BOOK 2/70 - A King's Hope

Ring - 1st
Realm - SOL

Gillidad gazed over the expanse of empty plains. It was empty. Not a whiff, or a blur, or a sign of one living creature. A prelude to what was coming.

The Azure Flame stood at the very front of his army. A number he doubted would hold for longer than an hour. White pools of energy flicked over the rows of Cinderii. Trying to hide his worry was near impossible.

There was no avoiding what came. Gillidad looked forward, a sigh escaping his lips. A lot of his people would die today.

Flames licked up the large twin axes he held in both hands and back into his body. He could feel the energy and heat within his new flames. Would it be enough?

The situation was bad. Very bad. The worst thing was that there was nothing to blame. Nothing to watch and avoid triggering. With the Realm Touched waves, the kingdoms just had to keep their eyes on the Realm Spaces and make sure they remained culled.

This, this was different.

The Azure Flame sighed again. ‘Worse, none of the five will expect reinforcements. Or enemies.’

It was clear as day that unless everyone received a miracle, no one would survive this day.

He thought of all the advantages his people had. There was none more glaring than Hope. Gillidad could hear it. He could see it too. The blazing flames of his people, the determination in their gazes.

It was clear what they had in mind. To hold on for as long as possible.

Gillidad didn't like nor want to be pessimistic in such a situation. But just as he'd accepted his fate while the core had slowly tried to break him, so too did he see the reality in this situation.

‘We’ll all die if those Titans don't return.’

With the thought came a slight, low tremble that filled the earth. A Cinderii rushed towards him on their six legged beast. His eyes wide. The short bow slung across his back and the Runner he rode told Gillidad he was a scout.

“My King!” Gillidad was more focused on the unhidden terror in the Cinderii’s voice. It made him want to sigh in defeat.

“How large?"

“As large, larger than reported."

His frown was bold and fierce. Waving the scout away, Gillidad scanned his armor once more. It covered him quite well. The weight, that would have been a disadvantage to the others, gave him a sense of safety.

With a deep sigh, he slid the left axe into his waist belt. Looking to his left, Aargish, his head Royal guard, stood silent. His expression, a blank canvas that hid his worry. But not from Gillidad. He could see it as clear as the rust red skies above.

“Aargish!" He called. His voice, lowered for the Cinderii next to him, still slightly boomed. The guard turned, steel cold eyes regarding his king.

“They're here Sire."

Gillidad mentally nodded. “Aye."

Aargish raised his helmet to him. Gillidad took the horned helm and handed over his axe. With slow foreboding grace, he set it over his head.

While his armor brought reassurance, his helmet served as the sign that the danger had arrived. As a warning of just how mortal he was.

Stretching out his left arm, he grabbed the axe from Aargish and exhaled deeply.

The rumbling of the ground had risen slowly and now was shuddering with enough intensity to bounce the rocks and fiery sand of the earth.

Gillidad looked behind him. At his people. He tried to stare past the helmets that covered their faces, past the steel in their eyes. He wondered who or how many would die here. How long they'd hold for. He wondered if he would die here.

“Sire!"

He looked to Aargish. The guard had a gaze that spoke words. It was the same gaze he got when he was getting tired of his Council.

The King frowned. Giving a speech was not in him. Making commands, verdicts, laws, were all doable. Standing before a thousand of his kin, of those he had to protect and guide, and tell them to die didn't sit well with him.

‘How did you do it father?’

He'd been a prince during the expansionist eras. A time when he didn't have to decide a Cinderii’s fate because of greed. It was the reason the push past the Fringes had stalled. The rulers of the other kingdoms like him had less bloodthirst or lust for war unlike those of old.

Yet, he couldn't help but wonder if those rulers were not the best for such a moment.

‘Things were easier when there were no such battles and I could stand back and simply inspire my people by being the White Flame.’ He thought again.

‘Wait. The White Flame.’ His eyes flashed to his body then back to his people. He saw the Dark skinned Titaness in his mind. She who fought to save him even when the powers that he stole sought to teach him his place.

A feeling, one that he swiftly recognized filled his heart. ‘So this is their Hope.’

His lips parted and his voice echoed over the ranks of Cinderii like a clap of steel against steel.

“CINDERII!"

All eyes turned to him. Cold gazes that were steeled, calmed to hear their king's voice and words.

“I will not lie. I will not mince words. I will not delude my people." He looked from one end of the ranks to the next, gazed to the back and then looked up to the rust red skies. The trembling beneath his feet was getting worse with each passing second.

“Death comes for us all. The Five Kingdoms are facing a danger beyond any we or even the rulers of old ever faced."

He pushed himself to walk, his voice needed to reach those far off.

“As I stand and look at you all. I see bodies. Corpses. Those who may live or die.” He stopped at the center and sighed. He could see the shaking eyes of the closest Cinderii near him.

"I know what you're thinking. If even I feel defeated then what can you do?"

