Chapter Text
Thus Monsters Roamed the Land
Prologue - The Disappearance of the Saderan Expeditionary Force
White was the first thing he saw. Not just the color white, but just his entire field of vision was white blur. He felt his body aching, trying to keep his eyes open as he came to be once more. It was like sleep was trying to drag him back down and drown him in it as he weakly fought its siren call.
'...huh? What happened?' He thought as his mind slowly began to clear, though he almost instantly regretted it. The next thing he felt was a bitter coldness, that was biting into his body. His fingers and toes hurt and he felt the texture of ice and snow on his face. It took him a moment to realize that he was laying with his face down in the snow. A strong wind was blowing through his hair and he could feel snow landing on his head, where it partially melted and ran as cold water down his hair and neck and sent cold shivers down his spine.
He strained to moved his arms and legs in an attempt to get up, but his muscles aches in protest, sending pain through his limbs and up his spine. Not only that, but his head was now throbbing in a searing hot pain. It felt as if he could feel it with every beat of his heart sending a new wave of it through his skull.
'No... come on... get up already... now!' He commanded himself as he struggled to move his limbs to get back up. His muscles still ached in vehement protest as if telling him to stay on the ground, but he did not listen. Groaning through gritted teeth, he managed to slowly pick himself up when he felt a sharp pain from his right temple and he noticed that the snow below was stained crimson with blood. His blood... Part of him wanted to check the injury with his hand, but he was no stranger to pain or injuries anyway. There was more important things than that. He finally got to lift his face up, but his vision was swimming and his senses still dulled. Around him he saw various shades moving around in a frantic frenzy, hues of silver and brown in an otherwise formless mass. The ground beneath him shook with hundreds of footsteps as they moved about.
"NGH!" A hand shot up to his head as he bit back a groan when another wave of sharp pain ran through his mind and he finally noticed that his helmet was gone. Instead, his hand was actually touching his head and blonde hair, where he felt clotted and dried blood sticking to his right temple. His now bloodstained hand withdrew from his face and he looked around him. As the haze around his mind lifted, he could make out the previously dulled noises around him as screams.
"AAAHHH!"
"RUN AWAY! OUR WEAPONS ARE USELESS!"
"HOLD FORMATION! DON'T GIVE ANY GROUND!"
"MY LEGS! IT BROKE MY LEGS!"
"GODS! I'M NOT DYING HERE! I HAVE A FAMILY TO GET BACK TO!"
"GET BACK HERE, YOU TRAITOROUS FILTH!"
The seconds crawled by at a snail's pace before the fog over his senses slowly lifted itself and he became able see what was going on around him. It was utter chaos. Soldiers in light armor were moving through the snowy ground, holding onto their swords, spears and shields, while running around in a frantic fashion. Both human soldiers and non-human auxillery units were far from the organized units that they usually were, stumbling and trying not to fall down as their feet sunk into the ground beneath them. Commanders shouted orders around and waved their arms around, but they were all drowned in the collective cacophony, so that he could not hear them.
He tried and make sense of his situation. This was not something that should be happening right now at all. And yet he saw them. Among the soldiers that were moving about like an agitated ant hive, he spotted multiple bodies laying around. Their faces frozen in silent screams of pain and suffering as they stared with empty gazes into nothing. Some had their limbs broken or cut off. Some were torn in half, leaving only a pair of legs, while others had none at all. And some stray limbs were laying on the ground as well without any apparent owner anywhere to be seen. He couldn't look away as he saw not far from himself the remains of a man who had apparently been crushed by something, his blood soaking his skin and armour as he laid there like an insect one had stepped upon.
It was when all other sounds were drowned out by one massive roar that he tore his gaze away from the dead body. Immediately, his hands flew to his ears, though it only diminished the sound slightly as his ears still rang in a sharp and high pitch. The roar shook the very air, rattled through his head and it almost felt like his skull was going to burst open as he turned around to try and look where it came from. Around him he saw nothing but grey skies, the sharp outcrops of rocks encrusted with ice and the snowy ground beneath his feet, which appeared to throw the echo of the sound back again and again, while the other soldiers also covered their ears, some falling down to their knees or collapsing with blood seeping through their fingers from the burst eardrums.
But then there was movement among the barely visible dark silhouettes of the cliffs.
