The sound of pounding feet and labored breathing was all around me. The second explosion was even more jarring than the first one. We little time to spare, the children and elderly of both races were being led to the bunker for protection. The bunker's capacity was severely limited, but for the time being it can serve as a shelter for those who can not fight.

The ravine was stretched to encompass two districts and a significant amount of a third, not to mention the blue district was twice as big as the green district and the green was bigger than the red. So in fact each district were significant larger than the next. The ravine was dug starting from the blue district nestled right at the edge of the western part of the pit, all the way to the green district and part of the red that could be considered as the center of the pit.

The first district the Nagas would have to face when entering the pit should directly be the blue district. But the wall should redirect their entry to its point of opening, should they choose to go around instead, they would have to enter from the red district.

The blue district was nestled right at the western edge, as such they were right beside the wall of the pit. The real size of the pit has never really been measured. But it was developed from west with the blue district built first right by the wall that signified the western end of the pit, all the way to the east, easily followed by the green district, the red district and the white district.

And even with the sheer size of the districts, the eastern wall of the pit has not been seen yet, after the white district everything from then on spiraled into darkness.

If the Nagas find a way to bypass the ravine, they would have to cross into the pit properly by coming in from the red district. This way our enemies would be coming from a definite direction and we could come up with a counter for any moves they might make.

But apart from that, after the bunker was occupied, much of the population was split and sent deeper into the pit. It wouldn’t do to put all our eggs in one basket, so it was better to send small groups of people deeper into the pit to keep them safe. Though it was unsure if there was any more danger deeper in the pit, but we have no choice at the moment.

As I made my way towards the rail car that would lead me to the end of the wall at the blue districts I could hear Mars giving orders to his soldiers. He left a considerable part of the force behind, about half of it and had them line up in front of the wall and placed in a few strategic points so that the enemy would not flank us. They would serve as our rear guard and would send warnings if the Nagas breached the wall from behind us.

The other half was further divided into two and one half was spread into the red and green district. This was an attempt at an ambush on our part, or at least to give us some modicum of a chance if we could not handle them with a larger force.

The other larger force positioned themselves within and on the pillars that dotted the red and a little of the green district. They provided cover and also have us the advantage of the high ground. Unfortunately the only thing we could use against them in defense were actually a reinforce type of earth mineral. I had no idea what it was called, but it was black as night with little flecks of white veins running through it. Some of the gnomes who have been working with us had spent a considerable amount of time forging those weapons.

I jumped into the first available rail car I could find with Mars right behind me. At the moment I had no idea where Kuyait, Teluna and Nisi were, but they had orders from me to stay away from the battlefield. While their abilities would go a long way in helping us in this fight, should things go south it was up to them to protect and help whatever is left of our forces.

“Mars do we have any Intel on our ‘guests’”

“No my lord, the wall is invisible on both sides so we’re as blind as our enemies about the situation on the other side. Not to mention even if we could see, the fog would most definitely impair our vision. We can’t glean any information about our enemies until we engage them directly in battle. Besides it’s a little to risky to send any scouts towards their direction, apart for the fact that they could get caught in the crossfire of the traps we set ourselves, we can not underestimate the Nagas.

They have access to resources and abilities we can only dream of right now. Should our scouts be discovered, this whole thing would be unraveled at the seams. Adein may be a magnificent torturer, but he is nothing compared to the Nagas.”

This was a little problematic for me. Without information on our enemies we were stuck twiddling our thumbs and waiting for them to bring the fight to us, which if I should be honest is not really a good idea considering how poorly equipped we were compared to them.

Before the rail car could start moving, the sound of something heavy impacting the earth and moving really fast was picked up by my sensitive ears. I turned my head to see Soren running towards us with huge gaits and with such power I could actually feel the earth vibrate under him. He came to a stop beside the rail car and said one word to me.

“Get on.”

I was confused and surprised. I haven’t caught a whiff of Soren’s backside in days except when he would be throwing random thoughts into my head at his leisure. I was about to protest and tell him about how I was needed at the front lines only for him to interrupt me before I could say anything.

“I know, that where I’m going. With me you would get there faster.”

