60 Lights Hope (2/2)

”Regroup!” Leo yelled across the large contingent of both darkness and his men.

Along the kings road a mile away from Ember, Leo and his group came across a knight that had been on patrol. The moment they laid eyes on the man, they knew something had been wrong.

The knight drew his sword and charged their group. Michael met him with an ice lance, blocking the attack. As soon as the weapons net, more knights came from the woodline to join the attack. Within minutes, an ambush had assaulted their small force.

”They must be under the control of Aremesis!” Michael yelled out as the small contingent of weilders regrouped. ”We can't kill them!”

”It might be too late for that.” Leo said while his weapon met the cold steel of an advancing knight's blade. He noticed a line of sliced flesh along the knight's jugular. ”Darkness can only rule over the dead.”

Realization flooded Michael as he held off another knight who tried to get under his defenses. ”Then it has to be this way.” He said solemnly as he created bolts of ice above him. He had purposefully held back for the sake of saving the men. ”Leo,” he motioned his head towards his nephew's friend while parrying a blade with his ice lance. ”Maybe you could use these.”

Leo sidestepped a knight, bringing him behind his enemy. Looking at the ice shards, he focused on each one, creating a small vortex surrounding them. He released the shards in each direction, each one making a path through the horde of animated corpses.

None of the knights fell, but huge chunks of their armor and flesh were torn from them as the ice made its way through the mass of enemies. No matter the damage, they continued to throw themselves at the group of weilders.

”It's no use, they just keep coming!” He yelled out to Michael. ”We should fall back to Ember and regroup!” Looking around the horde of enemies, he began to see familiar faces. It was not only knights attacking them now, but also fallen allies. Their lineage weapons had taken on a dark rusted black appearance and their eyes had become milky white.

”I don't think that's an option at the moment.” Michael said as he too began to see the new addition to the enemy offense. ”I doubt the spreading corruption would wait for us to take our leave.”

Leo began to see the hopelessness of the situation before him. No matter which way he turned, the enemy had the path blocked. They were now surrounded on all sides, the knights were blocking their path forward, and now the turned wielders blocked their path from escaping.

”I owe you a drink if we get through this.” Leo said as he smirked at his older friend.

”You might have to wait a few years for that.” Michael said with a smirk.

As they stood back to back, the horde slowly began to close in on the dwindling group. Leo could make out smiles on the animated corpses that still had mouths and knew that the puppeteer was having a good laugh at them.

'You have ten seconds to make peace with your gods.' A voice rang out within Leo's mind. 'Take heart, your usefulness will start the very moment the light leaves your eyes.'

The horde stopped moving as the voice echoed within the minds of each of the living.

”We survived all of it just to die here?” Leo heard a voice behind him, he was glad to know someone other than Michael was alive.

”No.” Leo said with a surprising amount of courage in his voice. ”The moment everything turns to shit, you have to believe there is a way out.” He said as he turned to his friends. ”In any tale, darkness never wins. There is always something surprising and unexpected that happens before all is lost.”

As he spoke, he noticed flashes of white light headed in their direction from Ember. With each flash, he could hear cries of agony getting louder. ”Something like that.” He said with a smirk as he once again went into his defensive stance. ”If we die today, its because of our lack of faith. So do me a favor, turn around and face your enemy until there is either no one left or your arms are missing.”

The horde of the dead began to close in once more, but before they could reach, the light found its way to the center.

Leo could only shale his head in amazement as he looked at the source of light. Within the blinding light stood a brown haired girl of fair complexion wearing a white tank top and brown cargo shorts.

”I never would have guessed this.” Leo said with a chuckle. ”Did you enjoy your vacation?” His eyes lit up as he welcomed her into the battle.

”Admit it, you missed me.” Bianca smiled as she held a white and gold staff which swirled with a white aura.