BOOK 2/73 - A King's Hope IV

Ring - 1st
Realm - SOL

Gillidad stood unmoving. His gaze locked on the three Colossus as they reached his men. He stood there unresponsive and hopeless as the three Colossus stomped through his soldiers like they weren't even there.

He watched as reinforcements, Cinderii that had stood back and helped in shooting down the swarm, charged into battle. He watched as Cinderii were kicked away, the Colossus barely exerting effort, simply moving.

He watched as some became paste, crushed beneath the heels of the three marching on his Kingdom.

He watched as more of the Horde targeted his soldiers. Saw their skin get torn, heads lost, and limbs fly.

He felt the force and attacks of the Horde as they swarmed over and around him, tearing and clawing at his armor. He ignored them to watch his Cinderii.

Reinforcements waded through the masses, soldiers swung and defended. The Tide was held again.

Gillidad's gaze fell to their feet, boots stomping into rivers of magma like blood and corpses of both his people and the monsters they slain. His gaze snapped back to the Colossus. It was closer now, too close to the city. Those trying to stop it had given way for more of the hordes to come.

His people were fighting, dying and fighting. His gaze drifted to the walls, drifted back to the chaos that was war. His eyes caught a Cinderii fell to make a mark on a Colossus and fall. Gillidad's breath hitched as the Soldier vanished beneath a heel.

His legs shook and he had to take a step to catch his fall. His vision fogged as he stared, fingers tightening around the shaft of his axes. “Dy…ing. Dying. They're….. they're….dying.”

He wished to roar to the heavens or skies. There was nothing he could do, nothing his people could do. They would die, were dying. And he couldn't do anything about it.

Gillidad felt even weaker than he ever did. Something landed on his back again, grabbed his head, another bit at his ankle. There was a third in front of him, aiming for his neck trying to pull him down.

They dragged him to his knees while he watched what could only be termed a massacre. He knelt there, on ash, magma, corpses and fiery dust as yet another of his Soldiers fell to FAYHEIM.

Gillidad had been angry throughout the battle, had been sad, had felt weak and helpless all through till now.

Now, he forgot his helplessness, forgot his weakness. In a single eye burned the rage of a falling, helpless king. His weakness, his pain, fueled the anger that burned within him. It in turn was the spark that lit up within him.

WHOOSH!!

One moment the horde was all over him and around. The next, azure flame swept out like a fog. Like hungry hands it reached out. Like a storm it spread and covered the land.

Everything within it turned to ash. But they didn't just burn. The flames sunk deep into their flesh, ignited deep within their cells. Energy burned brighter within them for a split second, then, like the quenching coals of a campfire, flickered out.

Azure Flame drew on the energy and life within them leaving husks and then ashes as it withdrew. The implosion was silent but filled with power.

Red, Azure and Blue flames burned off Gillidad for a split second before vanishing into his body.

The Azure Flame, kneeling in a circle of ashes and destruction, had never taken his gaze off his dying people, never looked away from the three Colossus stomping like rulers to his city.

He didn't even care for the effects around him nor did he look to see the death he wrought. With a single focused mind, he dashed forward. His speed was great, greater nay he'd shown. His body burned with power, with energy, with life. For the denizens of SOL existed within life themselves and life was what he'd drawn from.them all.

His vision blinded by wrath, he bulldozed through the horde, his gaze fixed. There was no distracting him from his targets. His axes blurred and took the heads of any creature that dared attack him. His eyes never leaving his target.

His soldiers, too busy staying alive and holding the line, failed to see their King’s Heat Rage. The famous Cinderii Life and Death action. He moved like an arrow, straight without detours.

Gillidad's mind proved to be not entirely clouded by rage when he began to disregard the Horde around him as he drew closer to his targets. Azure Fire blasting out of his heels burned and shattered the ground while hauling him up into the air and towards the Colossus.

Gillidad climbed up and up and up. Barely reaching high enough to touch its spine. As he flew, he abandoned his right axe. The blazing azure fire rocketing him up snuffed out. All that energy was drawn up his body, from his limbs, his torso and even his head, all drawn to his right arm.

His ascent stopped just above the Collosus mid back and he adjusted himself so he fell in an angle down to the Colossus.

His arm was blazing bright with an internal heat that dared not leak. Drawing his fist back, elbow pointed behind him, the Azure Flame, King of the Cinderii met its back and punched.

BOOOOOM!!!

It was a punch so powerful the shockwave sent him flying again. All the heat and energy stored in his fist drilled into the Colossus and, like a ripple, detonated within it.

The explosion, both the Colossus’ body getting torn apart and the force of the punch, drew all eyes. Monsters and Cinderii, freezing to stare up at the spreading light and wind.

The Colossus, split along the spine, crashed on two sides and crushed countless monsters.

Gillidad smashed into the ground far from the battle front. Deep within the hordes reach. He gasped, choking on air as he struggled to draw in breath after the impact knocked the wind from him. Cinderii lacked bones to be broken but it didn't mean they didn't feel pain.

Shaking and staggering, he rose to his feet and his gaze moved to the battle front. A Colossus was down. But even better, the other two were racing towards his direction. Away from the city.

