The Tribulation: Part 2

As Durge leaves Lugh's bedroom, Allisia can be seen crying. Around her are the remains of hundreds of tissues. Her belly is bulging out quite a bit, a sign of her advanced stage of pregnancy. As she stands back straight, she holds her abdomen to support the unborn child. Her face is stained with tears and her eyes are completely red. Durge looks her over, saddened by her grief but at the same time happy about his second offspring. The contradiction seemed to make him feel worse about the events that would soon take place in Lugh's room.

"Must we leave him completely alone? I can't even look at my baby?!" Allisia cries out.

"I will not let you see the horrors of a Tribulation, especially not while pregnant. You would surely be traumatized, I can't let my future child be raised in such a state. It wouldn't matter if you were there anyways, you can't help him through this." Durge shouts out.

"But-"

"ENOUGH! Only he can decide whether or not he'll survive. If his will is firm, then he shall rise from his Tribulation even stronger than before, like a Phoenix arises from its ashes." The shout echoes through the halls.

"You're right, I should be strong for both our children. Let's go back to the throne room, I have some work to do and a package to receive." Her face becomes firm, signifying her resolve.

"Ha! Save that kind of talk for when you aren't covered in tears."

"Wha- I- Ohh, you're definitely sleeping in the lounge tonight." Allisia's face turns crimson and she stutters out a threat. She turns around and begins to walk away.

"Wait, I was just trying to lighten the mood!"Durge calls after her, not wanting Allisia to be alone at night.

"Hmph!" Her speed increases

"Just hear me out!" Durge begins to chase her.

But unbeknownst to the loving couple, tragedy is about to strike. A horrifying creature that strikes fear into all living beings is about to shatter this peaceful life.

<The City Gates>

Thousands of Undead are lined up in front of the massive steel gate built into the mountains. In the lead is what appears as the desiccated corpse of an Elf, its eye sockets glowing with an eerie amber light. Its ears are still mostly intact, while the skin on its face has shriveled, pulled taut around its bones. The lips of the corpse have rotted off, leaving its teeth decaying without any protection. The Lich is almost simultaneously mummified and rotting. The smell coming from the surroundings is almost unbearable, heavy with the scent of death. What plants are there are slowly withering into dust, their life drained by the Lich's presence. Slowly the Necromancer opens his mouth

"Open the gates! Kill all the guards, but leave the citizens, I want them to see true despair when I behead their Queen in front of the masses!"

The Undead horde slowly start to push open the bulky doors, while the few archers station there begin to panic. These men were lowly recruits hastily trained with a bow and put to work as the guards of doors. Though afraid, they still managed to kill at least a few of the risen dead before they were overwhelmed. The guards here weren't the only ones who were taught for maybe two weeks and then made into soldiers, about 90% of the stationed officers were in fact recruits. It was done in an effort to quickly reinforce the army's numbers. But this resulted in more of a militia than a proper army, citizens wielding weapons instead of properly trained troops. These deaths were a sign of things to come.

"Come on you bastards, MOVE! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT TOO LONG!" The Lich screeches at the sluggish living dead.

"I'M HOME ARVES! HA HA HA HA HA HA!" The Lich begins cackling away, obviously excited by his vengeance being close at hand. The laughter begins to distort towards the end, making it become darker. 'This all should have been mine. ALL MINE. THE PALACE, THE THRONE, THE CROWN, EVEN THE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE... MINE... MINE... MINE!' The Lich's thoughts had completely descended into madness. His jet black Aura had become even blacker, seemingly swallowing the surrounding light.

All of a sudden, the Lich stops moving. He looks back at the crowd of Undead and yells,

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO KILL THE CIVILIANS! THE GUARDS ARE THE ONES WITH ARMOR, YOU ABSOLUTE FAILURES."

While the Lich had been alone with his thoughts, his Undead slaves had been killing people indiscriminately. This meant that a couple hundred citizens had died and his orders were misinterpreted. 'Dammit, if only there were a way to make the Undead retain some of their intelligence when raised. Well, that will be a research topic for when I'm done conquering my new kingdom.'

The army of the dead moved ever closer to the Palace walls, where Allisia, Durge, and their dearest Lugh were unaware of the devastation happening in the main city. But once they reached the outer gate, Durge's detection magic detected their movement.

