Enric, Sil and Marcus ran across a large stone bridge across the Stonefall River, the only bridge in the far surroundings, and headed for a meeting place with the Allies' armies. When they arrived, everyone was already standing there ready for the fierce fight they are expecting.
"Sir, if the Dark Ones will set off the forest in the morning, we will not even reach the Imperial City, and we will have to meet them here," Marcus explained.
"You know it would be madness, Marcus," Enric told him.
"And do we have another option?" Sil asked.
Enric thought. "Stormers! Do you have explosives with you?" Enric called.
"Hah, are you asking the Stormers if they have explosives? You don't really know much about us," one of the Stormers laughed and revealed the cart with the explosives full to a crack.
"Hmm... that might be enough. Silveria, do you know where the Imperial City is?" Enric asked her.
“Do I look like a newborn? Everyone knows where the Imperial City is."
"Hah, good, you will lead our armies there. Tell my uncle that you are coming to aid the Empire, he will accept it, he's not crazy. But most importantly, don't mention me, you don't know me. Is that clear?"
"And what shall we do, sir?" Marcus asked.
"We'll prepare a surprise for my old acquaintance."
"I think I know who that old acquaintance is," Marcus replied with concern.
The Prince and Marcus hitched a cart of explosives to the horse and set off in the opposite direction of their army, back to the forest.
They reached the bridge over the Stonefall River.
"Oh, thank the Saints! They aren't here yet. Quickly, help me deploy the explosives!” the prince called to Marcus.
Soon, the bridge was riddled with so many explosives that it would blow off the entire Glowpeak.
"Ready?" Enric asked Marcus as they stood in front of the bridge, the first Dark Ones were emerging from the forest.
Enric did not hesitate to light the cord leading to the bridge with his firelock. There was a massive explosion and almost no foundations were left of the bridge. Zarius strode to the edge of the raging river bank and looked at rejoicing Enric.
"I'll see you in the Imperial City in a few years, Zari!" Enric shouted.
The Dark One's archers prepared to fire.
"No! He's mine," Zarius called as Enric and Marcus mounted their horses and left.
"What exactly are you going to do when we get to the walls of the Imperial City, sir?" Marcus asked incredulously.
"Hope," Enric said briefly.
"Hope for what, sir?"
"That the Gregorian soldiers will not be so brainwashed to kill their prince."
"That's a very good plan, sir," Marcus laughed.
They rode up to the massive, high walls of the Imperial City.
"Who's there?" the soldier called from the wall.
"Prince Emeric Tyrant Merill, the rightful successor to the Empire's throne!"
The giant gate opened and Enric and Marcus entered the Imperial City.
“Traitors! Lunatics! How could you let him in?!" one of the officers shouted.
An imperial guard gathered around the Prince and Marcus and raised their spears against them. Behind them came the people of the desert, and drew their swords, the elves ran to the runways of the walls, and the Stormers came from the other side.
“Idiots! I knew they would belong to him! Kill them all!"
"Enough!" Enric shouted with all his strength.
"As a member of the imperial family, I urge the unauthorized usurper of the throne Augustus to duel!" Enric continued.
"Hahaha, this is insane! Kill them already!” the officer continued to shout. The soldiers stood petrified.
"Do you despise the Holy Law officer?" Marcus shouted, and everyone turned to the officer.
"I... alright! Alright! Take him to the Emperor!"
The imperial guard led Enric to the centre of the city, then down the high stairs to the Imperial Palace and through the long corridor to the throne on which Enric's uncle sat proudly. When he saw Enric he suddenly went nervous.
"What does that mean! You should have arrested him, fools!" Augustus exclaimed.
"He demanded holy right to fight for the throne, sir," the officer almost laying before the throne told him.
"End this madness uncle. There is an army of strength you've never seen marching on this city! We don't have time for your ridiculous obsession with power!” Enric told him.
"Madness? Obsession? And that's you saying? The coward who ran away from the fight and got together with those nasty elves?! You asked for a duel, and I will give it to you, at least you will die the way my brother will not be ashamed for you!" Augustus exclaimed, taking his sword.
