The sounds of battle were all around him, he could taste dirt in his mouth, he felt a jolt as someone started dragging him away. He heard shouting, a spell exploded nearby and his vision dimmed for a moment before rocks pelted his armor."Retreat! Fall back to Void City!" The retreat was sounded by a sonorous voice, one he recognized. Jenna must be the one dragging him away, why was she dragging me? Opening his eyes Salem"s vision swam bringing on a wave of nausea, fighting back the urge to see his last meal he fought to examine his surroundings.
They were currently surrounded by a sea of wraiths they stood tall against arrows and spells that devastated their formations, he could hear guttural chanting which came from the orc casters. The battle had turned into a free for all between the undead, orcs, and elves. Both the elves and undead had their forces breached by the ambush the orcs unleashed, luckily the undead had moved forces to halt the remaining orcs from arriving in full force.
There was no point in keeping Koftas, even if he could retake the city the price would be far too much just for an extra layer of protection for the forts. Taking in a ragged breath he grabbed Jennas" hand, she looked down at the sudden touch.
"Master!" She kneeled down and placed his head onto her knees, "Don"t worry master, we will have you back in Void city soon." Through their bond he could feel her panic and worry, as his senses were coming back to him he saw her armour was rent in many places, what happened when he lost consciousness earlier? He felt out through his bond to check on the rest of his girls only to feel five small flames while the rest were cold and very dim to his senses.
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He opened his eyes to see Annah, Sarah, and Sasha arriving with Railia leading a group of armoured mounts. They rushed forward and knelt beside him, out of the five only Railia didn"t have a scratch on her, she must have rushed here from the castle when she felt his connection with them wavering. They grabbed ahold of his armour and put him onto a mount, they rode close together as they left the battlefield.
After they made it to the entrance to the fort they stopped and looked back towards Koftas, "Burn it to the ground!" Salem growled before he turned towards the mountain. Jenna gave the command to an elven archer, an arrow was lit and released back towards the city gates. It struck a barrel on the ramparts, it quickly caught fire and spread to the rest of the wall and nearby buildings. They had been doused in oil and caught fire quickly and soon spread to the rest of the city.
He pa.s.sed through the gates and saw the long procession of human refugees, some cried while others held their families close. The worst of them looked upon the other families with grief and envy, they had lost everything in the battle their friends, family, and homes. He rode past them slowly, the arrows still stuck in his armor and blood still dripping from his wounds. "Get them settled in the city and get a headcount of the refugees, send a force to check on Idos" situation and seal all entrances to the mountain."
Jenna nodded at the command, "All the children who have lost their families have been taken to the castle already. When should we commence with the ceremony?"
"Immediately."
After returning to the castle Salem had the twins help him remove the arrows, he circulated his energy and began to heal quickly, while he had been unconscious he had been in real danger luckily Jenna had led the others in a courageous if not risky rescue. He changed his clothes quickly and rushed to the ones who had saved him, he pushed the door open and made for the first person he saw. She was covered in bandages, even her face had been covered, he placed a hand on her forehead and he felt her pain. A broken jaw, twenty different cuts and lacerations, three broken ribs and her left arm had been dislocated. He choked back a sob and took a deep breath, now wasn"t the time they may be stable for now but they could still slip away if he didn"t hurry.
He began infusing his energy in them all at once through their bond, he took all of their pain through the bond and nearly fainted from the excruciating pain. The healing couldnt be rushed, he had to go extremely slow as he let his energy permeate through their bodies, once they were full he would circulate the energy until it had either been absorbed or dissipated then he would do it again. The twins who had accompanied him had summoned other healers though they were only their to reset broken limbs before they had been told to leave. It took seventy two hours of healing before they were all completely out of danger, Salem slowly got up from where he had sat on the floor and went to each of them he thanked them for their sacrifice, loyalty, and love they had shown him. Some had still been asleep while others feigned consciousness, after he had left a few cried silently relieved they had lived and joyous over the overwhelming love their master had for each one of them.
Leaving the girls Salem went and performed the ceremony for the children, this took several hours as there were hundreds of them. His family grew now by the hundreds and he was excited to see each of them grow into unique individuals, he ruffled the hair of a very cute pair of siblings before he went to a private chamber that held a pool that was currently absorbing the moonlight, he summoned the Twins, Jennah, Annah, and Raillia. Once they arrived he could feel their worry, he chuckled he felt slight excitement from Annah. The laughter from him lightened the mood a little, "Don"t worry im not dying or anything, though I am severely wounded and overdrafting my energy has left me wakened for the foreseeable future." He saw each of them frown at the news.
"I will be using a technique to help me recover but I"m unsure how long it will take and I will be relying on you and the others to take care of our home. Sarah and Sasha you will be taking care of inducting any children that come to our home while I am asleep,Raillia you will govern domestic affairs while Jenna and Annah will handle the military operations. We should focus on defending what we have for now. If you need to bolster our troops with more undead you will find all the dead we have collected beneath the warren." He stepped forward and held each of them for a few minutes, they talked softly together with him about their worries. He took off his clothes and placed them on a nearby bench, the twins whistled at his naked body, he glared at them before letting out a smirk as he thought of how he will punish them once he woke up.
He gave Jenna a slip of paper before he laid down in the shallow water and used the ability Slumber, the ability didn"t actually cause sleep but a forced state of meditation, paralyses, and healing. It also blocked out the majority of his senses to the outside world, including pain, he was still having a difficult time remembering what had happened when he fell unconscious so the first thing he did was move his mind to the system. When he arrived he realized the place had changed significantly it had used to be a large gate with a pedestal where he could access the information he had unlocked, now it was a circular room that had bookshelves for walls that rose up toward the ceiling, the walls were black and the floor was white. There was a large black chair in the middle of the room with a side table next to it. What caught his attention were the bright red letters that read "To Master Salem" in an elegant and old elven language that no one other than the system and him might know in this world.
He picked up the letter and read the first paragraph, it was what the system told him right before she sacrificed herself for him.