Through the narrow slit of his helmet, Clip saw it all, fire, blood, and destruction. Soldiers clad in black Erebus armor, their bodies drenched in blood, stood firm as a volley of arrows rained down upon them. The arrows that veiled the scarlet skies bounced harmlessly off their armor but found their mark in the dead that littered the battlefield crimson-armored corpses punctured and torn, draped across orange-red rocks.
Clip stood among the fallen, his foot resting on a corpse, a dark iron halberd twice his height impaled through the dead body puncture through what seemed to be stone armor. His other arm hung limp, damaged beyond use, and though he wore the same Erebus armor as his comrades, he felt weak, burdened by exhaustion and pain. Each step he tried to take felt heavy, his feet dragging across the scorched ground. In the distance, an oncoming cavalry of Aqua-blue lancers charged, their sheer numbers overwhelming. The first line alone could outnumber his forces by a hundred to one. The odds were hopeless, and Clip knew it.
Then something spoke to him, an entity in his mind something foreign urged him to retreat, to fall back. Around him, the soldiers began to move, falling into a defensive position. Heavy footsteps approached from behind, and when Clip turned, he saw them, dark shields emblazoned with a full circle enclosing an empty one, all within yet another full circle. The wielders of these shields were monstrous, three-armed creatures with coal-black skin, each holding spears over their defenses. Towering over Clip, they were as tall as his halberd, their size and power a stark contrast to his weariness and stature even in another world he is short.
As he scanned the battlefield again, Clip realized he was surrounded by creatures of darkness some in terrifying, twisted armor, others monstrous in form. Mouthless horrors, four-legged beasts, and towering knights with extra limbs and sharp, gnashing teeth. Despite their nightmarish appearance, they were still vastly outnumbered. Even if they managed to destroy the first wave of cavalry, there were countless more behind them. This battle was doomed.
"Are you well, Child Commander?" A faceless creature approached him, its hair-like tendrils floating in the air, its thorned, razor-tipped whips hanging loosely where arms should be.
"What did you call me?" Clip asked, but no words escaped his lips. He realized he had spoken in his mind. 'Lux, Nox, what's the situation?' he thought, but there was no response from his advisers.
"Child Commander, the heir of our former leader—are you not well? Are delaying the recovery time kf your wounds?" the creature repeated. Despite its lack of a mouth, its voice carried a strange, sincere concern.
"I'm fine," Clip responded, turning his attention back to the cavalry. The riders were nearly upon them now, and the soldiers around him, like him, were in poor condition. Their armor was cracked and pulsing with a strange golden-grey fluid, yet none of them wavered.
As the cavalry reached them, arrows of burning darkness shot through the air, piercing the enemy's armor. But the horses, armored and relentless, continued their charge, trampling the fallen underfoot. Some of the shield-bearers slammed their shields into the ground, and spikes of shadow shot forward, impaling the riders. Dark knights slashed their swords through the air, creating burning arcs of energy that seemed to slice through reality itself, swallowing fragments of existence into a void of nothingness.
Clip, both amazed and perplexed, glanced at his halberd. He swung it in a wide arc, trying to summon the same dark power that his comrades wielded. After a moment of tense anticipation, nothing happened. He glanced around, only to find a few of his fellow soldiers staring at him, some snickering under their breath. A few chuckled openly, while others covered their mouths, stifling laughter. They were laughing at him, like a child imitating something far beyond his understanding.
A bit mbarrassed, he returned to his stance, pretending the moment never happened. Despite the grim situation, the small laughter seemed to raise the soldiers' spirits, however briefly.
But then, one by one, the shield-bearers fell. The once overwhelming cavalry had been diminished, but as Clip looked beyond he saw an army of silver-gold knights marching steadily forward, unhurried, as if the loss of their cavalry meant nothing to them.
As the last of the shield-bearers fell, a compulsion gripped Clip command, urging him to join the spear-line and charge. He resisted, feeling the invisible grip loosen and disappear. 'I'm not bound to obey these orders,' he realized.
