Stare Into the Abyss With Me - and It Shall Stare Back at Us

"This chill in the air - even Laufa of the Great White Wolves felt it in her formidable, divinely blessed self. To speak plainly, it is the same chill that I felt as Hermann von Salza before the battles to sustain the conquest of Prussia and Livonia, as well as when I was Frederick the Great at Leuthen in Silesia. I felt it most recently prior, as Otto von Bismarck upon my deathbed, sensing that a storm the likes of which humans can create that rivals the thunderstorms of the Gods and Goddesses above! Freila - what is to come?"

Klaus asked carefully as he stood and looked out of the window of his study in his Knights Estate - gazing upon the Polish seasonal workers harvesting wheat in their raggedly clothes. Just beyond, he could see the village that he still more pr less had final influence over, being an ancestral Knight and Lord as far as the people knew - though divine beings such as Freila and Laufa knew him as the Lord Protector of Humanity - an immortal. 

"The prophecy can only be told through its unfolding in real time - you know that, Lord Protector. Yet you're in tune with your destiny to the greatest extent that you have ever been, so fear not, if answers are what you seek - I fear that you just may find them."

Freila replied as she materialized next to Kalus in her semi-translucent form, with her tone carrying an ominous weight to it, as something was clearly weighing on her. Klaus knew that he had asked an impossible question - and yet this chill in the air that he felt wasn't one based in any sense of familiar comfort, as much as it was in dreadful anticipation. 

"Excuse me, my Lord - but I must let you know that the Chauffeur for Field Marshal Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, is here with a car to drive you to castle Neudeck, the Field Marshal's Knights Estate."

Hans stated to Klaus with a bow. The head of the Servant Staff, Hans was older with sharp features, silver hair that was close cropped, and a deadly, concentrated gaze. Coupled with the fact that he was dressed in the finest black and white formal wear of the Servant Staff, he carried an aura of elegance with him. 

"Very good, Hans. Then I shall depart to meet with my fellow Lord and discuss matters of importance on his neighboring Knights Estate."

Klaus replied as he headed out down the opulent hallways decorated in a tasteful combination of barque and rococo architectural styles! After all, elegance and opulence belonged first and foremost to the Germans - and then namely the Prussians, or so the social contract of the time and of the region so stated! 

Before long, Klaus was on the massive front steps of his Knights Estate - gazing at the shiny black with white tires, Model 1912 Renault Type CB Coupé de Ville - an automobile that exuded excellence and sophistication! As far as Klaus was concerned, even though the car was of French origin, he personally recalled when France had been West Francia under Karl the Great or Charlemagne, and early dialects of German were spoken in that land. Even long before then, he'd conquered that land as Julius Caesar, when France was called Gaul. All the same, with a closed off passenger compartment and an open-air, separated driver's seat, the vehicle was a gesture of reverence, especially since it had been sent to escort him. Of course, Klaus knew this as he mused over its arguably ironic origins in the eyes of many German speakers. 

On the ride to Paul Von Hindenburg's Knights Estate called Neudeck, he couldn't help but think about the carefully concealed worry that had beset Laufa and presumably the other Great White Wolves, as well as the ominous tone that Freila had taken with him. As the car drove through his and the villages that neighboring Knights Estates nominally ruled over, Klaus drifted off to sleep, the weight of his thoughts growing him into a peaceful slumber - or so he momentarily thought. Instead, memories of pain and anguish - of that fateful battle in 280,000 BC - came vividly and remorselessly back into his mind!

"HOLD THE LINE!"

Klaus ordered as he stood in his tight, lightweight, sparking chrome plate armor as he looked to his left at the orderly ranks of nearly identically armored Human Knights, and to his left, those Elvish Knights in their sparking purple armor that was so highly similar, yet with thinner-bladed swords where the slightly curved back blade and the slight curved forward at the end grip - were the same length! The swords that the Human Knights carried on the other hand, had been designed by the Elves, forged by the Dwarves, blessed by the Gods and Goddesses of the Air and Water, and now wielded by the Humans! They were wide-bladed swords, with curly blades that had carved out holes in the blade towards the grip, while the main blade curved slightly upwards. Etchings of blessings and enchantments glowed in white from within their blade-side carvings. 

"The Dwarves are engaged in heavy fighting at the redoubts and from their trench lines below, in front of the moat, which shall be lit with enchanted white flames! The blessed thunderstorm of the Gods and Goddesses are keeping the Demons at bay - yet the Orcs and the Vampires still charge in horrifying hordes and waves! For our races - we must hold the line!"

Klaus bellowed - and just as he finished, the last Dwarven Knight had been slain while fighting in a noble cause. As he noticed this, Klaus leapt down from the polished, white brick castle walls between the moat and the dark hordes of armored Orcs and Vampires him! 

"YOU SHALL NOT - PASS!"

Klaus cried out as his large, wide bladed, uniquely curved and enchanted sword came down with him in a singular downward slash as he said pass - decimating at least fifty to one hundred Orcs and Vampires in a flash of burning white light that swooshed out in a divine blast! The moat around the castle soon filled with tall, glowing white flames!

As Klaus engaged and slayed as many Orcs and Vampires as he could with sweeping and spinning slashing attacks, while also charging up his power while doing so - and coming down from a powerful jump with devastating downward slash attacks that sent out even more blasts of divine light! 

"Come by brothers and sisters - for our land and our Gods and Goddesses of Air and Water!"

Laufa yelled psychically to her fellow Great White Wolves as they surged from behind the castle, as they then charged forward at full speed and savagely decimated the forward most ranks of the Orcs and Vampires! Klaus even rode Laufa as his valiant steed as he now engaged the enemy as a Mounted Knight! 

Yet, the sacrifice was great, and the victory pyrrhic - for soon the walls, gates, and doors to the castle were breached, and the moat of divine flames overcome - leaving only a handful of Great White Wolves and K;aus himself standing, while the Gods and Goddesses of the Air and Water had used their divine thunderstorms and windstorms to fight the Demons into a stalemate!

It was in that moment that Klaus was awakened in a cold sweat, while also being momentarily startled as he looked out the passenger cabin of the automobile that he had been chauffeured in. The driver calmly took out a handkerchief from his black, waistcoat pocket and gave it to Klaus with a respectful nod.

"Memories of the last war, yes?"

The chauffeur asked, the scars on the left side of his face being accentuated in that moment, as he referred to the war that lasted from 1914 to 1918: the Great War, still so fresh in everyone's minds. It was clear that he'd seen its horrors firsthand.

"Thank you, and yes. They - never really do go away, I've found."

Klaus replied as he patted his face in a gentlemanly manner with the handkerchief, before stepping gracefully out of the car as the chauffeur held the door.

"Indeed they do not, my Lord. I've found that trying to confront them on the other hand - is like staring into the abyss: instead of staying still and losing its allure and power - the abyss stares back at you."

The chauffeur responded with a tone that cemented that he truly understood the pain with which he spoke of. Klaus nodded softly and solemnly - it was all that needed to be said on that topic.