Red moon high. Red soaring sky,

Red iron flows, through the roots tonight,

Claw, fang, teeth and bone,

Fight flame, steel and unholy gold,

Red moon rising, red moon crescent,

Trees scream and cry, the result of the insolent

Their tenders raising in revolt,

Humanities end comes from that which it has forsaken

and likewise, it forsakes them.

Red moon gibbous, full red moon,

Red death, silent searing eyes.

Gareth looked down off the castle wall of New Camelot at the swarm on monsters crawling outside. Beside him was his batchmate, mumbling these phrases again and again as he hugged himself. The boy was white with fear, his eyes red as the monsters beyond as he cried tears of blood. He had been the first to witness the surge, running his horse to near exhaustion in the night for he had seen something. Something that had caused him to become like this.

'What direction had he come from?' asked Gareth, talking to the knights who fought beside him.

'He had come from the south,' replied a knight, hefting a crate of oil skins. Primitive weapons that the blacksmiths of the Underforge had locked away for a rainy day, and today was that day. The sacks of oil had a wick at one end and would easily burst when coming into contact with a body. 'From Lirsgate.'

'What the hell did he see?' wondered Gareth, as he pulled back his bow and fired it at a Wyvern overhead, pinning it in the wing. The creature cried as it spiraled out of control, descending on a collision course with a house within the castle walls. It slammed with an explosion of tile fragments, before tumbling off the roof onto the ground below.

'Trainee Gareth!' cried out his commanding officer, 'see to that one immediately!'

'Sir!' replied Gareth, dropping his bow and leaping off the side of the wall. Landing onto the roof of a house with a roll, he ran across the rooftops before stopping and peering down at where the Wyvern had landed.

Writhing on the ground like a snake, he reptilian monster hissed and spat with all its might. Its red eyes stared at Gareth who stared right back, both of them sizing the other up before the Wyvern coughed. Confused, Gareth decided to approach the beast carefully. Looking around, he breathed a sigh of relief for the lack of civilians on the street, but that did not mean they were not in their houses.

'Only you and me,' breathed Gareth as he dropped down onto the ground. His armor was charged with magic, the standard issue academy armor glowing white in the red night. Drawing his weapon he circled the struggling monster, watching as it kicked its leg to right itself.

As it kicked its leg, Gareth sliced the limb off neatly with a spray of rotten blood landing on the cobblestone. Carrying with his momentum, he sliced off the tail with little to no problem, the scaled appendage flopping like that of a geckos tail.

'Child!' cried out a civilian, peeking out from behind her door. Turning around instinctively, Gareth saw who was calling him. He saw an elderly woman, clutching the door in fear at the beast.

'Do not worry,' grinned Gareth, banging his fist against his chest, 'New Camelot will not fall as long as we are here.'

Instead of a reply, the old woman just pointed at something. Her finger trembled as she slowly retreated back into her house, slamming the door shut.

'That was rude,' huffed Gareth, before he felt the breath of something warm and moist on his back. Stiffening, he slowly turned around and came face to face with the wyvern who had its mouth wide open and its throat glowing a deep orange.

'It can breath fire?' muttered Gareth as he tried to figure out how to escape. As the light within the Wyvern reached a pitch, something came out from the dark and slammed into its head causing it to explode in a spray of blood. A lance had pierced the Wyverns head with enough force to shatter it and send brain matter everywhere.

'Blegh,' spat Gareth, as he felt the slimy stuff plaster itself all over him. Wiping off the black necrotic mass, he looked in the direction the lance had come from and sighed, 'did you have to do that?'

'We are in an emergency Gareth,' huffed Agravaine as he walked up to his brother and picked up his lance, 'as your senior I am instructing you to focus!'

'Sure, sure, Commander Agry,' waved off Gareth as he continued to removed brain matter from his armor. 'We are managing fine. But I am curious as to what is in the south.'

'What is in the south?'

'Something scary enough to break my friends mind,' replied Gareth with finality, before dashing off back towards the wall.

