A Bloody Symphony

Valia ran from the bloody man. 

He'd almost gotten her, if she hadn't hit him in his manhood. The soldier had scared her. The look in his eye, the missing hand. The blood that covered him from head to toe. Had he been bathing in blood?

Most disturbing of all was the red rising sun, the symbol of House Leandis on his chestplate. She herself only wore her Raider gear. Maybe the man hadn't known which side she was fighting for?

I should've found a red piece of cloth…something to make me distinct in the confusing battlefield. 

Valia still wasn't sure why she had rejoined the battle. Guron was still hurt, taking shelter in the city with Alon.

During the brief period of rain, there had been time to escape. They could've run.

But Valia had stayed. Then she fought. 

And now she ran. 

General Balian's army had arrived to help moments before, but thousands of knights wearing capes of gold still swarmed the battlefield.

There was a thunderous sound, and Valia looked ahead. 

The walls. 

A full ten-furlong section was collapsing, now merely chunks of rubble. 

Now Styte could get in. Guron and Alon would be undefended. 

I don't care about Sir Lucan anymore. It's over. We'll find a different way. This has all gone too far. 

Valia took off toward the wall. She needed to find her friends. 

*******

Balian was forced backward a second time. He was breathing heavily now, sweat dripping from his hair. 

He glared at Kallos, trying to control his rage. 

This man killed Garlin. Decapitated her as if she were livestock. He nearly killed Sir Hawke.

"General Balian, huh? I've heard of you, but not much. Besides cowering behind the Capitol's walls, what've you accomplished?"

Balian gritted his teeth, preparing for another attack. He didn't have time for conversation. Over his years of fighting, he'd learned that his enemies liked to distract him from the battle by talking. As if saying hurtful words would weaken his fighting skills. 

He launched a barrage of attacks on Kallos, aiming again for his bleeding torso and an open area near his throat.

As the golden knight stumbled backward, Balian glanced back. Sir Hawke limped near him, cutting down soldier after soldier who tried to intervene in the fight. Already, a pile of bodies was forming. 

It seems he hasn't lost his touch.

"Don't you turn your back on me!"

Balian looked at Kallos, frowning. "Sorry?"

The golden knight charged forward, and Balian sidestepped, letting the big man stumble forward. 

He stood behind him now, and an opportunity opened up. Using his boot, Balian kicked with all of his strength on the backside of Kallos's knee. 

He watched as the golden knight's leg folded and he crumpled to the ground.

This is it.

Before Kallos could recover, Balian jumped over him, kicking the golden sword from his hands. Now weaponless, Balian set his knee on Kallos's throat, blocking off his air. He raised his sword, aiming for the face.

He brought it down, straight into Kallos's left eye. 

Kallos screamed in pain, thrashing about. He managed to knock Balian off and scrambled to his feet. 

Balian watched as Kallos removed his hand from his bloody face, revealing the horrid gash that ran from his cheekbone to his eyebrow.

Then, the wound began to close. The two sides of skin that Balian's sword had separated reached out like outstretched hands, melding together.

He had never seen anything like it. The skin had a red hue, as if it had just been burned. Two eyelids began to form, and at first, they seemed sewed shut. Then the eye shot open.

Balian took a step back. 

The newly formed eye was red, almost like a ruby. The pupil was a thin oval shape. Where most eyes were white, this new eye was black like obsidian rock. 

Kallos touched his face with surprise. Then he laughed. "Oh father, what've you done now?"

"How did you do that?" Balian asked uncertainly. He noticed Kallos's broken nose and abdomen wound also seemed to have healed.

Kallos shrugged. "Who knows? Does it matter? It's clearly a gift. I feel…rejuvenated. As if I just awoke from a perfect night's rest."

The ground began to shake beneath Balian's feet, and he crumpled to the ground. Hundreds of other soldiers followed, losing balance on the unstable ground. 

Kallos knelt, watching Balian struggle back to his feet with amusement. His newly formed eye almost seemed to glow. 

Cracks appeared all around them, snaking in uneven zig zags across the battlefield. Dust began to fill the air, and a moment later, Balian was squinting through the cloud. Kallos momentarily disappeared from his vision, and Balian stumbled forward to get a better view on his opponent. 

Two red eyes appeared in the dust like rising twin suns.

