The wind brushed through her hair as Captain Ellyrie gazed out on the world beneath her. This high up aboard her sky ship the large fields and hamlets appeared tiny and filled her chest with pride.

That feeling dissipated however, as the captain gazed ahead to their destination. Castrum El Cynthia, the northernmost city of the empire and one of it´s four crowning jewels laid spread out before them. And it was an inferno. The streets burned, the gates had been shattered by gigantic beasts of war and black banners flew across them.

Ellyrie grasped the rope and leaned over the edge of the ship, but shook her head, the insignia were too small for her to discern from this far up.

"Eagle, Snake, Hammer and one I don't recognise. Two crossed blades, have you heard of that one before captain?" The voice belonged to Aeneya, third of the Hope´s guard. She stood on the great dragon head that was the galleon figure of their ship, and despite the great speed with which they sailed her stance was firm.

"Show off." Ellyria shook her head. "But no, I'm afraid I don't. Maybe one of the northern tribes? They usually don't come this far south and good riddance for that."

"Then it is all the better that we arrived so soon. We can teach them to stay where they came from before they get a taste for human territory." The heavy steps and booming voice announced Mellador as sure as always. The great man towered above his fellow Sky knights, his great maul was the size of a grown man and the armour he wore weighed more than any mount in the realm could carry.

His fellow knights looked upon him with awe and respect that was rarely given to one such as him within the empire, for his growth was not a blessing, but birthright. Half-humans, least of all Half-ogres were rarely even seen within the realms, and when they were it was in a cage or on the execution square, not holding the title of knight. Neither that nor the great moustache he had grown to obscure his more inhuman features did much to spare him the ire of the common folk however.

Ellyrie turned to face her comrade and smiled, her calm returning. "It's good they didn't bring wyverns, we will be able to drop unhindered with how things look." The captain reached down to her side and laid her hand on the hilt of her sword. It was her first spellblade, the bright saphire crystal attached to the hilt was glowing in preparation for the glories it was about to unleash. A whole year now had she carried it, but still not found a proper name.

"Ahaha!" The familiar, shrill voice echoed from the lookout post high above. Fiona had climbed up all the way and stood on the railing of the round lookout and was pointing her great scythe towards the burning city. "The fools prepared a feast for my pale mother, we will honour their generosity with inspiring carnage, this I promiseeeep!"

A great gust of wind hit the sails, urging them ever onward, and bringing Fiona out of balance. She fell forward as her boistering yelling turned to a cry. To her luck she was already wearing her drop boots, and adjusted to land feet first. The gems on the sides of her boots began to glow in a gentle green light as her fall was halted until she gently landed on the deck next to Ellyrie, her face completely red.

"Nobody saw that!"

"Saw what?" The door to the lower decks opened, and the last two of the Hope´s guard joined the ranks. The brothers Thaeus, disciple of the enlightened Elias, and Cairon, the eternal apprentice. Both had their staves shouldered and looked at Fiona with more or less hidden amusement.

"Fiona was just testing her landing gear, to good success." Ellyrie had a harder time to stifle her laughter and looked across her companions. Her five friends and about thirty of her regular Sky Knights were all she had been able to scramble together in the little time she had been given.

They were now approaching the outer walls, coating the elder wood the ship had been built out of in smoke that rose up towards them along with the screams.

Cairon Had already gripped his staff and stepped onto the railing before his brother could grab his arm. "You should listen to the captain first, don't you think?"

Thaeus´calm did little to quell the anger that had Cairon´s body tremble. "There are people dying down there, every moment we wait we will be guilty of another death we could have stopped!"

His roar turned to a rather shrill hiss when Mellador picked him up by the collar of his robe and dropped him back onto the deck with grace. "We will save the most lives by listening to our captain and following her plan. What shall we do, Ellyrie?"

All eyes were now on their captain. Ellyrie took one last glance across the vistage of the burning city. Like all imperial architecture, the elevation of buildings rose the further one got to the centre, with the local temple to the pantheon as the tallest of them all.

"Neya, drop onto the temple and pick your targets and respond to flares as you see them." Aeneya had already shouldered her greatbow and gave her captain a bow before letting herself fall backward off the ship towards the temple. Ellyrie rolled her eyes for a moment before turning her attention back to her crew.

"Mellador, you take the main bulk of our forces and land near the plaza, get it secure and move through from there." The great knight saluted his captain and shouldered his heavy maul before marching over to the other side of the deck with the rest of the common knights in tow. They dropped in rows, jumping across the railing. The view had Ellyrie puff out her chest, she had trained them well.

