The soldiers were relaxing on the city walls, their armor clinking softly as they passed the time gossiping. The wind blew weakly, and the sky grew orange as twilight arrived.
Their laughter echoed faintly across the wall where they were stationed. The atmosphere felt uneasy as they shifted their conversation.
They spoke of rumors spreading across the land, people were talking about rising cults of Demonic Worshippers.
"That's horse dung," said a man in disbelief.
The other man continued, fully convinced. "They say their goal is to summon creatures from the underworld. They capture people and invite the devil into their bodies."
The others burst out laughing, mocking him for believing in "fairytales." But as the orange light turned darker and the night made strange sounds, an uneasy feeling pressed on them.
They tried to erase the tension by mocking each other for being nervous, but their laughter now felt forced.
From behind them, a calm voice spoke.
"You all look as if you saw a ghost?"
The soldiers were startled and turned quickly. Standing in the dim light was the Crown Prince, Cedrien Alvyren. The soldiers panicked at his sudden appearance.
Cedrien's gaze was piercing and intense, and his tall stature made the men cower without a word being said.
They fixed their posture immediately and removed their helmets swiftly in respect for the Prince.
"My Lord! Forgive us, we weren't aware of you."
One spoke nervously, "May I ask what brings you out here?"
"It doesn't concern you, soldier," Cedrien said coldly.
Behind him stepped a young peasant girl. Her presence surprised the soldiers even more than the prince's sudden arrival. The breeze ran through her long brown hair, brushing against her pale, delicate face.
The soldiers turned their eyes away respectfully as the two of them began walking on the wall together. But they exchanged glances, though nobody said a word about it.
Cedrien slowed down and looked over from the wall. There was a vast plain, and further up stood a huge mountain, dense with trees. He pointed at it.
"When I was a child, my father and I would go there hunting often." He looked at the sky in silence, but the girl, Terissa, kept quiet. So he added, "Times change, I guess."
Terissa followed behind him, her heart racing. She couldn't help but stare at his sharp features and the quiet strength in his posture until he turned and met her gaze. She blushed and lowered her eyes quickly.
"My Lord," she said with a weak voice, "this place is beautiful, but… what would people say, seeing us together?"
Cedrien chuckled softly and gave her a light tap on her back, something that wasn't formal, rather intimate.
"We are merely walking," he said with a gentle smile. "Surely that's not a crime."
She nodded quickly, but it was as if the wind itself was against their bond, as it shifted suddenly. It blew through the wall, making the flags flutter violently. Everyone on the wall ducked as the powerful gust roared across the battlements.
Following it came a deafening rush of wings. Hundreds of birds erupted and rushed past over their heads, likely coming from the mountain ahead.
"What in God's name…" a soldier muttered.
A few moments later, an indistinct howling sound could be heard, husky and unnatural. The howling echoed from the distance, across the plains from the mountain's foot. It was a noise that didn't sound like it belonged to this world.
The soldiers exchanged frightened glances and grabbed their bows, preparing for what might come next.
Terissa grabbed Cedrien's hand on reflex, her hands trembling. The officer in charge barked an order: "Your Highness, please, seek safety within the Citadel!"
However, Cedrien didn't listen as his eyes were fixed on the horizon.
"I need to see what's coming," he said, clenching his jaw. He commanded the soldier to take Terissa to a safe place. She hesitated, but the soldier forced her away. She pleaded with Cedrien to come along with her, but he had set his mind.
The fear of seeing Cedrien wounded or worse, made her more scared than the dreadful sounds.
It was as though they were controlling the wind; it carried the sounds closer: low, deep growls mixed with whispers that didn't sound like anything they had heard before.
"It's the Devil Worshippers… they've summoned them! We can't fight demons from the underworld!"
The senior officer, Varron, turned and struck him across the helmet. "Hold your tongue, coward!"
Just then, they saw the figures making the sounds. The figures were emerging from the mountain's foot, shadows running upright, unnaturally fast and uneven. They moved like a person who had broken all his bones but still ran swiftly.
