CHAPTER 10: THE LONG DREAM

***The city of Hemelin, in the old days…***

The shaking grew worse as the days passed by until the Lord Louis couldn’t stand on his own. He had to be transported from his bedroom to the throne whenever he was to meet his people, and there were times his memories were lost somewhere in his mind.

“Milord…”

“Ye-Yes…?”

“Did you remember what I just said?”

The Lord Louis stared blankly at the head of his security, Miss Farah Koh. Realizing that his mind was flying off again, the dwarf captain repeated, “Milord, I just told you that your son, the Lord Giuseppe, has escaped to the land of humans, in Chersea. With him is that dwarf, Lady Martelle.”

“O-Oh…”

“We’re waiting for your decision on this matter,” the security captain presented papers before him. “If you will sign these, we will immediately launch a search party to Chersea to look for them and bring your kin back here.”

Deep inside, the Lord Louis couldn’t fully make out of Farah’s words. He was asking himself, who is Giuseppe and Martelle? Why did they run away?

“Milord?”

The human realized that his security captain was looking at him with an expression as if he said the most stupid thing she heard. “What?”

“Uh, are you seriously…”

“Seriously, what?”

“You are wondering who is the Lord Giuseppe, and Lady Martelle,” Farah replied; her voice was becoming worried. “Did you forget they are your kin? The Lord Giuseppe is your son, sired by your wife, the Lady Lagh Ahri before she disappeared. And the Lady Martelle is your niece.”

“Oh…so that’s who they are…”

“Yes, milord.”

“Tell me, why did they run again?”

The security captain was silent for another moment, before she sighed and explained, “I think the Lord Giuseppe didn’t like us ‘meddling’ in his life. But, milord, I’m only thinking of your family’s well-being. His stupid ways are getting into the minds and hearts of everyone, and it’s not proper for a prince from your house to behave in that manner!”

“I-Is that so…?”

“Milord,” Farah tapped on his shoulder once again. “Are you really fine? Your mind keeps wandering away. Would you like to rest for now? I shall call your servants to help you to bed.”

“Yes, please,” the Golden Hammer answered, though he quickly stopped the captain of his security even before she could ring the bell summoning the maids to the human’s chamber. “Farah, can you stay with me for a moment?” he said in his weak, hoarse voice.

“Do you need anything else, milord?” She was surprised by the sudden request, though Farah was happy that Louis relied on her.

The old man pointed towards the nearest drawer from his seat. “Can you…there’s a piece of paper under the books in that drawer. Will you please get that and read its contents to me?”

At once, Farah obliged. She immediately found the paper pinned between two heavy books, ostensibly to straighten it for easy reading. However, what unnerved the dwarf a little was the letters and shapes…all were written in what looked to her as ‘blood.’

“Have you seen it?” Louis asked; he was getting impatient. So, whatever doubts the dwarf had in her heart, she buried it in her unwavering trust to her liege. After all, why would she even dare to suspect the hand the feeds her?

“How shall I read it, milord?”

Nevertheless, Farah heard no answer. When she turned to look at the Golden Hammer, she saw that he was still awake, though his thoughts were probably floating elsewhere. The old human stared at the outside window, as if waiting for someone to come home…or he desired to go out.

Figuring out how to read the paper herself, the dwarf captain turned it upside-down a few times, until she thought she could read whatever was written with a bit of sense.

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***The city of Hemelin, present day…***

Louis, in the body of his former security captain, stared at the towers of the now-abandoned Grand Temple of the Church of the Golden Hammer, where he once walked its great hallways. From where he was, he could see the temple district, which was placed on the spot where he was summoned before. The flag of the Army of Stone waved on one of the towers, telling everyone that it was a land under their protection.

“…”

The former human shook his head. While his ‘union’ with the Lady Helgath’s right hand, Lady Ahri, produced a son (Prince Giuseppe), he still had bad relations with the dwarf…mainly because she distrusted him. Their child was just an ‘obligation’ he needed to fulfill, since the Lady Ahri swore fealty to the Dwarf Saint, and the Dwarf Saint trusted him.

