CoT - Interlude: Dreams of Battle

•  AN: Another tasty chapter of Crown of Thorns, to tide you guys over while I finish the Epilogue of Don't label me! Bk3.

I was standing on a broken field, a sloped hill-side, under a red sky. The earth around me was bare, bone-dry and cracked, without any vegetation in sight. Without anything in sight, really. Just the red sky above, cloudless and uniformly red, foreboding in its monotonie. Not the myriad shades of red one could see during a sunset, or the warm orange colours that herald a new day, no, the sky above me was a deep crimson red, almost purple, without any graduations or changes in shade. And, despite the lack of a sun, the world was bathed in glowing light.

A noise caused next to me got my attention and my sight shifted towards it and that was when I saw him. Tall, easily towering above me, a bronze giant of muscle and fire, wings of purple flame folded on his back, intimidating with his sheer presence of might and power. But while his presence was intimidating, it was also comforting in a way.

“Now, little one, are you ready to show me what you have learned?” the giant asked me, his voice surprisingly gentle, but firm. A stern teacher, talking to a beloved pupil, hoping that the pupil can life up to his expectations.

“Yes, father.” I heard a voice say. It was not my voice, but I was speaking. I felt myself move, turning around and walking forward, upwards. Towards a noise I had not noticed before, as it had faded into the background. I could not quite tell what the noise was, what the chaotic sounds that assaulted me represented.

Up, on the hillside, I found out. The hill ended in a sheer cliffside, and below me, there was an army. Or rather, there were two armies, locked in brutal battle, the dim noise that I had heard before now easily attributable and discernable as screams and grunts, as the sounds of claws hitting armour, as the sounds of blunt impacts on flesh. A symphony of battle.

One army was visibly divided into groups, each group slightly different shapes but obviously fighting in concert, one group advancing while another moved back, like pieces on a chessboard. The other was one single, attacking mob, a mob of twisting flesh and forms, of madness and hunger.

Behind that mob, the world changed. As if reality rejected the area behind the mob, it shimmered and twisted, a darkness engulfing the cracked earth. Even the sky was in uproar, the inky blackness colliding with the purple crimson, lightning arcing through the sky, flames exploding between the two colours.

I felt the presence of the giant next to me, as I raised my arm, knowing what to do. Father had taught me well. Soft words sprung from my lips, gentle as rain and fierce as a storm. The slender arm I had raised, covered in reddish-brown skin, was now glowing in purple light and strange glyphs sprung into existence around it. The words on my lips grew stronger and the light surrounding my arm turned into purple flames, similar to those dripping from the wings of the giant next to me. Part of me understood the words, I was summoning fire, fire to burn my enemies. Fire to drive those things from our land. To cleanse our land. 

Finally, the last word was spoken, the last syllable uttered and the glyphs around my arm flashed as the fire from my arm was flowing into them. Above the battlefield, even higher than we stood, power flashed, as if mirroring the flashing of the glyphs around my arm and the flames that were pouring into the formation around my arm were now raining down onto the battlefield, onto the disgusting, twisting mass below us. Only that they were amplified, falling onto the strange monsters like a raging storm, causing fires to start and flames to spread. It was as if the world itself was burning, burning at my command. 

The noise below us changed, the sounds of battle easily drowned out by the shrieks and screams of burning beings, the symphony of battle changed into a sonata of pain and anguish. And I was the conductor. 

The burning rain went on for some time, as I spread the storm over the battlefield, causing an inferno wherever my gaze fell. Even up on our cliff, the smell reached, a smell reminiscent of burning rubber, acridic and stinging. Finally, I felt drained and stopped the magic before I would be too weakened. I had accomplished what I had set out to do, the army below was now pushing onto the ground I had cleansed with fire, stepping over the still smoldering remains of the strange creatures they had fought before. 

“Well done, little one. You have learned your lessons well.” the bronze giant next to me said, in a proud voice.

“If one considers brute force to be a worthwhile lesson.” A female voice behind us snidely interjected.

“Now, love, don’t be too harsh with the young one. It was quite impressive for one her age. If she only could take more pride in herself and in her existence. She would be magnificent.” another voice interjected.

I felt myself spin around, seeing from the corner of my eye that the bronze giant had done the same.

“Hello brother, what brings you to my corner of our domain?” the bronze giant asked, keeping an eye on the male figure before us. The male figure seemed to be forged from a cold, white light, a being of perfect beauty and bearing. While his physical size was smaller, his presence similar in strength to the bronze giant next to me and just as intimidating. The female figure was similar in some ways and vastly different in others. Where the male seemed to ooze strength and confidence, she was pure sensuality, a dusky beauty, with glowing green eyes, next to him. And where the male felt intimidating but also welcoming, her gaze was filled with animosity, as if I was intruding where I should not. 

“Why, I wanted to see how our newest child fares. It seems she is quite able to work in your way, what do you say, can I teach her my own ways as well?” the male figure asked.

“You want to teach her? There is truth in your words, the little one should learn to take pride in what she is.” the bronze giant agreed.

“Little one, go with my brother. He will teach you his ways, while they are different from my own, they are just as powerful. Learn well and return to me.” With those words, he placed one of his huge hands on my head, giving me an almost affectionate pat. 

“Yes father, I will not disappoint you.” I heard the voice say.

“Good. Follow me, little one.” said the man forged from light, as he walked away. I felt myself following him, as the glowing eyes of the female burned into me. 

With the image of those eyes, etched into my mind, I awoke.