58 Caged City! (1/2)
Give me your stones and I shall give you chapters...(eventually)
”Fiends...to arms!”
”Man the gates!”
”Summon the Holy Order!”
Across the walls, the rallying cries of commanding officers mixed with the wary cries of stalwart soldiers. Lineir ascended the last step of the stairs to the top of the ramparts and stared over the edge. The sight at first confused him. He saw some undead. Indeed, a lesser city or town might find such a threat menacing simply due to the strangeness of such an occurrence. It was quite unusual for such a large group of undead to come at once. Lineir was reminded of home in Brackenrock City.
There, he had accidentally brought a small group of undead crashing against the walls of the city. It had taken a large number of guards and cultivators alike to slay the threat that time. However, Brackenrock City could not be compared to Lightholme. This city was many times the size of a backwater like Brackenrock, To be fair, Brackenrock shouldn't even be called a city, if it was located anywhere else, it would merely be a large town with high walls. Furthermore, Lightholme was a holy city, a bastion of paladins skilled in the sword and priests skilled in supplementary magic. All of these cultivators used the holy element so it was fair to say that should a group of undead like the one which had attacked Brackenrock appeared at Lightholme's gates, the alarms would barely have had time to sound before the undead would be eliminated, blasted away by light elemental defenses.
”Master, where are the undead, I see a few on the plains ahead, but such a small number, Lightholme should hardly flinch at that right?” Lineir mused aloud. Mei however warned him to be on guard,
”Kiddo, you have a real knack for finding fate changing events, wherever you tread, destiny is broken! I'm sensing a thick line of undead approaching, and that's just the frontline, behind those trees there, there is an army of undead large enough to bury this city in sheer death many times over! Careful! Anyone left in this city after this assault will have to choose between drowning in the ocean or a sea of corpses!” Immediately after Mei's warning, sergeant Narfiz responded as well,
”Lord Light, you are right, such a small number of undead would hardly rouse Lightholme's men so. Beyond the plains, in that forest, our scouts report undead of all sorts. A bloody scourge is sweeping that land... such blasphemy... cannot be allowed to stand...! I hope the cities gates are opened so that the holy order might finally get off their ***** and enter into open battle! I've seen too many die to these things, it's time to show them that we are Lightholme, God's will on earth!” His eye's were shining fervently, surrounded by high walls, and seeing such few undead in front, morale was running high. Soon, along the wall, a man dressed in shining white armor plate etched with runic crosses on every inch addressed the men, his voice booming across the wall.
”Paladins! Priests! Men! This city is God's will on earth! The walls stand tall, Lightholme will never fall!” Soon the chant was echoing across the city.
”THE WALLS STAND TALL, LIGHTHOLME WILL NEVER FALL!” As the soldiers chanted, a massive white light seemed to gleam as their Qi contributed to a massive shining holy incantation which the priests were laying. From behind, the priests joined in the chant, and every man on the wall was imbued with a portion of raging holy energy. Sergeant Narfiz stopped chanting for a second and then alone, yelled out his own words,
”Open the gates!” At first, he was alone, but soon the soldiers of his squad took notice and joined him.
”Open the gates!” Then the whole platoon.
”Open the gates!” Then the whole left side of the walls.
”Open the GATES!” Then the entire fortress.
”OPEN THE GATES!”
”Stop them!!!” Mei screamed in Lineir's ear. Lineir confused asked,
”Why? They have to fight eventually mmm?”
”No kiddo! I can sense a presence drawing near... someone powerful, at least as powerful as the one locked in the city, perhaps even more so! The number of undead must be because of this presence, there are too many, this cities' only hope is to hide behind the walls and defend the siege from the ramparts, opening the gates and engaging on the plains would simply be inviting an unstoppable tide of undead in! You must stop them to buy time, and then flee, find a way out of this city, perhaps a boat or some other way out, this city is already damned!!!” Mei was incomparably frantic, normally she would sound slightly tired, or bored, as if this world was mundane, but clearly the threat this time was outside of her expectations and had shocked her greatly.
”But how... Nobody will hear a thing, maybe I can convince sergeant Narfiz to help.” He turned to the sergeant who's eyes had turned red as the huge gleaming white gates adorned with thousands of lanterns began to creak open.
”Sergeant, I can sense an incomparably large number of undead coming. You must close the gates, there are far too many!” However, Narfiz didn't even change expression, he seemed lost in some sort of bloodlust.