From above one of the almost vertical walls of rock and ice, a massive shadow emerged and descended onto a group of soldiers further away from him. The soldiers had barely any time to lift their spears or to turn on their heels in an attempt to run away when the beast crushed most of them under its bulk. Those it had missed, stumbled or were thrown back, screaming in pain and panic. Those that had managed to avoid the attack and still had the nerve to fight managed to try and stab or slash at it with their weapons, only for them to harmlessly bounce off the scaly skin of the beast. Gladiuses bounced back as if the men that held them had tried and struck a solid wall of iron, while spears mostly bent and snapped in half, leaving their wielders with nothing more than broken sticks. This only seemed to anger the creature further as it swiped at them with large claws and opened its maw wide to bite down on these men, killing them in an instant as their armor was torn apart by rows of sharp teeth.
He felt his heart hammer in his chest painfully, almost as if it was pressing against his ribcage in an attempt to desperately escape, yet his arms and legs refused to move as he was still on the ground on his hands and knees when his red eyes met the beast's blue ones. And to his horror, it turned its head directly towards him, its maw stained crimson with the fresh warm blood of its latest victims dripping from its scaly hide, before it charged at him with a roar.
Flashback: Earlier that Day, Alnus Hill
Bright warm sunlight shone down on Alnus Hill, a sacred place for the Saderan Empire. While the exact history this place held for the Empire was something not even some of the most well-versed scholars knew, it was a sacred site to the Saderan people nonetheless. There were stories that it was the birthplace of the Empire from where their ancestors had come from. Others thought that the gods had granted them their divine protection on that very hill, leading to the Empire flourishing as a power as much as it had in the many years that followed. Whether it was real or fiction, the location of Alnus Hill was sure to hold great importance to the Empire on this very day once more.
The sacred hill was surrounded by nothing but a desolate land with almost no vegetation around it, safe for a few shrubs and weeds that had managed to find purchase in the soil. Alnus was little more than a large, elevated position in this mostly barren land, overlooking it like bird of prey the land in search of prey. What did surround the holy hill though were a lot of tents for a very large area. The encampment was filled to the brim by thousands of soldiers of the Saderan Empire as well as some auxillery troops in the form of demi-humans and humans from the vassal states. Fires burned in various places around the site to provide the troops with some cooked food. For all they knew, they would need the strength.
Further away from the others were a few tents that were larger and obviously belonged to those of a higher status than the plain looking tents of the soldiers. Stepping out of a larger tent made from an indigo dyed cloth was a young adult man dressed in a browinish red suit of armour. His hair was blonde and slicked back with most of it tied back in a long and thin ponytail. Garnet red eyes looked out over the encampment for a moment, before his eyes drifted towards Alnus Hill, where the reason for this amassment of troops stood for all to see: a large archway had been erected on top of Alnus Hill by the Empire like a large temple of worship, except it was not a temple, but a gate.
His name was Zorzal el Caesar, the crown prince of the Saderan Empire and he was to lead the charge of the Imperial Expeditionary Forces through the Gate to another world in order to conquer its land and resources in the name of the Empire. Perhaps he would be brimming with confidence if it had not been for the campaign he had led 3 years prior to this day. Now he could only look at the Gate with a frown and a bit of apprehension. A sentiment the other officers and generals of the army did not seem to share, but they didn't say anything. If anything, they were perplexed quietly why Zorzal of all people was not as enthusiastic as some of the younger soldiers among their ranks.
"Your majesty. It is time." An officer called him from inside the tent. Zorzal turned his head to face the people gathered within the large tent with a small nod, before walking over to a small table around which the men had gathered. The officer who had addressed him had his left hand balled to a fist and put over his heart while his head bowed slightly to show his respect to the crown prince. Zorzal simply raised his hand to gesture the man to tell him to stand straight again, while he faced the other high ranking members of the military. Most of them were at least a decade older than himself. Only one of them looked like to be closer to his own age, but he did not hold the same gleaming look in his eyes as a young recruit who was just about to march for the Empire for the first time and experience war for the first time.
