This Alliance

Prologue: Disciple

Nothing. Just the plain fields of who knows where.

Another ringing in the other ear made him jerk to the side once more and again there was nothing there. It must have been the wind, dulling his senses. Maybe no one was there. This was good.

The Warden slowly loosened his grip on the longsword and with one hand returned to holding his child in place. He turned the opposite of where his fading footsteps were going.

Instead of the bare plain lands in front of him, he met the hilt of the sword. The warden finally felt pain again as he was knocked to the frozen ground. His armor clashed against each other as the place where this mysterious hilt hit him throbbed. Through his blurry vision he could see a dark figure. So dark that the snow could do nothing to whiten such an image.

"What's this?" The dark figure- a woman- spoke and the warden's heart stopped.

He couldn't breathe when he looked at this menacing figure, her jagged sword pointed at him. At his son. The figure threatening his life was Appollyon. He knew from that familiar helmet that covered her face. Its lifeless "eyes" staring right back at him.

"A lone warden? Traveling with a child?"

The warden didn't know why he did this, but in his panicked state he pushed the blade away from his hands and backed away. The dark armored woman did nothing as he picked himself up again and readied his stance. But deep in his soul, he knew that he was no match for someone like her.

"Don't try to act mighty," she said. She opened her hands up, directing to the open space. Out of the white shadows were more darkened figures fading into existence. Each one of them had their own sword ready in hand.

"You don't even know the meaning of that word," she continued.

The Warden circled to count the enemies surrounding him. He counted four, "not since you killed the master."

The master?

Appollyon never had a master. She was the master. The puppeteer that pulled everything.

The Warden's silence must have amused the Apollyon-figure for she began to chuckle. It started out low, dropping her sword to her side.

"Do you not know?" She asked, her malicious laugh becoming louder.

He said nothing in reply. Everything felt off. This woman didn't have the same mannerisms as Appollyon, despite wearing the same armor.

"Three years, I have been searching for you, Lord Warden," She said.

She began to walk closer, as did her circle of knights, "and what do I find after all of this time?"

The warden took his stance and pivoted around the circle again. None made the attack. Not yet.

"A weak sheep with a futile attempt to protect his young. I expected Appollyon's murderer to be a great wolf."

So she isn't Appollyon, The Lord Warden thought. But how did she know all of this?

It made him shiver to think that someone like her would have disciples so dedicated. What would happen to the world if there was another Appollyon? Two even?

The disciple nodded her head to a knight on the left of the warden. A signal. With that he turned his body to find an enemy warden, swinging his sword to strike at him. The Lord Warden blocked the overhead attack. Metal clashed together in a clanging sound. He used this block to push the sword away and by extent the attacker..

The enemy was pushed back. An opening.

In a split second the Warden pushed his longsword forward. It had been so long since his sword had struck any flesh. Not since that day.