Jimmy looks ahead of him, the wind flashing through his hair and wings as he travels at the fastest speed he possibly can, hearing barely audible screams from behind him, he only clicks when he recognises one of the voices being that of Joel, he quickly turns his head to see his best friend with his arm outstretched towards him shouting.
Jimmy can't make ou a single word He's saying, but judging by the panic in his body language it can't be good, he quickly turns back around to where he was headed only to be met with a bright orange light a little less than five metres infront of his eyes.
Xisuma bursts through the halls of the castle, barging past one or two simple servants in his path, his breathing quickening, and his vision narrowing as he tries to find his way to the throne room.
"How many more until down there is completely filled?" Cub asks calmly, noticing the discomfort and anxiety trickling its way onto Biffa's face.
"I think about a hundred barrels, only a few more streets to place them under, then that's them all." Biffa nervously grips onto the hilt of his sword, finding Cub's plan moving forward, having sent him into a slow spiral of paranoia.
"Where are you putting barrels?" False wanders into the throne room with her goggles placed firmly on head.
"I believe that's none of your business, who even asked you to be here?" Hbomb smirks up to her from his seat at the table.
"She's lived here her entire life, i believe that loyalty gives her the pass to stay." Doc scoffs to Hbomb.
"That's ironic coming from someone who betrayed their king." Hbomb laughs before looking to Python and Doc.
"At least i didn't kill mine." Doc stands up and walks over to Hbomb, who he immediately towers over.
"I didn't kill him! his pet did!" Hbomb points to Cub before Doc pushes him back onto his seat.
"You really put this man on your council?" Python shakes his head listening to Doc snigger in the background.
"Hbomb, be quiet from now on, okay?" Cub stands himself up from the throne and pats him on the shoulders before walking over to Python. "When did they plan on leaving to get here?"
"A couple weeks from now, enough time to prepare for any sort of siege." Python smiles to him before the door barges open behind him.
Xisuma finds himself with his hands on his knees, struggling for breath, with countless pairs of eyes focused on him. "What is it, Xisuma?" Cub looks at him confused, wondering why the cloaked man had burst into the throne room.
"Gates, they're at the gates, nearly." Xisuma manages to spit out between breaths, causing everyone in the room to bounce into a state of shock.
"They're at the gates? Are you serious?" Python crouches down to him with his eyes wide open.
"Of course im serious. They're setting up camp outside right now!" Xisuma shouts while bringing himself to his own feet, his face being one of fear and confusion.
The room falls silent as all of them look to one another in confusion, not even Cub himself knowing what the next step is.
"The walls look empty. I can't see a single man defending them." Zedaph stares towards the top of the Dogwarts walls, said walls being void of all life.
"Those walls used to me manned every minute of every day. What happened to security in this place?" Joel asks, looking next to him where the former king of Dogwarts is stood.
"I wouldn't be so happy about his if i were you. It's just another one of Cub's games im going to assume." Ren shakes his head, learning that even if they had shocked him with their arrival that he would still be one step ahead.
"We're in the beginning of the end." False mutters to herself while looking to the other seven souls near her, of which only three had even been born inside these walls, Her, Python and Wels, the other five came from all around the world.
"An end we will come out on top of." Hbomb looks to Cub before nodding to him.
"Most certainly, the eight of us will rise through this battle." Cub smiles to the people around him. "And the people outside of those gates will fall." He mutters before walking out of the throne room in front of him, Wels following closely behind.
"What do we do?" Xisuma questions the other five remaining, all who equally as lost as he is.
"We begin our defence. Xisuma, prepare your men for the siege of the gates, Python. i want you in charge of the wall, take some of my men, and leave no crack undefended, Hbomb set up men guarding around the city in case they sneak in through any sort of tunnel, I'll prepare the rest of my men for the oncoming attack." Biffa looks to each of them individually before they shrug their shoulders and quickly walk off to do what he had asked of them.
"I never thought I'd make it back to these walls, let alone inside of them." Scar chuckles as he looks towards the gigantic walls of Dogwarts.
