It was safe to say that all plans made never survive the battlefield. We were in pursuit of the invaders, but with them taking the lead things were not moving as expected.

When you chase after your enemies, you expectations are centered around the fact that you would be the one hurting them from behind. But unfortunately the Naga’s seems to have taken a play out of our own book as they laid traps behind for us.

I really admired their capabilities, but if only my admiration did not come with the deaths and Injuries of my soldiers, then every thing would have been perfect.

“Mars!”

“Yes my lord Kael.”

“We need to flank them, but above all we need Intel. Can you fly around and do some recon, I also need you to find the most optimal place to stage an ambush. We may need to cut them off before they get to the cave.”

Mars gave a deep bow as he shot up into the air, both sides were otherwise preoccupied with trying to kill each other so I believed for the time being no one was paying attention to a flying vampire.

But even though the Nagas were able to keep on causing severe damage to us, we were able to do the same to them. This group of enemies were not much, their small numbers made it easier for them to move and they were a lot faster than expected. However both vampires and dark elves had above average strength and agility.

And without the Ionite suppressing their natural abilities, the vampires and elves at the head of the pack were throwing the spears in their hands with much more finesse, and force than was actually expected. Most of their throws missed of course, but the few that did manage to hit, either reflected off the armors and bodies of their targets, or that one unlucky guy who had a spear completely driven through his skull. It was not a pretty sight at all.

I kept pace with the Nagas, there were not so far away that they disappeared from my sight, neither was I too close to be a target for them. Eventually the chase led us to the ravine and I was shocked by the sight in front of me.

The mist that I had used to camouflage the traps and the deep hole in the ground was parted straight down to the middle, almost as if a sheet of paper was ripped in two. The Nagas and the two weavers crossed over the hole with relative ease with the vampires and dark elves still hot in pursuit.

However as we were about to cross over, Mars dropped down in front of the entire army and shouted with a deeper voice than expected.

“Stop!”

Everyone came to a screeching halt with varying looks of confusion printed on their faces. Even I couldn’t help but wonder why Mars would just suddenly stop us when victory was right in our grasp.

I made my way to the front of the pursuers while also asking Mars why he would deign it important to stop us from wiping out the Nagas.

“I beg you forgiveness your grace, but if we continue this chase, we would all be wiped out, or at least suffer heavy casualties.”

Mars was not making any sense, anyone could see we had the Nagas at the end of their rope. But Xaseah had even less patience than me before she snapped at Mars.

“Get on with it old man! What the hell did you find out?”

Mars had an ugly look on his face from Xaseah yelling at him, but he moved his eyes aside almost as if he could not be bothered to provide an answer to her Inquiries. Then all of a sudden the ugly look on Mars's face was now firmly plastered on Xaseah’s.

This was annoying and funny at the same time. But In the end I couldn’t really make heads or tails about how the leaders of both the vampire and dark elves acted. They were both political rivals and allies, and sometimes they would act so sophisticated and mysterious having all of their actions and decisions steeped in schemes and ploys for their own benefits and the advancement of their own agendas. However they sometimes find it hard to keep their emotions under control, which made them lash out at regular Intervals.

However they lack the distinct ability to keep their facial expressions in check so as not to give out what they were thinking or feeling at that particular point in time.

Both Mars and Xaseah knew that their actions had annoyed the other, what that entailed?....I don’t really know but, it was good as long they did not have any ploys of throwing my plans into disarray. Besides if they were in conflict, it will give me the perfect opportunity to divide and conquer.

But such thinking at this point in time made me seriously question my sanity. Who the hell schemes and played with politics right in the middle of the battlefield with the lives of millions hanging on his decisions…….the answer to that is me. I could not help but feel how waking up a vampire had messed me up, but I couldn’t complain or be blamed. I had no idea what I was like before I woke up a vampire.

Mars bowed to me as he spoke.

“Forgive me my lord, the earlier interruption was rather unfortunate, but of no consequence. However there’s an ambush prepared right at the cliff that leads out to the hub. The Nagas and humans not to mention a few dozen werewolves that are there are about the same as amount that attacked us.”

