chapter 44: Bal

A regiment led by one of the doom generals Bal , made it's way through the desert under the veil of the night sky . Bal could be described as a merciless and cruel person containing a huge amount of bloodlust, his cruelty could be seen in his cold brown eyes and the scars on his face proof of the many battles he has fought . Coupled with his huge muscular body that could not be hidden by the armour everything of his clearly indicated that Bal was a very intimidating man.

"Let's wait here for the scouts." His voice deep and raspy as he pointed at the ruins of an ancient desert village

Bal entered one of the ruined houses with his second in command Eric , who had a bald head and a tattoo under his left eye . He put up a sound barrier covering against anyone who might want to ease dropon their conversation

He looked at Eric with a slight fear lingering behind his eyes"I don't like this at all Eric , they know we are coming but there is still no reaction from them . I hate to say it but we might be walking into a trap and there's little to nothing we can do about it" bal sighed

Eric shook his head with a lazy smile plastered on his face "Bal, this is war and in war everyone is a pawn yes including you and me. Yes you are a Doom general but that doesn't mean that you are not a disposable pawn in the gane of kings . I too don't like this plus this whole war is stupid and pointless with any proper goal , so whetger they have set traps for us or not it is highly unlikely that you and me will get killed .... only those ones outside should be worried about stuff like that"Eric spoke each word without breaking eye contact with Bal , bal had a serious expression on as he slowly digested the words spoken to him then he looked at Eric with a small smile

"I suppose you are right ....yet again , what matters the most is our own survival"finishing up their brief talk he released the sound barrier leaving the house with Eric behind him

Most of the knights in Bal's regiment were newbies with no literal battle experience seeing that they were all a batch of newly advanced, when they saw him approaching they swiftly stood up and gave a salute , meanwhile a knight was running down a hill approaching them at fast speed before stopping Infront of bal with his head down

"Two people are approaching at a fast pace" the knight reported , Bal dismissed him and stood there waiting for the two to arrive 

Not so long after two people specifically a man and a woman wearing commoners clothing arrived in front of Bal and kneeled 

"Greetings general" Bal nodded and asked "what did you find?"

The man shook his head with a confused smile "that is it general, we found absolutely nothing the people of that damned village all seem to relaxed ! It's as if this war is none of their concern " the man reported everything in a heartbeat

Bal had a look of uncertainty as he looked at Eric who simply shrugged making the whole situation seem awkward , he dismissed the two scouts and sat down on a rock by his side looking at his men " Let us all pray to our god for protection , we will continue the journey in an hour" Bal's voice echoed in the night sky ...

 ..

Sondor , Sitting at the entrance of the village with his sword by his side was the man in charge of Sondor, Faro, he was staring at the desert and his eyes had a feint glow to them as they were moving looking like they were searching for something in the desert but there was nothing except for the huge , dry desert that seemed to have no visible end . His eyes suddenly stopped and he got in a kneeling position placing his hands on the ground closing his eyes in the process as he began chanting 

"guardians long forgotten 

guardians lost in time

Hear my call and rise once again to protect Zebha from the doom that threatens it 

I call upon you Sand Guardians" 

After he finished chanting runes appeared on the ground at the entrance and spread out into the desert making the whole desert light up with a yellow glow all the way into the canyons where Bal and his regiment were traveling through. Bal gave the order to stop the advancement as he looked at the runes on the canyon's walls"it seems like we walked into a rune formation, men ready your weapons and hold your positions!!" Eric barked out the order 

A few minutes passed with the runes still visible on the walls but nothing had happened, Bal and Eric were still on their guard against any hidden dangers but after waiting for a little bit longer he instructed his men to move 

But then the sound of cracking could be heard and they looked around only to find the walls cracking bit by bit releasing dust all over the canyon obstructing the regiment's sight but the Bal released his aura of a quasi soul tree Konqueror blowing the dust away only for them to find that they were surrounded by creatures made of sand all with glowing yellow eyes . "Ready your weapons!!" Bal roared and sound of weapons being drawn filled the canyon but then a heavy sigh filled the whole canyon shocking the whole regiment

"Descendants of La'faura dare to invade my kingdom?" Everybody looked up since the voice came from above the canyon , weapons could be heard falling to the ground as most of Bal's knights had lost the courage to fight .

High above the canyon a giant knigh that stood over 100 yards above ground was looking at the regiment with his bright yellow eyes , his whole body was made of sand and Infront of it a huge sword black sword that looked like it was made from metal was embedded on the ground . The knight pulled the sword out of the ground causing the ground to tremble and cracks appear on the canyon floor . Bal sighed and equipped his gauntlets slowly while giving his men orders

" do not be frightened by these creatures you are stronger than them ....I want you all to fight ! Fight for your life and your kingdom , fight with the strength of the great serpent La'faura!! " with that he leapt towards the Giant knight leaving sonic booms in the air as he unleashed the full might of a quasi soul tree Konqueror Punching the sand Knight right on the temple with such force that the blow produce shockwaves pushing back the Giant Knight, the whole regiment saw this and they roared as they too dived into battle 

Blood and sand could be seen flying around as the regiment fought of the sand creatures but the damned things had no end to them as they kept on coming proving that numbers far outweighed strength and one by one the knights started falling , different spells light up the battle ground making the battle ground look like a light show but that was not the case between Bal and Giant knight , blows were being exchanged at a fast right with the knight having an advantage in strength but Bal was faster since he had a wind elemental soul coupled with his rune inscribed gauntlets one would say they were equally matched but Bal had already found the Knight's major weakness was that it seemed to be very weak against spells , so he immediately took advantage of that weakness and started bombarding the giant with wind related spells gaining the upper hand and putting the Giant knight on the defense but if one looked closer they could see that in the giant's yellow eyes was a cold calmness that Bal didn't seem to have noticed as he was now being enticed by the call of the void "yes... it's strong .....but you're.....stronger ....unleash your rage.....Bal .....show the.... king..... you're....not .. disposable.....show him ..your....worth..... unleash....you ...power ..." A woman's voice made it's way to his ears enticing him to give in to his rage 

Bal had been through countless battles before and he had experience dealing with the call but this time because of the circumstances of this war he couldn't shield himself from call plus his anchor was now shaking he no longer believed in their king's ability therefore he fell for the tempting voice of the void driving him to madness as he kept on attacking the giant knight crazily , his eyes turned black indicating that he was already lost in the void.

"Bal noooooooooooooo!!!!!!" Eric who noticed the change in bal from afar screamed as he could see the man he had fought hundreds of battles with fall to the void , he to started attacking the creatures frantically trying to go and help bal quickly even though he knew that this was basically suicide but he had to try and pull him back and in his rage a voice of a young girl drifted into his ears like a shallow whisper " daddy look ... What they did to uncle Bal.... their are going to do it me....to mom....daddy fight for us .....protec-" he heard his daughter's voice but he immediately screamed

"Ahhhhhhhhhh ....I won't give in " he calmed his mind and started thinking about his family accepting the fact that Bal had already fallen , looking around 3/4 of the regiment was gone and the battle seemed to not be ending anytime soon .

"Let's clear a path to retreat !!" Eric ordered 

Deep in the void the figure of bal could be seen floating aimlessly ,he wore a sad expression as he was being assaulted by memories of his past , Bal was abandoned when he was just a little boy by his parents who had committed treason and fled leaving him surrounded by the royal guards and taken into custody for his parents crimes , beaten and beaten everyday for crimes he didn't commit until Elvis Dupres who was but a young boy came into the cell he was being kept in and offered him freedom but in return he had to swear loyalty to him