Gillidad breathed easier. Fangs buried into his calf or at least tried.

“Eh."

Looking down, he stared into the soulless, terrified gaze of a beast. Gillidad didn't know why he didn't just kick it away or behead it there and then. Maybe it was the lack of his axe in his grasp. Maybe it was the look of terror in its eyes, maybe it was the ring of ash he stood in within the center of the horde. None of those ahead paid him any attention, racing forward with a single minded focus.

No. It was those behind that rushed at him without hesitance.

His attempt to swing his arm in a punch staggered and nearly unbalanced him. Gaze falling on his shoulder he blinked. Then gasped as something fell on him with this full weight. With a growl he pushed with a single arm. Knelt and rolled over.

His left arm was poised to punch and rip. Getting to his feet, Gillidad dodged and weaved through attacks. His fist cracking on snouts and hammering down on skulls. A serpentine beast that tried to wrap and crush him got a headbutt with his helmet and then a stomping.

The ground had begun to shake. Moving through the hordes and bearing the brunt of their attacks he spied the Colossus coming at him.

Gillidad felt relief. Not glee, pride, cockiness, or fear. Those things were coming for him, he'd felled one, and the other two were rushing him. Their faster strides were killing even more of the Horde than his Soldiers were.

Each shake sent a tingle of fear up his non-existent spine. Unlike before, they were coming solely for him. For his actions. Actions that, if given the chance, he knew he would repeat.

The King stomped his foot down and head-butted another creature down. “Let them come."

He had no hopes, no thoughts that he could win. Especially with his flames refusing to work.

He wouldn't win against those things and could see his descent to FAYHEIM coming faster than he'd hoped. It didn't matter to him. He wouldn't last till they arrived but he had to.

“Dying might make them continue their march. I have to hold on."

Each attempt to draw out his flames, each pull on his internal heat simply fizzled out. “My fire is spent."

He staggered again forgetting his loss of an arm, stabilizing with a roll, he leaped and clubbed another creature to death. “I can't even focus enough to draw on Essence”

Unlike before where he could clear out the area and drain Essence cores, he had nothing to do the clearing with.

Gillidad could see his armor growing weaker. He'd taken me hits than he had before. He tugged his helmet off his head before it got hammered into his head. Holding it like a weapon he attacked again.

The Colossus were running faster and getting closer every second. If these beasts didn't kill him then the moving mountains would. As he moved, he thought of a way to take them all out. His soldiers were weak to the Colossus but maybe able to hold against the Hordes. ‘No, they will.’

They'd proven and showed it.

He turned and received a claw to his face. Screaming he backed up. He couldn't see from that eye anymore. Gillidad didn't feel hate or anger. It would cloud his mind to what needed to be done.

Still, he smashed the creature to the side with his helmet. His lack of sight from the left kept him open to attacks as he was slowly beaten down and mauled.

Gillidad refused to fall. While his fire was quenched, his Will blazed even brighter. His singular eye on the Colossus as they were merely three steps away.

The distraction cost him. Weight upon weight of beasts piling on him as they fought to tear him apart. ‘Did they just adapt to me?’ Confused and frightened by this he struggled and pushed. ‘Get off.’

The fear of death was eating at him, but not like the fear of the Colossus leaving. As he thoughts came true as the two lumbering behemoths of fire stopped their charge and glanced at the pile of beasts.

Seeing nothing they both began to turn away.

“No!. I'm here!. Focus on me,” The Colossus wouldn't hear him. He opened his mouth to shout again when warm and stinky breath washed over his skull. With his helmet gone, his head was bare and a beast was in position to take advantage of this development.

The pressure increased, fangs digging into flesh and bone. Death was here.

His body was pinned. His singular arm, buried under flesh and bone. His legs, useless. His fire, silent.

‘My fire.’

If it was possible, the brightness of his one eye tripled. Without a thought, hesitation and even trying to think things through, the Azure Flame burrowed deep within himself and found the one thing that was the closest to a heart for all beings. The same thing that his fellow Cinderii would receive if he was slain by one.

He grabbed it with his mind. Possible only thanks to his fire that lay within but refused to be fed. From his body he drew in all the energy he held. His limbs went slack and his torso lost feeling.

All that fire and heat gathered into his very core and he squeezed.

The Colossus stopped turning as a glow of gold, red and white leaked through the growing pile of beasts. Slowly both turned to it.

“IIIIIIIIIII AAAAMMMMM HEEERRREEEE!!"

The cry staggered them, then like a taunt they surged forward. Fists raised, they punched down aiming to obliterate Cinderii and Beasts together.

The glow reached its peak, a brightness that rivaled the glow of the very land, blinding anything within a close range.

Gillidad could only see light now. Everything was so bright it reminded him of the light from the cave. Reminded him of theft. Of those beings. For a moment, he wondered how things would have gone if he'd kept that power.

BOOOOOM!!!!

Heat, Light, Fire, Winds surged out in all directions. The Colossus were thrown away, everything made of flesh, stone, or weak effectively erased

****

“IIIIIIIIIII AAAAMMMMM HEEERRREEEE!!"

