Fan Fiction ❯ The Four Lords ❯ The Spell of Soul ( Chapter 56 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Soulless Wanderer 
Armies of the east and west, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.19.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 128 | Status: Completed
Armies of the east and west, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.19.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 128 | Status: Completed
Alex couldn't believe his eyes. Nearly one-half of the western army was there before him along with almost a half of the eastern army. "How many are there?"
"Their total is sixteen thousand my Lord. All of them are willing and able to fight." Kiba replied.
"The only question is why." Alex walked over to whom he assumed was the commander of the troops. Alex stood before the demon with Brittany at his side. The demon was a yellow scaled lizard with bright green eyes and brown leather armor. "Why is it that you come to me now when just days before hand you were sent here to try and kill me and steal my mate."
"We have come because we believe in your words. When you spoke, if but for a second, we were filled with hope. That is something we have not felt in a long time. That alone is something worth fighting for. Hope is something that we have long since forgotten, but your words reminded us of what we once had. We can no longer continue living the way we have been knowing what we used to have. That is the reason we have come to join you. We want to help you to rebuild this realm." the demon replied.
"So you are telling me that you are willing to fight against your own kind, your own brethren that you might find hope once again?"
"Those that fight against us are not our brethren. They are but shadows of what they once were as we all are. Those who we will fight against refuse to see the truth and would rather live in the darkness to which they have become so accustomed to. They do not have the spine to stand up, we see now that we too have been spineless." a black minotaur said speaking on behalf of everyone.
"Is this how all of you truly feel? If you join me you will be dishonored and disowned by all that you know and hold dear. I cannot guarantee our success in battle, but I believe our cause is worth fighting for. Now, do you truly believe what you are doing is right? Only those whose soul is set to fight knowing the dangers that they will face, those are the ones that will go into combat. I will give you time to think over what you are about to do."
Brittany wasn't quite sure why Alex was being so cold or why it seemed like he was actually trying to discourage them to help. "Alex, I know I might be new to this whole commanding thing, but shouldn't you be trying to encourage them to help us'"
Alex turned to face her and smiled softly. "I need to be sure they are willing to fight. If their heart is not in the fight then we'd be better off without them." Alex could still see Brittany's uncertainty and continued. "Despite what it may appear I am overjoyed at what has happened. Still, I sense their fear, and that can cloud their judgement and blind them. They need to be able to trust me, and I need to be able to trust them."
"So...you're just testing them?"
"No, that is where you come in." Alex said with a mischievous smile. Before Brittany could find out what he meant the lizard demon called out.
"My Lord, we are ready."
"Brittany remember the spell of soul?" Alex asked.
Brittany thought for a moment before her eyes widened and a smile crept across her lips realizing what Alex was going to do. "Of course!"
Alex smiled and nodded. "Good, go ahead and cast it."
"I'm already way ahead of you."
Alex turned back to face the demons. All of which were still kneeling in reverence to him. Good, those who are burdened with fear and uncertainty will be weighed down by it and will be unable to stand. Only if they are able to overcome their fear and truly want to fight will they be strong enough to stand.
"What is your answer?"
"We shall fight for you my Lord. Regardless of what persecution we will face. The land is being destroyed there is nothing to live for anymore. This realm won't be fit for our children to grow up in. It is barely fit for us. We once fought side by side to ensure the safety of this realm. We fought to free ourselves from the darkness, but in the end we were consumed by it. We allowed despair to rule us. We have a lot of atoning to do to make up for the sins we have committed. This is but the first step to redemption." the lizard said, his head still bowed in respect.
"Is this how you all feel?" Everyone looked at Alex who by now seemed to call attention to himself. His presence was undoubtedly that of a Lord, one that demanded obedience and respect.
"Yes." echoed throughout the warriors.
"Then rise warriors of the south. We have much to do." Alex commanded. Brittany held onto Alex's arm as she watched in anticipation of what was to come. To their shock and surprise everyone stood firm all traces of fear and worry had left their faces replaced by calm determination. Alex smiled and nodded before turning to look over his shoulder. "Kiba, Holly, Shadow!"
The three wolf demons were there beside Alex in a moments notice. "Yes my Lord."
"Kiba you will take charge of the eastern forces, Holly you take control of the western. Shadow, I want you to get the grouped together and distribute to them what they will need. Any extra armor and weapons we have give to them."
