NOVEL NEXT Aftermath Part 1: Run
"Haah...Haah...Haah...It seems we lost them, the damn Imperial Army responded quicker than we thought" General Fang remarked as he and the remainder of his rebels retreated into the undercity of Scaneth.
When the eclipse was still in effect, the insurgents had five whole minutes to cause as much damage and to get as many people out before the rest of the Imperial Army loyal to Crown Prince Visnet could react and swiftly stop them. But as the final minute of the eclipse was still there, the Imperial Army garrison around the city, numbering in thrice as many as their ten thousand rebels had come to stop them quicker than they anticipated. Massive fights broke out as the insurgents fought street by street and house by house in the next thirty minutes, inflicting as many as three soldiers for every insurgent lost. After the last of their barricades were destroyed, the rebels fled underground and into the undercity. An hour had passed since then, and the remaining insurgents had successfully blown the numerous tunnels they had used to get civilians and their own out of the undercity. Fang and his group of two hundred were the last remnants inside, they were being mercilessly hunted by Imperial soldiers intent on killing them and punishing them for their crimes.
As Fang rounded a corner, he saw the last tunnel out of the undercity before them. Behind him and his group were the sounds of armored boots running to catch them,
"Go! Go! Go!" He shouted as he directed his forces to the tunnel exit, while others began preparing their explosive spells to bring it down
His eyes turned back to the corner they had come from, watching his soldiers run past him, all of them giving him a nod as they passed him. And as the last one did, he immediately ran as well, intent on joining them, but when he heard the pitter-patter of a different set of footsteps, he stopped. He looked at the mages in the group and gave them a nod, the mages hesitated however, not wanting to see their leader get left behind, but that hesitation went away as they saw Fang turn away and brandish his twin blades, his back to to them.
"Go! Now!" He commanded as he gave them one final glance before looking away.
BOOM!
BOOM!
KRAKOOOOM!
CRASSSH!
The mages did as he commanded and detonated their spells, and the tunnel crumbled behind him. A smile on his face as it did so, as he focused his eyes on the corner, he saw a sea of soldiers clad in the silver plate armor of Visnet's imperial soldiers a far departure from the resplendent gold and red plate from his time, each of the shoulder pouldrons of these soldiers were adorned with Visnet's personal insignia, a red lion in front of a gold standard. And as the final soldier filled the chamber before him, he saw him. Coming out of the corner with a strut was Visnet, he was dressed in a white military suit with gold lining and a pair of black gloves, on his side he had his personal sword sheathed and tied to his waist, Fang saw that the prince's hair which was usually kept and well-groomed was now disheveled and that he had a large cut on his cheek.
"General Fang...here we are at last" Visnet voiced as he stood in front of his troops, a smirk on his face as he looked into the eyes of the wolf beast kin
"I was hoping that when you retired from the military you would stay that way, but to my regret, you haven't and instead have led the biggest rebellion this empire has ever seen, right under our noses" Visnet continued
"Aye. I have, and I do not regret it one bit. You and your pieces of shit nobles have turned this empire which was once the pinnacle of acceptance and tolerance and reverted it back into the quagmire of hell that it was for my kind and so many others" Fang growled back as he flourished his twin blades, he saw past Visnet's confidence and read his emotions, he was angry, very very angry.
"I see. then there is no need to keep you alive then, you will die here, and when I am done killing you, I will parade your corpse and feed it to the pigs! Kill Him!" Visnet ordered his men forward, all of them marching in unison.
"Hah! If you think your cronies can kill me, then you are foolish!" Fang retorted as he charged the approaching wall of steel.
For the next ten minutes, Fang engaged the soldiers, his twin blades combined with his wolf beastkin strength cleaving through them like a hot knife through butter. He blocked and parried spear thrusts and sword slashes while also unleashing his own magic in the form or lightning discharges from his blades, but the toll of the battle was getting to him as sword slashes and spear thrusts found their marks on him, a slash to his right thigh, a thrust into his left shoulder, and other wounds. By the end of the fighting, he stood amongst the corpses of Visnet's soldiers, covered head to toe in wounds that were letting loose crimson rivers. Losing his strength, Fang fell on his knees, his vision darkening and his strength waning, he saw Visnet approach him and he no longer had the strength to swing his swords.
"You died a bastard's death you know? I could have offered you so much more if you just aligned yourself with me" The Crown Prince said to the dying general
"Hah, PFFTOOF. Tell that to someone who cares" Fang replied as he spat blood upon Visnet's white clothing before falling back and taking his last breath.
Visnet looked down at him with a disgusted look and then looked at the blood he left on his pristine clothes, his scowl worsening.
"I will rid this world of your filth. Mark my words you disgusting waste of life" Visnet growled as he turned away from Fang's corpse and walked away.
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Outside the capital city, on a hill that overlooks it from a very far distance, Lance and Sir Antwerp stood over a freshly made grave, the grave of Emperor Gaius I. They placed underneath a tree that had lots of shade and marked the tree with a burnt X that they placed upon the trunk. Lance was silent as he could only see Sir Antwerp's red eyes stare at the grave before them, unsure of what was going on in the guard's head.
