Through the 12 Realms

Chapter 11: Impact

Dagothur prepared his men, gathered supplies and horses and began to make preparations to leave. He rallied the knights to the front entrance of the kingdom, 150 in size. Dagothur looked over the men behind him, scouting his eyes over their heads as he turned his head, once satisfied he looked towards the front gate.

"Let us set off!" He exclaimed with intent to boost morale among his men. 

"Oorah!" The knights all shouted in unison, as they gestured their horses to begin walking. 

Dagothur had begun his advance towards the Eastern Border of the kingdom, with 150 knights strong he believed he had no chance of losing. 

"The trip will take a few days men, conserve your stamina." Dagothur informed the knights behind him of the length their journey will take. 

The knights all passed the message down until the last knight received it. Each possessed their own silvery suit of armour with the Insignia of the kingdom engraved on it, a wraith. Each sported a glinting sheathe around their waists as well as a small cape that was only 30cm long on their back. Engraved on it was also the Insignia of the kingdom, as well as their regiment name, '5th Aura Knight Force'. 

For 3 days the knights travelled on horseback with only one night serving as a resting time for the knights. Until finally, they arrived at the Eastern Border of the kingdom, it was a serene landscape with fluttering bushes and a roaring wind that cooled and relaxed all it rushed over. The trees were greener than green as they soared high above the land and into the sky, and just over yonder was the borderline between the two kingdoms, the Akath kingdom, and Rogor Kingdom. 

The knights approached the borderline cautiously, and just around 2km ahead of them, was the Akath kingdoms forced settled behind their border. Their forces were much larger than that of Dagothur's, at least 5 times larger, it instilled a small amount of fear within the knights behind Dagothur, as they thought about what would happen to them if the Akath forces were to invade right this very moment. 

However, amidst all the rising fear and tension between the knights, Dagothur raised up his voice and took command.

"Set up camp here, we will hold here and not move an inch." His voice relieved the men a small amount, knowing that they wouldn't be engaging enemy forces. After a few moments, all the knights dismounted their horses as they began to set up large tents and distributed food supplies amongst themselves. 

The area around them was a very flat grassland, with trees that soared high up above the land, higher than castles. The shrubbery was kind to the animals of the land and produced sweet berries and fruits that would soothe one's hunger immediately. One large river flowed through the land that served as a water source, it was perfectly clear, devoid of all waste and pollution, the land seemed like paradise untouched. 

Dagothur took a seat on a small rock embedded in the ground, it overlooked the flowing river and the castle-like trees that decorated the land and gave it all its beauty and wonder. While the wind crashed against him, soothing his exhaustion and weariness from the travel, he took in the view as it calmed his soul and nourished him. As he looked over the beautiful landscape, he noticed a small little hill that was untouched just next to the river, as he looked at it he thought to himself.

"Perhaps one day...I could live there, bring Martha, Coni and Aerith with me and we could all live here. Just one big happy family, no more wars, fighting, bloodshed, just a beautiful family in a beautiful land." He pondered whether he could one day live there with his family.

"Build a house on that hill, get into farming, enjoy the rest of my life with my family." He said out loud while sporting a large smile on his face as he chuckled at the thought of it. 

"Maybe after this...after this scuffle is settled, I'll resign and live there with my family." He steeled his will that after this concern was dealt with, he'd live out his days in retirement. 

After an amount of time had passed, Dagothur had his fill of the land and decided it was time to head back to his men. Just as he had stood up from his comfortable rock, he heard voices from behind him, the voices of the knights. 

"Prepare for impact!" One voice yelled out into the open air, followed by the clanking of the armour as the knights dispersed into different areas. 

"No...no no! It can't be happening!" Dagothur muttered under his breath, full of worry and uneasiness. As he turned around and began to run back to his camp, he stopped instantly, looked up towards the camp area and his face turned pale. 

"No..." Dagothur slowly said, with his eyes fixed on the direction of the camp.

His words were followed by a bright flash of light, so bright that even when Dagothur closed his eyes, he still was being blinded by the light. After it had faded, he opened his eyes only to see a large cloud of smoke rise up from the ground. It was so large it was as if it could rival the size of a castle, followed by the shouts of knights from the camp. Fires erupted into the bushes and trees, and fire flew with the wind to far places. 

Dagothur once again made haste to his camp, he had a duty to lead his men. 

Then, in a moments notice, his body's outline began to shine a crimson red, the outline shrunk from his whole body to just his legs. Now his legs had a crimson outline as he began to run faster, faster and faster. He kept speeding up, almost to the point where you'd think it wasn't even possible for a human. 

"Please be safe!" Dagothur said out loud to himself as he continued to speed up. 

He finally reached the hill that overlooked the camp, and what he saw turned him as white as paper.

"Impossible..."