"My Lord, with all due respect we do not need armor or weapons." the minotaur said softly. All eyes were on him as he glanced back towards a set of wagons. He motioned to some of his men and soon four minotaurs were pulling the wagons towards them. Once the minotaurs stopped in front of Alex and the others the black minotaur opened up the door to the wagon. Everyone's faces lit up with surprised smiles. The inside of the wagon was filled with demon bone weapons and armor. "Regardless of wether or not you would allow us to fight by your side by coming to you we have branded ourselves traitors. That is why we took the weapons and from the armaments to help us. At the every least we thought you might be able to use them and maybe by bringing them to you it would prove our loyalty."
"You have done well. This will truly be a great help to us." Alex said smiling. "Kiba go ahead and get everything ready."
"Yes my Lord." Kiba said as he motioned for Shadow and Holly to follow him as they began taking charge of the demons.
"So I take it Zanatos didn't destroy those weapons after all." Brittany said flatly. A few moments later Kiba, Holly, and Shadow had organized the demons and had already started commanding them. Alex walked around surveying everything that took place. Brittany was right beside him holding onto his arm.
"We can do this. We can really pull this off." Alex said softly amazed by everything that had just taken place in such a short time.
"Did you really doubt us?" Brittany said playfully being swept up in all the excitement of getting help. "I can't believe that we've got soldiers from the east and west helping us now."
"Yes, I was hoping that this might happen, but I wasn't about tho hold my breath over it. Their action here has proven that Zanatos's control over the people is slipping. Still it seems that he's retaining a strong grasp on his own soldiers. I was hoping that maybe we could've earned some of their trust. Despite what I say about Zanatos he has one of the best armies. His military strength is unsurpassed."
"You don't really think Baou would just let any of his men leave. He pretty much hate's your guts." Brittany said softly. She and Alex sat on a rock overlooking the entire field. The sight of all the demons filled their hearts with hope.
"True, but it wasn't always like that. Back when I was one of Silva's personal guards Baou was under my command. Back then he was like a younger brother, hard to believe that now."
"What happened?"
"When I killed Silva everything changed. Baou went berserk, and in the end he talked the southern army into leaving. He felt that my killing Silva meant that I had betrayed him too. He thought I wanted the power all to myself. I tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn't listen to reason. He hated me for what I did. He then left and joined with Zanatos. Zanatos eagerly made Baou the commander of his forces and in return Baou swore his loyalty to Zanatos."
"A fact that I'm starting to regret." a voice said with disdain. Alex and Brittany looked up to see Baou sitting in a tree behind them. Alex noted the scars on Baou's arm from where Alex had broken his arms, but when Baou jumped down it was plain to see that his arms were healed.
"To what to do we owe this honor Baou? Not trying to kill me again are you?" Alex said a low growl coming from his throat. Baou instantly raised his hands in defense.
"No...no, not now." Baou said slowly. Once Alex eased up Baou started to explain himself. "The Lord of the north was pissed when I came back without out the girl. Actually now that I think about it pissed was an understatement."
"What do you mean? You couldn't expect him to be happy that you weren't able to capture me." Brittany said shrewdly enjoying the position her would be captor was in.
"I was expecting him to be mad. I wasn't however, expecting him to want me dead. The Lord of the north was going to execute me today for my incompetence. He's already named my successor."
"So you figured you'd switch sides while you still could to save yourself." Alex stated. Baou shrugged.
"I do what I can to survive. Still, it seems that I wasn't the only one who wanted to get out of there. Evidently that damn speech of yours put some crazy ideas about freedom and hope and crap like that into my men's heads. Now they think that if they join you they might be able to make this realm a better place. Naturally I told them they were all fucking crazy, but I've been telling you that since I first met you so apparently no one listens to me. Needless to say, I brought a few friends with me." With that Baou waved his hand pointing towards the forest edge.
On cue battalions of demons started marching out. Each demon was decorated in demon bone armor and carrying a bone weapon. All of them bore Zanatos's emblem, the black dragon. Baou's smug expression became greater as Alex and Brittany looked on in awe at all of the northern troops who were able to encompass the entire field.