"Allisia, we need to move, NOW!"

"What? Why?"

"There's an army of Undead at the gates, we can't stay here."

"But Lugh hasn't come out of his Tribulation yet! I won't abandon him to a horde of the dead!"

"My precious wife, I will not let you and our unborn baby die here, even if it means losing my first born."

"Don't you dare try to convince me to leave my baby. I will not raise this child without his or her brother."

"DAMMIT, LISTEN TO MY WORDS FOR ONCE WOMAN!"

"NO! MY PRECIOUS SON WILL NOT BE ABANDONED BY ME!"

"Fine, you win. I'll just have to destroy this army."

"But the Accords-"

"Fuck the Accords, I'm saving my family!"

"Durge Greatheart, You are accused of breaking your oath." A new voice booms from above the clouds.

"What do you have to say in your defense?" The voice commands

"I haven't broken my oath of neutrality yet! Why have you come?"

"The very nature of your relationship with the Elf there, is tantamount to a breach of your word. The

Council wants to see you!"

"Dammit, at this critical moment!" Durge slowly takes to the sky, and after reaching a certain height, changes into his true form. An earth-colored, massive western Dragon, his face twisted into a grimace.

"Darling, I pray that they are lenient in your punishment. I love you." Allisia begins to break down into tears as her husband and son are unable to come to her aid. Behind her, ten figures suddenly appear: The 10 Royal Magisters.

"Your Majesty, you must go. You cannot fall here. We shall hold back the Lich and his army." One of the Magisters speaks.

"None of you could possibly get rid of the Lich, we don't have any users of Light Magic here. You're basically marching to your deaths!" Allisia sobs.

"Though we will surely die, we'll have given you enough time to escape. It has been an honor serving under you, Queen Allisia the Radiant." The mouths of the Magisters all curl into brave smiles. They knew what awaited them was not glory but death's embrace. These men were the greatest example of loyalty to ever come from High Elves. Quickly, the Magisters leave, making their way towards the Palace gates. Allisia takes the scepter from the wall behind the throne, walks over to the seat, inserting the staff into a slot in front of it. Slowly the chair moves back revealing an escape route, but an explosion from the entrance stops her. The rumbling seems to crush the passageway, causing rubble to fill up the the hole.

"No, that was the quickest way out!" Allisia;s hope begins to waver, but she reaffirms it by remembering the other route. But, as soon as she turned to go to her quarters, a haunting voice stops her.

"Leaving so soon? Why don't you stay and we'll talk. I've missed you, 'Queen'."

"Oh gods, why would you do this to yourself All'nder? You were a proud noble of the High Elves!"

"WHY? I WAS GOING TO BE KING! YOU HAD NO INTEREST IN PARTICIPATING IN THE TOURNAMENT, YET AS I WAS GOING TO BE NAMED THE VICTOR, YOU SUDDENLY CHALLENGED ME! I had almost completely exhausted my Mana, and you hadn't used a single drop. You won, using underhanded methods 80,000 years ago, now I'll take MY crown, if you'd be so kind."

"I had no choice, my father made the challenge. I couldn't do anything, I never wanted this."

"SHUT UP! SPEAK ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL KILL YOU AND YOUR BABY! That's another thing I should talk about, FAMILY."

"No, please, I'll be quiet, just don't harm my baby."

"WHAT DID I SAY? No, no, I mustn't lose my calm, she's just ignorant of my plight, that's all. Ah yes, my family disowned me, my fiance left me and I was run out of the city by your father and his men. Tell me, when a man's life is destroyed like that, should he not take revenge whatever way he can?"

"...se, please don't hurt my baby."

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION, WHORE!" All'nder says, beating Allisia's face with his staff.

"AAHHH!" She screams as loud as she van, hoping someone can hear her.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH! STOP SCREAMING, NO ONE CAN HELP YOU!" He kicks her in the abdomen, causing damage to the child inside.

"Forget killing you in front of the people, I'll just drain you and your baby dry." The Lich slowly reaches his hand down to Allisia's chest.

"MOVE YOUR HAND ANOTHER INCH AND YOU'LL LOSE IT, PERMANENTLY" The yell of another person could be heard.

Lugh had arrived, and he was absolutely pissed.