The Man who the Dark Lands fear

Men began to get mauled to death as the reserves were no longer enough to hold them and then the order came, "Retreat!" The war horns sounded and most men tried to mount a fighting retreat while others kept fighting until the claws and teeth of the darkness and held off as many as they could before falling, "Retreat!" Ilbert shouted, stomping a beast's skull into a bloody mess before turning and beginning to leave the battlefield with his two subordinates doing so as well. The darkness was winning but something in Reynold's mind refused to accept it and urged him forwards. He caught a glimpse of brother Yonathan using his mace to dismember a dead beast as he began moving forwards.

Grabbing a second sword, he charged. Running towards the fight instead of running like a lot of the other men. It was chaos, nothing but chaos. Some of the men who crossed him looked on in disbelief as he was running head first into the jaws of the beast. The first undead to cross paths with him caught the first of many blows and had its skull cleaved in half as Reynold heard glass fragments crack under his foot. Oil was on the ground and the dead kept coming as he cut down two more. Without another thought, sunlight powder was thrown to the ground and a strike of his blade was all it needed to ignite. A bright flash pushed back some of the dead as more men continued to retreat and a fire rapidly spread through the battlefield and caught the beasts while making them change course if the flames hadn't already engulfed them.

Reynold continued to hack away at more and more dead as some men continued to fight by his side but the main group had fallen back, back past the tent lines and to their holding trenches. No men left behind was not something they were to follow as falling back to their well defended lines would grant them a better chance to survive. They had already lost most of their men. The young man's blades swung left and right as a handful of living legionnaires remained, trying to hold a safe zone for themselves to fight in, "Dawn will come! Keep fighting!" Reynold shouted as his blade clashed with another creature and cut it in half. The men kept going as more and more bodies piled up, those of the legionnaires that had fallen in the break of their lines and the bodies of the creatures being put into the ground another time.

Death was all around as the small group was killed slowly, with tired and exhausted bodies failing the men and the relentless dead taking the upperhand. Reynold's hand bled from gripping and swinging both blades, he still had the sunlight powder with him but his mind tried to find something to protect his eyes with. The dead turned their focus to another man for several moments and Reynold tore parts of his uniform and lodged a bit of glass that had become bloody from his open palm and then fastened it around his face, protecting his left eye as his right eye was still not very useful. The man let out a horrid scream as he was cut down and Reynold realized he was the only one left. The fire burned as he was surrounded by the beasts without any of them attacking him, "Why are you stopping?" He spoke up as his blades cut the bag of sunlight powder and he coated his blades in the powder. What had caused them to stop?

"I asked them to stop," He turned to see a shadowy figure in the space he was standing in, "I am the master of the dark lands, I will be the destroyer of all your hopes and dreams, unless."

"Unless?"

"You join me," The distorted voice replied quickly, "I see you are a true leader, a powerful warrior, a strong man, you would be a perfect acolyte of the dark master, accept and all the glory will come to you."

"Glory? What glory?"

"The glory of conquest, the pride of the conqueror, the bane of light, the bane of order, you will become more powerful than what you are now," Reynold gritted his teeth and met the shadowy eyes with a glare.

"I will not abandon my vows because you threaten me with death and then you offer me grace in exchange for betraying those very vows!" He shouted in response before his blades clashed and ignited with the bright white light. The shadowy figure grimaced before turning its back on the young legionnaire.

"Very well, then perish!" The beasts surged forwards before the white hot blades cleaved through them effortlessly. The first ones fell in burning pieces as the others hesitated, seeming to be afraid of the light as the Dawn Legion legionnaire's blades danced around him. The young man twirled them around him as his right eye was shut from the pain of staring at the bright light but his left eye could stay open and alert, looking through the blood stained glass. Another beast jumped at him before getting caught with the hilt of his blade and being hacked to death on the ground as Reynold grunted with each strike.

"You want more!? Come and get it!" The beasts turned and ran in all directions from him as he became enraged. The dead legionnaires around him made him want vengeance, the offer made him want pain and suffering on the man who had sparked all of this, "Stop running! Fight me!" He shouted as the beasts even ran through the flames of the battlefield to escape him. Reynold's body was working as hard as it could and his hands and forearms were stained with the blood of the beasts and his own. He forced his right eye open as it allowed him to gauge what beasts were close enough for him to cut down.