NOVEL WEB Chapter 3: THE MARKSWOMAN
The guttural growl of incoming bears ripped through the air, a chilling prelude to an unfolding tragedy. From afar, the Grizzly Tank stood as a silent, ominous sentinel, its metallic hide mirroring the cold arrogance in the bears' muzzles as they turned towards Thallerion. If they believed no storm could halt Thallerion's joy, they were gravely mistaken. The chapter of Thallerion's tale wouldn't end there; like a volcano rumbling from the depths, it was destined for an explosive eruption.
Then came the wrenching wrench and the shattering crack. Thallerion's stalwart defenses crumbled, crunching like bones beneath the bears' ravenous fangs. Walls shattered as the gluttonous, fur-fatted beasts crawled through the breaches, tearing at the very heart of Thallerion.
With every thudding, seismic movement, dust billowed from their arrogant arrival. The Moonatorian soldiers' weapons, too, yearned to taste Thallerion's blood, yet the beastly-bear warriors needed only their primal claws and fangs. These Moonatorian warriors were capable of a terrifying metamorphosis, transforming from human to grizzly bear, their bestial strength astonishing Thallerion's beleaguered soldiers.
"Father, why can they transform into beasts?" young Xerxez cried, his voice trembling with a child's raw fear. "Those Four-legged, the man said, were truly real!"
"Those are Ursa beasts," the king replied, his voice a grim pronouncement. "They possess formidable strength because the Ursa entity is within their very soul, infesting them, like the merging of two souls into one monstrous whole."
"I wish the Orion entity would return and protect his chosen people from that Ursa!" The queen's eyes gazed relentlessly upon the brutal battlefield, a beacon of desperate hope.
"Mother, how truly powerful is the Orion?" Xerxez asked, clutching his simple bow, a toy in the face of such overwhelming might.
"He was a powerful entity back then, a celestial guardian," she recounted, her voice tinged with sorrow, "but after he was gone, his people in Thallerion became weak. The generations forgot the fighting skills, grew slow in strategic planning, their spirit dimmed."
"I don't believe the people in Thallerion forgot their fighting skills!" Xerxez's voice pitched louder, fueled by youthful indignation. "They are the ones who neglected their responsibility! Thallerion was a hunter back then, Grandpa told me that! But people stopped hunting because they thought Orion was not helping!"
"Your grandpa is right, my son," the king declared, his voice resonating with newfound valor as he faced the chaos of the battlefield. "Orion is in our heart, the fighting spirit is in our hand! We are beast-hunters, we are fighters, and we are Orion's people!" He drew a deep, valorous breath. "Listen everyone, we are Thallerion, and Orion is with us!" The Thallerion soldiers roared bravely, a unified shout, and then, in a quick, miraculous moment, their eyes lit, flickering with a faint, ethereal light. Their minds sharpened, becoming singularly focused on the battle, a collective awakening.
"We feel it!" The soldiers shouted in exhilaration, a war cry that defied despair. They rushed forward like berserkers, an unstoppable tide, bumping all obstacles in their path. The Moonatorian soldiers watched, amazed by the incredible, furious showdown of Thallerion. Many were cut down in Moonatoria, their arrogance turning to terror.
"That's it, we are the ones who neglected the responsibility," the king murmured, a revelation dawning upon him amidst the carnage. "We are Orion's people. Now I understand the lecture of my father, the true spirit of our lineage." Always read at the source—MV@LEMP@YR.
Yet, even with their rekindled spirit, Thallerion's strength was still no match for the beastly might, especially against King Hedromus, a formidable enemy, chosen by the Constellar-Ursa entity as its worthy champion. Many throughout Moonatoria recognized him as a violent king, blessed with immense strength from the gods of heaven, particularly from Ursa's primal ferocity. However, the king proved that his skill didn't originate from another being; he was no ordinary king, but a force of nature unto himself.