Aargish's head snapped up in the call’s direction. His gaze was quick to find the oddity. Two Colossus ready to punch the earth. The light he could see from here gave him hope.

Then just as quickly as that hope came, the explosion followed. The mushroom cloud that rose was a symbol of the destruction that his king had wrought.

Then the words came. Not written, nor simply left in his mind. No, it was spoken. With a tone that carried emotion and grief.


**The Azure Flame, King of the Cinderii - Gillidad has fallen**


Aargish just waved the notification away, ignored the voice as well and focused forward. The fire and the dust was settling. He waited looking for his King.

The two Colossus rose from the ground. Aargish frowned but ignored them. His sword flashed out and carved through the closest beast to avoid distractions as he watched for his King.

There was no movement. Just the countless forms of the Tide washing past. It wasn't till they covered the burning spot and continued forward unhindered did it all click.

Aargish felt a literal punch to his gut as he staggered back. His mind moved and the notification he ignored came back. He read it again.


**Realmwide Announcement**
**Kingdom Announcement**
**The Azure Flame, King of the Cinderii - Gillidad has fallen**


Aargish expected sorrow, pain, grief, disbelief. All he got was just a blank and dull emotion of nothing. He looked away as the notification vanished and stared forward.

He looked down to the earth adorned with the corpses of his brethren. To the distance where the last parts of his King had dispersed. To the Horde, the Tide that had taken their ruler.

Aargish wasn't the only one thinking the same, wasn't the only one feeling the same. All had seen the notifications. Not just those standing in the battlefield but those within the safety of their city walls.

Silence reigned supreme. So thick that it swallowed the roars and cries of the Tide. The Cinderii stood still, their eyes locked to the distance. Weapons and bodies frozen in various stances and motions and attacks.

Even the collective sizzling as golden liquid ran down cheeks failed to defeat the oppressive silence.

They were soldiers, not stupid. They might have failed to see their King attack but they saw the result of the attack. Saw the Colossus move away and then the mushroom cloud and destruction with the notifications.

They were not dumb enough to not notice that many of them had died to those things. They didn't fail to see how their King had lured those monsters away to slay and died trying.

The silence was broken by the sound of boots crunching over soil as a Cinderii soldier began walking forward. His steps and sunken face like a puppet drawn by his puppeteer.

Then another and another.

There was another madness, just grief. No hope, just despair. In all their minds it wasn't just the desire for vengeance. It was simple logic. No one was blind to their King stemming the Tide. To his flames reaping the lives of their adversaries again and again.

Now he was gone and they were more open than a flame to the wind. There was no stemming the Tide. No stopping the Colossus where their King failed. They knew it.

As one, they picked up their pace, blades snapped as they cut down the beasts closer, then they jogged. Ganged up on the weaker and single ones. Then they ran.

There was no outcry. No need for it. Just silence as they clashed with their nemesis.

Aargish was walking forward. His limbs weak, his sword heavy. ‘Is this what losing morale feels like?’ he wondered. None had been at war when Gillidad's father fell. There was no need to lose morale with the White Flame around then. It had been a sad day yes, but none like what he was feeling.

Aargiah paused and looked back at the silent city they had to protect. He was good but not as good as he who wielded the flames of those Titans. Children of the Primordial.

His mind stirred. Like water giving a plant life. ‘Children of the Primordial.’ He remembered the rumors. Dead and brought back. He has not been there but, it was a possibility.

His steps grew paced. His sword lost its weight. His mind solidified into something he suddenly understood. “So this is what you held close. What you fought with."

He burst forward. "Then I'll hold you to it.” He zipped past the fighting Soldiers. Leaped over their heads onto the backs of those monsters and began rushing forward. His Sword blurred and his steps changed as he moved from body to body.

“I'll hold you to it my King."

Hope was a strong thing, and yet dangerous.

Aargish learned this lesson like many would wish not to. Experience. His feet hit the ground as the beasts adapted. He moved forward, a blur of slashes as he continued to carve his way forward.

But he was no Gillidad. Where he fought with finesse, he lacked his King's brute strength and force. The power of his flames to clear his path. Against the horde he was standing against. It was everything.

Aargish didn't know if resurrection worked. From the rumors, he was hoping that all he had to do was retrieve his King’s corpse. It was proving harder than he wanted. The horde pushed him back, bled him and themselves for every step he took.

Then it happened. Hope broke like a shattered blade, fragments flying.

From nowhere, barely seeing it, the beast struck his side. Heaved him up with a mighty toss that sent him airborne.

Aargish knew this was it. His death. He wondered if his King had felt the same. As he fell, his sword swinging and several monsters pouncing Aargish accepted it.

‘Hang on.’ Since he failed in life. He would complete his duty in the FAYHEIM.

He smashed into them, blood spilled. Meat and bones were cut. A blur of gold was all he saw, then he was far from the battle.

Breathing heavily Aargish looked down at his sword held tight in his grasp then back to the battle he was suddenly far from. A blur of gold and white filled his sight.