Open Chronicles False Sanctuary

[White Swallow]

Deep ultramarine sky shifted green towards the horizon that spanned across the sky. The last remnants of sunlight were long gone, now replaced by a thousand stars of many golden hues.
The lights in Jaleyaana to the west and Seluca to the east twinkled just as brightly, while the extensive gulf of Liad mirrored the void of the sky.
Neither location was within easy access this far out in the wilderness.

Whatever has transpired here on the highest slope was now but a memory left for the forgotten. Something insidious had gathered at the lowlands. Something that did not go unnoticed by the armies that were at each other's throat.
Even the vicious squabbling between the opposing commanders has softened.

»It can't be. No this can't be it. I've heard of this horde,« yowled Danush of Jaleyaana, his fist tightened so hard one could hear the lurch of the mail.
»I've seen them before,« the White Swallow mused, craning his neck as his mare led him aside from the meeting place.
» Under what protection of which god could you have survived this, infidel,« hissed the sovereign of Jaleyaana, »they've eradicated an entire city of the vast south, with only three people left to tell its tale.«
»Under that of my cunning, « The White Swallow narrowed his eyes, his voice low and sharp.
Zakariyya, in turn, came forth from the Sahiyi warlord ranks.
»The Sultan of that city is dead and your Annunaki gods helped them not. Are you people still so blind to your misguided ways?«

»Forgive me Annuk, for we fight with the cursed zealots today,« muttered Farid as his eyes shifted towards the black army in the lowlands. He led his horse towards the Sahiyi of the Shtakmat state.
As much as this battle was sought after, Lazular was among the first cities in the south and as far as they've known, no force ever won against the black ancients. They've only grown stronger after each battle. »My city will not be taken by them, and if, only for a moment, we should set aside our grievances.«
»And since when has your heart softened, Farid. Ever since you've conspired with the westerners you've gone soft. Soft and meek, today I was to crush you and you as well« Danush began to bait his old enemy and the Shtakmat state. None of these people liked each other, still, some respect existed within the eastern lands.
»Fool, do you not see that this army will be the death of all!« Farid hissed like a viper.


The black mass in the distant lowland waves like the sea. It was an army of vast proportion.
Its members were not mere humans, but some were beasts that towered high into the sky, comparable to giraffes if only ten times more massive.
Others bore teeth or many horns, some appeared as if man but for different.
For now, they were still and occupied with the grasses and behind them, from where they came was only desolation.

 

[Tera Lynx]

A scent carried aloft for miles around, created solely by the shambling army bearing down on their next victims. The scent traveled to the noses of another horde of monsters, a scent that brought a low growl from the throats of a thousand organisms
... The undead...
... An affront to nature itself...

__________________________________________________________________​

As the undead horde shambled across the sands a long earie howl could be heard drifting on the wind. The howl repeated, joined by a chorus of a thousand more howls just like it.
As the men stood in formation opposing the dead tide the sand began to vibrate and a low rumble could be felt in the loose ground, not unlike the approach of a sand worm.

Almost as expected, what appeared to be sand worms exploded from the ground, some between the two forces, some right in the midst of the zombie ranks, scattering the bodies in their wake.
As the Swarm Burrowers settled the tide of swarm warriors began to pour from the mouths of the worms, no audible order was given, but neither swarm nor horde needed to form up ranks, they simply attacked with relentless ferocity.

The battle was beginning right in front of the White Swallow and his allies, but a final Worm burst up from the sand right in front of the army of the living. A massive creature of unknown kind emerged from the worm and approached the humans, followed by a horde of swarm creatures. It spoke in an extremely guttural common tongue, but also echoed in the minds of those before it.
"I am Warlord Brakka, general of the Sovereign Swarm. The Queen of Venom has deigned to speak with you. So prepare yourselves, Humans."

More creatures emerged from the worm till finally Havilah stepped out of its mouth. She wore no cloak to disguise her form and stood before them in all her monstrous appearance. But in spite of her appearance she bore herself high, with the air of authority about her, like a queen of a mighty nation.
"Humble greetings to you, Humans. I am the Queen of Venom, Havilah. We face a common and hated enemy. Allow me and my Swarm to aid you in this battle."

