Chapter 54:

Woe, Flame Prince

Necessary Patricide


“Regroup at the gates!” cried a soldier. The Capital soldiers buckled against the onslaught of the Ubuk soldiers, breaks in the lines from charging thunder lizards forcing them to protect their flanks in tandem with keeping the assault at bay. Sporadic bursts of projectiles erupted from where-ever someone had managed to successfully reload a fire lance, downing invader and beast alike. As the soldiers retreated deeper through the homes surrounding the castle, citizenry fled to their homes. Terrified of the foreign fighters and their monster beasts, few locals dared remain outside of their home.

As Fulcher rode through the line of soldiers, he finally managed to catch up to Mnguni’s triceratops. The Ubuk King was poised for battle on top of the dinosaur, with the Chronomancer standing in front of him. Between them and the keep stood the last soldier that had not already fallen or regrouped.

Is that the General? Fulcher thought. Imbuka’s silver armor glowed with a golden sheen, as some power radiated from his neck.

“You still have it?” stammered the Chronomancer. The General could not offer a response, as King Mnguni spurred his triceratops forward. The beast charged forward with its horns down as it rushed the General. Fulcher watched as the man sheathed his blade, widening his stance and dodging the horn of the dinosaur. As he did so he lowered his shoulder and lunged to meet the beast, crashing against the dinosaur with enough force to cause it to stagger back. The General drew his blade again and continued his charge, passing the stunned beast and swiping towards the Chronomancer. Sand swirled around the mage as his body sped up, vanishing within the blink of an eye. At the same moment, King Mnguni leapt from the back of his mount and caught The General’s sword with his spear, slamming it into the ground.

“Go!” The King said to Fulcher as the others caught up. “He is our shame, and we will deal with him!” The General backhanded the King away, freeing his sword from the dirt and engaging him in melee as sand swirled around them.

“Come on!” Fulcher said, rushing towards the gate. The others followed as the last of the defence line entered the castle. The iron gate groaned as it closed, sealing off the inner courtyard from the outside world. Fulcher stopped in the road near the Cathedral of the Matron Mother, looking back to his friends.

“Akaj? Now’s the time for whatever your trick is!” Fulcher cried. Akaj rolled his shoulders, heat beginning to radiate from his body.

“Aha, you have yet to see this trick, my friend,” the Flameweaver boasted. The skin across his chest began to burn red hot, cracks of magma spreading over his skin like veins. As he continued to heat up Fulcher and the others had to step back, and shield their eyes. Fulcher peered through the gauntlet around Glacial Core as the red-hot skin began to darken like cooled lava, with Akaj beginning to grow in size. The runes across his sickle flared in power as the body of the Flame Prince double, triple, quadrupled in size. His deep laughter filled the air as the now giant Akaj strolled towards the gate. Soldiers along the ramparts aimed fire lances down at Akaj.

What are those? Fulcher thought. He looked over the design as they aimed down at Akaj. Wait, are those primitive guns? They have guns?? Fulcher’s mind scrambled to find an explanation behind how this was possible. Then, he remembered the jar at the Beast Pens, and how he had created gunpowder. His heart sunk to a new low as bile built into his throat.

I gave them guns, he thought with finality. The gravity of what this meant did not escape him. If they did not win this day, the world would spiral to new lows as Dilyniant used these new tools of war to continue his tyranny.

“Fire!” shouted one of the soldiers. A volley of projectiles swarmed through the air, colliding with Akaj’s blackened skin. The Flame Prince merely chuckled and continued to step up to the gate.

“You cannot hurt Akaj!” he boasted, leaning down to grab the bottom of the castle gate.

“Do it now! Prepare the weapon!” a voice shouted. Akaj slowly began to lift the iron gate, pushing it back up into the castle wall with a horrible scraping sound and the shuddering of the brickwork that kept the walls together. As the gate neared the top, Akaj’s hands flared with heat. He began to melt the metal of the gate, warping the shape as he reached it up into the wall and bent it so that it could never be lowered again. Akaj grinned as he stared into the courtyard to find dozens of soldiers pulling ropes. A large cloth was pulled from a massive tree trunk, with a hollowed out middle. The rings along the tree’s wood seemed to never end, countless at just a glance. Akaj barked a laugh as he prepared to enter the castle.

“A tree! I will burn it for a snack,” he rumbled. But the light of his flames illuminated into the hole in the trunk. He peered deeper into the darkness of the massive tree, finally seeing some sort of large mass at the very end.

“Akaj!” Fulcher shouted, sprinting up on Ravage. “Akaj! Get small again! It’s a cannon!”

“Cannon?” Akaj asked. This word was new to him. He watched as one of the soldiers lowered a torch against the back of the tree.

The earsplitting boom from the makeshift cannon shattered the windows of the castle, the shockwave shaking every stone in every wall until it was free of dust. The explosion ruptured the tree trunk, splintering chunks of wood the size of horses into the air. Soldiers were caught in the blast as splinters went through them, the sides of the tree peeling back as the massive chunk of iron left the barrel. It collided with Akaj square in the chest, sending him flying back over the assorted invaders and into the surrounding homes. Lava leaked from the giant as he slammed into a thatch hut, nearly instantly lighting the structure ablaze as his sickle flew from his grasp. As the two were separated, both shrunk down to a normal size. The sickle stuck itself into the roof of some other structure as Akaj lay motionless beneath the destroyed cannonball.

“Akaj!” Fulcher yelled, spurring Ravage towards the burning house as Schon, Vardia and Arrow followed. The mixed army of Ubuk and Corvidrop warriors rushed onwards, continuing the battle as the prince rushed to the side of the Flameweaver.

“Arrow!” Fulcher yelled as he dismounted Ravage. The wolf met him at his side, flinching away from the motionless Akaj as he barked. Though the glow of Crimson Vigor could be seem emanating from Arrow’s mouth, Akaj remained motionless and unhealed.

“It isn’t working, Vardia help me out! Glacial Core!” Fulcher said, tapping his chest with his gauntlet. A layer of frost coated his body as he reached over to do the same to Vardia. The pair pushed through the burning rubble and pulled Akaj out as the frost on their bodies immediately evaporated away.

“Come on, to the Cathedral, they have healers!” Fulcher begged. Panic had set in, and he needed Akaj to be alright. The pair dragged Akaj through the Cathedral garden as they burst through the doors.

The floor of the Cathedral was mostly hidden under a layer of fallen. Most were wearing the outfits Fulcher had seen the healers wear, but a good number of them were also Capital soldiers. The soldier’s armor was burnt, their helmets stained black. It was as if their heads had melted from their visors. A single figure stood before the altar with labored breathing and ripped robes, her hands lit with pale blue holy fire. Fulcher recognized her as the woman who healed him when he first arrived in this world. The fury in her eyes melted away as the flames in her palms dimmed.

“My Prince…” Gwyn said.

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