And then, from the dust of the valley, gigantic shadows appeared.
First a dozen.
Then hundreds.
Then thousands.
They were herbivorous creatures the size of houses.
Massive bodies. Thick legs. Horns that looked as though they had been carved from stone. Mana glowed faintly around their bodies, like a bluish mist drifting from their skin.
They moved together.
Without attacking.
Without chasing anyone.
They simply advanced.
THUM.
The earth trembled.
THUM.
The ground began to crack beneath their feet.
Trees bent before being torn from their roots. Rocks rolled down the slopes. A small river changed course when the first herd crossed it.
From the walls of Albaterra, the soldiers watched in silence.
An imperial legionnaire pointed toward the valley.
—What the hell is that?
No one answered.
The creatures continued forward.
THUM.
THUM.
THUM.
Cracks spread across the terrain.
Then someone shouted:
—THEY'RE STAMPEDING!
Fear swept through the imperial lines.
—FALL BACK!
—FALL BACK NOW!
The siege towers began to turn.
Archers raised their weapons.
Mages prepared their spells.
The first enchanted arrows crossed the sky.
They fell upon the herd.
THUD!
An arrow pierced the air and struck the side of one of the creatures.
It bounced off.
The skin was barely marked.
A mage's eyes widened.
—What...?
Too late.
The first herd reached the imperial positions.
There was no clash of lines.
No battle.
Only destruction.
One creature crashed into an entire formation.
Men disappeared beneath tons of flesh and stone.
A siege engine was crushed.
Horses were thrown into the air.
Soldiers were sent flying.
The earth sank beneath every step.
And behind them came more.
Thousands.
The stampede tore across the battlefield.
Imperials.
Kingdom soldiers.
It did not matter.
The creatures could not distinguish banners.
Everything in their path was dragged away, crushed, or buried beneath their feet.
A defensive wall split apart.
A tower slowly tilted before collapsing.
The soldiers began to run.
No longer toward the enemy.
In every direction.
Anywhere, as long as it was away from the creatures.
And then...
the forest moved.
Not because of the wind.
The trees trembled.
Branches snapped.
Something was descending the slopes.
First, a wolf appeared.
Its body was covered in plates of rock.
Then another.
And another.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
They descended the slopes like living avalanches.
Behind them came creatures wreathed in fire.
Enormous felines tore through the smoke, leaving trails of flames across the ground.
Above the battlefield, a flock of birds descended from the clouds.
Their feathers looked as though they were made of metal.
They circled once.
Then dove toward anything left isolated.
An imperial soldier raised his sword.
He never got the chance to strike.
A shadow passed over him.
He disappeared.
The stampede continued.
The herbivores fled.
The predators followed.
And the humans were trapped in the middle.
An imperial general tried to regain control.
—FORM MANA BARRIERS!
The mages began raising shields.
—DON'T LET THEM THROUGH!
A creature slammed into one of the barriers.
BOOM!
The shield shattered.
The mages were thrown backward.
—WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THESE THINGS COMING FROM?!
No one answered.
Because no one was fighting anymore.
Everyone was trying to survive.
A group of Imperials raised a barrier.
Kingdom soldiers ran behind it.
No one stopped them.
A Kingdom captain cast a spell at an approaching creature.
An imperial legionnaire used the opening to escape.
No one asked permission.
No one offered an explanation.
The banners had stopped mattering.
A Kingdom soldier shoved a legionnaire out of the way when a beast crashed down on them like a projectile.
The Imperial rolled through the mud.
He looked up.
For a moment, the two men stared at each other.
There was no gratitude.
No words.
They both ran again.
Farther ahead, an imperial captain raised a barrier around several Kingdom soldiers.
One of his men looked at him.
—They're enemies!
The captain did not take his eyes off the approaching creature.
—If the barrier falls, we die too.
The soldier fell silent.
The barrier expanded.
The Kingdom soldiers entered.
No one argued.
It was not an alliance.
It was not peace.
It was survival.
For hours, the battlefield ceased to belong to humanity.
The walls trembled.
Siege engines disappeared beneath the beasts' feet.
Trees were torn from the ground.
Roads were buried.
A river changed course.
Flames covered part of the valley.
And the creatures continued forward.
Without stopping.
Without turning back.
