It hadn't even been a minute since the invasion began that all of Balkan was awake. The entire city shook as the southern wall shattered in a wath of fire.
A massive crimson flare shot into the sky from the center of the city and exploded, bathing Balkan in another shade of red. Further north, another red flare could be seen shot into the sky, before another one even further became lit.
It would take an hour for the message to reach the capital city nearly a hundred miles away. It meant that no help would be coming.
Regardless, they needed to be warned. Right now, an entire city was dying.
It was still the middle of the night but the amount of fire both littering the sky and raging from the town combined with the falling flare made everything easy to see.
Some of the beasts had wings or four arms, some had both. The ones in the air were razing everything below them while the soldiers on the ground killed everyone they came across.
Their skin was leathery and varied in shades of red and orange. Like many of the other races in this world, they received the gift of magic four years prior.
However, unlike the dwarves and their earthen magic or the wood elves and their ability to control flora, these creatures, the Chosen, were granted fire.
An ability tailored for war.
For murder.
"RELEASE!!!!!!!!" a dwarven man yelled out before a torrent of metal rods flung themselves across the city sky from the western wall.
The continuous streams of fire that rained down on a part of the city halted as flocks of the beasts fell to the ground missing entire regions of their bodies.
While the invasion had caught the entire city off guard, the dwarven soldiers there were by no means powerless. Sure, they're not as skilled as the dwarves in the capital but they still have their magic…
And any gifted dwarf can fling metal.
"AGAIN! RELEASE!!!!!" The dwarven captain yelled out to his men before countless rods shimmered across the night sky impaling the winged invaders.
"Captain!" a dwarf that just scaled the wall yelled through heavy breathes. "It's a retrograde SIX!"
"Is that the commander's orders?"
"Y-yes sir!"
"Six, huh? Shit," the captain sighed before turning to his men. He breathed in deeply before yelling at the top of his lungs, "REGIMENT A, I WANT YOU TO JOIN THE EVACUATION EFFORT! EVERYONE ELSE STAYS HERE WITH ME! FIRE AT WILL!!!" He thrust his hand forward as the dwarves shot more metal into the sky.
As of now, everyone was to evacuate north and abandon the city. Every soldier not currently manning the walls was to join and protect the evacuation. There were hundreds of gifted dwarven soldiers strewn throughout the city, either patrolling or sleeping in the garrison, and they were to protect and move everyone they came across while retreating north.
Before the Advent, the day "God" gave magic to this world four years prior, humans had dealt with their fair share of calamity throughout history. Millenia of war had destroyed every human country in the world save for the kingdom of Anglest, the home of Balkan.
This kingdom was the sole human country to outlive the brutal war brought on by an ogre named Beg, The Marauder, two hundred years ago. The king of Anglest at the time took in every dwarven refugee he could since they had lost their home. This cohabitation between dwarves and humans led to two centuries of prosperity and peace. The dwarven engineers and their limitless creativity combined with the vast human population that began to replenish following the war created an environment that allowed the kingdom to flourish.
Up until four years ago, that balance existed. The kingdom of Anglest was one of the four largest powers on the continent…
Then, God granted this world magic.
God showed visions, gave purpose, to every race in existence.
They gifted each race with a power unique only to them. However, God was not fair.
The dwarves were given the power to manipulate earth. However, not every dwarf received this gift and not every gifted dwarf was given an equal amount of power.
Furthermore…
No, even worse…
God did not grant any magic to the humans.
They were the sole race in the world to not receive a gift.
Human workers were put out of jobs en masse as dwarven magic replaced thousands of hands' worth of labor. Economic inequality rose within those four short years since the Advent and the human disdain towards the dwarves grew at terrifying rates. Ultimately power rules, and the military soon became divided. The gifted dwarves were placed in a category of their own while the ungifted and humans were grouped on a lower rung.
What this means is that right now, every gifted soldier is fighting to keep the invaders at bay while the rest were told to evacuate. Of course, not everyone could just take this lying down.
Those that are powerless know better than anyone else just how much it hurts to be told they're a burden… that they need to run.
"Cleve, we need to go now!"
"Will, if you don't shut your mouth and help me move this, I'll kill you before whatever the fuck they are gets you first." Cleve said as he pointed towards the creatures spitting flames from the sky in the distance.
"Tch, this is it. After this, me and Alice are running" Will said as he threw his bag towards his wife Alice next to him.
