Chapter seventy two

General of the Gondar's army P.O.V.

My hysterical laughter had finally subsided leaving me to feel empty inside instead. I was so far past fear at this point that I just felt hollow. I nearly just gave up and run away like some of the soldiers were doing, but I had my honor and pride, as an old man those mean more to me than anything else. I have lived my whole life chasing glory, I guess there is nothing more glorious than this, a glorious death.

I finally started to smile, a genuine smile this time. For so many years I have been lost in the politics and paperwork , I had forgotten what the thrill of a real battle was like, and this was as real as a battle could get.

"Men, get back in formation. There are thousands of us here , don't let him spook you!"

The fear in the eyes of the soldiers diminished a little as they did what they were trained to do, follow orders. Slowly order was restored to the panic stricken army.

As if waiting for us to finish our preparations the demon did nothing until we reorganized, then he slowly started to glide down to the ground. Under my command a sustained assault of magic and arrows were sent his way, but all of them seem to hit an invisible wall before hitting him and get deflected.

After he was only a few inches from the ground he started to glide in my direction, I had a feeling that he was looking at me when he approached. Several soldiers tried to get close enough to him to attack with their swords but when anybody got a certain distance from him they would instantly be torn apart as if a million blades were going through them.

As he slowly got closer I thought to myself , if I was going to die, I was going to die fighting , so I ordered all my soldiers to back away and performed the most advanced fire magic I knew. A tornado of flames sprang up around the demon and this time he didn't deflect the magic, instead he got engulfed by the raging storm of fire.

All my men started to cheer and applaud , but I knew better. A demon of that caliber wouldn't be defeated this easily and I was right. He came out of the fire as if it made no difference to him whatsoever, then a cold uncaring voice said,

"What a novel approach, throwing fire at a demon from hell. Was that supposed to hurt me?"

"I am not afraid of you demon, I will fight you to my last breath if I have to ! With an honorable death my place among my ancestors is guaranteed!"

"Ah, is that what you believe? You think after fighting me you get to go to paradise with your ancestors?"

Suddenly two translucent figures of soldiers I just saw him kill rose up from the ground on each side of me and grabbed my hands.

"No , I won't let you go to your ancestors, because what I kill , I keep."

He was now close enough that I could see the reflection of myself on the mirror that was there instead of his face, I saw the horror and fear in my own face reflected there. More and more of my own dead soldiers started to appear and together held me down as the demon looked on. When I was completely immobilized he said,

"You are very lucky today, I need you to deliver a message. Gambela is under my protection, anyone that tries to invade its land or harm its people will have a fate worse than death, as you can see. Do you understand what I want you to do?"

I just nodded repeatedly. I now knew what true fear was, I feared for my soul. I could imagine living the rest of eternity in servitude to this demon, and I couldn't imagine anything worse. I would do anything to escape this fate.

"Good, as a reward I will even release your men's souls, don't disappoint me. Make sure you get this message to every country around Gambela. Because if you fail, next time you see me I will be taking your soul."

The translucent figures around me vanished as he rose up back to his dragon and flew away. I was so scared that I couldn't even get up off the ground and my soldiers had to carry me to my tent like an invalid. As I lay there thinking about what had just happened I came to a conclusion, honor and pride had no value when compared to once own soul.

To save my soul, I will do whatever the demon says.