[Warning: Violent Depiction]
The air was thick with a strange, sour tang, almost like someone had spilled a week-old stew across the battlefield and left it to simmer in the sun.
Argider stood there, pale as winter's first frost, her eyes unfocused as if they were stuck somewhere far, far away.
The mess around her was surreal, like one of those wild, twisted dreams where you can't move, no matter how hard you try.
Then, out of nowhere, a shadow blocked the moonlight above her.
"What on earth are you staring at?" Denzelle's voice broke in, almost too cheerful for the scene.
He extended a hand, sweeping low with a flourish that suggested he was inviting her to dance, rather than helping her up from the midst of… well, all this. His smile was uncomfortably charming, especially given that he was head-to-toe in sticky, unmentionable substances.
"Come on, Your Majesty," he said, his voice patient but with a mischievous glint. "Up you get."
Argider tried, but her legs had turned into limp noodles—very uncooperative noodles at that. She tried again and ended up back on her knees, her whole body shivering as if the chill from the night air had decided to set up permanent residence in her bones.
Around them, the chaos finally ebbed. The soldiers stood silent and still, each of them painted with a motley of dust, sweat, and, well, battlefield decor.
Not a Peliotusian in sight—except for the ones strewn about with an artistry that might have impressed a particularly macabre painter. Entrails littered the ground like ghastly confetti. Argider's stomach gave an ominous lurch.
"Easy, Your Majesty," came Uzak's voice as he appeared beside her, blocking her view with his broad frame, as if he were trying to shield her from the worst of it. She was grateful. Very grateful.
Meanwhile, the Imperial knights swept through the remains of the Peliotusians, confirming the identities of the fallen. However, something odd was amiss: the guards who'd been stationed at the outpost were nowhere to be found.
The whole scene felt far too orchestrated, as if someone had laid out a trap and waited patiently for them to step right into it.
Denzelle glanced back at Argider, who was now leaning half-heartedly against a female knight. He gave a lopsided grin, although his eyes held a shadow of concern. "Well, at least you've found yourself a gallant knight," he teased, adding just enough drama to his voice to take the edge off.
Argider managed a faint, barely-there smile, though her mind was still wandering back to the gruesome memories.
The knights regrouped, grim but resolved, and pressed onward through the city gates. The streets beyond were ghostly quiet, unnaturally so, like the whole place was holding its breath. Not a sound, not a flicker of movement.
What had once been a bustling marketplace was now nothing more than empty stalls and shuttered doors.
The Imperial knights exchanged tense glances. "They've already cleared out," one muttered, scowling as he surveyed the empty shops. "They didn't leave a single civilian behind."
The silence was pressing in from all sides, a heavy, unnatural stillness that hung in the air like a warning. Argider stumbled beside Uzak, her steps slow, her mind replaying the terrible scenes over and over.
She blinked, trying to shake off the fog, but the memories clung to her like a stubborn chill.
Then, as if to add a final punchline to this nightmarish joke, a low growl rippled from the shadows. Pairs of red eyes appeared in the darkness, narrowing with menace. The knights tensed, hands flying to their swords, eyes scanning the dim streets.
From the gloom emerged a crowd of beasts—hulking, sinewy creatures that prowled forward like they had all the time in the world. And at the head of this motley assembly, a massive, bearded man loomed, his face twisted into a sneer.
He practically oozed malice, and even the beasts around him seemed to defer to his authority.
"Well, well, well," he drawled, his tone as mocking as it was smug. "His Majesty himself has arrived. Or so I thought," he muttered, squinting as he looked closer, his sneer morphing into a frown as he realized that the "emperor" he'd expected was, in fact, a girl.
"A girl?" he spat, sounding as if he'd been personally betrayed by this information. The beasts shifted around him, claws scraping and teeth bared. "Is this a joke? Where is he? Where's the Emperor?"
Wow? Argider could only internally scoffed. I'll show you the man in me even without a stick!
The bearded man's scowl deepened, his fury now an almost palpable force as he drew in a breath that reverberated through the night.
"So be it!" he bellowed, voice harsh enough to make the stones tremble. "If you won't give us the Emperor, we'll tear it out of you, one by one! Attack them!"
The monstrous beasts surged forward, a wave of fur and fang and fury, tearing across the ground with unnatural speed.
Their snarls grew into roars as they charged, each step a thunderous warning, the air thick with the scent of bloodlust.
The Imperial knights barely had time to raise their shields as the beasts closed in, jaws snapping and claws slashing, hellbent on tearing the party apart in a ruthless, frenzied assault.