Maledictus Ignis

The Day | Part 3: Fight Back

First Jeremiah hops out of the carriage, followed by Alexis. She summons several large tree trunks out of the ground to block the arrows and signals Luke to take off

"Where are we going?! We've got to fight too!" Cole began

"I know! But.. you felt it too didn't you? That malicious presence earlier, our father is here, and I believe they can handle this." Luke explains

Luke dodges some incoming artillery from the nearby army, trying to increase the distance between them.

"But.. you didn't even come up with a plan.." Dustin says

"Trust me, coming up with a plan with those two would be impossible, right now, me and you guys are going to find where that presence is coming from."

-Jeremiah and Alexis POV-

Jeremiah readies his weapon, transforming his cane into a violin, Alexis summons multiple wild animals made from vines from the ground.

"Are you ready?" Jeremiah asked

"Is now really the time for that?" She responded

"Fire at them!" Arthur commands his archers to fire at the carriage, all of them miss however.

"Tsk, worthless." He said under his breath

"Troops not up to par eh?" Jeremiah taunted

"Oh? Having a jest are we? I'd like to see your humor after I've run you through with my blade!" He says brandishing his blade at him

"What do you plan on doing with those silly little animals and some instrument?" Arthur said mocking

Without another word, Jeremiah began playing a slow tune on his violin, it was rather beautiful as a matter of fact. After he finishes Alexis's animals grow larger and begin to multiply.

Jeremiah kicks up the tempo and plays faster, more aggressively, and the vine animals charge towards Arthur and his army.

They begin tearing through the army in droves, mauling and ripping them apart with reckless abandon.

"Gah! What are you doing?! Fight back already!" Arthur commanded

But they were fighting back, the only problem was, they were being overwhelmed.

"Behind you!" Jeremiah said

Arthur turns around only to meet Jeremiah's cane to the face, without his helmet on, he felt the full impact of the blow, it was powerful enough to extinguish the flames on his sword. He was sent onto the ground sliding in his heavy armor before coming to a complete stop.

"Agh! My face!" He clutched his face in pain as he stood up, using his sword as a cane.

"You bastard! That's not how an honorable knight fights!" Arthur says

"You young people.. all you do is talk, you brought an army here did you not? Then why are we even speaking?" Jeremiah argued

Arthur was about to ready a rebuttal, but he sealed his lips and gripped his sword tightly, reigniting it.

"That's more like it!"

Arthur began walking towards him, then running.

He swung at him but Jeremiah simply dodges, making it look effortless, after a few more swings, his cane gathers musical notes on it, they seem to have a life of their own as they dance around.

Jeremiah swings at Arthurs side this time, instead of sounding like armor, it sounds like somebody slammed their face on a piano, the blow making cracks in his armor, blood spewing from his mouth as he's sent flying once again.

"Oh dear, maybe that was a bit much." Jeremiah shrugs "How are you doing Lexi?!" He shouts over to her

The animals and army were beginning to reach a stale mate, the heavier troops from the back were charging forward on horses with their multi-manned lances.

"I'm alright! But I think things are slowing down, oh-" She grabs a soldier charging at her by the neck, slamming them into the ground

"Also another thing, these guys just don't seem to die." She said confused

"What does that mean?" Jeremiah said walking over to her

"It's strange, whenever the animals crush them, or I grab them with enough force to strangle someone, they won't die.. also they don't seem.. normal." Alexis explains

"What does that even mean?" 

As they were discussing this, something truly strange happened.

All the soldiers stopped moving simultaneously, they collapsed on the ground like puppets that had their strings detached.

Then, a truly otherworldly event occurs, all of the soldiers have their armor ripped off their bodies violently, some of them being torn apart by the sudden tug on their bodies, the armor then collected in the air and fades into a large blue mist that collects together, dropping various body parts.

Jeremiah had been so distracted they didn't look down at the now naked soldiers, the soldiers, their bodies mangled and unrecognizable, they were all dead already. It wasn't from what had just transpired however, these people.. they've been dead for a long time already, some of them already decomposing.

"Eugh, what the hell? These people are.. already dead?" Alexis said disgusted, but also confused

Jeremiah begins playing sad music on his violin before Alexis slaps him.

In their distraction, they hadn't noticed the giant blue mist heading directly over their heads, it all conglomerated into one spot, right where Arthur was laying.