《Tower of fate》


 Voiceless mountains

    Trotting heavily on the overgrown mud road Orlein threw another glance behind him, there laid the sickly desolate landscape that looked as if something sucked the life out of it, and the blurry gray sky only served to enhance that atmosphere. it has been 2 days since Orlein the city of narth and and the touch of humans seemed to have almost disappeared by now, if it wasnt for the marked mud road he would have definitely gotten lost.


    This however was weird in its own way, as there was supposedly a rather big village on the end of the mud road... thats where he needed to go next as the old road is not too far away from it, but the mud road to the village was dilapidated seemingly not used properly for years as thick grass was growing all over it. It would prove challenging even for a cast iron carriage to cross it at this point.


    but that was unimportant for Orlein at this moment as he only needed to get to the village and soon enough he did as he finally spot a village in the distance that laid at the entrance of a canyon beneath the voiceless mountains that pierced the sky. This village dates far back into the past and draws its ancestry from Kingdom of Vireweth which caused most people to keep their distance from them, as they are often associated with the cursed kingdom, and that of course worried people that their curse would pass onto them.


    Orlein however wasn''t a type to believe into this kind of thing, most likely the kingdom fell because it was seperated from the rest of the world by the ever reaching mountain range.. which caused it to collapse by itself as there was no import nor export.


    Putting the matter of how the kingdom fell aside, he soon stood beneath the stony gates of the village that was carved into the rock, even he that grew up in a rather large town could not help but marvel at the chiseled stone pillars that bore the passage of time for hundreds of years. moving through these gates he was met with a abstract sight, there were only 4 houses in the village and 2 of them were falling apart alongside with a single stone mansion that had half of its roof missing, the ruins weren''t worth counting as there were over a dozen broken down structures and houses.


    There were several crestfallen figures roaming around the village, doing some minor tasks most likely. The village seemed almost lifeless if not for the few people here, the earth itself was cracked and riddled with scarce patches of grass..nothing could ever grow here.


    The whole village gave one a feeling as if it wasn''t a place where people should be...or at very least humans could not survive here, not like this. Turning his gaze towards the mansion there stood a nearly collapsed tower close to it with a single solitary figure sitting in shade beneath it. Seeing as it was the only person not doing anything here he approached him with a bit of apprehension.


    As he approached the figure leaning one the ruins he saw him clearly for the first time, he wore a metal armor that seemed ready to fall apart at any given moment with a winged spear leaning on his shoulder, his whole body seemed to exude a crestfallen atmosphere.


    As orlein approached him he finally lifted his head, his face held a weathered look to it, the look of someone who endured many hardships in his life, but his eyes seemed lifeless as if they lost all the light in them that all humans have. The man stared at Orlein for a good few moments before letting out a raspy chuckle with a glint of madness.


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    Orlein who jumped a little at the sudden laugh eyed him as he spoke with an even voice.


    "Whats so funny?"


    "hahaa... i was just thinking to my self.... its been soo long since the travelers last came to this humble village of ours...."


    "well thats rather unusual, wasn''t this village a part of the last old road?"


    Staying silent for a rather long time he seemed to collect his memories for a while.


    "that is true... but what of it? the old road? who wants to go down that damned path again! ever since..that"


    Getting startled slightly at the sudden anger and fear in his voice i raise my eyebrow as i ask.


    "that? what happened, from what i know a few years ago this village had over a hundred people staying in it, i even heard stories of the kings guard going down the old road to find something, something of that level would make sure any village they pass through would prosper for years?"


    Twitching slightly at mention of the kings guard he looks at me as he speaks in a raspy voice.


    "true...it was supposed to, but well thats not something i want to speak about right now...Ah.. how rude of me the first traveller in a long time and i did not even welcome you properly, please come inside my abode we can speak more about it inside "


    Without even considering my answer he stands up heavily as his bones crack and screech uncomfortably before walking into the tower that almost fell apart.Staring suspiciously at the ceiling above me i step inside


    ¡®The room was rubble, the scene of a time induced wrecking.Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobweb and even tables didint look like they were used at all, the only source of light was the fist sized windows slightly above my head.


