The border guards were scattered like leaves in the wind. The massive bolt of lightning had blown down the gate and a piece of the large stone wall went with it. Chunks of rock and metal were thrown out knocking down guards and innocent citizens who had been nearby.

Disoriented and unorganized, the guards and commanding officials were slow to rise against the onslaught of Vikara warriors who had been raised from their ashen graves. Dozens of Vikara warriors spilled in through the gates. Crude weapons slashed and hacked at the fallen guards.

"Waste not on the fallen! Spread into the city!" General Kuraya screamed.

His warriors dashed into the streets spreading out wide and far. Citizens, unaware but on alert had little time to react as viscious blades and jagged claws came down upon them. General Kuraya stalked over the dead and dying city defenses. A captain of the border guard, bleeding from a gash where a rock had penetrated his armor, stood up and took the offensive.

Drunk of blood lust and rejuvenated life, the Vikara General had no thoughts of losing or even being harmed in battle. He launched in, broad sword leading the way and hit the captain hard. The human warrior, with only one arm to block with could not withstand the fury of the revived Vikara.

The large broad sword swept through the captain, cleaving his arm off in a single slash.

"I shall feast upon you and ever shall I grow." Kuraya snarled and bit down upon the captain. The General's thick green skin darkened and grew as did his body.

*****

Lucian had taken to the skies only a few heart beats after the lightning had struck. His dark black wings unfolded from his back and lifted him up into the air. Melanie wanted to grab him but he was already out of reach before she thought about it.

"My Queen. Please return to your chambers. I can readily defend you from within there." Joona said in a demanding voice.

Melanie looked at Joona who stepped back slightly. Melanie's sapphire blue eyes shifted to a near indigo. Her rounded black pupils thinned and elongated into oval slivers. Her pale skin further deepened to an almost pearlescent pale color, like the glaciers that resided beyond the mountains to the north.

"Where is Brandi and Kelly?"

*****

Brandi spun around in her seat and looked out the back window. She could see people standing in the streets talking about what might have happened. To her horror as well as theirs, the answer to that arrived over the hill. Staggered groups of pale green skinned Vikara charged through the streets.

The people, unprepared and unaware of the threat, scrambled away too late. Crude blades and weapons tore through their necks and bodies. Arterial blood spewed up and over the Vikara who seemed only to grow a little faster and darker skinned. Brandi was helpless as she watched the dead and dying get eaten.

"No! Run!" Brandi screamed.

Leo grabbed Brandi by the shoulders and pulled her into him. She buried her face into his mane sobbing. His large furry fingered paws held her tight. Every ounce of the warrior within him wanted to fight the Vikara but his duty was to protect Brandi.

He closed his eyes and tried to shut out the sounds of screams and death that his keen ears picked up through the padded sides of the wagon. Then, without warning. The wagon lurched to a halt. Brandi, wide teary eyed and afraid, looked at Leo who's emerald green eyes narrowed in wary concern. The front door of the wagon opened and then the side door.

The driver. Wielding a short ax and club ushered them out.

"The wagon won't make it in time. If I had charged it up before we left we would've been fine. your lives rest on me. You must run. I will hold them off." The driver shook nervously though his face was steeled with courage.

"Get back in the wagon and keep driving. I will take to the roof. Don't stop though." Leo growled.

"S-sir I-"

"Get moving." He snarled furiously.

The driver jumped back in and put the wagon into motion. At full power it drove at thirty miles and hour. However, when it wasn't properly charged it only moved at ten miles an hour. The Vikara were closing in quickly. Leo looked at Brandi and let her go gently. Tears streamed from her eyes.

"Nothing will hurt you ma'am. Stay inside." He said and climbed out of the wagon and onto the roof.

*****

Kelly made quick work of getting her clothes together and several of her favorite sex toys. After putting together a single bag of belongings she grabbed a pen and paper and writing out a letter which she weighed down on the bed. Kelly glanced at her room. The biggest space to call her own that she had ever known.

She hadn't even had time to furnish it either. Kelly closed the door and rushed up the stairs passing several servants who were running down the stairs looking worried and afraid. She wondered what chaos was ensuing in the city. Just as she reached the black marble hall she nearly ran into Maalceus

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes."

