Work Text:
Morning, 05:31
1st of Sun’s Dusk
992, First Era
Outside the City of Dundee, Fife
Planet Earth, Solar System
Milky Way Galaxy
Dimension 837767867839
“No, we are not scaling the citadel wall.”
Two proud and ceremonially dressed Knights of Crail were standing outside the mighty citadel of Dundee in the early morning sunlight, both looking at the powerful and sturdy outer walls of the citadel. The walls were well-repaired and almost shiny in their cleanliness, ready to withstand even the toughest of blows. It was no surprise to them that the citadel was so well-protected right now -- on this day in the evening, Princess Iona McDougall of Fife would have a large gala, during which she would be searching for a suitable partner for her rule across the land.
Ser Alexandra “Lexi” MacCrail and Knightmaster Maverick McCrail, both highly ranked Knights, were highly anticipated attendees of the festivities. They were expected to arrive early, in fact, as their experience and knowledge had been requested for a final review of the security detail for the ceremony and then for aid in managing the palace security personnel throughout the duration of the festivities.
Not that the former part of that was public knowledge. Thus, they had arrived on horseback to avoid bringing too much attention to their entrance to the citadel, though of course the rest of their knightly unit was not too far away, waiting in the distance just out of view, including their majestic giant eagles that Crail was renowned for.
For Lexi and Maverick, it hadn’t exactly been an enjoyable ride to Dundee -- neither of them really liked horses all too much, and a horse saddle made one’s posterior cheeks hurt far more than riding a giant eagle, even when compared to flying on an eagle bareback. But, it had been necessary to maintain their cover, and so they had made sure to give themselves plenty of extra time to account for the fact that travel by land was slower than by air.
In any normal circumstance, they would have arrived at the grand palace of Dundee on time. Early, even.
Unfortunately, rather than being at the palace early, it appeared they may end up very un-fashionably late instead, for the citadel gates were mysteriously closed and there were no guards present at their stations in order to allow them in.
The reason for this was unclear. Sure, the weather was cold enough to warrant the two seasoned knights each wearing a travel cloak over their ceremonial garb, but that was no reason to block off entrance to the city completely. The Dundonian Guard had stood through far worse snow storms and seasonal tempests; a slightly chilly day with a small breeze was like a day off for them.
“Well, if we’re not scaling the wall, what’s your idea? Stand out here in the cold?” Ser Maverick asked, crossing his arms, gaze analytically examining the wall, as if trying to determine whether it would be easier for him to scale the wall alone and pull Lexi up with a rope or just climb with her on his back while she kept a hold on all of their stuff.
“You could call for Skybeak,” Ser Lexi commented, pulling her traveling cloak a little tighter around herself as the breeze picked up significantly for no apparent reason.
“...Right. We have giant eagles.” Ser Maverick hadn’t even considered the giant eagles as an option. They were supposed to arrive in a fairly secretive fashion, but he supposed that if Dundee was not letting them into the city, then it wasn’t his or Lexi’s fault for breaking cover to get in and actually do their job. It was probably a better idea than scaling up the wall and risking falling on the way up or down, too.
Lexi sighed and resisted the urge to facepalm. Her brother-in-arms was such a goober at times. With an at-least-semi-affectionate eye-roll, she raised her hand to her mouth (other hand gripping her cloak to prevent it from being torn away by the wind), ready to give a signal whistle to Maverick’s eagle, which she knew was with the squad that was flanking them from behind in the distance.
And then she paused, dark eyes widening in fear as she noticed something in the skies above the mighty citadel. She dropped her hand down to grab Maverick’s arm, her other hand still securing her cloak against her to prevent it from being blown away by the worsening winds.
“Mav?” Her voice wavered a little as she spoke. The other knight noticed immediately and had his attention on her, head turned to face her with an expression of concern.
“Yeah?” He was immediately on guard; something had spooked his fellow knight and most trusted sister-in-arms, and badly. He didn’t like that. He refused to allow that to happen. He needed to know what had scared her, so that he could remove the threat before it became a problem.
A pity he didn’t realize just what that would entail.
“Look up.”
Ser Maverick turned his head to follow Ser Lexi’s gaze with his own.
That was when he noticed what had spooked his fellow knight.
Over the mighty citadel of Dundee, a dark vortex of terror had formed, blotting out the sun’s light from the no-longer-visible distant horizon and whipping up fierce winds that seemed to threaten to tear to shreds anything in their path.
Then, something began to fall from the vortex. A lot of things, actually. Rocks, dirt, water, stone and metal debris, animals--
All ceremonial items the knights were carrying were immediately dropped to the ground as both raced towards the citadel wall, various tools taken out of their pockets as they prepared to enter the city grounds in their own way, locked gates be damned. It was time to scale the outer wall after all.
Once at the top of the wall, they caught a glimpse of what was happening in the once-proud city of Dundee.
The answer? Chaos.
People were running through the streets, trying to escape as buildings were crumbled onto their heads by the sheer force of the vortex above. Screams rang out, their sounds reflecting from the fortifications, most of them impossible to locate the source of in the sea of people, who fled as debris rained down from above. The air was filled with a horrid stench, like that of a land decimated by explosion, though not that of a familiar land. This stench contained not just burned trees, but also rubber and a certain metallic odor, along with many foreign stenches that neither knight could identify or describe. It mixed with the rising smoke and dust from the city below, creating a truly dastardly mix that scratched one’s throat at every breath.
In the middle of all of the chaos, a gooey black substance with glowing veins of red was spilling from the dark vortex that was centered above the palace, already having covered most of the structure. If Lexi and Maverick hadn’t been familiar with the skyline of the citadel, they would have never known the grandest palace in the lands had once stood there, now covered by a mountain of disgusting, flowing ooze.
Suddenly, a deep and booming laugh echoed through the air, cutting across the screams of terror that came from the streets below until those could be barely heard anymore. The laugh froze the knights where they stood, seeming to chill them to their very bones.
Neither had ever heard this laugh in any form before, but somehow they immediately knew what it meant: on this once-joyous morning, the defeat of the ancient citadel of Dundee was nigh.
And there was nothing they could do to stop it.
A shockwave of fierce wind struck outwards from the center of the evil terrorvortex. What happened next was almost indescribable. The vortex began to suck things back in, picking up anything that wasn’t secured -- dirt, debris from buildings, broken tree limbs, Dundonian citizens, screaming children.
And the two knights that were standing, frozen in place as if by a spell, atop the citadel wall.