Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 15: Mental Assault

Valthumar narrowed his crimson eyes at the sight before him. Hundreds of undead creatures and beings stood in the swamp around the patch of ground his mansion sat on, completely surrounding it. The undead army consisted of werewolves, large lizards, humans, crocodiles, large snakes, a few deer, several bears, and a gigantic serpent that towered over them all. Standing straight ahead of him were three figures, one a young teenaged woman, another a dark-skinned teenaged boy and standing between the two a masked man dressed in black rags and chainmail. In his hand was a massive battle-axe.

The masked man laughed a hoarse laugh full of wickedness and pride. "Many souls met their end in this swamp. I found plenty of allies here. I must say, there were many humans around this home of yours, blood-sucker. An angry mob perhaps? It doesn't matter. They will finally have their chance to see you dead."

Zerek, at Valthumar's side in wolf form, growled fiercely. His fur stood up and his muzzle was pulled back to reveal his sharp fangs. His blue eyes burned with cerulean flame.

Valthumar crossed his arms behind his back for a moment and then straightened them, revealing two curved blades in his grip, red energy swirling around their lengths. He eyed the army the man had brought with him. Most of the undead creatures were little more than bone and some meagre strands of flesh. They would be easily defeated but there were many. There were so many.

He set his eyes on the man's porcelain mask. "I will not permit you to enter my domain. You are, however, welcome to try." Valthumar bent his knees and assumed a fighting stance, his blades crossed in front of him.

Zerek clawed the ground and prepared for battle, his muscles tensed and his body tight, ready to pounce. He glanced at Valthumar briefly.

Valthumar offered him a confident wink. "Do not let them assault the mansion for too long. My barrier will hold them but not forever. Defend the mansion. I will defeat their master."

Zerek nodded his head. He had briefly fought Durn before and was in no hurry to do so again. Valthumar looked quite capable of standing up him and he hoped he was able to defeat him. He glanced at the stone, man-sized gargoyles standing beside him. They looked capable as well but he had little confidence in the fighting prowess of home décor.

Athena rose into the air, her purple blade glowing. She looked down at Durn. "Any plan?"

Durn raised his axe and pointed it at the mansion. "Attack!"

Seth set his hands on fire and stepped forward, his face frowning. Athena rolled her eyes at the pitifully simple plan and flew off toward the mansion. The army of undead walked, crawled and slithered ahead, their dead eyes seeing nothing but their skeletal mouths hungering for live flesh.

"Kill!" Valthumar ordered his gargoyles before leaping ahead thirty feet in one bound. He slashed his right-hand blade into an undead human, decapitating it. With his left he cut the legs off a male deer and impaled its antlered skull as it fell to the ground. With them disposed of he leapt away, landing somewhere else.

The gargoyles roared and screeched and four took to the air as three stayed behind, fighting alongside Zerek. The army of undead was soon upon them and the gargoyles slashed and kicked and bit. The undead struck with claws, weapons and teeth but their stone skin deflected them all easily. One gargoyle grabbed a bear by the head and ripped it off and tossed it at an approaching human, almost all skeleton. The bear head collided into the human's skull and shattered it. The human skeleton fell in a pile, defeated.

Zerek leapt atop the back of a charging moose and gnawed at the back of its neck before it could crash into the mansion. With his powerful bite he broke through the bone and the moose's head tumbled to the ground as the rest of it tripped on its own legs and crumpled. Zerek leapt off of it and curled himself into a ball, colliding with an approaching werewolf and staggering it. He landed on his feet and then jumped on top of it, his claws digging deep into the werewolf's fur and flesh. This werewolf was undead and thus he wasted no time and ripping chunks out of its neck with his teeth until its head came off. He felt no remorse as he jumped off of it to watch it fall to the ground. He glanced around and saw that the three gargoyles fighting with him were doing well but many undead were passing them and reaching the mansion. Those that reached it attacked with whatever weapon they had, threatening the integrity of Valthumar's barrier. He ran to the nearest, a human attacking with a warhammer, and tackled it to the ground. He opened his mouth and clamped it tightly against the undead warrior's skull and with brute force crushed it into shards. He heard the crackle of flame and turned to see the man with hands of fire set aflame one of the gargoyles. It didn't seem to feel the fire and was preoccupied ripping apart a crocodile. When it realized it was being burned it turned to the man and stomped over to him, its claws flexing.