The Fall of Virelle

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The Fall of Virelle

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The clangor of swords, the din of battle shouts and the screams of the dying, the cackling laughter of the living dead, the crunch of bones beneath strong hooves... Remue panted heavily, his arm heavy and barely managing to hold his sword after a long day of battle. Splattered with blood all over, and with worse gore than blood for that matter, he was covered in many wounds, none of them dangerous or life-threatening. All in all, he thought as he removed his helmet during a lull in the battle, and wiped away bloody sweat from his forehead, he had been much luckier than many of his friends and companions. Ariol lay on the ground, pierced by a shattered spear, his face still locked in an expression of surprise; Maniil had been brutally dismembered by ravenous undead who had not even had the decency to give her a clean kill; Sumuar was writhing on the ground, half his head bashed in by the mace-like bony limb of an undead abomination, and Remue thought it would be merciful to pierce his heart and end his pain.

He looked around the ruins of Virelle. The city had been devastated by the undead led by the mysterious Ash Lich, but now, whatever had been left standing had been destroyed by the final offensive of O-gon-cho's forces. Centaur troops had poured into Virelle's streets after Raucous, the Prophet, had blasted the doors open with his fire; the Radiant Ones, ethereal and glowing with unearthly light, had followed in lesser numbers, yet each of them had been escorted by centaurs, for each of them was needed if there was any hope of defeating the Ash Lich at all. None had expected the hecatomb that had followed - the Ash Lich had not just slain and reanimated the dead of Virelle, he had... "perfected" them... somehow, made monstrous abominations and horrifying monsters out of the corpses of those who had once been centaurs and humans themselves.

The power of the Lich had certainly been astounding: no one had expected such a fierce resistance. Many among O-gon-cho's army now lay dead, far more than the generals had originally expected, but at least they had been spared the indignity of being brought back to the world as the very thing they had fought. Remue glanced at the bright glow at the end of the street. The Ash Lich was cornered now. While the centaurs hunted down and destroyed the scattered bands of undead which were all that remained of his mighty army, decimated by O-gon-cho's power and the strength of centaur sinews, the Radiant Ones had gone forward with their part in the plan. Their light was their greatest weapon, and they used it to cage the uncageable, as the goddess had foreseen.

Remue didn't know what would come next, though if the past was any indication, the goddess would offer the Lich a chance of redemption. He wondered whether the creature would take it - but he doubted it. Who would, after standing against a god and prevailing, even only for a while? The earth rumbled. An earthquake, perhaps? More likely the Lich's last act of defiance, perhaps an attempt to strike down the Radiant Ones. Remue felt curious, and cautiously followed the street. The earth rumbled again, as if angry that the Lich's reign had ended; Remue found it very strange, but perhaps he was merely imagining it.

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Xar
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Post by Xar »

"... of your destruction!" The withering voice of the Ash Lich echoed down the street just before a flash of blinding light caused Remue to turn his eyes away; when he looked back, he saw the Radiant Ones talking to each other, and no sign of the Lich except a light ashfall which some among the Radiant Ones hurried to collect. So, it was done. The earth trembled violently, and Remue almost lost his balance; he tottered and almost fell, holding onto a wall at the last moment. What had happened? He barely had a chance to wonder, before the earth trembled again, moaning in agony;it seemed to him that the sky had grown darker, that night had fallen without anyone realizing. And was it him, or was it growing colder? Without realizing it, he started trembling. What was going on?

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Post by Xar »

Then he heard the ground crack, and he saw yellowed bones, a hand, a wrist erupting from the earth, trying to grab his foreleg. With an oath, he leaped away, but as he prepared to swing his sword, something caught his eyes as a cacophony of cracking stone and rumbling earth struck his ears, and his sword clattered on the floor in surprise. The ground heaved, hills seemed to rise beneath Virelle's pavement, stone cracked and splintered, the city itself seemed to agonize, as if the Lich's destruction had given rise to something abominable. And then...

Sparks of unholy light blossomed in yellowed reptilian skulls; tattered shadowy wings unfolded, sharp shattered claws gouged at the soil, and the earth-splitting roar of undeath incarnate heralded the rising of darkness: ancient weapons and archaic armor glinted once more, freed of their earthly prison, and the grinning skulls of long-dead warriors shouted ghastly in triumph. In the slaughter that followed, none survived the final revenge of the Ash Lich, the call he had prepared for months, and the coming of what would become known as the Midnight Armies upon tortured Eiran.
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