1 Prologue: Her Final Hours (Part 1)

1810 P.D will always be remembered as the year when the dead began to rise from their graves and create a nightmarish world.

At first, reports about the dead rising were relatively low. For this reason, most kingdoms chose to ignore this threat as a minor nuisance and believed that the undead would die out when winter arrives. This decision was a catastrophic mistake for those kingdoms as it led to their downfall when the number of undead attacks increased by several hundred folds during the dead of winter.

When spring arrived, most of these kingdoms were subsequently wiped off the map and became ruins when the last living souls perished. With no more living people left in the ruined kingdoms, the undead turned their eyes towards the remaining kingdoms.

During the middle of spring, the undead invaded the remaining kingdoms.

As the undead continued to overwhelm more and more kingdoms, the surviving kingdoms were able to temporarily put their differences aside and allied with each other to fight against the undead. However, this only delayed the remaining kingdoms' inevitable fate.

By the year 1813 P.D, 12 of the 18 major kingdoms were completely destroyed by the undead. However, the surviving kingdoms continued to fight hard.

By the year 1815 P.D, only 3 kingdoms continued to fight the undead while the rest of the kingdoms gave up and perished. The three countries that continued to fight were the Tierra Kingdom, the Azidahaka Kingdom, and the Star Kingdom.

The three kingdoms mustered an army of over 200,000 and prepared to make a last stand at the Starian Capital City against a horde of over 1 million undead.

This was the kingdoms' last chance to stop the undead horde from reaching the last untouched lands of the living once and for all. If the Starian Capital were to fall, the entire kingdom would be completely annihilated. After their destruction, the remaining two kingdoms would also fall within a year or less. However, if they were to win, the threat of the undead would be gone for good and the war would finally come to an end with the living being victorious.

This was everyone's last hope for survival.

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[The Starian Capital]

It was a dark and cloudy day for the Capital City of Star. Ever since the outbreak of 1810, the skies were slowly being covered by dark clouds until they eventually covered the skies permanently.

The capital was once the home for over 2,000,000 people. However, over the years, the city fell victim to famine, diseases, and violence which caused the deaths of countless people. When the remaining population heard the news about an undead horde approaching the capital, most of them either fled or committed suicide to avoid a brutal death at the hands of the undead. Now, it was the home for less than 40,000 people.

With the 200,000 soldiers from the 3 kingdoms, there were approximately 240,000 living souls residing in the capital as they awaited the undead horde that was expected to arrive in a week or less.

The walls were armed with hundreds of cannons and ballistas while numerous trebuchets were set up behind the walls. Every inch of the wall was manned by thousands of soldiers who were ready for combat in case the undead horde arrived earlier than expected.

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While the remaining Starian soldiers were preparing to make a final stand, the higher-ups were currently in a meeting to discuss their next move.

The meeting room was nearly empty with only a handful of people inside as most of the country's generals and commanders were killed over the years.

"No matter what I think of, I can't come up with a solution for a victory..." said a man in gambeson armor. "We only have a slim chance of winning..."

He was one of the few remaining strategists in the capital.

"Queen Dunha, do you have any suggestions?" a man who was wearing full plate armor asked.

He was one of the few remaining commanders of the Starian army that were still alive.

Everyone in the room started to look at a woman who was sitting in the middle, reading a small piece of paper that was given to her by a servant.

This woman was Dunha Star, the 6th ruler of the Star Kingdom. She was currently staring at the people with an unimpressed look.

"There's nothing we can do other than fight them to the end. They don't have a commander we could assassinate, they don't suffer from hunger and thirst which means there's no supply line to cut off, and they are dumber than the Azidahakians so we can't even negotiate peace with them. So, no. I don't have any other suggestions," said Dunha.

She then paused for a second.

"Hold on... How many cavalry archers do we have in the capital?" she asked.

"No more than 15,000, my queen," the strategist answered.

"How about we sent them out to attack the undead horde from afar with their bows and arrows? They might not be able to defeat the entire horde, but they could at least reduce their numbers," said Dunha.

The higher-ups around Dunha nodded and agreed with her suggestion.

"Brilliant idea! I shall order Lieutenant Smith and his cavalry units to march towards the yellow valleys and rain hell on those rotting bastards!" said the commander in silver armor.

He then instantly stood from his chair and left the room before Dunha and the others could discuss the suggestion any further. This angered one of the commanders.

"How rude of him! Leaving the conference without the queen's permission! If your Highness allows it, I shall have him punished for his impudence!" the old commander shouted as he got up.

Dunha raised her hand to stop the old commander from chasing after him with his chain whip.

"It's fine commander Charles. We're all going to die soon anyway," said Dunha in a hopeless voice.

"Your Highness..." said the commander with a worried expression.

Dunha then threw the piece of paper she was reading towards the commander.

When he picked up the paper and began to read it, his eyes widen in shock.

"I-Is this true?! The Tierrians withdrew their army?!" the commander shouted in disbelief.

"Aye. At first, I thought they were just relocating their camp but after half a day, I realized they were retreating," Dunha answered.

"I knew we couldn't trust those cowards..." Commander Charles murmured. "I thought they finally grew a spine when they came here but I guess I was wrong."

Dunha slowly stood up with her cane.

"If you want to flee, now is your chance," said Dunha as she began to leave the room.

Charles chuckled.

"Flee? To where? If the capital falls, they'll attack the Azidahaka kingdom next and then they'll destroy the Tierra kingdom as well!" said Charles. "Just what is that crazy Tierrian queen thinking?!"

"She knows that we'll lose. She just wanted to see us die first," said Dunha. "That doesn't matter anymore. I'm going to stay with my men and fight till the end. If you want to flee, I'd suggest you leave now when there's still time."

"Hmph! As if this old man would abandon the queen to save his own sorry ass. I shall gladly die by your side," Charles answered.

"Me too," said the strategist as he stood up.

"I'm staying here as well."

Everyone began to stand up from their seats as they respectfully nodded at their queen.

Dunha began to chuckle.

"Then let this be our most glorious battle of them all," said Dunha before leaving the room.

(To be continued)

2020/02/15