Wars of Heaven and Earth

Weeping Wastes

"One step closer and I'll brain you!" Tyra screamed while waving her ax about like a mad-woman. The group of hooded figures remained steadfast, several had rusty swords in their hands, and from the look of their clothing, they had been down on their luck. One of them strode forward confidently, arrow nocked and aimed at Tyra. 

"Lass, you're in no position to be giving orders. Now stand aside and let the men talk, I'm surprised you don't know your place." He shouted, as his companions chuckled.

Tyra's shoulders stiffened and her expression went blank. I heard Leucos mutter "Oh no" under his breath. Ramael simply rolled around on the ground trying to untangle himself from his blankets, while Ryon's gaze flickered back between Tyra and the group of ruffians, unsure of which to handle first. 

Tyra began to chuckle, albeit there was no humor in the sound of her voice. "I was going to kill you quickly because I'm tired, but now I think I'll kill you real slow." She then unfastened her sword scabbard and placed the weapon behind her. From the sheathe on her back, she drew a long bladed, single edged knife.

"Now Tyra, lets think about this for a sec-" I was cut off as Tyra shouted out a battle cry that rattled me to my bones. She then charged headfirst at the man with the bow. "Oh dear.." I said.

Tyra rolled forward at the last second dodging the arrow that had been loosed. As she sprang up from her roll, she tackled the man who had shot at her and embedded the head of her ax blade into his shoulder. He screamed in pain, however Tyra was already onto her next target.

The next person who charged at her was swiftly cut down as she caught him between his neck and shoulder. The next minute was filled with the screams of dying men as she mowed them down as if they were wheat in a field. One of the last men standing attempted to run, although as he stumbled away, Tyra hurled her ax at him. The ax head caught him square between his shoulder blades, he gasped in pain before falling face down onto the road.

As the noise died down, the leader of the group who had originally insulted Tyra had attempted to hobble away whilst holding his injured shoulder in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding.

Tyra scoffed and stalked towards the man, knife in hand.

What transpired next was a myriad of screaming, begging, laughing, and shouting. Mostly from the unfortunate man that was currently pinned onto the road by Tyra's foot. From where I stood, I couldn't see what she was doing with her knife, however the sheer terror conveyed in the man's screaming gave me some indication.

Eventually I was forced to cover Leucos's ears as he began to complain about his stomach feeling off. Ramael was carried far off by Ryon, while he tried to untangle his familiar from his bedding.

The man's tortured screaming came to an abrupt stop as Tyra stood up and began to walk back over to the camp. The blade in her hand was smeared with blood, and her armor was spattered with the results of her previous engagement.

"Well, that was fun. Lets be off shall we?"

With that, she turned, packed her stuff and started down the path, stepping over the bodies of her fallen enemies. All while whistling a jovial tune.

Ryon turned towards me and raised an eyebrow.

"You should tell her to control her temper more." He said

I laughed humorlessly "Yes, we'll see how many bones she breaks once I tell her that."

The day dragged on without much excitement after that. Even Leucos and Ramael had tired of arguing with one another, Ryon maintained his blank expression, and Tyra continued to stomp ahead of the group, glaring at the blasted landscape as if daring someone to attack.

We had finally exited the swamp, however the landscape that greeted us was even more desolate. A flat plain stretched out as far as the eye could see, however unlike the plains around the capitol city, the grass here was coarse, and sickly. The trees that dotted the landscape were twisted and dead, bleached white with age. Their dry branches emitted a low rasping sound as they rubbed together in the gusts of wind.

The air seemed thin, and cold. Almost as if we were on top of a mountain and not traversing a wide open plain. Tyra and Ryon seemed unfazed by the cold, as they stoically marched on. Meanwhile, Ramael was shivering trying to conserve his body heat. Leucos and I weren't much better off. Each gust of wind drove my body heat from me, and the cold air stung my lungs each time I tried to breathe. Leucos tried in vain to keep his hair in place, however he had limited amounts of success as each gust of wind sent his hair in different directions.

As we traveled along the worn, narrow trail large stone structures became visible. Rising out of the grass like some forgotten vessel, adrift on the sea. It wasn't until closer inspection, that it became clear we had been passing the remains of building foundations. Most were relatively small hovels, however some were larger and had more intricate designs carved into the bricks.

Leucos ran towards one such structure and picked up a brick. However as he brought it back to the rest of us, it crumbled in his hands and drifted away with the wind.

"What is this place.." Tyra asked, eyeing the surrounding area suspiciously while keeping on hand on the haft of her ax.

Ramael stepped forward and placed his hand on one of the crumbled buildings. "This used to be a town. A very long time ago. Time moved on, and now the people are forgotten, and these are all that remain of them." He said, gazing at the rocks with what could only be described as sadness.

"What happened to the people." I asked, my eyes slowly scanning what had once been the interior of the building.

Leucos laughed humorlessly. "The same thing that always happens."

"War." Ramael said quietly.

------------------------Authors Note---------------------

Another chapter done! And on a Monday too! Yay!

Vote! Comment! Fan!

So, I killed my writers block, and I even wrote my first romance chapter! I feel great! (I'm sure someone immensely enjoyed the romance chapter..You know who you are.)

This book will be coming to a close eventually. I'm not sure when, but we still have a few more chapters to go! I'm not sure if I should write a sequel or not. We'll see hehe. I still have a lot of things on my to do list. Like Book three of the Abyss of War series, Ancient Flight (train wreck that it is). And maybe expand that sci-fi short story I started.

Anywhale, without further ado, theories! Because I love your feedback!

Theories go here! Comment away!

I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Feel free to inbox me any comments or questions!

Have a nice day!!!