That was enough to convince me. The situation now was a whole lot more fragile and dangerous for me to get in an argument with my ‘brother’.

I settle my self over his back, and while it might sound awesome that I was sitting over and almost five foot tall and six foot long heavily set horned lion. It was extremely uncomfortable without a saddle and I was stuck doing nothing but holding on to Soren’s silky soft white mane to keep my balance as he moved past the huge towers with speeds that would make even the original bloodline of the vampire kings jealous with envy.

We arrived at the end of the wall in almost no time at all. I was a little surprised that Soren had nothing to say during the duration of our journey here but I couldn’t focus too much on it. It would take Mars another forty minutes to reach here, it made me give an imaginary hat tip to Soren’s physical abilities. But without Mars here a lot of the soldiers were still a bit disorganized. I couldn’t blame them for that though, non of them had any idea how to act like soldiers and I had no idea how to command them either.

This turned out to be a serious wake up call for me as for the umpteenth time I had to worry about how very out matched we were against our opponents. The special rock knives, swords, spears and shields that they were all equipped with now just seemed like a big joke in front of our coming enemies.

I felt like a chicken whose head had just been cut off, I could make plans, set traps and maneuver my way through political intrigue with relative success. But when it comes to war on a larger scale and military tactics I was stumped and at a loss. Every second was valuable and I was stuck here with no idea what to do. It would have been better if I arrived here with Mars instead of coming ahead of him and having no idea what to do.

I turned to Soren wanting to ask him to go back and get Mars here quickly, but as usual he read my mind and gave me an answer before I could even ask the question.

“No.”

I was stumped, why would he refuse at such a critical juncture, we needed Mars to get here and properly coordinate his soldiers in preparation for the Naga’s arrival.

“Nobody but you is allowed on my back. And don’t ask for any explanation cause I wouldn’t give it.”

I couldn’t help myself in regards to what came next. I was under a lot of pressure and I was now completely clueless about how act or what to do next. All I had planed were a series of traps, that while impressive I was not very confident of it holding the enemy back. And even though I hadn’t put much stock in Mars’s training of an army, over the past few days I had come to appreciate their usefulness.

“What explanation?!!, you never explain anything. All you do is come and go as you please and invade my mind whenever you feel like. Not to mention your stupid obsession with leaving someone in suspense, telling me things and then not telling me anything in the end.

And now I need your help and you’re refusing for whatever damn reason your twisted mind thinks is more important than the lives of millions of people.”

We were already the center of attention as I was already yelling at the top of my voice while I directed my smoldering gaze at the lion that was almost as tall as me, and could quite literally tear me to pieces if it so wished. But with all of my angry outburst and the fact that every soldier there was now looking at me like I had gone crazy. All Soren did was stand there and looked at me like I really had gone crazy. His silence was even more irritating than his refusal to go back and get Mars, and as I was about the to resume my angry tirade, I heard a voice that gave me shivers every time I heard it.

“While it is extremely cute to watch you loose you’re composure and yell at your pet. We need to come up with a plan of attack or at least a feasible mode of defense should you traps be breached.”

Of all the people why did it have to be Xaseah of all people. And what the hell did she mean by loosing my composure. I was not crazy, but before I could refute her words I was interrupted again! By Soren but this time he was not talking to me.

“I’m not a pet, woman. The next time you call me that again I’ll bite you.”

And then he turned around strutting off to who knows where. The atmosphere however was now silent. Not many people knew that Soren could talk, and by the looks of everyone around me they heard him quite loud and clear. Which was why even though I would very much like to throw Soren off a building or at least put him back in his cage, I was thankful he was able to shut Xaseah up.

But it was after that I remembered that Mars and already made plans before I got here. While most of the soldiers were still arriving, those here could be moved to occupy the towers for the high ground advantage. I felt like a complete idiot, but it was really strange now that I thought about it.

I knew I had no skills with military tactics, but how the hell could I have forgotten a premade plan and fall into panic like that. It was really weird and I could not help the shiver that flung to the base of my spine with how eerie the whole thing seemed.

I turned to Xaseah observing the priestess. She was still clad in her leather clothes that snugly hugged every shape and contour of her body. How she was able to get that in this sea of gray clad vampires and dark elves completely eluded me. But she looked good, especially when you took into consideration she had a bow slung over her shoulder, and what looked like a long metal rod, with a rather extravagant wooden base.

