"I repeat once more! Where have you locked up my cousin?"
Méria's not in a very good mood today. Not that she often feels like smile, but today she's particularly angry. Only yesterday, she was devastating a world in another universe, when an envoy from her uncle's palace brought her a simple piece of paper with these few words on it.
[My beloved niece, I seem to have been a bit wrong about where my baby would be. After a recalculation by the Congregation of the Wise Men, here are the exact coordinates of the area where you will be able to find our adorable little Hera... Your Uncle Astaroth, hugging you.]
Kneeling at the feet of the young blonde beauty, the King of the Kingdom of Kant, too shocked by recent events, can only shake his head.
Very early this morning, the sun had just broken through the darkness of the night when it was masked by a huge brown ma.s.s that came out of nowhere. When his adviser came to wake him up to warn him of the phenomenon that neither the mages, nor the scientists, nor even the astronomers could explain, the King jumped out of bed and drew the curtains of his room.
"I don't know what that thing is, but are the soldiers prepared for any eventuality?"
Indeed, he uttered this sentence, but now that he's kneeling before the young beauty that leads a sea of evil giants, it seems naive to him.
Yes, all the soldiers were prepared to receive the possible or potential visitors who would come out of this rectangular ma.s.s. From the smallest troop stationed at the corner of an alleyway to the most powerful elite battalions surrounding the main square and protecting the royal palace, all its brave soldiers were on the lookout.
Knowing his city and more precisely his place in safety, the rea.s.sured King took all the time he needed to put on his best official attire. A good King should always be ready, and faced with the small but real possibility of meeting emissaries came from heaven, he grabbed his scepter, symbol of his power, before leaving his personal quarters.
Against the advice of his advisor, who never leaves his side, he joined his generals on the first floor terrace. After inquiring about the current situation, the King was no more advanced and worried for his people less well protected than he was, he closed his eyes.
King Marius, in the general opinion, is a very good King. Magnanimous and fair to his people, if he is not worshipped, all his citizens respect him. And as these subjects present in the capital trembled praying to the G.o.ds and hoping that their kind King would save them, the man in question patiently waited, not without experiencing growing anguish.
"Kuyaa"
Like the King's eyes who opened when a sharp complaint from heaven reached his ears, the attention of all the soldiers redoubled. At that moment, although they could not yet see anything, the warriors drew their swords from their sheaths. Positioned on the rooftops or on the wall surrounding the Capital, which had become completely silent, the archers directed the tips of their arrows towards the heavens, and from the top of their towers, the mages prepared their most powerful spells.
"Owaaaa"
As tens of thousands of very deep voices pounded down to the ground, the forehead of each soldier was soaked with sweat. The warriors' hands tightened their grip on their swords even more. The archers took a deep breath to stop their shaking, and half of the mages broke their attacking spell and created a common shield to defend the capital.
"Ooooh, blood, flesh, war, tears, complaints. Praised be to our Sublime Black G.o.ddess. Praised be to our Wonderful Princess Méria. Ooooh."
For a moment, the King looked at his generals just as confused as he was after that strange scream, and seeing them shake their heads, his eyes went back to the sky covered in brown ma.s.s.
The most skillful archers did not have to wait long before their vision, as sharp as a hawk's, spotted dots by the thousand that converged towards the capital. Like them, soon every person in the largest city of the Kingdom of Kant could guess the approach of countless a.s.sailants mounted on beasts whose size seemed to them to be gigantic.
It didn't take more than two seconds for the generals' red dragons to reveal their true shape, and one more second for a never-ending cloud of demons mounted on monsters larger than the tallest house in Kant to appear. Faced with the apocalypse described in the ancient book, the face of each soldier decayed and all felt their strength abandon them.
King Marius silently watched the outpouring of dark energies that from here he was able to feel. Vices, hatred, cruelty in its most primal sense... Knowing that he was confronted with the worst that nature could create, he turned his head to the highest tower in the capital, where the magicians had been joined by apprentices to help them.
Feeling the foul, yet immeasurable energy emitted by the vicious creatures, as a high wizard himself, Marius, quietly shook his head.
His official attire would be of no use this time. For ease, he put his staff behind him and withdrew his ceremonial coat. (Fly)
"My King, please come down. Don't worry, we will solve this problem ourselves."
He did not listen to his generals, any more than he heeded the pleas of his trusty adviser. Slowly, Marius climbed into the air. Not taking his eyes off the monsters in hovering flight in front of the magic concentrate forming a dome around his Capital and seemingly waiting for the order of their superior, he came to position himself in the center of the city.
He saw it for the first time at that moment. Young but beautiful beyond comprehension. He met the icy gaze of this blonde teenager with the face of an angel when, positioned where he wished, he was preparing for the confrontation to come.
She gave him only a brief glance before cutting the air with her golden sword. All was silent in the capital, and from what Marius could see, not one of the monsters made a sound either after she manifested herself.
From the edge of his sword came a fine wave as dark as a winter night. The wave rushed towards the shield where the mages were concentrating at their extreme limit. Marius heard no explosion. He didn't feel any shock, and he didn't see any cracks forming in this dome who guaranteed the safety of more than 300,000 civilians.
His ears could only pick up a very faint (tschiit), but as discreet as this sound was, the effect of this attack proved to be as demoralizing for his men as it was devastating for his city.
Where the wave of dark energy had just struck, the barrier corroded and melted on itself. The evil spell quickly spread around the affected area, and despite all the efforts of the magi to counter the evil, the first demons were rushing into the capital...
...
The King looks up at the young beauty whose eyes confuses his mind. The young blonde girl points to the second of his sons and then, looking more and more impatient, she moves towards her child herself. Without the slightest hesitation, without the slightest pity, she grabs him by the neck before turning his head in the direction of his back.
"Where is Hera? Where have you hidden my little cousin? My cousin and I have the same blood, so I know she's near here. Do you insist on keeping quiet? Bring me his wife."