    At top of the room as high as orlein could reach there laid a framed picture. Taking a close look at it he noticed that it resembled this village, however on this picture there were many people all over the place, the grass was green and pillars on entrance looked white as mountain snow. At the sides of pillars there were multiple guards covered in black Armour with red capes that gave of a sense of magnificence and imposing presence.


    Noticing that i had my eyes plastered to the old painting the man spoke as he sighed.


    "ahhh... you probably noticed already haven''t you, this picture and this village are one and same...but different time, a better time"


    Turning around i once again look at the man as i see something familiar to the picture on him. His armor was almost identical to the one that guards had on the picture, only difference is that his was dilapidated nearly falling apart.


    "that Armour you use, is it not the same as the ones on the painting?"


    I question as i shift uncomortably on the wooden chair.


    "ah yes ineed it is the one and same! however that is something you do not need to know about as its a diffrent story."


    Raising my eyebrows slightly i put aside the questions that raise up inside me and go back to our previous conversation


    "well alright then, however i still want to know what happened with the kings guard? "


    His eyes sink slightly at the mention of name kings guard once again, but it doesnt take him long to start speaking this time.


    "... it all began 20 years ago with an adventurer that came back from the old kingdom bearing a ominous message........"

 Voiceless baron Indulf

    "Not many people know this tale so listen well, events that shook this kingdom to its very foundation all began with arival of a single accursed adventurer, just another fool seeking fame and fortune in ruins of a fallen kingdom, unfortunately one day his team faced annihilation. As a sole survivor of that group a single adventurer crossed half a kingdom to talk to the king for his team was annihilated by a man his highness despised the most.


    Voiceless Baron Indulf


    As there weren''t any noteworthy achievements to his name many people assumed he was just another nameless baron, the only noteworthy thing about him is the territory he controlled was the size of a great duchy, nearly all of the territory beneath the voiceless mountains belonged to him, probably because nobody wanted such a dangerous and unruly territory to begin with so he had no competitors in his barony other than bandits and demonic creatures from over the mountains.


    As such the late king paid no heed to the indulfs crazed expansion, Indulf however had other plans. With general lack of funds from the royal city he was forced to use his own treasury to build,expand and preserve his territory. And this of course forced him to make shady dealings with some sinister forces of this world.


    Like this years passed and Indulfs mind grew more muddled, and as his reason started disappearing another emotion became prominent inside him. Anger! vast hatred directed at the king for abandoning him to this god forsaken territory, and even when his power was above that of an archduke the king refused to give him a title of duke, as he would forced to fund him heavily.


    Led by his hatred Indulf gathered bandits, mountain tribes various mercenaries and even captured some demonic creatures from the mountains to be a part of his growing army. Soon his army numbered five thousand strong, this marked the beginning of his rebellion.


    Proclaiming himself "Arch duke Indulf" he led his men to besiege the tower of light, a tower formed by an ancient order of silver knights where they trained most elite fighters. Unfortunately they were very few in numbers with mere 250 true knights residing in the tower. By the time Indulf reached the tower of light his army numbered over 8000 as various vagabonds and bandits came to join the army to plunder and raze.


    Setting siege to the tower of light Indulf was determined to finish this quickly, for he had to capture fort nox before the king set his foot on this territory.


    Against all the odds the tower of light held for 8 months before it fell, this battle had cost Indulf heavily as he only had around 4500 soldiers left at the end, with 2500 of them dying at hands of the silver knights while the rest deserted as morale fell to its lowest. At the end not a single silver knight was was captured, with all of them dying in combat at the final floor. Even now the outlaws tremble at mention of Grand Master Harding, the grand maester of the order of silver who single handedly slew a hundred men.