Spoiler: Warlord Brakka

Spoiler: Havilah

 

[White Swallow]

»You know these beasts?« Muttered Farid Ibn Baha in an almost overly distressed tone.
»KNOW? « The Swallow seemed surprised, but his tone mellowed out. »I've met them, we've fought, against each other.«
The eloquence the gnarly behemoth by the name of Brakka spoke in certainly rose the eyes of those present. Zakariyya took the initiative, passing the White Swallow to meet with the strange Havilah.
The four arms upon her were certainly a strange thing to see and her kind was the firsthand strangest thing in all of Amol-Kalit. It was hard for him to keep down his disgust.
»A pleasure to meet you, Queen of Venom. Interesting how a common enemy, one so far undefeated would have us fight together until the bittersweet end.«

»We may very well find death here, or is there another reason why you would come here to this...historic event.« Zakariyya almost seemed sure of a victory this time around.
»Our god smiles on us,« his head turned to Danush and Farid whose god craves for glory in war. »He will accept us in defeat and victory, for one we return to him and in another, we live to grow better.«

---

One of the higher ranking war leaders of Danus approached him, he spoke in a monotone voice: »Sir, the scouts have returned.«
»Bring them to me this instant,«
»Yes my sire.«

The party of black riders was quick to arrive. »They are, digging up grass my lord,« one of the scouts told
»A significant portion of the army is dedicated to merely transporting whatever live thing they come across.«

 

[Tera Lynx]

She inclined her head to the human that came to meet with her, the huge creature called Brakka stood at her flank while she spoke with them. The swarm still battled with the horde behind her seemingly without direction but battling effectively regardless.
The swarm and the horde used similar tactics, the horde using their numberless undead to overwhelm and consume, the swarm using their numbers likewise with pure instinct and animal savagery.
Neither the swarm nor the undead benefitted from slaughtering one another, just as the swarm couldn't use essence from the walking corpses, the undead could not infect the swarm with undeath.

Havilah's voice echoed like Brakka's had, both in their ears and minds, but her words reached even those soldiers way in the back.
"The walking corpses are abominations of nature, they have no essence, no strength to take, empty husks. We are the Sovereign Swarm, and we will render the dead inert once more with your help. Will you join forces with the swarm to see victory achieved?"
It was as if she didn't even speak to a single leader, but was also pleading to each soldier individually to put aside their prejudices. Her words were for the many among the White Swallow's forces who had faced her kind before and lost comrades to the claws of the swarm Weird.

But if the humans agreed, which a part of her doubted they would, then victory was a surety. With her psionic abilities she can coordinate both of their armies and relay orders instantaneously. Commanding the human soldiers wouldn't be the same as commanding the swarm, since the humans maintain their freewill and likely wouldn't respond as quickly, also having to work through prejudices and discomforts of working with bugs and having voices going off in their heads giving them orders.
"If we band together and open our minds to one another, assimilate our forces and combine our strategies and strengths, victory is an absolute and death a non-consideration."

___________________________________________________________________________​

Out on the battlefield the swarm was not simply consumed with idle slaughter. The worker drones swarmed out of the burrowers and began setting up small hatchery clusters in the areas cleared of the undead, spreading the processing bile on the sand and allowing the Larva drones to begin transformation in the chrysalis pods while the warriors simultaneously defended and attacked.
Once the hatchery clusters finished forming they would be able to continue to reproduce drones to continue bolstering their forces, but the dead were pressing hard against the swarm. The dead tide battling against the living tide.

 

[White Swallow]

Yet the biomass would still be useful.
While some of the forces of the swam had fallen, the others of the dead began to carry the bodies back to a destination still unknown to any of the combatants.