This wasn't Kallos. 

No, but they are familiar. 

Back in the Capitol, he'd seen them. He'd fought them. He'd killed them. 

The creature towered over Balian. It stepped forward, noiseless. 

Why now? Balian wondered, confused. Why, in the midst of a battle, do they decide to show up? Are they on Styte's side? Or are they a rogue third player?

Balian rolled out of the way as the creature lunged forward. It wore the same intricately designed armor as the others had. It also seemed but a shadow beneath the armor, a wisp of dark air. How it held up the nearly five-foot-long sword was beyond logic and sense.

Creatures of Hell, Athena had called them. 

They rose from the depths of the ground, monsters that had never been seen in Erosia's history. Maybe Athena was right. 

Seventh have mercy, Balian thought, scrambling to his feet. 

The creature slashed its sword in Balian's direction. He ducked, just barely in time; the lengthy sword caught a few soldiers that stood behind him, shredding them in two. 

He needed to find Sir Hawke. Everything was quickly falling apart. If the creatures truly were working for Styte, the battle was lost. 

The ground began to split next to Balian, mere inches from his boot. A shadowy, armored hand stretched up from the crack, grasping onto the edge to pull itself up.

An explosion of cries began to erupt around Balian, the sounds of soldiers begging for their lives. 

Kaladia's walls crumbled to the ground with the earthquakes, and Balian could see the red eyes of the monsters, emerging inside the city.

Four creatures stepped around Balian, completely surrounding him. 

Kallos stepped forward, holding a sheet of parchment in his hand. "Unfortunate that we had to cut our battle short. It seems my father had other plans."

Balian heard a familiar protesting voice, watching as Sir Hawke was thrown next to him by another one of the creatures. 

"I'm to keep the two of you alive, it seems. I suppose being important does have its merits. Leandis will do anything to get the two of you back. Are there any others I should know about?"

*******

Where is she? Where is she?

Caelus had followed in the general direction of the girl, and had only ended up near Kaladia's crumbling walls. The ground was shaking violently now, cracks opening the world up like an egg. 

The battlefield was burning. Red hot flames crept over corpses, casting catastrophic shadows over the world around him. The shadows seemed to move, like real living beings. The heat had reached him too as if Hell itself threatened to incinerate his wretched soul from within. 

His ears felt like they would bleed from the cacophony of war. The tumultuous terror. A bloody symphony. 

Soldiers were being torn to shreds around him by creatures of darkness. 

For the first time in years, Caelus felt fear. 

Am I going to die? No. You won't. You've always survived, no matter what. This time will be no different. 

One of the shadowy creatures stepped toward Caelus, and he scrambled backward. This wasn't a fight he could win. The thing was monstrous. 

He turned and ran. 

Balian. Baliannn. You have to save me. I can't die like this!

His eyes found a golden knight, standing near a group of shadowy figures. Surrounded inside the group was the General. 

No way! It's him! He can….

Caelus frowned. Balian was surrounded. He was on the ground. He was…defeated? No, it couldn't be. Balian was the strongest of them all. 

He felt a strange pity for the man, though they'd only had one conversation. Caelus couldn't let him die. 

Sneaking up, as light as a feather on his feet, Caelus readied his sword. They had yet to notice him. Surprise would be his advantage. 

Turn back. This is a bad idea. This is bad! Stop! Stop! STOP!

He sprung forward, jumping onto the golden knight's back. Screaming maniacally, he stabbed his sword through the man's throat.

The massive man crumpled to his knees, blood pouring from his neck.

Four shadowy figures turned to Caelus raising their weapons.

I didn't think this part through. 

He took a step back, his eyes flitting from one enemy to the other, unsure of which would attack first. 

The golden knight stumbled to his feet, his throat no longer bleeding. The wound almost seemed to be closing before Caelus's eyes. 

"You're…," the golden knight coughed. "Strong. Tell me, how much does Leandis care for you?"

"I'm his son," Caelus said without hesitation. 

The knight began to laugh, blood still gurgling in his throat. "Leandis only has one son, and he's much younger. I've seen the boy myself."

"I'm his bastard."

The smile disappeared from the knight's face. For a moment, he was completely stunned. "You…you are of value then. Please, join General's Balian and Hawke. My father wants to see you."