“Azar, … please tell me everything will be okay ….” The princess's voice cracked and shivered as she spilled those words. The quivering hands and the forlorn teary eyes all came at Azar when he was most unexpected.

‘Honesty is the best policy.' That was what humans always said. And as for Azar, normally, he would be brutal, sometimes to the point of being irritatingly honest about his feelings, especially toward humans. But this time, it felt different. This time, he did not feel like he wanted to take away the little light of hope she had left.

“You’ll be fine. I promise …” Azar said those words almost instinctively.

Azar sighed longly and returned his attention to the battlefield upfront. Or, to be more particular, Sasha. And the circumstances did not look bright.

The undead army slammed themselves against the first line of defense. If it was any circumstance, they would be called the suicide squad, but it was devastatingly effective for them. Even though the humans managed to impale or thrust their swords and spears clean through the undead creatures, they meant close to nothing. The monsters grabbed hold of those weapons and locked the humans within their grasp before killing them. Those who were lucky would get completely obliterated by those skeleton warriors, leaving only a smashed and dismantled pile of flesh behind. And for those who were unlucky would get killed quickly but simply, which led them to be reanimated back alive as one of the mindless undead creatures for the Red Mist legion. Little by little, the men and women of Tolemac were pushed back. And when the undead cavalry arrived, Tolemac’s defense line crumbled. Finally, the undead monsters broke through, and chaos arrived within the center of the human army. Thus Sasha and her own squad of cavalry charged in.

***********************

As Sasha’s ears kept buzzing, she desperately tried to open her eyes but everything to her was just a blur. The last thing she could remember was leading the cavalry and charging at hundreds of monsters.

Before she could see the light of day, a vile scent caught his senses, the thick scent of dirt, decay, and fresh blood. Sasha could even taste it in her mouth. She tried to get up, but she could feel something heavy was lying on top of her, or to be more precise, something was lying on her legs. As the agony seconds passed, her hearing and vision slowly returned. The grizzly screams and shouts of all her fellow humans immediately hit her ears. And when those blurs got clearer and clearer, it was a nightmare for Sasha. Her people were getting slaughtered left and right. The raw power and advantage of numbers were too much for Tolemac’s soldiers to overcome. The effluvium of death was all around her. The battlefield had been baptized with blood, and the bitter, mordant perfume of corpses emanated from it. And she did not have to look far to see the source of that vile smell.

“GRAA !!!” The 6 ft tall skeleton warrior, with one foot, stomped on top of the headless horse that was lying on her lower body and drove its rusty spear straight down her head.

With no time to think, Sasha's fighting instinct took over. Tilting her head to the side just in the knick of time to evade the fatal attack, the rusty spear was so close to her skin, Sasha could feel the bitter cold and the stench of old blood mixed with metal. With both hands, Sasha grabbed hold of the spear, not letting the monster retrieve its weapon. Then, with all of her might, Sasha pulled the spear, robbing the monster of its balance and got just close enough to her.

“DIE !!!” One sweet left hook and the skeleton head went flying.

But before she could rally on that victory, two more monsters came, and Sasha was still in no position to fight back. Luckily for her, help was on the way. Sasha suddenly felt a surge of power, like all the soars and bruises were healing, and then a group of soldiers came to her aid, forming a defensive formation in front of her and holding the monsters off.

“Help the Commander !!!”

Sasha looked back, and a priestess was leading this small squad of soldiers. While the woman healed Sasha back up, two men came forward and lifted the dead horse off her. Sasha took no time to rest, immediately grabbing the legendary Durandal Sword that was lying right next to her and charged back to action.

“REGROUP !!!!” Sasha shouted her lungs out, commanding all of the soldiers. At least for now, the enemy could still be managed. They could only come through the gate, which restricted the number of enemies coming in. If Sasha and the others fell back, the Red Mist legion would easily get up the wall and kill the rest of General Geralt’s army. And when they took over the wall and surged down on Tolemac, it would truly be over. There would be no stopping them.

Slowly but surely, the human army got back to their defensive formation, with Sasha leading the front line.

“PUSH THEM OUT OF THE GATE” She shouted out. And step by step, the humans regained their ground.

Sasha was relentless, dashing through no man’s land and into the deep end of the enemy’s line like it was nothing. And just like in practice, on the battlefield, her movement was flawless, not even a superfluous move to be made. It was as if Sasha was performing a mesmerizing dance in the heart of the blood-soaked battlefield. Her heart was jumping out of her chest, but if everyone could only see her fight, they couldn’t ever tell. Sasha looked so comfortable on that battlefield, with eyes as cold as ice, her movement as quick as the wind, and attacks as fearsome as fire. With every swing, a monster crumbled; with every step, an attack got dodged. Sasha quickly grabbed the attention of the undead monsters. And they sent the cavalry to take care of her.