As they came closer, the sounds became suffocating, hundreds of voices howling out of hollow chests, growling and whispering at the same time. Some produced screeches so sharp they pierced through the sky.
"Monsters!" someone shouted.
The atmosphere became dreadful and grim quickly. Even the veterans found their hands trembling as they desperately tried to steady their men. The bell rang, alarming the people in the city and calling for reinforcements. The soldiers from the barracks rushed up, only to find themselves trembling with the rest.
But they kept pouring in from the mountain's foot endlessly, filling the plains in minutes. They ran on two legs but moved like the fastest beasts. As they came into range, their bodies became visible under the moonlight.
They were approximately twenty feet tall, their skin gray and cracked, their black veins like roots stretching up to their heads. Their eyes rolled all the way up, mouths wide open, but the voices seemed to come from deep in their throats.
The soldiers froze in disbelief. One whispered, "This can't be real… it must be a nightmare."
Cedrien froze and swallowed. He wanted to run away and escape to safety, but he remembered his father's words, "Every man's fear feeds the next. Every man's courage does too," so he grounded himself and looked without flinching.
Varron shouted with everything he had, "Shoot!"
That grounded the soldiers, and they started releasing volleys. The creatures didn't slow down one bit, though some stumbled from the injuries.
Cedrien joined in, grabbing a bow lying on the watchtower. The soldiers were too preoccupied with the horror to notice their prince among them.
The arrows kept pouring in until some of the creatures finally dropped, but they weren't dead. In fact, they dragged themselves toward the wall.
A distinct sound erupted further up, heavy and rhythmic. The ground shook with every step. From behind the first wave came a massive figure, almost fifty feet high, taller than the city walls. Its body pulsed with red veins.
It reached the walls and started pounding on them like a man pounding on a desk, creating a rhythmic sound. Men were instantly crushed under its blows. But the most horrifying thing was the sound it made; it was almost like a laugh, a mocking one.
It grinned, its mouth stretching unnaturally wide, and then it inhaled deeply, twisting the air inside its chest. Along with the air rose faint white threads from the corpses, drawn into its mouth like smoke.
The monster seemed to enjoy it, and it appeared to grow stronger from it as the red veins glowed brighter and the creature grew larger and taller.
Cedrien's heart hammered. "Father, where are you?" he muttered, as the soldiers screamed in horror.
A loud sound of wood creaking and a pop echoed as a ballista bolt fired from the inner tower, piercing into the creature's skull. The impact would have killed any living being, but it didn't kill this one.
It reached up slowly, pulled the bolt out, and held it like a stick. It used it to play with the soldiers.
And for the first time, the proud and mighty kingdom of Valeric felt despair and helplessness. The city erupted into chaos as they saw the creature's upper body rise over the wall.
And just as they thought it couldn't get any worse, another creature swiftly moved across the horde, holding a huge log. It struck the gate with it — bang… bang… — the whole structure vibrated with every strike.
The men couldn't stop it as they were too preoccupied with the other creatures, and the huge one wouldn't let them focus anywhere else.
A few soldiers dropped their weapons and ran. Suddenly, the ranks seemed to grow smaller. Cedrien shouted, "Men, we must defend our capital at all costs! If we fail here, everyone will die!"
But the screams of the people and the howling of the creatures combined with the chaos made his voice too small to be heard.
The other creatures joined in pounding the door. The situation was truly grim and hopeless.
One of the taller creatures started trying to climb the wall. It gripped the top tightly and tried to pull itself up. The soldiers desperately tried to loosen its grip by stabbing its hand, but it wouldn't budge.
And to every horror, it managed to pull itself up and stand on the wall. The city dwellers could see the monstrously large figure towering above the city wall. They screamed in absolute terror.
The creature stood silently with excitement, almost as if it had just discovered a gold mine.
And then it raised it's head up and stretched its arms wide, and released a sarcastic horrifying laugh like the devil himself have won.
At that moment everyone present in city had realised, they were doomed.