Book 2 Ch 57: Wrath

Sergeant Aldon pulled a man back onto his feet as he started barking orders to the others.

“Get up, we need to press the advantage! The healer wasn’t the only priority target! The daze of the spell will only keep them all incapacitated for just a few minutes!”

Gunnar listened, placing his spear down to help the nearest mage up onto his feet. He’d never seen magic like that before. His own magicka channels were too thin to do more than light a fire or cleanse a bit of water, but that kind of pure energy was incredible. Just being near that concentrated power had left his whole body vibrating.

“Thank you,” said the mage in a ragged voice as he helped him up.

Gunnar nodded, noting the blood leaking from the man’s eyes and ears as he began to stumble into his planned retreat.

“Alright, let’s get past these trees and make sure that the target’s down!” yelled the Sergeant.

Gunnar picked his spear back up, cursing under his breath a bit as his boot got caught in muck. He hated this fucking swamp. The fighting to conquer Vyndar had been much better. Sure there were some mountains and hills, but he’d take that over all this kingforsaken mud any day. He didn’t know what King Castor saw in this land, but he wasn’t about to start questioning a man who had doubled Burndan’s territory in less than ten years. As he pulled himself free, grateful for the increased strength he’d received as a soldier, he looked toward where the blast had felled the trees, noting the perfect circles that had been carved to fell them. If he looked a bit above them, where their bottom halves remained, he could actually see through the trees and foliage all the way to the blue sky through a perfect circle created by the spell.

As he moved to catch up with the other soldiers he froze, a sense of intense dread hitting him. Everyone else had gone quiet as well.

“What-what are you waiting for? Clear out that front tree and let’s push!” yelled Sergeant Aldon, his voice trembling a bit.

The soldier closest to the tree swallowed and went to put his hands on the trunk of it.

A fiery sword cut through it in that moment, splitting the trunk and the soldier in front of it in a single blow.

Gunnar’s blood ran cold as their target burst through the trunk, stepping over the corpse of the soldier in front of him. His sword was covered in the golden fire he’d seen before and so was his shield. Golden flames were bleeding through the gaps in his armor as well, and the eyeslits of his helmet had them licking outward, making him look more like a possessed suit of armor than a living man.

The sergeant didn’t hesitate, he held up a hand and sent up a black burst signal. “Attack! For the glory of Burndan! For King Castor!”

The soldiers rallied in spite of their fear and charged forward. Even with the dread in his chest Gunnar managed to move, feeling buoyed as a number of titles settled on him.

The man in the golden flames began moving steadily toward the nearest of them. Canton tried to stab at him with his spear, but it seemed to shatter in the air in front of the man who then cut his head clean from his shoulders, his body bursting into golden flames as his sword hit him. Hinton tried to sweep the man’s legs with his spear, but it shattered against them without even causing their target to flinch and he smashed his shield into Hinton’s head, crushing his skull.

Their knights started to reach the target next, their already enhanced strength and speed benefitting the most from the sudden influx of titles. Gunnar didn’t know the knights, it wasn’t his place to, but he still felt horror as one of them went to block a blow from the healing knight only to have the healer’s sword shift into a mace mid-swing and cave in the man’s shield and arm in, immolating him as he crumpled into the muck..