Heroes of Newerth Story: A Time of Heroes (part 6/7)
A cry went up from one especially sharp-eyed scout. Soon it was picked up by the others, and raced like wildfire through the army. Prince Jeraziah broke from his reverie and tightened the last straps of his armor. He walked as if in a daze to the raised platform in the middle of the camp, trying to catch hold of a memory that slipped ever farther away with each passing second. Looking out over the last, lost Legion of Men, he tried to remember the hope and pride that had stirred his heart as a young man. A wistful smile came to his face. "Men of the Legion!" he cried out. "Now comes a last reckoning; now the appointed hour is upon us!"
A practiced roar answered him, as the beasts drew into readiness at the treeline.
"Though we cannot see it, there is a sun in the heavens," he told them. "Though we have not been there for many years, there is a home awaiting our return. Though you do not feel it now, there will be peace." He whispered the last lie to himself a second time.
"The Book of Sol tells us that once the world bathed in flames, and it seemed all life might perish. Yet we live. Our forefathers knew a time when the beasts drove men to the verge of utter destruction. Yet here we stand. We are not the first generation to be tested! No, my brothers, we are not the first to be tested, and like those before us we will defy destruction and leave our mark upon this world!"
The scouts cried out a second warning, as the Beast's Hellbourne allies thundered forward. With the last of his hoarse voice, Prince Jeraziah cried, "We will not falter! We will not fail! For the Legion!"
The roar answered him: "For the Legion! For the Prince!"
And with that, he willed the daemons in his own army forward onto the field of battle.
At once, doubt assailed him, and prudence urged that he change course. "Hold them in reserve," whispered his fears. In his mind, he saw his army's weakness, knew that his flanks could never hold without the fearless Hellbourne. "The men are expendable. And they have failed you before. They will do so again."
Jeraziah smiled and shook his head. He felt the daemons snarling against his control, wheedling, demanding, promising victory if he would only listen. It was all he could do to hold against them. His smile broadened as the two bands of daemons scorched the ground and drew ever closer. At last he had caught hold of the memory. He felt his sister beside him, and across the meadow he imagined he caught her gaze. They nodded to each other in acknowledgement as the veins in Jeraziah's eyes began to burst and a thin line of blood trickled from one nostril. He gritted his teeth.
The Hellbourne came nearer to each other, and a silence fell over the field, a calm before the first titanic clash. Archers notched arrows in nervous anticipation and even the savage barbarians whispered prayers to Sol.
Jeraziah's arms trembled. His nails cut crescent wounds into his palms. Twin streams of blood rushed from his nose and his vision blurred with tears. He tasted bile in his mouth, then blood as he bit through his lip in concentration. His heart shuddered and stuttered, too drunk with terror to keep its beat. His legs shook. He burned and was wracked with chills.
He was dying. He knew it. His very body rebelled against his foolhardiness. Wasting the daemons! Wasting his chance to cleanse the world of the Beast for good and all! Betraying his father, his people!
Jeraziah fell to his knees. Tears and blood raced each other down his face. All he had to do was call the Hellbourne back, send in the soldiers, and have victory. Victory! No, not only victory. Peace. And rest. Darkness and no more dreams.
He shook his head and forced himself to his feet. "No," he whispered. No more bargaining with the abyss.
And then it passed from him, with a screeching wail that almost deafened him. The control over the Hellbourne vanished entirely; the roaring in his ears that he had known for so long, the subtle voice that spoke in his sleep, all were gone. And at once, with no hesitation, the daemons turned away from each other and back toward the armies from which they had come.
The cords between puppets and masters were cut, and the Hellbourne had no more use for their mortal slaves.
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 1
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 2
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 3
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 4
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 5
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 6
HoN Story: A Time of Heroes Part 7
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