Noctis Finite: Silent Symphony

Prologue

Branches snapped faintly overhead as human and animal shaped black silhouettes stealthily stalked a tall white robed woman from the treetops above. Brilliant blonde locks of hair trailed out from beneath the snow white hood of the target's long billowing cloak like the mane of a golden statue rippling on marble sculpted fabric. A series of circles made of progressively more armored men surrounded the woman in a protective formation, shields raised and pikes ready to strike. The blonde haired woman and her escort of troops stood atop a raised hill in the center of a forest clearing. She stood in silence, scanning the treeline until- there! Her eyes narrowed beneath her hood as she raised an intricately decorated silver staff, then slammed it on the ground. She called out with a booming, authoritative voice that implied she was the one in charge here, "SHIELDS READY!" As she barked the order and her troops lifted their massive tower shields off the ground, a dome of golden light erupted from the top of her staff to shroud the company. With that light came a blessing of divine origin that gave the front line the strength to hold those heavy shields up for impossible lengths of time.

As if on cue, hell seemed to break loose around them. Shields went up- and from the treeline burst the fastest Noxtra- monstrous, black creatures of the void wearing white masks with black markings whose shape twisted and shifted every second. The hounds bound forward on all fours towards the circular formation. The first of the creatures to meet the brilliant white colors of armored Noctis troops let out gurgling yelps as they impaled themselves upon readied spears. First one skull would slide forth like a mushroom being skewered on a kebab on those pikes. Then two- then three- until very quickly, every Noctis defender's pike was too skewered by corpses to fit anymore. The blonde haired Priestess called out from atop her hilltop, "SPEARS DOWN, AXES FORWARD!" The defenders quickly dropped their useless pikes  while the less armored members of the unit behind them shuffled massive axes that took two men to carry to the front line. These massive axes were wielded by unnaturally gigantic brutes covered head to toe in armor that held the shields that made up the front line. Each of those stalwart defenders lifted their offered axe with ease in one hand, just in time for new monstrosities to break from the treeline.

The priestess called out as she spotted the new threats, "The Enchained..." She gasped, breath catching in her throat for a moment as the chill of fear coursed through her blood. She cleared her throat and barked, "CROSSBOWS OUT!" With perfectly rehearsed precision, the less armored men who'd fed those massive axes to the shield bearers returned to their arsenal and produced massive crossbows with two recurve bows built into them, exponentially increasing their punching force. They loaded bolts in and lifted- but didn't fire. Instead they waited patiently for the command. Their priestess held her tongue for now, and soon all of the men below could see the horrors that had been called out as they continued to close in. Massive, 6-8 foot tall creatures of varying towering heights that stood on two legs lumbered forward. They vaguely resembled incredibly muscular humans cloaked in rags that did little to conceal the swirling, surging 'flesh' that made their 'muscles.' These were The Enchained. A deafening rattle filled the clearing as they dragged those weighted chains for which they'd been named from each arm, their knuckles practically dragging on the ground from the weight of the black metal. Many of the men holding their crossbows scoffed, imagining this to be an easy victory- after all, the creatures didn't even look as if they could use their arms!

It came as a shock, then, when the first of those Enchained reached the formation. A deafening, soul-shattering scream issued from the center of its white mask that seemed to shimmer and shift whenever any of the men tried to peer into the 'face.' Its arms lifted with practically no effort, then slammed downwards so fast none of the men- or the woman- had time to react. Like it was lifting a feather, it slammed those two ton chains down before half a second had passed. Instantly, 2 men were crushed into piles of meat and metal.