Kassan's shield was facing the rank three locals, while his back was turned to the golden globe, with both sides firmly protected, he looked up where his mace used to be, his hand was suddenly grasping air, but the expression on his face was that of elation.
He closed his eyes and further stretched his hand into the air, the particles spread into every direction, like a flood, covering the battlefield.
"Stop the inferno!" the leader of the fire mages ordered, afraid that his people would get swept up in a terrifying backlash once Kassan's spell was unleashed.
A moment later the collaborative spell ceased, charred corpses and burning locals reappeared in everyone's vision, the onslaught was still seemingly far from over.
Every particle clung to whatever it touched, the Treemen and the rank threes on the ground, the Flyers in the air, the trees on the edge of the battlefield, the broken lanterns, nothing was left unaffected, nothing except for the golden barrier behind Kassan and everything within.
The particles formed into chains, tightly wrapping around those that were hit, then the chains shot towards another, forming a link between every local, and every object, quickly turning the spell into a spider's web, and all that were affected by it into trapped flies.
The locals of the swamp wriggled and shook, trying to escape their confines, the Treemen's vines lashed against the chains, the Flyers acid drenched them, and the fierce rank three creatures used their claws and teeth in an attempt to break free, but none of them were successful.
Kassan opened his eyes again, he was calm and collected, glancing across the battlefield, across the entirety of his spell.
Nothing had escaped his grasp; this was the turning point for their defence.
His men believed in him, and he believed in His Majesty's decision to station him in this plane, one that had nearly no natural way for him to replenish his light particles, the source of his strength, the same thing his armour and weapons were imbued with.
"Be gone!" Kassan shouted; the chains' glow became brighter, bloodcurdling shrieks escaped the locals' mouths as they too turned into the same hue of yellow.
Their struggling intensified, but no matter what they did, their efforts were in vain.
The entire web, together with its caught prey, became a radiant white, then with a poof the spell shattered, like broken glass, pieces split off from the whole and fell to the ground.
For a moment the Sunless Mire was brighter than ever before, but once all shards hit the ground, the darkness reclaimed the surroundings.
"Magnificent!"
"I could see the gods' radiance in this spell!"
The people within the protective globe praised the spell and its caster, their eyes glimmering with awe and respect.
Although many of the remnant particles the mace created were used in the spell, a big number of them were still aimlessly floating through the air…
Kassan looked at them, stretched out his arms to his sides, then breathed in deeply, the light particles moved towards him in response.
But Kassan wasn't preparing another spell, he wasn't gathering the particles for that purpose.
Instead, as they touched his skin, the particles disappeared on the spot!
After the remaining particles were gone, Kassan exhaled loudly, "This should be enough for another spell, maybe two if I am careful…" he didn't sound happy, the artefact he had to sacrifice, the one his king had given him, it was heavily weighing on his mind, but there was nothing else he could have done.
Kassan rubbed his temples, the only times when their camp was attacked, was whenever they tried to expand, to cut down the trees and push the swamp further away… but this was obviously not the case right now.
It was further north where a new outpost was supposed to be created, the two locations weren't nearly close enough to each other for this horde to have been the remnant of whatever overran the building squad.
But if these two events weren't connected, then what was the reason for the attack?
His mind immediately pictured the destroyed part of the swamp, but he had no idea what happened to cause that… "I will need to talk to those boys." Kassan thought of the two people that came to him, "Whatever the case may be, I need to report this as soon as possible."
He turned his back to the swamp and walked towards his camp, celebratory laughter came from within the globe, but that happy atmosphere froze just a moment later…
"Incoming! From the west!"
"Locals coming from the south!"
"Kassan! Behind you!"
He turned and frowned, Kassan hadn't stopped the attack, merely the advance party… Treemen, Flyers, the rank threes, every kind of local was coming for the camp!
"Two more spells to defend the camp…" Kassan mumbled, then looked down at his shield and armour, "No, maybe more…"
He gritted his teeth and tightly clenched the fist that was holding the shield, he took a deep breath to announce another order, to rouse morale, but the shaking of the ground caught him off guard.
Kassan took a moment to regain his balance, the shaking stopped, but only after a loud sound of earth bursting apart came from behind him!
His head spun again, his back turned towards the incoming horde, but that didn't matter anymore… within the centre of the camp, at the source of the sound, a panicked human shriek announced the arrival of something…
"THE PORTAL! PROTECT THE PORTAL!!" Kassan shouted, his demeanour no longer displayed confidence, and his voice carried a hint of unease and dread!
He slammed his palm against his chest, light particles burst out from the impact, and swiftly clung to his body, Kassan turned illusory, then disappeared on the spot.
The centre of the camp was in an uproar, "What is it doing to the portal?!"