Even in the mix of the battle, Sasha could still sense the incoming danger, or more precisely, the haunting clopping sound of undead horse’s hooves racing toward her. Not too far away from where she was standing, two undead cavalries charged at Sasha from both sides, spear and sword in hands, killing off anyone on their way. And Sasha was not going to just stand there and wait. She dashed forward, straight toward the monsters. They all tried to impale her; however, Sasha perfectly evaded all of them with a perfectly timed knee slide. In one move, the moment their weapon missed her, Sasha turned her hip, twisting her body just a little, creating just enough force to spin her body and cut off the hollow-eyes horse’s legs clean off. The undead monsters came crumbling down behind her and got completely demolished by the other human soldiers right after. But again, there was no time for Sasha to take a breath. Another wave of undead cavalry came for her. Sasha just smirked and dashed forward again.

****************************

As the theater of death reached its climax. Geralt heroically stood firm and fought along with his soldiers. He and Tolemac’s army could not stop the Red Mist from climbing up the wall. They could not only fight them off. Three hours had passed, and Geralt had lost almost half of his army on the wall.

“HAAAAAA,” Geralt roared as he cleaved his longsword. Even at the age of nearly 60, his strength was something that even the youth envied. One attack and three monsters were rolling on the ground. Just to make sure, Geralt even stomped and crushed the skulls underneath his feet. His movement might not be as fluid and fast as he used to be, but with age came experience. Geralt could see through all of those attacks before they even started. The scars on his body served as great reminders and lessons. But Geralt had his limit. He could only protect himself while all around him; his soldiers were dropping like bloody flies. The undead monsters ripped the human soldiers apart. Limbs were flying through the air, heads were rolling on the ground, intestines spilling all over the place. Even for an experienced fighter like Geralt, it was unthinkable. He could only imagine what his soldiers were feeling at that moment.

“FOR AVALON !!!” Geralt called out to his people.

**********************

“Sir, it has been three hours. Shall we send in the reserve?” an old human, wearing a dark cloak, covering him from head to toe, leaving only his wrinkled face and thin white hair to view. He bowed his head when he awaited the order from the leader of the Red Mist legion, Liam Leonidas.

Liam coldly stared toward the wall. Behind it was the place he once called home. But now, all he wanted to do was turn it into dust.

“Send them in and bring me the king, alive !”

Liam grabbed his white spear tightly. Victory was in his reach ... just a few more hours …

***************************

Upon the castle, everyone watched intensely; however, not all for the same reason. While the humans were witnessing what was expected to be the last moment of their lives. Azar was watching closely for Sasha’s safety. It was not the question of if but when. The second Sasha’s life was truly hung in the balance, Azar would activate the scythe.

If the scent of fear was only fairly faint a few moments ago, now, it was thickening. The heavy breathing, the cold sweat, the watery eyes, … those humans could not hide their emotions anymore.

“Azar ? Why aren’t you scared ? …” Elly's shaky voice reached Azar.

“I’m not supposed to be.” Azar took a few seconds to gaze upon the human soldiers in the chamber. “And neither should they.”

The human soldiers were heavily divided. Some were frozen in fear, and those whose eyes just shouted ‘fire.’

“Can you blame them ?” Elly looked back at the gruesome battlefield in front of them. “How can anyone be brave enough for this ?”

“They can ...” Azar directed Elly's view toward the surviving soldiers still fighting on with their last breath. Among them, some had lost an arm, but still, they stood tall and fought on. Within their eyes, there wasn’t an ounce of hesitation or fear. While disappointingly, up in the chamber, people were already shivering in fear. But quickly, Azar noticed the difference among the human soldiers. Different skin colors aside, their skin conditions were as clear as daylight under his dragon’s eyes. While some were undoubtedly rough, tanned and hardened due to the sun and hard work. Some were clear and soft, signs of being well-taken care of. Then came the choice of accessories. While some soldiers, for some inexplicable reason, decided that it was a good idea to wear expensive jewels around their neck and fingers, even though that would make them more of a target when the battle came. Their weapon and armor were always shiny and looked as if it was never before used. For the other, there was no unnecessary bling on them, their armor riddled with scratches, and their skins suffered the full effect of the sun. Azar rolled his eyes and sighed,

“Of course, …”

“Humh !?!”

“Elly, tell me, the Royal Guards, do they come from respectable households ?” Azar’s eyes fixated on those with gold and jewels on their bodies.

“Some are …” Elly caught on to what Azar meant quickly. “It’s no secret that to be able to become a Captain of the Royal Guard, one must graduate from the Elite Academy. And most of the time, only the son and daughter of the nobles or wealthy could graduate there.”

