A Glimpse of Battle

"The fire will reach us within the hour, what are the General's orders?" A dwarf spoke hastily into the receiver of the device that connected his little mountain outpost to the line that reached the capital.

The dwarves waited as the speaker remained quiet, but there wasn't much for General Krimm to think about. She was back in the capital receiving reports from dozens of groups, and her and her officers were devising plans by the second. There was a subtle pulsing vibration that could be felt through the earth and wildlife could be heard running rampant throughout the forest. The dwarf with his ear to the speaker held his breath as the orders finally came through.

"Bring the mountain down and pull back, destroy the 'line'."

"Yes sir!" the dwarf spoke in response to the officer's voice as he put the wired device down. He moved his hand forward and placed a single finger on its top from where it sat on the floor. Within the blink of an eye, the metal device became an unrecognizable ball of jumbled steel and the dwarf left it where it fell. As the dwarf ran outside, he quickly rose the ground beneath his feet and brought his eyeline to above the trees.

"I still," his voice wavered for a moment, "...I can't believe they'd do something like this," He spoke slightly aghast, before he lowered himself and regrouped with the others. In front of him was a nearly indescribable sight.

Raging hellfire for as far as one could see to the south.

There was no hint of the light blue sky that was supposed to reign overhead, instead it was an appalling black from the uncontrollable sprawl of earth being scorched. It was hard to see the exact cause of the fire but showers of red could be seen coming from high in the air within the approaching wall of rising ash.

The Chosen had taken a cautious approach to entering the mountains. After all, it was like walking into the dwarves' backyard. Taking the Chosen's anatomy and magic into consideration, this was probably the smartest move Rant could've made. From the centuries that their race dwelled within the toxic caverns of the wasteland, their lungs have developed into those that can breathe in almost any air. Combine that with their newfound immunity to fire, there wasn't a single reason for them to not burn the entire mountain range down as they advanced.

The only thing the country of Anglest could do in response to this was to slow the Chosen down. The road cutting through the range was thin and winding, and the dwarves could bring entire mountain sides crumbling down onto it if they worked hard enough.

This group of dwarves from this outpost raced up the incline, launching themselves high above the trees. One of the dwarves falling from the sky shot a metal rod forward and it dove into the earth. As he fell downwards, the earth erupted from the impact site and met his feet to slow his momentum. As he reached the ground, he shot himself forward once more. This was a tactic called "earth-running," and it required extreme precision and control.

The dwarves would make a connection to the earth through the metal they shot into it, and they would pour their magic into the ground and manipulate it. Since they could only control what they touched, and the range was dependent on your ability, this was a workaround the dwarves came up with. However, if you misjudged where you were going to land and it was too far from where you made your connection, you could easily slam into the earth and die without being able to do a thing. For that reason, it was a technique only for the most skilled of dwarves.

There were other much simpler ways that a gifted dwarf could move around, but nothing was as fast as earth-running. However, because this was such a complex maneuver, they weren't able to scan their surroundings as well. They had to rely on their eyes only as they worked their way upwards.

One by one the dwarves stopped as they reached somewhere close to the top. They were in a clearing, but the woods around them were thick. The mountain wasn't particularly tall compared to the ones around it, but it was still the one closest to the road at its base.

The leader of the group looked around at the dwarves one-by-one, making sure they were ready. He sank his hand down into the earth and the others followed suit. Below them, dust began to rise and the ground shook as trees fell over. Thousands of pounds of rock and dirt came crashing down the side and it all slammed into the stone road at the bottom. It was like a snowball effect, and it wasn't too difficult for the dwarves. Rather than precision, this was a job focused on power and how much force you could send the ground downwards. All they had to do was push.

"Yeah!" A guy shot his hands up in celebration as he looked at the dust filled valley beneath him.

Another rose to his feet with a smile as some of the others sat down to take a breath and recover. Even though this was a job well done, the group had let its guard down incredibly. It was only when one of the women realized how much attention they had brought to themselves with what they'd done, that she scanned the ground of the dense forest that sat above them and to their sides.

Without a second to lose, she shot a wall of rock across the clearing and a flood of red crashed into it, being forced upwards and around it.

"W-what the-"

"Enemy from the south! Watch the skies!!!!!" The woman shouted out. She could feel the weight of dozens of soldiers ahead of her, but she couldn't see what soared above the treetops.

