King Rodriguez looked over a map of his nation from the relative safety of the capital. He had neglected to tell anyone the true horror of what the brave and, perhaps, foolish men of his kingdom were to be facing soon enough, but some things were simply too dark and terrible to let normal people know about. The sight of the horrors and the comradery of the human forces would force his people to become heroes in their own right. He had believed that the monstrosity in the cave was too great for normal people to deal with at the time, but now that he was not holding on to his sanity for dear life, he realized that if it existed it could be slain.

The costs would be enormous, but it could be slain. He pulled all the strings that he could, he called in all the favors that he had and forked over as much of his nation’s treasury as he could without bankrupting his kingdom, all to prepare for the battle to come. The cave would be perilous beyond measure and it would take a great deal of sacrifice to bring low the abominable beasts within that dark den, but if he succeeded, he would be lauded as a legend worthy of rivaling the very man who founded his dynasty!

He poured his heart and soul into this endeavor. If the monsters in that lair got out into the wider portion of his lands, there would be absolutely no way to stop them without horrific civilian casualties. It would be as if hell itself manifested on the mortal plane, and only HE could stop that from happening. His advisors and the provincial governors scoffed at the notion that something so abysmally wretched could even exist, but they had not seen what he had seen. He was forced to use the absolute power of his position to make them do as he willed. They may despise him now and view him as a tyrant, but they would line up and thank him after the end of this.

By his order, armies were moving together, mercenaries were gathering, and the agents of the Goddess were massing for a battle that would decide the fate of his nation. Would evil triumph and drive his forever golden nation into an endless hell with no escape or would the forces of good claim their just triumph and cast the devils and monsters back into the hellfire that birthed them? All roads led to that horrid cave, and all armed men and women marched to meet the demons there and prevent the end of days before it could begin.

The Holy War would have to wait until this nightmare had been dealt with. All that needed to be done before he could lead his men and participate in the Holy War was the slaughter of these hellish creatures. They would fall, he would rise, and then he would show the world that his nation truly deserved its name as the ‘Forever Golden’ Kingdom.

…

The armies full of humans marched along the paths toward their destination. They passed through cities, towns and villages that lauded them as heroes and legends of their time. They walked and rode onwards with full confidence that they would claim victory, but they knew not of the plans laid in advance by the Crimson Empress herself. As they gathered around that isolated cave, waiting for the royal army to arrive from the capital itself, they were none the wiser that the cave had long since been emptied of all beings, both living and partially undead.

They had no idea that all the way on the southern coast of their nation, in the depths of a deep black night, there was a city being razed to the ground by the very monsters they had gone to the wrong place to fight. Such was the power of the Darksol Empire that it could send armies of mindless beasts long distances without raising an eyebrow. No one could tell from whence the bug-people arrived, but arrive they did in the inky night. It mattered not who you were, your age or gender or even your status. All were devoured by the ravenous skittering devils, the vast majority having their life juices drained from them until they were mere shriveled husks by the colossal abomination that Darksol called a ‘Swarm Queen’.

No messengers escaped the swarm of human-tick/louse/flea/mosquito hybrids that brought such a violent death to that coastal city, and by sunrise the swarm of parasites had vanished as though they were never there. All that was left as a testament to their former presence was the shattered and burning wreckage that was the former trade city. Over the next few days the numbers outside the cave grew as place after place was devoured and reduced to ruins by the bug-men. Just as before, no messengers managed to inform anyone of what was happening, and thus the men of the Siempre Dorado Kingdom continued to gather for a pointless endeavor, blissfully unaware of what was befalling their nation.

Until…

…

The King had arrived! His royal highness sat atop his armored steed, fully prepared for what was to come. He had ordered a great deal of wood and leaves gathered together and had them placed within the opening of the cavern. With a single gesture, dozens of fire arrows arced through the sky and set the dried wood and tinder alight. The flames grew in size and intensity and soon the mouth of that den of evil was filled with naught but fire and smoke. He would end this as quickly as possible; there was no way that the beasts within would be able to survive the heat, smoke AND the lack of breathable air.

He waited for the flames to die down, a thing that took a fair bit of time, but the sun was still high in the heavens and the flames were now quite low. Suddenly, he and the rest of the men and animals in the massive camp felt a chill in the air. It was an oppressive and horrible feeling that made the weaker men and animals in the camp cower with fear or simply pass out instantly. The mouth of the cave instantly seemed like the ravenous and open maw of a massive demon, waiting to swallow any who drew near. This was the same fear, if not worse, that had plagued those who saw the titanic monster. They knew that it meant that they would soon be in for a fight.

The few logs that were still alight were doused by the sheer malice that poured from the cave before withering away to the point that they fell apart as if they had been left to rot for dozens, if not hundreds of years. The malicious aura faded away just as quickly as it came, and a terrible silence hung heavy in the air. There was no birdsong in the area, all animals cowered or died due to the terror and those that had any sense fled the immediate vicinity with all haste. The malice was gone, but why were all the animals still running?

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

The metronome-like sound of high-heels clicking against the rock floor of the cave flowed out from the darkness. With each step of whatever was in the shadows, more and more people felt the growing anxiety born from the knowledge that they were but prey before the greatest of all predators. Those in the front could see that there were two small crimson lights shining in the blackness of the cave, stopping just before the light could reach it.

“A-archers… Fire at will!”

The King gave out his panicked orders and the archers did as they were told. They raised their bows and drew them, taking aim at the figure that was shrouded in the ebon shadows. They tried to loose their arrows, but some animalistic part of the animalistic remnants of their brains forced them to hold. That part was screaming at them that, if they indeed loosed their arrows, they would die in so much agony that it would make the punishment given to them by their fellows seem like a blissful siesta in comparison.

“Fire! Loose your arrows! Do it! Do… it… now….”

Rodriguez slowly came to realize that the reason his horse, a stallion bred to never flinch in the face of danger, had bucked him off and ran was because these animals sensed something that humans could not. The malice pouring off the figure in the darkness was still there, in fact it had worsened! The only reason that they had been unable to feel it increase in intensity was because their human minds could not comprehend the sheer force that was against them. The animals, primal as they were, could feel that to be here meant certain death; the humans, with their rational minds, could not grasp the true form of what lay before them and thus remained ignorant of what was lurking in the cave.

The figure moved towards the camp, its high-heels clicking against the stone until it stood upon the grass and soil. And yet, the clicking of its shoes still persisted. All who looked at the figure marveled at its beauty. It was as if the Goddess herself had bestowed all of her beauty unto this woman. Yet how could that be true? She was a vampiress, and one powerful enough to stay in the light of the sun without suffering!

The vampiress walked up to Rodriguez who still lay on the ground where his mount had bucked him off to. She looked down at the monarch with a gaze that seemed to be full of pity and said a few words that all in the camp heard and sent chills down their spines.

No one could remember the exact words, but the gist of it was clear. While they had been gathered here, the bug-people they had come to kill were razing settlement after settlement, night after night. The vampiress had outplayed them. By gathering all of their might together in one place they had left their homes completely defenseless. With a smirk, the vampiress lifted into the air and flew away.

Silence reigned for a few minutes, but slowly people got to their senses and tried to salvage their mission. The objectives and parameters for success and failure had changed, and time was now of the essence. They had to figure out where the bug-people would strike next and then cut them off. If the king’s words were to be believed, then such a massive number of ravenous monsters should be easy to find. All they needed to do was find the massed swarm and intercept it!

But, like most things in life, that would be easier said than done.