*Date: 33,480 Second Quarter - Iron Confederacy, Safe Hollow*
The battering rams hit the gates like thunder.
**BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.**
Each impact sent shockwaves through the ground. The makeshift wooden barriers splintered with each strike, the reinforced hinges groaning in protest.
"BRACE THE GATES!" Roderic screamed, but his voice was drowned by the cacophony of war.
The third wave wasn't just larger. It was smarter. Goblins with tower shields formed a protective corridor, allowing the ram crews to work unimpeded. Archers on the walls found their shots deflected or absorbed by the overlapping shields.
Demir stood at the center gate, Wolf's Vow planted in the ground, armor streaked with blood and mud. Around him, thirty defenders formed a desperate last line. If the gates fell, the town fell.
"HOLD!" he roared, though his voice cracked with exhaustion.
The gates shuddered again.
**BOOM.**
Cracks spider-webbed across the wood.
Thalia appeared at the wall's edge, her face gaunt, eyes bloodshot. "I've got one big spell left. Maybe two small ones."
"Save it," Demir said. "We'll need it when they break through."
"When?" she repeated hollowly.
"When," he confirmed.
The battering ram struck again. This time the right gate buckled inward, hanging by a single twisted hinge.
Goblins howled in triumph. "Break! Break! Humanz die!"
"ARCHERS! FOCUS FIRE ON THE RAM CREW!" Elandra commanded from above.
Arrows rained down, but the shield wall held. For every goblin that fell, another stepped forward to take its place.
On the eastern wall, another breach opened. Goblins poured through like ants from a kicked hill, overwhelming the skeletal defense.
Marco stood there, hands trembling, tears streaming down his face. "I can't... I can't do this..."
A goblin lunged at him, spear raised.
Sin appeared from nowhere, blade flashing. The goblin's head hit the ground before its body did. "Get behind me, old man!"
But Sin was moving too slow. Blood loss from a dozen cuts had sapped his speed. Another goblin swung a club, catching him across the ribs. He went down hard.
"SIN!" Timmy's scream cut through the chaos.
The younger twin charged forward, sword raised, despite the blood soaking through his bandages. He killed the goblin standing over his brother, then hauled Sin to his feet.
"Stay down, you idiot," Sin gasped. "You can barely stand."
"Neither can you," Timmy shot back, smile weak but defiant.
They stood back-to-back, two brothers against an ocean of enemies.
The gates finally gave way.
**CRACK.**
Wood exploded inward in a shower of splinters. The battering ram crashed through, scattering defenders. Goblins surged into the breach, screaming their victory. "Kill! Kill! Take slaves!"
Demir met them head-on.
Wolf's Vow blazed with the last vestiges of its enchantment, lightning arcing with every swing. He became a whirlwind of steel and fury. Cutting, blocking, killing. His armor took hits that would have shattered bone, but the dents accumulated. A strap on his shoulder guard snapped. A buckle at his waist gave way.
He didn't stop.
To his left, Killgor fought with fading precision. The assassin's movements were still deadly, but slower now. A goblin blade caught his thigh, and he stumbled. He recovered, killed his attacker, but the wound bled freely.
To his right, Thalia unleashed her final Meteor Shard. The spell struck the center of the goblin formation, incinerating dozens. But the mana cost staggered her. She collapsed against the tower wall, gasping.
"I'm done," she whispered. "Nothing left."
Ardrem dragged her behind cover. "Then rest. We'll handle it."
But even as he said it, a goblin arrow found his shoulder. He cried out, spell fizzling on his lips.
The eastern breach widened.
Goblins flooded the town square, setting fire to buildings, dragging civilians from hiding. Screams filled the air. Not of warriors, but of families.
Asena tore through the square like a vengeful spirit, saving who she could. But even the mighty wolf was bleeding from countless wounds. Her movements grew sluggish, her breath labored.
Demir fought his way toward the center, trying to rally the defenders. "FALL BACK TO THE TOWN HALL! FORM UP!"
But nobody could hear him over the chaos.