"We're retreating! We have no reason to fight here!" The leader shouted out, but it was too late.

A large gust of wind scattered the cloud of dust as a Chosen warrior landed in the middle of the group.

A muffled scream could be heard underneath the creature's large feet, and his talons were wrapped around the dwarf's head.

Even though every soldier within Anglest's army had been briefed on what they knew about the Chosen, everything from their magic to description, they still didn't know everything. They needed a corpse, and not even one was found within Balkan. However, that wasn't because none of them died, but because of cremation. With death, it seems that the Chosen lose their immunity to fire and their corpses burn as easily as any other. With Rant's order to burn every one of their comrades' bodies they came across, he left their human enemy at an information disadvantage.

The female dwarf didn't speak it, but the thought had crossed her mind as she watched the creature's long clawed feet begin to draw blood.

'They're like dragons.'

"Gruh!" The Chosen soldier reeled back as his leg was severed by a piece of metal one of the other dwarves shot forward to save the guy on the ground. He tried to rush to his friend's side, but he was engulfed in flame as he was hit from behind.

"We're being surrounded!!" A dwarf yelled out as he brought the earth upwards like a spear and put a gaping hole in the injured Chosen that had fallen to the ground, killing him instantly. "Tch! Guard me!" He shouted in anger as he tried to pull the foot off his comrade's face, but it just wasn't letting go. The guy underneath it was still alive, but he was panicking and being drowned in the blood that spurted out from where it was severed.

"Stop. Fucking. MOVING!!" The guy yelled in between the cuts he made as he chopped the limb into pieces to remove it. As he finally got it off, he heard another scream from behind him.

They were being picked off one by one.

The leader looked around and he saw that only three others remained amid the corpses of the enemy and his own people. "Glorir!!!! Get to them!" He yelled at the woman who spotted the Chosen earlier and pointed towards the two remaining dwarfs, the guy who had almost had his head crushed in and the other that removed the foot.

She launched herself towards the two and the moment she did, a massive heat wave flooded over her before everything went dark. Glorir felt something heavy collapse into her and when she did, she realized she was still alive. She couldn't even see her own hands, but she tried to push the 'thing' off of her when she realized it was the leader of the group.

"Kurm, did you do this?" She asked but he wasn't responding, "Kurm!?" She tried to grab him, but she recoiled back because of how oddly wet he was. It was only when she realized it was blood that she tried to grab him again.

"I-is he okay? Was that because of that last explosion?" One of the others asked from beside her, but Glorir just kept calling out his name.

A booming sound came from the outside and all the dome's inhabitants recoiled back from the noise and reverberation. They tried to cover their ears from the deafening noise, but it was no use as the vibrations shook them all to their cores.

"Reinforce the rock!!!" Glorir commanded as she put her hands on the wall, trying to rebuild the damaged point using the rock floor beneath her. "Ah!!!" She screamed as the force from the outside threw her to the ground.

The Chosen were trying to melt the rock and break their way through their makeshift bunker by sheer force. Because of the commotion on the mountain, more Chosen were flooding in as the wall of approaching death inched forward. Now, there must have been somewhere close to a hundred Chosen surrounding the rock, both on the ground and in the sky, with dozens of them throwing waths of fire down onto it.

"I-it's not working!!"

"Try harder, damnit!!" Glorir snapped.

"Che… sh… pl…" A tiny voice came from beside her. If she weren't so close, she would've never heard the leader's voice in between the constant onslaught from the outside.

"W-what?! S-stay with me Kurm, I'll protect you!" She flinched as the rock structure shook once more. She finally looked his way when she felt a tug on her shirt from behind.

"Metal…" His words barely escaped his throat, "everything, give it to me." He was bleeding profusely from the left side of his stomach, and his arm was covered in burns, but he was still alive for the time being. He was also the strongest dwarf of all the soldiers that had been stationed at that outpost.

"G-give it to you? I-" She cut herself off as she realized she didn't have the time to question his orders, "You two, take everything metal you've got off right now!!" She yelled at the other dwarves who were trying to strengthen the rock.

All the armor they wore came off in an instant and fell to the ground alongside what remained of their metal bolts.

"T-that's everything! What now?"

