The sky was only a thin line of blue in an otherwise dark abyss by the time the general rapped on the door to wake them. He was a tall, dark, burley man with more hair than brains, in Xoris' humble opinion. His shouting to get them into action was a stark contrast to Luke's pleasant humming as he searched to find his armour. Xoris took note of him as he pulled out a large, white, dusty blade coated in cracks.

Nervousness tugged at his senses, but he tried to keep the situation light as he pulled out his own, plain, metal longsword. "I find it rather unfair that you get to have a channelling blade. Where's my fancy equipment?" He laughed, raising his eyebrow at his friend. The best he had was a small loop of chainmail to wear around his neck, and some metal boots.

"What would you do with a channelling blade?" Luke laughed back. "Even if you weren't just a random frontline soldier, you're a Human with a low majik proficiency. What good would it do you?"

"About as much good as this sword will." He shrugged as his eyes casually drifted to him tugging off a loose white nightshirt, revealing the physic of an attractive solider beneath. Xoris already knew of the thin, shredded strips of wings that sat under it, but the short, gauzy flaps hanging in tapers off the otherwise untouched skin of his back still made him shudder every time.

While he by no means envied Luke's half Fae lineage though, he couldn't say that he wasn't jealous of his majik. Being able to fire projectiles of light from a crystal blade sounded much better than swinging around a heavy sword that his arms could barely lift. If the pen is to be mightier than the sword, then surely the weights should have been switched too, he thought begrudgingly. Still, he knew that the channelling blade in his hands would be nothing more than a dusty, useless shape that would shatter into pieces in an instant. He would simply have to... figure out another option.

Luke sighed before pulling out a grey undershirt with slits on the back, one that would later come to sit under the white of his armour. "That's true. I do wish they could have trained you more on swordplay, but there just wasn't enough time. I think the king only cares for enough manpower between the Beasts and majik-users for them to be protected. Unfair as it is..." He held off speaking for a moment as they walked out of the room, surrounded by a good thirty other men in the hallway of the keep. He started again in a whisper. "If you stay by me, I'll make sure nothing happens to you out there, so don't panic too much."

Xoris nodded rapidly, following him in line to have a small bowl of porridge poured for himself. Moments later, he was jostled violently by someone behind him in line.

"Uh, sorry," came the casual response before the offender turned to speak to a man next to him. "Say, do we know what kind of Beasts are coming over the mountains today? Just Stained or do you think there'll be some non-Stained too? I'm hoping for the latter since it'd be easier."

Xoris was aggravated by the man's lack of awareness for a moment, but it quickly faded as he heard him ask the question. He knew the answer to it. "Oh! I believe it would just be Stained," he piped up, recalling the book he'd read the night before. "After all, the Beasts keep coming in set, organised waves over the mountains. Usually Non-Stained just attack at random intervals or run slaughter raids, and they usually stick towards the rivers. Since the area is a Wasteland by this point, not to mention it's a strategic attack, I think it's safe to assume that it will be almost all, if not entirely Stained, since they'd need intellect to come up that much." Xoris beamed up at him, the birthmark on his left cheek getting pulled into his dimples.

The man seemed none too pleased despite the fact he'd answered his question though. "Rrrright. Say, I don't think I've seen you here before. What did you say your name was?" He narrowed his eyes at him.

"I didn't, but it's Xoris." 

He didn't like how the man stood on the tips of his toes to bring his face closer, and Xoris was quick to note that he most certainly had battle experience from the countless scars and waves of muscle pulling his black shirt taunt. His threatening disposition looked like he was about to insult him, but then stopped. "Zore-is?"

"No. X-or-is," he enunciated for him, making sure he could hear the small eck-like pronunciation in the back of his throat as the first syllable before it came to have the z-sound. He was tired of everyone getting it wrong.

"Listen... New guy," he continued, completely giving up on it. "No one asked you anything, so learn to speak when spoken to, understand?" He spat at him.

