Eternal_Winter
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Chapter 44: The messenger of war
🕑 Added 2025-05-02 13:49:56 +0000 UTCWhen you think about war in a fantasy scenario as a normal person you might envision speeches before battle, generals at the front raising a sword while a young man holding the flag of their nation behind him. The men challenge their enemies with cries of war that make the earth shake. Swords were brandished, shields got raised while the soldiers grit their teeth in anger, their eyes filled with grim determination.
Here in the desert there was nothing like that at all, Ethan stood behind the army, no behind his army. Around him the mages that would support him, behind him his commanders discussing battle tactics in hushed whispers while he stood on a pillar of ice and looked over the gathered soldiers, his eyes focusing on the horizon as he looked for the enemy forces.
The army was completely silent, they didn’t move a muscle and the usual noise of metal armor was absent, only the slight wind that danced over the sand moved a flag here or stirred up a little sand there. Ethan could feel the aura of death stretch its bony fingers over the entire army, feeling like thick black sludge that pressed on your body and mind, he could feel it and he found it in the faces of his soldiers, the dread of impending doom that could end your life forever was thick in the air .The fear of dying on the battlefield was so real at this point.
Ethan’s nerves were frayed and he tried to calm himself down by breathing in and out slowly. He was a coward all his life, but he was here, waiting for an enemy that swore to take his life, a powerful undead army under its control.
****
While he was busy picking his class the army had marched to the field he spotted from the air. The mages did a great job at fortifying the sand and building more complex defensive positions than he thought were possible in this short amount of time, but somehow they made it work even if a few looked exhausted from the effort.
A rampart of hardened dirt surrounded them on three sides and in front of them was a trench filled with earth spikes, each one was sharp and reinforced with iron sand they pulled from the depths of the earth with the help of magic. If the enemy forced them to advance over the trench they could easily jump the gap but the mindless skeletons would stumble easily in the loose sand, with the trench being rather deep, because the material for the spikes consumed a lot of sand as it had to be compressed to form something akin to stone. Everything else would have been a waste of time.
Distracted from scouting out the army, his eyes wandered over the many undead that marched over the dunes, he twitched as the sound of a horn broke through the silence of the battlefield. A hunched figure approached from the undead army, it looked to have a frame that was vaguely humanoid but because it was wrapped in dark fabric. Ethan couldn’t quite make out the details of the creature , but he spotted a skull that hung at its belt, swinging around with each step.
The sinister aura it gave off reached him even from this far away, it wasn’t strong but the distance alone made it an impressive artifact. The creature had no visible weapon on its body, but Ethan was still cautious of it. Hidden weapons are something he knew a lot about, his interest for assassins was always a weakness of his so he studied the humanoid the whole time it walked over to his army. When it made the final approach Ethan, surrounded by his entourage, walked through the army and stopped a few meters from the spike-filled trench and yelled.
“Stop where you are a stranger and speak your words clearly and fast. If you try to deceive us we will kill you on the spot.” Ethan gestured to some soldiers that had their throwing spear and slings already prepared.
The voice that came from the figure was hoarse and sounded wet, like the creature was constantly drowning from the liquid that invaded its lungs. The sounds made Ethan shiver but he couldn’t show any weakness that the creature could exploit so he swallowed the bile that raised from his stomach when he got a whiff of the creature's smell, instead he straightened his back and listened to its words.
“You don’t recognize me Ethan? I must admit, I feel a bit disappointed that you can’t recognize me. We’re the only real humans left in this tutorial, right? Well that’s not true anymore as we both seem to have shed the skin of humanity to choose a different form.” It slowly peeled the fabric from its face, the sound it made was like a band aid getting slowly peeled from the skin. The scarf was wrapped around its head multiple times to conceal every centimeter of flesh that made up the creature.
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What Ethan saw, once the final piece of cloth was removed, seemed to be straight from a horror movie. Its skin was black like it was burned to a crisp , the smell of burning meat invaded Ethan’s nose mixed with the scent of fouled meat. Its face seemed to constantly rot and heal making the black skin look like it was trapped in an endless circle. The face was constantly moving around from the healing it received, it looked like worms nested under the skin feeding on the endlessly regrowing supply the creature provided.