    With this Pyrrhic victory the tower of light bought enough time for the late king to arrive from the royal city with over ten thousand soldiers that were forged in flames of war, unlike Indulfs make shift army.


    Hearing the news that the tower of light had fallen at hands of a lowly baron the king was furious at the loss of his most elite soldiers and his sword mentor Hardin. Unwilling to give Indulf a chance to run away and regroup the late king ambushed him at the royal road, which was considered ridicilous to be ambushed by an army of that size, any decent scout would notice them from a mile away, yet this unexpected ambush caused Indulfs forces to be all but annihilated.


    Barely escaping with his life Indulf was pursued by the kings guard all the way until the old road where he was almost killed, but his guards threw away their lives to buy some time for Indulf to run away deep into the old road which barely allowed him to escape with his life for now yet still kings guard was on his trail at all times.


    When he was finally forced to enter the fallen kingdom the late king ordered his soldiers to stop the chase, nothing could survive in the fallen kingdom anyway he would surely die soon . A wounded man with no battle skills how could he possibly survive?


    And this was the end of Indulfs rebellion and was the last we heard of indulf for some time. But everything changed 20 years ago when a man bearing news of indulf gathering an unholy army, these news shocked the higher ranks. Not only did he not die, but he strived in the old kingdom and made his own faction.


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    Shocked and angry at the news the late king immediately started gathering an army to get rid of Indulf once and for all, even if it meant venturing into the fallen kingdom. Soon enough the late king gathered 3 legions of 5000 men each before setting out for the old road where he would face his untimely demise..."


    Shivering slightly when mentioning the old road once again he stay silent for a few minutes. Unable to keep my curiosity from asking more questions i open my mouth.


    "How do you know all this? what happened inside the old road."


    Looking at me with lifeless eyes he starts speaking once again as while chuckling desolately.


    "hahaha, its been ages since i spoke this much. This might be hard to believe.. but i was one of 3 generals that entered the old road and fought horrors Indulf tried to unleash unto our kingdom."


    Jumping a little at the fact that i was speaking to a general the whole time i widen my eyes and stand up from the chair staring at him unsure what to say.


    " Do not worry.. that is what i was in the past the old me died there on that very road...even now i shouldn''t be alive but here i am working as a guard in this village. What i was in the past...has nothing to do with me now."


    Relaxing slightly i sit down once again before looking at him with curious eyes and a bit reservation.


    "Now where did i stop?" He finally takes a deep breath before continuing the story


    "As soon as we entered the old road there was an ominous atmosphere in the air as thick mist shrouded our path you could barely see 20 paces ahead of yourself at the time, naturally i gave out orders to stick close together and prepare to assist each other in case anything or anyone decide to use this opportunity to attack us. On the way we heard many roars screeches and even screams but nothing ever attacked us causing everyone to be as tense as a bowstring.


    After two days of marching we finally saw the end of the dark road where laid a breathtaking sight other then the various ruins in front of us there lay a great mountain in distance whose peak was entirely covered in snow. right under a mountain there was a tower which was so high that its tip nearly touched the sky it had to be nearly 500 meters tall. To make something like that what kind of kingdom was this? and yet even with its grandness it lay torn open with various portions of it missing.


    no matter how grand it was i had an army to manage so i was back to ordering my legion what to do. Under the orders of the king we decided to camp at the mouth of the old road, so nothing can pass by us. After we set our tents up the generals were called to the kings tent, to determine what to do after we find Indulf and where to find him. However...however just as we started talking we were startled by a loud sound that seemed to shake our souls.


    It was as if thousands of tortured souls from hell screamed out at the same time, not even having time to be afraid soldiers rushed in with panicked expressions as they gave us a report.


    "My lords, they are coming from the old road!"


    We immediately rushed out the tent to organize the army, we had a battle to fight and we had to win for they closed of our path to the kingdom, defeat meant death. But even though i knew that i still lost my spirit when i saw our opponent...it just...wasn''t right.