Nevertheless, Louis’ loyalty was never to Lady Ahri, nor to the Lady Helgath. His fealty only applied to himself, and that goddess, Arame, who often gave him sound advice. After all, this was ‘another world’; he was ‘foreign’ to it, and this was all but a dream.

A dream that turned into nightmare, as he is never home…even though he wants to return.

By now, he just wanted to survive. With the Black God destroying the crusaders’ morale, and uniting the warring guilds in the south, Louis found himself isolated, and in weakened position. He knew the inevitable: the next target of the new god of Equality would be Hemelin and the east itself. And that would spell his doom…the end of everything Louis worked so hard for.

Yet, everyone says he will be a god…

“Louis…”

The former human heard the small, but gentle voice of Arame, though he was sure that he was alone in his spot. After he united the opposing gangs of Hemelin, he would often send everyone scouring the city for supplies and ‘recruitment drives.’ So it was impossible that someone from his allies called out to him.

“Milady…”

“Destroy that impostor in Montserrant!” the voice whispered.

“But, milady,” Louis stopped for a moment, before continuing. “That man who calls himself ‘Black God’ has united the dwarf cities of the west, the north and the south to his side! While I’m barely holding on with what’s left of my supporters! Am I really chosen to become a god as you say?”

“Don’t doubt me…”

“I…never doubted you, Your Holiness!” the former human defended himself. “But, the circumstances are all against me!”

“Follow my words!”

“I’m trying!” Louis bellowed. “Yet I am still weak! Compared to that man, I don’t possess any god-power!”

Silence. The former human thought that Arame abandoned him for a short moment, but he began to feel something in his hands. Looking upon it, he saw black miasma oozing out of his limbs, much to Louis’ surprise. And the goddess spoke to him again…

“I shall give you command of the forces more powerful than the ones the Black God command. You don’t need to win for me; you only have to exact a terrible price on his armies so I can come and defeat him completely. Stretch out your hand…”

Louis did as he was commanded, and out came a shadow figure.

“Let me tell you something, my faithful servant,” she added. “Long ago, I was sealed in this boring whiteness by the master of that blasphemous ‘Black God.’ Yet, because of my great power, I can still reach you. I am lending my children to fight for our cause. The god-power of shadows is yours to command.”

The former human couldn’t keep his excitement, for he was now given a god-power. And much to his pleasure, the shadow child did as he ordered.

“I shall join you soon,” the voice of Arame revealed. “But you have to keep fighting him! Bleed the Black God dry with your fighting prowess! You are the future god of this land; that impostor snatched it away from you! Have I not said it is so?”

Even as the goddess insisted, little doubt still remained in Louis’ heart. For one, the warning of his former lover and the subsequent events were fresh in his mind. And second, the Black God proved to be a formidable opponent for him during their encounters.

He should’ve killed him when he had the chance when they captured the Black God’s group…

But of course, as with all regrets, everything was now too late. And Louis had to contend with his indecisiveness…

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***The city of Hemelin, at the temple district…***

With the current events, the Army of Stone was recalled to Montserrant, ostensibly to bolster the forces loyal to the Black God. However, it was deemed that it would be difficult to evacuate the civilians staying at the former Grand Temple of the Golden Hammer. Not only they would be susceptible to ambushes of the other criminal gangs, the price of logistics to defend and maintain a ‘corridor’ from the peak of Hemelin down to the foot of the mountains and into the ancient giant roads was enormous.

So, instead of attempting to evacuate, Kuro and the leaders loyal to him sent Ashren and his mercenaries to take over in the defense of the temple district. They were also reinforced by a few warriors from the Army of Stone, and the remnants of Albrecht’s gang.

“…”

Well, of course, the initial meetings with the leaders of the refugee community did not go well. Ashren was a well-known figure in the underground; many of the dwarves see him as an ally to Albrecht, who created an impression that he was another criminal out to take advantage of them. Nevertheless, the members of the Army of Stone vouched for him and his men; they would work together until the Black God and the guilds on his side re-establish peace and order in the capital city.