'Oh Agravaine, you saved us! As expected off the best knight!'

Looking to where the old lady had once again poked her head out along with a small boy, Agravaine waved before dashing off once more. Smiling he said to himself as he ran through the streets, looking for anything that may have gotten in, humming to himself: 'I am indeed the best! I will become the best! I will protect this city, for if I do not it will surely fall.

◊◊◊

'How many of these are there!' thundered Eonan as he hacked and slashed at the skeletal wolves who had made it in. 'How arethey coming in?'

'They are coming in through the waterways!' yelled another Geat, pulling back his bow and firing off an arrow. As it contacted against the ravenous beast, it exploded sending fragments all over the place. 'Still no sign of a single Shadowstone sir!'

'Blow the waterway shut now! Fuck,' roared Eonan, before tossing a vial at a Wyvern overhead. The liquid exploded in its face, coating the beast in a cocoon of flames as it fell to the ground and cried soundlessly within the smokeless fire. 'How are these even alive then?'

'SIR!INCOMING GRIFFIN!'

Stopping, Eonan looked up and sure enough a undead griffin with red eyes was hurtling across the sky just above the rooftops. The beast was larger than a wyvern and more deadly, a few rungs above the flying reptile on the predator scale. A monster with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, this chimera was the result of mutations within Starfall to the far south.

The monster screeched, its spittle melting holes into the rooftops. Its musky red plumage was caked in blood, its beak dripping with green venom as it spied the group of hunters making their way to the eastern wall.

'Its coming right for us.'

Eonan sheathed Galatine and rolled out his chain. Whipping it in the air, he eyed the griffin as it made its way towards him. 'Come on you oversized chicken.'

'RRRRRAAAAAAAA' cried the beast as it swooped in, aiming for a hunter.

'I am not loosing another man' promised Eonan as he let his chain fly, watching as the weapon looped around the beasts paw. In that one moment, he flooded his armor with magic and tugged with all his strength. He felt the beast give way too easily his eyes widening as he watched the limb of the beast come off and land on the ground. The rest of the monster tilted to the side and slammed intothe side of a building before rolling on the ground.

'Chain this one down!'

The hunters responded immediately, chaining the beast down at the neck and tying up its remaining limbs. The magic infused chains sunk into the rotting animal, close to decapitating it.

'What makes you tick?' asked Eonan as he took out a knife and sliced open the monster's belly with a shuddering squelch. Black entrails flooded out along with a human hand, a clump of wet hair and three eyeballs. 'Shit...'

Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out a pair of leather gloved and put them on. Pulling out the black mass, he kept one eye on the beast. It still had redeyes, meaning it was still alive. Continuing to empty the monster, Eonan kept looking for a Shadowstone.

A Shadowstone was a corrupt Soulstone, a stone filled with the soul of a truly evil spirt. Almost always a human soul, they could also be filled with power from the Land Beyond the Shadows. A single Shadowstone could corrupt other smaller Soulstones with its energy, allowing for a single person to control an army of undead.

'Where is that damn Shadowstone,' exclaimed Eonan as he fully emptied the belly of the beast. Looking to the pile of entrails, he began shifting through that.

'Sir try the head,' suggested a Geat.

Moving for the head, Eonan swiftly cut the muscles that controlled the jaw. The lower part of the griffin's mouth hung open before he deftly de-beaked the creature. 'God he stinks.'

The blood red eyes of the monster just stared, its tongue hanging onto the muddy ground as it could do nothing but watch as the white haired hunter pulled out a second blade.

Taking a deep breath, Eonan pierced the skull with both blades. Channeling his arms full of magic, the circuits glowed brightly as he pulled the daggers apart. With the sound like cracking wood, he pulled apart the skull of the beast revealing the blackened and shrunken brain. But that was not the interesting thing, for instead of a small purple gem there was a black feather with smoldering edges. It had a distinct shape, like that of an elongated spearhead and was clearly not a griffin feather.