“But there is more to that, isn’t there?” Azar coldly replied, “ You said that they should be the best of the best. And right now, in this dire circumstance, I don’t see that.”

Elly sighed. “Azar, look around you. Can you spot the similarity ?”.

Azar tore his view away from the battle and focused more on the humans within the room.

“Ah, I see….” It was quite obvious once Azar spotted the resemblance, “They are the sons and daughters of the people in this room ?”

“Few, the others are most likely nephews or young relatives.” the princess sadly answered.

“So they got here because of their connections.” Azar chuckled. “Well, that’s to be expected. This is the safest place in the city, after all. Any parents would want their children to stay here at this time.”

“Hey! Just because they are born wealthy and have connections doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be here doing their job _.”

Before Elly could finish what she had to say, Tolemac shook violently. The ground started to sink and swallowed houses and buildings whole. And bursting through them, hundreds of skeleton warriors made their way out.

Everyone was shocked to their cores. The enemies had breached the first line of defense and were now heading straight toward the castle. There were still hundreds of Tolemac soldiers stationed within the city and the castle for this exact reason. However, what they saw next shocked everyone the most. As the monsters wreaked havoc on the streets of Tolemac, destroying houses, killing and hunting any humans, soldiers or civilians they could find, the remaining soldiers of Tolemac stepped in, … well, most of them. While many showed their bravery to their last breath, dashing toward the monsters, holding them off, saving innocent lives of the people they swore to protect, some stayed behind and watched ... or worse. They crumbled in the face of death and tragedy. Some even went to the extent of running away for their lives or frozen where they stood, legs shaking like a leaf, mouths gasping for air and eyes filled with fear. It was a complete disgrace. And up in the chamber where Azar sat among Tolemac's most influential and powerful humans, the scenery was no different. A handful of so-called “Best among the best” soldiers of Tolemac quivered in fear as they witnessed the incoming monsters. And not so surprisingly, one of them was the young soldier Azar had just had a personal ‘talk’ with not too long ago.

“That guy, do you know who he is ?” Azar titled his head to the quivering young soldier.

“I think he is Harry Phillip, son of Kelvin Phillip, the counselor who was in charge of Avalon’s finance.” Elly replied, “But why would it even matter now !?! The monsters are coming for us !!”

Azar shook his head.

“Too slow, too little …”.

Immediately after the first wave of monsters snuck past the first line of defense, the tunnels were all closed down by human mages.Hundreds, maybe thousands of the Red Mist must have been perished under there. But again, no real sacrifice had been made; Liam could just easily summon them back after the siege. And now, Avalon's mages had even more tasks to handle, more energy to be spent, and less to no time to rest. Time was ticking ever so quickly to the moment the shield barrier broke down.

And for those who had broken into the city, the monsters made their way toward the castle by slaughtering every human they could get their hands on. Although the number of people who decided to stay behind was few, they could still be counted in the hundreds, and they were facing certain death at the hands of the Red Mist legion.

Azar could not care one bit that those random humans died. It was a war. Things like this were inevitable. However, what struck an interest to Azar was that the king of Avalon was reacting just like him. Henry did not show any emotion watching his people getting slaughtered by the undead army. Azar just smirked to himself. This only made the human king look even worse in his eyes … if that was even possible. But then, something changed Azar’s demeanour completely.

“What the fuck !?!” running for her life on a deserted street, being chased by two skeleton warriors, a little girl with wavy chestnut hair and a little freckle on her nose. Azar recognized her. She was Leona, the little human girl from Sasha’s church. She had made good of her desire to stay behind and try to help her big sister.

Azar swiftly turned toward the human king. “Hey, there is a kid up there that needs your help. Order some men and rescue her now !”

“Who is she to you !?!” the king spoke with a frosty, uninterested voice.

“I don’t know her. But Sasha does. She is one of the orphans living in her church. What are you still waiting for ?!?” Azar's voice was like a fire spitting out toward the king.

“An orphan !?!?” The human king laughed, “You want me to order my soldiers to risk their life for a worthless nameless orphan. Are you mad or just stupid”

“Aren’t you the king of this land !?!” Azar shouted, “And isn’t she one of your people !?!?”

“Right now, we need to preserve our strength, not sacrifice soldiers for someone like her.” Henry's eyes were as cold and heartless as stone. Azar's veins were popping off his head as he heard those cowardly words. He promised himself not to intervene in the war, … but watching Leona running away, alone, scared out of her mind, he couldn’t.

Azar did not know why he was getting so emotional about this little human; she meant nothing to him ... or so she should have been. And the human king was right, ... would it be a smart decision to send out his army and risk even more deads just to save a little girl's life? ... certainly it would not make much sense ... But is it the right decision? To readily leave someone behind when they know they could save her? Is it the right choice to not even try? Azar did not know which part he hated more, caring for an unknown human's well-being or actually siding with Henry on this matter. But there was another question, did Henry's decision come from logic or fear? After just one glimpse of the human king, Azar shook his head and sighed.

