Runes ready to go, I approached the area the guard had directed me to. With a bit of luck I’d be there soon, ready to face whatever awaited me in that regard.
The plumes of smoke in the distance did a little to ease my nerves. They were getting bigger, and it looked like it was getting closer as well, meaning Noctis was pushing further inwards. The smoke specifically came from one of the front line fighters I’d heard about, or rather two. A master sorcerer of fire named Frah, one capable of bending and weaving existing fire to his whims, and a Sigilist, one who created fire when he ran with magic imbued in his boots by the name of Tali. The two made a deadly combination, with the latter making flames the former could make exponentially bigger. The rest of the front line of Noctis was no joke either. I’d heard about the orcs which would bulk up to the size of buildings, throw a blow capable of crushing someone in plate mail, then shrink back down for more agile movement, gnomes which turned invisible and stabbed vital points through chinks in armor, or even contingents of dwarfs in magical armor, unable to be hurt as they slowly approached a position and took it down. All terrifying options I wasn’t keen on encountering. Hopefully, however, it would just be some small time magi or better yet, foot soldiers. Not that anyone working for Noctis wasn’t skilled-it seemed to be a universal trait that everyone in the group would be one of the best assets to a conventional army’s ranks, but magi were far harder to predict then just someone who was good with a weapon or good at sneaking around. Though that latter potential made me want to check every dark alleyway to be sure no one had snuck into this part of the city, even if I knew that if I did that, I’d be far too late to make a difference in the task I was assigned if the eastern areas were attacked like the elf had said. I’d just have to hope Noctis wasn’t sneaking around the rules, otherwise I’d be in for a rather lethal surprise from my back flank.
Once I got close to the street in question, I did one final role call for my glyphs. All three on my sword, speed, flames and strength. All of minor strength. Then protection on my armor, moderate strength. Enough to take a hit from almost anything, but it had a limit before it would need to recharge, or risk losing it altogether. For now, however, they all seemed to be in working order, which is what I would need if it came to blows. I took a deep breath, and rounded the corner, hoping I looked presentable.
The guard post there was seemingly deserted at first, until I realized they were likely within the makeshift battlement. Composed of parallel wooden spikes bound together by durable metal threads, it was meant to hold once affixed, but not difficult to move or salvage if the line was broken, playing smart and resource effective. Off to the sides were two small watchtowers, just tall enough to be able to see over the smaller buildings of the eastern side, but not tall enough to be at risk of collapsing if a magi struck them at the foundation. At the top of those watchtowers I could see the vague shapes of soldiers in Kingdom gear, but they seemed to not be paying attention to my approach in the slightest, looking west. I was annoyed at first, almost feeling dismissed, until I decided to see what they were looking out, climbing up to a nearby roof without damaging wall or window.
Off in the distance, in an area I recognized based on my vague estimations in the poor light as the central front, flashes of light dotted the sky, nothing like Noctis’s simple flares. It was like fireworks going off, waves of various colors lighting up the sky. Something I recognized as large plumes of flames followed, with several shapes interweaving through the light, alongside the shadows of large, seemingly object shapes flying through the air. I couldn’t make anything else out in the light.
Was it a new Magi? The flames indicated Frah was likely in that engagement, the flying ones could be some of the Noctis fliers…but I didn’t know about anyone who could throw objects that large or fire off that kind of light. I observed as the light faded as I was only left with vague outlines under the smallest bit of moonlight. I saw large shapes, these ones more animate, which seemed to resemble dragons propel forwards, scattering the fliers and thrashing about to try and strike them, a plume of green flame firing into the air from one of said shapes giving a bit of illumination. This revealing that they did indeed seem to be rainbow colored spiraling dragons flying about. The green flame contorted and recoiled to fire back at the dragons, to little effect. They turned their attention to the ground, seemingly poised to strike, when what appeared to be one of the orcish titans jumped from a nearby roof and grabbed one out the air, the other turning over to look, before both simply vanished into thin air. Instead, the orcish titan was caught by those flying objects on its way down, having no time to transform, as what appeared to be several small buildings, large carts, and another titan body slammed into it after being what was hovering in the air, sending it careening to the ground with a faint booming sound.
