Chapter 12: Chapter 12: the beginning of the end

the levies already have abit of distance on the battle field and the once dark cloud has developed into a full storm that consumes the sky. the astran levies begin firing into the hoard of a volley of their own.

a few luutons fall from their flock though their arrows are soon met with the arrows of the luutons as they begin firing back at them.

the astrans having learned their lessons are now equipped with shields so their arrows don’t simply decimate the levies. though shields can only block so much and as the luutons dive down to release waves of ice upon them many levies spend their last minutes of consciousness cold and unable to move.

The hoard is now above their heads flying in circles above them completely surrounding the astran forces blocking a great deal of light. arrows are flying both way now as the astran archers fire at the luutons and the luutons archers fire at the astrans . the luutons diving occasionally to drop waves of ice onto the battle field.

Gora looks onto the battle field with sense of nervous anticipation gripping her spear tightly as she rides on the back of Arvus’s beast as they all head into battle. though before the hoard is even above their heads waves of arrows pour down on them like heavy rain. gora protects herself and Arvus from being hit but their mount isn’t as lucky as its pelted with arrows Arvus and Gora are thrown of the beast as it loses its composure and is sent into a rag doll sending Arvus and Gora with it.

Gora lands on her feat, spear still tightly clutched in her hand as she tries to regain her composure. though on the battle field there’s never a moment to rest as she brushes herself off an arrow lands right next to her in the ground alarming her of the continuing volley.

thinking quickly she once again spins her spear to create a barrier for her own protection. as she bats away any incoming projectiles her eyes dart around looking for Arvus spotting her legs sticking out from under her now arrow filled mount.

suddenly secomis mount vaults over the carcass of its colleague. landing in front of Arvus his mount taking the oncoming volley as he lifts up Arvus’s former ride. as the beast is removed from on top of her arvus lets out for a loud gasp of air while clutching onto her bow”by the ancestors secomi if we live through this war i will marry you”

secomi gives her a look as he were offended”and what makes you think id want to marry you?”

though as bright grin comes across his face as helps her up. unsheathing his sword as arvus pulls back her bow the corpses of their mounts acting as barriers for them to hide behind. gora would slowly be making her way to her allies as she does her best to deflect the incoming barrages of arrows.

utum who had fell abit behind seeing the two dead beast ahead decides it best to simply disembark from his mount sending it away from the battle as he charges with his sheild above his head to his allies.

gora seeing the incoming juggernot makes a mad dash to get under his sheild running beside him as above them waves of arrows come down on his shield”lovely weather today isn’t it utum?”

utum goofily chuckles abit as he holds his massive sheild above his head effortlessly as if it weighed nothing.”gora i hardly think this is the time for jokes im pretty sure we just got cut off from the rest of the group”utum says trying his best to be serious”i mean who are we really missing? rex and cofus do their own thing anyway. let sicus tag along with them for once it just means we wont have to hear him and arvus fight”

gora runs beside utum with quite jolly attitude as if they couldn’t meet their end any moment. utums sighs though his disapproval quickly turns to panic as he notices the luuton who would be flying low to the ground that would be riding straight towards them.

utum reaches for his javelins just to find he never got them off of his trusty stead. unsure what else to do he just points out to them and shouts”look!”

gora now seeing the luuton heading straight for them looks back to utum now in a panic herself”what the hell do you want me to do throw your javelins at him!”

the luuton approaches closer as the two argue”i left them on malum!”

gora shouts out in agitated confusion”WHO THE HELL IS MALUM!’’

suddenly an arrow pierces the luutons flying beast’s neck causing it to face plant into ground sending its rider into violent rag doll.

finally making it over to arvus and secomi their dead mounts. using their corpses as wall and utums shield as a roof their able to catch their breath safe from the luutons for a minute”thanks Arvus”

Arvus nods putting her bow to her side”you’re welcome”

as utum breathes abit heavily from running with such a heavy object he poutly says”malum is my trusted stead”

gora scoffs givning utum quite the repulsed look”you named your lizard?”

secomi coughs as the two causally commerce”hey we cant exactly stay her forever!”

suddenly a wave of ice freezes blocks their exit from the improvosided shelter trapping them. secomi looks at his frozen exit with bitter agitation though utum breathes a sigh of relief as he lets go of his sheild the ice so thick it holds it up”god that things heavy”

gora looks to utum with unbelievable amount disbeleif”utum that sheild must weigh a ton there no way that ice can hold it up for long”

utum looks onto gora with disappointment”i just need a second to relax my arms get tired you know!”