“What’s that?” I asked pointing at the rod.

She unslung it from her back and showed it to me, the rod was actually hollowed out with a hole right in the middle, and on top of it was something that looked like a spyglass attached to it. The wooden base had figures of butterflies carved onto its polished surface. All in all it was a rather peculiar piece of equipment, and I did not remember seeing this among the other weapons confiscated from the guards during the uprising.

“This is a gun. It’s a very dangerous weapon and its quite capable of a lot of damage.” Xaseah answered with much enthusiasm

“Oh.”

I saw Xaseah scrunch her face in annoyance, but I couldn’t help it. To me the whole weapon felt underwhelming. I’m sure it was quite as dangerous as she said it was, in fact it seemed quite familiar to me and it was due to that familiarity that I couldn’t muster up any excitement about the weapon.

At that moment Mars arrived, his appearance left mine and almost every other individuals jaw in this surrounding vicinity unhinged. Mars was actually flying, although it was with unsteady and shaky flutters, that did not change the fact that he was currently in the air.

Flight was a vampire ability that can only be cultivated by elder vampires and even then it would take them quite a serious amount of years to be able to cultivate such an ability.

I felt jealous for some reason, but it was not a feeling I could explore properly with the threat of death hanging over our heads. Mars didn’t need to say much as he jumped straight into action and started positioning and giving orders to the soldiers that were currently here. Our simple hope was that all the traps we had set would hold our enemies back long enough for reinforcement to get here. While our forces have already been split and assigned, it was taken them quite a while to get here. The pit was seriously huge, with much of its expanse left relatively unexplored. It was like a whole other world in here.

After Mars had given his orders, he came to stand right beside me and he started whispering softly to Xaseah. It was annoying but there wasn’t much I could do. But what I could not currently wrap my head around was that out of the three hundred dark elf priestesses only one was here. Apart from the twin dark elves who had helped Mars form the army, every other person was not here. Even the vampires leaders were not here except for Mars.

It was confusing , I really did not understand why such a thing was going on, but it was not something I could worry about because at that moment, beyond the invisible wall we had all painfully erected, there was a blinding flash of white light and a sizable chunk of the wall began to decay and disintegrate in an extremely horrifying and peculiar way.

The part of the wall that was disintegrated regained its physical appearance. The rest of the wall was somehow still invisible, but that meant nothing anymore, I was sure the enemy has noticed the way the wall disintegrated into a useless pile of rocks. I had no idea what could have cause that flash of light, but it was quite obvious that our enemies were well and better equipped than us. But one thing could be gleamed from what just happened. They were very much pissed off.

I exchanged a few glances with Mars and Xaseah as they stood beside me. There was nothing much to be said between the three of us, apart from the fact that we were severely off position from where the wall was attacked, there was an aura of trepidation and little wisps of fear written on all our faces.

Our perfect wall had lost its symmetry and the place that took damage looked like a gate into the very mouth of hell itself. And so we waited with baited breaths and elevated heart beats. I could feel sweat trickle down past my neck and down my back as a shiver accompanied it.

Even when I had ended up being tortured by Adein things has been a little too convenient for me. From somehow acquiring the necessary books required to elevate my weaving abilities, or so many other random little encounters that have made my stay here quite easy. At this moment, in front of this coming fight I could not help but look past to everything that had happened to me in the last year.

There were to many holes and inconsistencies, but non of that would matter if I loose my life here. But I have chosen to take a responsibility I was under no obligation to take. Maybe I was being impulsive, or maybe I just wanted to have control over one good thing in my life. What ever happens today, what ever the outcome of this fight I was only sure of one thing though. It was my choice to fight here, it was my choice to look my enemies in the eye.

And no matter what happens, I’m going to make sure this guys learn the error of their ways, and I had the perfect tool to use. Two thousand years was a lot of time to harbor endless anger and rage, every single person here would love nothing more than to dish out and release all those pent up feelings even at the expense of their life. No matter how you looked at it, today was a day of reckoning but for who….., that remains to be seen.