'Osgar what feather is th...' began Eonan before stopping short and taking a sigh of sadness. Reaching out he went to pickup the feather, only for it to crumble at his touch. Turning into black ash, its disintegration was followed by the light within the eyes of the beast sputtering out.

Do any of you know what kind of feather that was?' All of his hunter's nodded no, to which Eonan in frustration kicked the body of the griffin.

'Torch it,' he commanded as he began to pace. Looking at the eastern wall he wondered what was truly beyond, with only the scraps making their way through the waterways and above the walls. 'Vernon, Eskel head to the waterway and blow it up now!'

Two Geats nodded before running off towards the wall, disappearing amidst the haze of the night. Fires burned all around them, the cries of men and women almost defeaning. This was a night of death.

'What about the knight?' asked another hunter. 'He was as knowledgeable as Osgar.'

'We left him for dead amidst the Bjorn's carcass, I doubt he is alive.' Taking a moment, Eonan ran his hand down his face as he reflected that his rage filled decision may have costed them the knowledge needed to fend off this attack.

'Fuck!' he cried before kicking the ground once again.

'Sir, the Feathered One,' called out another Geat as he pointed to where Dohate passed by on the nearby road atop of Tapco. headed straight for the gate.

'What is he up to?' running down the alleyway to the next road, Eonan stopped and watched as the Aagario disappeared like a wraith. 'Damn it...'

'You...you just could not stay....hic...could not stay down could you you bastard!'

That voice! Turning around, Eonan looked back in the direction where the druid had come from. He prayed, he prayed he was not wrong. He still hated that knight's guts, enough to make his blood roil but now was the one time he had to put his anger away. He needed answers and needed them now. Like a shade coming from within the fog, Gawain stumbled out of the dark and towards him. Hands swaying by his side, his steps were uneven as he muttered incoherently beneath his breath. Is he drunk?

Looking to his hunters he held his hand out, 'Thunderbrew and a greatsword, now.' Without question they handed him a vial and a greatsword, watching as their leader ran to the drunk knight. Reaching Gawain, Eonan popped the vial of Thunderbrew and forced the knight to drink it. He watched as the green liquid vanished, down the knights throat and backed away.

'What was that?'

'Raw eel liver with some ground bitter almonds. Now get on you feet boy,' roared Eonan, 'hauling Gawain to his feet and thrusting a greatsword into his hands. Looking towards the eastern wall, his ears picked up the familiar cry of a monster beyond. 'We have many monsters to kill.'

Holding the greatsword, Gawain blinked before he registered everything that was happening around him. He saw the broken bones, the bountiful bodies and stagnating blood across the road. The roofs of houses in shambles, some already fallen to the jaws of the hungry fire. Looking up he saw the bright red moon high above, shining maliciously in the black sky like the eye of a giant.

'Stop lollygagging and lets go!' commanded Eonan, slapping the knight on the back of his head. 'I need your monster loving brain.'

'For what?' exclaimedGawain as he ran alongside Eonan, his mind slowly beginning to run as the Thunderbrew potion wore off. 'What do you need me for?'

'These undead do not have cores, none of them have Shadowstones!' replied Eonan, drawing Galatine and using it to slice open an undead direwolf. The bones of the creature clattered to the floor, before Eonan quickly grabbed the skull and tore it from the spine. 'Check the inside fast.'

Catching the tossed head, Gawain flipped it and reached and pulled out the necrotic mass within. As he did so he felt something harder than the rest, like a the end of a quill. Pulling it out, he saw the oddly shaped feather with its black coloring and smoldering ends. Just as it began to disintegrate, he realized he had read about this in the Bestiary.

'I recognize this,' said Gawain as he dropped the disintegrating feather and began to pace around. Rubbing his hair furiously, he could feel the gears in his head begin to spin. Spear like feathers, constantly burning...but those were not black. Unless of course...

Looking at the dead bodies around him, and the red eyes of nearby ones he slowly put the picture together in his head. 'There is no way...the amount of power...the audacity...'

