Elederia: A Dark Fate

Stories of The Next Approach

The bittersweet taste of victory. The battle was long and left the men weary but not weary enough to prevent them from partying and partake of the toxicity of the red wine. Flutes blow in rhythms and the bards played wholeheartedly that pleased their ears as they intoxicate themselves. The melody of the suki horn and lute, Ah! always remember that. At the expense of wining and dining, some men buried the dead and pay their last respects. There was a toast to all the brave men and women that had fallen during battle. The men of Eden always know how to party and how to use roots in making their gins. Eden was known for it's best wine and roots but Brewmanner had always been a close rival. It shared borders with Meerlin. Being a small city they weren't revered as their larger counterpart. Even so the country men had fled to the east, after Southern Meerlin fell, others to Greyden and Eden hoping to return home one day. 

Akoni dragged Berry by the hand and she willingly followed him like a drunk young couple on their first date. They strolled a bit far from the large halls of noises. And stopped at a quiet top, one of the Fort's many towers with a nice slab, six courses high to rest elbows and backs on. He had wanted them to gaze at the stars but now that they were here, the stars would have to wait. Little did he know they were no stars tonight, just the dark sky. He extended his hand to her left side of her cheek, two fingers front but the last hesitated. But why? 

"Akoni, I… I… um, I'm not ready f–" she murmured

"No no no, it's not that there's something on your hair, I…" He wanted to explain himself further but she was already laughing. It was a stain, perhaps from the stew or anything in there. They smiled at each other for a while. 

Moving down something caught their eye, something they hadn't noticed earlier,and smoke in a room, partially concealed. The woman inside doesn't say much. She's from Stratshire, a Stratshiran or Shiran. The men in the Fort called her a fortune teller, others pronounced her crazy or simply mental. Berry urged Akoni to go in with her. The woman had know they would come, she stared sharply at Akoni, "I have been waiting for you," she said, increasing the bones in the fire. "Both of us or just her?" Akoni asked sharply, with an eye fixed on what the woman was doing. "No. Just you," She raised her head looking at Akoni. "Sit. I won't bite," Akoni sat close to her, the smoke and fire in front. "Give me your palm," She asked politely, not taking her eyes from the fire pyre, 

"Ah, so you're a palm reader," he dropped his palm slowly on hers. She gripped it tightly at once, the young man shook with fear, the black smoke increased but it didn't spread across the room only upwards. 

"I see more nightmares, more intense dilemmas, I see 'a troubled mind lost in the endless vastness of itself'" Akoni flung his hand from hers and stood up firm. He didn't like the words she uttered and disregarded them immediately, "I think I've had enough foretelling for the night. Thank you." Akoni stormed out of the room, "Oh I said just the right amount," she said at his hearing range. 

Berry was lost a bit after hearing nightmares and wondered if she knew Akoni at all. He seemed more mysterious after all she had just heard. She called after him, "Akoni! Akoni! Wait!" He finally turned, "what was that all about? Nightmares?" 

"Everyone has nightmares," Akoni retorted, standing with his side pointing towards her.

"No, not the ones you're having. And she said more. Please you can speak with me" 

"Do you really take her seriously?" 

"Well I should not just disregard everything she said" 

"She's crazy and I have to go to sleep. Goodnight Ber" he caressed her cheeks and left her. In a moment she felt sorry for him and another she felt it was a bit rude prying into someone else's private life but he wasn't just someone else, was he?

*********

The crows filled the gloomy sky, they knew. It was coming. It jumped from the tree and threw it's invisible blade. It gave the rider a cut, a deep cut. The rider bled continuously, his help far from him and his enemy. The rider tried to retaliate, he missed but not entirely. His enemy drew out another invisible blade, the blade casted a shadow, maybe it wasn't invisible just too thin for the eyes. The blade struck his liver with grudge. The rider wasn't going to survive. His enemy fled with a flesh wound. Help came but it was too late. Help came.

Akoni panted. He looked outside and saw a crow on the pavement. He looked around him, all the men were drunk asleep. Most of them. He strolled outside. The crow didn't flinch. He moved round the corridor, the crow still hopped after him. 