"Very well." Zorzal said in an even tone as he glanced the others for a moment. Some looked surprised at him not confidently saying something akin to 'Finally!' or 'Let us go immediately then!' or some other enthusiastic outcry of impatience, while others nodded in return and he might have seen the ghost of a smile on one of the older generals. "What has our scouting party found on the other side of the Gate?" When the Saderan prince asked that question, a tension in the tent seemed to fill the air when all eyes landed on one officer in the room. Instantly, his eyes widened at the question directed at him and his eyes darted through the tent for a second. Instantly, several people noted this but said nothing.
"We... it appears that the Gate leads to rather cold and mountainous land." The officer said, trying to figure out the best way to break the news to the others gathered in the room. Instantly, people frowned or let out quiet breaths at this information. "It appears that the mountains are covered in snow, but they have reported of green forests in the valleys..."
"That would explain the cold wind flowing through the camp then." Another person said with a chuckle, though it held no real humor in it. The officer nodded, but Zorzal raised his hand before he spoke again.
"While it certainly is a relief that the complains about the weather from our troops are not entirely unfounded, this tells us little about what we are facing. Have the scouts found any inhabitants of those lands?" He asked as his mind was already racing with thoughts regarding the terrain and weather conditions they were about to face on the other side.
"Apologies your majesty. Unfortunately, they have not found any sort of structures, settlements or people. So far, they have only found wildlife reminiscent of elks in this place..."
"Elks, you say? So we are going hunting and killing savages then. That should be good." One of the generals said with a laugh, although it wasn't shared by all of them. Some of the older ones frowned and Zorzal kept his face neutral, before speaking up.
"This will not do." He said, making people look at him. "Our troops are not equipped to deal with such weather for long and if an enemy does exist in those lands, they likely know the land better than we do." The prince mused before turning his attention to the previously laughing general. "Once we have crossed through the Gate, establishing a base of operation takes priority. Though we would do well to not set it up on the mountain itself. We scout the area to find a safe passage down to the valleys. Once there, we set up base and advance deeper into the wilderness with small scouting parties and seek out any location that might house any savages and only engage after the scouts report back unless they can deal with them on their own." He said, causing the general to frown.
"Why not just charge in forward? We have demihumans to clear out those woods of any blasted barbarians." The general crossed his arms causing groans and sighs around the table from the older ones, but Zorzal was the one who spoke up.
"That was what General Darius also thought during the Arctic War." The prince said, causing the general to shut his mouth. Still Zorzal pressed on. "He herded his men across a mountain range like cattle without rest, only for a third of them to freeze and starve to death and the other two thirds to eat their former comrades' corpses. And even then, they were ambushed in the forests and almost completely wiped out by little more than wild men with sticks and stones. I don't need to tell you what happened with Darius after he fled the battle like a coward, do I?" The prince said with his garnet red eyes boring into the general, whose frown deepened yet could not say anything. He only held the prince's gaze for a moment longer, before he turned away. Seeing that, Zorzal's body relaxed and he turned his attention to the others. "Any other complaints about our strategy?" He asked but no one said a thing. "Brief the troops about this. We will move out shortly."
Once the others filed out of his tend, Zorzal let out a sigh and sat down on a chair, that had been put away to the side to make room for this last briefing. Resting his elbow on an armrest and holding his forehead with one hand, the prince couldn't help and smile a little at the dilemma at hand when he could now understand some of the trouble his father Emperor Molt Sol Augustus had to deal with on a daily basis. It wasn't just that they were not used to deal with the cold climate as the continent of Falmart had its fair share of snowy winters. The real issue were the soldiers themselves and what was on the line.
The Saderan Empire was not the most powerful nation on the continent because of trade deals with neighbouring kingdoms and states or some sort of blessing from the gods. They were a nation that thrived on conquest of those they saw as lesser, which resulted in the Saderan Empire to spread across the continent like no other nation did and making it to this day the biggest of them all. Conquest after conquest of barbarians and demihuman races had not only made the Empire rich and vast but also given rise to a very simple mindset which only intensified those conflicts and expansions. They saw themselves and humanity as a whole as superior to all other races that lived on Falmart and each victory had further engrained and cemented that belief into the higher echelons of their society. In fact, demihumans were not even allowed entry into the capital of Sadera unless they were slaves to be bought by nobles or others. And up until 3 years ago, Zorzal's view on things was the same as most highborn Imperials with an unshakable faith in the supremacy of the Empire.