"One… Two… THREE!" Cleve yelled as they both moved the large piece of collapsed roof that blocked the doorway to the house in front of them. Cleve put his hands on his legs as he breathed in heavily, feeling his older age before speaking, "I was born here in Balkan, Will, you know that. I can't leave until I know everyone around here got out okay, I'm doing what I feel is right no matter the cost… I'm doing the thing that I would regret not doing. You-" he said as he pointed towards Will, "-should just do what you think is right. If you want to run with Alice, run. You're a coward, you've always been one. If you can't help it… If everything in your body is screaming at you to run, then I won't blame you," Cleve said as he walked into the house, "But if even one part of you says that you should be helping me look for survivors and you still choose to run, I don't think I could ever forgive you for that," leaving them behind, Cleve disappeared into the house and out of earshot of Will and Alice.
Will stared at Cleve's back and felt a pit in his stomach. He turned the situation over and over in his head before finally yelling out in frustration. After taking a breath, he turned to his wife, "This is the last one, we've already searched so many. Alice, no matter what, we're running after this. Even if Cleve wants to keep going, we're just going to have to leave him behind."
Alice nodded and they both entered the house chasing after Cleve.
The reason Cleve chose this house versus so many others was because it had partly collapsed. The entire front half looked caved in, and he could see the beginning of a fire in the back. He had specifically been looking for damaged houses because they would be the most likely place to find people that couldn't help themselves.
People that were injured.
He began bursting through doors in the house looking for signs of people when he heard a stifled cry coming from one of the rooms. As he opened the door, he realized it was a bedroom and that the roof had fallen in.
On the ground next to a small bed lay a little girl covered in debris.
Cleve threw himself onto the ground throwing everything he could pick up behind him.
"H-hey, can you hear me? Please say something," he said as he quickened the pace, but she wasn't responding.
The little girl was barely conscious and couldn't see because of the dust and tears flowing out of her. The pain made her cry but more than anything, she was just terrified.
[I'm… I'm so scared], she thought as she fought against the overwhelming fear pouring out of her
[Please! I'm so scared. Mom, please save me!]
She squeezed the wooden bear in her right hand tighter than she ever had before. It was the bear that she took everywhere. Whenever she felt down or scared, it gave her the courage to push forward.
She could even overcome her fear of the dark, as long as she had it with her.
".....!!!!" The dark shadow in front of her seemed to scream out.
Against the flickering orange around her, it looked as if the shadow was dancing.
"...!!!!!"
[M-Mom?! I can't hear you!]
She was lying face up on the floor, and the shapes around her were beginning to take form. She was in her family's bedroom, on the floor next to her own bed. She still couldn't make out what the shadows or flickering orange around her was, but for some reason she could see the stars right above her.
Stars sitting in a far-off sky, where the roof of her house should've been.
"Shit, Will! In here!" Cleve yelled as Will ran into the room. "Help me lift this quick, I can't do it myself."
"H-holy crap," Will said just standing there, looking at the little girl's leg that was turned the wrong way.
"Hurry! What the hell are you standing there for?!"
[What? I can't hear you]
"Lift!"
[Who are you?]
"Hurry! Alice, pick her up!"
"What about her legs?! She's bleeding everywhere!" Alice screamed.
"We don't have the time!" Will snapped, "Just pick her up! We've got to run!"
[Why is everything so dark?]
"What about her parents?" Alice asked as she reached down to pick the girl up.
Cleve rushed to his feet and looked around the room only to see the corner of a bed barely poking out from underneath the rubble. He saw the blood-soaked floor and shook his head.
"M-mo…m" The little girl weakly let out.
"She spoke! She's alive! Can you hear me?! Hey… I sa… ca.. y… h… …"
[Mom! Is that you?! I can't…]
"Tch damnit, now she's dead Cleve. We should be running! Saving our own lives, not searching houses until we get ourselves killed!"
"Shut it, Will. She's only passed out. Leave if you're not going to help. Alice, let me have her."
"Screw you Cleve, I'm out of here. Have fun dying for people you barely know," Will said as he and Alice ran off to join the crowd of people fleeing, leaving Cleve in the house alone with the unconscious girl.
Cleve looked around and all he saw was fire. The numerous screams and mangled corpses he had already seen while searching for survivors made him nauseous, but the deafening explosions around him that shook the very depths of his soul kept him from losing it.
"Damnit, she's going to bleed out," Cleve said as he ripped a blanket up from off the floor to wrap her wounds.
