Hiellea Smoroiyach

Prologue

A crowd was gathering around a stony outcropping, and the wind gently blew on the banners. The banners were red with two swords making an 'x' behind a shield that had a snake's skull etched on it with runes encircling it.

A war chief approached the podium. He had scavenged scraps of metal welded together as armor with a layer of brown leather underneath. To his side he held a double-bladed axe. The weapon was made of greenish steel, Feythrin. The blade head rested upon a rusted iron handle with dark blue runes glowing on it. On his back was a shield exactly like the one on the banner. His whole head was covered with a helmet; a skull of a bear. The chief put his heavily scarred and calloused hands on the podium and said in a gruff low voice: "Blood, thunder and glory alone moves the wheels of history! Have you ever asked yourself in an hour of seclusion: How long we have been striving for freedom and greatness? Not only the years have we been at war but the war of survival! But, for the moment, as a child we realize we can be conquered! It has been a lifetime struggle, a never ending fight. We were at the brink of war and not just that but annihilation! We were the last of our race! I say to you that it was a privilege to fight! We were warriors for Vhonen and our gods! Fellow Vhonenai, I ask you to once again rise and be worthy of this historical hour!

"Those creatures, the Mo'hiegrenii, were merciless, and will not hesitate to kill man, woman, and child alike. They will not stop until everyone one of them was killed, or at our anguished cries of dying pain. Now, my brethren, who is with me?!" With the speech's conclusion the whole army, twenty-thousand strong, shouted their war cry. The shouting of men chanting, 'Heshvenai,' filled the waterless fjord. The call, which, translated roughly in English, meant 'Long live the Vhonenai!!!'

The army stood at attention in their positions; all of their shamans, warriors and archers for what seemed like hours with no end in sight until one of the spotters shouted that he saw movement in the woods up ahead. As the soldiers heard the warning they tensed.

Slowly the creatures emerged from the dense brush of the woods. They had long horns of ivory that were a sickening shade of brown, no doubt dried blood that stained the horns. They had no eyes. Their bodies were hairless and their limbs were very long with gore-slicked scythes as replacements for hands. Their skin was purplish and the back was riddled with spikes like a porcupine.

The pack leader sniffed the air and its mouth started to salivate. Its roar sounded like the dying screech of an animal.

Despite the shout demoralizing the Vhonenai they still stood their ground.

The Mo'hiegrenii could track its prey with the vibrations from the ground no matter what the terrain. It could smell the tracks left by its prey. If a Mo'hiegrenii bit you the saliva would kill you. It would make one heck of a blood hound; to bad nothing and no one could control it.

These creatures were spawned from a mutative bacteria released when an explosion shook Vhonen four months ago in the winter. It affected every animal whether marine, terrestrial, or amphibian within a hundred mile radius.

The name given to the Mo'hiegrenii means in the Vhonenai language: 'Hell-Spawn', perfect description for the Mo'hegrenii according to their hellish description.

Thirty minutes passed. The Commander of the Vhonenai shouted at the top of his lungs "For the Vhonenai, Heshvenai!!!" The army kept repeating this as they ran into battle. Trebuchets shot flaring debris at the Mo'hegrenii. Mo'hegrenii screams could be heard as the Vhonenai neared their opponents and their demise.

The two armies clashed.

Chapter 1

Twenty years prior...