That was the current situation, but it came with its own set of problems. For a long time, the Empire had not managed to expand any further. They simply lacked the resources. In their blind charging ahead of pushing the borders of their great nation as far as possible, the Empire had run out of resources to keep pushing forward. The large size of the nation made travels from one end to another take weeks even if there were roads. The population exploded and required more food, water, shelter and infrastructure and yet hungered for even more than ever before. And the further a noble house was distanced from Sadera, the more did traditional values of the capital seem more like suggestions rather than ironclad rules, creating a rift between those nobles in Sadera and those throughout the entire Empire.
In short, they were stagnating. And the only thing that followed such stagnation was decay and decline from within.
Naturally, the prince was well aware of the state the Empire was in, but this was not like any other campaign he had ever led. When his father had heard of the Gate appearing he immediately had set word out to the sorcerers of the independent city of Rondel. The scholars and mages there were looked down upon by the majority of nobles, who thought the only way to win honor was to fight on the frontlines of a war, but their knowledge was invaluable. That much even Zorzal himself knew. The Gate itself was little more than a rift in the air, a gap in reality that connected Falmart to another world. Children's stories spoke of this phenomenon, often exagerrated and fantastical, but there was a grain of truth in them all. And according to the scholars, the Gate only opened once every few millennia. In fact, no one knew when the last time it had been open was, but what all the stories had in common was how things moved through the Gate and ended up in Falmart.
For the Empire, the Gate was a blessing from the gods themselves. The Saderan longed for an enemy to fight and conquer, to pillage and raid and take their lands and riches for their nation. Calling it dying was perhaps a bit much, but the crown prince knew that tensions in the senate were rising again due to the problems the nation faced as a whole. With this, Emperor Molt hoped to fix this problem at least for the time being. So he had the scholars paid a hefty sum and given access to whatever resources they might need to construct the grand temple-like gateway that now sat upon Alnus Hill. An arcane construct serving two purposes. One was to keep the Gate open as the stories spoke that it only remained on the sacred hill for a few months at best before vanishing. Not nearly long enough for a long military operation. The other was to widen the Gate so that the legion of the Empire could march right through it to the other side and deploy their soldiers immediately.
Although Zorzal highly doubted they had much need to march against deer and boars in tightly packed formations. A thought that made him chuckle a bit before he scowled a bit as he heard the noises from outside growing louder. Armour plates clicking against one another, weapons taken and sheathed, tents being put away and fires extinguished. He could hear not just the human soldiers of the Empire, but also the demihuman auxillery troops. Orcs, goblins and more, who had been recruited into the army as experts of terrain that was perhaps less friendly to humans and to be used as expendable meat shields of the vanguard. He held no doubt about that latter part as any Saderan worth their lineage would throw any of them into their death before fighting the enemy. But what made him frown was not that as such was to be expected of war. It was the expectations that all these soldiers had come to join this great undertaking. They all wanted to fight for glory and riches, but they could hardly do that with no enemy to rally against.
Zorzal let out another sigh before he rose from his seat, his mind trying to look at things positively. No enemy would also mean no riches to plunder and no slaves to take. At best, they could perhaps establish a foothold on the other side and then scout ahead, maybe find something worthwhile in terms of natural resources. Otherwise, this whole operation might just have been the greatest and most expensive military parade in the Empire's history with no one to even bear witness to it.
Going through the Gate was a strange experience for more than just the cold wind of the snowy mountains blowing through it. It wasn't like simply going through the temple-like structure and immediately coming out on the other side. Instead, there was a stretch akin to a tunnel between both sides of the Gate, which was entirely devoid of any features or light. It was like walking on perfectly even ground made of shadows. In what little light shone through the tunnel on both sides, Zorzal could see that he was not the only person to feel a bit uncomfortable with this. Still, the tunnel for the lack of a better word to describe it only lasted for a couple of seconds before the army found itself marching out on the other side through an identical temple-like structure to the one on Alnus Hill.
