Whispers of a Dead Empire

Octavian Pov:

I stood on top of the hill and gazed at the sprawling planes. All around me, the troops were busy repaving roads and cutting down trees to convert into more resources for us to use. They were like an army of ants as they worked and swarmed over the projects, finishing them at a blistering rate.

"Warmaster, the preparations are complete for an outpost. The scouts are already reporting a large horde on the way. The scouts estimate a force almost double our number. We expect contact in no less than five minutes." Kaesaria appeared next to me out of the blue. The woman's flesh and bone had long since vanished, only to be replaced by the faint green hue of the spirit.

"Good, alert the troops. If we fracture in the face of the horde, we will be overwhelmed." Already, plans started to form in my mind at the information. "Have the mages alter the terrain. We need to funnel them and eliminate the numerical advantage they have. Have the heavy troops take the front line and lock down the horde, and we will grind them down." It was a rough plan, but there were very few things I could do to staunch the flow of undead effectively. So we have to chew through them one piece at a time. "Have the mages who have mana left over switch to fire magic, so we can burn them out as we hold them." I crossed my arms and stared out across the plain.

"As you command." The captain spun and floated down the hill, leaving me with my thoughts. This was a large horde. Easily almost double our manpower. But where they had numbers, we had quality.

I stared across the troops and watched as the ground trembled and large earthen barriers rose out of the ground. Quickly, the soldiers cutting down trees shifted the logs to shore up weak areas and hold the flow of the coming undead directly. Thankfully, they wouldn't be smart enough to find their way around. Hordes were pretty easy to deal with because of this.

The earth trembled as walls rose from the dirt, and debris rained from ledges that rose towards the sky. They weren't mighty by any stretch, but they would do enough to stem the tide of the undead to push the advantage to us. But even with the dedication that was at play, they weren't fast enough.

In the distance, the twisted choir of broken moans filled the air. It sounded like a symphony of broken screams as figures pushed through the fog that twisted in the distance. At first, it was stragglers who were running full bore straight at our encampment with their minds no doubt empty with all but the desire to consume. Their clothes were tattered and destroyed, and even from this distance, I could see the festering pus that coated faces that were half eaten. It would have been the thing of nightmares, but unfortunately, this was reality. I crossed my arms and gazed down upon my legion. I would not interfere just yet. For now, I wish to see how they did in battle.

Earthen spikes shot from the barriers rising from the ground and rushed towards the first few, about to make contact. The stone tore through flesh like a sword through paper, and black congealed blood coated the earth.

More forms tore through the mist in a full run. Their clothes were tattered, and their bodies were broken. These beings were nothing more than puppets serving a false master, and I held nothing but pity in my heart for them.

I watched as more spikes shot from the wall and downed the next wave as quickly as the first. But I couldn't get my hopes up. More forms poured from the mist, dozens became hundreds as they limped towards the front lines. Their eyes were lifeless, and their bodies were empty. I shuddered internally while staring at them. Would this have been my fate if the Empress didn't save us? Would I have been doomed to be a mindless slave to another? I pushed down the intrusive thoughts as I watched my troops with a keen eye. Now wasn't the time to linger on what-ifs.

My legion quickly formed themselves as instructed behind the earthen barrier. The troops with heavy tower shields marched to the front and drove their shields into the dirt. Mages and rangers took positions in the outcropping that were made previously to keep them out of the way of danger. These were my most valuable units since killing undead at range would be the best way to do things. At least, that was the hope, but we will see how well it performs here.

A volley of magic ripped through the air and hummed with etheric energy as rocks, fire, wind, and water shredded the first line of undead marching toward us. Line after line fell, but the zombies marching toward us were as unyielding as water. They clambered over the piles of the bodies of their comrades, uncaring of their deaths.

Slowly but surely, they marched forward until they contacted the tower shields tucked slightly into the earthen barrier. The rangers, seeing their chance, let loose a volley of highly accurate arrows that slammed through eye sockets and dropped zombies left and right. The fighting may last a few days, so now we just hold.

