Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
I led the march to the portal. With each of the commanders following behind me and the troops behind them. It was time for us to leave. We were about to go to the battlefield and begin this war.
The portal had been prepared in advance. It was located in the courtyard where we had held the wedding and all the banquets. It was open and able to hold a lot of people, so it made for a more efficient place for us all to travel from.
“Listen up.” I got their attention with a magically amplified voice. It was less amplified really and more enchanted so that all in attendance would hear it like I was standing in front of them. “This portal can take up to one thousand people at a time. It is large but we will not be arriving there all at once. The first Squad going through will be Trevor’s followed by Valerian’s. Joaquin’s squad third followed by mine. From there it will be Dietrich’s, Landon’s, Nathair’s, Rahim’s, Noir’s, Anastasia’s, Crawford’s, and finally Queen Gloriana’s. Does everyone understand?”
“Yes, my Queen.” The words echoed loudly from all over the large clearing.
“Good. Trevor, you may start to take your squad through.”
In large groups that left by the several hundred, and sometimes closer to the max of one thousand. It took a long time, but we all managed to get the troops through. They were all moving as fast as they could to make this as quick of a process as they could. I knew that these men and women that were fighting with us didn’t want to be here any longer than they had to. No one wanted to be at war.
When it was my turn to move through the portal with my squad, I took the lead. I was accompanied by my guards who refused to leave my side and all the others that had made it into my platoon of fighters.
I saw Joaquin waiting for me on the other side and went to him immediately. I could tell that he was still not happy about me going on this mission, but he had to get over that and just deal with it. I was going to be the type of Queen that led my people into battle instead of sitting on the sidelines.
“I see that she hasn’t broken them through just yet.” I pointed out as I looked around the clearing.
“No, but I sense that it won’t be long. There is a crack in the barrier that is most likely how she made it through to this side.” Athair m貌r answered as soon as my question was out there. “And I can see where her magic has touched this area. It seems that her powers have grown while she was trapped in the dark Realm.”
“The dark Realm is what used to be the Fae’s home, correct? Is it possible that the majority of the magic of the Fae was left behind there when you left?”
“Alas, my dear Riviana, I do believe that is exactly what happened. There were a lot of powers that we gave up and discarded as no longer needed when we left there. Those that were imprisoned there most likely fed on that magic over these last five centuries. I had no idea what to expect when they break through that barrier and come spilling out toward us.” Athair m貌r sounded so grim and not very much like he was looking forward to the battle.
“That’s so comforting.” Trevor joked from beside him. “Thank you so much for that.” His sarcasm was his defense mechanism right now. None of us wanted to go to war but it was what needed to be done.
The steady stream of warriors coming through the portal was showing no signs of stopping yet, so we needed to move so that we weren’t in the way. When I walked further out into the clearing that we had arrived at, I saw that the space was vaguely familiar. It looked a lot like the place that Danu had brought me and Joaquin that night for the magical meeting.
There in the distance was the rocky cliffs and below was the stormy sea. There was an open field that seemed to be growing in size with each group of warriors that came through the portal. It was like this space would become as big as we needed it to. That was kind of convenient with how many men and women were with us. We would not be fighting while on top of each other.
The other thing that I noticed when I searched the clearing near the cliff was that it seemed to be infected with an evil energy. This was not at all what the clearing felt like when I visited it during my celestial meeting.
“Something is wrong here.” I said as I looked around me.
The grass was green and the sky was blue, but it was like there was a filter over it, something that dimmed them and darkened them somehow. It’s not like it looked ugly or wrong really. It was more like that filter made it seem not right.
“So you noticed.” Anastasia came to stand next to me. “This feeling, this haze covering the clearing is the dark magic that has begun to seep through that crack.”
The moment that Anastasia said those words, she pointed to a large black boulder that had a slight crack in it. There seemed to be a small amount of thick black fog pouring from within that boulder.
As I watched, that boulder shook and the hairline crack in it split open to be much wider than before. That thick fog billowed out thickly and almost seemed to choke me with its intensity.
Following the stone’s cracking and the smoke, a large number of hideous beasts started to pour out of the boulder.. The battle was about to begin.
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Riviana
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The moment the boulder broke there were hundreds and thousands of beasts and Fae that started to pour out of it as if they were somehow pushed but that thick, dark, roiling fog. I was keeping my eyes open and looking for the woman responsible for all of this fighting, but it was hard to see beyond all the other enemies that were now in the way.
I could see many different kinds of ugly and hideously dark beasts flying and rampaging into the clearing from somewhere on the other side of that crack. There were disgustingly ugly winged beasts that looked like they were made of nothing but sludge and bones. Roaring into the now fog-darkened sky were giant dinosaur looking beasts that had some sort of thick armored skin that looked like they were somehow mixed with other animals such as elephants, crocodiles, whales, rhinos, and more. There were huge, monstrous serpents that were so vast in size that they looked like they were big enough to swallow any of us whole, two or three at a time even. There were even more as well, but their forms kept changing. Those shapeshifters had to be the boggarts.
They were notorious for changing shapes to scare their enemies. There were creatures that weren’t ugly as well. Some of them were so beautiful that it was easy to see why they were able to lure their victims to their doom. The number of enemies that were pouring out of that boulder was way more than I had been expecting.
The fighting started immediately. No one really waited for a direct order to attack and fight. The only thing that they were doing was going in waves like they have been told to do. We were having them fight in two different waves so that we would be able to recuperate and heal the tired and injured warriors while another wave was battling away.
Athair m貌r’s troops had immediately taken to the water and that was a good thing too. I saw that there were several dark Fae that went straight for the sea and were intending to take us by surprise with their water magic. However, they were shocked to find thousands of water shifters and Fae waiting for them.
My troops were part of the reserve at the moment, but I could tell that they were itching to get out there. I myself was not actively fighting yet, but I wasn’t sitting idly by either. I was looking for my true target, the true reason that I wanted to be here and part of this war. I was looking for Solanum so that I might eliminate her and rid this world of her evil once and for all. And I was going to avenge my great great grandfather while I was at it.
The fighting was brutal. I saw that there were casualties on both sides, and I needed to do something. We had called with the warriors healers that were meant to help out troops in moments like this. I knew that Griffin, Lana, Doc, and several other healers were here and could make sure that there were little to no deaths among our people. I wanted as few people to die here as possible.
“Griffin, you and the others get to work. Bring back the injured.”
“Yes, Queen Riviana.” He was a friend but here in this setting he was treating me formally so that the others would remember to do so as well.
I watched then as a few dozen healers spread out across the battlefield. They were doing their best to not get caught up in the fighting itself. Despite those efforts though, some of the Fae beasts that were sent as their first wave of attacks went straight for the healers like they knew why they were out there. It was like they were targeting them so that they would be unable to bring back fallen warriors.
The first wave seemed like it was passing in the blink of an eye, but I could see that the sky was changing colors and it was already starting to shift to nighttime. After a while there seemed to be a pause, or at least a slowing down of the creatures that were coming through the crack in the boulder.
“Fighters, change positions. Wave one it is time for you to rest and heal. We will need you again soon.” Aunt Glory seemed to be watching on as well and knew just what needed to be done.
I watched on as the first warriors fell back and went to rest while the second wave entered the battlefield at the ready. Me and my troops were in the fighting wave this time. I just stood there, facing the boulder and waiting for the horror show that I knew was about to come pouring out of it.