Moonatoria boasted a generational bloodline of Ursa-entity power, meaning that pure Moonatorians inherited Ursa-entity abilities, their very essence steeped in ursine might. King Hedromus wasn't the sole shapeshifter; many Moonatorian warriors could transform into ferocious, wild bears. Yet, there were unfortunate Moonatorians, those of the lowest rank, mere pawns summoned to riot, frontier soldiers for whom survival or death held neither benefit nor honor.
Moonatorian Ursas could not only shift into colossal beast bears but also possessed elemental powers, categorized into four terrifying aspects: Ursa Fire, Ursa Wood, Ursa Water, and Ursa Ice.
Ursa Wood Moonatorians relentlessly pursued Thallerion soldiers through the ancient forest, a terrestrial domain for all earthly-type wood Ursas. King Hedromus, an Ursa Fire elemental, was the first to unleash a maelstrom of flame, casting it into the very heart of the forest where Thallerion's soldiers faced their bitter fate against Moonatoria. The insatiable flames consumed the entire forest, bringing with them the stench of defeat and the spilled blood of soldiers whose armor, the color of the queen's tresses, became mere fuel for the hell Moonatoria had wrought. Gasping trees could be seen, consumed by the intense blaze created by clashing shields. No one could foresee the future, so dire was the present. Even the sun recoiled, twisting in fear at the destruction of lives by war. Yet, amidst the chaos, the loud shout of a Moonatoria Pawn's word emerged, mocking their demise.
The chill wind bit at Xerxez's exposed skin as he watched his father, the King of Thallerion, stand resolute at the doorway. Each glint off the polished steel of the king's sword, as he meticulously prepared it in its sheath, felt like a spike through Xerxez's heart.
"Father, where are you going?" Xerxez's voice was a raw plea, barely a whisper against the rising tide of his fear.
"It is time to face the beast," the king replied, his voice a low rumble, heavy with a resolve that only deepened Xerxez's terror.
"But, it's dangerous out there! The bears are still there!" Xerxez's eyes, wide and trembling, fixed on his father's hand, now firmly gripping the hilt of a gleaming silver gun, a strange, powerful artifact.
The raw, guttural screams of the people caught in the bears' rampage echoed in Xerxez's mind, vivid and horrifying. He saw, again, parents clutching the cold, lifeless forms of their children, their bodies wracked with sobs, their cries for justice tearing through the once-peaceful air. The groans of dying soldiers, their last breaths rattling in their chests, were a deafening chorus that would forever haunt his nightmares.
"My son, accept this," his father said, his voice softer now, as a small gun glinted in Xerxez's trembling hand. "No matter what happens, don't take it away; use it with all your might! Protect yourself!"
"No, Father, don't go there!" Xerxez cried, his voice breaking, a child's desperate plea against a king's destiny.
"We have no choice, Moonatorian will not stop until he and I fight face to face. King for a king." The King of Thallerion looked downhearted, his gaze distant, as if his very heart convulsed at the inevitable encounter with Moonatorian. The weight of his kingdom, the lives lost, pressed down on him with crushing force. "Where are you, Orion?" he whispered, a silent plea lost in the wind, a cry to a vanished protector.
"But he is a beast, and you are human! That's unfair!" Xerxez's voice amplified, fueled by a searing rage against the injustice of it all. How could a man, even a king, stand against such an abomination, a creature of myth?
Xerxez's mother, her face etched with a desperate sorrow, reached out and clasped the king's hand, her fingers intertwining as if to physically hold him back from the precipice of his fate. "My king, are you sure you can do this?" Her voice trembled, a fragile plea, a whisper of a dying hope. The king, with a profound tenderness that tore at Xerxez's heart, kissed her on the face, a silent promise, a final farewell etched in sorrow. Then, he leaned down and kissed Xerxez's forehead, a lingering touch that felt both like a blessing and a shattering goodbye. The scent of his father's armor, of leather and steel and the faintest hint of pine, filled Xerxez's senses, a memory he knew he would carry forever.