"There's only about one-fourth of the main battalion here. Even so I'm surprised your pathetic dribble affected that many." Alex was still staring at the troops as Baou continued. "Still I will give you this. What you said changed these men. When I was planning to escaped and overheard their plans I told them that if they sided with you they would face imminent death. They looked at me without the slightest speak of fear and told me that if they were fighting for a better world, then death would be a small price to pay."
Alex nodded and he and Brittany stood to survey the troops. When Alex stood all of the northern army kneeled before him. Baou moved to the front of the line and kneeled too.
"As much as it pains me to say this. We want to help you. We want to serve under you to make a better world. Will you..." Baou hesitated and cursed softly before continuing. "...my Lord, accept our help?"
Alex felt Brittany release his hand and out of the corner of his eye he saw her casting the spell. He waited until she was through before giving his answer. "Yes, your are now warriors of the south and as so you shall remove anything that bears the mark of Zanatos."
Alex and Brittany were both pleased to see everyone from the northern army stand with ease. Baou was the only one who had any trouble at all, even then he was able to stand slowly.
"Well now it's good to have you back Baou. Get your troops in line with the rest There's much we need to do. Now that we have an actually army to fight with we must hurry and start making plans." Alex instructed.
"Before you starting giving commands my Lord I'd suggest you hear a bit of information t have to tell you first." Baou said keeping his voice low. Alex felt his blood run cold at Baou's words. He nodded slowly and turned to Brittany to make sure she was listening. Brittany saw how serious everyone looked and hurried to Alex's side.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"You might be in a bigger hurry than you had originally planned. The reason we were able to get away so easily is because the entire northern realm is in an uproar. Magnus was officially declared the new archmage yesterday. With his new position he revealed to the Lord of the north that you were planning to rebel against him. Due to that he's started to assemble his armies. They will leave by dawn and be here by noon tomorrow."
Brittany paled at what she heard. She looked up to see that Alex had paled considerably too. "What does this mean for us?"
"This means we have a lot to do." Alex said softly. "Kiba, Shadow, Holly, bring those two demons here, the lizard and the minotaur. We have a lot to we need to discuss."
Author's Note: I've noticed not that many people have been reading my newer chapters as of late. I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that they don't know if I've started updating again...or if my new chapters just really suck. So for those of you who are reading let me know what you think of them and wether or not they are any good at all. Thanks again, and heh...don't be too too brutal with the reviews...pretty please. ^_^; Still, I do want you to be honest, so let me know how you truly feel. Kudos catch ya later.
Soulless Wanderer
"Their total is sixteen thousand my Lord. All of them are willing and able to fight." Kiba replied.
"The only question is why." Alex walked over to whom he assumed was the commander of the troops. Alex stood before the demon with Brittany at his side. The demon was a yellow scaled lizard with bright green eyes and brown leather armor. "Why is it that you come to me now when just days before hand you were sent here to try and kill me and steal my mate."
"We have come because we believe in your words. When you spoke, if but for a second, we were filled with hope. That is something we have not felt in a long time. That alone is something worth fighting for. Hope is something that we have long since forgotten, but your words reminded us of what we once had. We can no longer continue living the way we have been knowing what we used to have. That is the reason we have come to join you. We want to help you to rebuild this realm." the demon replied.
"So you are telling me that you are willing to fight against your own kind, your own brethren that you might find hope once again?"
"Those that fight against us are not our brethren. They are but shadows of what they once were as we all are. Those who we will fight against refuse to see the truth and would rather live in the darkness to which they have become so accustomed to. They do not have the spine to stand up, we see now that we too have been spineless." a black minotaur said speaking on behalf of everyone.
"Is this how all of you truly feel? If you join me you will be dishonored and disowned by all that you know and hold dear. I cannot guarantee our success in battle, but I believe our cause is worth fighting for. Now, do you truly believe what you are doing is right? Only those whose soul is set to fight knowing the dangers that they will face, those are the ones that will go into combat. I will give you time to think over what you are about to do."
Brittany wasn't quite sure why Alex was being so cold or why it seemed like he was actually trying to discourage them to help. "Alex, I know I might be new to this whole commanding thing, but shouldn't you be trying to encourage them to help us'"
Alex turned to face her and smiled softly. "I need to be sure they are willing to fight. If their heart is not in the fight then we'd be better off without them." Alex could still see Brittany's uncertainty and continued. "Despite what it may appear I am overjoyed at what has happened. Still, I sense their fear, and that can cloud their judgement and blind them. They need to be able to trust me, and I need to be able to trust them."