"We must leave out the north. I fear them finding us if we leave through the south."

"Why?" A different voice cut in.

Both Maalceus and Kelly turned to find Lynx behind them. His inquisitive expression furrowed in startled understanding.

"The city is already under attack. If we stay they will surely find us." Maalceus snarled.

"It is not the Daemons who are attacking." Lynx replied.

"If not them? Then who?"

*****

Lucian rose high above the city. His large black wings carried him over the road and allowed him a perfect sight of the horror that was unfolding. At his sides, his two personal guards rose up to meet him. Dressed in their casual wear, both Marvin and Heather looked under dressed for battle.

Marvin, wearing a tan shirt and loose red pants flew in close to his King. His two pairs of wings flapped separately. Heather, in her long deep red dress that split up the sides, matched her King on his left. Both guards were ready with short swords at their hips. They observed the city from above getting closer to the wall where the main force of the Vikara was.

"They are far too close to people for me to go full scale." Lucian growled angrily.

Lucian noticed a palace wagon moving through the street. With a gesture, both Heather and Marvin followed him down.

*****

Leo, his long handled war hammer in hand, batted away another Vikara. The pale green skinned goblinoid rushed in attempting to slash at the half-breed. Leo was a seasoned warrior and a near master with the war hammer. Shifting stances he parried the blade with the long handle and allowed the natural motion of the strike to follow.

His ten pound hammer head with a spiked end fell down over his shoulder hitting the Vikara square in the jaw. The green creature was dead once more. Its body returning to ash as it had been. Another Vikara moved in close, an ax in one hand and a long sword in the other. Leo blocked the ax but felt the bite of the long sword as it slid across his exposed knee.

He let out a roar of pain that bellowed like a bass horn, startling the Vikara who were already uneasy about fighting the warrior. As Leo reached out with a wide swing, his hammer caught the arm of a Vikara and the nose of another. They tumbled away, not dead but disoriented. To his dismay, three more Vikara moved in closer.

From seemingly out of nowhere, two winged guards swept down and cleaved the heads off two of the five Vikara that were following the slow moving wagon. Behind him, King Drakkon landed on the carriage. Leo wanted to bow but couldn't let his guard down with so many enemies around.

"You are with Brandi?" He asked.

"Yes, my lord." Leonardo replied.

"Good stay with her. I will leave Heather with you for aid."

"Thank you my lord."

"Marvin! With me." Lucian growled and took to the skies.

Heather watched as her lover left beside their King. Her long red hair whipped about as she killed two more of the pale skinned enemies. Their bodies returned to ash on the street.

*****

General Kuraya walked through the street. Scooping up dying citizens as he went. With each new droplet of blood and each new bit of flesh he consumed, his body of flesh and bone returned. Without the fresh flesh and blood, his body of hardened ash and magick would not last. Only through fresh kills could he regain his mortal body.

Warriors of the kingdom rushed at him, blades high and low. The seasoned Vikara had fought through more battles than he could count. His long broad blade swept across them all in wide archs cutting hands from arms and heads from neck. He wasted no time in drinking and feasting upon them. His pale flesh grew darker and more corporeal with each passing moment.

He paused for a moment and looked down upon a dying boy. Barely ten years old. His tan skin and brown hair were soaked with his parent's blood. Tears fell from his blue eyes as he cried out in pain and horror. His feeble hands clutched at his innards as they tried to break free from the wide gash in his midsection.

With every labored breath his intestines spilled forth further and he scrambled to keep them in. Kuraya snarled a grin as he reached down and plunged his green hand into the boy's open gash. The young human screamed in horror and agonizing pain as his intestines were pulled from his insides.

He followed the yellow nailed hand up to General Kuraya who flashed his yellow teeth before biting down upon the organs. The young boy's last sight was of his own innards being eaten.

*****

Lucian reached the border wall and stared out across the empty burnt field. A few dozen Vikara struggled to get into the city. Held off by guards who had rushed in from their patrols. The King could hardly believe that the army of ashen Vikara had been resurrected. He turned towards the gates and Marvin rushed forward.