Xoris was about to explain that he meant no offence, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think he needs to understand anything from someone whose mouth just leaked on the floor, and can't even bother to get his name right... though I'm sure it was an honest mistake, and not a sign of disrespect from one soldier to another, right?" 

Xoris didn't need to look down to know that Luke was giving that overly sweet smile of his. The kind that made people back away before actual trouble began. It had been a long time since he'd stood up for him, but his face still felt a little hot all the same.

 The man gave Luke a look, eyes falling to notice the light blue insignia of his armour, noting him as not just any solider, but one with majik.

"O-oh, of course. Sorry." His gaze fell to the floor, and Xoris was allowed to snag his bowl of porridge in peace.

Despite the amount of effort it had taken to get it, he couldn't do much more than absentmindedly stir the spoon around endlessly in the bowl, watching the pink mush flow with it. His stomach was full of pulsing knots, and while he knew it wasn't true, it seemed as though the longer he took to eat, the longer it would be until battle.

"Don't mind them," Luke cut in, breaking up his thoughts. "It's not your fault you happened to be smart enough to know the answer. Some people just refuse to hear what they don't want to."

"I don't see how it could bother him. It doesn't matter if the Beasts are Stained or not, they're still invading, and we still have to kill them." Xoris shrugged. It didn't seem to make any difference in the end.

"Well, there's a bit of a difference in ending the life of something that has a consciousness... or doesn't. The Stained can sometimes talk, beg for mercy on the battlefield. Sometimes it's easier to handle the others, since it's more like hunting. Not to mention, Vampires used to be Humans before being Stained and that... that can weigh heavy on your conscience."

"I think any death at all is going to lay on my conscience," he replied. "But at least if the Stained are the ones organising things, the faster we can take them down, the faster the war will end in the first place." It came out in a flat tone as he poked the spoon into the bowl, watching the contents swim once again.

"Hey." Luke looked up at him, a sincere wince on his face. "I know this isn't an easy life, but try not to be so down. What happened to being the happy and carefree one out of us? The only thing you've done since you arrived is hide away and read."

"I want to be prepared. I'm not exactly looking to die at twenty-three." He finally managed to get one spoonful into his mouth. Once it was pulled away from the liquid it sat under, it was thick, lumpy... and not much else. Was flavour too much to ask for?

"Well, I didn't read anything, and nothing is about to happen to me." Luke grinned. "Don't worry. I'll protect us both out there. You have nothing to worry about."

"Bowls down, troops out!" The call of the general rang out, practically stopping Xoris' heart in just a sentence. He gripped the sword on the table next to him so intensely his knuckles were pure white. It was as if his body had become a leaf in the wind with how much he shook. It wasn't that he didn't want to fight for his country, or his people, but... I feel so unprepared.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder again, quite a feat considering Xoris usually had to practically bend in half to reach anyone. "Here." Luke handed him his shield.

"What?" Xoris whispered fiercely as they made their way to the propped open door, sticky yellow sand whipping inside from the heavy winds. "I can't take this."

"There's no rule claiming you can't, and I'm not going to need it. If it'll make you feel safer, borrow it. I have armour besides." Luke gestured to his breastplate and protected legs. Xoris could only manage to nod his thanks to him as they stepped out into the light.

After that, it was a rush to find their place as the beginning of the hoard came into sight. It was mostly Vampires, their white hair reflecting the light and the red Stained splotches on their bodies easy to make out. Though they made up most of the army, Xoris could also tell that a few gorgons made up a back row as archers, Serpentine-like tails trailing behind them.

Of course. If the Vampires stay to the front, they can protect the weaker Stained, giving them room to attack with the arrows, while also having the opportunity to bite as many of our troops as possible to spread it. It was things like this that convinced him that there had to be some form of ruler to the lawless race. Their moves were always too well put together.

He didn't have much time to mull it over, as the Vampires dashed forward with terrifying speed. He was barely able to throw his acquired shield in one of the Vampires' faces before she drew close. It hardly deterred her though, and instead of retreating with her face to strike again with her fangs, a dagger was drawn, which she quickly tilted on an angle to shove deep into his right side.