"Up so late," Nosagie said from a blind spot. Akoni was used to that by now. "Yeah, can't sleep," Akoni retorted. "Nightmares? Want to talk about it?" Nosagie moved close to him. 

"It's random," 

"I don't think it is. You have them every night. Your legs quiver and you shiver,"

"So you're spying on my sleep?" Akoni stared at Nosagie, with his left hand in the air.

"Spying is a strong word. Tomorrow holds hard decisions. Prepare yourself." Nosagie said as he left him.

Commander Bill, Commander Fisher, Captain Banjo, High mage Obebo, High mage Nosagie and other ranking persons were present in the meeting to decide the next approach.  

Some of the men wanted to return back to Eden, Others suggested to scout the area before going back. But none had mentioned going forward to Greyden. 

"Bill, have you something to say?" Fisher asked him as respectfully as possible. "That's generous of you," Bill returned the favour. The noisy room had quiet down. 

"Well we know what stands a good chance against brawl and raw power. Strategy." Bill said pounding his fist on his palm, "The hammer and anvil did come at a cost. It'll be wise to push further." Bill pointed towards the west. 

"Move forward to Greyden you mean. That shouldn't be a problem." Fisher rubbed his hands together.

"That's insensible of you to say that. We have a problem. Those five." Obebo had cut him short.

"Seeing those five on the battlefield proves the story of the men at Fort Hailstorm, eight years ago." Bellvot swallowed hard, trembled as he remembered the stories of the survivors and how they looked in their surviving state. 

"They are just five men," a lieutenant barked. 

"Another daft one. One was a woman mind you. Despite being outnumbered by so-called high mages, it looked like she always had the upper hand." Obebo was getting irritated by Fisher and his men, the grump on his 500years old face grew bigger. 

"You weren't on the wall, were you?" Bellvot asked surprised. "Correct, I had a pretty good view of the battle, including your pathetic faces when you were all being overrun." Obebo did his best to irritate the men. They started grumbling and about to burst out into a big argument.

"Quit your squabbling like children. Now the stories said ten men, we saw only five and on that battlefield, Hailstorm, we had our extinguished Erenflair there, Paragon Erenflair Jr, first born to head of house, Paragon Erenflair." Nosagie and Obebo always acknowledged a talent whenever they spotted one, however in their own way, "Paragon, his sister's here. Talented young woman, she was on fire during the battle." Obebo praised the younger Erenflair. 

"The men said they had victory like every other small raids, not a single stone golem left. When the mist and dust had settled, ten figures were slightly visible. They used all sort of unexplainable attacks." Nosagie narrated. The men had no control over their bodies, they struck their fellow man unconsciously, poisoned, invisible blades shred them, flames with no end, bare hands tore men apart like a piece of cloth. Large root veins grew out of their mouths and backs. The few who survived to tell the tale either died from their wounds months later or committed suicide, tired of living with the trauma and stigma.

"It's obvious they are all humans. But what I don't understand is why anyone would want to destroy their entire race. Sure they must have had qualms with a few but this … what could he had possibly promised them? Power? Immortality? Paradise? They'll all be fools to believe any of those dark and empty promises," Fisher lamented his disbeliefs.

"Your sense of judgement is top notch. People react differently to situations. In this case, the trauma or pain of war and hardship. What you see as poison, someone else sees it as bread. Why does anyone have enemies? Why does San Crimson refuse to aid the other four great nations in war? Why is the great east abandoned and unruly? Why do the white sisters not consider themselves a part of the Mage Kreis? There are thousands of unanswered questions out there my friend." Obebo spoke from his many years of living experience and he never found the answers to a lot of questions.

"With that said, we can't just march thousands of them to Greyden, not through those tricky plains," Banjo said, after listening carefully to Nosagie.

"There's a plan, for a small team to scout through the routes, they will warn when there is an ambush eminent. This will be a very important mission and it's crucial to our next approach, so I'll choose my men very carefully and I expect you'll do the same as well." Bill lectured the entire hall. He and Nosagie had came up with this plan all along.