(Old Version) The Mystic War (A songs of war fan fiction)

A greater danger

//I suck at titles -_-//
//I'm trying to get better at writing (it's not working T^T). Just tell me. TELL ME HOW MANY TIMES I'VE USED THE WORD GLANCED, MOMENT, SIGHED, OR STATED. OR HOW MANY TIMES I'VE MADE CAMPFIRE SCENES SREEEEEEEEE-//
<<StarFox_41.exe has stopped working>>

Katherine approached the busy farmer who had helped defend their farm the day before. He hardly acknowledged her existence when she began working on a batch of peas next to him.
Both worked in silence until it was interrupted by the farmer asking, “I assume they finished cleanup from last night if you're down here.”
“That’s right.” She continued to pick at one of the stems while the farmer went back to his work. He noticed her tuning off for a moment.
“You good?”
She nodded. “I’m fine, just thinking.”
“There’s no need to hide anything. I can tell something’s up,” he said. Katherine sighed. “I’ve heard of a rumor. In Northwind. There’s been recent reports circling around some abnormal activity somewhere near the Southeast,” she explained. “Like, abnormal. Like something not usually seen in Ardonia.”
“Possibly a half-dead. Those things aren’t exactly new at this point.”
“But they’re not uncommon either. You've seen what they’ve done so far. Northwind is overrun, Conchord is a living apocalypse. Hydraphel is in repair and Felora lost the majority of their sea travel. The ardoni provinces are being attacked and the masters killed, even Ataraxia, the hidden city of the ardoni, was a target. You saw those newcomers. That magnorite only had one arm.”
“I don’t think that was from Ataraxia.”
“I just don’t get it! One doesn't attack without reason, Xaria. Even the voltaris clan had reason. Years of being hunted and slaughtered led to their revenge, but what about the half-deads? Where did they come from? Why did they come? What led them to their decision? I don't think this is just for fun.”
“Maybe it’s not that they need reason, but only their leader,” he thought aloud.
“Your point?”
“We don’t even know how these half-deads are, well, half dead. Maybe someone or something created them or something as an army. The real question would be what their reason is,” Xaria explained.
Katherine’s expression switched from confusion to curiosity. “It’s a possibility, but how would you think they’re.. created?”
“Maybe some sort of magic or energy. It's not exactly something new in Ardonia. I guess you could count songs as energy, the necromancers used wither skulls to control undead. There’s him, Rendor knows where he came from.”
Katherine shrugged. “Maybe, even so, where are they coming from?”
“I recently learned of an alliance between the Enderknights and several ardoni warriors who are traveling there as we speak. Didn’t say where though,” he said.
“That’s good to know. Let us hope they can be the ones to end this war,” Katherine turned back to the peas she was working on.
“Let us hope,” Xaria repeated.

. . .

Many ardoni riders dotted the landscape as they traversed across the land. Enderknights soared over the warriors while they bounded through the Badlands. They had left Sendaria the day before on their way to an old nether portal located in Deeproot, one of the few remaining and the only one they knew about that could transport dragons between the realms.
Timber and many other stallions galloped through the biome. Senn and Ria were riding near the front of the group with Ingressus and the captain, a middle aged Mendoris with similar style markings to that of Zulius’, only more varied and mainly emerged from his left side.
“When can I get off this horse?!” Grek yelled from where he was behind them.
“When we get there!” Ingressus answered for the fifth time that trip, clearly growing annoyed with the Jaggathan's impatience. The captain was trying to ignore his attitude. Grek stared at the Jaggathan next to him. “How are you not bothered by that?!”
Nilak yelled back over the constant thumping of hooves against ground, “try ignoring it! I bet that will help!”
Grek rolled his eyes. “Yeah thanks! Real helpful! I've been trying to for the past- I've been trying ever since we left- Ow!”
He snapped his head to the side to see Grim had whacked him with the handle of his scythe. He made a somewhat exasperated grunt before turning his attention ahead of him again.
“Hey it’s not my fault she-” he began to argue but was abruptly cut off.
“Will you quit it?!” Ria yelled in irritation.
Grek grumbled to himself while Nilak simply shook her head in annoyance.
“You can take a break if we slow our pace,” Senn assured.
The Jaggathan remained silent.
“Is he always like that?” Ingressus questioned.
“He just hates riding. He was doing the same thing on the way to the vault once,” Ria answered.
“I remember.” Senn pulled out his map for a moment then put it away again. “We still have a few ways to go until we leave the Badlands, I can suggest to the captain that we can lower our pace by nightfall, we’ll only set up camp if we need to.”
“Sounds good,” Ria replied.