Tales of the Fallen

Prologue

Ash fills the skies, blood soaks the earth, corpses pill up to form hills of decayed flesh and screams of agony and pain echo across these lands of never-ending death ... but among this war of heroes and generals, I stand as a common soldier riping across the flesh of my foes, I have been raised to war since the day I could walk, training to become a machine whose sole purpose is to kill and massacre my enemies, but I am no one special actually quite the opposite nearly everyone has been raised to this... foolish war, between two kingdoms.. 86 or wait was it 85 I don't know..how long has it been since we have seen peace, how long till these foolish kings realize just how pointless this dispute is...No one except the occasional beast men mercenary has ever seen peace, the citizens of my kingdom Hellhorn have lived in terror of impending death. 

Amongst these "heroes" there is a being, no a monster that tares through  my comrades,  he is known as the "Nameless Knight", he stands a few dozen meters from me clad in armor that would put master smiths to shame  with a sword only known as the "perfect blade", and yes from where I'm standing... it looks... perfect.

I...I'm...I'm simply terrified when I gaze into his eyes all I can see is the reflection of the netherworld, I'm completely petrified why... why am I so... scared... my battalion... absolutely decimated within minutes ... He's the incarnation of the devil, I need to run...but...no there's no point...my brothers...my sisters, those who were raised with me ... I can't...no I won't leave them... because. . . 

There's nothing waiting for me.

So I charge, I rushed towards him, my impending doom,  sword in hand with nothing  in my mind, achieving complete focus and in an instant, he appears before soaked in a crimson red ready to strike me down, he aims at my left shoulder with my dark steel sword in both hands,  my eyes following every movement of my enemy striking with my blade redirecting his attack to land inches away from my left foot our blades scratching against  each other making a scream that resembles the cries of banshees ... my sword  shattered  from the shockwaves from his attack. Without hesitation, I brandish my short sword from its scabbard throwing my broken sword at him while striking him in the gap in his helmet precisely in the socket of his right eye.

He swipes away the blade thrown at him,  just waving his hand makes a whirlwind, nearly blowing me away, in the corner of my eye, I see a fallen mage whispering a spell, so with all of my remaining strength into this last desperation...no there's nothing to be desperate about, I will live my final moments with pride and without regret I shall believe in my people to finish  this madness, with everything I have, every ounce of strength, every drop of mana and life in me I shall strike down this foe before me.

And so, I feel my sword piercing through his flesh and so I slash outward while my blade is still within his right eye. Blood splattered onto the ground and the helmet of the "Nameless knight" flies upward and lands on the making a crashing sound. I land on my back in front of the monster and...in this single moment...

I gazed into his eyes and is saw it...I saw the symbol...his symbol, a magenta flower with what seems like an infinite amount of petals within his remaining eye...and I, Stryke Condraft felt like I have never known........

TRUE TERROR