Cinderii exchanged glances. A silent confirmation that indeed there was nothing they could do.

“Look behind me. Look next to you. Look to the walls of our great city." Cinderii turned and stared. "Each person standing to your left, to your right, front and back. The Cinderii next to the Cinderii next to you. The rank or line far behind. Those in front and those beyond even your sight all have something in common with you. The walls of our great city are the last thing that keeps the death that comes for us all at bay. Their families and your families. Flame from your very selves reside within its safety.”

Gillidad was yet to see the determination he wanted. He pushed on. "Many of you may fall, I may fall but I won't. Death won't have me. Not until I know that wall will not be breached. Death won't have any of you, not while your families stand inside those cities. It's cold and dark fingers will grasp your arms and feet. It will pull and prod. Tempt you to rest, ask you to follow its calm and cold embrace. Tell you that you have done enough. It will show you the hordes of death that aim to send us to its embrace and tell you that you have fought to your very last capabilities.”

Gillidad didn't understand the rage that filled him at that moment. Was it the unfairness of the situation, the weakness he felt. He didn't know. He didn't care. He would use it.

“I as your King could make as many Orders as I wish. I could command you to not die. I could ask you to fight for me."

It was the weight of his rage, of his helplessness in that moment. It had to be. Gillidad didn't know what else would have pushed him to his knees.

His greaves and knees raised the fiery dust of the earth with a thud as he knelt on two knees.

“I, Gillidad Cinder, once White Flame and now Azure Flame, begs of you all. Reject death when it comes. Tell it your king has begged for your lives. Tell it your families stand behind you. Remind it that there is no wall but you between them and certain death. I beg you not to fall. If you do, remember the Cinderii that stands next to you faced even more odds than they should have.”

Aargish stepped forward and Gillidad stared up at him. “I see them on the horizon."

Gillidad nodded and rose to his feet. The ground wasn't just rumbling anymore, it was cracking, shaking. Like a Sol giant was aiming to throw the earth off its back.

The army of Cinderii were silent. Their eyes leaving their king who backed the danger to stare at them. Their gazes found equally frustrated eyes that stared right back before drifting to find another

Gillidad saw it. It wasn't just determination that filled their gazes. It was wrath, defiance, not against the hordes that came at them but against what they stood for. Determination, not to live but to stand till nothing left could scale their walls.

Aargish watched the hordes come. His gaze did not even bother moving to the three Colossus that staggered towards them. Nor did he lift his head to stare at the swarm that blotted out the skies.

No, his eyes stayed on the height he could reach. He understood his King's words and desire. But realistically, there was no surviving this.

Aargish turned his defeated gaze to his king then to the Cinderii behind, waiting. He nearly stumbled. The fierce looks directed at the horde could burn if there was power in sight.

They knew that there was no winning. They knew that even if somehow they managed to cull all the hordes here, there was nothing their arrows could do against the dark sky that was the swarm. They knew that no Cinderii or any of the races of the Five kingdoms had ever brought down a Behemoth, let alone a Colossus.

They all knew these things, right? Aargish started at them all, then to his King. Then like a bolt of lightning from a higher being, understanding swelled into being.

Those eyes were not those of a living being. They were those of dead Cinderii walking. The gaze a beast who has everything to lose could have.

“There is no surviving this, is there?” The words slipped out before he could halt them. He expected reproach, expected denial. His King simply looked at him with white pools of energy that lacked any emotion but one.

Murderous Intent.

There was no reply and he didn't need one. Gillidad turned and together both stared at inevitable death racing to meet them. The trenches and holes took the lives that could be taken. The arrows, javelins and balls of fire met the swarm where it could and descended on the horde when it missed.

Then there was nothing but empty land between the horrors before them and their lives.

Aargish’s head snapped to his King as his voice boomed.

“Keep the time in your heads. An Hour! Only an Hour. Just for an Hour!"

His words, while confusing, were understandable. Aargish could see the thought in their heads. ‘Stay alive and hold these things off for an hour. How hard could it be?’

He has to admit, he had the same thoughts.

Gillidad didn't look back to see if his last minute words had any effect. It came from thinking. Mentally mapping the time it would take for those Titans to traverse the Wyrm's Cross and back.

‘I don't know if I'm placing too much hope on them, but they promised to be back’ He paused. ‘Did they even promise?’ He wondered where his trust and hope came from.

As the Hordes drew closer, close enough for him to make out the defining features on their body, he realized the truth.

That Titaness’ image came back to his mind. He'd seen life and now he was seeing death. He could remember her argument for her Kin to stay and help.

‘I’m counting on you now. My people are counting on you now.’ Gillidad knew what he had to do.

It was annoying, it was unfair. He was powerless. But that core had changed him just as much as being resurrected had.

Slowly he pulled out his left axe. The long handle found balance as he gripped it at the center. Slowly he turned to Aargish. Stared at the Cinderii’s cold and defiant expression.