I was shocked, I knew the amount of damage this group of Nagas had caused, but to think there was still another group of them lying In wait. Hundreds of vampires and dark elves had fallen never to rise up again, and now I was being told all those deaths was caused by only half the amount of enemies we had to face. I shivered, what would have happened if it was the whole group of attackers that made their way here.

Mars coughed as he tried to get my attention again.

“Also my lord, it is my believe that Adein the lover was among the other group lying in ambush if not outright their leader.”

I felt an alarm go off in my head as my heart beat got faster and faster. I couldn’t tell if what I was feeling right now was fear or anger, but I knew one thing was certain, I wanted that human dead, I wanted him tortured, I wanted him in pain and I wanted him broken. Adein left a scar on me that could never show on my body, for the longest time his face has always invaded my sleep and bringing with it endless nightmares of my experience of his own particular brand of love. I needed closure but I could not get it on the lives of the thousands of people that believed in me.

I really wanted to give the order for us to advance and had to fight the urge to find a hole and curl up in. However I was still an elected leader of a dying race, and it was up to me to make sure they survived. We were really out matched in this fight, there was only so much superior numbers could do, even with our advances speed, strength and senses. Against the Nagas and humans who all had access to the WAY and the abilities it granted them, we were like puppies trying to pull the tail of a dragon.

I looked at my wrist and could not help but disdain the glowing tattoo that was moving and flowing around my wrist and wrist of every person here. It was ugly and it was killing us. But either way we all had to be careful from now on.

“Mars fall back and regroup. I don’t think the Nagas would be attacking anytime soon. Just as much as we are not sure about their capabilities and trump cards, I’m sure they are not sure about ours. So we might have some time before they attack us again. So in the main time gather our soldiers and prepare them for a final battle. Also assign some of them to cover crucial parts of the ravine and act as scouts. As for the dead…….leave them where they are, once this fight is over if we’re still alive we will drink a toast to them and give them their final rights, but if we should fall on the field of battle, then we will join our brothers and sisters in eternal slumber.”

Mars nodded his head and bowed, then he took to the air relaying his orders to the soldiers who were still alive. I turned to Xaseah and said to her.

“I need to fix the damaged weaves and reset some of the traps. Please protect me while I do so.”

Xaseah raised an eyebrow in surprise, we both know if I had a choice I would never ask her to protect me given how little I trusted her. But we have both been through a life and death situation together and even though I abhorred admitting it, a certain kind of camaraderie had grown between us. We were not friends, but at least we respected each other.

I turned as I made my way to the edge of the ravine and used whatever vestiges of energy left from the previous battle to fix the weaves and runes. It did not take much, but as I fixed it I was filled with a resolution. As soon as I was properly rested and had enough soul and mental energy I was going to make a move. No matter what happens today, this fucking seal was coming the fuck off my wrist.

Kal always believed that he had a bottom line, and under that bottom line there was a list of things he would never ever do no matter what situation he found himself in. One of those things was running away, but he had to admit, that the fact that he could no longer hear the clamors and battle roars of the vampires and dark elves behind him lifted a weight from his shoulders. And for that he hated himself, in the span of one night or day, (he was bot sure about the time since a gloomy mountain prison with a system of caves that ran for miles and miles on end had no way to acknowledge the proper passage of time). He had been completely defeated and pushed to an edge he never thought possible for himself. And all that was due to prisoners who were expected to be weaker than a new born puppy.

They were relentless and unlike any other enemy he had ever faced. But they all reminded him of one particular race of people that he hated to the core…..humans. On that battlefield he came face to face with the same ferociousness, the same tenacity, innovation and strategy that was common with the humans.

Most humans were cowards, they loved to have everything easy and simple. They loved luxury, they loved pain. They were the most unorganized, uncooperative, and the most selfish race to have ever walked the face of Shearath. But Kal had seen with his own two eyes how determined a human can be, how when it comes down to it, they would fight to the very last drop of their blood to make a difference or to stand for something. It was the one thing he admired about them, the one thing he hated about them, and the one thing he was most afraid off about them. Their heart.