"Neither did i. Welcome home, Scar." Bdubs stands next to him, looking to his brother who stands with the newly made purple cloak, in which the flowers Grian had given him had been added on.
"She wouldn't have wanted this Bdubs, Do you remember how she died the first time? When these people broke through these very walls and killed her." Scar scoffs, the idea of becoming the very people whom he despised filling him with anger.
"She wouldn't want that man on the throne, that's for sure." Bdubs shrugs his shoulders.
"And she wouldn't want that man on the throne either." Scar looks over to where Ren is stood, feeling his hatred swell up inside him.
"They both have flaws, but something tells me this will end well, brother." Bdubs places his hand on Scar's shoulder in an attempt to reassure him.
"I'd prefer if you were on that throne Bdubs, at least you have a heart." Scar turns to him smiling.
"Behave Scar, im no king, i don't think there's anyone here fitting for the position." Bdubs sighs before walking away from Scar.
"I guess you're right, nobody." Scar mutters before shrugging his shoulders and turning around to walk away, only to be met with Etho. "Oh Etho, you scared me!" He shoots his hand to his heart as he lets out a small laugh which the older man replicates.
"Sorry to scare you, i guess i haven't gotten used to not sneaking around this place yet." Etho laughs before standing next to his son, knowing neither of them have very many good memories from this place.
"If it makes you feel any better, im sorry about your friend, Tango, i heard what happened to him." Scar turns to his father, looking up to him and trying to express as much sympathy as he can.
"I appreciate it. The truth is nobody wins in war. Even if you end up sitting on a throne or with all the gold in the world, everybody loses something. I lost my friends, a loss i take to heart." Etho tries to smile down to Scar. Instead, he finds his eyes welling up with unwanted tears
"I guess you're right. At least if me you and Bdubs make it through together, then we gain something too." Scar makes an attempt to find a positive out of the situation.
"Well, i believe the three of us will make it out just fine, and we can finally be a family like we were supposed to be." Etho looks to the walls, the kingdom which stole that family from him, and the same one that wants to take it from him again.
"Such a touching conversation, In our long time being alive, I've never heard you say something so genuine and true, Etho, I like this new you." Hypno smiles before walking up next to the two of them.
"Hypno, I thought you'd be busy with Ren or trying to kill Martyn." Etho smiles back to one of the men he considered an enemy before this war had begun.
"We've been through so much together, Etho. i don't think i could ever consider you my enemy anymore, especially after we nearly killed him together." Hypno looks behind him, spotting Martyn swinging his sword towards a training dummy.
"I hope we get another opportunity. This time, he truly deserves it after what he's done." Etho scoffs while looking to the maniac of a man behind them.
"I believe we will, and im taking that chance as soon as possible." Hypno smirks to Etho, who only smirks back to him before walking away with Scar.
Impulse walks towards the front of the camp they set up, with dirt all over his body and a broken up pickaxe in his hand. "We're getting there. It's further than we had expected, that's for sure." He coughs into his hand before Ren and Joel turn to look at him.
"This is meant to be in your blood. Come on, you can do it Impulse, tell Keralis he's doing good work down there, too." Ren laughs to himself a little seeing the state Impulse had found himself in.
"I'd be happy too, if i don't die before i get there." Impulse laughs back before coughing and making his way back where he came from, finding himself in a tent where Bdubs is sitting in front of him. "Bdubs, why are you in here of all places?" He smiles a little as the other turns to him with the small grey cat in his arms.
"I missed Luna, i had to come look after her while you're busy down there." Bdubs pets the cat in his arms as he looks to the dark stairwell leading down to the ground.
"I appreciate it, I have to make my way down there now, though, don't you have anything to do?" Impulse asks, laughing as he takes the purring cat in his own arms with a smile.
"Nothing at all. There's quite literally nothing for me to do." Bdubs shrugs his shoulders before walking to the entrance of the tent. "Try not to die down there." He laughs to himself before leaving.
"I'll try my best." Impulse chuckles to himself before beginning to descend down the stairs, dirt pellets falling off the wall every step he takes.