He turned his back against the human king and faced the rest of the elite soldiers. Then, with a thunderous voice filled with the fire of fury, when Azar spoke out loud.

“For a king to call his people worthless and nameless, you don’t deserve your crown. And for you so-called elite soldiers, quivering in fear, who would rather stay here and be safe and warm, watching the innocent scatter for their lives than fight on the battlefield with your friends and comrades, to save the people you swore to protect ….”

Azar walked toward the young human, Harry Phillip, and pulled his blade

“You don’t deserve your sword !”

Azar headed toward the balcony without saying another word.

“INSOLENT !!! HOW DARE YOU !!!” Henry stood up and shouted in a fury. “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING WITH THAT !!!!”

“To do what you should have done,” Azar replied without looking back at the despicable human king, “To rescue a little girl in dire need. To save the nameless and worthless people that you rule over.”

“GUARDS GET HIM !!!”

“If you all want to catch me. Then be quick, because I don’t have much time !” Azar pointed to where Leona was running. “I’m heading there, right where the undead creatures are. So come on, follow me if you dare !!!!?”

And like he thought, not a soul dared to pull their weapons.

No time left to be wasted, Azar headed straight toward danger. However, there was one thing that held him back. At the moment, everyone was watching him, so Azar could not use his power to save Leona. Instead, he had to do it humanly. Sliding down the tower wall and the castle’s roofs like an expert thief, Azar made quick work of the first obstacle. Years of climbing mountains and other treacherous terrains since the human age of 10 had earned him more experience than most humans. Even without his dragon power, Azar could still get down the tower with relative ease. Having his dragon strength just made it easier. And when Azar's feet touched the ground, he saw his means of transportation. A white horse in full plate armor was up and ready. On its back was the flag of Avalon itself. Azar did not know whose horse it was, and he did not care. Azar needed it to conceal his power and get to Leona.

“Mine !” Azar pushed the two human soldiers away as if they were paper and rode on the horse.

“Let’s see what you got !!!” Azar roweled his steed and dashed toward the frontline. Of course, he could not rely solely on the horse. It was way too slow. Azar used a bit of his magic to boost the horse's pace and made it so that the animal felt no fatigue.

“Wait a second ! Is that my horse ?!?!”. Harry Phillip’s eyes boggled upon the tower when he saw Azar had also taken his horse.

And as the humans in the high tower watched over Azar's every move, a heroic and disturbing scene appeared right in front of their views. An armorless, common young man, racing forward toward the monsters, without a flicker of fear in his eyes, and running back at him, dozens of shiny armors, highly-trained, so-called elite soldiers, with the symbol of Avalon, the blue lion, still imprinted on their chest armor.

“Fuck !” Azar could still feel the gazes of the useless humans watching over him, preventing him from using his power. “Fine … I’ll do it your way, Carl !”.

All around him, all Azar could hear was the wind blasting against him and the cries of humans begging. The smell of blood and tears thickened the air. So much so that Azar could almost taste them. And when the waves of human soldiers and a few civilians passed him, quickly came the Red Mist army. The first unfortunate undead creature to greet Azar was a hollow-eyed undead cavalry, holding a long rusty spear in its hand, charging toward him. Azar gladly took on the duel. Nothing was going to get between him and Leona. He roweled his steed, commanding it to run even faster toward danger. And as the tip of the rusty spear kept getting closer and closer to him, Azar did not waver. His face was ice cold, his ember eyes embodied the word ‘focus,’ and his movement meant no hesitation. Mostly because, to Azar, everything was agonizingly slow, and he had all the time to make the right decision. To the human eyes, Azar was traveling at a never-before-seen pace on the white horse, but it was like he was riding on a giant sloth to Azar. With a flawless move, Azar bent backward and perfectly evaded the spear. And just one swift and powerful swing of the sword, the skeleton cavalry and its zombified horse were dismantled, their skulls smashed into pieces.

“Faster !!!” Azar shouted.

One after another, Azar brute-forced his way through the Red Mist army. But unfortunately for Azar, Leona was making it harder and harder for him to reach her. Zigzagging her way across the streets to escape from the undead creatures, she dripped further and further away from Azar. And ironically, that meant Azar ended up saving more random humans. From injured soldiers saying their last prayers to God, an old human female who had accepted her fate, a poor family with their two small children hopelessly holding each other close under the blades of the monsters. The longer he chased after Leona, the more random humans he saved.

“This is getting ridiculous !” Azar felt as if he had saved every human in Tolemac except for the one he wanted.