As his soldiers had carried out his orders, Kurm had removed the pack on his waist and injected himself with something to numb the pain and keep him from going unconscious again. Even if it was temporary, the state Kurm was in right now could only be described as euphoric. His body tingled and his head had never felt so clear. He rose to his knees, his head barely scraping the rock ceiling, and ran his hand over all the metal that had been thrown to the floor. His hands moved in a swirling motion as the metal ran like water across the floor and moved up the wall, creating a layer of thin steel between them and the rock that made the outside layer.

"T-this is too thin to protect us!! Kurm, w-what are you tryin-"

"On my mark, hmrg-" he hunched over as he vomited blood onto the floor. His wound combined with the stimulant made him feel incredibly light headed, but he was still seeing straight.

"K-Kurm! Wh-"

"...Break the rock dome," Kurm said, wiping his mouth.

"B-break it?! Are you kidding me!?" One of the guys yelled out in disbelief as he tried to hold the outside layer together once again, "W-were gonna freaking die, Kurm!"

Kurm knew that, but he didn't care. Their only option was to fight, they didn't have the time to tunnel underground since it took all their effort to keep their walls from collapsing. Kurm had already given up on living, and what he was about to do guaranteed their deaths. But he wouldn't be the only one going to hell… he'd take all of the enemy with him.

"Trust me," Kurm said with as convincing of a voice as he could conjure up, "Drop the walls. If you don't, we lose."

He looked down and ripped off the silver locket he wore hidden under his shirt. It was too dark to see the picture inside, but he opened it anyway. After a second or two, he threw it up into the ceiling and it became part of the metal around them.

What he was trying to pull off wasn't something he could've ever normally done, but he felt amazing right now.

No… he felt like God.

"NOW!!!!!!" Kurm roared.

All his subordinates screamed out in fear as they put their faith in Kurm and removed the only solid protection they had, exposing the shallow metal dome to their enemy. They felt a rush of heat and they all shut their eyes.

"Thanks," Kurm said with a smile, "This wouldn't have worked without you all."

He threw his hands outwards, and the light of day crept into what had been their pitch-black stronghold. However, Kurm was surprised by what he saw. He wasn't on the battlefield, nor was he surrounded by enemies. Instead, he was back at his parents' house in Balkan.

The sister he had lost in the Chosen's invasion was at his side, and his parents and their home were standing there like nothing wrong in the world had ever happened. Kurm began to laugh as he looked at the plate of food in front of him, "I just couldn't wait any longer... It feels so good to be home."

...

As the Chosen's army continued to advance, the surge of fire that overtook the mountains finally reached the desolate clearing. There wasn't a single sound in the forest except for that of crackling embers and crashing trees. As the Chosen in the sky finally passed by, this one area was left untouched on Rant's orders.

Pieces of flesh laid strewn amidst what now looked like a mass grave. Each Chosen soldier looked as if they had been shredded repeatedly by dozens of tiny metal shards. Some parts of their bodies weren't even recognizable like they'd been the meal for a ravenous bear.

"What... am I looking at?" Rant asked the soldier at his side, "These four killed nearly two hundred of ours?" He said, looking down at the charred corpses that laid at the center of the conflict.

The soldier barely clinging to life that was able to make it back to Rant lowered his head in anguish.

"I see... Everything is a lesson, I suppose. You may leave," He sighed.

Rant raised his arm and removed the long robe sleeve that covered his hand and he spoke softly, "None of your lives will go unspent, may God forgive you all for not seeing the end of their cleanse," He brought his glowing hand up, preparing to cremate them all, when something caught his attention.

There was a sharp glint coming from a corpse at his side and he bent down to see what it was. Very carefully, as if to not dirty his hand or clothes, he pulled the object out of the side of his soldier's head purely with his long claws.

Plastered on the front of a piece of metal was a picture of a dwarven family, the other half of the locket was nowhere to be found.

"Hmm..." Rant stared at it intently, trying to find the meaning in finding such an object, "Am I... not doing things the right way? I intended to break the dwarven spirit, not bolster it..."

Rant was lost in thought, but he conjured a vortex of fire nonetheless. Excluding him and the charred dwarven corpses at his feet, everything around him was rendered to nothing. He threw the locket he held into the blazing fire and extended his wings as he flew off.

This was only one of the many skirmishes that were happening all over the mountain range as the Chosen continued their unfaltering approach.

The mountains would continue to burn until the Chosen sat afront the final checkpoint.

The last bastion that the city of Angleria had.