"He wanted to be buried in the sea did you know that?" Sir Antwerp stated, his deep and unsettling voice breaking the silence
"I did not sir...how did you know that?" Lance asked as he looked at the crimson-plated knight
"He told us. All of us Varangian Guards whenever it was just him alone in the throneroom, he would tell us all his thoughts and dreams. We were like children to him, to be fair he was a man who adopted many of us from the slums across the empire. Trained to be the ultimate bodyguard....and yet we failed in the end" Sir Antwerp continued as he knelt before the grave
Lance was about to say something but the sudden sound of a large marching column filled the air, causing him to look around warily.
"Sir Antwerp, we must leave" He said with a hint of fear and desperation
But Sir Antwerp remained silent as his eyes never left the grave, meanwhile, the sounds of marching kept getting louder and louder, causing Lance to get beside the Varangian and try to shake him off his current state.
{!}
But when he tried, Sir Antwerp pulled him down and covered his mouth, his crimson eyes staring at Lance, boring into his soul.
"Keep calm, I hear it too" The Varangian stated as the marching was at its loudest before it passed them
"What are we going to do now?" Lance asked as the two of them stood up
"Do what the rest of my comrades are doing, get as many of the imperial citizens not loyal to Visnet out of here. Our neighbors have been kind to accept our citizens into their own and integrate them"
"But wouldn't it be easier for them to just attack us now when they have the chance? There are riots literally all across the empire" Lance asked as he pointed out the dire state of the nation
"True, but. They have opted out of attacking as they fear the Imperial Army, one that is fully loyal to Visnet and with most of its forces still on the border, except for certain gaps that our citizens have been able to slip through. Plus, if all of the nations attack at once, it gives Visnet and his brothers a rallying call for those who are still unsure about where they stand and even turn those who hate him to his side to unite against a common enemy" Antwerp answered as he and Lance began moving
"So all that we can do now is run?" Lance asked
"Yes. That is all we can do, now come along, we have a regrouping point in the village not far from here"
Lance gave him a nod as he followed behind. He reflected on why he served Visnet, recalling the fact that he had his family hostage, although that was now no longer the case as Amelia had promised their freedom, as she told him that Sir Antwerp and the rest of the Varangians could rescue them during the escape, although he had not seen them yet, he had full faith in Amelia's words.
Sure enough, when he made it to the village an hour later, his eyes welled up as he saw his mother, father and siblings all waiting for him. After a loving exchange, Lance was now determined to get them to safety, he now had a reason to get stronger, and it was one that was not driven by a romantic type of love but rather one that was rooted in his family, his main reason for becoming a knight in the first place.
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"Gughhhh....That's all of them" Sharon muttered to herself as she knelt down on the dirt road, her limbs had wounds that were healed the moment the eclipse was no longer in effect, her left eye however now had a scar that ran upwards, although she could still see out of the eye thanks to the healing magic given to her by the numerous blessings Amelia bestowed upon her before they parted ways. Her armor was beaten and pierced through in several places and her halberds were covered in lots of blood that even extended to the armor and some parts of Sharon's body. Painting her as a bloody mess.
She looked at the numerous corpses that littered the dirt road she was in, she had just exited Hillsbrooke territory and entered the Kingdom of June before they got attacked by several hundreds of assassins, the knights escorting their carriages were killed to the man except for the few guarding the family carriage. During the ambush several carriages that were carrying supplies and rations were thrown off the road and their contents spilled out into the countryside, but now they were in the process of being recovered and repaired. Her family was safe, as her mother Ilena, her father Pyotr and her younger twin siblings Yulen and Yulan were placed inside the carriage and ordered by Sharon not to exit unless she said so. And now that the fighting was over, she lumbered over to her family, a sigh of relief in her voice as she saw that all of them were ok, embracing each one of them tightly.
"Are you sure you are all ok?" She asked them with tears in her eyes
"Yes my sweet child, your father, your siblings and I are fine" Ilena replied as she held onto her tightly
"What about you Sharon? We saw you get impaled and slashed multiple times, are you sure you are fine?" Pyotr asked as he paced around her and inspected her armor
"I am fine father, Amelia's blessings have kicked in and I have healed and regenerated. Besides, no one is going to stop me from protecting you all" Sharon replied as she hugged her father.
Meanwhile, Yulen and Yulan were shaking in fear and crying as they were scared for their older sister. Sharon smiled as she parted from her parents, removed her armor, revealing her scarred body underneath, and embraced the two young twins who were barely six. Reassuring them with sweet words and a sweet tone that she was always going to be there for them and that she was never going to die. This worked as both of them calmed down and held her closely, still sniveling.
After a few more hours, they continued on their way further into the Kingdom of June, although annoyed that this happened now when so many times before it hadn't, Sharon began plotting and scheming in her mind. She was going to destroy those in the kingdom who would oppose her mother's rule, and if it involved being overly violent, she would do it without a second thought as to her, threatening her was one thing, but doing it to her family was another, and they had done both, and she was determined to leave none alive for it.
A/N: Hey there! So here is the first Aftermath Chapter, the next will focus on Emilio, Roimir, and Jacon, and also probably give Sharon the fight scene. I had a fun time with this one and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it! if you have anything you would like to ask or say leave it in the comments, and as always Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!