~ The Sea of Blades ~

  [The Year 9840 in the Age of Heroes]

  THE SOLDIER regarded the spectacle that the Elemental Monarchs were wreaking upon the enemy with a grin etched upon his face. None could stand against them. The few enemy commanders that showed themselves, only succeeded to briefly occupy a Monarch until they also were extinguished.

  The soldier was so overjoyed that he even clapped his squad leader who had remained next to him on the back.

  "Do not forget yourself, boy!” The man chided him. “Something isn’t right, the Monarchs have all engaged the enemy and, yet, Alvar Sotaris is holding back… I wonder why” he murmured.

  The generals, positioned on a vantage point in the middle of the army, were discussing the same thing. They had all followed the flashy entrance of the Earth’s Monarch and had let out a relieved, pent up breath almost at the same time when the other Monarchs had followed. They had all started to question the original plan while witnessing the brutal onslaught on their defensive lines. Many faces had turned pale and only the most experienced individuals had kept their stoic expression visible to all warriors around them. They had to project optimism, after all. It had been a hard thing to do.

  Now, the battle had turned in their favour. The Monarchs might, visible to everyone.

  “We have gained a short respite, let us use it wisely. Message the dwarven clans to engage in battle and ask the elves to think of any area spells they can cast over the horde’s reinforcement. The cavalry is to circle around and gain momentum. On their commanders discretion, they are to charge into the horde’s flanks. At that point we will call the main charge. The One Army will advance as one. All cards on the table, gentleman!” The commander of the One Army announced.

  “What about the Monarchs and Alvar Sotaris, commander?” Another general inquired to the commanders left.

  “They will have their hands full soon - if Alvar Sotaris has predicted the enemies reaction correctly. The Devourer must appear shortly and engage the Five.” The commander responded.

  Exactly at that moment, the gathered generals noticed the lone dot, having hovered until then just below the clouds, shoot off towards the still approaching main body of the horde. The distance was quickly overcome and only people with mana infused eyes were still able to pinpoint its position. Many sported confused expression, not following the reason for such a drastic change of position.

  “Whatever is he doing now? At first he only hovers above us and then just shoots…” A general exclaimed but had gotten immediately interrupted by exclamations of wonder erupting from those who had continued to follow the diminishing figure.

  The air around the distant figure had begun to visibly flash erratically and warp around. Then, the dark clouds above started to dramatically lighten up and were instantaneously speared trough by a massive lance of light-attuned energy which furiously descended upon the tightly packed foe.

  A bright flash appeared and the generals lifted their hands in front of their facers trying to protect their eyes. A shockwave soon followed ripping through the gathered army and throwing many soldiers to the ground. The generals, though, were made of studier stuff and endured the force while staying on their feet. They redirected their gaze towards the location of the impact and regarded the spectacle that was presented to them. A huge cloud of debris and husks was send flying in every direction. Where the mana lance had descended, a great crater had formed. The soil was cracked for many kilometres around it.

  The cheers of the One Army soon followed.

  “Well, general. I think that answers your question, wouldn’t you say?” The commander pointed out. “And it surely served the purpose of gaining the attention of the enemy”.

  Sure enough, the generals were able to detect movement on the horizon. Dark tendrils coalesced in the distance, rising from the depths of the horde and started curling towards the lone figure which had resumed hovering in the air.

  ***

  The old man had been floating below the thick cover of clouds for quite some time, he thought. The Monarchs had instantly joined the battle. Especially that brute of a man, who was not only the most powerful wielder of earth magic the worlds had ever seen in this Age, but was also considered to be one of the most addicted to conflict as well. He hadn’t even waited for them to arrive properly. He had just sported a huge, maniacal grin all of a sudden and had punched through the wind formations surrounding them, hurtling himself into the clouds. His arrival on the scene had been earth shattering for sure.

  The others had followed him and had swiftly descended, albeit after their wind construct had been dispersed by its maker.

  The old man had chosen a different approach. He had slowly drifted through the clouds and had immediately taken in the situation the One Army was currently placed in. The situation had been bleak, to say the least. Subsequently, the old man had certainly heard the cheers full of fervour over the wind, coming off the gathered army that had noticed the Fives arrival. His wrinkled face showed the trace of a rare smile while listening to that wonderful sound and regarding the spectacle below him.

  However, his brows furrowed soon after and he relegated his attention again, with a serious expression, towards the horizon - or what was rather missing on the horizon. He had thought that their nemesis, the Devourer, would have shown itself and would have confronted them straight away. The Monarchs had only been present for a short time, however, they had already inflicted enormous casualties to its hordes - probably more than the One Army had been able to repel up until now.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  What the majority didn’t know, and only a few suspected, was the truth behind one of the Devourer’s formidable powers. The Devourer - also known as “The Souleater” - was a tremendously powerful mind bending entity. Its powers only became greater the more Souleaten joined its ranks. This was one of the reasons the enemy had remained hidden from the old man for a long time in the beginning. Always slipping away when he had been close to confronting it.

  In the past, a straight confrontation between Alvar Sotaris and the Devourer would have ended badly for the latter. But the positions had drastically reversed the more time had passed. The hordes had grown at an alarming rate. Armies perished faster than they were formed. And so, the power of the Devourer - who could always draw from the life energy and mana pools of its Souleaten - had grown accordingly.