Once the legion made their way through the bridge between worlds, even the last of the most dim-witted demihumans could tell why the temperature had dropped so much from the warmer air on Falmart as they found themselves standing on a relatively even plateau on a sno-covered mountain. Their surroundings were rocky and covered in snow, while the flanks of a mountain rose even higher into the sky. From the side they could look down steep cliffs and into cold valleys filled with grasslands and forests partially covered in snow as well, which stopped at some height on the mountains around the one they were standing on. If it wasn't for the cold weather and snow making their skin sting slightly and the reason why they were there as well as the urgency of their undertaking, some Saderans would likely found the view from the mountain into the lands below quite pleasant.
"The view is quite something, isn't it?" One of the commanders told Zorzal as both men sat on their horses, while dragoons on their dragons had already flown out of the Gate and into the air. The flying reptiles screeched in protest to the cold, but the men riding them managed to reign them in. Zorzal merely frowned at the remark, before turning his attention back to another few generals on horseback close by.
"Have some of the dragoons scout ahead and find a pass down into the valley. We need to establish a foothold in this place as soon as possible, before the men lose their toes." He said, ignoring the commander who had spoken to him. There were some rolled eyes and quiet groans of protest, but no one said anything out loud. At least not that the prince could hear them. If anything this was quite the underwhelming sight for most of them as they had expected to be charging headfirst into an enemy army of barbarians. This was a problem as an army of discontent soldiers was more prone to have individuals refuse orders or even try to revolt. Something the prince himself had seen happen more than once during his campaign against the Warrior Bunnies 3 years ago.
"Your majesty, perhaps it would be better if you were to remain near the Gate for now and let us scout ahead." One of the generals suggested, causing the prince to frown a bit more. Naturally, the man was right since this was indeed uncharted territory. However, there was a part of him that rejected that notion wholeheartedly.
"I am aware of that. But I'd also be a coward if I did so." Zorzal replied with a small grin on his face. The general nodded slightly at this, understanding what the prince was saying. With the subjugation of the Warrior Bunnies and their lands in the far northeast to the Empire, the crown prince had become somewhat of a symbol of both Sadera's superiority over all other powers on the Falmart as well as humanity's superiority over all over races. Him taking part in this endeavour as well was a strategic move of his father to boost the troop's morale, especially for younger Saderan soldiers. Not that they really needed it and the prince himself likely would have been fine staying in Sadera for the time being, however both his image and even his own pride would be wounded if he simply stayed behind like a coward hiding behind the capital's walls.
Orders were ushered quickly and some of the dragoons broke away from the expeditionary force to search for a way off the mountain. At the same time the vanguard began to fan out over the plateau to try and get a better idea of the situation. It didn't take long for them to find a gentle slope to descend a bit further down the mountain and to move in a tighter formation downwards. Marching down in military coordination, they began to move down with Zorzal and a few other generals at the rear as the commanding officer led them down with the Saderan banner fluttering in the wind above them.
Shortly after making their way down the naturally formed ramp onto another icy plateau, they were greeted by the first sign of life up close. Not only were there small patches of vegetation peeking out from beneath the snow, but there were creatures feeding on them. Large elk-like herbivores covered in light brown and white fur and a pair of large antlers sitting on the top of their heads. Upon hearing the troops, the creatures turned their attention towards the newcomers. First curiously, then a bit more shy as they jumped like mountain goats away their grazing spots and in the opposite direction. A few men laughed at the sight of the fleeing creatures, most either remained silent or sighed in disappointment at the lack of any savages to fight yet.
"Looks like we won't be starving or freezing here." One of the generals said with a small smirk on his face at the size of these large herbivores. Unlike a deer, these things were the size of a horse. Zorzal decided not to comment on that, though he would lie if he said he didn't think it would be a bad idea once a camp site for the troops was established. It certainly would help to appease the hunger of the dragoons' mounts.
'At least, we won't have to feed them our dead like last time or eat them instead...' Zorzal thought to himself, thinking back to the disastrous Warrior Bunny campaign. Months of walking through a seemingly endless plain of grasslands and wetlands, constant ambushes from the brutal and savage inhabitants and well concealed traps that claimed almost as many lives as the warrior bunnies themselves. Zorzal may have come out of that conflict victoriously, but at a greater cost than what the Empire ultimately had gained. The common folk and lesser nobles might have celebrated the victory of the Empire over the primitive demi-humans, but those in higher positions, including himself, knew better.
