Monster Legends: Inevitable Betrayals

Korrupted Luminescence

The thunder and water troops marched right behind Taiga, as the dark and metal armies approached hastily in the distance. Taiga's forces were all weakened majorly from the previous battle, and couldn't take another hit from the enemy. 

"Follow me closely, don't take a second to look back," ordered Taiga, approaching the tip of a hill. He slid down slickly, while motioning for the other soldiers to follow. Taiga then released a spare dagger from his palm, letting it fly over the hill and to the other side. 

In a few seconds, a fire soldier came down the hill as well, but this one had a dagger far inside his head. Taiga knew that the armies behind them were merciless, and would wipe out his forces if they got the chance. 

"Keep moving, we don't stop until they're out of sight," he commanded, getting up from the ground quickly. He hit several other soldiers with daggers until the armies started to slow down, as they had to run in order to catch the warfare that had just occurred. They barely caught the end of the battle between the Thunder and Water armies, and didn't have too much stamina left either. 

Taiga's army took a shortcut through the Nature kingdom remains, as it was completely deserted after the assassination of Rubellus and his subjects. Most of the trees were now burned, and the grass was a sickly brown color. The place was once a colorful kingdom, but all the beauty was gone, leaving it similar to a barren wasteland. 

"Does anyone have a map?" asked Taiga, prompting one of the former water kingdom soldiers to approach him hastily. She handed him a torn, barely legible map that had every kingdom location on it. That was enough for him, as maps were never difficult for him to comprehend. 

"There looks to be a hot spring in between the Nature and Light kingdoms. Should we stop there?" suggested Kimber, feeling the filth become more noticeable on her body every day. Taiga nodded, handing the map back to the soldier. 

"Yes, we definitely should," he replied, also feeling dirty after days of nonstop war. He was covered in dried blood, dirt, and other various disgusting substances that only weighed him down. He looked behind at his soldiers, only to see tired and dirtied faces staring back at him. 

"Where are we headed, Taiga?" asked Thundeer, galloping beside the former city leader. Taiga pointed ahead, where everyone could see an oasis-like spring in the distance. The nature kingdom ended about a half mile from the spring, and the spring was approximately one mile from the secluded Light kingdom. 

Taiga had met with someone from the Light kingdom once, who wanted to trade resources with the city. At that time, Taiga had no clue what the Light kingdom was, and thought the monster was just a beggar or scammer. Now he looked back on that exchange with clenched teeth, as he hoped it wouldn't affect their reliability. 

"There it is!" smiled Grakon, running past Taiga and towards the spring. Taiga let most of the soldiers sprint ahead, as they needed the warmth and comfort more than he did. Hornet and Kimber were the last ones that stuck with Taiga, who couldn't care less about the water that was accidentally splashed on him by the monsters in the spring. 

Taiga removed his massive pieces of armor from his fur before dropping into the spring himself. The water was nice and hot, which almost made some of the soldiers forget they were still in the midst of a war. Kimber joined Taiga in one of the corners, recklessly tossing her garments aside that would be considered "generic rags" after the senseless violence that plagued them. 

"Do you really think the Light kingdom will let us in their walls?" questioned Kimber, dipping her head into the water to wet her hair. Taiga sighed, knowing that there was definitely a possibility that they would refuse to see them at all.