turned to fear as Das watched the knight galloping at full speed towards him. In desperation, he hit the end of his staff on the ground and a red mist immediately began to surround him.
He was preparing to teleport back to the palace when something inside of him made him stop. The desire to stop running away even if it threatened his own life.
All these people had died in horrible ways, hell itself had been brought to earth by the actions of the silent monster in front of him. He wanted this person to pay.
"I..." He forced himself to stand up, looking defiantly at the monster now about to reach him, resting his claymore at the left side of the horse to once again slash at him "...I WILL TURN YOU INTO ASHES!!" He screamed while throwing away his staff.
He moved both arms back as if he was about to push something forward and when he did, a giant beam of dark fire was expelled with immense power and heat.
The knight halted his advance a few meters away from Das and raised his shield to protect himself but the impact was so great it forced him up the air and melted a hole in the thick steel shield. Piercing the knight right through the chest this time as well as severing his right forearm.
Das then brought down the flames at the horse, hitting its head right before the beam stopped. The horse collapsed on the ground with a loud clank of its armor at the same time its rider reached the ground.
His head hitting first, sending the helmet bouncing a few times not too far away and his left arm ripped apart in two.
The archmage too collapsed on both of his knees, his chest going up and down rapidly. His head hung low.
The mana emanating from his hands and eyes dissipated into nothing together with the black veins. His arms were limp and moving them proved incredibly difficult.
He looked with shame and frustration how the damage to his forearms had now extended all the way up to his shoulders, burning away the cloth of his tunic with it.
"I won" he whispered in a quiet, breathy voice.
The burning bodies and buildings soon became the only sound he could hear. The cracking of fire and wood.
After laying there for a good while, he gathered what little strength he had in him and stood up. Looking at his side he stared at his staff for a moment before opening his hand and letting it levitate back to him.
Coughing after breathing the smoke for so long, he looked around for a path to exit the village.
But as he gave the first steps forward, the doors from the sanctuary squealed as they slowly opened.
"Survivors?!" Das thought as he turned around.
But instead of a crowd of fearful or grateful villagers, stood only one man. His entire body from the neck down was hidden beneath a long black cloak.
His auburn long hair was wavy. his skin pale and eyes a potent blue that almost beat the red and orange tainted sky. As if it shinned on its own.
His face was lean and young, so feminine that could be mistaken by a girl had his voice, which was melodic and soft as well, not been distinctively male when he spoke at Das. A friendly and genuine smile on it.
"That was a great fight, archmage. He was the strongest of my toys" His arms appeared from within the cloak, a pair of dark steel plate gauntlets on each "You deserve applause!" He said joyfully.
And applause he was given. As the young man clapped with both hands enthusiastically, his smile tender and eyes focused on the confused archmage who stared back at him with wide eyes.