Bleeding Hope

Snow clung to Akari’s lashes as she stumbled forward, her paws pressing uselessly against Noel’s wound. His tunic was soaked through with blood, warm even in the frigid wind.

"Noel, stay with us - please stay with me!" she cried, her ears flat and her voice trembling.

Ansel dropped to his knees, trying to conjure healing light, but his hands shook so violently that the spell faltered. The glow sputtered, flickering weakly before collapsing entirely.

"I… I can’t-" he muttered, horror in his eyes.

"Then move!" Branek barked. The veteran knight tore strips of cloth from his own cloak and pressed them firmly against Noel’s side. "Lysandra, reinforce him!"

"I’m trying, just a little bit low on the mana." she hissed, her face pale. A thin layer of magic shimmered over Noel’s wound, slowing the bleeding but not stopping it. Sweat beaded her brow, her lips drawn tight.

Akari’s chest heaved. She wanted to help, but she had nothing—no healing, no wards, no knowledge beyond terror. She clutched Noel’s limp hand, eyes wide with desperation.

And thentThe ground trembled. A surge of power swept across the field, scattering nearby corrupted spirits in an instant. Caldris landed with a thundering crash, his gold staff cutting a path through the snow. His wand was already in motion, cleaving through three corrupted in one swing of thunder.

"Hold the line!" his voice roared, commanding even the wind.

He strode to them in a few long steps, gaze falling on Noel. His jaw tightened. "Bad wound. He won’t last without treatment."

Ansel’s lips moved uselessly, muttering fragments of prayers.

Caldris seized the priest by the collar, dragging him forward, and slapped his face. "Prayers don’t close wounds. You’re a healer - so heal, damn it!"

Ansel froze, eyes wide, then finally snapped into focus under Caldris’s glare. His trembling steadied, and golden light burst from his palms, weaving into Noel’s torn flesh. It wasn’t enough, but it kept him breathing.

Caldris shoved a small, glowing charm into Branek’s hand. The crystal pulsed faintly with warmth. "This will keep the corrupted at bay for a short while. Don’t waste it." He pressed another item - a flare tube - into Lysandra’s grasp. "If you’re cornered, fire this. But don’t wait too long."

"What about you?" Branek asked.

Caldris’s lips curved into a grim smile. "I'm here to keep as many of you alive. Don't worry about me."

With that, he stamped his foot into the snow, magic flaring around him. A rush of wind lifted him from the ground, carrying him high above the trees. The thunder of his passage faded into the distance as he soared toward another squad’s cries for help.

"Move!" Branek ordered.

The squad began their desperate retreat. Branek supported Noel’s weight over his shoulders, his movements steady and unflinching despite the burden. Lysandra cast thin wards around them, flickering shields against claws and fangs. Akari ran at their side, eyes darting between Noel’s pale face and the dark woods closing in around them.

Shadows writhed at the edges of the charm’s glow. The corrupted were following, pressing closer with every heartbeat.

"They’re not giving up!" Lysandra gasped, hurling a blast of fire with Akari into the trees.

Just when despair threatened to overtake them, a flash of steel cut across the snow. Seren charged through the darkness like a storm given flesh, his massive sword sweeping in brutal arcs. Corrupted fell in heaps before him, their forms unraveling into ash.

At his side, Barkley barreled through the enemy ranks, his claws tearing, and his roars shaking the frozen air. The great beast moved like a hurricane, unstoppable and merciless.

"Go!" Seren shouted, not sparing them a glance. "We’ll cover your backs!"

The squad didn’t hesitate. They pushed forward, stumbling through black and red snow. Scattered corpses of humans and spirits littered the ground here and there. Behind them, Seren and Barkley carved a path of destruction, holding off the corrupted tide.

The fortress walls rose ahead - deep gray stone against the endless white. Relief surged through Akari to see the dull ramparts, but it was short-lived.

Inside the gates, chaos reigned. Squads staggered in one after another, some intact, others carrying stretchers laden with bloodied forms. Priests rushed back and forth, shouting orders, their hands glowing as they tried to heal too many at once. Even High Priestess Serena was at the scene which showed the seriousness of the situation.

Screams split the air. The courtyard stank of iron and smoke.

Branek carried Noel straight to the priests, who immediately swept him into the temple. Akari tried to follow, but a healer barred her path. "He needs treatment, honored one. Stay out of the way."

She stood frozen in time, watching helplessly as Noel disappeared into the temple’s depths.

Around her, the fortress trembled with noise. Branek spoke in low, firm tones to Ansel, trying to calm down the shaken priest. Lysandra leaned heavily on her staff, her face drawn and pale. She threw up in the bushes behind her.

Everywhere Akari looked, there was blood. Some squads returned with fewer members than they had left. Others didn’t return at all.

The air was thick with whispers - fragments of dread passed from soldier to soldier.

"They came out of nowhere!"

"-too many this time -"

"-it’s just like the last siege-"

A shout cut through the din, a council member barking orders for barricades to be reinforced. Priests called for any able hands to the temple.

The fortress itself seemed to shudder with unease.

Akari hugged herself, tail curling tightly around her legs. For the first time since arriving in this frozen land, she felt the weight of the world pressing in -the sense that the fortress would not be enough to withhold the coming storm, that something vast and terrible was stirring beyond them.

And as night fell over the snowy plains, a single thought spread through the garrison like wildfire.

Another siege is coming. Different from the last one. One from the god Thauruch itself.