'Spit it out boy!'

'It is a Phoenix feather,' said Gawain with fear in his voice. 'I recall it from the Bestiary.'

'Even in death that lad is helpful,' mourned Eonan as he grabbed Gawain and pulled him back sharply.

'What was...' Gawain sucked in his gut as he watched a Wyvern swoop in and skim the surface of the street before taking flight again. 'Thank you.'

'Keep vigilant if you want to live dumbass,' growled the Geat as he began moving towards the eastern wall. 'I do not like the fact that whoever resurrected these beasts, also resurrected our mutual friend. Fucking hell he was hard to beat alive, now that its undead its even worse.'

'The Druid said it was a Lich. If he has a Fallen Phoenix it makes sense he can resurrect all these monsters on such a scale.'

Eonan looked incredulously at the knight. 'Phoenixes cannot be killed, that is why they are the are called the "Ashen Risers".'

'It cannot be killed,' murmured Gawain as he recalled something he had seen in Horai. 'But they can be corrupted with enough power from the Land Beyond. The same as a human slowly turning into a monster when it uses the power of the Land for extended periods.'

'So it has been corrupted by hell, huh.'

The two were still running for the wall, where they were soon joined by the remaining Geats. 'I am assuming since the Druid went east, this Lich is also there?'

'He says it was his fault, that it is his duty to end his brother.'

'We better give the Feathered One some help then,' grumbled Eonan, looking down as his feet squelched in the waterlogged mud. He looked to the waterways and saw they had been destroyed but there were no signs of the two Geats. 'You, find Vernon and Eskel.'

The hunter did not move, instead he just pointed upwards.

'Are you going against my order!' yelled Eonan before he followed the hunter's gaze. Flinching at what he saw, he instead looked down and began walking towards the stairs that lead up to the gate.

Gawain saw it, he saw it and wanted to puke. The Geats' bodies had been stripped of flesh from the neck down, their heads hanging by their spines and swinging like pendulums in the wind. The bodies hung from spikes on the topmost layer of stone of the wall, still dripping with blood.

'Lets end this bloody night,' cried Eonan as he ran up the stairs. As he reached top, he looked down at the monsters beyond the steel gates and paled. In all his years, in all the hunts he had ever taken part in, nothing scared him as much as this did. His previous cry fell on deaf ears, ears deafened by fear.

It was like a sea of rotting corpses, ivory bones and red eyes. Red eyes all directed at him. Looking northward, he saw a sea of fire. He saw it move in unison, bodies falling and rising like the tide as beasts coated in burning oil clawed at the walls, climbing on each other.

'Arawn help us,' he breathed, backing away from the end of the wall. 'This is a fools errand.' Turning to his men, he looked at them and realized he had a choice to make. He could run, he had to run. They could escape somehow, there had to be a way out.

'We need to run,' he said to his men, fear coating each and every single one of his words. 'We need to flee from here.'

'What?' exclaimed Gawain, shoving his way to front. 'What do you mean run.'

'I have seen what we are against and no human can fight that,' he said, his heartbeat echoing in his head. Clutching his chest he could feel it, the drums of the end. The constant beating as death approached nearer, he could feel it. ' "Hunt the hunters and do not be the hunted." I cannot see a way out where we are not the hunted.'

Moving past Eonan, Gawain saw the sea of monsters and gulped. It was true, it was like staring at an unscalable wall standing before him. He saw the bloodthirsty eyes of the wolves, chimaeras, wingless griffins and drakes all below him. He noticed a few women in the crowd, buck naked save for a woven hood covering their heads. In the sparse light, Gawain noted that their complexion was like that of wood.

The Huldras must have sensed his gaze, as they lifted their heads up and screamed. Their screams were like the flapping of a hundred bats, echoed by the sound like a hundred squirrels chittering. Their red eyes bore into Gawain, drilling into his soul. 'Red moon high, red soaring sky. Red moon rising, red moon crescent. Red moon gibbous, full red moon. Red death, silent searing eyes,' he muttered before shaking his head, 'what the hell did I say?'