Before the body likely was even cold, another attack was launched, this time in the form of columns of stone which sprung up from the ground, impaling another titan and launching the faint shapes of what could only be some formerly ground level magi far into the air. Some of them were lucky to have magic which could catch themselves. Others weren’t. The pillars then crumbled into smaller chunks, which seemed to transform into some sort of writhing swarm of…something, which poured down onto the street. A surge of flame from where the epicenter was had to indicate the target of that attack being Yar. It seemingly hadn’t taken him out of the fight however, because there was another shift, spikes of ice this time jutting into the sky, around that area.
A few moments after however, a cloud blocked the moons light, forcing my view of the battle to be minimal at best. The guards at the watchtower seemed to realize this too and returned their gaze forward. Their goal was likely to keep watch of the central gate portion of the barricade, mostly to be sure no one snuck by. The central gate was made of the same material, spiked at the top, but with hinges at the edges to allow them to be opened in case troops needed to move through. It would also be the first objective of anyone pushing through this area to either get rid of it or open it for their forces to get through, depending on how much alerting other areas of the defense in the city would matter to whichever approach they would take. I assumed they wouldn’t bother going quietly here, with the other fronts currently engaged, though with that display in the distance I couldn’t be sure. Worth watching to make sure some gnome didn’t slip through at least. I noticed the guards here had affixed small bells to the opposite side of the gate, to alert them if the gate even opened a little. Not standard procedure, but still a smart move. Gnomes were the worst.
I decided now would be a good time to approach. Gingerly and slowly climbing down from my perch to avoid exhausting or provoking any small injuries which could hinder me in a fight, I made it back down to the ground of the alley between two houses I’d sought to climb up, and made my way about it, raising an arm towards the watchtower guards, only to be met with no recognition due to them not watching behind them. Idiots. If someone was already here, they’d be dead. I put the criticism out of my mind for now. They had likely been awake awhile now, and it was best to be polite. An open mind, I thought, as I called out.
“Hello! I’m from the northern section of the city. A guard there told me to come over here and reinforce this area!”
One of them looked over from the left watchtower. I couldn’t make out his expression, but he sounded somewhat grateful. “That’s good. Come up here, I don’t want to get all hoarse”
I nodded, though rather uselessly considering the light and walked up to the ladder, climbing it slowly but surely so I wouldn’t miss a rung and fall to the ground. That would be rather embarrassing to these people I just met. Once I reached the top, I realized they had a small lantern burning, just enough to make each other out. The one who had shouted back to me was a dwarf, by the looks of things. About two thirds my height, wearing heavy, seemingly well made armor, and a badge indicating his rank as Sergeant. Unlike his compatriots with standard issue blades, he had a large axe over his shoulder. His face was hard to make out through his helmet, but he was grizzled and on the older side, and had a long black beard which was tied in various areas. Something that would be the envy of lesser men I’d imagine.
“Hello sir.” I said politely to the dwarf first, since he seemed to be the commander here.
“Good evening to you. I’m Sergeant Daruk, leader of this unit. These three with me are Elias, Lathan and Thinder. I’d introduce you to the ones in the other tower, but they’re in their own world currently.” He chuckled, as he held out his hand to meet mine.
The one he’d called Elias was a taller dark elf, with the signature red eyes which came with being one of the more purple colored elves. He had silvery hair, and definitely seemed younger then Daruk, but you could never be sure with elves. He gave a simple nod to me when Daruk introduced him.