With a deep breath, the king turned. The doorway framed him, a silhouette against the harsh dawn, a figure of tragic nobility stepping into legend. As he stepped out, a lone, chilling voice cut through the morning air.
"Finally, the king of Thallerion appeared. He is no longer hiding in his own cave," the vanguard sneered, his words dripping with contempt, and with those words, the king was gone, swallowed by the ominous promise of battle. Xerxez gripped the knife, its hilt warm from his father's touch, a burning ember of defiance in the face of an uncertain dawn.
Many soldiers had died, even the segway soldiers murdered in the scorched forest. It had been one week of continuous Moonatorian attacks, a relentless tide of destruction. How long would Thallerion's bleeding endure?
That war awakened Xerxez from the illusion of peace he had so blindly embraced. Thallerion's fatal kiss of peace was tormented in a single blow by Moonatorian warriors. Xerxez was young then, but he wept, clutching the small gun his father had given him for defense. He didn't yet understand that weapon, sheltered as he was by his parents' embrace, a fragile innocence shattered.
The duel between King Hedromus and the father of Xerxez became incredibly matched, an epic clash of titans. The strength of Thallerion's king's sword against the brutal bear claws, his agility against the razor fangs of Hedromus—it was a great showdown, astonishing all who witnessed how the king was capable of gliding through and evading every ferocious attack of the beastly king. But, clearly, what could a normal king endure for the long duration of such a duel? His strength waned with each passing moment, his speed reached its limit, the human body unable to match the beast's unending fury. However, the queen ran desperately, a blur of defiance, using her bow to attack the beast as swiftly as she could, a true huntress defending her king.
"We will not allow you to infest our land! Get out here!" the queen angrily burst forth, her voice echoing with righteous fury, helping her husband to stand, a beacon of unwavering support.
"Hahaha, King and Queen... what a surprise!" King Hedromus laughed mockingly, his voice a rumbling growl of amusement, reveling in their desperation.
"Why are you here?" The king's heart pounded harder, a mix of fear and renewed resolve.
"I am your wife, I am here to help you kill that infested soul!" the queen declared, her eyes blazing with a fierce resolve. "We will protect this land for the better future of our son!"
"Stand ye still, like folk with no charge, watching as nithlings?" King Hedromus's brows furrowed, a flicker of irritation crossing his monstrous face as he watched Xerxez's parents converse amongst themselves, defying his dominance.
"You infested, chubby-bellied beast, you really think Thallerion will be afraid of you, huh? In your dreams!" the queen taunted the King of Moonatoria, her words sharp arrows designed to pierce his arrogance.
"Infested, am I? Speak on, O Queen of Thallerion—thy markswoman fares no better than Crane's fluttering thrust: all flash, no wound!" Hedromus's face reddened, and his nose snorted sarcastically, wounded pride fueling his fury.
"Oh, you really think a markswoman cannot defeat tanks like you?" The queen tightened her hair, a warrior preparing for battle, and grabbed an arrow from her hip. "You infested creature, a grizzly fat bear, we will not be afraid of you! For we are Thallerion, the people of Orion!"
"People of Orion?" Hedromus laughed, his voice catching in scornful mirth, a thunderous, mocking sound. "Where now is Orion? Thallerion lies forsaken—forgotten! 'Tis we, the Moonatorians, who now bear the burden of their kind!" He stepped forth, eyes gleaming like steel, a predator closing in for the kill. "If thou hast any shred of mercy left for thyself, yield! Bend the knee, and swear thy fealty unto me!"
The Moonatorians growled vigorously, a rising chorus of anticipation, tearing at their shields to create a crushing, rhythmic sound. They anticipated the coming showdown, their king, Hedromus, and the two monarchs radiating an outpouring of fighting spirit, a duel of destinies. Their intense pride swelled within Hedromus, his belly jiggling to the rhythmic growls and clamor of the Moonatorians. And the normal soldiers of Moonatoria cheered relentlessly, like they were betting on a cockfight, oblivious to the grandeur of the tragedy unfolding before them.