'Some nonsense about the red moon,' replied Eonan, looking down at the knight. 'Seems these forest witches have some sort of brainwashing ability.'

'That felt more like a promise than any string of random sentences.'

'A promise from whom?' asked Eonan, swearing as he pulled Gawain to the floor with a thud. 'Fucking hell.'

On the ground, Gawain looked up and saw giant mass of brown roots hanging above him. His gaze followed down the roots and he closed his eyes. At the end of the roots, a single Geat had been impaled with over a dozen ends and was now hanging as blood dripped down the brown plant matter.

Still in shock, Gawain watched as Eonan got to his feet and hacked the roots apart. He saw Eonan reach into his waist pouch and pulled out three vials, chucking them at the root. Slowly getting to his feet, Gawain could hear the cries of monsters as they squealed before falling off the ramp created by the roots. He watched as they burned in a smokeless flame, tumbling back into the pit of undead and setting them alight as well.

'Everbrightfire, has more uses than lamps' coughed Eonan, holding his left side. His armor was stained red and between his fingers, a single root end poked out. 'Should keep the bastards burning for a while, until they get wise.'

Looking down he grimaced at what he saw, the animals had gotten wise. They stayed away from the fiery bodies, nudging them into a pile without coming into contact with the ever-burning flame. He watched as the root ramp slowly burned away, pieces tumbling down and crushing some of the undead. 'We...need to find a way out of here.'

Taking labored breaths, Eonan bit down as he grabbed the impaled root and pulled it out in one swift move. Groaning he held his hand out to one of his remaining me, grasping the air for something.

'Here.'

Handing Eonan a red bottle the Geat looked sadly at his fallen comrade holding back tears, 'that is our last one boss.'

'Great,' grumbled Eonan downing the potion before flinging the empty container over the side. 'We were supposed to restock before we left, now this hell happened.'

'We need to find theLich,' said Gawain, looking carefully over the wall. 'If we can kill him, this madness ends.'

'And how do you ... gah ... propose we do that Orkney? Waltz through the undead and ask them nicely? We get the fucking hell out of here, Freysguard is as good as dead.'

'Go if you want,' replied Gawain as he recalled the fever dream he had of Sir Bertilak, 'I have something I want to protect. The rest of Avalon is at war, everywhere from Sakurai to Nearon to even Hadlock and its in the middle of the ocean!'

'Enough of the lies boy,' yelled Eonan shoving himself right into the knight's face. 'I saw you when we fought the Bjorn! I saw how you were an utter ragdoll after you realized how much of an ass you were! Do not show me this fake bravery or so god help me I will throw you over the wall right now!'

'I am afraid Eonan. I want to run. I want to fly. But if I do that knowing that I could do something, I would never be able to look certain people in the face. If Avalon dies, Osgar's dream dies as well!'

Gawain felt something slam into before his next thought came from the cold floor.

'DO. NOT. MENTION. HIS. NAME. YOU. MURDERER!' roared Eonan, being held back by his men.

Spitting out a tooth and some blood, Gawain wiped his mouth and slowly got to his feet. Eonan had a right to be angry, he had a right to grieve but now was not the time. Standing before the Geat again he looked at the old hunter straight in the eye, 'I will carry out Osgar's dream.'

Bam!

Gawain fell onto the floor again, this time drawing blood from where the stone scraped his temple. Once again he slowly got to his feet and stood before Eonan. 'I will finish what he started! We shared one dream and I will make sure I complete it!'

Crack!

Falling back from the uppercut, Gawain landed on his back and was staring up at the red moon high above. It just hung there in the sky, covered in black clouds as it peered down angrily at him. It was an ugly color to be sure, but there was something sad about it.

'This is boring.'

Getting back Gawain swayed on his feet, spitting out another globule of blood before walking towards Eonan again. 'I know I am to blame for Osgar, I knew him for a night but that was all it took for me to know he was one of my best friends. You and I both know he would not have liked us fighting, so for his sake help me re-kill the bastard who killed him and its master!'