A cry escaped his lips as bolts of pain began to spread up and down his back, and he could barely bring himself to look at the emerald blood oozing out of the wound. Gritting his teeth, he tried to just step away, back and out of the blade, something, but he couldn't move. The fibres of his nerves might as well have rooted his feet to the ground. It wasn't until he saw a flash of light rush past his side and into the Beast that the digging push finally ceased.

"Come on Xoris!" Luke called, pushing his hair behind his slightly-pointed ears. "The least you can do is not instantly die on me. Remember, you're not tied to one spot. Dodge!" He turned on his heel to blast another beam of light at a Beast to his left. As a Vampire tried to push through towards him, Xoris turned to angle a sword at them, pushing hard as the blade ran through their neck. It was a horrible sight, watching the crimson drip down his blade, but it didn't bother him quite so much as he had thought it was going to. Then again, these were Beasts, horrible creatures that tore through villages and slaughtered by the thousands. Fighting them was a good cause.

"I could say the same to you," he laughed. Luke grinned proudly at him as he hacked another at his side. The confident look in his eyes gave off only one message. We can do this. Men fell from all directions, coating the ground in green only sparingly broken up by the occasional splashes of red, but as the sky grew wider as the day trudged on, between the shield and blade, they maintained mainly untouched, despite the countless Stained laid out over the hills.

But the shield could only cover so much. When arrows began to rain from the burnt skies, a gasp tore through Xoris' throat. Quickly, he instinctively raised the shield to protect himself, when he heard a cry next to him.

"Luke?" His voice hitched with horror as he turned to see him fall to the ground, an arrow protruding from his neck. Xoris crouched down, watching as the aqua blood ran in smooth, flowing trickles down his skin, his blue eyes becoming closed in agony. His breathing quickly became heavy and slowed. "Luke?" It came as a panicked shout.

There was no answer.

Xoris clenched his fists as a cold fury like he had never known ran through his skin like fire. His conscientiousness felt out of reach as the sound of his heart rose in his ears, breathing becoming heavy as his emotions clamoured to wage a war of their own. He would remember later that the only thought running through his mind was how he had wanted it all to cease. As the anger faded to a cool logical bliss, he felt weightless, his sense just out of reach as his feet left the ground and a flash of green light stretched out in all directions before him. Then it dropped, a shock erupting through his back as his body fell back to the ground.

Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes to find a man about to slash him through. He flinched back, raising an arm to weakly defend himself, when he realised the man did not move at all. No one did. The battlefield had become nothing more than a field of statues. Armour-clad people, both Human and Stained in all directions lay frozen in anger, anguish, astonishment. Stone figures of what had been flesh and blood mere moments ago. A chill crept into his bones as he surveyed the scene. Something had done this. Something terrifying, and powerful, and he dreaded finding out what sort of monster had done it.

"What... did you do?" Luke whispered beside him. Xoris could only pant as a reply. He had no answer to give, and Luke's eyes were shut too tightly to have seen much. At least he was alive, but the steady drip of the thin blue–green liquid from his neck tightened Xoris' stomach. He turned away, the three bites of porridge he'd barely managed to get down the first time lapping up his throat like rotten waves.

Finally getting over the sight, he wiped the sludge off his mouth. "A medic! Can we have aid? Please?" he shouted as loud as he could, praying that anyone could hear him before sinking to the ground. The slimy sand had no qualms with finding its way into the wound in his side, reinflaming it in moments. Then the sting of his injuries ate away at his ebbing consciousness, rising ever slowly until a wave of blackness overtook him completely.

𓂀

Thank you for reading so far! You may have noticed this chapter has a detication, which I don't tend to do. HOWEVER, a friend of mine drew me a very beatiful fanart, and they deserve it. I'm also going to show it off here.

It's amazing! I could gush over it for hours. I can't thank them enough, and if you think that's beautiful, you should see their writing. They also write high fantasy so if you enjoy this, feel free to check out their account. ^v^