gora scoffs at the giants whining and boldly points upwards to the handles of his massive shield”i dont care how heavy it is utum you brought it onto the battlefield so you’re gonna carry it!”utum sighs grabbing the shield once again. frustratedly he kicks the ice wall behind him shattering it. secomi grins seeing this and blast the ice wall in front of him in a wave of fire melting it down”well i guess its time we play catch up”

utum shakes his shield a little bit shattering whats left of their icy prison as they continue their forward charge to the center of the battle field. arrows once again crashing down on top of them as Arvus secomi and gora are keeping pace with utum as he now supports his heavy shield with two hands as they run across the battlefield.

gora beholds upon the devastation that surrounds them. the levies are being slaughtered effortlessly as the luutons fill them with arrows or bury them in ice. only the occasional archer gets the better of a luuton. while nobles from all across the kingdoms of astra fight among them while fitted with lisadian works. the winds are starting to feel uneasy as waves of fire and ice come together as one wave sends chills down her spine the next warms her back up.

gora looks upon these sights with agitation as she is unable to tell who has the upper hand as she has even yet to see any sokarans. though her inner thoughts are briefly interrupted as suddenly three luutons beast grab one side of utums shield and tip it over leaving them wide out in the open as utums falls over.

Arvus quickly grabbing a bundle of arrows from her quiver rapidly starts firing into the luutons above head .secomi holding his blade deflects arrows as utum tries to lift his shield back up”come on buddy we cant sit here all day!”

utum gritting his teeth as he slowly tries to lift his one ton shield back above his head . Gora stands their just spinning around her spear as if it here a baton. Arvus looks over for second looking a little annoyed seeing simply twirl her priceless dragon spear around”gora why dont you use your geia ?”

gora lets out an aggressive “huh” still twirling her spear as she looks over to arvus”the luutons just got here i dont wanna exhaust all of my geia before we even see the Fon”

utum still struggling to pull his shield up would cause secomi who would be standing beside him to become frustrated” whats taking so long utum just pick it up!”

utum grunts putting his whole body into it”sorry when ever it fell over abit of it got plunged into the ground!”

secomi looks down at the shield and sure enough nearly half of Utum’s shield would be burred into the earth. wanting to get a move on secomi sheathes his sword and begins digging at the earth that lies around Utum’s shield”unbelievable utum what the hell is this thing made of iron?”

utum who would be in a squatting position grunting as he strains himself trying to lift his shield.”only the core of it!”

secomi lets out a whale of anguish as he digs more aggressive”by astra, utum why in all of iskra do you carry this monolith of a shield!”

while secomi and utum desperately try to raise Utum’s shield out of the dirt gora and Arvus do their best to defend them. luckily they aren’t towards the center of this luuton hurricane that float above the battlefield.

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the luutons right now only seemed to be passively attacking as they circle around each other firing into what groups of people they can see from that high up. gora getting tired of swinging her spear around looks frustratedly over to the two young astran men”what in the name of astra is taking so long you two? id like to at least make it to actual battlefield you know!”

in anger gora releases a large bolt of geia onto the luutons. her geia speeds through them like shock wave as bolts of lighting jump from person to person decimating a large chunk of the luutons above head.

the decimation is brutal and unfortunately very noticeable for when the rings of luutons tighten back up a massive volley of arrows starts descending upon gora and her allies. gora looks over to her allies unsure what to do. at this point arvus had simply been countering any arrows coming down upon them while she stood in front of utum. though at this point theres no way she could protect all 4 of them. she stands there looking between her allies trying to figure what she should do, though before she can think of anything a sudden strong gale of wind crashes against the wave of arrows dispersing them . moments later utums shield is once again lifted above their heads but this time not by utum.

no this time dyues would boldy hold Utums shield above his head single handily. dyues with a serious look in his eyes looks toward utum”would you mind taking this boy? my old bones cant hold this for very long”

utum without further questioning goes to immediately take his shield as dyues gaze switches to gora. his grandaughter returns his serious attitude with her own”gora if you die here on this battlefield our lands will fall to ruin you are my only possible heir. if you were to die our continuation in this war would be pointless”gora scoffs at her grandfather and looks him right in the eye”well its a good thing im planning on not dying then isnt it?”