With that on his mind, he and some of the other higher-ups didn't notice the weather suddenly changing immediately. Only when the temperatures dropped significantly in an instant, did they really notice how the sky was no longer covered by a thin cover of white clouds, but rather a thick blanket of darker clouds from which snow fell like a thick white curtain. Before anyone could question this phenomenon, harsh winds seemingly picked up from nowhere, causing the falling snow to be whipped around in the air and add to the currents now blowing against the men. Several of the soldiers raised their shields in an attempt to remain steady, but somewhere simply knocked over and fell onto their comrades. The horses under the generals and the crown prince also had trouble to not be knocked over as they had to be reigned in by the riders to not throw them off and run away with frightened neighs.
"What in the world is going on now?" Someone shouted, but the howling winds around the vanguard drowned out the sounds except for some wordless shouts. For a moment it was as if the world had been drowned into a sea of dark gray storm clouds, snow and icy winds with no one being able to truly see what was in front of them.
Then a loud shrill roar tore through the storm with such volume it made people cover their ears and seemingly make the air shake, when a large shadow flew over the vanguard. Everyone could hear the beating of large wings just for a short moment and feel the gust of wind as it felt as if whatever it was could just have swooped down and snatched one of them up. Several more men fell down because of this, but as soon as the shadow had passed them, the wind calmed itself again as did the snowfall. Even the clouds overhead seemed to disappear a bit slower over them, before the sky returned what it used to be like a moment earlier, leaving only the bewildered Saderan troops behind who looked around or picked themselves off the ground with a fresh layer of snow covering their bodies and making the cold seep deep into their bones.
"What was that?" Several of the soldiers and auxiliary troops thought aloud as they scanned their surroundings for the source of what had just transpired, only to find nothing. Even the people who had seen the shadow fly over them could only look at the nearly vertical wall of stone that was the mountain as they had seen the creature fly over it and disappearing behind it on the other side, leaving only a trail of dispersing dark storm clouds in its wake.
"Whatever that was, it's gone now. Pray it doesn't come back." The commander said as he shot the mountain a last look, before rallying his men up again to continue. The warriors slowly managed to regain their footing and bearings before marching forward once more once they had made sure that the men were relatively unharmed as well as the crown prince. But they all shared the same unspoken sentiment that what they had just seen had been an omen for something bad coming their way.
The legion kept treading on for a short while, making only so much progress with the snow being surprisingly thicker. But that was not the only obstacle in their way that made moving further down the mountain near impossible as the whole legion soon found itself in front of a herd of creatures grazing in the thick snow. These beings resembled nothing the humans, orcs and other demi-humans had truly seen. The creatures stood on four thick legs and were covered mostly by shaggy brown fur that looked very thick, except for their dark skinned snouts. From within those, two large and curved tusks protruded outwards. Coupled with their numbers and their size dwarfing the drakes ridden by the dragoons, they were quite intimidating.
The men were contemplating how to proceed as firing arrows at these creatures might as well send them charging at them like a herd of startled cattle, when all of the sudden the creatures all perked up at a sound the humans couldn't quite hear. But the demi-human auxiliaries could. Ears flicked slighty as orcs and beastmen looked around in concern not unlike the large furry beasts in front of them, shuffling on the spot. The herd quickly began to turn around and all seemingly run away from the army, much to the Saderan's confusion. But the way the demi-humans looked up into the sky and the mountain's side gave the more experienced members of the army pause.
"Report, what is going on?" Zorzal snapped as he rode towards the commander at the front, who looked aghast.
"I- I don't know, your majesty. They just started acting out. Get your bearings you filth!" The commander snapped at a nearby goblin gripping his spear tightly.
'Oh for the love of... Incompetency really does run in the noble houses.' The crown prince scowled at the inexperienced commander's orders. Meanwhile, the demi-humans all looked in primal fear up at the mountain as if they heard or smelled something. It also didn't help that since that strange storm had hit them, Zorzal had no longer heard the screeching roars of the dragoon's drakes. But just as he was about to address one of the soldiers himself someone pointed upwards.
