Undying Will

One of his hands lay limply to his side as a trail of blood trickled down it. A vein of worry had found its way into his mind as he walked, he had seen the savage brutality that the infernal sea creatures reveled in. He had seen the cruel and bloodthirsty way that the man that led them cut down his disorderly militia. At this time he could only pray for his people..

As he neared the end of the tunnel he felt a renewed gust of fear and worry as he peered through the thick pink fog. He could make out the vague silhouettes of the foul and terrifying creatures as they waded contemptuously towards the island.

At this point he was aware of how moot it would be to raise the alarm, nonetheless he had to do it. Any forewarning was better than no forewarning. So with a heavy heart he limped to the side of the cave, using the last of his energy to feel for a chord. As his body fell forward he pulled. Through a veil of pain and a cacophony of fatigue he heard the sound. The ringing of the knell…

*********************

Bruma walked through the streets worry evident in his eyes. He looked around him, into the eyes of the hurrying residents of the outer circle.

With a sigh of resolve he shot one final look towards the inner circle, "Be safe girl..".

Suddenly a gonging sound shattered the cold and somber monotony of the outer circle. At the periphery of his hearing he heard the booming sound of the warning knell. The huge gong had never been rung through his entire term of office, yet, now it did. And as it did the retired veteran could not help but fell a dread that he had thought that he had abandoned on the field.

As the heavy sounds rocketed through the ears of the hurrying people, a glance of surprise was shot out. The children who had been used to the rather lack of interesting things happening could not help but begin to grin in happiness. A naked sheen of excitement in their eyes.

They did not know what the knell implied, that knowledge had been stripped from their schooling back when he had graduated.

With a deadly ignorance they celebrated the coming of the enemy. The adults that often curbed their flights of fancy could not help but smile begrudgingly.

Ironically it was not Bruma, but a captured citizen (As the ones that were caught and forced to live here were called) that first understood the dreary circ.u.mstances that surrounded the bell, for it was not the first time they had heard of it.

It was the same mechanism that their own previous homes had employed in the case of invaders, to warn off violent visitors and prepare the noncombatants of the coming storms.

To the side of the road a young blonde haired women clothed in a pale blue dress stiffened, "Run!" she shrieked as she gathered up her skirt and began to take off towards her home.

One by one the others too understood the deadly catastrophe that would befall them. Bruma stood transfixed for a minute before he dropped the contents of the bag he held in his hand in favor of jumping onto the biggest crate that he could see.

"People calm down! Organize yourself!" He roared as he attempted to take charge of the unruly crowd. The children looked at the panicking adults in surprise and a layer of concealed worry, this was the first time that they had seen such a level of terror in the eyes of the adults.

Luckily for Bruma a swift force of soldiers walked briskly towards them. They held a spear in their hands and a curved shorts word tucked in a small sheathe in their tunic.

One of them nodded to him thankfully, obviously glad that she didn"t have to deal with a mob of disorganized and terrified people. She had her hands full dealing with her own group, of which a few looked particularly worried having either never travelled out of the island"s borders or never faced an actual threat.

The others looked slightly better though they too looked like a spring ready to leap into action in a moment"s notice.

"Thank you." The women in charge whispered to him before taking his place at the top of the crates. "People of the fragrant island! Calm yourself and in an orderly manner walk towards the gate to the inner circle. A temporary shelter has been prepared there and the rearguard unit has been a.s.signed to your protection!

My men shall accompany you in dealing with them! " She called out in an authorities voice before swiftly getting off the crate and nodding to a group of armed men and women.

"If I may." Bruma began, "In the outer circle are the retired force of soldiers. It would be a good idea to recruit them to both lead these people towards safety, the more able ones can be used to bolster your forces." He said.

Though in his time working as a soldier he had most definitely out ranked the women before him, at this time he was a civilian and the last thing he wanted to do was overstep his boundaries.

Thankfully the women nodded with a thoughtful expression.

"That does indeed make more sense. This is the first time the island has ever been attacked, it is better to be safer and better prepared." She said before pointing to the women that would lead the escort squad and relayed a set of complete orders to recruit any able bodied veteran to help in the effort and quickly return to the front lines.

The olive skinned women nodded with a stern expression before quickly falling back in line with her subordinates and marching away.

"It would be better for us to be properly introduced to ease communication. I am Squad leader Alva." The women said, crisply announcing her name and rank as soldiers were taught to do in training so as to save time and clearly explain the hierarchy of power.