    From the sides of the old road thousands of black shadows poured out from the mountains as the twilight light illuminated them. Each shadow represented a humanoid creature, but even if they looked like humans they were nothing like us. Their eyes were completely black yet gave off a faint silverish light that glinted with madness,hunger and anger their bodies seemed to be heavily injured...no not injured they seemed as if they were rotting with their yellow-green skins sticking almost to their bones at some parts, their cheeks were completely sunken in almost as if they were mummies.


    Yet they ran so fast towards us, like an unrelenting wave of death. It was at this moment that i noticed a figure among them which that did not move at all, his messy long hair covered half his face and the unkempt beard covered the other half. But even from this distance his eyes were still striking, they were completely bloodshot with only a single emotion in them. Insanity, pure and undiluted insanity. The worst thing was that i knew this man... it was the voiceless baron indulf, i found it hard to imagine what caused this man to change so much at the time...It was something i unwillingly found out soon.


    I barely managed to gather myself together at the time. Even if others can falter and fail i can not, i had to lead my men"

 Battle of the old road-part 1

    "As they descended upon us from the mountains the men were scared witless but even then they managed to form a proper shield wall after all these men have fought in many wars and something like forming a shield wall is an instinctive response by now.


    Soon enough our archers starting firing, but the enemy seemed almost unfazed by the rain of arrows falling upon them, some kept running with multiple arrows embedded in them, that was something even i wouldn''t be able to do after years of training.


    After several volleys of arrows which barely slowed them down the first impact finally happened between two sides, running in big strides they kept throwing themselves heavily onto our spears clawing madly at the shields even when thoroughly impaled. The only thing that completely killed them was either a spear through the head or a sword through the neck.


    Seeing that the first impact was endured successfully i relaxed slightly, but that emotion soon vanished as i saw their crazed attack not faltering at all. They kept throwing themselves at the spears without any hesitation causing the shied wall to become more and more unstable and soon enough did the first creature burst through the lines.


    After it broke thorough the creature seemed to go berserk waving its broken short sword around itself crazily causing many soldiers to sustain light wounds, it took 5 men pining it down with their spears for it to die, but that was not the end of it. The hole in the wall kept getting bigger and bigger as they started poring in from the hole sowing chaos behind the shield wall.


    Seeing that the shield wall was about to fall i ordered my legion to form another shield wall about twenty meters behind the first one, but it wouldn''t be effective as the first one because my legion was formed from heavy infantry donned with swords and javelins without spears the shied wall loses half of its effect.


    Luckily the first general noticed what i was doing and immediately ordered retreat he knew we weren''t able to handle these creatures in a chaotic melee the only advantage we had was our wits and formations. making slight openings in the shield wall the first legion started to retreat as calmly as possible, this however caused the shield wall to become even more unstable and finally it collapsed completely.


    As there was nothing to stop them anymore they swarmed soldiers that were a part of the shield wall, they seemed to go absolutely mad when they drew blood from our men. And even when we collapsed on the ground dying they did not stop attacking , bloodcurdling screams filled with pain and despair were the only thing that could be heard from within the black swarm.


    Seeing the gruesome deaths that awaited us the first legion lost anything that looked like a formation as they started running towards our shield wall while screaming. Cursing inside myself at their actions i ordered my men to hold their formation firmly but the panicked charge of the first legion caused many holes to form. By now over the half of the first legion had passed through so i had to make a resolute decision or we would all die gruesome deaths.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Gritting my teeth i ordered.


    "Lift your shields and kill anything that tries to pass through!"


    Hearing my order our men hesitated heavily but they still obeyed, they knew what had to be done these men went through many battles after all. Soon the blood of our own men was spilled upon our soldiers which caused morale to fall to an all time low.


