Birth of a legion

Dahlia ORLETH

The sun was at its zenith, its heat was quickly carried away by the cold autumn breeze which announced the cruel arrival of winter.

"Quick, hurry up, we don't have all day," I barked.

The warriors were preparing their things, to take the road to provide reinforcements to the other clans, we should have already set out. It's already been two days since the meeting, after the decision of the other two clan leaders to join us, there were now many of us so we had to readjust the rules, the hierarchy and our ways of fighting to suit everyone.

I was named an officer, at my head were the generals, just below me were the non-commissioned officers, and just below were the soldiers without rank, or rather legionnaires like the master had called them.

Each of them saw their essence stones strengthened after having absorbed the mana gems, they have more mana than the average, their physical faculties have considerably increased, all they have to do is saturate their essence stones, to be able to awaken.

This is the first time, in the entire history of the cursed forest, such an army has been set up. We were around seven hundred souls at the moment, the master separated us into three cohorts; "Fangs", "Claws" and "talons".

The cohort called "talons" that I had been assigned to was under the direction of Lord Rakahn for this operation.

But the master promised to reorganize everything after this operation, if we prove ourselves the tasks we will be assigned in the future.

Honestly I didn't want to go, I wanted to stay close to the master

– be useful to him – but Lord Rakahn had insisted that I could be useful to him by taking part in this operation.

I sighed deeply, making my way through the soldiers who had gathered in front of a large rock where the master stood.

It was always a pleasure to watch him, he looked awkward in the tunic he wore, this tunic was long and black, wide short sleeves, but it brought out his charisma.

I wanted to let myself be carried away by the emotion, but I held back because at that very moment I was only a soldier, I had to respect the codes of the hierarchy to set an example to the other soldiers.

The master was standing on the rock, surrounded by the clan chiefs, they seemed to be discussing some things, I moved closer, I saw and heard Sir Cain complaining about the elders of his clan who were are opposed to his decision, but apparently after seeing what the essence stones reinforced by the mana gems look like, they quickly changed their minds, they too were tired of being considered weak.

"At the same time it's true" I said to myself.

The elven clan had long been considered a non-combatant clan, since they were physically weaker, and they ended up in the dark after casting more than two spells once their spirits were summoned.

"Dead weights, what!!" I snickered in my mind.

As two silently scoffed, I heard someone clear their throat, I quickly looked up and saw the master preparing to speak.

The moment everyone noticed him they immediately fell into complete silence, a satisfied smile crossed his features and he took a deep breath.

"When I came to this world, I woke up in the forest, in that same dangerous forest, I fought, I fought both physically and mentally."

He paused, letting a few seconds pass before continuing.

"In this forest, I discovered that we were prey, we were victims of our weaknesses, we had suffered so much, we had taken so much upon ourselves. But it should not end like this, we should not allow it anymore.

From today we will swear to become the predators of this forest.

We will eat the flesh of our enemies, we will absorb their essence stones.

Never again will we hide for them, never again will we be weak.

We are human, we must lead, together we will change the ecosystem of this forest, we will change the ecosystem of this very world.

Even today, you are no longer separated by the barrier erected by the clans in the past, you were now comrades, comrades predators, together we will prove to these vile creatures what it feels like to be prey. "

A cacophony of war cries resounded in the crowd made up of elves, lycanthropes and half-ogres, their howls echoed in the forest making the clearing tremble, a shiver ran down my spine.

At that moment I felt it, I felt a strong pain in my chest, I too wanted to scream, I wanted my voice to resonate throughout the forest, to reach them like a roar of thunder.

It was not just a warning, but a declaration of war.

Today their worst nightmares were born, the one that would end their reign.

The one that would make them prey, springboards towards evolution.

Today the legion of predators was born.