Chapter 1
"Hold fast!" I roared as another blaze of fire showered us from the skies "these demons shall soon know our might! Hold fast!"
the inferno was no match for our divine blessings, some of our greener warriors though have not yet learned there is no need to fear evils wrath.
"Kill them all! rain down upon them like a plague!" this twisted voice was that of Ch'Roth Kurr, a prideful Lizardfolk from the lonesome kingdom of Aymakyan Horde, just north of Binmari. Why these damned reptiles where here in Karth'ol was anyone's guess but where they found such powerful allys, that was the question I wanted answered.
"You four, with me, the rest, hold this ground. Tempest's might will not be shamed by such fickle fires! Kill everything that does not bear His mark or the King's Crest!" I shouted as another wave of flames carressed my shield.
"What is your plan Alorin? surely you don't think they will hold alone?" My closest friend Samuel, he knew too well my plan as we'd ran this many times over in battles past.
"Ya daft fool, how many times d'ya hafta do this 'fore ya realize where ya are?" O'land piped up, slapping Samuel in the helm. "We're gonta kill tha big one ya damn twig worm. that'll send them scaley bastards runnin home to mum! Hahaha"
"He's right ya know, same story different warlord, cut the head off the snake and the body will fall" Reno chimed in while deflecting a bolt of fire with his shield.
"Enough boys, lets go gut us a lizard." Braxus was always swift to the point, you have to admire a goliath's poise sometimes.
The four of us broke from the unit moving swiftly across the battlefield, back to back as to guard one another. Lesser demons, imps and the like, charged us with their Lizardfolk masters, and each, one by one, was felled by a Holy Paladin of Tempest. Braxus broke our formation, Samuel and I closed the gap as holy lightening poured out of Braxus's Maul, simultaniously crushing a lizardfolk and charring an imp as it tried to scurry away.
Braxus rejoined formation and O'land took pace, charging with shield ahead gathering a multitude of foes at his feet and piercing the ground behind them with his claymore, O'land was a half-orc, he stood at eight feet tall and looked to be carved of marble. A claymore in his hands looked as though it were a meager longsword, as he swung it weightless threw the air. "On now my brothers! May Tempus Bless us this day!" he shouted as he pried the sword from the pile of corpses and clanged his sturdy iron shield, releasing a cooling blue wave of light that enveloped the four of us.
Each of us took charge, one by one, opening and closing our circle, as we'd done time and time again. As we grew closer to our goal the enemies began to thin. As though they were not concerned with our goal. Either that or they feared for their lives. No matter the reason, the five of us could handle this self proclaimed god. The fiend he'd pledged his soul too would not rival the might of Tempest, god of battle and war.
"Vile men of the east, hold true to your feeble gods! My fury will know no limits and you will become vessels for the unholy lord!" Ch'Roth's voice boomed over the battlefield and black lightening swarmed the ground around him. As he cackled and shrieked, three giant blades, darker than obsidian, rose up and pounded onto the ground. Each sword had attached to it a massive hand, purple as the heavens above us, even speckled with white as the sky and stars. Then rose a head made from the fires of hell itself, yet there was no light from the flames atop the beasts head. A malformed face hung below the single strip of unnatural fire, flicking embers between its craggeled ears.
My companions haulted for a moment at the sight of such a being, for none of us had witnessed such a horrid, yet beautiful sight before. "Reno, O'land, Samuel, Braxus, KEEP MOVING!" My roars shook them and they responded.
"What 'n' the Fuck is 'at thing Alorin?!" O'land grunted.
"An enemy of Tempest and our home O'land, now get your head on before one of these damned fiends takes it home!" Braxus replied in my stead.
"Fiends from the dark realms! Hear my words! May Tempest's holy light devour your souls and server you to rot in the darkness from which you were born!" I shouted as I raised my shield to the sky casting a divine spell upon it. As the spell took hold a radiant beam of sunlight exploded from the face and poored out in front of me. "Where there was once darkness, I now give you light!" and aimed the beam towards the massive behemoth that had just been summoned before us.