    Hearing my order the first general looked at me sternly but did not say anything, he knew how things worked here as such he showed wits and will worthy of the first general as he gather the men he had left together to form an emergency troop that would fill any holes that would form in my shield wall. In this battle the third legion proved to be almost completely useless, as the third legion was formed from 2500 archers and the rest were field medics engineers and other.


    The medics never even got a chance to work as the enemy left no survivors while the archers were as good as nothing with their low accuracy only a shot in the head would take them down.


    Tearing my attention away from the third legion i reinforced the shield wall as well as i could and soon enough the second clash happened. My shield wall proved to be surprisingly effective as the enemy barely shook it, this was the advantage of heavy infantry which trained strength and wore heavy armor. While the enemy seemed to hold immense strength in their every slash swing and attack they were unnaturally lightweight when even with their Armour on they seemed to be barely around 50-60kg.


    Almost as if they were corpses? but corpses could never kill a living man.


    Soon the disadvantage of my legion showed itself, we couldn''t kill enough enemies without spears so the enemy kept piling up causing the shield wall to shake. Seeing that this wasn''t going to work i borrowed a thousand archers from the third legion placing them evenly at 3 points behind shieldwall causing the other generals to curse wildly, if they shot from there they would just kill all of our men!


    Not having enough time to even discuss it with them i ordered them to nock their arrows and be ready to fire at any time. Just as they nocked their arrows i ordered my men to retreat in three locations of the wall. As soon as they moved out of the way several dozen creatures poured out from the holes, however the only fate that awaited them as soon as they passed through was to turn into pincushions, no matter how ineffective arrows were if you shoot enough it would still kill them. Before another wave of creatures could pass through my men immediately filled holes that were made causing the pressure on the shield wall to ease up significantly.


    Shaking slightly in excitement and fear i spoke out in a low voice.


    "maybe we can do this after all! "


    my exclamation was followed by the other generals spoke out as well


    "crazy bastard... at least warn us if you have plans like that! "


    "yeah i thought you were on their side for a moment!"


    This battle had just started.

 Battle of the old road-part 2

    The new tactic turned out to be surprisingly effective as several waves hundred corpses have already piled up behind the front line causing the 3rd legion to be very busy with cleaning up the corpses and shooting down anything that passes or through or jumps over the wall.


    The battle seemed to be going very well and at this rate we would win eventually without taking any heavy casualties from now on. But the fate wouldn''t have us win this so easily, just as we had fortified our formations and got a good flow of battle an earth shaking roar echoed from deep inside the enemy lines, which was soon followed by a 6 meter tall grey skinned creature that was charging fiercely at the shield wall.


    Facing such a creature for the first time  soldiers were unsure what to do, but the third general reacted quickly by ordering a squad of archers to shoot it down, however even as the creature was shoot by over a hundred arrows it only screamed out in anger as it charged faster, its skin must be as hard as stone to resist a hail of arrows.


    The moment it crashed into the shield wall the soldiers in its way were scattered like dry leaves, wherever it went none could even slow it down properly.


    Unable to watch it any longer the third general and me charged down the hill with a sword and bow in hand but the first general was even faster as he mounted his horse and charged down the hill with a lance in hand. If nothing it formed an awe inspiring image as a knight in silver armor charged down the hill towards a towering beast.


    Failing to notice the first general as it was too focused on slaughtering our men the first general thoroughly impaled it with his lance causing it to scream out loudly in pain for the first time. Not giving it a chance to recover the first general leaped off the horse as he slashed at its leg tendons causing it to cry out in pain once more.


    Unfortunately the great beast wasn''t some docile sheep either, as it was dying it lashed out with its arm causing the general to fly over 10 meters through air before crushing down heavily causing the whole camp to fall silent, the only thing that could be heard was the shrill screams from the front line as my remaining soldiers did their best to push back whatever passed through the hole created by the creature.


    Running towards the first general i kneeled down beside him as the medic informed me of his state. He definitely wouldn''t live, his chest bones were pulverized and internal organs ruptured. Looking at him with a crestfallen gaze i spoke.


