Valeria: War of Darkness

Chapter X: Remnants

"Light is a lie. Darkness must reign if Humanity will thrive." -Remnants Creed

Tara continued to lead us to the Remnants war camp, I was still surprised she knew the Remnants location, so I asked about it. "So, what should we expect?" I asked. "For starters, these guys are masters of siege weapons, don't expect a rundown camp." Tara replied. "Second, I believe their general is a blood mage, the Mages ancient dark rivals." "So that explains why blood magic is forbidden by the Mages." I pointed out. "Yep, and the Remnants always use it." She replied. "Hey, is that a fortress up ahead?" Quint asked. We then saw a large wooden tower ahead of us, it had guards all over the place and the Remnants insignia painted on it. "That would be the Remnants fine siege fort, it completely mobile, and heavily fortified with blood mages and archer everywhere inside and outside." Tara explained. "Complete military coverage." Quint replied. "Will need backup to get close." "Well, I'm not sure what to do, I could handle a small army, but nothing of this scale." I said worried. "Agreed, we need a better plan." Tara said petting herself. The remnants tower soon began moving towards us slowly, we then moved away from it and hid to avoid  the towers warriors escorting it from outside, as it passed us, I saw one of its wheels were somewhat damaged, I risked it and attacked it with my sword, the wheel shattered into splinters and every last Remnant soilder attacked me, Tara and Quint instantly joined the fight and held off the warriors outside the tower. "We'll handle this, go get that general." Quint told me. "Right." I said running towards the tower, I decided to climb it from the outside to reach my target, didn't want to risk fighting more men than I could handle. Once I reached the top, I cut away inside and saw there general standing there in his blood red robes waiting for me. "So your the Reborn I sensed coming here, I'm surprised you'd be a girl, oh well." He said unamused. "What's your plan exactly?" I asked readying my sword. "It's simple, we want the blade to revive the demon king, bring back Human prosperity." He explained. "The other kingdoms fight for selfish reasons, why not help me achieve peace for good." "Last I checked, you fight to bring back darkness." I replied. "Well, it was worth a shot." He said. "But, I have different agendas to do, until we meet again." He then disappeared in a cloud of red, I can't believe he even tried to recruit me, I already want to bring back the light, not destroy it even more. I returned to Tara and Quint, who were exhausted after all that fighting. "Did you. Get him?" Tara asked out of breath. "He escaped, didn't even fight me." I replied. "All he did was talk about reviving a demon." Tara got up and instantly got enraged. "You meet him?!" She yelled. "Him who?" I asked confused. "That man was the Remnants leader, Decius, he's the most deceptive man in Valeria." Tara explained. "And, if he spoke to you, he's planning to do something big." "Then we should stop him." I told her. "Not easy, no one knows where the Remnants home fortress is." Quint replied. "But at least the Remnants forces are gone." "He's got a point, your Dweller friends should help us now." Tara said amused. "Good point, let's get back to them." I said. We then headed back to the Dwellers village to tell them the news of the Clans and Remnants defeat in there territory.

_Clans POV_
I arrived at Stingers camp with my forces to reinforce her attack on the Remnants, but all I saw was disappointment, Stinger and her forces were killed, what surprised me was that the camp was undamaged, a wounded warrior then approached me dazed, but kneeled in respect of my presence. "General Cassandra, madam." He said frightened. "Rise my brother, tell me what happened here?" I asked calming him. He got up and explained. "My forces were attacked by a knight, a mage of some kind, and..." he stopped being frightened again. "Go on." I said. "The Reborn was here, she killed my general." He replied. I became confused for a second. "She?" I said. "Which way did they go?" He pointed in a direction, it was towards a low life village my men found earlier. "You've done well, return home to rest." I ordered him. He nodded and walked away towards home. I then gestured my hand and ordered my men to move towards the village. "The Reborn." I thought to myself. The Clans needed such a warrior, I decided to challenge the Reborn, I would force her to submit to my power, and make her know her place in this world.

_Newa POV_
Me, Quint, and Tara eventually returned to the village and meet up with Kalispell in the village square. "You've returned and brought a new ally." She said greeting us. "Is the task done?" "Yep, both forces have fled." I replied. "Now about our deal?" Alarms soon rang across the village. "Clans! There coming straight for us!" A dweller yelled to alert the village. "They had another one?!" I yelled drawing my sword. "We can't fight them head on, not after the hard aches we went through." Kalispell explained. "Then stay here, I'll fix this mess, Quint, Tara, let's go." I ordered. They drawed their weapons and followed me towards the battlefield, there were dozens of Clan warriors ready to fight us, but we could handle the small army. We eventually encountered the warriors head on, easily cutting them down with ease, I then rushed deeper into the battle to find there general, it took a while, but she eventually found me and we watched each other as the battle went on around us. "So, what is your name, Reborn?" She asked readying for battle. "My name is Newa, how about you?" I replied. "My name is Cassandra, one of the five Clan gladiators, and you will know your place in this war!" She yelled. She then attacked me with her massive sword, I dodged it in time and knocked her back, she then attacked again, I blocked most of her attacks, but she kept going until I lost balance and got knocked down, she tried to swing her sword down at me, but I recovered and kicked her back before she could. "Impressive reflexes, but the Clans have more tricks up there sleeves." Cassandra said recovering. "Arenas fire, ignite!" Her whole armor and sword then caught on fire, I about attacked her, but she rushed me and flung me back, whatever power she was using, it was incredibly strong, I then forced my sword to catch on fire, and it emitted its usual purple flames, I attacked her full force, but she blocked it, causing a massive shockwave that knocked us both back, we both recovered easily, but as she looked to see her forces were effected by the blast and knocked back as well, she ordered a retreat and ran with her remaining troops, Tara and Quint went to me exhausted and injured by the blast. "What happened?" Quint asked. "Not sure, we fought and all of sudden, she used some sort of power." I explained. "Masters Arc." Tara interrupted. "A rare art that unlocks a magic users inner abilities." "So that fire was hers." I replied. "Indeed, and if the Clans have warriors capable of Masters Arc, it won't be easy to fight them." Tara said worried. "This war may almost be coming to an end, the final battle for the blade is approaching fast." We looked at each other worried, I didn't have long to unite the kingdoms before someone decided to grab that blade for their own purposes, we then returned to Kalispell. "Reborn, you've done us great deeds, we are ready to discuss your end of our deal." She said grateful for our efforts. "Good, cause its gonna be more complicated than I said earlier." I replied.

Next: Chapter XI: Revelations