...the occupied village near the Algarian border

Keilar, Archmage and current general of the hellion army, was sitting in a well made village building. He found the amenities in it to be comfortable so he kept the building not before decapitating all of its previous residences. He has on a fancy shirt, boots, and trousers. Keilar skin was almost as pale as a corpse. He had tiny black horns that looked like obsidian bone jutting out of his skin. In fact it was a Deamon racial trait. The horns also lined his eye brows and were in different designs on his arms and legs. He was of average height but was very muscular. In fact the Deamon anatomy was overall more superior to the humans.

Keilar didn't hate all the humans. Humans aren't all useless and he didn't want to annihilate them all. Yet, that didn't mean he would not snuff out all of their weak lives if he were ordered to. Many of the commanders of the army only wanted to destroy all life in the human kingdom. They didn't care how so long as the lands could be occupied by the hellion army. Keilar that that this was wasteful. He cared little for the human, yet their usefulness is undeniable and it shows in the little things like comfort.

His kingdom had been at war for years with the humans. The temple shamans' mages of the kingdom had a vision from a God. They were told of more fertile lands and that the weak humans had land that were ripe for the taking. Even though the kingdom had been in some of it's best years of prosperity, the shamans of the kingdom convinced the king that the humans were weak and that they did not deserve such fertile lands. The king was given a amulet as a gift from the god. After receiving the amulet the Supreme Emperor ordered the kingdom to war on the humans.

The fool shaman at the temple, convinced the Supreme Emperor that the battle would be won in a few years and that the human mages were weak and would surrender quickly. After feeding the Supreme Emperor more bullshit reasons, here we are. Millions of Hellions lives later. The war didn't claim more lives than the famine on the Hellion continent. It was not until the Supreme Emperor received that amulet, when the crops began to yield less and less every year afterwards. Many men and woman had no choice to join the war efforts. It became the only thing that reaped profits.

Keilar was enjoying wine in a comfortable chair, and thinking about his promotion that he will receive upon his success when this campaign is over. Staring out of the window of his newly occupied village that was closer to a city he was proud of his Deamons. Keilar smiled watching his soldier march. Never before has any Deamon from the Hellion army's past, has any come so close as his own men had. His men swept across the tall, grassy plain land like a hurricane over the ocean. Slaughter any that resisted and many that didn't. Yet, that was under the previous general of this campaign. His name is useless because he was killed by an enemy soldier whom he underestimated.

The fool had gone and gotten himself killed and left a void in the position. This delayed the Hellion army for months while the Supreme Emperor sought out a replacement. Keilar was promoted to head mage and general of the eastern army. So for the last 6 days, we have made a massive push. The general kept delaying the army stating that he was not sure of the enemy strength. He had started that even though their army had won the previous battles, it was not because of the strength of the Hellion soldiers but because of numbers. That the Algarians were quite capable soldiers. He had lost his life to these same soldier so his words must have held some merit due to the fact he was being eaten by scavenger animals right now.

Keilar was promoted and he would not hesitate to march the army onwards until he crushed their border wall and marched on to the palace. Yet, Keilar would not eliminate everyone; he would keep the useful humans as slaves. They are useful after all. Sitting in his chair he was to the updates of the battle with a rare communication trinket given to the generals of the Hellion army. They were very hard to aquire.

He was listening to current updates on the battle, in particular to a communication from his War Speaker. Their only jobs are to give constant updates on the battlefield. They are usually weak soldiers or even civilians who provide constant updates. Many times at the cost of their lives. So they only give the most useless soldiers this job. They are essentially disposable.

The war speaker was relaying yet another push by the army. His mage underlings were especially impressive. They are here pushing back the army with their prowess alone. Had the general used them in the first place they would still be alive. Yes, they have trouble following orders sometimes and they do have a tendency to kill fellow soldiers but the soldiers shouldn't be so weak.

It seems even the losses at the hands friendly fire has lessened. The warrior soldiers learned to stay out of the way of mages and give them a wide berth. He projected that they would be at the gates soon and that casualties were at a manageable number. He continued to provide updates when suddenly his voice rose and became hysterical.

"Wha ...what in the gods name that! Something just stepped out if a portal above the Algarian army! The War Speaker relayed what he saw. When he described the frown and the staff the Archmage shivered. After hearing the size of the jewel, he knew something wasn't right. Only a mage would exit from a portal and no mage in the hellion army has mage stone that large on their staff, plus he was just feeling overall uneasy about the sudden change. He could hear the dead general words echo in his mind.

Keilar ordered the war speaker to relay to his mage underlings to retreat and reassess the new threat. He waited a few moments before getting the report back from his speaker. By now he had already stood up and began donning his light armor under his robes while waiting. The war speaker finally relayed the terrible news of his underlings ignoring the order. They were caught in their bloodlust and couldn't stop. This was one of the biggest flaws of the Deamon race. The inability to return to rationality after killing too many souls. Their base nature surfaces and makes them mindless killing machines. The older soldiers have tamed this weakness but the younger inexperienced Deamons still suffer from this weakness.

Unfortunately for this expert mages and his students the were not able to stop and adjust to the battlefield. Keilar wasn't sure if he was not just overreacting also. There were 4 master mages who excelled in their elements nearly perfecting them. They should be able to hold off this new threat until he arrives. He was still getting on his armor when the next report came though. All of the mages were dead. His heart sank. The report was only seconds ago!

"DEAD! How!" Keilar screamed.

Those were his strongest mages besides himself! How! It would take 10 other master mages each to battle these 4. They were near Archmage status in their own right. Not only that but, he changed the bodies of the mages and some of the dead soldiers into mythical level beasts! What kind of magic is this? The monsters were killing his soldiers with ease.

There were all types of monsters killing his men so his war speaker had a hard time getting a precise description of their capabilities. The Algarins instantly had aerial assistance and power ground units. One thing was for certain they were killing too many men in a short amount of time. The next report of a massive wall growing, and blocking off his advance angered the Archmage. He just could not believe what he was hearing. How could a wall be long enough and tall enough to completely block ALL of his soldiers from advancing it was simply impossible. No one mage could do this! He would not believe it. Although numbers were sti. Keilar was stunned and terrified by what kind of monster had shown up to the battlefield.

Keilar had heard enough. He was one of the most powerful fire archmages in the hellion kingdom. At every turn he has bested every mage in his way. He spent his whole life killing and back stabbing to be the most powerful mage and had even risen up in the arch mage ranking. His power was absolute. His war speaker was no mage so he may have only predicted what was happening to the best of his abilities.

Keilar quickly gathered himself and took off towards the front line. He was going to kill this mage slowly for killing his underlings. Stepping out of the town hall building. Keilar pushed off the ground and into the air with a burst of flame magic.

Keilar sped toward the battlefield past the rows of drilling soldiers in the large village, with a face full of fury and regret that Keilar hadn't personally led his army throughout the battle and not just when things went wrong.

Such mistakes could have your head ordered on to a pike and lacking a body.