He picks up a torch from the wall, finding himself looking down a makeshift tunnel, one lined with wood to try to keep as much support as possible, This was the plan, Him and his dwarves would create a tunnel leading into Dogwarts.
Impulse walks past his own men, seeing them trying to line wooden pillars to the walls with a distinct look of fear on their faces, all of them knowing that at any moment the tunnel could collapse on them and end their lives.
He makes his way to the end of the tunnel, finding a specific large eyed individual swinging his pickaxe at the head of the tunnel, dirt finding itself flung over his clothing and face. "Keralis, Ren said we're doing goog work. There's no clue how close we are, though." Impulse shrugs his shoulders as he watches Keralis swing once again into the dirt ahead.
His eyes widen as he quickly pulls the taller man back. Just before a small section of the dirt above him collapses and falls in front of them.
"Thank you." Keralis takes a deep breath before an adrenaline filled smile appears on his face. "I enjoy this more than i should." He laughs as Impulse quickly reciprocates before swinging in front of him once again.
Cub looks down to a singular golden coin he had placed on the table infront of him, every moment of the war he had begun flashing through his mind, he thought he would be a good king, he thought he could command the respect of the people of the realm. Instead, they riot against him in the greatest numbers they ever have, all in a singular hatred for him.
The door opens in front of him as arguably the person who hates him most walks in, False. "Cub, can we talk?" She smiles to herself before sitting down in front of him.
"Im trying to think False, get out." Cub waves her away before she rolls her eyes at him.
"Listen, It looks like you're about to start crying, and i don't think staring at a golden coin is going to help that." She picks it up before throwing it towards the corner of the room.
"What do you want." Cub scoffs before sitting up and looking at her, his eyes filled with a blend of anger and sadness.
"When you took over this place, i thought you were an evil mastermind who didn't really care about the people here, and i hated you." False smirks as Cub tries to hold back any annoyance.
"Good to know, now get out." Cub spits out, trying to keep any anger he's feeling inside.
"Now, i realise you do care about them. You do want what's best for them. You're not evil, Cub, you're pathetic, you're petty. You do have a heart. You just dont know how to use it, I dont hate you, Cub, I merely pity you now, how you can be such a failure of a king despite all the love you possess, it must be killing you." False smiles over to him, watching his eyes twitch as he fills up with anger.
"Get out, False, im trying to prepare for the battle to come, and you're distracting me, get out!" Cub shouts as he slams his fists down onto the table in front of him, the small part inside of him that knows False is right, causing him to be full of nothing but hatred towards her.
"Why prepare? You know you're going to lose, as long as the people hate you, the people will fight you." False smirks before Cub bounces off his seat and grabs her by the back of the neck. "Shut up, False, or I'll tell Wels to kill you right now." He says through gritted teeth
"Do it then." False scoffs as she breaks free from his grip, rubbing the back of her neck before walking out of the room and slamming the door behind her.
Cub takes a deep breath before looking back at Wels, who is stood frozen at the back of the room, not a single sound coming from him. Cub can't help but remember what he used to look like. A man is so overjoyed with his job, and now he is barely even a man.
The same goes for the entire kingdom, the entire realm, one that was in a historical era of peace, an era of peace which Cub had broken, using the greed of everyone around him he caused a war. He caused a war, which is going to end in his own death, most likely.
Cub walks through the corridors of his own castle, unable to shake the feeling that it doesn't even belong to him, maybe the building is his, but the people, and the true soul of the kingdom lies with another, another which is just outside this very kingdom.
Grian looks up at the wall ahead of him, managing to find the spot in which he had jumped down, the fall which eventually saved his life, on a day which took multiple more, everyone who was involved in helping escape having met their fate, Xb, Jevin, Iskall, Mumbo, Beef, Joe, Sam, and even his own father, The people who saved his life and ended up dying for it.
"Hey Grian, you okay?" Stress walks up behind the reminiscing boy, her face full of concern as she sees his saddened expression.