And so, as Ashren had been a veteran of wars in Chersea, as well as the ‘Great Rising of the Dead,’ he sought to ‘shorten’ their defensive lines to make it easier for them to fight. The temple grounds were big enough to hold every refugee in their territory, as well as supplies, arms and equipment for the upcoming the battle. So, they placed barricades and breastworks around the walls of the temple grounds, and got the refugees to shelter in the underground tunnels of the grand temple. As added measure to ensure their enemies would have difficulty breaking through, Ashren had barbed wires installed, too.

“We will only need to hold out until the Lord Kuro links with us again,” he would remind his soldiers. “Don’t let any of those criminals pass our defenses.”

While they knew they were up against a motley crew of dwarves who were former warriors at best, and peasants dragged into the world of criminals at worst, Kuro gave the former mercenary strict instructions to prepare as if they were about to fight a powerful army. Ashren, though he was never detailed unlike Albrecht, still respected the Black God enough to follow through his words. After all, there were many times he saved him and his men when the former commanded them.

As the last parts of the defensive line was placed, the former mercenary looked towards the districts they were yet to control. For some weird reason, there was something in his gut feeling that was making him nauseous and scared. Yet, Ashren tried to shake it off; it was probably his ‘excitement’ getting the better of him, although the stillness and calmness of the surroundings reminded him of his days marching against the horde of the undead.

This is the same silence…

The former mercenary gave his head another shake, ostensibly to remove the fear in his mind. After making sure that everything was in order, he uttered a silent prayer; the first time he did it in a long while.

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**Kuro**

The march of the Army of Stone began the moment we assembled our armies, just outside the limits of the central region of Cherhom. Leaving Ashren and his mercenary band in Hemelin to defend the temple grounds against a possible assault from Miss Farah’s—I mean, Louis’ forces, we agreed to put an end to the conflict of the dwarves by conquering their old capital city.

Of course, for this endeavor, I enlisted the help of my other allies in Chersea, Cherwind, Cherwoods and the Demon Republic. Tanks and other armored vehicles were provided by the demon industries. Arms and other supplies by the Royal Arsenal of Cherwind. Additional reconnaissance forces were led by Sir Dane Bellingstein and the Gryphon Knights of Calabria, under the auspices of their King, who was trying to get back into Maddie’s ‘good graces’ after his ugly display of contempt in the Holy Congress. And the elves? They sent an army of medics, trained by Lady Rishnu, to help in the anticipated casualties of the upcoming battle. By now, the dwarves already knew that I had the backing of the other races; even if they wanted to disagree with humans, beastfolk, demons and elves helping them, there was no returning from the old, isolated ‘Equality.’

For their chroniclers of the current and future ages, this is the Epoch of the Black God…

Well, it was a good thing that the dwarves were already trained in driving motorized vehicles, especially those that were powered by steam. Their warriors’ training to familiarized themselves with our equipment was shortened to just getting them to operate the armaments installed, like the cannon. With Lady Ahri convinced of the superiority of guns, she allowed the drills of her soldiers with firearms, including the bolt-heater. Combined with the famed armor of dwarven manufacture, the Army of Stone transformed from an obsolete army that used battle axes and war hammers to a lethal fusion of heavy melee, and long ranged shooting force.

And it wasn’t just limited to Lady Ahri’s warriors. Their contact with guns and other weapon systems I introduced before prompted the other dwarf cities to upgrade their arsenals as well. Soon, many of the guilds were able to muster and field companies of their warriors skilled in sniping their enemies, aside from bashing skulls.

“Let me be clear on this, Your Holy Majesty,” Lady Ahri said to me one time during our preparations. “While I agree that there is a need for upgrades in our forces, you still haven’t convinced me to use guns. I still prefer the old way of killing annoying bastards.”

“Well, only for this time,” I winked at her. It was pointless to argue with her, anyway; we already implemented the changes we wanted.

As for our plans, conquering Hemelin itself was tricky. For one, we would be fighting a literal ‘uphill battle.’ We could always use the temple district as a foothold to our incursion into the city. However, the underground roads and hanging bridges that connected the other districts of Hemelin were narrow. Marching armies in such conditions would hamper our movements, and the enemy led by the Lord Louis would have ample time to fortify and correct their defenses.