There was no order nor intelligence to the combat of the dead, while the commanders with their armies stood idly on the hill, the mass of the tarry dead was fine to be preoccupied with other activities, including cutting down their attackers and attacking those that still lived.
They cared nor flinched if their own fell to the ground.
Like the grass and the flesh of the living, they picked it up all the same.

----

The White Swallow gazed at Zakariyya, who took towards the Lady of the Swam. »If only together we can defeat this horde, you have our sword, and perhaps even, « Zakariyya gazed at the two other commanders.
»perhaps even you two would see past your sinful way.«

 

[Tera Lynx]

Havilah nodded. An agreement had been struck. These humans were reasonable, perhaps after their victory she can begin friendly relations with their people, the first step towards her goals. But first they had a Battle to win.
"Excellent. My swarm has given us a reprieve. So let us strategize and plot how to best deploy our forces together."
A drone approached at a silent command from the queen and she sat down on its wide back, lounging against its chitin.

Mentally she gave a series of commands to the Swarm. Shield drones set up barriers on several fronts to protect the burrower drones and and spawning clusters, as well as the humans and their impromptu war counsel.
The battle lines of shield drones only had to deal with any undead that broke off from the main fighting. Runner drone and devourer drone still waded in the midst of the battle, killing and being killed. But just as as the undead endeavored to take the bodies of the swarm dead, the swarm also fought to recover their own dead to take their essence to be reprocessed into more creatures of the Swarm.

Havilah sat before the humans on the back of her drone, regarding them with her multifaceted eyes. In their time of need they readily agreed to the aid of the Swarm. How long that would last and to what extent, she didn't know.
"I am what your kind would call a 'Telepath', we call it the hive mind. I command all of my swarm even as we speak. I can extend this to your soldiers as well and relay your orders to them more efficiently, if you accept my help. This is what I can do to add to your strategies."

 

[TTamark]

Wait what is that in the sky? Is it a bird? No, is it a roc? No! It is Buttercup the flying horse. Having jumped from he back and now falling from the sky is Steve. Steve was not falling as fast as he should have been however, instead he fell at only about one kilometer an hour, as he was roughly five hundred feet up(one hundred fifty meters) this meant he ended up being in the air just falling for a rather good while(about nine minutes).

When he was roughly in ear shot he began trying to call out to them while waving at them getting louder as he drew nearer,

"Hey... Hello?... Hey... Hello? Hey... Hello? Hey, oh you can hear me? Great I am Steve, you might have heard of me. If not that is ok."

Steve landed softly, but still managed to fall over before scrambling up, ignoring the weapons that surrounded him because, after all, he was a strange man who just came out of no where.

"I came to help!"

He said with a self satisfied smile, like a child that was expecting compliments for doing good.

 

[White Swallow]

TTamark Havilah
Zakariyya waved at the White Swallow to intercept the mountain man. He, however, posed his attention towards Havilah.
»I will not lead my soldiers into facefirst attack. Most are well-versed archers.«

Amir Farid Ibn Baha stepped forth, his eyes on the swarm at slaughter at the front of the undead. »You treat your troops as expendable, however, if we are allowed to charge into skirmish to wether them down in arrows, your troops will find it easier to assault them.«
Though many of the commanders perked their eyes at the notion of telepathy.
Many were quick to distrust it, except for...
»I would love to see the extent of your abilities,« spoke 'Mulay' Amir Danush of Jaleyaana. »To command an army in the thick of darkness, to remove them from the confusion of orders... That is power, is it not? «


»We could use any help we can acquire, « Peyam waved at the sky-borne man with the unfortunate landing. He led his mare up towards him and offered and arm as a greeting.
»However you are only one person and our nemesis builds a sea of darkness. I hear you come from our neighbor...Elbion. I fear I only know you from rumours of a trial.«
Peyam was one of the White Swallow's men that accompanied him towards the 'landling' place.

 

[Tera Lynx]

There was something of a solid strategy forming in her mind, though she expected the White Swallow to have some personal input, perhaps she misunderstood his rank or position of authority as opposed to the other humans around him that presented themselves as leaders. These humans had knowledgeable minds and had some strength of themselves, but she didn't see one among them that appeared to be his physical equal.
Perhaps they were like the swarm in the way they rewarded authority and freewill to those with intelligence and psionic ability, over sheer battle prowess and cunning.