"Warmaster?" A voice tore me from my thoughts, and I glanced backward.

It was the human mercenary captain by the name of Gunther. His outfit was pristine and well-kept, denoting his previous service. Nominally, I'd have looked down on a soldier serving another nation, but times were different. "Yes, captain?" I asked as I turned my attention back to the attrition warfare that was unfurling below me.

"The others are clamoring for some action." He was curt and to the point. Which I respected fully.

"Ah yes, as is the nature of a warrior. They will have their time. For now, my soldiers will lock down the horde and grind them down. Once we have broken most of the line, you all will be free to cut them down." I crossed my arms and ran through the plan in my head for the hundredth time. With my troops' discipline, we can hold back the tide and take minimum losses. Once the mercenaries make a play, then I risk losing another vital asset.

"I understand. I'm glad that I'm serving under a commander who values the lives of their soldiers." The human replied as he stepped up next to me.

"Those who willingly sacrifice their army for small gains are not suited to be a commander. I will calculate everything we do to ensure we lose the fewest troops possible." Life was valuable, but maybe not in the sense that he was thinking. Troops are expensive to train and even more so to lose. It was something that I couldn't afford to do.

"I see. How is the battle?" He asked in a bid to change the subject.

"It goes well. We are locking them down. I say we should have killed enough of them in a day or so for the mercenaries to come in and clean up." I pulled my eyes away from the battle, spun on my heel, and marched further into the officer encampment.

A few of the highest-ranking officers of the legion were here, milling about and making plans for the future, while some of the mercenary leaders were here, gazing at a map of Asteria, trying to make plans themselves. Everything was going as smoothly as I could hope for. But I still had to be ready for anything.

"Officers on me," I called out as I walked further into the command tent. In the center sat a large wooden table, with the map of this portion of Asteria splayed across its surface. The four corner flaps of the tent were wide open, and the amber light of the dying sun spilled into the area and mingled with the vestiges of fog slowly creeping in.

One by one, the highest-ranking officers present trickled in. Save Kaesaria, who was leading the troops in the outpost's defense. In front of me stood Cerularius, who was the commander of the engineer corps. To his left was Avienus, the commander of the magi corp. They were both twin skeletons, though I didn't know them much in life. Really, there were only a few memorable faces, but that was neither here nor there.

The next was Amari, the acting commander of all the Praetorian forces present. Her flesh was semisolid, and her hair was braided into a style reminiscent of the warrior maidens of Asteria's past. Her light blue eyes hardly reflected the light flooding into the tent, though the quiet power she radiated was mighty. She was part of the Empress' hand, so her power was to be feared in the end.

Gunther stood close by as the head of the human mercenaries, and next to him was a giant snake humanoid who wore armor that looked like it was crafted from obsidian. It reminded me of the warrior outfits of the empires from the far east, with how the metal formed into a skirt near the hips and flared out. It was gaudy, but I would hold my tongue on the matter.

"Captain Ohtli." I gave the snake a nod, which was returned with a quick tongue flick as green reptilian eyes settled on me.

"Now that we have arrived, we can discuss the next phase of this war," I told them as I pointed to the map where we were located. "We are still quite a ways out of the city, but we need to capture some of the surrounding suburbs and start converting into a forward operating base while we launch attacks into the city. Though I will warn you, we will be in range of the city defenses shortly." As I spoke, I quickly pointed out the areas of interest.

"Tell me, Warmaster, what are the defenses like?" As Ohtli spoke, he drew his Ss' much like a hiss.

"Long-range bombardment is the first few layers. Once we crack them, we have to deal with urban warfare, which will be a nightmare." City defenses were set up to grind down attackers. Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with the potent anti-air defenses. The sewers were well guarded in themselves. Unfortunately, the only way forward will be through no-man's-land, but thankfully our engineer corps was working on something just for that.