"Cairon, Thaeus, you'll be on civilian duty, bring anyone you can rescue back to Mellador. And Fiona, you can-"

Ellyrie was interrupted by another shrill laughter and the sight of her companion running up the dragon´s head, her scythe raised above her head. "The daughter of the pale lady shall bring the carnage the reaper craves! Scream for pity, you inhuman savages, your death has arrived, Ahahahaha!"

She jumped off and Fiona´s scythe´s screeches echoed across the city as it cut through the air, her black mantle flowing behind the Sky Knight like a pair of wings.

"Three months at port and everyone needs to go all out." The captain shook her head and took to the railing along with the two brothers. "I'll be heading into the citadel to make contact with whatever resistance is left and then join back up with you."

Thaeus had shouldered his staff and bowed, much to the annoyance of his younger brother who was staring down at the streets in mayhem, his hands clenched to his staff.

"May the gods bless your journey, captain. We will reconvene in glory." The two jumped together and their staves began to glow, in vibrant red and icy blue.

The sky ship had reached the citadel by now, a great square fortress at the core of the city. Ellyrie unsheathed her nameless sword and gazed at it´s flawless blue blade. It was to be a mirror image of her home, the skies. The captain looked up to the dark clouds shrouding them one more time, and jumped.

The sinking feeling never truly went away, even after the thousandth jump, even after the tenth time checking her boots. She raced downward as more and more details of the battlefield came into view. The few defenders still on the walls, holding off the savage invaders.

The captain rose her left leg and kicked against the air. The gem in her boot began to glow and sent a gust of wind in the direction, altering her course until she was set to land in the middle of the citadel´s courtyard. It was teeming with enemies, but that was only for the better, she could test out her new landing method in practice.

As she reached the ground her boots sprung again into action, bracing her fall by sending out waves of air magic, enough to send a few nearby enemies staggering back. Ellyrie did not resign herself to slowly landing as was proper protocol. Instead she pushed against the air with her right leg, and sent herself flying forward just a few inches above the ground.

She soared towards her first enemy, a hideous Inhuman. Like most of his ilk from the hillsides, he was tall but thin, with wrinkled, barklike skin and a face covered in warpaint. Their warriors often did not have the money for armour, or spent it all on having their weapon enchanted by one of their witches.

This savagery came to cost him as Ellyrie pierced his chest with her sword and clenched her hand around the hilt. The blade reacted to her will, the crystal began to glow and her blade erupted into flame, which quickly spread across the Inhuman´s body.

His screams attracted more of his kin, and even they knew of the white cloaks that distinguished one as a Sky Knight. Such an enemy was a greater feat to slay, and so most of them let off the few desperate defenders.

They formed a great circle around her, yelling and cheering in their guttural language that sent a shiver down Ellyrie´s spine. "So you're going to come at me one at a time or can I spare myself the boredom?" She called back to them, a smirk forming on her lips as her nameless blade was once more engulfed in blue flame.

They had decided on the latter. Club, axe and swords raised they charged at her from all directions. The captain closed her eyes, and drew even more energy from the crystal. She felt the power spread throughout her body and reach her eyes. When she opened them the Inhumans moved even more slow and predictably than before.

It was barely fair. The captain moved through the mass of bodies like through water. Their lesser weapons broke or burst when meeting her nameless blade, their bodies were engulfed in flames when struck and they could not hope to land a blow against her enhanced reflexes.

By the time the power was spent, Ellyrie stood in a sea of ashes. Her body was drenched in sweat, and she nearly had to drop her blade with how hot the hilt had gotten. The defenders atop the wall cheered for her as Ellyrie removed the crystal from the hilt and put the spent one in a pouch on her belt.

Before she could slot in a new one however, a bone-chilling howl had her spin around, her eyes widening.

Inhuman tribesfolk should never have been able to command beasts strong enough to break into a Castrum, they were simply too powerful to be commanded by such weak people. Now it all made sense, as Ellyrie stared up at the being responsible, a creature she had only heard of from stories told to scare her as a child.

A demon was approaching the citadel. A mountain of a beast, wielding a hammer that could shatter her ship in a single blow, it´s hideous, decaying face twisted in glee as it stared down at the captain.

It was in every respect a being of the lord Elthaine, covered in excessive, mutated muscle mass, devoid of hair and of a crimson colour that spread across it´s entire body, eldritch seals and words etched into it that glowed in a sickly blue light.

These beings were not meant to exist outside of their accursed plains at the edges of the earth, least of on sanctified imperial ground! As it charged Ellyrie quickly rammed a fresh crystal into her blade. And while half of her mind screamed for her to flee, the other was trembling with excitement. Ellyrie, the demon killer. What stories would they tell of her after this?