He'd told them an hour. Because it was the longest he hoped they could survive. Anything more and he was asking for them to become Primordials and Titans. To do the impossible.

Gillidad looked forward as azure fire raced up his axe. Made with materials and metals he couldn't focus on remembering now. They held and conducted his flames and that was enough for him.

The Azure Flame, The King of the Cinderii, Gillidad Cinder took his first step forward. Then the next. And the next. His forced motion turned to a confident walk forward. His mind was blank. His arms shook in fear and it was hard for him to keep walking as the ground shook. Whether it was his feet shaking from fear or the earthquaking, he didn't know and didn't care.

He kept walking.

Then he started jogging.

Then he ran.

His axes became azure torches as they gleamed with energy. His feet dug into the ground and propelled him forward. His arms swung, accelerating him faster.

Aargish, from behind, followed.

The ranks of Cinderii barely blinked and their King had crossed half the distance to the enemy. Like the strings pulling on puppets, simultaneously the army charged.

There were a lot of things that Aargish had seen. Both from his time as guard, soldier, and then Royal guard. He'd seen beasts of numerous sizes and power. Seen creatures that scared the Emberlings of their Flames.

Now, he was seeing one thing that topped it all. For countless aeuses he'd stood next to his king as he sat on his Throne. A few skirmishes here and there between enemy kingdoms. None had the king graced with his personal presence.

He'd thought him a coward at first. A Cinderii that chanced upon power he would not use for his own people. Soon he realized his King, the White Flame that burned hotter than the others, was a pacifist. A Cinderii who avoided war as long as it did not affect his people too much.

The sight before him was a change of perspective like nothing he'd hoped or thought he would see.

Greater and higher than any other beast or creature he had fought or seen. A King who not only fought his wars, but led his army at the front.

Aargish ran faster. Pushed his legs to cross the distance between his Liege and him. If his King was ready to give his life then he as Royal guard has to be there to save it.

The longsword he held with a shield gleamed as he imitated his King, fire racing up the blade as he fell into strides with his King.

He was close enough, but with enough space to let his King run wild.

Gillidad glanced to his left for just a split second to see Aargish racing with him. No words needed to be said, the gaze shared was enough.

Both Cinderii jumped at the last minute. One with two Azure flaming axes held high and the other with his shield forward and sword set to impale.

Cinderii and Beasts clashed.

Sword bit into skull and split down to the neck, shield bashing another back. Axes dropped like a guillotine digging and sinking through bone and flesh like a hot knife through butter.

The first three casualties.

Gillidad was unbalanced as he landed, his axes still moving out from their first kills. The beast that was right in front of him lunged for his head.

He brought his head back and then swung forward with speed and power, headbutting the creature back. His axes swung and decapitated the beast while cutting down another.

Aargish bulldozed and cut down the beasts with his shield and sword. The gleam of his steel slowly dyed in blood as monsters fell.

Just as quickly the two were swarmed. Ax and a sword cut and diced them down as fast as they could.

Then the first injury appeared.

A larger beast, slunk through the battle and barreled into Aargish from his blind spot. The Cinderii flew and tumbled deeper into the hordes that swarmed him.

Gillidad catching this from the corner of his eyes roared like a mad man and channeled essence into his axes. The Azure Flame on his axes roared brighter and glared on the battlefield like a dying star.

With a grunt, he swung down.

BOOOM!!

Azure flames swept out from the point of contact in a half sphere. Red and yellow flames followed, incinerating and turning the weaker beasts to ash and corpses.

The flames swept over the swarm covering Aargish, blowing them away and freeing the Royal Guard.

Gillidad stumbled back as a wave of weakness hit him. Stumbling to a knee he held himself up with his axes. His eyes on the beasts rushing through the last of the dying flame wave and towards him. With a grunt he let his axe fall on his side and quickly rifled through his pouch for the essence cores stored there.

He held the core and drew on its essence. But it wasn't as fast as he would want it to be. The beasts were close enough that he got ready to drop the core. They came from all three sides gunning for him.

The essence core was just about to slip free and his hand grab for his free axe when boots and bodies crashed into place around him. Shields covered him from three sides and another set from above.

The Royal guards covering their king braced as the army charged past and around them. Those that couldn't go round kicked off their shields and dove into the hordes.

Then the guards broke their mini shield wall and from their midst Gillidad came charging out. Like the point of a spear he shot forward and like the head of a spear his guards followed.

The Cinderii parted like water. The forward soldier beheading a monster before rolling out of the way just as his King came crashing into the next line of beasts.

Axes flew and little detonations of heat and force wiped out the closest ones.

Aargish, on his side, let himself be dragged back by the soldiers as they held back the hordes.
He lay there as his flame flesh knitted sharply together. His eyes followed the long line of Cinderii cutting, hacking, poking and bashing into the beasts. His eyes found the thickest point and the familiar garb of the Royal Guards as they cut through beasts and pushed further in.

‘We’re doing it.’ He thought.