dyues looks down at his granddaughter with abit of sorrow as he looks her in the eyes. he sighs and clutches the two large blue stone paddles in his hands and walks out from under the shield gora watches as he walks away using the two large paddles to push any arrows away.

gora scoffs once more before turning away looking back at utum”lets get a move on i want to catch up with rex and cofus!”

the astrans nod and once again continue their march into the battle field. else where with rex and cofus; Sicus finds himself hiding under a roof of shields.”captain im not sure if i should really be out here with you two could it be possible for us to meet up with utum and have him protect me?”

rex and cofus simply laugh as the arrows crash against their shields. every now and then theyll create a gap in the roof for them to fire a ball of fire out”oh come on sicus its like shoot fish in a barrel theres so many of them up there your at least always hitting one!”

sicus though doesn’t seem to share Cofus’s amusement as the body of a luuton crashes through their shield roof. rex just smiles and looks at the young lad”look Sicus were using a lot of geia right now. im not asking you to fight we just need you to play so that we can continue to fire at the luutons.’’

Sicus sighs tapping the shoulder of the solider next to him asking him to hold his shield as well. once his hands are free he sighs and begins to play a rather bold and fast paced tune reflecting a new found swaying resolve”fine captain if i must”

the air felt harsh to those under the shield the levies hands felt shot as the constant sensation of arrows crashing against their shields bruise their hands. as corpses start to pile up on top of them making it even harder for them to hold up while just feet away the nobles of their country are ecstatically summon balls of fire to scorch the luuton invaders while their lacky plays music for them. these would be the thoughts of the astran soldiers who surrounded these knights of astra.

the music warms the air easing the pain for many of the soldiers as they feel their energy starting to come back to them. the red returns to some of rex’s hair while simply brightening cofus’s

through the gaps they make between the shields when they’re throwing a ball of fire above towards the heavens hoping itll scorch some unlucky luuton. rex is able to observe that the luutons have begun to break from their large rotation as these new smaller groups begin encirling groups of astrans. the ones using their shields as roofs find themselves the center of attention from these break offs from the main formation as those without shields are slowly picked off by the indiscriminate barrage.

suddenly rex’s armored caravan is forced to come to a stop. soldiers begin crashing against each other as they try to keep moving forward. cofus head smashes against Rex’s chest plate as he was too busy trying to fire at the luuton to notice they had stopped.cofus quite aggravatingly screams at the soldiers”WHAT IN THE NAME OF ASTRA DID WE STOP FOR!”

the soldiers are quiet as they look side to side before a few from the outer ranges of this moving bodies speak up”they froze us in captain!” “the guys on the outside got froze over captain!” “i think were surrounded in a ice wall captian!”rex sighs moving through the men as he heads for the outer rings of these levies. letting out a sound of motivational despair as he finds their whole group of some 45 people are trapped in a ring of ice. moving back to the center towards cofus he looks upon his young second in command with woe”cofus we might be stuck here for a moment”

cofus who had never stopped firing upon the luutons looks at his captain with agitated confusion”so who cares? they’re still just sitting ducks above us”

rex looks at cofus and shakes his head as he continues to fire at the luutons.”cofus so are we i think its time we all split up if we stay in these larger groups theyll just slowly burry us in ice”

cofus sighs and nods moving out from under the gap letting them close it”fine lets get to it then id rather we fight beside secomi and gora anyway!”

Sicus whimpers pathetically as he takes his shield back from the soldier he gave it to. quietly following behind rex and cofus as they both move through the soldiers smashing through the wall of ice on two different sides allowing the soldier to exit as well”time to scatter!”

Sicus pushes past the soldiers getting out before most of them holding the shield above his head as he runs while looking around for cofus and rex. captain rex seeing the raining arrow grabs a shield he finds on the ground and uses it to block the oncoming volley.

cofus seeing rex copies him grabbing a shield from one of the many corpses on the battlefield. cofus makes his way over to rex getting back with his captain as they hold their shields up taking volley of arrows before firing back at them.