His personal guard, while only half dragon still possessed the essence. Marvin's body grew until it was as tall as his king. His skin grew pale before it shifted to a silver color. Thick scales coated over his skin and wings. A pair of long horns grew out from his head. Marvin's draconic form was only a quarter as big as Lucian's but in current circumstances it was ideal.

His thirty foot long silver dragon form jumped down off the wall and descended upon the Vikara. Claws and fangs bore down upon the pale green goblinoids. Their crude weapons slashed and hacked at him but none could peirce the hide of a shield dragon. Lucian reached out with both hands and summoned his weapons and armor.

His dark black armor and long robe appeared upon his body in a rush of shadows and darkness. In his outstretched right hands he held a double edged long sword with sharp barbs along the edges. The long black and silver sword was five feet long from blade tip to hilt end. A winged dragon served as the guard.

In his left hand appeared a black staff that was nearly as long as he was tall. At the top sat a garnet crystal which glowed at his touch.

*****

Pluktu, perched perfectly still amongst the trees and leaves a few hundred feet away had waited patiently for the right moment. His pale green skin was dowsed in sweat and grime. His body tingled with raw power that he felt from the blood lust. Every kill that the Vikara made only fueled him further.

His dark eyes lit up with anxious anticipation as his moment of triumph arrived. He watched as the King of Vervania landed upon the wall. The moment he had hoped for. Without hesitation he reached into his pocket and pulled free another heart. Unlike the last one, this organ did not beat. It was black and ragged. More like a limp mass of rotting flesh.

The Vikara mage stabbed the black rotten organ onto the crystal. Thick coagulated sludge drooled down the crystal and staff. Symbols lit up with a dark blue. Again he started a spell. His guttural goblin tongue was barely a whisper on the growing winds. Pluktu raised his staff to the sky and shouted up to the dark clouded skies.

"Membunu!" His voice echoed like rocks moving down a landslide.

"Membunu!"

The crystal, charged with the blood of a human heart, pulled free ten days after death, unleashed a black and blue ray of energy to the clouds. The sky erupted with thunder that enveloped the land. Pluktu's jagged toothed smile was wide for a single moment before it vanished as his body was struck by a spear.

His dark eyes glanced at the King of Vervania who had launched a spear across the valley and struck him in the shoulder. He would live. His dark eyes flashed up to the skies and his smiled returned as a flash of white and blue exploded across the kingdom. Only his dark black eyes saw what happened.

A bolt of black lightning streaked down from the swirling vortex of clouds and malice. He watched the lightning strike true and the King of Vervania tumbled off the ledge.

*****

Lucian heard the shout of spell casting just after smelling the putrid scent of decomposing flesh. He turned his attention away from the battle and spotted the mage. There were few Vikara, if any that could become mages. Their race was bred, if not born to battle and lust for blood. It granted them power and growth.

Vikara mages usual fed on the death and dying. Realization dawned on Lucian. When he had killed all the Vikara in a single blast. He had given the mage enough death to feed off of. He, just like his warriors and guard had thought the battle won. Lucian had played into their plans and now, his kingdom was suffering for it.

He glanced down at a dead spear weilder and shot out his hand. The pole arm lifted away from the dead warrior's grasp and into his hand. King Drakkon took steady aim. Several hundred yards was nearly impossible but with his supernatural strength, it was feasible. Taking a step forward he launched the spear through the air shouting in fury.

With apprehension he watched it sail across the yards until it struck, staggering the mage. Lucian hoped it was enough to cut off his spell casting and divert the mounted energy. If Lucian had noticed the mage a few heart beats before, he would have succeeded. Time stood still as the world went blind with light.

In that blinding light, his garnet eyes saw the lightning. It moved impossibly fast and yet just as slow. He knew he should move. Knew he should try to block it. But his body wouldn't budge. He closed his eyes and in that single moment, he felt pain unlike any other explode through his body. He gaze went from the darkness clouded sky, to the stones at his feet and then he saw the ground rushing towards him. All went black as darkness took him.