"Gods, what is that thing?!" A man cried out, making everyone look up to see what he was referring to. Looking up at the mountain, they saw a large shape moving through the air on two large wings. Not quite flying, but rather gliding before it landed with a heavy thud above them on the rocky ground of the mountain's flank. The creature looked vaguely like a wyvern, though its front legs were clearly more meant for running than flying as the patagium appeared to have been reduced. Instead, it stood there, crouched down like a feline and ready to pounce onto its prey. It was also easily bigger than one of the dragoon's mounts by quite a lot and its blue eyes were directed right at the Saderan forces as a short roar escaped its maw.
For a moment, it felt as if time stood still. Then it pushed itself off of the cliff and right towards the soldiers. A few lucky ones managed to spread out just in time before the massive beast's bulk slammed right into the center of the soldier's, including Zorzal who made his steed run back just in time. The commander was not so lucky as he and several soldiers were simply crushed by the wyvern's bulk. The light armor and spears of the soldiers proved to be utterly ineffective in protecting their bearers as the monster wasted no time to snap its jaws at the soldiers in front of it, tearing them apart and devouring them. Instantly, the Imperial forces retaliated, trying to slash, stab and shoot at the monster while others were still caught up in the shock of seeing their comrades now fatally wounded or dead on the ground. The snow around the beast turned crimson, but not with its own blood. The orange and blue striped body was covered in hard scales that the weapons failed to penetrate, except for a few lucky attacks that slipped between them.
An ear-shattering roar of anger escaped the beast, making everyone cover their ears and the horses rise onto their hindlegs as if trying to throw off their riders. In most cases they did manage just that, except for a lucky few. Zorzal looked behind him as he picked himself off of the ground. The monster simply swatted soldiers aside like toys, sending them screaming and tumbling over the ground with their bodies torn open by large claws. Behind it, several men fled into what looked like a fissure in the ice leading into a cave. A silent curse escaped his lips as he saw his horse running away, back towards the Gate in a blind rush. In that moment that appeared to be the most sound thing to do.
"Your majesty!" The voice of a general tore Zorzal out of his thoughts, as the older man jumped off of his horse next to the prince and pulled him onto his feet. "We must retreat immediately." He said and Zorzal found himself in complete agreement. Looking at the carnage as men screamed and died, the monster had spun around and sent more men flying with a swipe of its tail, before tore them apart with its jaws and devoured them. The prince merely nodded before he and the general swung themselves onto their horse and began to run up the mountain pass they came from again.
At the same time, the Tigrex crushed one last soldier under its claws, before the sound of the few riders running off caught its attention. Its eyes narrowed and its nostrils flared, taking in the scent with a deep inhale. With a roar it started to give chase, charging forward as its four legs were stomping through the snow with a speed that didn't fit a creature of its size at all. Its well-developed arms more or less dragged the rest of the body forward with terrifying speed. The riders looked behind them more than once, only to see the Tigrex getting closer with its maw snapping in their general direction. Around a bend in the pass, the wyvern skit across the curve, before scrambling to give chase once more, only to miscalculate and slip off the edge. Even as it seemingly fell down with a fading roar, the Saderan riders didn't stop, but rather kept looking over their shoulders the whole time until they reached the plateau with the rest of the forces waiting.
Instantly, the soldiers knew something had gotten terribly wrong and were already at the ready with their weapons drawn and a fresh layer of snow having fallen over the tracks that the vanguard had left when they had departed. There were also more troops who had filed through the Gate by this point from Falmart. A commander on horseback rode forward without distancing himself from the rest of the troops.
"What is going on? Where are the others?" He asked as he looked at the handful of men mounted on horse coming their way.
"Dead. Or fled. We ran into a monster." One of the riders said just as a shadow flew over them. The Saderans at first thought it was one of their dragoons, only to look up and see a familiar and terrifying creature soar over their heads with its atrophied wings spread wide, before it slammed into the ground near them, revealing itself to be not one of the dragoons but rather the Tigrex. The force of the impact knocked the riders off of their steeds, which also hit the ground and struggled to get up, only for the wyvern to bite down on of the wounded animals and crush it in its maw.
Panic immediately spread among the ranks of the soldiers, either freezing in shock or charging heroically at the large predator. In the ensuing chaos, neither the soldiers or the monster itself paid much heed to the riders it had thrown off of their horses.
