Bloodline

Seige - part 24

The closer they got to the fort, the greater his anger grew, and as Zircon led the march with the hundreds of soldiers with him, he knew how the war would end. Each soldier looked at the other, each realizing the battle ahead of them could mean winning or losing the war, and held a stronger grip on their weapons. Zircon holds one of his hands up just as they reach a hill in front of the fort, the soldiers stopping as they look at him. "This is our final battle for the kingdom, they've raped and pillaged our cities and hurt our people for far too long. Everyone, from this point in the war, put aside your loyalty, and fight like wraiths, strike fear as you tear each enemy limb from limb, this fort is the only thing standing from our victory! Now prepare yourself, and look at the soldier to your left and right, and wish them luck, for whether we die here or not means we fought for the future of the kingdom, now prepare for the charge!" Zircon then changes into his shadowy form, smoke fading out as it leaves his hands and feet. He takes off the mask and looks at the red gem where the opal was, and takes it out, throwing the mask aside. "Whatever happens here, I'll be marked as a Grounded and maybe even a traitor, but if it means that the gem is right, I couldn't care any less." He holds his broken dagger over the hill towards the fort, preparing for the battle that will happen as soon as they move past the hill. "CHARGE!" He shouts, running up the hill, the sun blurring his view for a little as his eyes adjust to the bright light, only to see a volley of arrows flying towards them. Soldiers to his left and right follow his lead, some falling from the arrows, but none slowing down, seeing this, Zircon then begins throwing large clouds of smoke towards the fort, obscuring the vision of the archers in the towers.

The fort gate opens, and a large wave of enemy soldiers flood out into the field, preparing to take their forces head on. Zircon merely jumps into this, leaving a large trail of smoke behind him to cloud their vision of th allied soldiers. He lands on the first soldier he sees, and uses all of his weaponry to kill any he sees, stabbing and slicing anyone up close with two daggers while throwing other knives through those he couldn't reach, while all the other soldiers begin doing anything to kill the enemy, no matter if their methods were considered war crimes. Just when they begin to get an advantage over them, four figures come out of the fort, each with different clothes but with the same hood on. Zircon sees this and uses his smoke to clear out a large part of the battlefield to see them. Seeing his glowing gray eyes in his smokey form, the hooded figures move into the clearing he made, and look at him. All but one carry some sort of blade that Zircon could see, absorbing some of the smoke he used to clear the area, his form is more solid than before, and he looks at them. They look at him as he then changes back to his human form, the feeling of anger swelling in his gray eyes. "You stole one of our enhancers, and if it wasnt obvious enough you achieved the power to control smoke at will. Though we won't be able to remove it from you, killing you will do all the same foolish assassin!"

Zircon says nothing, one mage hurls a large boulder at him, dodging effortlessly as soldiers scramble to get away. Once he dodges, another mage almost teleports in his face, and attempts to slash him with the blade, only for it to go through him. Stepping away from this, Zircon then focuses on another mage who tries to summon a wall of wind, only for Zircon to pass through and cut their face a bit. The last mage bundles him together with a ball of fire, throwing him to the side of the clearing. "Fool! You cannot take all of us at once, you may have hit him, but that will be your last lucky shot!" The mage with the blade says, all of them charging into him. He only stands still as they get closer, it's this moment when they get close that he drops a smoke bomb, the blast catching them off guard as they try to get out of it. As the smoke starts to fall and cover the floor, it's revealed that one mage was cut almost to the point of death, but still breathing as they look to the sky, twitching. "That bastard!" One says, the rest looking around for any sign of Zircon. As they back up to a group, the smoke begins to build up at their feet, and soon, an array of hands begin clawing at their feet. The one with the blade teleports away, while the fire mage uses his flame to send him upward and away from the smoke. The last tries to use their wind to escape, but the hands pull them into the smoke, and they disappear into it. The smoke let's up, and fades, revealing nothing around them. "W-Where did they go!? Theres no way he could've pulled them into the ground like that!" The mage with the knife says, just as the other mage has their neck slashed by Zircon from out of nowhere.

The mage looks to see this, Zircon having the mask from before again made of smoke. "Would you like to see what I did to your friend? I never knew this but with my smoke, I can get into all sort of small holes and areas." Smoke comes out of his hands and feet as he says this, it all bundling together in one spot. "D-Did you send them to some other world or something!?" The mage says, shaking as something starts forming in the smoke. "Dont be ridiculous, though I would've done that if I could, it would be way more fun torturing them that way." The smoke fades to reveal a corpse, one blackened by the smoke with crackings all over the body. The mage looks horrified at this and looks towards the eyes, only to find the eyes completely gone. "Were you looking for these?" Zircon asks, revealing a pair of darkened and unrecognizable eyes, them being shriveled due to the smoke. "W-What did you to them!?"

"Like I said, I can get into any small space, I merely entered their lungs after pulling them underground, and began removing any liquid or blood inside them, effectively drying them from the inside." The mage trembles as he says this, falling to their knees. "If you'd like, I can tell you the exact moment they died, before you die too of course." He gets behind them, and with his broken dagger held up to their neck, he leaves a small cut, blood traveling down it as he shows the mage his reflection. As they stay silent in fear, Zircon sighs. "Alright then, guess you'll have to ask them in hell." He stabs them multiple times in the neck, throwing them to the floor before continuing to fight the enemy soldiers.