A goblin elite stepped through the ruined gates. Massive, scarred, wielding a crude greataxe. It locked eyes with Demir and grinned, yellowed teeth gleaming.
"Strong humanz," it growled in broken Common. "I break you."
The goblin elite charged.
Demir barely raised his sword in time. The greataxe crashed down with bone-shattering force. His blade held, but the impact drove him to one knee. His arm screamed in protest.
The elite swung again. Demir rolled aside, the axe gouging a crater in the ground where he'd stood. He countered with a lightning-charged slash that caught the goblin's side, scoring a deep cut.
The elite roared and backhanded Demir across the face.
His helm absorbed most of the blow, but stars exploded across his vision. He tasted blood.
Before the elite could finish him, Asena crashed into its flank, jaws clamping around its shoulder. The goblin screamed, thrashing, trying to dislodge the wolf.
Demir staggered to his feet and drove Wolf's Vow through the elite's throat.
The massive goblin gurgled, blood frothing from its mouth, and collapsed.
But the victory was hollow.
Around them, Safe Hollow was burning.
Defenders fell by the dozens. Roderic fought near the town hall, his sword arm hanging limp, still swinging one-handed. Elandra had run out of arrows and was fighting with a dagger. Marven lay motionless on a rooftop, an arrow in her chest.
Marco knelt in the square, surrounded by bodies, sobbing.
Sin and Timmy held a narrow alley, still fighting back-to-back. Both were drenched in blood. Their own and others'. Timmy's movements were mechanical now, each swing slower than the last.
"We can't win this," Sin said, voice hollow.
"Doesn't matter," Timmy replied. "We fight anyway."
"You're an idiot."
"Takes one to know one."
A faint smile crossed Sin's face. "Yeah."
The goblins regrouped for another push. But instead of charging, they parted.
From the forest emerged something worse.
A fourth wave.
But this one was different. At its head marched goblin elites. Clad in patchwork metal armor, wielding weapons looted from fallen human towns. Behind them, a thousand more goblins, fresh and eager.
Demir's heart sank.
Roderic staggered over, face pale. "We're done."
"No," Demir said automatically.
"Look around!" Roderic gestured at the carnage. "Half our fighters are dead or dying! The walls are gone! We can't—"
"We hold," Demir interrupted, voice like iron. "Until the last breath. We hold."
Roderic stared at him. Then slowly nodded. "Until the last breath."
The fourth wave advanced slowly, savoring their victory.
Demir stood at the center of the burning town square, armor battered, sword bloodied, body screaming in agony. Asena limped to his side, fur matted with blood, one eye swollen shut.
Around them, the remaining defenders gathered. Perhaps fifty still standing. All wounded. All exhausted. All ready to die.
Thalia appeared, leaning on Ardrem for support. "For what it's worth, it was an honor."
Killgor spat blood. "Dying sucks, but the company's not bad."
Marco clutched his staff, hands steady for the first time all day. "I'm sorry I failed you all."
"You didn't fail," Demir said. "You fought. That's enough."
Sin and Timmy joined the circle, the twins supporting each other.
The goblin elites began their final charge.
Demir raised Wolf's Vow high. "FOR SAFE HOLLOW!"
"FOR SAFE HOLLOW!" the defenders roared back.
The goblins surged forward.
And the slaughter began anew.
The goblin elites were faster, stronger, better equipped than their kin. They crashed into the defensive line like a steel wave, scattering the exhausted defenders.
Demir met the first elite head-on, their blades clashing with a sound like breaking glass. The goblin was skilled. Parrying, feinting, counterattacking. Demir's exhausted muscles screamed as he fought, each movement slower than the last.
He won, barely, driving his blade through the goblin's chest. But two more took its place.
Around him, the circle of defenders disintegrated.
Killgor went down, overwhelmed by three elites. He took two with him before a spear found his back.
Ardrem fell protecting Thalia, a goblin axe splitting his skull.
Thalia screamed, unleashing her last reserves of magic in a wild explosion that killed a dozen goblins but left her collapsed and defenseless.