"Yeah, I'm okay, just some not so good memories inside those walls, i never expected to be back so soon." Grian smiles to her as she places her hand on his back. "It'll be okay. You never have to come back here again after it's all over, plus you won't be on the inside fighting, so it's no worry." She tries to smile to Grian before bringing him into a small hug, feeling how upset he truly is.
"The wall is surprisingly quiet." Gem walks up from behind the two of them, her eyes fixated on the barron wall in front of them, not a single man being lined up on top of it.
"It's odd, I haven't been here in years, but it's custom for the walls to be almost filled with men." Jimmy adds from beside Gem, the wall striking a sense of terror and dread into him, like there's a disaster only waiting to happen inside them.
"Mumbo was the commander of it. He was always the one who led the men up there. He was on the wall when they escaped just after Cub took the city." Grian says softly as the others nod in acknowledgement, all of them missing the presence of the moustached man, one that brung life into the depressing situation, and one man that truly had a good heart, and he lost his life defending a wall like he had always said he wanted to.
"What games are you playing, Cub?" Ren mutters to himself as he watches the wall intently, his mind fixated on figuring out why there isn't a single person defending it, that is before in a sudden movement the top of the wall lights ablaze, evidently the stokes had been lit atop it, drawing everyone in the camps attention as the once empty wall was now being filled with countless men all looking down at them.
"Finally! now he's defending himself." Joel smiles as he looks up to the light now radiating from atop the wall.
"Deliver the news to Impulse and Keralis. They need to hurry if this plan is going to work." Joel commands a random dwarf walking past, who quickly runs down to the tunnel they had been creating.
"Look!" Jimmy shouts, pointing up to the wall, where the other three of them had already been looking.
"It begins." Gem whispers to herself before looking to the ground, remembering the last time she stepped foot inside those walls was when she killed her own best friend.
"Look up there." Hypno steps forward and points towards a specific point on the wall, "It's the traitors." He scoffs as Etho looks to where he was pointing, finding Hbomb and Python stood looking down at all of them.
"Im gonna kill Python for taking Iskall's swords." Scar looks up at him with anger ridden eyes as he feels his own fists well up.
"Scar, you're going to stay with me and Hypno during this fight, im not letting you go off on your own." Etho places his hand on Scar's shoulder as his son rolls his eyes, determined to not let his son die on the battlefield.
Doc finds himself at the entrance to his own lab. Looking at the table, he tortured countless people on including his best friend, the one person in this world he truly loved, and the person he ended up executing only four days ago.
He feels tears find their way into his eyes as he walks around the room with a torch in his hand, eventually dropping it onto the floor before leaving the room to burn in peace, he figured if Cub loses then he'll never need to come back here, and if Cub wins he'll be executed none the less.
Doc looks back for a final time as the entire room is engulfed in a flame of his own making, like Tango's last revenge was to destroy the place he had spent most of the last twenty years of his life.
He smiles to himself as the fire slowly reaches him, eventually completely engulfing his left arm and leg as he leaves the room smirking, looking down at the unburnt limbs.
Doc eventually finds False walking through the castle, her face showing that her mind wasn't currently with her at the moment, that her thoughts were for someone else, "Hey False!" He shouts, trying to catch up to her. Instead, she continues to walk away from him at an even faster pace before completely disappearing into the castle.
Doc turns around to see the archway, which opens to the balcony he was only last standing on four days ago, his mind racing back to the moment that he released the trigger that silenced his surroundings, suddenly the sobbing stopped, and everything was quiet, he remembered opening his eyes to find the dying flame of his friend infront of him, the once so full of life man now being drained of it all, a boy he remembered being so warm now turned cold.
He remembers the only tear drop he let leave his eyes fail to evaporate before hitting hit the ground, unlike like most liquids did near Tango. After a few seconds of being in the air near him, they would dissipate into the air before you could ever hear that small splash.
He can remember dropping the crossbow and walking away, hearing it clash against the stone. He ignored the fact that someone would have to clean it up, as long as he never had to see the body of his friend ever again, he was content.
Keralis swings forward, watching the dirt fall to his feet as a gap of air opens up above him. They had made it to the inside of the wall.
