The battle was not over.
It had only just begun. As a thundering boom resounded through the night, a flash of blinding light tore the darkness asunder. The approaching fog was momentarily dispelled, and the soldiers quickly used it to their advantage…
Or so they thought.
The foot soldiers stationed at the front gates moved forward, ready to engage the abominations that had managed to make it thus far. That alone was suicide, and it was for that reason that they were as good as dead once in contact with the fog.
The fog swirled as the ground shook, and a claw swung from within the haze, obliterating half a dozen of the soldiers. The claw swung once more, but this time what it met was an incandescent sword wrapped in ghostly white flames. A figure clad in white, pristine armor stood between the towering Shadow Beast and the mass of village soldiers, his vermilion eyes burning with maddening fury. Amger's flames burned away the fog, giving the soldiers some breathing space… a better fighting chance.
In fact, that was the very reason for the use of the enchantments of fire and lighting. They were going to burn the fog away, and with it any being that dwelled within, long before they reached the village. It seemed like a great plan… They had been sure it would work, but who would have thought…
As the sky lit up, Soren momentarily peered into the distance, and his face paled. He didn't want to believe it, but the fog—which should have been much smaller, given how much of it they had destroyed—seemed to only grow bigger.
There was only a stretch of a few seconds separating them from the walls, and soon, their infantrymen were forced into confrontation. They yelled at the top of their lungs and raised their spears as they dashed into the darkness.
Soren cursed under his breath. 'Dammit.'
It was obvious that this battle would not be the way he hoped. People would die, and there would be a lot of them… A terrible lot of bloodshed and a great number of lives he couldn't save.
He sent arrow after arrow and momentary streaks of lightning into the darkness, and yet it only grew. The fog continued to expand, hungrily devouring everything in its path.
One of the winged abominations suddenly swayed as its wings were pierced, its maw opening to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth. It desperately tried to reach the wall even as more arrows pierced its dark hide, and just before it grew still, its teeth sank into the shoulder of one of the soldiers.
It would have been his head that would be missing, but he had moved away in time, narrowly avoiding instant death, but either way he was dead. As he pushed away the appalling creature and fell to the floor, terrified, a harrowing darkness of seething shadows began spreading through his body from the wound.
He grew still, and his eyes turned dull and lifeless, but before the Shadow Plague could fully devour him, he drew a dagger and stabbed his heart. And with a smile at his partner, he stood and leapt down from the wall, outside the village, and into the battle that was ensuing beneath the fence.
Hours passed.
Soren's hand trembled as he shot another arrow forward. Fatigued and disoriented, the string bit into his fingers, and the arrow narrowly missed. The haze was slowly cutting into their defenses, and one of the few masses of flying abominations was heading toward him, rows of its sharp teeth revealed and ready to close down on him.
His feet trembled, almost betraying his balance, and his weakened hand moved as quickly as it could, grabbing hold of a dagger that was sheathed by his waist. He sidestepped and reached out his left arm, allowing the creature to bite into it. It was the best he could do considering the Shadow Creature's speed, and with its movement temporarily impaled, all Soren needed was a moment to finish it off.
However, Soren had a problem. The Beast was much stronger than him, and its weight weighed on him, throwing him unbalanced. He struggled to keep his balance, staggering under the weight of the abomination, but before he could fall, he swung his arm with all his might and slammed it into the parapet of the wall.
"Die!"
He grimaced as more teeth sank into his flesh, but the pain did not deter him. His dagger moved quickly, his trembling fingers suddenly turning steady. They met the chest of the appalling creature, and his dagger sunk into its skin, piercing its heart.
The madness burning within the two pools of darkness that served as the creature's eyes suddenly died down, and the shroud of darkness obscuring its body dissipated, revealing a ghastly mix of a bat-like worm.
Soren cursed under his breath, and with a painful hiss, raised his dagger once more. A hint of hesitation appeared in his steely blue eyes, his intent fixed on the spot where the creature's teeth remained deep in his flesh.