Instead, Clip followed behind the spear they decimated any remaining calvery, limping along with them as they trailed the spear-line. 'What a pain,' he thought to himself, before suddenly feeling a snout nudge his back and then a large force lifted him off the ground. He looked down and realized he was now riding atop a massive wolf-like beast. The creature's size gave him a better view of the battlefield, where chaos reigned it fur soft a strange feeling to him.
The spear-line clashed with the silver-gold knights, their weapons piercing shields with some resistance. But something unexpected, happened blades of light shot from the silver knights, cutting through the Erebus soldiers with terrifying precision. The two forces clashed in an uneven battle, each Erebus knight taking down two or three enemies before crumbling into dust. The fight had truly turned against them.
Among the silver ranks, Clip spotted a rider in white-silver armor, a black plume adorning their helmet. The rider signaled to their troops, and as if in response to the chaos, they focused their forces toward a single point in the line—toward the black knight with a white plume, Clip.
The rider's gaze locked onto him. Confusion rippled through Clip's mind. 'Do they think I'm the commander?' He hoped not. But his hope shattered as the white rider signaled once more, directing a concentrated attack in his direction.
Before Clip could react, the beast he was riding on charged headlong toward the enemy rider. 'No, no, wait, wait—I'm not a commander!' Clip thought, but no words left his mouth. The beast beneath him sprinted forward, and Clip, resigned to the battle. 'Fine. Let's do this.'
They clashed in the center of the chaos. Clip swung his halberd in a practiced motion, cleaving through the rider's armored horse with startling ease. The rider tumbled to the ground, discarding his broken lance and drawing a longsword. Clip's wolf-like steed, impaled by the rider's broken lance, stumbled and collapsed, allowing Clip to dismount gracefully before it died. The beast's final moments were almost tender, as if it wanted to spare Clip the inconvenience of falling with it. Despite their brief time together, Clip felt an odd sense of loss, it's small kindness rubbed off on him.
No words were exchanged as the white rider simply charged at Clip with his gleaming sword.
Mustering the strength to bring his limp arm back to life Clip swung down aiming to split the rider in two. But steel met steel the rider parried his blow and closed the distance, slashing at Clip. Blocking with the handle, the blade sild along attempting to chop his fingers off. letting one hand go he deliver a punch to the rider's helmet, caving it in with a metallic crunch. The knight reeled back, groaning in pain.
Clip raised his halberd again, but his injured arm gave out, leaving him vulnerable. The rider recovered quickly, and before Clip could adjust his grip, he was struck from behind. The force dented his armor, and he swung back in retaliation, barely missing a retreating enemy.
More strikes followed him from behind again, this time, harder he swung behind himself again the enemy ducked under the swing cutting part of the black tail of the helmet plume, the knight thrusted his blade aimed for the cracks between the dark plate but the point was caught by a black twisted gauntlet.
The halberd was heavy in one hand but he still lifted it up ready to swing only to be caught by a chain of light and brought down. Clip looked back at the enemy the silver knight had a hand out stretched he felt a strike to his leg bring him to a knee he felt the blade in hand slipping through but their was no pain he felt a fluid spreading against his palm but no pain came with it.
Another chain wrapped around hand and chest the pulling him lower and lower he felt a blade being plunge into his back, armored bodies restrained his hand until the blade finally slipped through his grasp and buried itself into his throat, a gurgle came out, yet he still felt no pain but the forces that pushed him down to his knees he felt hands grabbing to push him to his knees.
He felt the steel leave his throat and the chaos around slowly went silent, Clip looked up and saw a person looking down on him with mirrors for eyes, short glimmering white hair it was a beautiful girl her face damaged with a scratch on their forehead carrying a caved in helmet with cut black plume.
He would die here his fate an unlucky beginning and a meaningless demise, Clip's face frowned a sense of disgust at his own mind and how he felt about his end festered within but what did he care like Nox said his life was sad their was nothing to do but bleed out as his arms were tied behind him.
His vision blurred as he glanced around. He saw knights in red and blue armor tying chains to the corpses, fastening them to their horses. Slowly, the armored horses began to trot forward, dragging the bodies across the blood-soaked ground as he finally lost.