  There had been one time - one confrontation - when the old man had nearly succeeded. But he had been too arrogant then. And that had caused his downfall on that fateful day.

  Even worse, he didn’t emerge unscathed and, as a consequence, was no longer able to confront the nemesis alone. This time, he would have to rely on the support of the four monarchs, who, in turn, had only recently overcome a monumental step in their respective progression to face the task ahead.

  The old man kept looking towards the horizon, taking in the dark sea that had no end. But the fiend had yet to appear.

  With a sign, Alvar Sotaris shot towards the main body of the horde while directing his gaze towards the hidden sky. He imagined the rays of sunshine behind the dark clouds above him - a peaceful scenery hidden away.

  He directed his will towards the wild ambient mana currents throughout the vast expanse of blue. His will latched onto them and wilded them into a lance of energy so bright that the clouds above the Sea of Blades began to lose their threatening appearance.

  A moment later, the energy had been compressed to the extreme and a missile descended rapidly towards the writhing mass of bodies on the ground.

  The following detonation surely triggered the anticipated response.

  The elder was soon joined by his younger companions. All of a sudden, they appeared around him looking warily around. The battle maniac, it seemed, couldn’t help himself and let out a bellowing laugh.

  “The honourable Elder still has some fight in him left I see! What a spectacle” He boomed and laughed boisterously.

  “Hush, you. There is no time for light-hearted banter. Look towards the horizon. It approaches!” The old man responded seriously.

  The Five surveyed dark, otherworldly tendrils rising out of different parts in the horde. Once in the air, they zeroed in on their location and rapidly headed towards them. Approaching their target, the tendrils started to coalesce into one mass and began slowing down. The outline of a figure, wreathed in darkness, slowly became visible and floated out of the remaining smoky haze.

  The figure, humanoid in appearance, was an entity perpetually shrouded in an ever-shifting mass of darkness and smoke. Its body had an indistinct silhouette, neither solid nor entirely ethereal in nature, as if the fabric of reality itself was struggling to define its existence. Wisps of black mist coiled around its limbs, sometimes dispersing into the air before reforming anew.

  Where eyes should be, the Five thought to discern two darker spots. Occasionally, the spots seemed to swirl more erratically than the rest and muted flashes of crimson and white were visible.

  The being continued to glide towards them, the air around it becoming thick and oppressive. An eerie silence descended as if every sound was being consumed. The Monarchs noticed its unsettling grace, its form dissipating slightly with each motion before solidifying again.

  Before the entity had closed the distance even further ,though,a condensed beam of earth magic appeared out of nowhere and blasted towards the Devourer. A water and fire attack closely following behind. The attacks crossed the distance in the blink of an eye and ripped successively through the shifting mass of darkness.

  The Earth’s Monarch, as impatient as ever, had chosen to strike first. Only the Air’s Monarch, displaying a pensive frown, and the old man in their midst hadn’t acted yet.

  However, the three attacks seemed to do nothing other than dispersing the darkness for a moment. To the Monarch’s irritation, the Devourer resumed its previous unruffled state in mere moments.

  `As I feared, the enemy has gotten even stronger than we anticipated. We will have to go all out, not holding back and using every method at our disposal.’ The worried voice of Alvar Sotaris resounded in the four Monarchs heads.

  They gazed at each other then, fully aware of the consequences if they followed this path. Resolutely, they all nodded at the old man in unison and began to power up.

  The Devourer had yet to show any reaction to the attack. It continued regarding the Five impassively until, suddenly, the two dark spots on its face blazed a scorching red, and a menacing voice resounded all around them.

  “To be back in the presence of the Titan of Endless Stone, the Stormborn Sage, the Abyssal Queen and the Infernal Sovereign… Who would have thought. Ages have past. And yet… here we are. But…you don’t feel whole. Your progression, this time, was hasty it seems. All the better. You will still make worthy minions when this delay is over.” A grating voice addressed them.

  Echoes rippled unnaturally through the air. It didn’t sound like the voice was coming from a single point. Instead, it seemed to resonate from everywhere at once, creeping into the listener's mind like a nightmarish parasite.

  Each word carried a weight and yet there was a distorting quality to it, as if warping slightly with each syllable. Occasionally, overlapping whispers or distorted sounds trailed behind its speech. Like multiple versions of the voice existed at the same time and in different moments of time layered above each other - all speaking in unison but slightly out of sync.

  The Five not only heard the distorting voice, they seemed to feel it as well. It appeared to crawl beneath their skin, making their minds instinctively recoil from something that they were never meant to comprehend.

  The astute Air’s Monarch reacted first.

  “What is the meaning of your words, creature! No Ages have past. I have never laid eyes on you before now. You never dared showing yourself.” The woman heatedly threw back.

  “Of course, you wouldn’t know. All of you are just children. Feigning courage and might, like children inevitably always do. But this, this is true strength. THIS … is Power!”.

  The eerie voice declared in a booming voice, the echoes chaotically distorting the air around them.

  The wraith entity slowly lifted one of its eerie, armlike appendages; Its talon-like fingers tracing an unknown symbol in the air.

  In an instant, a jet-black ray of energy erupted forth, screaming through the air as it hurtled toward the waiting group.