BXBX NOVEL Chapter 133: Poisoned by Hatred.
"Our darkest days are still ahead." Sol stood at the head of the army, with Griffon to his right and Jun on his left, staring at the horde of sword demons screeching as they approached, heading the charge was a strange one he had never seen before, commanding them to spread out. "That must be one of their generals."
"Do you suppose killing it will deter their advance?" Jun asked, fixing her winter coat and looking at Sol as fresh snow fell on her lashes and the cold winds brushed pass them.
"Not a chance in hell." Sol answered her. "You've been in this war since you were born, have the demons ever retreated, even once?" He asked, and she sighed and shook her head.
"Not even a single instance, they charge without regard of their own survival every single time, we have been advancing toward the lair of the demon king for three years now and are deep on their territory, what remains of Atla outside of the army is hard to even imagine, we haven't seen the sun in months, the snow is at our knees... I have never felt so hopeless." Jun shook her head
"Get ready," Griffon interrupted them and raised his hand giving the order for the archers to do their work as the sky was blocked out with arrows flying toward the demons.
Sol who had the ability to conjure anything his mind could perceive also summoned a bow and fired arrows made of magic.
"We've made it this far, Jun, don't lose faith in yourself now, the demon king is just beyond our grasp, we only need to keep pushing!" Sol continued firing for a while and then summoned blades in both hands when the demons were upon them.
"Trust me, we'll make it through this, you'll see the end of this war!" He glanced at her once and then rushed ahead with Griffon while her and the other magicians took their respective places.
That winter was the start of a great decline, Sol and Griffon, and Jun watched appalled as their comrades, their army, everything was butchered it wasn't a fight at all, it was a bloodbath in the white snow fields, with just one horde of sword demons the entire army was reduced to less than half of their numbers, they came like a tsunami against the poor Atlans, tearing through every formation, shredding everything before them.
Shields were of no use, they easily cut through everything now. With Ikaris's absence the army was decimated, and the numbers after that bloodbath rapidly dropped to only the most elite, comprising of 10% of the entire army, everyone else within the first year of the goddesses absence died.
And then the true horrors of the second year began; Sol had managed to kill the leader of the sword demons, and eventually after months of fighting them the elite were able to kill all that advanced, but at the break of spring, the frozen grounds turned ret and muddy rivers came back to life, and rain dominated the skies in an endless downpour.
"Is it even worth it, is this going to ever end?" Jun was seated on a rock under a cave she had made with her stone magic, these had been the saviours of the army since tents had all been destroyed by heavy winds and the constant downpour, rocks and caves were the only means of shelter.
Her eyes were bagged from exhaustion, and her skin was unhealthily pale after not months of terrible eating and constant warfare, she was riddled with healed scars as was everyone else, and she had lost a lot of weight as well.
Griffon was next to her eating a small roasted piece of beast meat, after the death of a majority of their army, they had lost a lot of their resources, and with the scarcity of food they had no choice but to kill and eat their own mounts, several soldiers had already lost theirinds and cannibalised each other.
"How long ago did we stop fighting?" The king asked, swallowing the bitter meat and drinking from his flask of partially clean water, coughing and looking down at his missing left hand. "How long has it been?"
"Twenty minutes, your Majesty, if they are following their pattern, there should be another wave of demons showing up within the next ten minutes or so..." The priest answered, among the clergy he was the only one left alive, with their faith in Ikaris shattered after she left, the priests and bishops all died off one by one, mostly to the horrors brought by the sword demons.
If that killing was all it wouldn't have been half as bad, but these sword demons came with more malice than any of the others ever did, they didn't just murder, they pillaged the weaker soldiers like livestock, male and female, even the beats of burden, everything that wasn't able to resist them.
They desecrated living soldiers and corpses alike, they rampaged for months and raped and destroyed. Everything that was unable to resist, amongst the survivors there were some that even managed to escape them, but to even speak of what they endured was enough to drive them into madness. Speaking of that time was forbidden.
"Majesty." Griffon raised his hand and felt the top of his head. "I have no crown, I am no king, I am just a man fighting to stay alive as the world around him ends, what point is there to being king if there is no kingdom to save?"
"Guys, don't lose the little hope you have left." Sol stood at the front of the cave staring out and ravenously eating his portion of jerky. "We have to kill them, we have to kill them all, that's why we're here, that's why we'll win-"
"Rest Sol, you have been awake for weeks now-"
"No way, absolutely not, they're coming again, if I let my guard down, if I lose focus you'll all die, I'm the only one left who can fight on par with them." He answered.
He was right, compared to him they were all weak now, for whatever reason he was still able to grow stronger even in Ikaris's absence, but as they had feared before their magic had stagnated at one level while the demons had outgrown them, after a year they had to pool their power together to fight evenly, or they would die.
"We have a bit of time-"
"It's not enough, I don't want to lose anyone else, Jun." Sol drank his water without complaint and then stepped out into the rain again. "I'll thin their numbers as much as possible, just focus on surviving." He looked around and then took off.
"He cannot continue like that." The priest shook his head. "He is extremely unstable." Read first at NovelFire _em _pyr.
"Maybe that's why the goddess chose him." Jun stood and walked to the entrance.
"He comes from a world where wagons holding hundreds of people fly in the air without magic, to reach such a level of technology, those humans had to give away something, and I think what they gave away was their natural instinct of survival, his culture is suppressive and brainwashes the citizens," She stepped into the rain.
"Generations of suppressed instincts can manifest in dangerous ways, some people become criminals, others hide behind authority and commit those same criminal acts, and others express their suppressed urges through sport, but Sol has done none of those, he has been held back and suppressed all his life without a way to vent, no true challenge to survive outside of finding daily food, which by his words is incredibly easy compared to here."
"Instinct of survival?" The priest stood as well, joining her as upon Sol moving ahead the entire army began following behind him into the stormy night.
"The reason why Sol is so resilient is his cruelty, nothing else makes sense, he is kind but he is more cruel than anyone else I have ever met, the things I have seen him do to those demons in the name of revenge I would have never imagined a man capable of, that kind of violence are beyond me." Griffon argued.
"For every comrade he loses, for every friend that dies his desire to get even grows, it is no assumption to say that if any of us died he would go on a rampage and lose his mind completely."
"That is a lot to take in." Jun shook her head. "I disagree with saying he is cruel, he's such a sweet soul."
"Of course you would say that given the relationship the two of you have." Griffon answered. "Make no mistake though,"
"After living through what those sword demons did, he's been poisoned by hatred."