Bruma nodded with a neutral expression. "Wing leader, Bruma." he replied causing Alva"s eyebrows to raise in surprise before she stiffly nodded at him.

With a brisk pace she began to walk towards the outer circles gate, her hand quickly reaching into her pocket to pull out a transponder snail.

Though the island was overall quite isolated from the outside world, the army had still decided that it would be better for its people to at least have a means of communication amongst them.

It had been a hard fought battle against the adamant voice of the head priestess but at the end the general had won, re equipping snails that they scavenged to arm their own people. Even then only squad, squadron and wing leader were allowed to hold these auditory machinations.

"Reporting. This is Squad leader Alva. The residents of the grey sector of the outer circle have been dealt with, further as per the suggestions of ex wing leader Bruma, the units below me shall recruit veterans of the grey sector to help safeguard the civilians, overall bolstering both the vanguard and rear guard." She said finishing her report quickly.

She was met with a raspy voice muttering to itself. "Understood Squad leader. The plan of action shall be relayed to other squads in the blue and white sectors. a.s.suming that the ex wing leader is present, you shall be required to relay yourself to the front lines taking the temporary position of wing advisor." The voice on the other end finished before quickly ending the transmission.

Bruma nodded with clear surprise. He had recognized that voice." To think the little lad still worked in the army, how surprising.."

*********

The head priestess bit the tip of her fingers in anger as she looked at the men general of the army. "Update?" She asked snappily for the third time that day, hoping against hope that the gong that she had heard sound in the background did not translate to the overall loss of her gate guard.

The midget general glared at her, a seed of anger in his eyes as he puffed outwards. "No! Your eminence, now if you would be so kind as to let me do my job.. We are dealing with the foul creatures of the depths, I have sent my best swimmers after them, Wing leader Ifrit himself is leading them. Nothing will go wrong!"

Though the general understood the anxiousness that the head of the island felt, he could not help but curse at her silently for her incessant attempts to distract him. As if it wasn"t enough the amount of work he was having to deal with, he had no choice but to babysit the toddlers in the battlefield in the form of the head priestess and her star pupil!

"Insolent!" Merla began, her voice loudly raising to chastise the lower life form that she considered the general to be, only to be interrupted by the ringing call of one of the two snails before the general.

"Speak soldier!" the general called out, completely ignoring the child in the control room.

"Sir the vanguard swimmers have returned, they are in bad shape! Ifrit is bleeding out-" And he was interrupted by a more grisly voice ringing out in a painful whisper.

"General, the wave is crazy! It is lead by a monster! That man made short work of almost all my men almost instantly, the only reason that they haven"t hit the outer circle"s gate yet is because the man"s boat got could in-between a rock outcrop in our battle and he"s trying to get it out!

The wave is almost filled with those blasted sea virulents! There were bigger creatures than I have ever seen! the one leading the charge is a monster of its own, a f.u.c.king huge blue dragon in the water!" He said, wincing at intervals in his statement before choking somewhat and conceding the mike over to the man that first spoke.

"General Ifrit went into shock he"s losing too much blood!"

"Get the wing leader to the infirmary! Report the injuries of the swimmers." the midget general said, his voice forced into sounding calm.

"Sir, its baffling, none of them save for wing leader Ifrit are too banged up. All of them are injured but not lethally. Most of them are incapacitated though!" The man exclaimed with joy possibly celebrating the "luck" of the men.

The midget general on the other hand could not help but pale. His men being unharmed proved to him two things.

One; the man that led the sea king horde had an unheard level of control over them and,

Two; the man was toying with them!

With a calming breath the midget general opened his mouth again. "Wing leader Ifrit shall be replaced by temporary wing advisor Bruma, man, it is your job to bring Bruma up to speed!" and with that the transmission was cut.

The head priestess looked at the midget worriedly, her worry contrasting beautifully with the utter lack of interest that Merla displayed. She had utter faith in the world eater. "He would protect them, why was this fuss even necessary?"

The midget general sighed as he looked over at the head priestess. "Head priestess, it would be better if you retired to you quarters, your presence in the control hall makes no difference. it would be better if you spent your time calming the other priests." He said before turning back to the snails before him.

"Humpf at last the brute speaks sense! Teacher, let us return to the prayer hall so that we may honor the world eater, I am sure that he shall take care of these infernal cretins!" Merla announced grandly splaying her hands before her in glee.

The midget general could not help but snort inwardly at the high priestess apparent"s foolhardiness.

A trickle of sweat flowed down his forehead as another cacophony of rings brought him out of his revere. "here we go again.."