From Ruins

Prologue

A/N: I'm new to writing stuff this heavy, so if my depictions of events are unrealistic, please comment down below! I promise I'll read all of y'alls suggestions!

A/N: The prologue came as an afterthought to me-- I realised I needed it to set the tone.

The Nether forces had retreated away from Conchord and towards Old Voltaria. The Nether forces crossed River Volt, costing them hundreds and thousands of casualties along the way.

The human forces from the south had chased them to the river, cornering them. The Ardoni fired barrages of arrows and Songs combined that blotted out the sky.

Suddenly, withers and a flight of ghasts emerged from the portals in Voltaria, driving into the side of the Ardoni front with explosive skulls flying at full power. The Ardoni, caught by surprise, took less than a minute to reorganise their forces and began diverting energy to fire on both fronts. But by then, the Withers had already killed a handful of Song-wielders, leaving craters on the ground and holes in the defensive line for the land forces to break through. The Withers continued to fire, and the Ghasts on the rear added a barrage of fireballs.

Nether mobs poured out from the portals, commanded by their Netheran officers in the front.

The Ardoni backed out, surrounded on both ends. The humans on the other end of the river could not assist them. Their long-ranged weapons had a high chance of accidentally hitting their own glowing allies.

Hellfire rained from above, killing all Ardoni who were encircled. Warriors screamed, frantically pulling up their shields and Protisium barriers. Red fire collided with crystal blue, creating flashes of blinding white throughout the battlefield.

But the energy shields were not enough. The heavy-impact projectiles started to eat into the shields, burning alive the warriors beneath them. The battlefield was chaos.

When all seemed lost, suddenly a thin high-energy thermal beam cut through the air and vaporised a Wither instantly.

The Tidesinger.

But there was no time to cheer. Soon a blue energy field formed around the Ardoni rear, deflecting the salvos of explosives with its shimmering barrier. A group of reinforcements came from the east, using their Protisium Songs to amplify the barrier's effects.

"Blazes!" Thalleous snapped, his hands still outstretched to hold out the barrier. "Coming out of the portals! Watch out!"

Achillean shot an annoyed glance. There were at least fifty of them around. He aimed at one of the orange creatures and fired.

The crimson laser flew out of his staff, bursting into the blaze's head and exiting it cleanly. Immediately the blaze collapsed onto the ground, losing control of its rods. Achillean fired again, killing another, while deftly dodging any fireballs that flew his way.

He danced across the field using Mobilibounce, firing at regular intervals at the swarm of blazes. He was in a trance, spinning around and killing every Nether creature who crossed him, not caring that he was further and further away from the Ardoni warriors he was protecting--

Then Ingressus came crashing across his way and shoved him out of his trajectory. Around him, the air reverberated in explosive impact. Achillean shook and covered his ears, skidding across the dirt floor.

"Are you insane? You're going to get killed!" Ingressus broke his calm composure, shaking Achillean. Both of them shuddered when another barrage of fireballs hit Ingressus' generated Protesphere. "You've stalled for too long and now they're on you!"

Achillean grinned knowingly, looking at the flying creatures beyond the energy shield. Ingressus, confused, followed Achillean's glance, only to find that most of the Nether aerial creatures were swarming at them instead. Leaving any Nether infantry on the other side to have no aerial cover. The remaining withers and blazes who hadn't picked on them were going to be destroyed one by one by the Ardoni forces.