The utility of the human archers will be vastly helpful, coupled with her ability to swiftly relay order will make them a perfect weapon.
She had to chuckle when one of the humans pointed out that she views her drones as expendable.
"My drones are to the Swarm what you humans would consider an arrow fired at an enemy or a blade swung against a foe. My drones are the weapons of the Swarm, the collective claws, fangs, spines and venom of my wrath."
She dismissed the subject with a wave of her hand.
"With my abilities your archers will be able to move immediately to the exact location they are needed without delay. The hive mind is indeed powerful, for I can move entire armies at a seconds notice with only a thought."

The hatcheries of the swarm were now fully matured and entrenched behind protective shield drones, defended by the masses of swarm creatures being hatched and sent out, or brought back as corpses to be reverted to essence or reconstituted and sent back into battle.

Havilah turned her head to the White Swallow himself and smiled.
"What do you say to all of this, human? Or have these creatures bound you to not speak during war counsel?"

At the impressive arrival of TTamark she spared him a glance. If she thought that he survived the fall under his own strength then she would have been tempted to take a sample of his essence for her Broodkeepers to study and incorporate into the Swarm. But she smelled the scent of human magic, making his feat less impressive to her or the Swarm.
But she detected another scent on the new human... The scent of the undeath magics... The weaving that created the abominations that the swarm now fought tooth and claw to utterly wipe out of existence!
Her lips curled and her eyes narrowed at his approaching. Brakka let out an earth shaking roar and stood protectively in front of his queen, his voice echoed in his mind, but also rang harshly in his ears.
"Stay BACK, crafter of abominations! Keep your blasphemous weaving to yourself!"

 

[TTamark]

Steve offered his arm as well receiving the greeting,

"Yes... From Elbion... That is where I am from... and as I am am not only, completely, from Elbion, but also have studied at the college there, I have certain abilities that can prove to be most useful... Especially in this, what you might call, uniquely ideal situation..."

Before Steve could explain further he was interrupted by Brakka's roar.

"Stay BACK, crafter of abominations! Keep your blasphemous weaving to yourself!"

"Ok, first of all: rude. Second: I mean come on man I was trying to keep ups some sense of mystery, you know intrigue, like: 'who is this strange man?' 'what could he possibly do that will help us?' and then you come in like, 'Hey you guy who makes abominations!' You can kind of see how that can kind of ruin my roll right?

*Sigh,* So, yeah I am going to have some, quote unquote, 'abominations' coming in as reinforcements, but they are still a ways out, roughly less than an hour. And you know what most of them are insectoid/humanoids so maybe you were just kind of calling yourself abominations ever think about that?

in the mean time I am skilled in the necromantic arts, Now I know what you might be thinking, 'What a necromancer, but we are fighting the undead!' Yes, and that is exactly why what you need is someone who specializes in dealing with the undead. Here watch!"

Steve pulled out one of his potatoes, and snapped his finger towards the undead horde hoping to show off his power by unbinding a large group, instead only a single large construct was undone, still a impressive feat, but not nearly what Steve had thought, or hoped for. Steve knew at that point something was off here, fearfully he reached out to connect with some of the undead creatures, what he found sent a chill down his spine, these were old... old even to those who play with things from ages past. Something that truly deserved to be called: ancient.

Perhaps out of fear Steve, instead of trying wrestling control from whatever bound these undead, raised the already fallen into undead thralls that fought for the living against the undead horde. The thralls may have numbered no more than ten at a time, but they fought with the vigour of any living man, and replaced themselves the moment one fell.

Steve looked back for approval as he munched on a potato, trying to look confident, and not show the unease he now felt, even if it very rapidly was turning into curiosity. Maybe he could capture some of the essence of these creatures...