"As you wish," Enric bowed, draw his sword, and they both entered a duel.
Augustus greatly underestimated Enric's newly acquired strength and paid for it, after a fierce fight he was exhausted and fell to Enric's feet.
"Finish it," Augustus demanded.
"I'd like to kill you now and here, for your betrayal. However, thanks to your military knowledge, Gregorian has become able to fight the Dark Ones, you earned your life, although I find it very difficult to say," Enric looked at him in disgust.
"I... didn't expect you to spare me. You will be a righteous Emperor. Please let me go, I want to die in battle, not in a dungeon!" Augustus demanded.
"Go. Lead your devotees to fight for our future," Enric replied.
"Thank you, prince Emeric," August replied and ran out of the palace.
When Enric heard the name again he shuddered.
"Prepare every able-bodied man, get civilians away from the walls and prepare defensive positions," Enric commanded generals, who bowed before him. The generals ran in all directions.
"Now is not the time to linger on the throne, I have to go back to my troops," Enric thought and went out of the palace.
Marcus, Sil and king Rangor waited for him in front of the palace, and Marcus bowed to him.
"So now you're the Emperor?" Sil laughed.
"If we survive this, maybe I'll be. King Rangor, did you come too?" Enric asked.
"What are you so surprised about, boy. I will not miss such a glorious battle!" Rangor laughed.
"Thank you," Enric replied gratefully, shuddering from the wave of emotion that rushed toward him and went toward the walls.
"Sir, but what about the artefact?" Marcus asked.
Enric paused and thought.
"Emm... by the way, this was brought by a fisherman, he said you might want it," Sil handed Enric a special deltoid gemstone.
"Artefact!" Enric shouted, as if something enlightened him, he grabbed the gem and run back to the palace.
Enric went underground, to the secret hideout of his father, which only he knew about. With the combination, he remembered from childhood he opened a secret door in the dungeon. His father's sword gleamed in the chamber with a special deltoid niche under the handle.
The prince grabbed the sword and put a gem in the niche, which precisely seated, the sword started to glow with a golden aura. But that was not the main reason why he was here, Enric stepped to the crate behind the stand. It said, "In the times of the heaviest and grimmest, the blood of the Emperor will save the Empire."
"Let's see if I'm worthy of the Empire." Enric cut his hand and let the blood flow into the hole on the chest. A moment later, a click was heard, and Enric opened the chest. It contained a large crystal similar to the one in his father's tomb.
Prince Enric rushed to the highest tower of the Imperial City, climbed to a strange column, and placed a crystal on top of it. As the prince climbed down, he looked down of the tower and saw the endless armies of the Dark Ones marching in front of the city. He ran to the lower floors of the tower.
The Dark One's legions lined up in front of the walls of the Imperial City, just before the gate were two troops of desert men in their shield formations they had developed during their war with the dwarves. The large rectangular shields were able to protect them against firearms.
The walls of the Imperial City were teeming with cannons of the Stormers, Stormers with rifles, and elven and human archers in the ranks behind them.
When the last of the Dark Ones took up their positions, the battle for the fate of the world began. There were countless of the Dark Ones, their ranks almost reached the Gregorian Gulf, from which the Imperial City was built several kilometres. Mighty siege towers stood on the sides of the Dark One's legions, and there was a strange wagon in the very first line, with Zarius himself standing near it.
The screams and rattles of the Dark One's were heard beyond the walls of the Imperial City, but its defenders stood firm with faith and courage in their hearts.
Zarius swung his sword and the wagon opened but before anyone could see the contents of it, a massive beam of light came out of it, and the defenders of the walls almost fell off because of its blinding gleam. But the beam did not touch the wall, it stopped a little further from them as if an invisible barrier prevented it from getting through.
Full of anger, Zarius launched an attack. The massive wooden towers were surprisingly fast in approaching the walls.
