The Mountain That Devoured an Army
"What's going on?"
A soldier's shaking voice cut through the motionless air.
Another yelled, his face white. "Why did the ground just tremble? Could it be… a dragon rolling over beneath us?"
"That can't happen!"
The 200,000-strong Ironforge Kingdom army broke into pandemonium. Spears clanged. Horses let out frantic braying. The well-drilled formation broke into a frenzy.
Then, out of the bowels of the Red Rock Iron Mine, a deafening roar shook the skies.
BOOM!
The ground shook.
A deafening crack ripped across the ground. The ground under them collapsed, dropping in on itself like a predator opening its maw. Rock cracked apart. Smoke and dust billowed up, obscuring the sun until the sky was a dull gray.
Someone shrieked, "The mine—it's collapsing!"
But the tragedy was just starting.
The fall radiated outward in horrific speed, a chain reaction of destruction. The earth itself ripple and fractured. Caves collapsed, ridges cracked, and the whole mountain range shook as if the world had revolted against them.
It was as if the world had yawned open its maw, consuming anything that had the temerity to remain above it.
Boom! Rumble! Rumble!
Panic swept through the army.
"The mine is collapsing! Disaster! Run!"
"The cave-in is too quick! If we don't get out now, we're all going to be killed!"
"Run—ah! Help! Somebody—!"
Men screamed as the earth caved beneath their feet. Horses wheeled and plunged into the opening gaps. Dust filled the air. The roar of the falling mine overbore their screams, leaving despair and chaos.
At the brink of the destruction, His Highness, the Ironforge Kingdom Crown Prince, fought to maintain his balance as the ground shook fiercely beneath him.
"Your Highness!" a general cried, hastening to his side. "The iron mine has collapsed unexpectedly! It is precarious—let us leave at once!"
The Crown Prince's face went pale. He nodded hastily, voice cracking with fright. "Right… move quickly! Take me out of here!"
"Your Highness!" bellowed an Origin Tier specialist, pushing forward amidst the uproar. "Mounting will be too slow—let me take you!"
The prince reacted before he could be helped, and the man swept him up onto his back, and plunged forward with blast-like speed, and disappeared from the collapsing mountainside.
All around them, the Ironforge army was in complete chaos. The once-proud force now fled in terror like frightened birds. Thousands thronged each other in panic, abandoning weapons, armor—anything that hampered them.
But no one could outrun the earth.
The fall was ruthless, spreading more quickly than any human could escape. Soldiers shrieked as earth beneath them gave way, disappearing into the depths. The abyss deepened and widened with each beating heartbeat, consuming horses, men, and whole battalions in a hurricane of dust and corpses.
The crash of descending stone thundered like the voice of the heavens.
Among the din were cries of despair, silencing one by one in the grinding earth.
But in that instant, there was no brotherhood. No courage. No order.
Each man only cared about survival.
And the mountain consumed them all.
________________________________________
Thirty minutes later, the world grew quiet.
The rumbling ceased. The dust settled.
Where once a mountain had been, there was only a great crater—a wound on the earth.
The Red Rock Iron Mine had turned into a bottomless pit of devastation.
The Crown Prince of Ironforge stood on the precipice, as white as a specter, his uniform tattered and face smeared with dirt. There were only a couple of dozen soldiers and generals left with him, their eyes agape.
He gazed out upon the bottomless pit… and the reality set in.
".It's over," he whispered.
His knees buckled and he fell to the floor, gazing blankly at the ruin ahead of him. "Everything… it's all over…"
His voice cracked on the last word, and then—
He fainted.
"Your Highness!" a general shouted, hurrying to grab him. "Wake up! Please, Your Highness!"
No answer came.
Only the empty echo of wind rushing through the air full of dust.
______________________________________
Word of the catastrophe spread like fire.
In hours, it had spread to every corner of the continent. Surprise ran through the kingdoms.
"What? The Red Rock Iron Mine collapsed and buried two hundred thousand soldiers of the Ironforge Kingdom?"
"Impossible! Yesterday, that region was just annexed by the Drake Kingdom! How could this happen overnight?"
"The Ironforge Kingdom paid so much—gold, silver, jewels, even offered their most beautiful woman—and now this? Two hundred thousand gone? Even their Crown Prince fainted on the spot!"
"Can you blame him? Losing two hundred thousand troops in a single stroke… no kingdom could bear that!"
"F*ck… with this, the Drake Kingdom has made a fortune!"
"Yeah! They secured the money, the resources, the beauty, and even eliminated the border threat overnight! It's like the heavens themselves are blessing them!"
"Ha! Their luck is really going against the heavens!"
The whole Ironforge Kingdom was plunged into grief. Families lamented, temples were filled with incense, and the once-proud war banners were lowered in grief.
The Drake Kingdom, on the other hand, was filled to the brim with festivities.
The streets rang out with laughter and music. Fireworks lit up the night sky as citizens prayed and ministers toasted in thanksgiving.
Within the grand halls of the Royal Court, officials bowed to the Imperial Throne, their voices thundering in jubilation.
"Your Majesty!" one of the ministers announced, struggling to contain his elation. "It's confirmed—the two hundred thousand man army of Ironforge was buried whole! The collapse came suddenly—none survived!"
Another spoke breathlessly, "Only the Crown Prince and some generals escaped! The danger of Ironforge has disappeared, Your Majesty! Gone completely!"
The court exploded into accolades.
"Long live King Lucian Drake!"
"The heavens smile upon the Drake Kingdom!"
"The empire is born with divine blessings!"
And as the applause resounded within the royal palace, somewhere far below the Red Rock Iron Mine, the stillness stirred ever so slightly—
as if something long past had stirred in the blackness beneath.