Sicus running up besides rex and cofus with the shield above head”i have a new appreciation for utum captain not only am i now thankful for his constant cover but i am also in awe how he keeps that monster of a shield above his head for so long”

rex and cofus look back at each other sharing a look of contempt for the young astran musician. synchronized they sigh and look toward Sicus as volleys of arrows crash down on their shields as Sicus cowardly hides under his”Sicus you’re lucky your a necessity”

Sicus revels in the anguish of his comrades harsh take on him. rex sighs now looking back at Cofus abit disappointingly”cofus that was abit uncalled for he is only equipped with an instrument”

cofus scoffs shattering any confidence rex had restored in Sicus”he is a proud astran warrior he should at least fire at the luutons every now and then! i mean i know he has a knife!”

rex turns around now facing cofus boldly holding his shield above his head causing cofus to quickly turn around do the same” cofus the luutons fly! What in the name of Astra is he supposed to do against the Luutons with a KNIFE!”

cofus eyes dart to the ground as Sicus stands awkwardly between them not saying anything as the three of them are fired upon from the luuton archers. though this awkward is thankfully short lived but is violently abrupted as a arrow finally punctures through Sicus’s bronze shield. rex lets out one more disgruntled sigh before telling them they need to move.

with their shields carried above their heads they run around the battlefield not going in any real direction just kind of running in circles to kinda keep ground. rex and cofus continue to fire upon the luutons much to Sicus horror as it only brings them more attention”captain in the name of astra i beg you two to stop giving away our position!”

rex just laughs and pats his young field musician on his back”sicus dont you worry about a thing me and cofus have this handled!”

sicus sighs and throws his broken shield to the ground grabbing a less used one from a fallen kinsmen.

meanwhile gora, secomi, utum and Arvus would be heading straight for the center of the battlefield. gora having grabbed a shield of her own rides on the top of utums shield striking through the luutons hordes deciding to finally use her geia”charge utum the head of Aklha Fon is mine!”

utum whimpers as he runs through the battlefield now not only carrying a one ton shield but a person on top of it. arvus groans firing arrows as they all run along. secomi surveying the land unable to really do anything right now.

though as he looks around he witnesses a slow barrage of fire balls being fired and swearing he hears the feint sound of music he pats utum on the back pointing in the direction of the of rising fires.”utum i think the captain and the others are over there lets turn!’

utum seeing the fire balls being thrown off into the sky squints his eyes trying to get a better look at who it might be. he does see three people but therye too far away for him to recognize.”are you sure secomi?”

secomi shrugs”couldnt hurt to see?”

utum looks at him with momentary disdain before sighing”GORA IM ABOUT TO TURN HOLD ON TIGHT!”utum shouts at the top of his lungs.

gora though looks around frantically standing ontop of his smooth shield”hold on to what?!?”

utum voilently turns sweeping gora right off her feet dropping her shield she grabs onto the side of utums shield dangling off the side.”utum you bastard give me a more of a warning next time!”

utum out of fear doesn’t reply as gora hops down and gets back under the shield. her eyes pierce through him like daggers as she runs beside him glaring him down.”im sorry ok?!?”gora scoffs and looks the other way. the three figures in the distance get closer and closer with the feint sound of music start to fill their ears. arvus smiles abit hearing the tune” that’s my brother alright”

rex and cofus turn around to see the stampeding astran giant utum behind them sicus hiding under rex’s sheild stops his playing and cheers”oh by astra utum i have never been so happy to see you!”

utum looks at his long time friend and smiles as his captain and cofus jump ontop of his shield further heavening the load causing him to grit his teeth in further frustration at his new burden.

gora scoffs and looks around grabbing the shield from sicus”give me that!”

she says greedily before climbing on top of utums shield. once agian in the center she points her spear to the center of the luutons spiraling flock.”to the center utum let all of iskra know our names for we are soon to be the beheaders of Aklha Fon!”

utum whimpers as he slowly turns towards the center of the battlefield his arms shaking abit as he now carries 3 people ontop of his shield.”if i must Gora!”the 7 warriors once again regain their momentum as they now head for the heart of this storm. the bodies of their kinsmen already litter the ground along with the bodies of the luutons and theirs beast.

our heros though seem unwavering with their resolve as they move through this battlefield. in the distance gora can see bolts of lighting firing randomly throughout the battlefield. her thoughts are of her grandfather wondering if he was further into the battlefield or if they would be doing this alone.

rex stops firing at the luutons for the moment and places his hand on goras shoulder their eyes meets rex meeting goras bitter confusion with a smile”dont worry gora the entire kingdom of astra is with us with the support of the luutons and the aid of your sokarans this war has been tipped to our favor!”

gora though simply slides his hand of her shoulder putting, before turning back towards the battlefield saying nothing