Both of her legs had already been broken when the roof fell on her, and her right leg was almost completely severed. Cleve was already covered in blood by the time he finished wrapping her legs.
BOOM
Screams rang out from the street as debris and flames spread out from the point of impact. The explosion was a few houses away, but the shockwave was enough to make the entire structure around Cleve creak and begin to collapse.
Cleve picked the girl up and dove through a hole in the wall that used to be a window.
"Agh!" He yelled out in pain as he landed on his back to protect the girl he had in his arms.
He laid there for a moment before looking south and seeing nothing but fire rain from the sky. He laughed to himself before letting the despair take over.
"What the hell… am I supposed to do against that?" he asked towards the smoke-filled sky directly above him.
He closed his eyes before gritting his teeth as he stood up, bringing the girl into his arms in a bridal carry. Cleve had already helped a few people, but he now knew that he wouldn't be able to save anyone else. If he tried to keep on searching, the girl he carried would die in his arms. He's not strong either. If it came to a fight, he would be killed. He knew that, but he still wanted to do as much as he could. Cursing his own powerlessness, he turned north and began to run.
He ran through the back alleyways before he heard something get thrown to the ground around the corner he was at. He could see the flickering of fire, but he just assumed it was the sound of another collapsing building.
As he turned the corner, he realized just how wrong he had been. Standing with its back towards Cleve was a creature taller than him holding a small dwarf by the throat.
"Weh uhrhgel!" The creature spat as his hands glowed red, incinerating the dwarf before dropping its charred remains. "Upu? Keygu?" He said as he turned towards Cleve.
The longer Cleve stared at this creature the more fear he felt. Black eyes, red skin, large wings, fire. He knew in an instant that this thing had to be a part of whatever it was that was destroying Balkan and murdering his people.
"Wesmpsgenm!" The creature spat once more.
His voice was grating, like chains rattled against a hollow floor. Every word it spoke was full of malice. Even if Cleve didn't understand the words it was speaking, he knew the intonation. It was like the creature was looking at trash.
Something disgusting.
Something worth destroying.
The creature opened his hand and collected the fire that sprawled all around him before throwing his hand forward.
A wall of flame, instant death, rushed towards Cleve.
And then…
⁂
It sounded like thunder, the noise that woke me up.
I tried to push the covers off myself before wincing at the sheer amount of pain coming from my head. It's already been a few years, so I'm pretty used to this by now. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean it hurts any less.
[[Bend before I break you, human trash!]]
"Fuck off," I said out loud, with no one else to hear.
[[You're no use to me as a corpse-]]
BOOM
The windows to my room shook violently and the voices began to recede as I came to realize that 'this' wasn't a hallucination. The sound echoed across the capital and red light flooded my room as I pulled my window curtains aside.
It was the first time I had ever seen these flares being used so it took a second of me staring at it to realize what was going on.
Red signified blood.
War.
South meant it came from the city of Balkan.
A cry for help.
A plea that would go unanswered.
Not because we didn't want to help, but because the distance made it imposs-
"Prince Aeric!" I heard through my bedroom door, "Pardon me, Prince Aeric. An emergency has arisen, please wake up at once! I repeat, an emergency has-"
"I heard you the first time," I said as I pulled the door open, yawning.
"Ah- I see, you must have already been awake, my apologies. I will take you to the council room at once, but uhm… please put some clothes on first."
Hm?
I looked down to find myself completely naked, not wearing any of the clothes I went to bed in.
"Sorry, it happens sometimes," I said, waving the messenger off before shutting the door.
I pulled the covers completely off my bed to find my clothes lying there.
"Why do you do this, Raal?" I thought to myself… no, asked myself. Of course, I wouldn't get a reply.
The voices never answer back.
They only speak to me, never with me.
…Anddddd they also occasionally strip me of my clothes in the middle of the night, although that's 'Raal's' doing and not the others.
I grabbed the pajamas, knowing full well I could've grabbed something nicer from the closet, and put them on. As I pulled both arms through my shirt, I made my way towards the window that painted my room red… and I just stared.
It might've been a minute, or it might've been ten. It was only when I realized the sky had grown dark again that I yanked the curtains shut and walked away.
I had searched my memory trying to take a wild guess as to what might've happened in Balkan when I stumbled upon an answer that gave me pause.
No, sorry. I didn't stumble upon it. One of the bastards within me had made a suggestion.
"I'll be pissed if you're right…" I barely let out. I reached underneath my pillow and grabbed the weapon that laid beneath it before opening the door and meeting the escort outside.
