Chapter 12 – The Crimson War
The Blood Moon bled across the sky like a curse that refused to fade. Every night since its rise, the world sank deeper into chaos — cities drowned in screams, streets flooded with the stench of death. Humans, vampires, and zombies fought for survival in a war that had no mercy, no end, and no gods to save them.
Kael's boots crushed over ashes as he reloaded his weapon — a modified rifle made from scavenged metal and vampire bone. Beside him, Riven swung his twin blades, coated in silver dust and holy oil. The sound of his blades slicing through undead flesh echoed like thunder.
"Three coming from the right!" Riven shouted.
Kael turned, fired, and three zombies' skulls exploded in a cloud of black rot. "You're slow today," Kael muttered.
"Or maybe you're just getting reckless," Riven shot back, smirking beneath his blood-stained mask.
Behind them, the human resistance — survivors from a dozen fallen cities — held their line. Barbed wire traps, flame turrets, and nailed barricades surrounded their outpost, once a school now turned fortress. Every bullet was precious. Every heartbeat mattered.
The vampires attacked next. They came fast — shadows slicing through the smoke, eyes glowing red. The humans aimed their UV bombs.
"NOW!" Kael roared.
Light erupted. The air sizzled as a wave of ultraviolet fire scorched the vampires mid-air. Screams filled the night — a chorus of agony. But not all were destroyed. From the shadows, a tall figure appeared — crimson eyes locked onto Kael.
The vampire general.
His voice dripped with arrogance. "So you're the one they call the Blood King."
Kael tightened his grip. "I don't need a title to kill you."
They clashed. Metal against claw. Sparks rained across the ruined battlefield. The general moved like lightning, but Kael's power — the Blood Moon energy surging in his veins — made him faster, stronger. His punches cracked the vampire's bones. His kicks shattered concrete.
"Kael!" Riven shouted as more vampires flooded in. "We're surrounded!"
"I see them!"
Riven unleashed his inner fury — his blades blazed with dark fire, a mark of the Blood Moon's second chosen. The flames didn't burn — they devoured. Each slash turned vampires to ash. Each movement carried rage and grace.
But with every strike, Riven felt it — the darkness whispering in his mind, erasing his past. He couldn't remember his mother's voice anymore. Couldn't recall their village. Only the war. Only the blood.
"Kael…" Riven gasped between swings. "Do you… ever feel it? Forgetting everything?"
Kael froze for a second — just long enough for the vampire general to stab him through the shoulder. He roared, ripped the blade out, and shot the vampire point-blank in the chest.
Smoke cleared. The vampire fell. Kael stood panting, his eyes glowing like two crimson stars.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Every day."
---
Meanwhile — South Sector
The humans of the southern resistance executed their plan — Operation Stormlight. A trap designed by one of the last living tacticians, a woman named Aria Voss. She studied the undead movements, timing them with the Blood Moon cycles.
"Sector C ready?" she barked into the comms.
"Ready!"
"Release the gas!"
Tanks hissed. Green smoke drifted over the battlefield — chemical fire mixed with holy ash. Zombies began collapsing, melting into black puddles.
But victory didn't last.
From the darkness came something new — a mutation. A zombie unlike any other. Its body was covered in bone armor, its face split into four jaws. It roared and ripped through the human barricades like paper.
"Fall back!" soldiers screamed.
Kael heard it from a mile away — that sound of death. He looked at Riven.
"Time to end this."
Riven nodded. "Together."
They ran through the flames, shoulder to shoulder — the Blood Kings of the apocalypse.
Bullets rained, fire burned, the earth shook beneath their feet. Kael leaped onto the mutant's back, stabbing his dagger deep into its neck. It screamed, thrashing wildly, throwing him off. Riven followed up — both blades slicing across its chest in a crisscross motion. Black blood sprayed everywhere.
Still, the monster didn't fall.
It grabbed Riven by the throat, slamming him into a wall.
Kael roared, his eyes fully red now, veins glowing like magma. He sprinted — faster than any human could — and tackled the creature with all his fury. They crashed into the ruins, debris flying. Kael punched through its skull again and again until there was nothing left but blood and dust.
Silence.
He stood there, breathing hard, fists trembling. Riven coughed, getting up slowly. "You almost lost it again."
Kael looked away. "Yeah. Almost."
---
Night turned colder. Fires burned across the city ruins like dying stars. The survivors gathered, injured and exhausted.
Aria approached Kael. "If you two hadn't come, we'd be wiped out."
Kael didn't answer. He stared at the moon — still crimson, still watching.
Riven joined him. "You think this ends soon?"
Kael shook his head. "No. The Blood Moon isn't done yet."
Above them, lightning cracked across the sky. The moon flickered — and for a moment, Kael saw visions. A shadowed realm. A throne of bones. A whisper calling his name.
He clenched his fists.
"Something's coming," he said.
Riven smirked darkly. "Then let it come."
The brothers stood side by side as the apocalypse raged on — two kings in a dying world, both fighting for survival, both losing themselves to the power that made them unstoppable… and doomed.
The Crimson War had only just begun.
---