"Fire!" Sil called as soon as they were within range. But the first volley did not damage the towers, as if they also had an invisible shield. Sil noticed differently looking Dark Ones with staffs, standing around the towers. “They're wizards! Kill those with staffs!" the Stormer's rifles focused on the wizards. After the death of several of them, a few towers were actually destroyed, but it was too late.
"Draw your swords!" Marcus exclaimed as the towers reached the walls.
The Gregorian spearmen made a spear wall before several of the towers, but it did not stop the creatures that appeared when the tower's doors opened. There were massive Dark Ones with two-handed hammers, similar to those who attacked Glowpeak, but were slightly larger. They cleansed the path for the Dark One's infantry.
“Marcus! We must retreat!" Sil shouted at him.
"I'm not going to leave our troops here!"
"Go, boy, I'll lead them," Rangor appeared heroically. "Just protect my daughter," he whispered to Marcus.
"You can rely on me, sir," Marcus nodded at him, and together with Silveria, retreated to the back to the suburbs of the Imperial City.
Enric stood there with the imperial guards, the Knights in gilded armour, with large shields, spears and those best swords in the Empire.
"I have to protect the tower, can you defend it here?" Enric asked.
"Of course we can, we are not children," Sil replied.
Enric ran toward the tower.
"Why are you so evil on him? He's just worried about you,” Marcus nudged her.
"Do you really think so?" Sil asked shyly.
"I know it," Marcus assured her.
Silveria's smile grew wide but was interrupted by the impact of Lamelia with several other dark elves with two swords on the floor they were standing on. Immediately they embarked to a ruthless battle, but Lamelia's fellow elves were, unfortunately, winning against the imperial guard. Marcus also struggled in the fight with Lamelia. After a while, two Lamelia's elves run around the guards and headed for the Imperial Palace.
"I have to go!" Sil called to Marcus.
"Are you going to leave me here with her?!" Marcus dismayed.
"Did you notice how she threw you on the ground several times? If she would want to, you'd be dead already, she's flirting with you,” Sil encouraged Marcus and ran after the elves.
"Hah, that is exactly the woman according to my taste!" Marcus pulled together and rushed into the battle with Lamelia again.
"No more step!" Sil called to two dark elves in front of the gate to the imperial palace.
"Haha, and what will you do? You might defeat us, but not our master!" the elves laughed as Zarius emerged from behind the palace wall.
"How did you get..." Sil retreated with fear in her eyes, when she heard... "Zari! Zarii! How was your fall!?" It was prince Enric standing at the entrance to the tower a front of the Imperial Palace.
Zarius shivered with anger, and with a mighty scream, he ran after Enric, as if nothing else existed for him at that moment.
"Um... what did you say before?" Sil turned to two elves.
Enric fought with Zarius as he walked higher and higher up the tower.
Marcus was again losing battle with Lamelia, incapable of doing more than defend himself against furious swings of her two swords, during which he was receiving one punch after another.
"Lamelia!" Sil called from the small stairs.
Immediately thereafter, one of her elves took the spear of a fallen guard and threw it at Silveria with all her force. But her spear did not hit Silveria. Her father Rangor jumped before her and was hit instead.
"No! Father!" Sil knelt down to the lying king.
"Don't die. Please..." Sil said.
"Don't cry, child... I fell... in a battle that will be spoken about several generations. And with knowing, that you are alive," Rangor smiled at her, stroking her cheek, but then his hand fell to the ground, he's dead.
„Lamelia!! I know you're out there somewhere! Hidden from the monster you have become, remember about your father Anduil! Remember about me, Lam..." Sil was helplessly screaming, clutching her dead father.
Lamelia stopped for a moment and put her hand on her forehead because of the pain of the memories passing through her head, her eyes turned from bright red to hazel. She looked around and looked at Sil. "Forgive me..." she said with a sad, low voice, and tears were appearing in her eyes. One of the imperial guards stood up, took the spear and rammed it into Lamelia's stomach. Lamelie fell to the ground, her warriors panicked and ran away.
