The Red Wraith

David rested his head on his desk and was dozing off like he usually would. If the citizens of the holy city of Getrelk could see him like this, there would surely be a riot.

Despite being one of the five commanders under the golden general, he was tasked with being the protector of this city because of its importance to Beltimus.

Right in the middle of this prestigious city surrounded by walls hundreds of meters tall and had an unseen barrier around it, was the royal mage academy where powerful mages were trained until they were ready to serve in the name of the king.

Being a warrior, David had initially been against this assignment as he had expected a mage to be assigned to this duty. But not wanting to stand against his superiors, he silently took on this task.

Luckily, David had a lot of free time while he was here. He could sleep to his fullest without ever bothering about anything. Only occasionally was his expertise needed and even then he hardly did anything since his lieutenants and their captains were competent.

This was his life and despite how unfulfilling it was, David had little to complain about. But at this moment, something felt... off.

David's eyes opened and stayed staring at an empty corner in the room. After a few seconds, he released a sigh and got up, moving toward the sword that was hung on the wall that had a dark red sheath and pitch black hilt.

He stood looking at it for a while as if contemplating whether to pick it up or not. With a stern expression, David picked it up slowly with his eyes not blinking once.

~Knock!

"Commander!" A soldier wearing the white and gold armor of the Beltimian army walked into the room and performed a salute at David whose back faced him.

"At ease soldier," David said as he turned to him with the sword in his grasp by his side.

Seeing the sword in his commander's hold, the soldier sighed and looked at him with a weak smile on his face.

"I see I didn't even have to inform you of the impending danger," the soldier said.

"So it seems, lieutenant," David replied but his voice seemed distant. His eyes stole glances at the sword from time to time.

The soldier in front of David was none other than one of his three lieutenants, Lieutenant Casper!

Casper knew exactly what was going on here but he knew it wasn't in his place to talk about it.

"It's a colossus sir," Casper announced calmly. "It's moving quickly towards the city and would reach us in only a few hours.

"Any word from Lieutenant Helen?"

"None at the moment. The colossus... is headed from their direction," Casper hesitated before he mentioned the last part.

"Then that means they didn't make it," David sighed.

"It's still too early to conclude sir, we'll send out a rescue squad to—"

"How about we concentrate more on the important things right now?" David interrupted. "It would be foolish to assume it's just the colossus coming here. With no complete information concerning the force on their way here, we'll be fighting blindly."

Casper nodded, "And not to mention that we've got a low number of soldiers in the city due to Helen's mission. There's also no way we could get reinforcements here in time before the colossus takes down the shield."

"So what do you suggest lieutenant? You're the one in charge of tactical warfare after all," David said as he sat on his desk while watching Casper with a serious expression.

"I've got three options," Casper raised his hand with three of his fingers representing the three options, "One, it would be best to start evacuating the city since we don't have enough firepower to take down a colossus."

One of the fingers went down, "Two, we could get high-ranking mages from the academy to channel their mana into the barrier which could make it last long enough for reinforcements to get here."

"Take out that option," David commanded in a calm yet stern tone. "If the mages completely use up their mana, their life force would begin to be drained. They'll die since there's no way to stop the process of mana flowing into the barrier from a living organism."

"I knew that would be your reaction, but I still had to inform you that it's an option that's available," Casper said.

"Duly noted. What's the last one?"

"We would have to depend on you to take care of the colossus or at least hold it back till reinforcements arrive," Casper responded with a glance at the sword.

"Are those all the options we have?"

"Well, we could send the airships to intercept the Colossus before it gets here but we already know how that would end with the Colossus being in its second form."

After hearing those words, David closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. He was in deep thought.

"What are your orders commander?"

David opened his eyes and met Casper's gaze.

"You already know who to contact for reinforcements," David said and Casper nodded. "I can't promise that I can kill it, but I can try my best to hold it back. Hopefully, it stays in its second form."

"Understood."

David got up and tapped Casper on his shoulder before walking past him outside. The latter turned and watched his commander leaving the office with the hope that the man known as the red wraith... would not become a bigger threat to the city than the colossus.

****

The city of Getrelk trembled ever so slightly. It was hardly noticeable at first but as time passed, more people became aware of the occurrence.

It caused a bit of a commotion, but the soldiers in the city were able to quell it to some extent.

Far up north of the city, at the top of the wall, David stood watching far into the horizon.

He could see it. The dark-skinned creature hundreds of meters taller than the wall he stood on.

It did not move alone. Hundreds of skeletons rose from the ground it stepped on and followed its tracks as it made its way to the city.

Tightening his grip on his sword, David took a step forward and fell off the wall. As he fell, he grabbed the hilt of his sword.

~ZSST! BOOM!

On the other side of the wall, silence prevailed after the sound of a sudden explosion outside the wall.

A red mist rose into the sky.

Spotting it, Casper's expression turned resolute.

"And so it begins."

****

Somewhere in the pink desert.

A skeleton's hand burst out of the pink sands that composed a significant part of the continent.

The skeleton slowly crawled out and stood upright. The purple flames in its eye sockets burned dimly as it looked around.

[Finally awake?]

'Wait isn't this... how the fuck did I get here?'