Without even looking behind them.
When night finally fell, Albaterra no longer looked like a besieged fortress.
It looked like the center of a catastrophe.
Collapsed walls.
Crushed siege engines.
Uprooted trees.
Diverted rivers.
Human corpses mixed with the bodies of beasts.
And beyond all of it...
the herds continued moving toward the horizon.
A man emerged from the rubble.
He was an imperial mage.
His robes were burned.
One leg was covered in blood, and he could barely remain standing.
He took a few steps.
Then fell to his knees.
Naira rushed toward him and caught him before he hit the ground.
—M-my Emperor...
A transmission crystal trembled in one of his hands.
It was cracked.
The Emperor approached.
—Speak.
The mage struggled to breathe.
—This...
He coughed up blood.
—This isn't happening only here.
Naira frowned.
—What do you mean?
The mage raised the crystal.
Its surface lit up.
An image appeared for only a few seconds.
A city.
Then another.
Then a third.
All of them covered in smoke.
The signal disappeared.
It returned.
A village burning.
Then a forest.
Then a road completely deserted.
The transmission cut out.
—Reports have arrived from every region —the mage said.
His voice trembled.
—Cities evacuated.
—Villages destroyed.
—Caravans missing.
—Forests driving creatures out.
Naira remained motionless.
—Driving them out?
—The creatures are abandoning their territories.
The mage swallowed.
—Rivers are changing course.
—Lakes are becoming saturated with mana.
—And the migrations...
He looked at the Emperor.
—They keep increasing.
—How many regions are affected?
The man lowered his gaze.
—We cannot determine that.
The Emperor waited.
—There are too many.
Naira felt a knot form in her stomach.
—Is this an attack?
—No.
—Enemy magic?
—No.
The mage slowly shook his head.
—We found no military pattern.
Naira looked at him.
—Then what is happening?
The man took several seconds to answer.
—We don't know.
He tightened his grip on the crystal.
—But one thing is clear.
He looked toward the valley.
The creatures were still passing.
Thousands of them.
Without stopping.
—They're not running from us.
Naira frowned.
—Then what are they running from?
The mage slowly raised his eyes.
—Something that is happening everywhere.
Silence.
The Emperor stared at the horizon.
For the first time since the war had begun, he was no longer calculating how many soldiers he needed to conquer Albaterra.
He was calculating how many would remain alive if this continued.
—What do the latest reports say?
—The migrations are increasing.
—And the monsters?
—Them too.
The mage took a deep breath.
—Every hour, new affected areas appear.
Naira looked at her father.
—Father...
The Emperor did not answer.
In the distance, another herd crossed the valley.
Thousands of creatures.
Without stopping.
Fleeing.
The Emperor watched them for several seconds.
Then he spoke.
—The Kingdom and the Empire have not signed a truce.
Naira looked at him.
—What?
—We have not made peace.
His eyes remained fixed on the valley.
—But if we continue fighting each other...
He paused.
—We will die before this ends.
A Kingdom officer approached through the rubble.
He was covered in blood and mud.
He still held his sword.
He stopped in front of the Emperor.
—What orders should we follow?
The Emperor looked at him.
There was no contempt in his eyes.
Nor friendliness.
Only calculation.
—Cease fire.
The officer remained motionless.
—Regroup the wounded.
He pointed toward the battlefield.
—Share the defensive positions.
The man hesitated.
—With the Imperials?
—With anyone who can maintain a barrier.
The officer slowly lowered his sword.
—Understood.
He turned around.
He began relaying the order.
Across the battlefield, the imperial officers did the same.
The soldiers did not lower their weapons completely.
They still distrusted each other.
They still hated each other.
But they stopped attacking.
For two weeks, they had fought to conquer a fortress.
They had lost thousands of men.
They had watched their comrades die.
They had learned to hate the enemy.
And now they had to protect one another.
Not out of honor.
Not for peace.
Not out of friendship.
Because death had stopped distinguishing between banners.
The Emperor looked toward the forest again.
More creatures appeared among the trees.
And then he understood something that no army could change.
The Empire could conquer kingdoms.
It could destroy fortresses.
It could gather ten legions.
But it could not declare war on the entire world.
For the first time since the campaign had begun...
victory no longer mattered.