White Swallow Havilah

 

[White Swallow]

»Then I will let you aid me and my soldiers with your capabilities,« proudly proclaimed Mulay Danush.
The other commanders, Zakariyya and the Amir Farid seemed less so trusting.


The white Swallow turned and gazed up at Havilah. »I know my position and when to speak. Zakariyya is my commander and I take his orders from there on.«

Peyam, on the other hand, stepped back as a squabble began to emerge from the wizard. The rumours were real, he was quite eccentric indeed.
The man smiled from under his helmet covered in cloth. Like any other soldier, their faces were hidden, they seemed anonymous in everything but their voice.

The White Swallow only turned towards the squabbling Brakka and Steve. To him, it was ironic. Funny enough how even the swarm considered certain things beyond natural. What Steve then tried to do went unnoticed, not only by him and the other soldiers, but the undead mass as well. Perhaps the potato necromancer could use this to his advantage?
Though he did wonder how could this man find time to lunch in such a situation. Perhaps if he himself survives this day, he'll award himself a soldier's long-brewed tea.

However, when the dead began to rise on the field of battle, the humans collectively recoiled.
Zakariyya turned towards Havilah and the other companions in this dire time.
»We must seize this moment of disruption. I assume, Havilah, you will know when to send your swarm though Danush?«

Zakariyya's soldiers began to assemble to close into the idling horde of blackness, he was ready to ride out. Not wanting to seem weak, Farid's forces amassed equally so and made their way into the depths of the hillside, bowstrings pulled and arrows readied.

 

[Tera Lynx]

Havilah only allowed herself a momentary distraction from the necromancer. He seemed harmless enough, but then, humans who practiced magic were usually deceptively powerful.
The human leaders spoke now.
It was apparent that not all were onboard with accepting aid from the Swarm and a bit resistant to allowing her to use her abilities on their own soldiers.
But then again, before the Swarm arrived these men were ready for death, and such an outcome was still a high probability, what did they have to lose?

It was unfortunate that the White Swallow was so subdued by his rank superior, though she understood the hierarchy a bit better she still expected... More... She remembered watching him lead his men through the eyes of her Warlord Ka'Gi, and this gave her far greater expectations.

She then smelled the rancid stench of dark magic, in spite of Brakka's warning that human still decided to weave his magic, almost as if just to spite them.
His magic had some effect on the battle, whether for good or ill. The humans distrusted the newly risen thralls of their allies almost as much as the Swarm did.
It appeared this human was attempting to help, though she was loathed to let him try.
Unless he somehow heard Brakka call the Swarm "undead", then no, they did not in any way call themselves abominations, The swarm is the purest expression of nature, the survival of the fittest given claws and teeth. Undead are the antithesis, they are creatures who did not survive, their continued existence is an affront.

Havilah was tactful enough not to be baited by the direct insults of the ignorant necromancer, but Brakka had no such poise or self control.
another roar thundered above the sounds of battle.
"Impudent CREATURE! You DARE to compare your blasphemous craft to the purity of the SWARM!?"
Another roar and Brakka was charging full tilt on all fours, several tons of pure killing power bearing down on the potato eating death Weaver.
He lunged in the air with clawed fists raised to flatten the little human, but he stopped frozen in mid leap, hanging in the air unable to move.
Brakka's eyes looked about in shock.
"M-my queen... Forgive me..."

Havilah remained seated on her living throne but her hand was outstretched and she held Brakka aloft with unseen hands.
Her eyes glowed with toxic green light but otherwise her face was impassive.
"Brakka, the claws of the Swarm will not be stained by the blood of humans on this day. Go to the Frontline and take charge of your Swarm, you are not needed here."
Brakka slowly lowered to the ground, his voice was subdued as he was released.
"Yes, my queen."
With that he moved away and went to carry out her orders.