By the time, Zorzal woke up, the plateau had become a battlefield of all of the Saderan forces trying to kill one large landbound wyvern. And the wyvern was winning as the weapons that laid low any enemy the Empire had ever faced did nothing but anger the creature. When he picked himself up, the Tigrex turned its attention to him, or rather the large structure behind him. Warm air flowed out of it and carried the scent of more prey and also predators, further enraging the monster. It launched itself forward, barely giving the crown prince enough time to jump out of the way before he could be turned into a bloody smear on the snow-covered ground like so many of the soldiers. The Tigrex's bulk slammed into the side of the Gate as it scaled it. Claws dug deep into the enchanted structure and tore chunks of marble like stone out, before it stopped right on top of its roof, glaring down at the invading forces.
A crack rang through the air like a lightning strike as large cracks began to emerge in the Gate. Dust and pebbles fell down from newly formed weaknesses in the stone as the Imperial forces kept firing arrows at the beast that defiantly towered over them. One projectile it is between the scales it if forehead, lodging itself in the uppermost layer of skin with a trickle of blood oozing out and making it recoil slightly. What little relief or triumph the Imperial forces felt in that moment was quickly replaced when the dragon's eyes turned blood-red as well as lines on its forearms appearing. It struck the Gate it stood upon with one arm, making the cracks grow larger with an unnatural thundering sound.
Then it reared its head back and let out a roar so loud, it caused the eardrums of many soldiers standing closest to the Gate to rupture in an instant. Everyone's head felt like it was going to explode in that moment with demi-humans being even more affected with their sharper senses. Trying in vain to cover their bleeding ears, a feeling of nausea also overcame many of them with the shockwaves of the roar making the world visible shake. But then there was another sound and a stronger tremor that ran across the area as the Gate simply could no longer withstand the forces that had assailed it. A pristine piece of almost artistic appearance cracked almost as loud as thunder when the first chunks of rock began to collapse in on itself. Dust and debris rained down and the monster was engulfed in a cloud of the dust as the ground it stood upon fell.
The Saderan forces looked in horror as the connection back to their homeworld was brought down. Reduced to nothing but rubble beneath the monster's roar, they couldn't help but look in despair as the cloud of airborne dust settled to reveal the Tigrex picking itself up from a pile of rocks and was still glaring at the Saderans. Whatever military training the Imperials held to such high regard vanished for the most part as people began to run away. Some commanders tried to reign their troops back in, but even they could not hide the fear in their shaking voices. The wyvern simply used its large arms to launch the debris of the destroyed Gate at the fleeing survivors like boulders thrown from a catapult, crushing entire groups under tons of rock, before the wyvern even charged forward again.
And the crown prince witnessed all of that. Paralyzed in shock an terror at all that transpired in mere seconds. Zorzal looked at the remnants of the Gate for a moment longer, just before he noticed that the wyvern had shifted its attention from the fleeing people to himself. He tried to run despite his shaking and aching legs, only to find himself running straight to the edge of the plateau and looking down a vertical cliffside. He managed to stop just in time to prevent himself from falling over, but froze when he realized that he was literally driven into a corner. Turning around behind him, the Tigrex didn't charge at him. The blood-red colour in its eyes faded back to blue and it slowly prowled forward like a large feline. Blood still dripped from its body and stained the snow under its head and claws crimson.
Zorzal found himself chuckling all of the sudden as he came to realize, that he was going to die. His gaze trailed down to his sword. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship, far more expensive than it had any right to be, but a well-balanced one rather than just a decorative or ceremonial one. His hand closed around its handle and he drew it for the first time since he had crossed the Gate, eliciting an irritated growl from the monster before him. That reaction to this ultimately meaningless act of defiance brought a smirk to the prince's face. He recalled how he had told that one commander that he'd be a coward for simply hiding behind his troops when he had chosen to go with the vanguard and run into this beast.
And so he charged with a last yell of defiance at the Tigrex to at least land one hit on the beast. At that, the wyvern snarled and spun around hitting Zorzal across the chest with its tail. Instantly, the Saderan prince tasted blood as the chest plate of his armour was caved inward as if it had been made out of paper and ribs broke underneath. He was sent flying, the sword falling out of his hand as he passed over the edge of the cliff and plummeted down into the depths.
The last thing the Imperial crown prince heard and felt was the winds whipping around him as he fell down the mountain and the wyvern's fading roar above him.