"So...you're just testing them?"
"No, that is where you come in." Alex said with a mischievous smile. Before Brittany could find out what he meant the lizard demon called out.
"My Lord, we are ready."
"Brittany remember the spell of soul?" Alex asked.
Brittany thought for a moment before her eyes widened and a smile crept across her lips realizing what Alex was going to do. "Of course!"
Alex smiled and nodded. "Good, go ahead and cast it."
"I'm already way ahead of you."
Alex turned back to face the demons. All of which were still kneeling in reverence to him. Good, those who are burdened with fear and uncertainty will be weighed down by it and will be unable to stand. Only if they are able to overcome their fear and truly want to fight will they be strong enough to stand.
"What is your answer?"
"We shall fight for you my Lord. Regardless of what persecution we will face. The land is being destroyed there is nothing to live for anymore. This realm won't be fit for our children to grow up in. It is barely fit for us. We once fought side by side to ensure the safety of this realm. We fought to free ourselves from the darkness, but in the end we were consumed by it. We allowed despair to rule us. We have a lot of atoning to do to make up for the sins we have committed. This is but the first step to redemption." the lizard said, his head still bowed in respect.
"Is this how you all feel?" Everyone looked at Alex who by now seemed to call attention to himself. His presence was undoubtedly that of a Lord, one that demanded obedience and respect.
"Yes." echoed throughout the warriors.
"Then rise warriors of the south. We have much to do." Alex commanded. Brittany held onto Alex's arm as she watched in anticipation of what was to come. To their shock and surprise everyone stood firm all traces of fear and worry had left their faces replaced by calm determination. Alex smiled and nodded before turning to look over his shoulder. "Kiba, Holly, Shadow!"
The three wolf demons were there beside Alex in a moments notice. "Yes my Lord."
"Kiba you will take charge of the eastern forces, Holly you take control of the western. Shadow, I want you to get the grouped together and distribute to them what they will need. Any extra armor and weapons we have give to them."
"My Lord, with all due respect we do not need armor or weapons." the minotaur said softly. All eyes were on him as he glanced back towards a set of wagons. He motioned to some of his men and soon four minotaurs were pulling the wagons towards them. Once the minotaurs stopped in front of Alex and the others the black minotaur opened up the door to the wagon. Everyone's faces lit up with surprised smiles. The inside of the wagon was filled with demon bone weapons and armor. "Regardless of wether or not you would allow us to fight by your side by coming to you we have branded ourselves traitors. That is why we took the weapons and from the armaments to help us. At the every least we thought you might be able to use them and maybe by bringing them to you it would prove our loyalty."
"You have done well. This will truly be a great help to us." Alex said smiling. "Kiba go ahead and get everything ready."
"Yes my Lord." Kiba said as he motioned for Shadow and Holly to follow him as they began taking charge of the demons.
"So I take it Zanatos didn't destroy those weapons after all." Brittany said flatly. A few moments later Kiba, Holly, and Shadow had organized the demons and had already started commanding them. Alex walked around surveying everything that took place. Brittany was right beside him holding onto his arm.
"We can do this. We can really pull this off." Alex said softly amazed by everything that had just taken place in such a short time.
"Did you really doubt us?" Brittany said playfully being swept up in all the excitement of getting help. "I can't believe that we've got soldiers from the east and west helping us now."
"Yes, I was hoping that this might happen, but I wasn't about tho hold my breath over it. Their action here has proven that Zanatos's control over the people is slipping. Still it seems that he's retaining a strong grasp on his own soldiers. I was hoping that maybe we could've earned some of their trust. Despite what I say about Zanatos he has one of the best armies. His military strength is unsurpassed."
"You don't really think Baou would just let any of his men leave. He pretty much hate's your guts." Brittany said softly. She and Alex sat on a rock overlooking the entire field. The sight of all the demons filled their hearts with hope.
"True, but it wasn't always like that. Back when I was one of Silva's personal guards Baou was under my command. Back then he was like a younger brother, hard to believe that now."
"What happened?"
"When I killed Silva everything changed. Baou went berserk, and in the end he talked the southern army into leaving. He felt that my killing Silva meant that I had betrayed him too. He thought I wanted the power all to myself. I tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn't listen to reason. He hated me for what I did. He then left and joined with Zanatos. Zanatos eagerly made Baou the commander of his forces and in return Baou swore his loyalty to Zanatos."
