1 The Emperor of Camelot

***Author notes: the events in this novel takes place on an alternate-reality-Earth. The setting is medieval. Mana, magic and myths are true in this reality. Have a good time, thank you.****

Waves of courage-spurring shrieks, uneven intervals of wails of heart-wrenching pain and fright, and the never-ending clashing sounds of metal echoed across a vast barren land. This was the fruit of an ongoing war between the silver-armoured soldiers of Camelot and the relatively armoured soldiers of Barbax. The war has been going on for three hours.

Six hours earlier, two hours before noon, Barbax soldiers had invaded and seized Aja, an outskirt city of Camelot. The Camelot soldiers in Aja put up a good resistance against the invading soldiers, which allowed enough time for more than a thousand residents, accompanied by a centura of soldiers in the rear, to escape to the Camelot mainland and break the news about the invasion to the emperor of Camelot. Unfortunately, the Camelot soldiers who were fighting in Aja were all killed by the invaders.

The emperor readied two battalions to march out of Camelot to go and exterminate the invaders. According to information passed on by the survivors, the invading army was estimated to be around six thousand soldiers. Hence, the emperor thought two thousand soldiers were enough to vanquish the soldiers. The number of soldiers mobilised was three times less than the number of invaders. It was intentional because the emperor had an ace up his sleeve.

Under the command of a legate, the coalesced battalions marched towards Aja. The battalion intercepted the invaders from Barbax, who were on their way to the Camelot mainland. A great, instinctive battle broke out between the two forces. No one on either side knew who drew their swords first. All they knew was that one of them had to fall.

Camelot had many territories that were all classified into two categories: the settlements on the mainland and the independent cities. Aja was a settlement located far from the Camelot mainland. The land between the little settlement and the Camelot mainland was a vast, dry, brown, and stony plain. It was not the best place to be in sunny weather. But it could be argued that it is the best place to fight a war. There was nowhere to hide for the parties involved in the battle.

The soldiers of Barbax were renowned and revered for their brute strength and durability in battle. They were formidable foes. Territories surrounding Barbax avoided being hostile to them. Weaker territories paid annual tribute to the monarch of Barbax.

Barbax and Camelot have not been on good terms for more than seven years. The Barbax king had tried to intimidate the emperor of Camelot into paying tribute by stopping every class of merchant from going to Camelot. The emperor retaliated with the same action and more. He cut off every water supply to Barbax and prevented the Barbax king from leaving his kingdom for an oasis. After a while, the emperor let Barbax be after its king signed a truce pact. This happened nine years ago. But the King of Barbax felt insulted and desired revenge.

The Barbax king planted spies in Camelot who fed him information about Camelot's military might. Nine years later, which happened to be this day, the king felt that Camelot's military was weak, and he deployed ten thousand soldiers to terrorise the cities on the outskirts of the Camelot mainland. The aim was to disrupt foreign trade in Camelot and raise doubts about the emperor in the hearts of Camelot's citizens.

The deployed Barbax soldiers strategized their attacks in two batches. The first batch, which consisted of six thousand soldiers, would march out and attack Camelot's outskirt cities, and the other batch would hold the camp. From the camp, the second batch would carry out sting operations to annihilate merchants or any travellers going to Camelot.

Unfortunately for the Barbax soldiers, they did not anticipate that the Camelot military would be so quick to retaliate.

Back to the battle

The Barbax soldiers were winning the battle on the vast, barren land. This was because of their amazing physicality. One confident Barbax soldier could take on three Camelot soldiers and slay them all. Tremendous physicality was worshipped in the Barbax kingdom. The soldiers of Barbax were only of two species: humans and orcs. Some of the soldiers were the result of a hybridization of the two species.

The battle tactics employed by the Camelot army had been ruined by the head-on approach used by the Barbax soldiers. Camelot's archers were quickly overwhelmed as the battle kicked off. Soldiers providing shields for them were rammed off their positions, which forced the archers to abandon their bows and arrows and draw their swords.

****

More than 22 kilometres from the battle and Aja city, the other 4000 soldiers of Barbax had set up camp and were loafing around. They were camped on a grassy plain. Crude tents made from hide and supported by strong sticks provided shelter.

Suddenly, there was a startlingly loud whistle from the sky. The soldiers looked up, worried, but didn't see anything. Eventually, after some minutes, they got back to lazing away.

****

Back at the battle field, the Camelot soldiers were being inundated by the Barbax forces; lots of comrades had fallen, and some of the survivors suffered from loss of confidence and courage. The best action was for them to retreat, and that is what they did.

A mass of blinding light descended on the ground from above, in front of the retreating wall of Camelot soldiers that was opposite the advancing wall of Barbax soldiers. The power-packed landing sent a wave of stones towards the Barbax front line. The impact of the stones killed some Barbax soldiers. The stones squashed their heads or pierced through vital organs on exposed parts of their torsos.

The mass of light stood on its landing spot. It made the Barbax soldiers take dozens of retreating steps. A crater a few inches deep had formed beneath the mass of light.

Most Camelot soldiers didn't stop retreating towards the walls of Camelot. Some of them were so stunned that they stood still to look at the light. Some soldiers stood to watch with a glint of courage and reassurance, returning to their counternance.

The Barbax soldiers could make out the silhouette of a man with half-folded wings within the light.

"Oh shit! It's an angel! We are doomed!" one Barbax soldier panicked.

Almost instantly, other Barbax soldiers began to panic. They panicked because legend had it that angels were righteous beings who often descended to Earth from a superior realm in order to punish wicked people. After that, they would return to their realm.

The Legate of the Barbax battalion authoritatively yelled in certainty, "It's not an angel. "

This Barbax legate was a dwarf orc. He was four feet tall, stout, and had long grey dreadlocks on his head. His full beard ended in three braids below the chin. He only wore brown torso armour and a blue loincloth, leaving his hairy limbs and head exposed.

"That, my men, is a mage," the Legate continued, "but we are people of Barbax. No mage can stand in the way of our triumph!"

The Barbax soldiers rallied after their legate's speech with loud screams. The soldiers with their legate in lead rushed towards the mass of light.

The mass of light gradually died down, and the hidden creature was revealed.