Hollowvale's Last Stand-
Rex stood there looking at what was left of the demon's army scattered across the field. His back ached, his sword felt heavy, and everyone looked like they hadn't slept in a week. Because they hadn't. The smell of smoke and dried blood was so thick you could taste it.
His men were scared. You could see it in how they held their weapons, how they kept glancing at each other when they thought no one was looking. Rex didn't blame them. He was scared too, though he'd be damned if he'd let it show.
The Archdemon sat up on those rocks like he owned the place. Cocky bastard. Rex had been watching him for over an hour, waiting to see what he'd do next. When the thing finally started talking, Rex's stomach dropped.
It wasn't talking in any language Rex knew. Hell, it didn't sound like any language at all. Just noise that made your skin crawl and your head hurt. The younger guys started putting their hands over their ears, but it didn't do much good. The sound got inside you whether you wanted it or not.
The demon kept at it, going on and on with that awful chanting. Rex tried to think about other things - his sword, the wind, anything to keep from listening. When it finally stopped, that was somehow worse.
Then the ground started shaking.
Not just a little tremor like you'd get before a storm. Real shaking, the kind that knocks you flat if you're not ready for it. Rex planted his feet and watched cracks start showing up in the dirt. They weren't random either. There was a pattern to them, like someone had drawn it out first.
"What the—" Tommy started to say, but then the earth just opened up.
People screamed. People Rex knew, people he'd grown up with. They fell into those cracks and he couldn't do anything about it. Well, that's not exactly true. He tried.
The light was already starting to build inside him - he could feel it, warm and strange and powerful. He reached out with it, trying to grab onto the falling people, trying to pull them back up. And it worked, sort of. He managed to save maybe a dozen people, yanking them back from the edge just as the ground gave way beneath their feet.
But there were so many more. The cracks were opening faster than he could react, and this new power - whatever it was - felt clumsy in his hands. Like trying to thread a needle while wearing gloves. He'd reach for someone and miss, or the light would flicker just when he needed it most. Mrs. Patterson from the general store slipped right through his fingers. So did the Miller boy, and old Henrik who'd taught Rex how to fight in the first place.
He saved who he could and watched the rest disappear into darkness.
Purple stuff started bubbling up from the holes. Thick, nasty looking liquid that moved like it was alive. And the sounds coming from down there... Rex had heard dying men before, plenty of times. This wasn't that. This was something much worse.
The screaming changed. Got twisted and wrong. Then things started climbing back out.
They used to be people. Rex could tell because he recognized some of them. Mrs. Chen who used to give him free bread when he was a kid, except now she had claws and her face was all stretched out. Marcus, the eager recruit who'd joined up last month, but his eyes were gone and something hungry lived in the empty sockets.
More kept coming. Hundreds of them. They crawled out of every crack in the ground until the whole town was surrounded. The air got cold and thick, like breathing mud.
Rex's men started losing it. These were good soldiers, but nobody trains you for fighting your own neighbors. Some guys held their positions, kept shouting orders like that would somehow make sense of it all. Others just stood there with their mouths open, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
Over by one of the big cracks, he spotted the Henderson family. Both guards, good people. They had little Lila with them - couldn't be more than six years old. She was pressed against her dad's chest, probably couldn't see much of what was going on. Maybe that was for the best.
Sarah Henderson was yelling at some Protectors nearby. Her voice was raw, desperate. "Please! Just take our daughter! We'll buy you whatever time we can!"
Both parents were crying. You could see they knew how this was going to end. Jim Henderson was already figuring out how long he could last in a fight, how many seconds his life was worth.
The Protectors she was shouting at were backing away. These were supposed to be the elite guys, the ones everyone looked up to. But they were just as scared as everyone else, and fear makes people do stupid things. One of them actually kicked Jim in the face. Just hauled off and kicked a man holding his kid.
Jim stumbled, almost dropped Lila. Blood ran down his chin but he kept hold of his daughter. Sarah caught them both before they could fall. The Protectors ran off and left them there.
That's when Rex's power really kicked in.
It started as just a flicker of light, nothing much. But it got brighter fast, pushing back all that darkness and cold. Where the light touched, those twisted things just fell apart. Turned to dust and blew away.
Rex started moving through the battlefield, and it was like the whole world changed around him. Each step made the light stronger. The monsters that had everyone so scared couldn't even get close to him. They'd try to rush him and just dissolve before they could land a hit.
People saw him coming and you could watch the hope spread across their faces. Some of them stood up straighter. Others picked up weapons they'd dropped. Rex was doing what he always did - showing up when things looked impossible.
The real fight started with a crash of metal and screaming. The Protectors who hadn't run were giving it everything they had. Swords against claws, men against nightmares. The air filled up with smoke and the smell of blood. But there were just too many of the damn things, and they kept coming no matter how many you cut down.
The guys were fighting smart though, using whatever they could find. Broken walls for cover, furniture as weapons, anything that might help. Still wasn't enough. For every monster they killed, two more showed up.
The Ethereal Knights were in the thick of it, those seven crazy bastards. Best fighters Rex had ever seen, and they were proving it now. Even with everything falling apart, they held their ground. When they caught sight of Rex cutting through the enemy like they were made of paper, it gave them something to fight for.
Rex could feel it all building up to one thing. Him and the Archdemon, face to face. Everything else was just noise. Whatever happened next would decide if there was going to be anything left to save.
He looked up at those rocks where the demon waited and started walking. Time to finish this thing.