You find yourself on a large plain, mostly devoid of plant life. The reason for which immediately becomes evident, you are in the midst of a large battle. The battle being waged appears to have been going on for some days. Lightning crackles across the darkened sky, briefly illuminating a desperate struggle between the forces of light and darkness.
At present, you are engaged with a number of undead. In fact, you seem to be surrounded by a rather large regiment of lesser undead. You are not alone in this battle, but it is obvious that those who fight alongside you are outclassed by the lesser undead. One by one they fall under the blades of the vile creatures. But still they look to you, your armor shining bright, like that of a beacon guiding a ship through the worst storm on the blackest night.
Slowly and painfully, the tide begins to turn in your favor as the lesser undead fall back from your righteous wrath. The sword in your hands flashing brighter as each creature’s soul is sent to its final resting place.
Just when this battle looks as though it will soon be over, a new host of greater undead joins the field. Wraiths and ghasts flow over the battle, taking delight as each member of your army falls at their touch. Within minutes victory is snatched from your grasp and you begin to fight a desperate retreat, protecting your soldiers as best you can.
Soon your retreat has brought you closer to the other champions that fight at your side. As one, the seven of you rally your troops to the best of your ability. The strength of your faiths protects all of you from the vile creatures’ evil touch and you turn what was a rout into a holding action.
An unexpected rumbling sound is carried in your direction. A momentary pause in the battle allows a quick scan of the area. The sound is not that of a change in the weather, it is that of a new army joining the battle. From out of the south, an army of light charges into the war, cutting a swath through the evil horde.
Once again, defeat begins to give way to victory. But as this battle has shown, victory can be fleeting indeed, for displaying a power that is beyond comprehension; Preto, Vermelho and Caeruleus the Titans appear. The ground shakes as they stride into battle, their massive forms shaking the very earth. You stare in amazement knowing that you are among beings that rival the Gods themselves.
As the army of light continues its advance, Vermelho opens his mouth and breaths a jet of flame. It arcs high above the army of darkness to strike just in front of the army of light; a brilliant flash of light momentarily blinds you. Your mind tries to take in the overwhelming power of the vision you see as the deafening sound, blast of air and heat from this explosion slams into you. Amazingly enough you do not loose your footing.
As the dust settles where the explosion occurred, you see that a large portion of the army of light no longer exists. What once was a host of brilliantly armored men and horses, now only blacked husks remain. But the army of light still fights against the darkness. You continue the fight, exhausted from no rest over the past few days, knowing that only your faith has kept you going when ordinary men would have long ago fell.
The ground shakes close by as you continue to fight, but you cannot look for the cause as you now fight against a pair of demons. Time seems to come to a standstill as you turn aside their attacks again and again. Finally, in a last ditch effort you release a flurry of blows against these hell spawn, the strength of which overwhelms their defenses.
As the second one falls to your blade, you glance in the direction of the source of the ground tremors you have experienced growing closer with increasing frequency. Just in time you see the last of your fellow champions fall under the assault of the Titan known as Caeruleus. He turns his attention to you, a truly imposing figure, taller than anything you have ever seen, his features would be a beauty to behold if you could not see beyond the outer form, to the true evil which lies beneath.
The ground trembles as he steps closer to you, crushing a large number of the combatants both friend and foe, near you, his obvious indifference for his own forces makes your blood boil and you shout out your rage at him. He grins a viscous evil smile at you, the expression would make most men’s blood turn cold and freeze them in their tracks, but it only manages to fuel your rage.
As he raises his hammer, bigger than a house, to strike you and is about to smash you with a mighty blow, something attracts his attention. Not far across the battlefield, a figure bathed in a roaring sheath of flames, is engaged with Preto. Preto’s battleaxe slashes down on the figure, causing you to think that it is the end of this individual but the blade deflects off the sheath of flames to crash into the ground, cleaving several Orcs, which do not react fast enough.
The flames flicker for a moment and you can see who the figure is, it is Lothilibaen Vindoclad, the Majei who brought the force from the Wild Lands to help in the battle. With an oath that is part exclamation and part spell, he swings his sword, striking Preto in the leg. The shriek from Preto deafens all who are nearby as energy crackles from where the sword has struck him.
Preto releases his axe, grabbing his chest for a moment before crashing to the ground, struck dead by Lothilibaen’s blow. The first sound that you hear as your hearing returns is a shout from the Wild Lands’ forces near Lothilibaen as the army of darkness near Preto begins to rout.
Caeruleus turns his attention back to you, his face darkened with anger, it’s true nature revealed. You ready yourself for his attack, when suddenly time seams to come to a standstill. A glow from one of the fallen champions gathers your attention. As a glowing visage rises from her slain form, you recognize it to be both her and her deity. Together they pull her sword from where it lays stuck in the torso of a dark beast.
Instantly they have crossed the distance to stand right in front of you. It is now that you realize that so too the other champions have risen with their deities to stand in front of you as well. Together as one they speak…
"Cidric, the foul one is strong indeed, and we cannot strike him down on our own, but we can help you to end his reign of terror. You must accept our swords, forging one great blade with which to vanquish this foe of all that is good and pure.
Strike the beast to protect the people, strike the beast to protect the land, strike the beast to protect the creatures of the fields, rid the world of this foul creature so that there will be a future for all."
Suddenly, you stand where once there were seven champions, now there is one, where once there were seven swords, now there is one. You physically feel the rage from Caeruleus flowing over you as he once again turns his attention to you. You know that any less man would be fleeing from this creature, but you are strangely calm. He raises his hammer once again, the muscles in his arms bulging, the size of which is beyond your mind’s comprehension.
With a loud roar, the strength of which you are sure will cause you to loose your hearing; he swings the hammer down at you. You raise the sword, it’s glow almost as bright as the flash you saw from Vermelho’s breath, to ward of the attack. Somewhere deep inside a feeling of despair begins, for in that place, you are sure your tiny sword will have no effect against this massive weapon. But somewhere else, warmth fills you; it’s brilliant light casting back the shadow of doubt.
With an oath to your God, you raise the sword as the hammer descends, blotting out the sky. The sword strikes the hammer and with an ear-shattering crack, the strength of which sends a shockwave through your body, the hammer splits in two pieces, falling to either side of you. From all around you, a pulse of brilliant white light springs forth at the same time, vaporizing the undead which surround the scene.
Caeruleus’ face shows the shock at seeing that an insect has destroyed his weapon. A moment later, his face registers pain, as that same insect plunges their sword into his leg. White strokes of lightning cascade out of the wound, arching all over Caeruleus’ body, as he grips himself.
Seconds later, as you hear the loud roar of his pain, the earth, quakes as Caeruleus’ body crashes to the ground. A shout rises from the remainder of your troops as the undead begin to fall back from the area, their forces under rout as well.
Moments later, you awaken in your room, it is still before dawn, but a glow slowly fades from the room. You are not sure whether the glow was from your dream or if it was in your room, but you also think you hear the following words…
"Strike the beast to protect the people, strike the beast to protect the creatures of the fields, strike the beast to protect the land, rid the world of this foul creature so that there will be a future for all." |