"Doesn't matter! Kill it! Kill it before it can finish whatever its doing!"
Warriors surrounded by all sorts of colours stormed at the source of unease, at the source of the earlier sound.
The creature looked like a woman made of plants and vines, its entire body was green, the vines that acted as its hair were a bright blue, and across its body were many red flower petals, it had lips, eyes, and a nose.
Where the masked rank three creature fell short, this one was terrifyingly close to achieving a human physique, the only differing aspect, was its legs, there were none, instead, there was one long stalk, like the stem of a flower.
The end of the stem was hidden within the ground it was standing upon.
As the warriors sprinted at the intruder, vines protruded from the ground, breaking through the pathed stone.
They tangled around their feet, then pulled them into the air with ease, before tossing them across the camp!
"Fire mages! Get the fire mages!"
The creature paid the humans around it no attention, its focus was entirely on the giant closed flower bud where the portal used to be.
The bud didn't look like it would blossom any time soon, rather, it appeared like the creature was forcing the bud shut, to never open again!
"Don't you dare!" a young man roared, his voice was carried by a strong gale that threatened to uproot all the vines, as well as the big bud.
The plant woman shifted its focus, the attack too dangerous to ignore, the petals on its green skin began to glow dimly, then split off from its body and gathered in front of the closed bud, to protect it against the incoming wind.
Daren floated in the air; he growled while observing as his spell was practically repelled by the petal shield.
"Tch!" he clicked his tongue, then held out his hand into the direction of the plant lady, he forced his open hand into a fist, the wind particles around the creature shook and distorted.
Daren gritted his teeth, the pressure he was fighting against, the force that was keeping his hand from shutting was intense!
"Come on!" he roared as his fist closed, a popping sound could be heard, as the air around his target was beyond recognition, but it was clear that he had destroyed it!
He inhaled and recast his previous spell, trying to uproot the bud, yet the petal shield did not disappear… and not just that, but the ground quaked once again, the stone ruptured, to give way to another plant woman, an exact replica of the first!
"What!?" Daren was baffled, he became anxious, the bud was shrinking, whatever the plant lady was trying to achieve, they needed to stop it now!
A burst of white appeared on the ground below him, the particles took the shape of a human, Kassan!
"Ignore the creature! Focus on the plant!" he ordered Daren, the only person that could be of any help to him at the moment, while he was running at the bud with his shield in hand.
"Yessir!" Daren affirmed as he swooped in on the plant, nosediving right towards it using the wind that was carrying him.
The petals of the new creature also detached themselves, now forming a second shield, completely blocking off Daren's vision of the bud.
The plant lady's stem extended, allowing her to move further away from her position, and move between the bud and Kassan.
"Out of my way monster!" Kassan continued running, he used his momentum to slam the shield against the creature.
The shield hit the creature's body, but it was Kassan who recoiled from the impact, "Why does this plane have only physically strong beings?!" he complained as yellow and white particles appeared before him, "Last one!" he told himself.
The plant woman pushed through the particles, causing Kassan to smile, but his vision was suddenly filled with red!
"Argh! My eyes!" he roared; his empty hand shot up to his eye sockets, immediately touching upon a fresh liquid…
"Sir!" Daren changed his trajectory to go and help the man, but he stopped midway through, the light particles Kassan summoned condensed, taking the shape of swords that aimlessly and indiscriminately attacked their surroundings, slashing apart the plant lady, and cutting the shrinking bud into many small pieces!
The swords halted their movements, and Daren took this opportunity to swoop in and pick up Kassan, bringing him away from the second corpse of these creatures, just in time to evade the third, the fourth...
More of them kept popping out of the ground, looking no different from the previous ones, almost perfect copies.
"What is happening?! I can't see!" Kassan spoke to Daren, who was putting some distance between them and the monsters.
"They keep appearing Sir! There must be some sort of nest beneath the ground!" Daren answered.
Kassan covered his eyes with his hand, "Shit!" he cursed, "What about the portal?!"
Daren just breathed in sharply, the silence was killing Kassan, "It- it is gone, Sir…"
Both of them fell silent for a moment, their hearts dropped as the meaning of the portal's disappearance was sinking in.
Their access to Aventia, their only way home… it was gone.
"The locals are still closing in on the camp! What- What should we do?" Daren pressed Kassan for an order, this situation was impossible, like a dream, or rather, a nightmare come true, yet exactly such a situation was where they needed a leader, someone with a cool head to decide their next course of action.
He led the church's warriors and several mages for years now, who else could they turn to?
Who else could be their eye of the storm?
Kassan gathered his breath, his eyes were shut, blood was running down his cheeks from out of his sockets, "EVERYONE! LISTEN UP!"
