Wars of Heaven and Earth

Tyra: Kicker of ass and taker of loot

Tyra's P.O.V

I groaned as I sat up and coughed several times. The air was thick with pulverized rock, and although I'm tough, I'm not quite sure how I survived that explosion. As I stood, my red hair settled around my shoulders. "First order of business, locate my sword." I thought to myself. Oddly enough, my ax had stayed firmly strapped to my hip, whilst my sword had decided to take a vacation. 

Shakily, I took a few steps forward and scanned the remains of the room. The western wall had been blown open along with part of the roof. The melted stone had formed a disfigured ramp the lead out of the chamber. My sword lay just a few feet from the ramp, and appeared to be in working condition despite the state of the room. After retrieving it from its resting place, I sheathed the blade and began to scale the ramp of melted stone.

As I emerged from the scar in the ground, the first thing that came to mind was, "Oh fuck." The second was, "RUN". Unknown to me at the time, a literal army of the dead had been milling about the entrance to the underground chamber. There were too many of them for me to take on, and while I'd enjoy dying in battle and going to heaven. I had a certain brother to dispose of. As I sprinted through the city with the dead well on my tail, muffled explosions and the unmistakable of sound of metal weapons clashing with each other could be heard. Although the source of the sound seemed to be very far away.

"Are they..God DAMN IT! Those bastards started the fight without me!!" I shouted and put even more of my effort into running. The skeletons, as numerous as they were, couldn't keep up. Eventually they fell behind and I was out of the city before I knew it. The pain of being knocked around by that glorified silver coin was being blocked out by the adrenaline flowing through my veins. I looked to the sky again, however this time it was empty, and the mass of skeletons were creeping ever closer, with that weird, silver, angry looking person at the head of the army.

"Well, time for me to leave." I said nonchalantly as I brushed my hair out of my eyes. Once I had gathered by bearings, I began the long trek back to the swamps. "Logically, if they survived the battle with him, they'd retreat as that'd be the only tactic. The land further away from the swamp is uncharted. Meaning they most likely went into the swamp in an attempt to hide." I muttered to myself whilst jogging along the faded dirt path. The crumbling structures that had once been houses and other buildings loomed out of the plain every so often, giving the trip an unnerving feel.

As dusk began to fall, I made it to the tree-line and into the swamp proper. The army of the dead had remained on my tail. Their battle lines took up much of the rapidly darkening horizon. My ragged breathing was the only sound in the hushed swamp. With the light fading, I stumbled blindly through the mud and water in a vain attempt to find dry land. My body was worn down with fatigue, and I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. 

"Damn it! Keep your eyes open!" I ranted at myself as I continued to slog through the mud. Everything seemed to be going fine, and the ground I was one started to slope upward, out of the muck. I nearly shouted in joy as my feet no longer sank into the ground. I had found an elevated patch of dry land, sadly my celebration was cut short by a splash in the water behind me.

I whirled around my hands immediately drawing both of my weapons from their respective sheathes. A vaguely humanoid shape rose from the water and stood completely still. Almost too still for any living creature to manage. "Who goes there! Name yourself immediately!" I shouted out across the water. The humanoid shape turned slowly towards me and from its maw issued an unearthly wail. It then charged towards the hill at full speed. As it barreled up the hill, I was able to make out more of its features in the half light. It appeared to had been a human at one point, however it was now nothing but the skeletal remains, with scraps of rusted armor still hanging on in places. 

It finally crested the hill and swung a sword that was half eaten by rust. I caught the creatures blade with my ax and hooked it, throwing the strike wide. As the creature lacked a shield I followed up with a sword strike and cleaved its head from its shoulders. The thing shattered into thousands of bone fragments which then tumbled back into the water.

I took a moment to steady my breathing, the unnerving sensation of being watched suddenly overtook all thought, and I had the strong desire to run and continue running for as far as my legs would carry me. "Running won't solve anything. The moment you turn your back, whatever is out there will kill you in an instant."  I thought to myself before deciding upon holding my ground. My foresight proved correct, however I had made a grave mistake. Out of the swamp rose dozens, if not hundreds of the malformed creatures. All issued the same unnatural wail before one by one, they rushed the hill. 

"Gods above protect me." I prayed, as the first crested the hill and stabbed at me. I parried with my sword and caved in its skull with my ax. More and more came over the hill from all sides, forcing me to pivot in every direction to meet each creature. For every one I cut down, it seemed two more were already running up the hill. The sun had sunken below the horizon, and night had fallen.

---Authors Note---

I seriously apologize for taking so long. Summer has been busy and motivation hasn't been easy to come by. I'm not sure when I'll post next, but I'll certainly try to get back on schedule. I apologize if I kept anyone waiting too long x.x, as such, the next chapter will be in Leucos's PoV before we return to our regularly scheduled programming. Please bear with me! I also have a new story on the drawing board that may or may not be a thing.

 In any event, thank you for putting up with my lack of motivation and reading this chapter! If you're one of the newer readers, welcome to this emotional roller-coaster of a fantasy story! If you're an oldie, I apologize. Profusely. I'll probably keep apologizing for a while. In any event, thank you for reading! Don't for get to vote, follow, or comment. Heck, drop into my personal messages if you wanna talk about the story! Goodbye for now! Have a nice night!