"This way," he said, leading me through the castle as if I didn't grow up within its filthy reaches.
After a few turns the halls became muddled with people both standing and racing past us as we walked.
"P-please quicken the pace prince Aeric, this is an utter emergency."
"..."
"Did you hear me? I said-"
I guess he was saying something, but I wasn't really paying attention. I didn't ignore him out of malice, I just happened to place my attention elsewhere. The council room's door had just come into view, and I found myself staring at one of the women walking inside. I locked eyes with her for a moment, but she turned away and kept walking without even acknowledging my presence.
Now that was done out of malice.
I sighed before placing my hand on the escort's head in front of me. He wasn't a dwarf; he was just short and since I'm rather tall it kind of just happened. It was like I was hitting the service bell when you can't find the innkeeper.
"Hey buddy," I said, cutting him off from whatever he was saying, "Can you grab me a tea? No sugar. Thanks," I said before walking towards the door leaving him behind.
I think I might've heard something snap but I didn't turn around to find out.
As I opened the door, the entire room came into view.
There must've been every important person in the capital within this room right now with more still pouring in from wherever they had to be woken up from.
I saw King Haryon, my father, the human king of Anglest, sitting on one side of the ovular table still in his pajamas. Across from him sat the dwarven king of Anglest, King Nurakheal, looking rather dressed up.
Our kingdom, the one I'm supposed to inherit one day, is a diarchy. Two kings rule the country with a council to handle everyday affairs. Without the final approval of both kings, nothing major is allowed to happen in this country. This is one of the principles the kingdom of Anglest was built upon to uphold a sense of fairness between our two races after we gave the dwarves refuge following Beg's war.
As I walked in, a few eyes turned my way before reverting back to the people currently yelling across the table. I took comfort in the fact that most people ignored me. Ever since I fled the capital a few years back, my hatred for the title of prince has only grown. I hate having to feel like I'm important, having that forced upon me. I hate entering a room only for conversations to stop… Only for-
Wait, what am I doing?
I could already feel the itching of irritation come over me as I thought about these things. It was like sticking my own hand in fire, so I stopped doing it.
I took a breath and started walking towards the back of the room where my favorite spot was. There are usually some empty chairs that I put in a row and lay across. I made it halfway there before my father interrupted the conversation at hand, silencing the room with his boisterous voice.
"My son! Join the table at once!" he said, turning all eyes towards me.
Sigh…
Never mind, that's why I was thinking so hard about it. As of late, my father has been dragging me into everything. He used to keep his eyes shut towards anything I used to do no matter how selfish my actions were, but something changed. I guess a part of me foresaw him pulling me into the council…
Maybe I should change my title from prince to fortune teller…
I stopped in my tracks and turned towards him, "But father," I let out in a desperate attempt to negotiate, "I'm too inexperienced. It would be presumptuous to think that I could add something of value to this council. Please continue the discussion while I stay out of the way, specifically over there," I said as I pointed towards the three empty chairs I like to make into my home.
"Aeric," my father's tone was unshaking and clearly making a demand, not a request.
With all the attention I was now getting I decided to concede, and I made my way towards the empty chair at his left. As I lowered myself into it, I felt my head begin to tear apart from the inside once more.
[[You should kill the kings.]]
{N-no, don't listen to him!}
I could hear two of the ones that I recognize going at it from within me.
{Aeric, you're a good person. Don't listen to him, it's not too late to-}
"Is it happening again?" my father asked beneath the council's voices echoing across the room as he put a hand on my shoulder.
I let out a disheartened "yeah" before leaning down and burying my head into my arms against the top of the table. I didn't hear him say anything back, but it's not like he 'actually' cares. Everything he's done since I came back from years away has been at odds with everything I knew about him.
It felt fake.
Not once growing up had he ever been a caring father, he was unrelentingly cruel. In fact, he's spoken to me more since I've returned then everything before that combined. I'm sure what he's really worried about is succession. When my older brother Alaric went missing on my tenth birthday I think my father placed all of his bets on him returning. I can't blame him; Alaric was perfect in every way.
He was the perfect successor.
But after I disappeared too, reality must have hit him. Nobody except me has seen Alaric in the past nine years and I guess my father's sights have finally fallen on me, the second son.
Even though my father has changed drastically, I've changed even more. No… I was forced to change.
"SILENCE!" the room shook as dwarven King Nurakheal interrupted the argument taking place. He paused before turning to the woman at his side, "General Krimm, please continue."
