20th Tick: Army
1024 Words
Thomas walked around, counting the number of humans present. Hundreds of them, most of the insignificant, some that seemed to have quite the power. They seemed to be led by a certain man who stood at the front. With a charismatic face, blonde hair, blue eyes and a stoic expression, like he was about to fight a glorious war and not commit a m******e. Thomas looked around, it would be better for him if he did not appear in the middle of their ranks, so he walked back to Rose.
He paused, then thought about something. He went back to the humans, surely, they would have a lighter somewhere. After searching a few of them, indeed, one of them had a lighter and cigars. Thomas lit the surrounding bushes on fire, the first traces of it paused in time. Hopefully, by doing so, it would delay the army slightly.
Thomas carried Rose on his back and walked out of the forest, putting Rose down at the walls before walking back near the forest.
Time resumed. A few seconds later, the bushes were already on fire, there were shouts of alarm by the humans. Thomas watched as the forest was engulfed in flames, smoke rising into the sky.
“This has to be the work of the demons!” Thomas heard someone shout.
Someone stumbled out of the forest and Thomas stood face to face with the leader of the men. They looked each other in the eyes before the man opened his mouth to say something. Thomas said, “I would rather you go back to where you came from.”
The man stared blankly at Thomas. The man was dressed in armour and held a sword, Thomas was dressed in a suit and was weaponless. The man could easily kill Thomas with a swing of his sword, it was a simple task.
“Who are you?” The man demanded, drawing and pointing his sword at Thomas.
Thomas gave him a smile as the other soldiers started to gather behind the man. “First of four myths, The ClockKeeper.”
Thomas stepped back as the man swung, the sword barely missing Thomas. Thomas said, “If you continue your way towards the town, you would all end up dying.”
“He’s a demon in disguise!” The man shouted behind him. “Just remember what our God told us! We cannot trust anyone in the town! We have to kill everyone! Take our land back from these savage creatures!”
The army shouted a cheer behind him as the forest fire became more intense. Thomas sighed and swiped his hair back, giving them a smile.
“Let’s do it that way then.” He said.
The horn from the town was blown, signalling the beginning of a battle. Thomas only needed to hold on until Agon could arrive. The army charged at Thomas, their leader being the first one to attack. Thomas dodged the sword again and kicked a rock under the leader’s foot, making him trip. Thomas looked behind him slightly, seeing that some humans had charged ahead, towards where Rose was. He turned to the side, the sword barely scratching him. Thomas jumped back and faced the rest of the army.
“Sixth Hour.”
A clock appeared behind Thomas. Countless images of soldiers started appearing, all of them doing something different. The soldiers looked around, confused. The images overlapped to the point where nothing could be seen. Thomas found the timeline he was searching for and snapped. Every soldier ran at him, some of them confused. They all targeted him instead of the town.
Thomas picked up a pebble and threw it, saying, “Fifth Hour.”
The rock sped past people, nailing some of them but not killing them. The leader’s sword drove itself into Thomas’ gut when he was distracted. Thomas had seen it coming and had allowed it to happen. He touched the leader and said, “Second Hour.”
The leader shrunk in his armour, growing shorter and smaller until he was but a mere child. Thomas pulled the sword out, breathing heavily as he dropped it on the ground. The child cried as soldiers surrounded him.
Thomas saw a rain of arrow aimed at him, along with more soldiers running at him. He cursed. “Ninth Hour.”
He sank into the ground, travelling to another timeline before he snapped back into the original timeline. He was in the middle of an army, they were already proceeding to the town. Thomas looked around, the soldiers noticing him and shouting in alarm.
He jumped, spears stabbing into the ground. He grabbed a soldier and pulled him along, using him as a shield. As expected, none of the other soldiers dared to attack. Thomas made his way out, using the soldier by changing his position every now and then. Thomas had a hole in his gut, another hole was made when a spear stabbed into his left leg. Someone had stabbed through the man, stabbing Thomas’ leg. Thomas cursed, “I hate spears.”
He threw the dead man aside and dodged to the side, the spear missing him. He grabbed the weapon and pulled it towards himself, kicking the wielded down to the ground. He still had the spear in hand when he deflected a few swords and other spears. He then used the pole arm to jump over the crowd, landing on other soldiers, sending more pain through his body. Thomas wrestled the closest soldier for his sword, getting slashed in the back in the process. He then continued to block and parry more weapons before he looked back.
Thomas had been distracting the main bulk of the army, but there was still a group heading towards the town. Thomas cursed as he threw the sword into someone’s foot, stabbing through his foot. He weaved past the enemies, jumping and dodging as he broke out of their ranks.
He turned around, expecting to dodge a sword, but a black flaming orb was in his face, a black orb with a red core. Thomas recognised it and thoughts ran through his head. He could guess who was involved in the battle.
“Please don’t.” He said. “What a pain.”
The black orb exploded in his face, sending him tumbling on the ground, rolling over himself until he came to a stop, several parts of his body not working.
- Writer
