Great Journey: Whims of Fate

Night had only just settled over Aurenthal when the first screams split the air.

In the grimy back alleys of the Old Quarter, two drunkards stumbled out of a seedy tavern, laughing and tossing curses at each other. Neither noticed the sewer grate rattling behind them, until it exploded upward with a roar of filth and stone. 

A creature emerged: black as midnight, veins glowing red-hot beneath its slick, leathery skin. It prowled forward on reverse-jointed limbs, horns curling wickedly back from its skull, a long, serpentine tail whipping the air. 

In a flash, it lunged, jaws splitting impossibly wide to tear into one man's throat. His companion barely had time to scream before he, too, was dragged into the shadows.

Near the city walls, a pair of weary guards leaned on their spears, grumbling about their cold shift. A sewer grate just inside the post shuddered, and then shattered as three more demons burst forth. Their bodies rippled with monstrous strength; their blood-red veins illuminated the cobblestones beneath them. 

One demon struck a guard down with a swipe of its clawed forelimb, sending him crashing into the stone wall. The other tried to flee but was overtaken instantly, disappearing under a mass of snarling black flesh and flashing teeth.

Across the artisan's quarter, where craftsmen usually packed up by dusk, a few lingering shady figures haggled in the shadows. One man, knife hidden under his cloak, stepped forward to negotiate. He was the first to die when a nearby cellar door blew apart and a pack of demons flooded out. 

They moved like a tide of living nightmare, horned, thick-bodied, veins glowing through their pitch-black hides. Their reverse-jointed legs made their movements twitchy and wrong, like enormous predatory insects. Their tails thrashed the air, wrapping around victims' necks and snapping them like twigs.

From the eight cardinal directions, chaos bloomed. Sewer mouths in every corner of the city erupted with demons, each more terrifying than the last. They tore through alleys and streets, favoring shadowed paths where the drunk, the criminal, and the desperate were caught unaware.

Their grotesque bodies glistened wetly under the magical street lights, casting long, monstrous shadows across the ancient stonework of Aurenthal. Their horns gleamed like black iron, their maws dripping blood and worse things.

Inside the Adventurers Guildmaster's office, an uneasy hum filled the room, falling silent the instant the heavy oak doors burst open.

A young assistant burst in, panting, her face ashen.

"Guildmaster!" she choked out. "Reports are coming in of hundreds of demons bursting from the sewers from every direction inside the city. They're slaughtering anyone they catch!" she reported.

Guildmaster Hartwin, a broad man with silver-short hair, rose slowly from his chair, eyes narrowing to a dangerous gleam.

"Send out an emergency call to all ranks," he barked. "Every sword, every shield, every spell. Send word to the garrison, we're under attack."

He slammed a mailed fist onto the nearest table, rattling the maps laid there.

"Defend the city at all costs!"

-----

The cobbled streets around the prince's palace ran red with blood.

Dozens of palace guards in gleaming silver armor fought desperately, forming shield walls against the writhing, horned demons swarming from every alley and breach. 

The creatures moved like predators, their black, vein-lit bodies rippling with unnatural strength. Their long, reverse-jointed limbs slammed against shields, claws screeching over steel as the guards pushed back with practiced formations.

"For the crown! For Aurenthal!" the guards roared, spears thrusting into demon throats and bellies. A few of the lesser beasts collapsed under the relentless assault, black blood hissing against the stones.

But the tide was endless.

Suddenly, from a shadowed rooftop across the square, a crimson light flared.

Four slashes of blood-red energy tore through the night, carving arcs across the battlefield. Screams erupted. The front line of guards was ripped apart, bodies shredded like paper, while even several demons were caught in the ruthless attack, severed in half or crumbling into black mist.

The disciplined line broke.

Chaos consumed the defenders as the demons, sensing weakness, crashed through. Men screamed, shields fell, and the iron discipline that had once held back the tide dissolved into desperate individual skirmishes.

Standing atop the ruined building was a figure clad in dark armor tinged with blood, a twisted knight whose very presence seemed to warp the air around him. His horned helmet glinted ominously under the moonlight. The Blood Knight had come.

"Hold the line! Regroup!" bellowed Captain Rhogar, a Rank 2 warrior whose crimson cloak marked him as the palace's strongest defender.

