The Darkness Complete.

Chapter 4: Warbound

"Form ranks men!" Shouted an elderly man, the Grand mage, he held his staff at the black cloud of flying demons erupting from the metal beast the hovered in the sky, powered by a sickly smelling smoke that poured off of it. There was alot of screaming as people ran from the village, some falling into The Dark River, it's waves lapping at their faces as they cried in anguish, their tears dyed the same colour as the water that drenched them. The bulk of the attack was about to reach the makeshift defences that had been placed down, the Grand mage stood on a rock, powered by the elements that surrounded him, the grass blowing due to the massive wind generated from the flapping of the demons wings, flowers flew wildly from their roots, smashing and splitting apart on wooden huts and stones, archers prepared their bows, crystal arrows glinting in the sun, reflecting multicoloured light off of them. "Fire!" Screamed the Grand mage, a bony finger pointing up at the cloud of flying beasts. The sound of arrows being fired in the hundreds made The old mage shiver, he lifted his hand and an arry of lights appeared at his finger, striking many of the flying creatures down with lightnight. The arrows succeeded in killing a few of the beasts, but they were too fast, baring down on the defenders before they even had a chance to fire their bows once more, ripping several to shreds. A young girl wielding a glaive joined the fight, expertly managing to best a group of the winged creatures. They were around the same height as most of the men in Croftmine, armed with large organic spears, sometimes with a barbed tentacle wrapped around it, still moving, they had bright white skin and their necks were marked with slits that seemed to pulse, gills. Their wings were more like fins, wet, flat and smooth, they had sharp edges and many of the creatures span and sliced through warriors. The girl with the glaive was still fighting her way through the crowds until she was brought down by an enemy warrior who picked her up by her leg and dragged her back to their sky transport, her head bobbing up and down and her screams piercing the air, overheard through all of the warcries. The Grand Mage still stood, blasting at the flying beasts as they tried to get to him, the best warriors fighting back those who came from a lower vantage point, occasionally getting dragged into the chaos, there were a few other resistance areas, a muscled girl with a large greathammer was standing and fighting back the hordes, a few other younger girls and an older man stood by her, parrying and stabbing at the endless creatures. They were still flocking from their mothership, the black cloud still growing bigger as the creatures planted themselves just above the ground, they seemed to burn up when they touched the ground, as if some sort of unholy curse prevented them from making contact with the soft soil under their feet. Instead they hovered just above the air, their weapons spinning as they destroyed legion of Croftmines warriors one by one, consuming the bright light of life that lit the town before the battle.

Soon all that was left was The Grand Mage and his personal guard, fighting back the flying beasts, they had lost the towns greatest fighter the night before, he was dragged into the river and as if the town had hit a piece of bad luck this had happened. Somewhere off in the distance a battle horn sounded, it seemed that the armies of Zimillion had arrived just in time as a wave of men on horses began to march in the distance, The Grand Mage turned in surprise, looking at the army, he grinned and shot a magical light in the air, a flare, he didn't even notice the talons that slowly stretched around his weedy arms, 'nor the fact that his personal guards had all been slain. He grimaced as he was plucked from his rock and flown over the rest of the beasts as they began to set off after the quickly assembled army of Mages and Warriors.

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The girl rose slowly, her arm clutching at her stomach, a bruise would later form on the soft flesh that covered her organs. "What do you mean...other side?" Asked Jadek, confused and curious, he had no idea where he was, so he believed that it would be best if he knew were he was and how he would get home.