Someone suggested that we ‘land’ warriors at the peaks, which was a seemingly viable option. Nevertheless, assembling a huge fleet of transport dirigibles was out of the question. Maybe back in the time when Hemelin’s mighty industry was still functioning, it would have been effective. But, with only a few airships available, it was a waste of resources and time to transport a few warriors and equipment for an operation we were trying to finish as fast as possible.

So, we had to settle to the old-fashioned ‘march to the top.’ A big part we considered in this decision was that we could clear every corner of the underground roads as we advanced, denying our enemies with a chance to outflank us while we pushed them to the surface.

For this, we had divided our forces to ten groups that would operate in unison at the set date. Ten was for the number of districts of Hemelin that were still outside Albrecht and Ashren’s control.

Yeah, I must thank that dwarf for making our work easier. I’m thinking of putting him in-charge of Hemelin after all of this is over. I mean, while he did say he desired no ‘politician’s job,’ he proved that he can be efficient.

“…”

Though I’d still seek the opinion of the Lady Helgath. She knew him best, after all.

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While the dwarf cities of Cherhom were connected by hanging bridges—except for the border ones, hence the clear ‘division’ of the land into west, east, north, south and center regions, we chose to use the ancient giant roads to rush our forces into the very gates of Hemelin. With dwarf trucks, carts and armored carriers led by tanks and escorted by planes and dirigibles (as reconnaissance) above, our columns took around three days to traverse the distance between Montserrant and the capital city.

I can confidently say it is the first ‘motorized’ movement of an army in Cherhom, and one of the firsts in the entire Chersea and the Other Realms.

“…”

I expected our enemies to conduct guerilla tactics in an attempt to slow our advance. Ashren also warned me of the ‘Vietnam-style’ traps they encountered lately. If anything, the former Golden Hammer was determined to make this attack costly for us; it would also strengthen the Seductress if we let our guards down.

So, like any other sensible battlefield commander, I formed ‘reconnaissance groups’ trained specifically to look for these lethal traps and disarm it. As they were also our vanguard against ambushes, they rode in smaller, faster vehicles…like that dwarf motorcycle I’d seen back in Prince Uhrian’s dungeon in Stadtsberg.

That way, we quickly conquered the lower tunnels of Hemelin. No one was there to offer resistance; the former areas Lady Martelle, Lily and I passed on our way out of the city were completely empty. And I guess, the criminal gangs that were the menace of refugees were fewer than we anticipated. Nevertheless, we couldn’t be complacent; one wrong move, and we might end up getting our asses handed back to us.

“…”

As we progressed levels, however, there was a noticeable slowdown of the march the nearer we get to the surface of the dwarf city. I asked the commander of our column what made them lower the speed of the advance.

“Milord,” said the dwarf from the turret of his tank. “We are about to surface, but we still haven’t encountered a single enemy.”

I fell silent when I heard him. The dwarf commander made sense. I mean, everything was going way too well for something that we expected to be bloody…even when we were just dealing with gangs. Of course, I hid my anxiety, though if the Lady Helgath was with me, she already knew it by now.

Well, I just wished that the silence is because the Lord Louis gave up on his ambitions.

“…”

…which is, really, impossible to think of. I mean, what’s the purpose of all this suffering if he would just simply give up?

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Eventually, for all the preparations and worrying we did, we reached the surface of Hemelin without an incident. Honestly, it was really weird, though we were relieved that we could already see the towers of the Grand Temple of the Golden Hammer from where we were. If I remember right, we were only a few streets and blocks away before we get to the borders of the temple district.

“Alright boys! The Grand Temple at the distance!” Those words from the column commander buoyed the mood of the soldiers, who were tense a second earlier. Having encountered no opposition and almost a bow shot’s distance to their goal, everyone started to celebrate and brought their guards down.