His eyes were swollen, completely round and milky white, a dead fish the first thing that comes to mind, especially with the smell of rotting meat the monster gave off. Ethan gagged when he saw a mixture of pus and a black ooze leak from his eyes. The thing looked like a monstrosity that was infused with death magic, constantly weeping tears made from tar, the thick substance rolling over its already dark skin.
Its teeth had transformed as well, needle-like and the color of dried vomit, the whole mouth now just a black hole surrounded by those teeth, a long tongue covered in barbs was constantly licking over the entire face. It ripped away at the skin, the barbs pulling it away in long thin strands, the flesh that was revealed moved like living tentacles, each muscle an independent thread of unlife that tried to flee from the body, only to healed once again making the escape impossible. The same black ooze dripped from the mouth, black sludge that bubbled between the teeth like a putrid acid, the liquid ran down its chin before landing on the ground, leaving sizzling sand behind.
****
Ethan realized what or rather who he was looking at. The thing in front of him was James but he was nothing like before, not only was his body changed but his entire personality was different too. James spoke, the mouth contracted and expanded with each word, his needle-like teeth digging into his own flesh but James didn’t even seem to notice, his body just a puppet that housed his soul.
“I came here to see you before you die, while I’m not strong enough, Enok will make sure you die a gruesome death. We left you in that riverbed and I wanted nothing more than to throw my anger at the world. You killed Marie and killed me, my life should have ended but my patron intervened and asked me to kill you. Then this tutorial can finally end and he will resurrect Marie for me…like she was before.”
The cackle that followed his words made Ethan shudder, it sounded so unnatural that everything inside of him, every urge, every feeling demanded from him too step back. He was certain he could kill James but his body knew that the thing in front of him felt…wrong. He, or rather it, was no longer human, a creature that needed to be put down like a rabid animal.
While he could say anything he just gave the soldiers a sign, a simple wave of his hand and they attacked the thing that claimed to be James. Throwing spears and fist sized stones impacted his body but James just continued to laugh while his body got annihilated. Ethan turned around, ready to return to his spot in the back when he heard loud gasps and whispered curses.
His head whipped around and he saw James regrowing himself from the black sludge, the amount of the putrid liquid was impressive in a disgusting way, there was at least three times as much sludge than James body could need but every little bit was sucked back into the shape of the humanoid monster. The laugh returned when his mouth was finally restored but instead of attacking Ethan’s army he just walked away. He knew why James didn’t attack, there were no actions to be taken or any more words had to be spoken, it was time for war.
****
Ethan shared his thoughts with Nora as he walked through the ranks, she told him off an idea and while he was unsure, once he reached the back of the army he called his mages into a circle around him. After they departed from Hornhold he asked about the Jarl and they told him about a ritual that was used for large battles, one that Jarl Thoran had actually embedded into his body to give him the impressive size. This one looked like an actual pentagram with the symbol of a snake in the middle. While they worked on some changes they had to implement so that it worked on more than just Brammgestir, Ethan decided to speak with Nora, it was after all her idea and he was worried something could happen to her during or after the ritual.
Are you sure you want to do this? I know you’re strong but we don’t even know if this ritual works or what kind of aftereffects it has! You could get hurt even before the fight! The pleading look on his face told everyone how much he hated that plan but Nora seemed determined.
I told you already Ethan, it’s time for me to become more active and use my abilities, remember I’m the same level as you so stop complaining, I have to watch you every time you do something stupid too! Today could be our last day and I want to be useful, not only for my sake but also for yours. We’re partners and we both need to take a risk sometimes.
He sighed and waited for Nora to stretch herself out, a small bowl with black ink was all he needed for the preparations, dipping his finger into the cold liquid he started to sketch small runes on Nora’s scales. There were massive gaps in his knowledge of runes but during his time in the desert he learned a lot under the guidance of the mages.
The runes started at Nora’s head and slowly worked its way down her body, it took some time to paint both her top and bottom side but he finished a few minutes before the mages. He picked her body up in a coiled up bundle. Her hard scales rubbed on his palms, her body cold from their shared affinity for ice. Ethan stepped into the pentagram, making sure to not disturb the carefully drawn lines, the iron sand was the same they used for the blizzard ritual.
