Kreydan zarathos
It had finally started! Kreydan's strategy required just one more move and kreydan could finally go and attack the city of eldhaven.
Kreydan could see old maekan on the bridge, in center, laughing and causing all kinds of ruckus one can imagine. Crowd had started to gather around him, shouting swears and throwing turnips at him.
Just down south, kreydan could also see jorath moving his way through nightingale road, which leads straight towards portcullis, which leaded directly into the city.
Up in the promontory heights, kreydan stood, laughing, and grabbing his war hammer, dark moth... tightly.
He was ready. Ready to kill or to be killed by Aldros.
Kreydan squinted in distance as he saw jorath cut down one knight and then another.
He grabbed one knight's sword, with bare hand, and then sliced it clean with his own sword. He spun, suddenly and then grabbed another one's head and brought his sword down at his skull. Slicing him in two. Two more came at him, swords and cloak high in air, jorath dodged... Backward, then lunged, his massive sword roaring, slicing their belly open. Another one, massive and clad in yellow cloak and a steel armour with nightingale on his rondel. He roared and swung his sword forward, Jorath met his sword in a satisfying clang. Steel rang around portcullis, dodging, parrying and then moving forward in rhythm. Jorath lunged for him again, trying to break his rhythm, he failed. In a wide arc, the yellow armored gatekeeper came forward, jorath jumped and then landed on his head. For a moment the gatekeeper was blind, Swinging his sword, here and there, finding nothing but air to cut. Jorath stood, trying to balance on gatekeeper's shoulder and then brought his sword down... Too late, the gatekeeper parried, bring his sword overhead and pushing him backwards. Jorath landed, hard on his back. The gatekeeper kicked, his boots smashing Jorath's face. Harder and harder, every kick until jorath was gasping for air.
Useless... I should have gone myself... Kreydan thought.
Dark moth in hand, his locks flying, kreydan jumped from the cliffs, his jump causing a small crater in land. He ran as fast he could.
Kreydan charged down the nightingale road, dark moth overhead, he roared! The gatekeeper stopped and glanced over his head. As soon as he tried to move... Kreydan jumped, With a thunderous crack, Kreydan brought the hammer down, shattering the skull beneath it. The gatekeeper's vision went white as he slumped backward. Kreydan stood on top of him, He kept striking, again and again, and again. One more strike. One more smash. One more crack. He smashed two more, probably three times more, maybe it was five... he couldn't remember, he kept striking until the gatekeeper's face was reduced to pulp, blood warm and dark as it spattered everywhere.
Kreydan now breathless, walked towards portcullis and saw jorath getting up, his face covered in both blood and mud. "I could have done that myself", jorath said.
"You are lucky, you have oath of Aegis otherwise those knights would have killed you".
Jorath faltered. "Don't disrespect—"
"Stay here! Any more knight, kill them. Is that clear?"
"Of course but you can't —"
"Can you... even do that? Should I call old man to assist you?"
"Stop this! I am not a child. I have defeated a Dragon and... I have defeated a blood giant and countless other monsters".
"And, Yet you were at his mercy. Several more boots on your face and you would have been lying dead... same like he is".
"I was trying but—"
"As I said, stay here and kill any knight that come this way. I hope that much is clear to you".
Jorath scowled. Kreydan drove the hammer into the portcullis. Iron screamed. The shock ran up his arms, stone dust bursting from the frame as the bars shuddered and bent. He struck again, the taste of rust thick in the air, the gate groaning under the weight of the blows.
Panic rippled through the streets. People stared, whispered, then broke into motion, baskets of wool and grain spilling as they ran. Some fled straight for their homes, others moved in frightened circles, shouting warnings no one listened to. Market stalls stood half-open, apples and berries rolling in the dust, lengths of coarse tapestry flapping from crooked poles. Carts lay abandoned, barrels split, tools and unpolished steel left where they fell.
This was a working city, built on trade. Smiths, dyers, cloth-sellers, mule drivers. Between the shops rose small temples of fresh stone and painted wood, their doors thrown wide in fear. Candles burned before crude icons of Eldros, the new god, while a few shrines still bore the mark of Aldros, his most loyal servant. Incense drifted uselessly into the air as prayers went unanswered and the streets emptied.
Kreydan moved through narrow alleys that opened at times into wider thoroughfares, the stone worn smooth by generations of feet. He passed beneath small arches crowned with nightingale statues, their wings folded as if listening. In one square, pillars stood in a circle around a statue of Eldros, the god carved in pale stone, one hand resting on a sword, the other pressed to his chest in solemn promise. Shutters snapped open and shut as he passed, casements creaking, eyes watching briefly before vanishing again. Every house flew a banner from its roof, nightingales stitched on the front and their god Eldros looming behind them, sewn in yellow thread. The cloth snapped loudly in the wind, a constant, nervous clatter above the streets.
Several knights stood before Kreydan, backs straight as spears, unmoving, ready to die for their city. From head to heel they were sheathed in steel. Yellow cloaks marked with Eldros hung from their shoulders. Large circular rondels bore the nightingale sigil, set over padded surcoats, while intricate chains of mail covered their chests, coifs hidden beneath their helms. The helms themselves were black, fashioned with cruel talons, catching the light like hooked claws.
Finally...
Kreydan swung Dark Moth through the air. Black mist poured from the hammerhead, thick and alive, surging forward in a sudden charge. It wrapped the knights in an instant, swallowing steel, sigils, and screams alike, and then they were gone, erased from the street as if they had never stood there at all.
"Enough! Kreydan, stop this madness at once!", shouted Aldros, the demigod.
"Why are you hiding here? Thought you were too "competent" to join any god?"
"My burdens are mine... Only mine to bear", Aldros said. "Who crowned you as demigod? Your father, zarathos, i presume?"
Kreydan nodded, indifferent.
Aldros stood there, heavily armored, facing forward. He wore a tall steel helm with red plumes and gold trim, his thick beard spilling over the collar. A fur cloak hangs from his shoulders. He holds a sword in one hand and a large shield in the other, both marked with carved beasts and worn sigils, not of this land, Kreydan knew this. His face is hard and watchful, shaped by battle rather than ceremony, kreydan knew this as well.
Have to stay clear from that sword...
"Shall we then... Kreydan?", Aldros said, loud. "That's why you're here, is it not?"
Kreydan nodded. "Aldros, use whatever you can and I will too. Only one of us shall live".
"Very well. Brother".
World of sumaka through eyes of Aldros—
Seven brothers and one sister. Father zarathos... No, zarathos has given us all power except for me. He hated me, for reasons i don't even know...till now.
Zarathos is an ancient god. An ancient power that can bestow a fraction of their power obtained from tombs. A son of an ancient god doesn't need to solve tombs like normal beings. Only a ritual and a weapon.
Eldros helped me, gave me power, gave me this sword. Weatherfall, my sword like its name can bring catastrophe if awakened.
Lightning, fire, wind, water. It has every elements, can be mixed into different elements and form a different disaster on my enemies.
How can I not side with eldros? He even gave me a purpose, matching with his own. My father hated me, my brothers never spoke in my favour even kreydan who was dear to me and I to him ,only my sister, she spoke for me and she was abandoned too. She left zarathos too, like I did.