Roderic fought like a man possessed, one-armed, bleeding from a dozen wounds, refusing to fall. "HOLD! HOLD!"
But there was nothing left to hold.
The goblins overwhelmed them, surrounding the last knot of defenders in the burning square.
Demir found himself pressed against a wall, Asena beside him, both of them bleeding, both of them still fighting. The wolf's movements were sluggish now, her jaws snapping with fading strength.
"I'm sorry, girl," Demir gasped between strikes. "I couldn't protect them."
Asena growled, as if rejecting his apology.
Across the square, Sin and Timmy still fought back-to-back in the narrow alley.
A goblin elite flanked them, spear raised.
"SIN! BEHIND YOU!" Marco screamed.
Sin spun, but too slow. The spear drove toward his exposed back.
Timmy threw himself in the way.
The spear punched through his chest, emerging bloody from his back.
"TIMMY!" Sin's scream tore the sky.
Time seemed to freeze.
Timmy looked down at the spear, then up at his brother. Blood bubbled from his lips. "Told you... I'd watch... your back..."
"No. No, no, no." Sin caught his brother as he fell, pulling him away from the goblin, cradling him against his chest.
The goblin raised its spear for another strike.
And something in Demir shattered.
"**NO!**"
He didn't remember crossing the square. One moment he was against the wall, the next he was there, Wolf's Vow cleaving the goblin elite in half. The two pieces fell separately.
He stood over the twins, armor dented, body broken, but eyes blazing with something beyond rage.
Asena joined him, hackles raised, a final defiant snarl on her bloodied muzzle.
Goblin elites surrounded them. Ten, fifteen, twenty.
Sin held his dying brother, tears streaming down his dark face. "Stay with me, Timmy. Please. STAY WITH ME!"
But Timmy's eyes were already glazing. "Tell... Mom... I was... brave..."
"You were," Sin sobbed. "You were the bravest."
Timmy smiled faintly.
And then he was gone.
The light left his eyes. His hand fell limp.
Sin's scream was primal, inhuman, a sound of pure devastation.
And in Demir, something broke free.
The world turned red.
His vision narrowed to a tunnel of blood and fury. The goblin faces before him became nothing but targets, obstacles to destroy.
He moved faster than thought, faster than pain. Wolf's Vow became a blur of lightning and steel. Goblins fell in pieces, unable to react, unable to defend.
Asena matched his fury, the wolf and the man moving as one entity of violence.
They carved through the goblin elites like a scythe through wheat.
More came. They killed them.
More came. They killed them too.
Demir felt nothing. No exhaustion, no pain, no fear. Only the need to destroy, to kill, to protect what remained.
The goblins began to back away, fear finally breaking through their bloodlust. "Run! Run! Beast humanz! Monster!"
But Demir and Asena pursued, driving them back, killing any too slow to flee.
The remaining defenders rallied behind them. Thalia, Marco, a handful of guards. They formed a wedge, pushing forward, reclaiming the square foot by bloody foot.
But the cost was everything.
Bodies littered the ground. Friends, neighbors, family.
And in a quiet alley, Sin knelt alone, holding his brother's cooling body, rocking back and forth, broken beyond repair.
The goblins retreated to the forest edge, regrouping, but not fleeing.
They still had numbers. They still had strength.
This wasn't over.
Demir stood at the center of the ruined square, chest heaving, blood dripping from his armor. The frenzy was fading, replaced by a hollow emptiness.
They'd bought minutes. Maybe an hour.
But the end was still coming.
Asena collapsed beside him, finally unable to stand. Her breathing was labored, ragged.
"I know," Demir whispered, kneeling beside her. "I'm tired too."
He looked up at the smoke-choked sky, at the burning buildings, at the faces of the few who remained.
And for the first time since the siege began, he allowed himself to believe they were going to lose.
The goblin horns sounded again, rallying for the final push.
Demir stood, legs shaking, and raised his sword one last time.
If they were going to die, they'd die fighting.