Havilah stood up and walked to the necromancer. She leaned down and put her face close in front of his, looking him in the eyes.
"You compared us to the undead that we see as an affront to nature. We survive while you're craft only allows failed creatures to fail again. So I'm sure you can understand why my Warlord was very upset by your words. I won't apologise for his attempt to kill you, but I will tell you that the only reason you are alive right now is because I know what it's like to not be trusted."
She grazed his potato with a claw and popped the thin slice in her mouth as she stood straight again.
It was bland and flavorless to her carnivorous taste buds, but the taste was familiar and caused her to pause... Brief flashes of memories, potatoes being boiled in a large metal pot over a fire... Where was that fireplace? Why was it so familiar?
Her eyes returned to their normal color but she was unsettled, she gave the necromancer an unsure glance before she quickly turned around and went back to her seat.

She spoke to the human commanders but she had a distracted look on her face.
"I'm ready to relay your orders to your soldiers. Let us crush these undead abominations into Oblivion."

 

[TTamark]

Steve's attention was quickly brought back to the here and now as the behemoth charged at him with a roar. Steve stood still looking up as the creature soared through the air, his eyes unable to look away for even a moment as a gulp ripped though his body. A single thought going through his head 'Welp I lived a good life... Might have been nice if I could have saved the world first though...'

Though he never blinked it took him a moment to realize he hadn't died and the beast had been stopped mid air. Realizing that he was not immediately going to die Steve was once more filled with the naive feeling of invulnerability. The look of slight surprise was torn apart, bottom up, as a smile and slight giggle took over his lips, soon spilling over to his cheeks, till the smile finally reached his eyes. Adrenalin pumped through him, by a heart that was audibly pounding in his chest. Steve rode the high as Havilah approached.

"You compared us to the undead that we see as an affront to nature. We survive while you're craft only allows failed creatures to fail again. So I'm sure you can understand why my Warlord was very upset by your words. I won't apologise for his attempt to kill you, but I will tell you that the only reason you are alive right now is because I know what it's like to not be trusted."

"Compared you to the undead? HA! No not the undead... I compared you to living beings which a myself crafted with my own hands: Men with limbs of scorpions, ants that stand on two legs, and things that resemble centaurs covered in the natural armour of a beetle. And I assure you they are alive as much as any chimera. These beings that resemble beast, and insect, and man, these are what are seen as abominations by my fellow man.

As for the matter of undead I will tell you roughly what I tell all who hold your opinion: I turn the living not the dead into undead. I believe undeath to be the next step in life, and I merely help others reach it. You see me merely as one who picks up a broken tool, and swings it till it breaks again. What I really am is one who tries to reinforce the tool so it will not break so easily, so that neither weather, nor time will rust it."

Steve looked at the thralls he had made who currently still fought.

"Though I guess when in desperate need a broken tool is better than none"

Steve continued to watch the soulless forms fight as he spoke on quietly to himself.

"Though on the battle one can not always afford morality, I think that is why it so important there... which is to say: thank the gods these are swords. Not because I like them for their purpose, but rather I do not think it would be right to use a plow in combat, nor a sword from my enemy against its friends... gods this tools analogy might have gone too far... Let's just hope they prefer being used as puppets than their loved ones dying."

With that Steve pulled out another potato which instead of eating he held high with his other hand. As th potato shrivelled his thralls, and those around them, were filled with magical strength, as though they had eaten from his pot of stew, the feeling of life energy itself flowing though them.

 

[White Swallow]

The many horsemen left the sanctity and relative safety of the hillside.
a thunderous gallop downhill of three combined armies shuddered the earth in a manner not seen before.
The many horses zigzagged alongside the hillside, never truly approaching the many mass of abominations from beneath.

Not wanting to seem weak, Farid Ibn Baha rode alongside his men on the frontlines like Zakariyya and the White Swallow did.
Mulay Amir Danush however remained by Havila's side to relay strategy orders to his troops.

The twang of many thousands of bowstrings was audible, and the arrows suddenly blotted out the sky to fell the creaturs from beneath.
It was almost futile.
Many of the beasts that could run uphill, many four-legged and fast in nature were tripped over by their raised companions that actively sabotaged their ascend.
Slowly even the corpses begin to pile up one by one and the ascend begame harder and harder.