Gawain prepared himself for another blow, but it never came. Instead he slowly opened his eyes and he was face to face with back of the Druid. Standing before him, dressed in green robes decorated in the designs of his people was Dohate.

'Listen to him hunter,' proclaimed the old man, raising his gnarled staff and pointing it outwards at the monsters, 'save your energy for the dead.'

'And what would you have me do! Follow this idiot to my death? Forgive me honored elder, but you can go to hell with that idea!' roared Eonan, clearly stricken to the core with fear. 'I am a hunter, not a knight. I have no obligation to help.'

'Not even if I said Lirsgate is currently facing the second largest of the monstrous army? The trees are crying Geat, they cry from the abuse of their protectors and masters. The Stag-horned one is shrieking, I can feel his cries through my staff. Not even the Elder Druids of Niewi Nebi could calm his wrath now, and the source of this madness is just beyond.'

'Then tell us,' laughed Eonan, 'how are we supposed to break through that? Look northward Feathered One, look and see how burning oil does nothing to these monstrosities. Tell me how will we survive this night? It is only a matter of time before the walls fall and all of Freysguard becomes a nest of the dead.'

At that moment, lightning burst the night in a holy glow. The thunder following deafened the ears as Eonan watched an entire section of the undead sea disintegrate. As soon as the ringing in his ears died down, he heard the cries of men and women. He heard their war cries and while he could not see them, he could hear the clanking and bashing of steel and wood. He could hear the bravery of the Northmen, facing unsurmountable odds.

'The Northmen fight in hopes of reaching the halls of mighty warriors. They see death as a challenge and are you going to prove that the Geats who are descended from Beowulf have become chicken?' goaded Dohate, his gaze grim beneath his emerald cowl. Even the Caladrius who was still resting on his head, had lost all humor as he looked at the monsters.

'Chicken or not, your insults mean nothing to the dead,' huffed Eonan.

'And dead you will definitely be if you do not help,' warned Dohate, raising his hand skyward. Everyone simultaneously looked up and all of them paled. Flying high in the sky, blocking out the red moon was a massive creature the size of a small town. It moved slowly through the air yet did not make a single flap of its wings as it began to circle around Freysguard. As it passed above them, a hail of something fell down on the city.

As it splashed onto the ground and onto men, Gawain grimaced at the smell of the liquid. Looking down on the ground, he saw that it was blood mixed with the liquid of decaying flesh. It fell onto the fires rampaging throughout Freysguard, coating the city in an unbearable stench.

'Is that a...'

'A Thunderbird,' confirmed Dohate. 'A creature that brings rain and blessings, turned into a weapon of destruction...nature has turned on itself. The trees are crying tears of sap, they cry out screaming out a poem of pain and suffering'

'Red death, silent searing eyes.' said Gawain, fear biting into every single nerve in his body and refusing to let go. 'Eonan...'

Turning to the Geat with both hope and fear, Gawain pleaded, 'You cannot out run that Eonan. Now please...help us.'

Gulping Eonan looked at the Druid, swallowing as much of his fear as he could. His eyes dull, reflecting the fire of the sea of monsters, he licked his lips before asking, 'what do we do Feathered One?'

'First off call me Dohate. Second I need a pile of bones, vials of rotten blood, a lot of chalk and a few mages or healers.'

'What do you have in mind Dohate?'asked Gawain, looking down at the bloodlust ridden faces of the creatures down below. Amongst the dead, he saw a few did not have red eyes but gave off equal amounts of bloodlust. The cries of the trees had begun to affect the living!

'In order fight monsters, we need one of our own. And luckily, we are in the north which is its spawning grounds.'

Paling Eonan looked at Dohate incredulously, 'you are not going to summon a...'

'We have no choice. If we do not put a stop to this now, the sun will rise upon a world of corpses. I need to unleash a beast that even the dragons feared.'