"A fact that I'm starting to regret." a voice said with disdain. Alex and Brittany looked up to see Baou sitting in a tree behind them. Alex noted the scars on Baou's arm from where Alex had broken his arms, but when Baou jumped down it was plain to see that his arms were healed.
"To what to do we owe this honor Baou? Not trying to kill me again are you?" Alex said a low growl coming from his throat. Baou instantly raised his hands in defense.
"No...no, not now." Baou said slowly. Once Alex eased up Baou started to explain himself. "The Lord of the north was pissed when I came back without out the girl. Actually now that I think about it pissed was an understatement."
"What do you mean? You couldn't expect him to be happy that you weren't able to capture me." Brittany said shrewdly enjoying the position her would be captor was in.
"I was expecting him to be mad. I wasn't however, expecting him to want me dead. The Lord of the north was going to execute me today for my incompetence. He's already named my successor."
"So you figured you'd switch sides while you still could to save yourself." Alex stated. Baou shrugged.
"I do what I can to survive. Still, it seems that I wasn't the only one who wanted to get out of there. Evidently that damn speech of yours put some crazy ideas about freedom and hope and crap like that into my men's heads. Now they think that if they join you they might be able to make this realm a better place. Naturally I told them they were all fucking crazy, but I've been telling you that since I first met you so apparently no one listens to me. Needless to say, I brought a few friends with me." With that Baou waved his hand pointing towards the forest edge.
On cue battalions of demons started marching out. Each demon was decorated in demon bone armor and carrying a bone weapon. All of them bore Zanatos's emblem, the black dragon. Baou's smug expression became greater as Alex and Brittany looked on in awe at all of the northern troops who were able to encompass the entire field.
"There's only about one-fourth of the main battalion here. Even so I'm surprised your pathetic dribble affected that many." Alex was still staring at the troops as Baou continued. "Still I will give you this. What you said changed these men. When I was planning to escaped and overheard their plans I told them that if they sided with you they would face imminent death. They looked at me without the slightest speak of fear and told me that if they were fighting for a better world, then death would be a small price to pay."
Alex nodded and he and Brittany stood to survey the troops. When Alex stood all of the northern army kneeled before him. Baou moved to the front of the line and kneeled too.
"As much as it pains me to say this. We want to help you. We want to serve under you to make a better world. Will you..." Baou hesitated and cursed softly before continuing. "...my Lord, accept our help?"
Alex felt Brittany release his hand and out of the corner of his eye he saw her casting the spell. He waited until she was through before giving his answer. "Yes, your are now warriors of the south and as so you shall remove anything that bears the mark of Zanatos."
Alex and Brittany were both pleased to see everyone from the northern army stand with ease. Baou was the only one who had any trouble at all, even then he was able to stand slowly.
"Well now it's good to have you back Baou. Get your troops in line with the rest There's much we need to do. Now that we have an actually army to fight with we must hurry and start making plans." Alex instructed.
"Before you starting giving commands my Lord I'd suggest you hear a bit of information t have to tell you first." Baou said keeping his voice low. Alex felt his blood run cold at Baou's words. He nodded slowly and turned to Brittany to make sure she was listening. Brittany saw how serious everyone looked and hurried to Alex's side.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"You might be in a bigger hurry than you had originally planned. The reason we were able to get away so easily is because the entire northern realm is in an uproar. Magnus was officially declared the new archmage yesterday. With his new position he revealed to the Lord of the north that you were planning to rebel against him. Due to that he's started to assemble his armies. They will leave by dawn and be here by noon tomorrow."
Brittany paled at what she heard. She looked up to see that Alex had paled considerably too. "What does this mean for us?"
"This means we have a lot to do." Alex said softly. "Kiba, Shadow, Holly, bring those two demons here, the lizard and the minotaur. We have a lot to we need to discuss."
Author's Note: I've noticed not that many people have been reading my newer chapters as of late. I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that they don't know if I've started updating again...or if my new chapters just really suck. So for those of you who are reading let me know what you think of them and wether or not they are any good at all. Thanks again, and heh...don't be too too brutal with the reviews...pretty please. ^_^; Still, I do want you to be honest, so let me know how you truly feel. Kudos catch ya later.
Soulless Wanderer