Finally, the Dark Ones managed to defeat the proud desert people soldiers guarding the gate. The gate of the Imperial City flew to pieces. The back-up troops of the Stormers and the gregorian soldiers took defensive positions in front of the gate and started fighting the Dark Ones.
Meanwhile, Prince Enric fought with Zarius at the top of a large open circle tower with a column in its middle.
"Your father was a savage murdered!" Zarius shouted at Enric.
"Hah, tell me something I don't know!" Enric told him.
Zarius paused for a moment. "What? Did you know that? "
“Of course I did! I'm not blind, I hated him with every cell of my body!" Enric attacked Zarius.
"This has disappointed me a lot. I came to kill my people's tyrant and instead I met someone who hates him perhaps more than I myself,” Zarius smiled.
"Your people's tyrant?" Enric wondered.
"Does the term forbidden expedition say anything to you?" Zarius attacked him.
"I'm afraid I overslept at school," Enric laughed and returned his blow.
"Your father sent an army into something you call the Forbidden Territory. My people were almost eradicated by your murderers! We were peaceful, unarmed people. And your father forced us to lean towards the dark magic!" Zarius went angry and attacked Enric with a few sword swings.
"I'm sorry, but these people are not responsible for that!" Enric attacked.
"You are all guilty! You all must die! Damn, why can't I break your sword?!" Zarius wondered.
"This is not an ordinary sword, it belonged to my father. It's probably stained with the blood of hundreds of your Dark Ones," Enric smiled.
Zarius ran furiously against Enric, but Enric dodged him, and Zarius ran to the edge of the tower platform and slid, but grabbed the edge with one hand.
"I wouldn't want to fall down there," Enric said as he approached Zarius.
"Come on! Be like your father, then you may become an Emperor of this damned land!” Zarius shouted at him.
"I'm not like my father, but what do you think I should do? Get myself killed?!" Enric replied.
"Then pull me out and maybe we'll find a compromise."
"Everyone thinks of compromises when they hang by one hand from the tallest tower in the city," Enric laughed.
"You're not going to change anything with my death anyway, the Dark Ones will conquer the city!" Zarius screamed in the wind.
“I'm aware of that. Drop your sword!" Enric shouted.
"What?!"
"Release your sword and I'll pull you out!" Enric offered.
Zarius released his sword.
"Wasn't that hard was it?" Enric helped him back up.
"What will you do now?" Zarius asked in disappointed.
"You will tell your Dark Ones to get back to the Forbidden Territory," Enric answered.
"Never!" shouted Zarius.
"You will withdraw, and I will give you all those responsible for your forbidden expedition," Enric offered.
"You're crazy," Zarius shook his head.
“Desperate times call for desperate acts. You obviously don't want to die, and you're not here for my blood. Do you suggest a better solution?" Enric suggested.
"What about my sword?"
"It will be returned to you at the Wall of Sorrow," Enric told him with a smile.
Zarius hung his head down. "All right," Zarius answered.
Enric and Zarius came down from the tower to the centre of the city where the fight was underway.
"Enough!" Zarius shouted.
Everyone stopped fighting.
"The murderers will be delivered to us, we will return home," Zarius called, and the Dark Ones began to retreat.
All the others could only look at each other uncomprehendingly. The gregorian soldiers stood before the unarmed Zarius.
"Let him go," Enric ordered.
"But, sir..." the soldier said.
"I said leave him!" Enric shouted, the soldiers retreated.
Dark Ones with Zarius retreated beyond the walls of the Imperial City, Enric gave them almost all the nobles. In total, he effectively got rid of his opposition. The Dark Ones in return, left all the siege equipment in place, including a strange wagon, with an artefact from the tomb of Gregorian which had cast the beam. The surviving defenders of the Imperial City took the wagon with the artefact with them and led the Dark Ones beyond the Wall of Sorrow.
A defensive tower was built in the middle of the wall, and an artefact from the wagon was placed on it to defend against any further attacks of the Dark Ones.
The war ended strangely.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