As the light landed on its visage a blood curling cry came from the demons gapping maw. "Alorin! Avatar of the war god! This day grants you victory, but soon enogh you shall know true terror and pain!" As the sunlight flaked away it's unatural flesh it retreated back into the depths which it was spawned. Then came a brilliant idea, I then began to focus the beam on the other demons around us, first the ones in the sky raining flames upon our fellow paladins, they burst into ash and black smoke carried them away. Then the demons on the ground assaulting my group of five, to the same result. It seems those born in darkness do not harbor much love for the light of day.
"The battle is ours!" Samuel cried and our soldiers took pace, felling the opposing forces as a cat does a mouse. Ch'Roth took a look of utter fear and confusion as his dark lord and his powers, much like an arrow from an infant, fell short and fizzled away.
"Where is your dark lord Ch'Roth? It seems he has no taste for daylight." Reno jested.
"Aye, seems ya wicked magics no good 'ere tiny lizard man. Now run on home 'fore we give ya a real spankin'." O'land jabbed into the open wound of Ch'Roth's pride even deeper.
I clanged my sword against my shield "Do you conceid Ch'Roth? or must we stake your head next to your brother's? Your soldiers are no match for the Holy Paladins of Tempest. Let alone the Great army of Karth'ol."
With our combined words, his devils slain and his men being slaughtered before him, Ch'Roth looked around him and commanded an order of retreat. With that portals began to open all across the battlefield and the Aymakyan soldiers began to pass threw in mass retreat. The battle had been won.
"I'll not rest until your bones lay bleached on the sands of Aymakia, your cheap parlor tricks will not protect you forever paladin!" Ch'Roth screeched as he then cast his own portal and fled the blood soaked plains.
"I do not doubt it Kurr. Yet here I shall remain, defending my kingdom. In Tempest's name, strike me down shall I fail my country or my men." I whispered to myself.
"Bit dramatic don'cha think there old friend?" O'land had overheard me, sometimes I wonder if the other half isn't wolf. though Dragons are rumored to have just as good of ears as wolves.
"Give me a moment would you O'land, that was just for my fun. Don't you know that eavesdropping is very unbecoming of you."
"Don' gimme 'at. I been listnin' to ya spout that heroic nonesense for five years. Ya got a real flare for the heroics. Ya didn't need ta give 'em a big dramatic 'oh, god a battle shine down upon ye threw ma' hands 'n' smite ye evil bastards' line but ya did, didn't ya? hahaha"
"O'land, hows about we go settle this over an ale, then we'll see who's being so dramatic." Reno had suprised me with his skill in combat and though he is part devil, his gifts from the divine came in handy multiple times. It is rare to see a tiefling dawn the crest of a paladin and even more rare to see them proud of it.
"There will be no merry making until we've tended to the wounded and gathered our dead. We are paladins, not average soldiers. We have duties on and off the battlefields my friends." I sometimes had to remind them that they were no longer run of the mill soldiers, which I did not mind, they are almost always compliant of our duties outside of battle.
"Yes yes yes we know Alorin, you are not fun until all the worlds sick are well and all the demons are dead." Samuel jested.
"Not the world, only our kingdom, and maybe a few neighboring countries." I smiled back at him. "Now then, lets get to it, the sooner we clean up this mess the sooner Braxus can chase the bottom of a tankard."
"I'd rather have slit that scaled rat top to bottom for the pain he's caused me, but a couple of Byron's barrels of mead should do me just fine for now." Braxus had a taste for a fine, sweet liquor our town tavern had perfected called mead, he also had the constitution of a Dwarf and almost drank Byron, the poor tap owner out of business on multiple occassions. Each spring Byron has had to increase his stock, which is good, Braxus spends many a coin and the guests love his tales from the old lands.
"Well, then. Shall we lads?" O'land picked up a wounded soldier and began walking back towards camp.
So we shall I thought to myself, as the army began cleaning up the aftermath of battle, and preparing for a new day.
