Disruption

The first chapter of Golems and Fairies. Finrin finds glory in battle until glory turns into pure chaos for both armies after a spell goes wrong.

            Fenrin waited for orders from his captain to charge the enemy lines. The Golgobian army was slowly falling back under the assault from the army of Amantri, and he was ready to lead in his men in the final push.

            “Fenrin! Give them a final charge that the Golgi’s will never forget!” His captain yelled from behind him. He was overjoyed to hear his captain say these words. He took a step forward with a loud clank from his steel armor, and pointed at the enemy just ahead of them.

            “You heard him boys! Kill them all!” Fenrin yelled in a mighty battle cry as his battalion of swordsmen ran past him to the demoralized enemy ahead. Fenrin charged with the bloodthirsty men, and just before closing in on the enemy lines, he unsheathed his mighty great sword, despite his average size. The sword was famous in the land of both Golgobian and Amantri for both its size and quickly rising kill count. Despite the massive blade, Fenrin’s abilities didn’t stop at physical strength and skill. This mighty warrior was also skilled in the arcane arts, and would often use his knowledge of the arcane to temporarily enchant his sword with various effects. For his charge, he already announced his effect of choice to apply.

            “Lightning sword!” Fenrin screamed, brushing his hand over the sword leaving a trail of powerful electricity attached to the already fierce weapon. The Golgobian soldiers recoiled in fear as he smashed his way through. He was approached by three swordsmen of the enemy army in the midst of the chaos, and fearlessly lifted his sword in preparation to attack. Many of the enemy troops knew of his elemental abilities that he could apply to his blade, but none expected lightning to have other benefits than electricity. With one motion, Fenrin dashed past the closest swordsmen and brought the massive cleaver upwards faster than the human eye can follow. The soldiers barely have time to respond before Fenrin brings the full weight of the sword down on the other soldier behind the first one.

            “That’s two soldiers in less than a second. I can do better than that!” Fenrin said aloud, mostly trying to intimidate the last of the three. It worked perfectly, sending the other swordsmen running for his life. Fenrin smiled and turned back to the chaos. He was immediately confronted by a man in black robes and a short sword, who was most likely a battle mage for the enemy. The champion lifted his great sword with one arm and put it to rest on his shoulder.

            “Fenrin, isn’t it? I’ve heard about you.” The dark mage spoke up above the sounds of metal clashing.

            “Ah good, then you will know who it was that defeated you in honorable combat.” Fenrin boasted, his brown hair almost covering his eyes. He couldn’t help but be a little bothered by it, but he liked his hair that way over anything else even if it did get in the way of his vision sometimes.

            “ I've been hoping to find you in the midst of battle one day. I learned this spell just for you!” He finished his sentence as he held up a staff with a crystal embedded in the top. Fenrin reacted quickly, grabbing his sword’s handle with both hands. He forced the blade down with all his strength, but he missed the mage. Fenrin did, however, slashed the crystal just as the spell was being cast.

            “No!!! You fool, do you have any idea what you've done!?” The mage screamed out, obviously worried. Fenrin had no idea what spell the mage was trying to cast, or what disrupting it would have caused.

            Moments later the staff sparked and exploded in a burst of mana, and a rift opened up to what appeared to be another plane of existence. By this point, the other soldiers fighting around them had come to a halt.

            “What is this?” Fenrin asked trying not sound concerned. Before he could ever get an answer, the mage was running away. Whatever it was, Fenrin knew that the mage wouldn’t be helpful now. The soldiers peered at the portal a little longer before the worst happened. An army of otherworldly beings started to pour out into their realm. Fenrin watched in confusion as the beings formed into elemental golems of all shapes and sizes. The realization soon hit him, and he put some distance between the portal and him.

            “Move back men! This is a portal to another realm. A rift has been opened up and is letting them through!” Fenrin yelled trying to explain to his baffled companions. Both armies decided that retreat would be the best option for now, and so they regrouped at their appropriate camps. The golems weren’t friendly either. On his return to camp, a fire golem picked up a passerby soldier and smashed him onto the ground.

            Once back in camp, Fenrin realized that something needed to be done, but he had no idea what to do. His captain was pacing around a bonfire in the camp and thinking hard. Suddenly, in the middle of camp, another portal opened. Though this portal was much smaller, this startled everyone. Fenrin quickly reacted by taking his sword off of his back. A smaller golem of fire stepped through the portal, and the portal quickly closed behind it. Fenrin wasted no time with this threat, and brought his mighty weapon down on the flaming humanoid. One powerful blow was enough to end its life, and the golem’s flame died along with it. Immobile, Fenrin looked to his captain. With an exchange of worried looks, Fenrin eventually placed the sword back on his back and started preparing defenses with the other men. As Fenrin is ordering some of the soldiers to build the barricades, the captain approaches him.

            “I know that we will need to figure out how to stop them somehow, but for now we should worry about surviving. Look...” The captain whispers as he points out of the camp towards their previous battlefield, now flooding with an army of hostile golems. Fenrin only takes a deep breath to yell more orders to his worried companions.
            “We’ll figure this out. Don’t worry sir.” Fenrin replied with confidence to his concerned captain.

He could only hope that he was right about that.