In the City of Alcemia…
Walls barely on their last legs, brittle down with endless attacks from the foes that are relentless. People were dying every day, things were getting rough for everyone inside Alcemia.
Evident cracks run through the very stone of the wall. The barricade that defends the citizens of Alcemia was being edged upon by arrows and artillery every day by the Lizards and Arachnids that leaves no one in Alcemia rest.
"It has been a week or even more, I can't count but the toll at which we lose our forces at a high rate!" A loud voice echoed through the room.
"But uncle, we don't have anyone at the moment that could help us, the forces that were supposed to come here days ago have no feedback, Tuscan and Vince are bedridden and our best mages are drained of their mana" An innocent subtle voice responded to Francis
"Listen, Alicia, you should go to the Capital before the city falls to ruin."
"And leave you behind? No uncle I'll stay and fight. I can still summon more, and make more contracts. Uncle, you cannot do this alone!"
Alicia has known Francis since she was a child, he was the reason why Alicia has come to know the military so well. She met him when she was still four years old all innocent and pure.
Ever since then, Francis would come to visit Alicia whenever he would come to her father's house for talk and business. Francis even visited her on his day off.
The two share an inseparable bond. Alicia has known him almost entirely her whole life as far as she remembers. Francis taught her some magic and sword stances until she officially became a summoner.
"No Alicia, my decision is final. Your father would not want you here and so do I, so please go home to the capital. The kingdom would need you in the future Alcemia would fall today"
Francis was a high-ranking officer that was assigned to the City of Alcemia, the city that was hailed for its defense had lost most of its defensive power from the traitor that killed the best of each field that they have. Summoner, Mage, and Tamer
Francis is known to be a tough person that would be able to crack soldiers' morale and rally them to his will.
He has a strong sense of justice and safety for the citizens. Everything he does would be dedicated to the whole kingdom and letting all live and survive in peaceful times.
The city was in a dire situation as it continued to relentlessly receive attacks without rest for its forces to succumb to despair and fatigue. The military in its own right has a strict and disciplined way of keeping its forces in line and maintaining its power as Moonglades defenders.
There are two human kingdoms; Solstice and Moonglade. These two kingdoms are rivals with each other yet they share the purpose of survival, they wish to preserve the humanity in which they would carry.
The Kingdom of Solstice is a powerful kingdom that is second in terms of power with Moonglade with them praising the sun as their God.
They worship the Sun God that brought them light and shed everything in the darkness. They believe that whatever the light touches is for them to protect and nurture.
It has four cities including its own capital. In recent years they have been steadily growing in terms of strength and technical ability but would not come close to Moonglade in terms of their workaholic attitude and determination that was embedded in their culture.
The Solstice citizens believe that the sun shall bring light and joy to those that would be shared by the holy light that it brings.
The Kingdom of Moonglade in which the City of Alcemia resides is a place that has a valued work ethic with strict discipline, and proper government, and the military that would be there would be considered to be superior in terms of numbers and strength even the beastfolks would have a hard time breaking through.
Evident to the fact that even though the spiders and lizards continued to push their way through it was still not possible for them to go inside the city with the tenacity and perseverance of the Alcemia. They worship the Moon as their God, contrary to the Sun God.
They believe that whatever the moonlight touches will need to protect to keep the safe haven and peace of the night. They have a tight culture when it comes to night as they value the tranquility that it brings.
They have five cities including their capital which is higher than Solstice, however it would probably change to four if the City of Alcemia were to fall in the siege of the Beastfolks.
Alicia and Francis continued to argue in the hopes that she would return to the main capital to seek help and safety as he will buy them time for their escape.
It was a practical move since all of the citizens inside the city has been evacuated as it was decided that it was too risky for them to wait for reinforcements to come to their aid.
In the midst of their argument, a loud bang went through the door. A footman went inside with exhausted eyes and a tired body from all the fighting that happened.
"Sir Francis we have bad news, Sir Tuscan and Sir Vince are gravely injured and were rushed to the infirmary."
"What?! Give me the report, what happened outside"
"Sir, The Lizards, and Spiders launched a surprise attack with their forces combined, it was an unexpected assault that cause a lot of damage to our forces, it happened so fast, and weren't fast enough to react fast and lost more than half of what we have left. At most sir, the personnel count rounds up to at least a thousand people left for defending the City."
"Well shit, prepare everyone especially mages, and archers to the walls and call everyone on the frontline, we will hold our last on the walls. It is the only way we can possibly survive the siege. What is the estimated size of the enemy on the field?"
"I don't know Sir, it is difficult to communicate with everyone from the panic in this situation."
'Damn, even our chain of command is broken, now information from the scouts is hard to know. It won't be long until they would storm the city, the only hope would be to stall and hopefully, Frederick would arrive.'
"Then just go call everyone and have the soldiers on the battlefield retreat, we aren't winning this battle. We just need to hold the line. Tell them reinforcements will arrive soon, and it will get brighter in the near future, for the Glory of Moonglade, May the light of the night shine bright."
"Yes Sir, May the light of the night shine bright"
The soldier hurriedly left the room where Francis and Alicia were talking. It was quite well known to everyone that Alicia is like a daughter to Francis as he guided her all the way to how she is right now.
"Alicia—"
"No, uncle, I have to stay and I have made my decision. Sir, Tuscan and Sir Vince are probably out of commission for a while you need every help that you can get."
"But…I know it would be hard for you but, I told your father to protect you while I can still move"
"Uncle, The best way to protect someone is to be by their side, I will sweat that I will not do something reckless, and besides you know me I am quite capable with everything"
Alicia placed a smug face as she ended her statement with her history of achievements backing her.
Sighed. "Alright then I would allow this preposterous proposal of yours to slide, however when things would be dire enough for everyone, I want you, to run away from this place as far as possible."
"Yes Sir!"
"Vice-Captain Alicia, in this dire situation I would give you a temporary rank of Captain that is of equal standing and the highest officer as of the moment in this City, your decision will affect how the city will prevail from now on"
"EH? Wa—Wait, Uncle, Why me? Eh?"
"I need every help I can get Alicia you are the one who said it and you also said you can do a lot more things than most right now. So I ask you as an old man to help me in this final stand of mine"
"I-I'll try my best Sir, Thank you"
And with that Alcemia has gained hope from the prowess of Alicia and for the future that she would give to the City.