With a nod he gave the mage that would perform the ritual the sign to start. This time Ethan just needed to surrender some of his mana because he couldn’t even hope to understand these complex rituals. Hundreds of small runes were drawn in and around the pentagram, each one was simple but arranging them in the perfect spot took the most time. For now he just watched the magic at work, but his focus was mostly on Nora as the symbols on her started to glow as well.
Like before they started to sing and swayed as the mages found their rhythm and poured their magic into the ritual. Ethan didn’t understand a lot but he noticed some words for growth and expansion, for strength and resilience. Slowly they stopped chanting after what felt like an eternity, this time there was no big explosion of power as everything was pushed into Nora. She started to twitch and throb, her whole body groaned and Ethan gently put her down before stepping back with the mages.
****
“How big did you say she might get?” Ethan asked, a look of concern on his face as he watched the mages reaction
“A few meters my liege, nothing major.” The mage replied but he saw how nervous the Brammgestir was.
All of them looked at Nora, slowly she increased in size, growing bigger by the second. At first it wasn’t that notable but soon she covered the ritual circle with her body, a few minutes later the behemoth lizards even looked small compared to her impressive size, her shadow covering Ethan and the mages in complete darkness.
“What did you say? A few meters?! More like thirty meters you idiot!” Ethan said angrily while looking at the hill sized snake in front of him. Nora finally stopped growing and she looked over herself once she relaxed a bit, her eyes wandered over her body. He could feel the admiration she had for her temporary form.
Her voice sounded in Ethan’s head, tired but also excited. It seems the ritual worked quite well, I hope you didn’t use too much mana for this, it wouldn’t be good if you can’t fight after such a big ritual.
That’s what you’re worried about? You’re the size of a house and that’s your first question? She looked at him expectantly and with a sigh Ethan said, No we didn’t use too much mana, my reserves are also regenerating rather quickly with the help of my stats and equipment so no need to worry about that.
Satisfied Nora turned around, her scales rubbing against each other sounded like sharp nails running down a blackboard and boulders that fell down a mountain. Ethan grimaced and shuddered, the hair in his neck standing upright in an instance. “Ugh, I will never like that sound, it's rubbing me in the wrong spot. I don’t think there is anything more we can do. Everybody back to your posts, let’s get this show started right Nora?”
He looked up and she nodded with her now massive head. With the ritual finished he turned to Kra’kulgar who was still looking at Nora in awe, magic was impressive to Ethan but to him it must be something even more mystical because Crocodiarii weren’t blessed with magic like other races. A grin on his lips he stepped up to the general. “It seems you enjoy the small display of magic, General. Are the troops ready?”
After a moment of hesitation the general shook his head and looked down to Ethan. “Yes my liege, we’re ready and could respond to any kind of attack the undead army throws at us once the fight starts. The troops are eager for the fight; this is, after all, their home.” Ethan nodded and turned around when he heard someone approach, it was a young Crocodiarii, easy to see because he was around Ethan’s height and not towering over him like the rest, His scales also had the bright green of youth instead of the dark shade the adults share. In his scaly hands he carried an object, he held it so close to his body Ethan couldn’t really make out what it was.
Falling to one knee as he offered it to Ethan, without thinking about it he took the object and slowly turned it over in his hand, but before he could inspect it properly A connection with Nora appeared in his mind, filling the entire space of his thoughts, as she screamed in fear, her instincts telling her danger was only a breath away from Ethan.
DROP IT! ETHAN! DROP IT! NOW!
Without questioning it opened his hand but he was too late, the last thing he saw was the boy grinning before dropping dead to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. In his hand he held an amulet with a skull symbol engraved into it. Time seemed to slow down as he opened his fingers to make the amulet fall to the ground, but he was too late. A voice invaded his mind and for a brief moment Nora managed to protect Ethan’s mind from the awful influence. But sadly she was defeated and then he heard that voice again. The voice of the wight king.
I GOT YOU LITTLE WIZARD! I WILL FREE YOUR DEMONS AND MAKE YOU SUFFER!