Of course, the early merrymaking didn’t please Lady Ahri and myself, for things like this would often raise the chances for our enemies to counter-attack, and worse, succeed in it. We were never prudes; however, there were many examples in my world’s history that served as cautionary tales for this oversight; one was during Japan’s ‘Sengoku Jidai’ era where Imagawa Yoshimoto was defeated by Oda Nobunaga during the Battle of Okehazama. Histories say that the Imagawa forces were celebrating their victories when Nobunaga and 2,000 to 3,000 men attacked, outwitting Yoshimoto and his 25,000 warriors.

Though, of course, there are other aspects into their victory, like the knowledge of the terrain, and Nobunaga’s determination to defeat his opponents, or die trying.

Nevertheless, not wishing to dampen the mood and the morale of our forces, we still permitted some semblance of celebrations, though we had to tone down on the consumption of alcohol. We had to stop the march, anyway, to give time for the supply trains to catch up to us.

Morale is important, after all, especially when we are about to enter battle.

It was around the ‘long sleep’ when we began our march from Montserrant. We arrived at the peak of Hemelin around midday, three days later. As we waited for the logistics to arrive, we set up camp near the entrance of the tunnel where we came. The tents were erected, sentries posted, and some quartered their units in the nearby abandoned buildings. Everyone ate their fill, celebrating the safe march from the foot of the mountain to the city surface. The commanders of our forces—including myself—were in a war council, debating on the next step to take, as we encountered no resistance.

As the mood among the warriors were festive, it contrasted the spirits of everyone inside the council room, where we all thought we were in for some kind of trap.

“!!!”

Meanwhile, the sentries guarding the entrance to our camp saw a group of people running to our direction. Thinking it was a ‘reconnaissance group’ of our enemies, they challenged the new arrivals.

“Halt! Identify yourselves, or we’ll shoot!”

“We’re no enemies!” cried the dwarves, their faces pale and had horrified expressions, as well as raising their hands. “Please, take us in! We surrender!”

To show that they meant no harm, the ‘enemies’ fell to the ground, almost crawling to the feet of the sentries. They never waited for their captors to ask questions; once they reached our side, they immediately blurted out…

“Please, go away from here!” the dwarves pointed to the direction of the Grand Temple. “T-There’s only death, and darkness, out to devour everyone!”

The sentries were baffled at what the dwarves were telling them. As they had no idea of what was going on, the captain of the sentries brought them to us instead.

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And so, it became clear to us that something bad has happened. And the reason we encountered no resistance on our way up through Hemelin’s underground roads was that, almost all the criminals pestering the capital city were now dead. The cause?

“Milord, we seek for your forgiveness,” the surrendered criminals begged at my feet. “But please, take us with you when you leave this place!”

“What’s going on?” Lady Ahri asked them. “Why are you so afraid?”

“The darkness…”

“Darkness?” some of the commanders were confused. “Can you be a bit more elaborate on what you’re trying to tell us?”

Someone brought them something to drink. While it did calm their nerves, they were still shivering. Nevertheless, the criminals were much clearer now. “The darkness…those shadow-like things…that lady, that dwarf they call Miss Farah, it’s coming out from her.”

I didn’t notice at that time, but Lady Ahri’s eyes fell on me. The other commanders got angry with their ‘vague’ explanations, and was about to hit them. But, I stopped the officers from venting out their anger. “I know those things,” I revealed to everyone. “They are not bluffing us.”

“Milord…what do you mean?” Lady Ahri and her commanders wanted more information from me, so I obliged.

“I fought these things they call ‘shadows’ before,” I took a pause before continuing. Honestly, my bad memories from when I was in Cherflammen came rushing back to my head; yet, even though it resurrected those ugly thoughts, I maintained my straight face. I couldn’t show everyone I was shaken by the news. “And they will really ‘devour’ you. But, that also meant that, ‘she’ has already entered this land.”

“Who is ‘she,’ Your Holy Majesty?”

I couldn’t help but sigh; even if I denied it, the fact remained that the things I dreaded before had already happened. “The Seductress…that creature from the Void that devours every existence out there…she has entered this land. And even worse, she has another ‘vessel’ to use.”