    "Bards will surely sing of your battle against a great beast!"


    Chuckling the first general spoke while looking at me.


    "Gh..ahaa you fool... there will..be none to sing of this battle...if we don''t live through it! Make sure...that the king manages to go back to his throne..alive and well. That is our sacred duty! or else we have failed as his generals"


    As he spoke out his final words the light in his eyes faded away as he slumped down lifelessly.


    Turning back resolutely i look towards the third general who only nodded slightly in acknowledgement, he knew what had to be done. It was time for the generals to join the fray, the first general sacrificed himself to save kill  the beast, and we had a duty to take care of the rest.


    The third general and i quickly ran back to the hole in the shield wall that the colossal beast created, currently the enemy was swarming through it causing the back lines to be an utter mess. The shield wall was barely holding together from the pressure on both sides. Only when i engaged in melee with these creatures did i understand just how hard it was to fight against them, they just swung whatever they held in hand wildly around them paying no heed to the injuries they sustain, even with ranged support from 3rd general i could at most hold off 5 of them.


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    But with the help of 1st legion spear men we managed to kill off most of the enemies that passed through and patch up the hole, unfortunately the colossal beast had already weakened our formation and we were taking a lot more casualties than before, soon a change of plans was needed.


    As soon as the 3rd legions engineers finished building fortifications on kings hill we would try and retreat towards it, at this moment we could only win if we exploited everything we had. Running around and helping stop any breach in the shield wall has raised the moralle of my men significantly, but i was just as exhausted and couldn''t keep that up for any longer so i retreated to the fortified hilltop where we would hold our last stand.


    By the time the fortifications were fully finished the shield wall had already broken apart and the battlefield had turned into a bloody melee, even though i had ordered a retreat none was able to, everyone was tied down by 2 or more creatures. Luckily my infantry had heavy armor which was perfect against these mindless creatures so they could to some extent ignore blows an group together.


    Seeing that at this rate the 2nd legion would be massacred the 3rd general ordered archers without arrows to switch to light infantry division, they would be taxed with helping my men get into the make shift fort. This proved to be very effective but the light infantry suffered heavy loses while holding the enemy back, when everyone managed to retreat into the fort the creatures finally ceased their attacks as the fell back for the first time, showing some form of organization.


    Finally receiving a brief break from the tireless enemies almost every member collapsed on ground breathing heavily, most barely even staying awake from exhaustion. Even though they were all very tired the squad commanders still gave me detailed description of their squads an their status.


    The end result is that we had about.


    642 heavy infantry


    280 archers (that had arrows left)


    754 light infantry


    326 spear men


    1500+ various non combat


    Totally we had around 2000 soldiers ready for combat, while the enemy had 5000 at first glance maybe even more. Even though odds seemed to be heavily in their favor this was still a battle that could be won, considering that we already had a ratio of 3 enemies killed for each of our own. But that was at start of the battle.. all the soldiers were heavily exhausted and it would be hard for most to best the enemy in 1v1 situation. Our only hope was that the makeshift wooden fort would be able to make the enemy fight us without number advantage.


    This is where we would make our final stand, this is the battle that would decide if the bards sang tales of our heroic victory, or if we would be extinguished beneath the enemy.


    Climbing onto a wooden platform i observed the enemy that had surrounded the hill on all four sides,even if we wanted to retreat it was impossible from now on. The light of dawn had already illuminated us for a while but their horde did not seem to show any intention of attacking us, it looked like they would wait for the night since they seemed to slow down during the day.


    I would love to take advantage of this situation to fight them in their weakened state, but we were even worse than them at this moment. Many soldiers that were a part of the shield wall even had muscle spasms from constant exertion of holding a shield against the enemy that kept slamming on it.


    While the enemy may not know of our exhaustion we had to take advantage of this situation to mend our wounds and recover our stamina this night would be a long one....