"We made it!" Impulse shouts down the tunnel as cheering can be heard throughout its length. Everyone who had been working hard on it the entire time happy to know their work had paid off.
"Start bringing the barrels." Keralis says to one of the dwarves who begins to run down the tunnel towards the entrance, "We made it." Keralis smiles over to Impulse, who slowly climbs out of the hold into the wall of Dogwarts.
"It's not over yet. That was the safe part." Impulse chuckles as he grabs Keralis' hand and pulls him out.
Bdubs runs up to Ren, Joel, and Zedaph with a bright smile on his face. "What is it, Bdubs?" Ren asks, confused looking at the wide-eyed boy. "They made it. They're in the wall now." Bdubs says happily as the other three smile while looking at each other.
"They made it!" Etho's face lights up. Even beneath his mask, you could see that he's filled with joy. "Won't be too long now before we're in there, better prepare yourselves." Hypno looks to Scar and Etho, who nods back to him.
"Scar, I'd like you to have my old sword now that i have the one Impulse gave me. It's been passed down through my family for years, and I'd appreciate it if you had it." Etho picks up the katana-like sword from his tent and holds it out to Scar, who reluctantly grabs it from him.
"Thank you, Etho." Scar looks up to him smiling as Etho nods back down to him. "Kill the people who killed Uncle Jevin, every last one of them." Etho smirks as Scar laughs a little, his eyes filling with determination.
Bdubs runs up beside Etho and Scar, his smile remaining as bright as ever, and his entire energy seems happier than it had only a couple of days before. "Did you hear they made it into the wall?" He asks them to which they nod back.
"Here, Bdubs, I take it you're staying out here during the battle?" Etho walks over to him before looking down at him, the two of them being tall and short. At least Etho knows where his height went.
"Yeah, I'd rather not be in there during the battle." Bdubs looks to the walls with fear in his own voice. "Last time, there was a war here. We got separated and only just found one another again." He smiles to his brother and father.
"Not long now, Jimmy. i look forward to returning from these walls with Hbomb's skull in my hand for you." Joel places his both his hands on his best friend's shoulders as the other does the same in return, a grin placed on both their faces. "Kill that traitor for me, Joel, and for Oli." Jimmy pulls him into a small hug before quickly pulling away.
"For you and Oli." He holds his hand out to where Jimmy slams his own against it as the two of them laugh with one another, something they expect to both be doing countless times again.
Impulse pulls a barrel out of the hole and quickly places it against the wall, his hands being dirt brown and his head being overridden by sweat. "How many more?" He asks, wiping the dirt off of his own head.
"Not too much now, we're nearly there!" One of the dwarves shouts as they push up another one, Keralis, this time taking it and placing it against the wall.
All of them continue working away before they hear a door open in the distance. In an instant, they pull out their own weapons and back up against the wall.
"Is anyone there?" Keralis whispers to Impulse as the other shushes him immediately after, panic setting into both of them as being caught could mean the downfall of the entire plan.
The sound of footsteps imminently getting closer to them can be heard, causing everyone hiding to be wide-eyed and lost for what to do.
Impulse turns back to Keralis before whispering. "Run, ignite, and collapse the tunnel." He nods his head to the other who only shakes his head at him.
"Keralis, just do it." Impulse snaps before he runs off down the bottom of the wall towards the footsteps.
"Go!" Keralis whisper shouts as he throws a torch to the ground before him and the rest of the dwarves quickly descend into the tunnel and begin running down it, making sure to give the support a large hit so the collapse quickly begins behind them.
Impulse finds himself meeting the source of the footsteps, around twenty men walking down the bottom of the wall, clearly looking for any intruders, which he is.
He pulls out his waraxe and slams it down into one of them, all the work of the day before him leaving him tired, causing him to only succeed in taking out four of them before he was knocked to the ground by the hilt of a sword.
Keralis looks back to the collapsing tunnel as he climbs out of it into the tent they had dug its entrance in. He takes a deep breath before leaving it and walking towards everyone at the front.
"Keralis? Where's Impulse?" Bdubs questions him as he walks up to his friend. Keralis only looks to him and shakes his head.