His fingers trembled once more as she sent the dagger flying again, this time toward his wrist. Blood spilled a second later, and it slipped away, his severed hand still stuck within its maw.
Soren gasped in shock as more of his blood spilled away. He quickly used his other hand to cover the bloody stump, but all it did was cause him more pain. His legs gave up on him, and he fell to his knees, more of his blood spilling away.
His eyes shifted to the side, where Louisa had already exhausted two quivers of arrows and was hastily grabbing the third.
To his left, the soldier next to him stumbled forward and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
'How…'
The fog was advancing further into their village, the first line of foot soldiers was dwindling in great numbers, and their intended second line of defense was moving out, marching out to assist the other soldiers in the front lines.
On the inner wall of the village, the second line of artillery was already moving, ready to assist the fatigued archers on the outer walls. Only a few hours had passed, and the sound of the firing cannons—the one that had once given him hope—was now drowned in the rage of screams, wails, and roars.
A paramedic quickly tended to his wounds, and he retreated behind the walls as his wounds were tended to. One of the healers was kneeling in front, her hands hovering lightly above his bloody stump. The bandage wrapped around it had been removed, and the wound was now quickly healing.
However, his hand felt deep in the throes of pain, and as the pain subsided, it began to feel numb. His mind continued to wander as the battle outside continued. The villagers were safely hidden behind the inner wall and would continue to be as long as the first wall stood.
If only it could…
Deep in thought, Soren gazed at the sky and furrowed his brow. Now that he was within the walls, the view of the moon was no longer obscured by the mist. But… why was it suddenly getting smaller?
Whatever it was obscuring the moon wasn't close, but what would be so big that it could obscure the view of the moon from such a distance? Why was there a wriggling stretch of darkness up in the sky? It looked foggy as well, like a leviathan shrouded in mist.
Every emotion he felt disappeared at that moment. He felt not fear nor hopelessness, but utter numbness. The back of his palm slowly rose to his face, wiping away the single tear rolling down his cheeks.
The healer attending to him suddenly grew still as well, her gaze intently fixed on the sky. Her entire body trembled, and with a scream she stood up and dashed away. Her intent was simple: to get away from the point of collision as quickly as possible, but there was simply nowhere to go.
Every other living participant in this dreadful battle had also taken notice of the dreadful sight in the sky, ready to descend at any moment. At that point, one thing became clear: nothing they had would be able to deal with such a threat.
But they felt fear, and they didn't become utterly hopeless. No, they tried to save themselves instead. Not daring to think twice about it, a considerable number of them began trying to move down the walls.
And right when their morale was at its lowest, a bright light shone in the distance, deep within the reaches of the fog, desiccating a swath of it. Amger was heading deeper into the fog… to find its heart… to give his soldiers… to give his people… a chance.
The soldiers who had attempted to run… The defenders who had tried to abandon their duty… The warriors who all thought it was hopeless even for a few brief seconds… All of them stood their ground in that moment and fought. They fought believing that there was always going to be a future. They fought knowing that they had families to protect. They fought hoping that their village would live through this turmoil.
Soren simply knelt on the ground, knowing it was all pointless. Was this the second third time that he had seen such a harrowing scene? He had brushed against the fog twice and knew just how terrifying it could be, and that knowledge was what gave him hope. Something about this time, though, was quite unfamiliar... The fog was learning.
His chances were finally exhausted. His third time was going to be his last. Three excruciating defeats, and not once did he put up a decent fight.
'Maybe I was cursed all along.'
That was all he had time to think as the tentacle hanging in the sky recoiled and then shot down toward the village. One second it was up in the sky, the next it grew bigger, and before they could count, the earth trembled.
A shockwave traveled through the village, throwing many of them off their feet, those who weren't instantly squashed by it. The inner wall shattered, and a net of cracks spread through the ground, causing a deafening earthquake. The cracks spread through the outer walls, and they crumbled as well, bringing the soldiers down with them.
Not even the civilians hidden in the bunkers survived.
The entire village was obliterated.
All Soren felt was a violent gush of wind, and then there was nothing...
All that remained was the peaceful embrace of death.