And now he was seeing that same amount of heart and spirit in the eyes of these vampires and dark elves. It might be to early or to late to say this but if the council of light does not find a way to get their prisoners under control, then the whole of Shearath was screwed……. Massively.

The vampires and dark elves were not like this before, they were prideful, larger than life and had an elitist mentality that placed them above everyone else. They; much like every other race on Shearath felt the humans with their weak constitution and short life spans were weak and inconsequential.

Their lack of cooperation made the humans targets of bullying even with the immense power they have wielded since the dawn of the first sun. However a war happened and the vampires and dark elves lost, the humans cemented their image as the most adaptive and most evolved race on the entire surface of Shearath.

But in the process of doing that, the imprisoned vampires and dark elves learnt humility, they learnt how to hope, how to live for today and hope for the best tomorrow. They learnt how to truly love and cherish one another.

In this new found unity of theirs, guided by the light that is called hope, dare he say it; the vampires and the dark elves, this two races that were known as the dark ones, the children of the first night, prisoners of the first moon. A race stuck under a mountain for two thousand years, a race who In the gloom of their own despair and darkness discovered what it meant to be human. What it meant to live, to die, to sacrifice and to love.

In all of the time Kal has had to come over to the dancing caves of Noxis Nyx, he had been given a front row seat to their evolution. Which was why when his eyes met the eyes of that leader of theirs, a person he was very sure was once the human activist Kael Cor, he couldn’t help but feel terrified. Because he could see it in all of their eyes, they had it now, and they could loose it, but that will take another two thousand years. But the crux of the matter was that they were now a million times more dangerous now, and all for the fact they discovered that unexplainable force that every other race called humanity.

Kal shook his head as he slithered away, he felt a chill through out his entire body and a vibration deep within his scaled leather skin. He had no intention of prolonging this fight, its end might have been somewhat anticlimactic but there would be no winner in this fight, not to mention he was still outnumbered a hundred to one if not more. The other half of their force should be sufficient deterrence to get them out of here safe and sound.

There were many other ways to win this fight, they could starve them, or smoke them out. Or bring the entire mountain crashing down on their heads. But either way it was time for a strategic retreat. The council needs to be alerted regardless of the price for failure, and they needed to know one very important fact…..the vampires and dark elves had a weaver on their side.

In no time at all Kal was standing in front of the other half of their forces left behind. He would occasionally shift a nervous glance behind him, but he saw no trace of his enemies. For some reason that left him with more trepidation than he could care to admit.

“All of you move out, we are retreating. Werewolves we need you to cover our rear and scout ahead for any possible dangers. So split yourself into two teams and get to it.”

Kal gave his orders as quickly and as sharply as possible, however the werewolves turned a confused gaze to the man who was supposed d to be their leader; Adein. But Adein did not seem to have much to say, it was common knowledge among this group of people that he had a spell cast on him that made him terrified of Nagas, especially the leader Kal. Although the effects should have worn off by now, there was no way to be sure if the look of fear in his eyes right now was either caused by the spell or he’s own terror. So it did not take much for Adein to swallow a rather visible lump in his throat as he turned to his own soldiers.

“Move out, and do everything he says down to the last detail.”

And with that said they all began their long trek and slithering through the tunnel, hoping to put some distance between the crazy horde behind them. But on their way out Kal was going to set some magical explosives in the tunnel, even though they had painstakingly excavated the tunnel, it was not a good idea to give their prisoners access to any other part of the caves. It was better to keep them trapped down there until the council of light could figure out what their next move will be.

Kal smelled the stench of blood and death in the air, they had given their opponents a proper show and gave them a glimpse of what the Naga race was capable of doing. But at the same time, no matter how Kal looked at it, regardless of the angle it was presented from. This expedition was a massive failure, and a lot of people will have to face the music and bear the consequences. Death was on t he horizon.