"Yes, my king. As I was trying to say, we're still waiting on a full report. I've already put the garrison on alert and a reactionary force is being formed as we speak. Messengers have also been sent to Crale and every other province in our kingdom. I've sent the fastest earth-runner I could to meet any of the others coming from Balkan to bring the news back. I expect we'll know everything from who attacked us to the status of Balkan in a few hours," General Krimm finished never once straying for her matter-of-fact tone she always held during meetings.
"Hmm… I'll assume that the 'city line' failed?" King Nurakheal turned towards Flore, a dwarf, and the lead engineer within the kingdom.
"Y-yes sir. Construction wasn't entirely complete yet. In theory, we should've been able to relay communications between Balkan and here, the capital, within a matter of minutes. It was about a month away from completion, my king."
"I see. That's unfortunate. As of now Flore, I want every available engineer to complete the city line between here and Crale. Are we in agreement, Haryon?"
"Yes, Nurakheal. I would've suggested it myself if you hadn't brought it up," my father nodded.
The council and the kings continued to discuss this and that, awaiting the news from Balkan. The tension might not seem high, but that's just because we knew nothing. We're in the dark and it's not like anyone here could fathom how dire the situation was.
I kept my head down and just listened, never once intervening.
"Do you think it was bandits?" Naan, the head financial advisor of the kingdom, poked my shoulder and asked from beside me. I thought it was kind of a stupid question, but I indulged her because I know that's just the kind of person she is.
"I doubt it," I said as I turned my head to face her, not once raising it up. "The military has done a pretty great job of cleaning out the area around Balkan. None of the major gangs exist anymore and I doubt any of them would have the strength to warrant using a red flare."
"Really? Wait… If I remember correctly, weren't you there when that one gang from Rancor got toppled?" I could feel myself tense up when she mentioned it, "Yeah, those slavers. Oh… I forgot their names already. Hmm… That being the case, I guess I should take your word for it since you'd probably know better than most, my prince."
"I told you to just call me Aeric, stop with the 'my prince' stuff." I lightly scolded her, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, "And besides, I didn't do much back then so I'd feel better if you kept my involvement with that to yourself."
She caught me off-guard mentioning that incident, since I thought the extent of her knowledge and involvement with the kingdom had to do with its money, not the matters of a rogue prince. I made a mental note to keep an eye on Naan, that bloodied-mess shouldn't have been known to many.
Normally that kind of news, a prince destroying a slave band, would be known to everyone. However, a lot was going on at the time. It's only been three months since I returned to the capital and after being missing for five years, half the kingdom had thought I was dead.
Mira, the girl that disappeared alongside me, and I joined a group that took down that slave band outside of Balkan. However, everything that could've gone wrong did.
Shortly after that, I kind of uhm… slipped up… and got recognized which reignited the nationwide manhunt for me until I was ultimately found in Crale to the east, the second largest city within our kingdom.
The surveillance on me since then has been harsh. But of course, my father can't have the only successor he has disappearing once again.
As I thought about the past, those years I spent gone, I found my eyes had landed on Mira. The same woman who ignored me earlier.
I watched her as she sat in silence across the room in a chair against the wall, not a part of the council's table. It's not like she's particularly important, she's just like me…
The child of someone who is important, nothing more.
BAM
The council room doors slammed open as a dwarf slid into the room with smoke rising from his feet.
"G-get back here!" yelled one of the guards who ran into the room, chasing after the dwarf. The guard grabbed the dwarf who was out of breath from behind and pulled his sword up to the dwarf's neck.
"Get on your knees before I-"
"Lower your sword!" General Krimm stood up and commanded.
"B-but he-!"
"That's an order," her eyes burned into the soldier.
"Y-yes ma'am! My apologies," the guard quickly removed the sword from the dwarf's throat and anxiously bowed before shuffling away.
Normally, no one would ever question the general. She's known as the Iron Dragon and is one of the strongest humans in this country. In most, she inspires nothing but fear. But looking behind the guard, at the hole in the castle wall, I couldn't blame him for getting ahead of himself.
As the council doors shut behind the dwarf still gasping for air, the general turned towards him. "Trok, report. Why have you returned already?" she asked. According to the general, Trok shouldn't have been back for hours. Even more worrying was the fact that Trok had used his magic to scale the castle walls and reach the council room as fast as he could with no regards for anything else.
"B-Balkan," he began, still trying to catch his breath, "...There's nothing left."