The collective that was the camp looked up at him, his shining armour, and the fact that he was flying thanks to Daren, made him look like the incarnation of a god, a sun in a sunless world.
"RETREAT! ABANDON THE CAMP! PRIORITISE YOUR LIVES!" Kassan ordered all those below him, their breaths were bated, some covered their mouths, others feared for their lives.
"HEAD TO THE DEAD PART OF THE SWAMP! I WILL HOLD THEM BACK!" he announced, his people were moved, and though they were more than willing to sacrifice themselves for Kassan, they knew he wouldn't want that to happen.
His kindness for his soldiers, his allies, it was a well-known fact among his people.
They heeded his words and began to evacuate, people helped up the injured and exhausted, the golden globe disappeared as the priests too left with the rest.
No locals were coming from the direction of the dead swamp, this much Kassan knew from when his vision was still intact, whatever the reason for that might have been, he had to gamble on this decision of his.
"I will not leave you here!" Daren objected, firmly holding onto the man.
"Someone has to do this! The more people that get away, the higher their chances of survival!" Kassan argued.
"Still! Without you, who could possibly lead the remaining bunch?! There aren't any other humans in this plane with your strength, and the trust your followers have in you!" Daren countered, refusing to lower the man to the ground.
Kassan sighed, "Without my eyes I am unable to properly lead them…"
"But you can still be healed! Have some hope! Hell! If you need eyes to show your strength, let me be them!" Daren complained, "Maybe you can't see, but I can! This is not the time for some heroic sacrifice!"
Kassan went quiet… he used his empty hand to feel his armour, his shield, "Your Highness… I am sure you would understand… This is no time to be stingy."
"Alright! Be my eyes! Direct my attacks! Let us build a mountain with corpses tonight!"
… …
Back in Astafor the atmosphere was just as heavy, King Lysander Van Tale was sitting at one end of a long table, the same one he usually used to dine at, and although the table was adorned with expensive decor, there was no food on his menu.
On the sides of the table were many seats, each one occupied by a prince, or princess that he had given birth to.
They varied in age, height, looks and strength, but all of them had one thing in common… the desire to become the successor, the next ruler of Astafor, and therein, humanity.
Immediately to King Lysander's right sat a woman, her long brunette hair was carefully tucked behind her ears, she looked as innocent as can be, but her gaze was filled with scorn, directed at a man at the far end of the table with hair that was as grey as ash, his eyes were only half open, he looked sleepy.
"Is Dalton sleeping?" the man next to the brunette woman whispered into her ears, his tone wasn't one of mockery, or ridicule, but rather intrigue… all heirs were fighting for supremacy, and here there was a prince, so unafraid of this situation that he was nearly dozing off next to his competition.
"You know as well as I do, that our dear brother is just acting, Arlin." she whispered back to the man.
He had hair as dark as the night, but clear blue eyes that shone like gems, charisma was written all over his face.
Hearing his dearest sister's answer, he smiled, Princess Ren and Prince Dalton were his greatest enemies in this competition.
The former was older than him, the oldest of all of His Highness' children in fact, which was why she was seated the closest to him.
While the latter was a fox in human form, scheming and cruel, acting came as naturally to him as he could breathe, but the same went for his sister, and himself.
"My dear children, it is time to begin the election process for my successor." King Lysander spoke, causing everyone present to keep their mouths closed.
The king's opinion was a big factor when it came to the decision, so not one of them was willing to risk painting a negative picture in his presence.
"You are all of my blood. I can tell that your hearts are burning with desire with just one look… but not all of you. This competition involves cruelty, deception, and perhaps even murder. I know, because I too had to partake in this process to become what I am today."
"Not all of you will like the idea of harming your siblings, those that you have bonded with since young. As such, here is your only chance of foregoing the election process… concede your right of participation."
"Raise your hand if you wish to abdicate your claim to the throne." King Lysander spoke, and a few hands were truly raised, three princes and two princesses removed themselves from the competition.
The remaining participants' eyes practically gobbled them up… though they could no longer vie for the throne themselves, they still had their own strength, connections, and money!
Which would make them the perfect allies to improve ones' chances of attaining the crown.
King Lysander nodded, "So be it. You five will be removed from the election. You may leave." his own gaze turned unkind.
The five hushed out of the room, the other candidates were staring holes into their backs until they vanished, "Now my children. The lambs have left the competition. Only wolves are left. I need not mention the ways and measures you are required to take to succeed but know that you are not exempt from laws due to your status alone."
"Should you be caught and sentenced guilty of a crime, there will be no exceptions to your punishment, even if it may impact your performance or chances to the throne." His Highness announced, his voice as cold as an icy tundra, his empathy left the room along with his children that abstained from the killing.
"The process to select the heir to my, to humanity's kingdom, begins."