Lathan was a human, one who definitely seemed on the young side. My age or a little older. He was brown haired with blue eyes, a more slender build, without the muscle that might normally come with the position of being a guard, leading me to think he might be a bit green. Though green in the Kingdom didn’t mean bad necessarily, all soldiers in their armies or guard forces were well trained, albeit the latter being a little less so. Upon being introduced, he gave a salute and a quick “Good evening” before lowering his arm and going silent once more.
Thinder was a lionfolk by the looks of things. Very tall, bulky, and with a very perpetual angry face. She didn’t have a mane like man counterparts of her species did, but that didn’t make her much less terrifying, yellow eyes looking me up and down as she was introduced. She had her claws retracted, but I had no doubt she could tear my throat out at a moments notice. She gave a grunt at the sound of being introduced.
I shook Daruk’s hand with as firm of a shake I could manage, but he was stronger then me, especially for his size. “I’m Acuzio, a volunteer. A pleasure to meet you all.”
“Pleasure to meet you Azuzio. We need all the help we can get at this point. We’ve gotten major backup in the central front as I’m sure you saw, but that just makes me worried that we’re due for an attack here. The more hands the better” he says with worry lines across his face.
“Understood sir. I’m more then willing to help out.” I said, nodding with enough enthusiasm to portray confidence, just not too much confidence.
“Good.” he replied “Head down and watch our flank. I don’t want to dismiss the idea they could have skipped streets or taken out another post without our knowledge and be trying to flank us. If you need help, just holler, and don’t be a hero. If you’re overwhelmed, fall back to a larger group. ” he said this with experience which I wouldn’t question, so I simply nodded, and moved to climb down the ladder once more, with the same caution as always, taking up a position about fifty feet from the gate, drawing my sword for light, glowing. I couldn’t hear if anyone in the towers commented on it, and I really didn’t care if they did or not. They wouldn’t complain about having a magi on their side, that much was certain.
A few minutes past with nothing going wrong just yet. I had established a bit of a loop. Check near the gate, head back to the nearby alleys which led to side streets, check the entrance to the next street, repeat. It gave me rhythm, and the motion shook off any notion of tiredness I’d had coming here. I’d slept during the day a bit for a reason, I couldn’t be fighting off exhaustion before an engagement had even begun after all.
Eventually, on one of my loops back towards the gate, I heard one of the men in the tower opposite of Daruk, shout out something, and I saw light rising from behind the gate. It was nowhere close to sunrise, and I felt stupid for even considering that as an option in a split second. It was faint, but closing by the second, approaching the center gate. It dawned on me that I should move back, and so I did, for the first time breaking into a run to clear some distance.
The sound of a rush of flame, the crackling of lightning, and an explosion of force resounded behind me, as I swiveled around.
The center of the gate had a massive crater in it, already caught alight. The metal threads were crackling with lingering electricity, and parts had been sprayed across the area. I heard pained screaming from one of the towers, the one Daruk had been in. It sounded like pain. Fuck.
Standing a good ways past the ruined gate was a figure in bronze armor, a pair of blades at his side. A regal helmet adorned and covered his face, but most important, and more recognizably, was his boots. Bronze sabatons engraved with three noticable sigils on each. I only recognized two, flames and speed. The other one was unknown, but considering the lingering lightning, I could hazard a guess as to its purpose. His armor also seemed to house a singular protection rune, his swords…I suppose I’d find out.
I recognized this man based on the flame trail he was leaving behind, and the general description. Tali. The primary Sigilist in Noctis. And he wasn’t alone.
Moving through the now destroyed gates were several other figures with weapons drawn, one even taller then some surrounding buildings. I wasn’t intent on making out just yet, as I pointed my glowing blade towards Tali, even though I was feeling less confident by the second.
He looked towards me now, and I could feel the smile coming from below the helmet, even if it was imperceptible.
“How interesting.” He said, in a voice which indicated he only felt a small amount of the emotion he had emphasized.
And then the strongest Sigilist in Noctis charged me at breakneck speed.
Kindling And Miscellany 