The arrows however were never infinite.
The riders began to ascend to give way to the swarm.

 

[Tera Lynx]

"Chimera", an unfamiliar word, but no doubt had zero relevance to the Swarm. They were not men with animal parts, some of the creatures of her swarm were human as their base template, but now only had such minor human influence in their template that the question of their humanity was negligible. Her Swarm had the capability to infest other creatures, but the result was hardly what this human described as a Chimera.
Either way she'd said her piece and felt no need to continue arguing with him while more important matters pressed on them.

The human cavalry was on the move and dealt a devastating assault against the undead. The ravening horde attempted to reach them uphill, while the undead had the disadvantage of holding the low ground against the archers, they had the advantage of numbers to such a degree that they could afford to not care about anything, not that they had intelligence to care in the first place beyond the force that drove them.

The archers created a large break in the undead, however, and Havilah saw the break as a perfect point to strike. The best way to deal with this many enemies so closely packed together was to divide and conquer. She sent her runner drones to spearhead the weakness closely followed by her devourer drones and shield drones to hold the breach. They were joined in the middle by the pencer force she sent from the other end, effectively cutting off a good portion of undead from the rest of the horde, where they proceeded to surround and slaughter as they fought the breach wider and closed in on their enemies.

Havilah remained by the human called Danush, they observed the slaughter from afar and Havilah couldn't stop an amused smile. This was the first step in bringing the Swarm to the world stage and she was pleased by this to no end.
She tapped her claws on the carapace of her impromptu throne while she guided her Swarm.
One aspect of the Swarm was the Propolis Bile they spread around allowing them to craft and have a nurturing environment to spawn their numberless swarm.
Some of this Propolis spread to the feet of the Queen of Venom and Danush.
Havilah wove a small spore from the strands of magic and threw it down into the grey fleshy substance of the Propolis Bile, a green glowing pod quickly developed and a small black shape began forming in the depths of the chrysalis.

Havilah spoke to the human beside her.
"Have you ever witnessed the creation of life, human?"

 

[TTamark]

Steve never stopped his thinking, even as he had been arguing, even as he took in all of the battle field he could, he continued to try and think of ways to help, to improve what was already there, or better things to add, tempering each thought with if it was efficient enough to even consider. Steve could cast his spells for a long time with all his potatoes, but they were not limited and he did not want to have to reach the point where he would have to be casting raw.

As soon as the potato that was buffing the troops shrivelled he quickly shoved the rest of the one he was eating into his mouth. This time when he pulled two more potatoes out from his robe he used his unique magic to fuse them together. Steve picked out a total of ten locations on the battle field which in his inexperienced opinion would participate heavily in the fighting. Suddenly some of the bones of the fallen sunk into the earth. Just as suddenly small lampposts arose from the grounds where Steve had picked out. Wherever one arose nearby those still living were filled with vigour. Three arose near the archers, two near the calvary, three where Steve expected the infantry to fight, with three more mixed in where the swarm was setting up.

Steve knew this likely wouldn't be enough. He called out to any of the human leaders, or those below them,

"Forgive me if I seem insensitive, but your arrows will not last forever. I could create more, but it will cost the bodies of the dead. So I have to ask: Are you willing to sacrifice the already dead for your lives? Maybe the dead can take some solace in the fact that they will not be joining the undead when they fall, but will instead be used as weapons against it?"

 

[White Swallow]

The cavalry returned to the slopes on tired steeds. The swarm descended past their ranks, and the soldiers could not even bat an eye and what had just ran past them to ravenously descend onto the advancing blackness. They would need to resupply before they could charge anew. Porters hauling stocked camels ran between the ranks.

The inquiry did not go unnoticed to Zakariyya, »Blasted earth, we will not stoop so low to fight the dead to desecrate our own! We will raise our swords and lances to meet their tarry bone.«

On the other side where the swarm commanded from, Danush turned his head to meet with Havilah, »I assume you mean an entirely different kind of life.«