Fiction : Last Stand

The war was at last upon them. Fires ravaged the lands while swords cut down the people. Jial stood atop the lookout tower, gazing across the vast landscape. The sky was tinted orange, mixing with the blazing yellow light of the noon sun. Jial steadied himself against the railing when a sudden squall swept across the lands.

Finally, movement caught his eye. Thousands of black dots appeared over the horizon. Jial drew a deep breath. He could feel his heart beating furiously in his chest. The time was here.

“They're coming!” he called, turning around.

In front of him stood the last human army. Dressed in crimson and blue, the soldiers stood in perfect rows. They had long been preparing for this. It was a battle that was inevitable.

“We stand here today. On this glorious day, the sun blesses us with it's burning embrace. We all know what we face. We know the odds. This is our last day. Our final act. Let us make it a good one. Let the humans be remembered this day. Not for our loss, but for our fighting spirit. We will die today. But we will not give in. We will fight! They will strike us down, but by all that is holy, we will take them with us!” Jial paused a moment. Then he raised his hands. “To arms!”

A huge roar erupted from the human army. Jial smiled. The human spirit would explode in a glorious symbol before it was laid to rest.

Jial turned back. The enemy was almost upon them. He slid down the ladder and stood with the rest of the army. They watched as the huge wooden gates began to shake. Jial drew his sword.

 Then the gates burst open.

Fiction : Pain

Keinon looked upon the blood that covered his hands. She was dead. He couldn't save her. Suia lay on the ground before him. There were deep burns and perfect cuts over her body. This was clearly the work of a wizard. Keinon looked up.

In front of him, the guilty one stood, as if nothing had happened. Anger boiled from within Keinon.

“How could you do this, Letzner?” he yelled.

Letzner simply grinned. He could never be forgiven.

“Why?” Keinon screamed.

“She was poisoning your mind, my friend,” Letzner replied calmly, tapping his forefinger against his temple.

How could his only friend do this to him? Why? Suia was the only reason why Keinon woke up in the morning. His broken life was mended when she came into his life. She was everything. Now she was gone. There was nothing more to live for.

Keinon screamed, for his loss, for his anger. Fires erupted from his hands as he summoned the magic. He had only one goal. Even if he lost his life, he would fight. He would kill Letzner.

Fiction : Eternal

The pain in Dan's right hand was starting to become unbearable. It had happened a lot in the past, but never this severe. Perhaps it was close to completely breaking the seal.

Without the mage here, he couldn't recast the seal to ensure its strength. A feeling of regret entered his mind. He should have had the seal recast from the moment he began suspecting. Now it could very well be too late.

The pain burst into his hand at such a high intensity that his hand became numb. The pain spread further until his whole right arm was engulfed in a flurry of tiny stabbings. As he started to lose feeling in his arm, he tried his best not to cry out in pain. There were already a few people looking at him suspiciously as he grunted every now and then.

“Keep it down!” an angry man called. The opera in the background was so loud that a few grunts couldn't possibly drown it out, but Dan nodded anyway, trying his best to stay silent.

His entire right arm was numb now. Slowly, pain returned, but only on a few places on his arm in thin lines. It was the seal that was cracking.

Dan stood up and started to jog out of the room, pulling up his sleeve as he went. Angry red lines were spreading across his skin. It seemed as if his arm was cracking open. Dan knew he only had a few seconds to spare. He made a dash for the window.

But it was too late. Everything broke at once. Windows shattered and glasses exploded. Drapes and tablecloths set aflame and the people fell to their knees.

There was no escape now. They would all die. If only he had resealed it earlier.

The roar echoed throughout the city, reverberating every window of every house. The city had only a few seconds to ponder about the cause before it was engulfed in eternal flames.