Rhogar cut through the charging demons like a force of nature. His greatsword, as long as a man was tall, sang through the air in heavy, decisive arcs, severing limbs and skulls alike. 

Every blow was a death sentence, the sheer weight of his strikes sending shockwaves through the cobbled streets. Gore and black blood sprayed with every swing, painting the ground beneath him black.

Behind him, a dozen Rank 1 soldiers followed, tearing into the scraps their captain had left behind. They moved with brutal efficiency, their blades flashing in the magical street light as they hacked through the dissipating wounded and stragglers.

The screams of the dying filled the air, mingling with the clash of steel and the guttural roars of enraged demons. Rhogar led the charge without hesitation, cutting a swath straight through the thickest concentrations of the enemy. His men shouted battle cries behind him, their morale surging as they pressed forward.

They ran through the plaza filled with demons, unrelenting in their advance, massacring as many as their swords could reach. The stones beneath their feet grew slick with oozing black blood, they did not falter.

But the Blood Knight leapt from the rooftop like a descending god of war.

The two clashed in a deafening explosion of steel. Sparks and blood sprayed as Rhogar barely blocked the first swing, the sheer force driving him to one knee. Growling, he surged upward, counterattacking with brutal strength.

Cross Slash.

His sword carved four crisscrossing arcs of golden light, threatening to drown his opponent, only for the Blood Knight to counter with identical arcs, formed of blood.

Blood Edge. Slash.

They moved with blinding speed, a flurry of titanic blows shaking the very stones beneath them. Each impact cracked the ground and sent shockwaves rolling through the square. Demons and guards alike stumbled back, giving the two titans space to fight.

Rhogar gritted his teeth. 

'He's too strong! Every strike is like taking a hit from a siege engine!' he thought.

With a roar, Rhogar drove a gauntleted fist into the Blood Knight's helm, momentarily staggering the invader. Seizing the opportunity, he swung his blade in a deadly arc aimed at the Knight's exposed side.

The blade cleaved through the Blood Knight's torso, slicing him in half and splashing unnaturally large quantities of blood in all directions.

Cross Slash.

Four more blades of crisscrossing light tore through the Blood Knight's form, sending a spray of blood across the battlefield.

But before Rhogar's final swing could land, the Blood Knight caught the blade mid-swing with a single gauntleted hand, crushing the tempered steel with a sickening groan of metal.

Rhogar's eyes widened. "Impossible—!"

The Blood Knight effortlessly lifted him by the throat and hurled him across the plaza. Rhogar slammed into a stone pillar and crumpled, unconscious.

The path to the prince's palace lay open.

Without hesitation, the Blood Knight strode through the devastated courtyard, ignoring the dying gasps of the wounded. The few remaining Rank 1 Knights threw themselves at him, only to be butchered or tossed aside with a mere flick of his hand.

Reaching the entrance to the Prince's palace, the Blood Knight shoved open the grand oak doors, then suddenly froze.

A massive fiery explosion erupted, consuming his form and the entire entrance to the palace.

The Blood Knight was blasted into a mist of blood and armor shards, the explosion ripping through his body. 

What remained of his twisted form was little more than smoldering ash and mangled metal, though drops of blood still tried to pool together, forming limbs before regrouping to form the body of the Blood Knight. 

A few minutes later, bright rays of light burned the blood into ash before it could completely reform. Captain Rhogar and his few surviving men arrived just in time to prevent the Blood Knight from regenerating.

Rhogar himself managed to push through, aided by his men who poured potions down his throat, bringing him back to full health. Rushing toward the Prince's palace, he had hoped to catch up to the Blood Knight before he reached his highness, but instead, he was greeted by puddles of pooling blood, remnants of the explosion.

He wondered where the explosion had come from but was relieved that, aside from the entrance, the palace had remained unbreached.

Looking around at the few demons still struggling to put up a fight, Rhogar gave a commanding nod, signaling his men to finish them off before issuing his command.

"Eliminate the demons and clear the plaza. Leave none alive."

Cheers rang out from the remaining soldiers as they moved to complete their duty.

Meanwhile, Rhogar lamented his immediate future. There would be tedious reports to write later that night, but for now, the priority was concluding the battle.

-----

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