"They got him." Keralis mutters as he reaches the front, causing Ren and Joel to look equally as shocked before looking up at the wall ahead.
"Well, he's not dead yet." Zedaph says quietly as he looks up to the top of the tower where all but two of the fires had been extinguised, and only Python was stood atop the wall with a familiar man standing in front.
"Do you still believe in this king?" Biffa asks before bringing his cup of wine up to his mouth, deciding to ditch the honourable teacher act in this instance, this could and probably will be the last chance he gets to talk to Xisuma as a friend rather than mentor.
"I think he's trying his best, and i think we have no other option." Xisuma shrugs his shoulders as he takes a drink of his own cup.
"There's always a choice Xisuma, you should know that." Buffa shakes his head, realising how far his student had fallen, he used to be a man of honour but now he is filled with only hatred, like it isn't even him inside his body anymore, like Xisuma had been replaced with a more evil and spiteful version of himself, desperate for revenge on those who imprisoned him.
"Cub saved my life, i now owe him my life. I don't have a choice in that matter." Xisuma scoffs before slamming his cup down and walking away, his mind only full of thoughts about how he's going to kill the people outside those walls.
Biffa watches him leave with a frown on his face. The man he once respected and could control completely gone now. This is not the Xisuma he has trained him to be, and he doesn't know what he will have to do to set it right.
"What's he about to do?" Etho steps forward with his hand on the hilt of his sword as he watches Python, he has a tight grip on the back of Impulse and is ready to drop him down the side of this wall at any moment.
"Everybody ready!" Joel shouts, ready to take his sword out to storm the walls. If they drop Impulse, he has no other option but to charge straight into the battle.
"Are they going to try break through the walls? are they stupid?" Hbomb laughs as he looks to the dwarvern man next to him.
"Must be." Python laughs as he watches thousands of men prepare to storm them. "Archers ready, you're going bird hunting." Python looks down at the hideen archers, all of which are ready to stand up and shoot on his command.
"Jimmy, catch him." Joel looks over to his best friend, who quickly spans his wings to begin flying towards the walls.
"Perfect, any last words dwarf." Python nudges him towards the wall as he sees Jimmy quickly approaching them.
"You should probably get off this wall." Impulse scoffs as he looks back to Python and Hbomb before he finds himself dropping down the side of it, his heart pounding as he remembers that at least he died to save the hopes of thousands of others, but he might have gotten Jimmy killed in the process.
He should've died at the dwarvern. Keep hand in hand with Skizz as he defended his home with his life. Now he's dying to defend someone elses home, which Skizz would've wanted him to do, would've dreamed of him doing, and the only thing which makes this better is that atleast Skizz would be proud of him, and atleast he'll finally be reunited with him after all.
Joel watches Jimmy try to reach Impulse in time as Python and Hbomb quickly disappear from the wall, clearly running away in case of the attack.
His heart beats faster than ever as he watches this race of gravity, but his heart sinks when he sees the wall fill up with men once again, and countless bows being lined up towards his greatest friend in the world.
"Jimmy! come back, Jimmy!" He steps forward, shouting as loud as he can, only for Jimmy to turn around before completely ignoring him and continuing his flight towards the falling man.
He screams out as loud as he can, but his voice falls silent as he watches the canary get hit with an arrow to the chest and begin descending towards the ground.
Everyone around him stays silent before a bright purple light ignites at the wall and, in an instant arguably the biggest flame any of them had ever seen incinerates the stone wall and anyone atop it, the entire northern side of the wall turning into rubble on the ground.
Ren turns around to the army behind him, quickly raising his axe as the war cry of thousands of men can be heard throughout the realm.
Cub stands at the entrance of his castle as he witnesses the wall burn to the ground, his eyes opening wide as he takes a sip of the ale in his hand before dropping the cup to the ground in shock, letting it roll down the steps spilling out its contents as he walks back into the castle.
END OF CHAPTER 24: 5418
i no its not that good im sorrrry.
I just finished prelims so i have more time to focus on this yay.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED <3