Chaos...

You are not finished...

The end is not now...

Destroy what you hate...

Save what you love...

Rise...

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Apollyon threw an Iron Legion knight into the wall to her right, staggering the soldier and allowing her to plunge her clawed fingers into their throat. Blood and fire now covered the Blackstone fortress. Vikings and Samurai ravaged the fortress, killing thousands of civilians and soldiers alike.

Apollyon ripped her claws hands from the knight and raised her long sword, quickly cut down an old Viking who ran at her. Apollyon's orange and black armored guards repelled the advancing Samurai forces. The Vikings chased after the fleeing citizens. Women and children were frantically evacuated as the beasts of Valkenhiem chased them down.

Hundreds of Vikings poured into the fortress through the front gates. Samurai forces climbed the tall fortress walls and snuck through small places that couldn't be seen easily. They flanked and slaughtered Blackstone knights with ease. Apollyon continued her defense of the fortress, ordering knights around the frontlines and crumbling walls.

As the chaos of war ensued, a loud and booming war horn cut through the battleground. Many who were fighting stopped for only seconds, looking towards the open front gates. Thousands of Vikings led by a Valkyrie came over the nearby hill. Apollyon's eyes widened. There was no winning this battle without reinforcements.

Apollyon looked around her position on the steps that led up from the courtyard.

Apollyon: "Where is my son?!"

Knights shook their heads and shrugged as the new Viking armies quickly approached. Siege weaponry launched boulders and balls of flames, forcing down the stone walls that held for centuries. The towering warlord knight stood in a battle stance as Iron Legion knights came rushing inside, charging towards Apollyon and her guards. The Iron Legion soldiers cut down two of Apollyon's guards before clashing swords with her.

The first to fall lunged towards Apollyon, throwing a downwards slash that Apollyon easily blocked. The black armored woman pushed the knight's sword away from him, taking her own sword and plunging it into the soldier's stomach. Apollyon ripped her sword away and parried a simple attack. The Iron Legion knight was staggered back and spun around. Apollyon stabbed the man through the center of his back and using his body as a shield. The third of the knights had tried to stab Apollyon in the back but was too slow in his attempt.

He stabbed his dead comrade who was being used as a shield by Apollyon. The warlord knight kicked the stunned knight to the ground, raising her sword into the air and slamming it downwards into the warrior's heart. As Apollyon gathered herself, a small Samurai stood on the steps leading up towards her. Apollyon recognized the colors and armor the Samurai wore. Apollyon chuckled as she wiped the blood off of her blade.

Apollyon: "The Emperor's Champion? The Dawn Empire truly survived..."

The small warrior gripped the hilt of his sword and glared at Apollyon.

???: "Surrender now. You and your people are beaten. Face justice!"

Apollyon took a few slow steps towards the Orochi warrior.

Apollyon: "I'll pass..."

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The Black Prior army slowly rode towards the Blackstone fortress as they came across the battlefield where they had been defeated. Erzebet looked at the dead who laid in the dirt. She kept looking, trying to find Jürgen in the aftermath. Soon her eyes came across a man who lay on his black. Old blood had poured from his back and chest, absorbing into the dirt under them.

Erzebet carefully dismounted from her horse with help from one of her guards. She approached the dead man, looking at his face and recognizing every gesture. Tears welled in her eyes and Erzebet knelt down next to Jürgen's body. She placed a hand in his bloodied chest. His pale green eyes looked up to the sky.

Erzebet: "What have they done to you, my sweet?"

The young woman placed a gentle hand onto Jürgen's right cheek. One of Erzebet's guards came up from behind, speaking in a soft tone.

???: "My lady, a raven came from the Blackstone fortress. The Vikings, Samurai and the Iron Legion have breached the walls. The Blackstones are being overrun"

Erzebet glanced back towards the guard.

Erzebet: "Then there is no point in going any further. The battle there is lost"

The young woman looked back at her dead husband, lifting her now blood covered palms from Jürgen's chest and face.

Erzebet: "Collect the dead and take them home. We're finished here"

Erzebet stood as her guard spoke.

???: "What about revenge my lady?"

Erzebet began to walk towards her horse.

Erzebet: "You can't get revenge if you're dead"

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A cold breeze blew over him. Jürgen slowly opened his eyes. The sky above changed from blue, to orange, to nighttime purple. Jürgen leaned forward, feeling an aching pulse in his chest. The young knight put a hand on the side of his head, glancing around the world around him. Jürgen looked towards the source of the crackling fire. He recognized the village gates before him.

It was the place where his journey all started. The village he was supposed to protect. Screams of women and children cut through the air. Jürgen struggled to stand up as his weakened body tried to move quickly. A familiar voice in his head spoke out as Jürgen tried to take a step forward.

???: "Forget them..."

Jürgen stopped before he could go any further.

Jürgen: "I should help them"

???: "Leave them!"

The young knight shook his head, taking a few more strides towards the closed gates as a dark resistance tried to pull him back. As Jürgen reached for the wooden doors a bright light flashed in front of his eyes, blinding him. Jürgen pushed his arms forward, feeling the wooden doors begin to budge. As Jürgen pushed the light began to fade, allowing the young knight a chance to take a glimpse of what was on the other side.

Jürgen pushed into the new area. This place was a forest. Warm air filled the area and the spring sunshine poured through the trees above. A man sat on a small broken tan brick wall. Across from him was a burned out campfire. The man had near perfect blonde hair and bright green eyes. Jürgen slowly approached the man. As he did, Jürgen looked down at himself.

He was not wearing his full black attire. Instead he was wearing something completely different. A white cloth cape was stuck to his back by the brown leather belt around his waist. Bronze plates and helmet made the protective pieces of his armor. A bronze helmet with white paint on it's faceplate was tied to his belt by a small piece rope. The helmet's bronze wings held firm where the wearer's wars would be.

The man sitting across from the burned out fire noticed Jürgen approaching and took a glance towards him. Jürgen instantly recognized the man.

Jürgen: "Dad?"

Hans: "There you are. It's been a long while, son"

Jürgen looked at his father. This felt too real to be a dream or just another vision.

Jürgen: "Where am I?"

Hans adjusted the protective metal plate that clung tight against his left shoulder.

Hans: "You're on the other side"

Jürgen looked back down to his armor and then to the forest around them.

Jürgen: "The other side?"

Hans nodded.

Jürgen's eyes widened as he quickly deciphered the meaning of his father's words.

Jürgen: "Am I... dead?"

Hans nodded once more, standing up and putting a hand on his son's shoulder.

Hans: "You are dead. In the world we knew"

Jürgen felt his fathers hand, weakly grabbing Han's wrist in confusion.

Jürgen: "I can't stay here. I have to go back!"

The young knight ripped away from his fathers grasp and turned back to the gates. But to Jürgen's surprise the gates were gone. More forest that went on for miles stood where the gates had been.

Hans: "Jürgen, you can't leave this place. Not yet"

Jürgen turned to his father with slight anger.

Jürgen: "I have to leave! My mother needs me! Erzebet needs me! My CHILD needs me!"

Hans sighed and lowered his head.

Hans: "Jürgen, calm down and listen to me—"

Jürgen took an aggressive step towards Hans, raising the sword that had clung to his back.

Jürgen: "No! I will not listen to you! You expect me to listen to the man who lied to me my entire life?!"

Hans calmly sat on a nearby fallen tree, listening to his son.

Jürgen: "You took me away from my real mother! You took me away from a life that I wanted! Everything I had once loved burned because of you!"

Hans looked his son in the eyes. Jürgen's eye's flickered in and out from green to orange.

Hans: "Jürgen, I know you hate me. But what I'm trying to do is make you understand why I did the things I had done"

Jürgen's hand tightly gripped the hilt of his sword. The center of the swords blade glowed orange.

Jürgen: "Speak"

Hans looked into a fire that seemed to have randomly appeared. The flames shifted as Jürgen also looked into the fire. The inferno began to build images.

Hans: "Our family is not an ordinary one. The gift you posses is something special that only appears in our lineage"

A large castle with tall white stone walls and shining silver gates stood atop a mountain. Below the mountain stood a city the size of Ashfeld.

Hans: "Our family was one of royalty before the days of Heathmoor. We were the guardians of the land we know as the Blackstone Hills. We were the good that people could look up to in times of darkness. Our family guided the people of this land to great heights"

Suddenly the castle disappeared and a large battlefield came into view. Spears and swords were stuck in the ground. Pieces of bodies and armor littered the area. Blood flowed through the ground. The ground then began to split apart and sink, castles crumbled and villages disappeared.

Hans: "But when then our reckoning came, with rival families and factions attacking us, trying to steal what was held within us"

Small villages and crudely built castles and fortresses began to rise up from the cracked earth. Certain individuals stood within crowds, looking at papers and guiding others in the building of these places.

Hans: "We hid our powers, but continued to guide our people through the darkness. As time went on, the power within our family's blood began to weaken until only the first born child in every new generation was given this gift"

A baby in swaddled cloth was held by it's mother. Jürgen noticed the woman's face. The woman was his mother.

Hans: "You were born with this gift, Jürgen. So was I. Your mother and I knew you were special. I only saw you as a son whom I wanted to spend the rest of my days loving. But your mother saw you as a weapon"

The fire began to waiver as a loud thunderstorm began to take shape within the images.

Hans: "She wanted to raise you as her personal weapon of war. She saw you as a chance to bring her family's ideals to life. I couldn't let her do that to you. So one night I was told by a trusted friend that she was plotting something incredibly dangerous"

A man wearing a rain soaked cloak holding the same child the woman held rode a dark steed. The man and child galloped through thunder and rain.

Hans: "I took you away from a life unfit for a child with a heart like yours. It killed a piece of me to leave your mother. Every night I thought I'd seen her waiting for me in bed, at the dinner table, even outside on the porch. I loved her with every piece of my heart. I never forgot her. And she never forgot about us either"

Hans snapped his fingers once. The fire disappeared as he looked into Jürgen's eyes once more.

Hans: "In this place I can see everything that happened in the past. But I cannot see any farther than the end of the present day. I saw that your mother found where you and I were. She found our family. Your mother hired the Vikings who came to our village and destroyed everything"

Jürgen shook his head, no longer believing his father's words.

Jürgen: "You're lying again! She would never send those frozen rats after us!"

Hans stood up, the campfire quickly came back again.

Hans: "I can show you, Jürgen. Every lie your mother has told you... every horror she's committed"

Jürgen put the longsword he held onto his back.

Jürgen: "I know she's done terrible things. So have I. But mother and I are alive because we were strong enough to do the things nobody else would do to survive!"

Hans: "Is that what you call it?"

Jürgen slightly tilted his head.

Jürgen: "What?"

Hans: "Do you call the monstrous things you've done as means to surviving? You've killed innocent people Jürgen! People who were living their lives, trying to carry on until the next day came! Mothers without children or husbands, husbands without children or wives, children without families! You call them all weak. But why?"

Jürgen thought for only a moment before grabbing Hans by the throat. Anger pulsed through Jürgen's body as the color in his eyes blazed bright orange.

Jürgen: "They are weak because they ask for too much and give back too little! They are weak because they need protecting, thinning out our armies and turning us into vulnerable fools! Rulers who pass laws for the common people don't have the balls to wage wars and raise their sword to protect the ones they love! They want to make friends with their enemies because deep down they know they are too cowardly to stand up for themselves and their people. And that is only scratching the surface on why these people need to be extinguished from this land! It's either us, or them! Drown or swim! Live or die! And you chose to die!"

Hans choked and tired to breathe. Getting a few words in at a time.

Hans: "I chose to... d-die because I... l-loved you... and Sarah... and Elias.... I died... protecting you three... from YOUR mother... from Alice..."

Memories of Sarah and Elias flooded Jürgen's mind. Playing hide and seek and pretending to be soldiers at war with Elias in the forest and fields, picking berries and reading books in the farmland and small family library.

Jürgen: "You didn't love us... you let them die... you made me suffer long after what happened that night... I should have a shot at killing you for that..."

The young knight began to put more pressure into his hand, crushing Hans's neck.

Jürgen: "I was broken, and my mother put me back together. The same woman you call evil helped turn me into what I am now. I am strong because of her, I am better than whatever you could have made me because of her"

Hans let out a few words, looking Jürgen in the eyes as his face began to turn red and purple.

Hans: "I'm... so sorry... Jürgen... I've never... forgiven myself... for what... I-I... put you through... but the path... you walk... is not right... for y-your child's... s-sake... change your ways... use your... power for the... right reasons... f-for her..."

Jürgen slowly let go of his father and looked down at him with confusion, tears welling in his eyes. Hans grabbed at his throat and rubbed the sore red skin. He steadily breathed as he took a glance at his son. 

Jürgen: "H-Her?"

Hans: "Change Jürgen. You still can. Do it before it's too late. Remeber that you took the step forward to enter this place and help your dying people after being urged not to. There is still something there. The son I know is not fully gone"

The young knight felt something within his heart. Something cracking at the rapidly forming dark veil that consumed it. Jürgen looked to his father. Hans listened to Jürgen's words, noticing that something was off with his voice. The faintest whisper of a second voice followed his words. It was like an entirely different person was speaking.

Jürgen: "The part of the son you knew was a disease. A disease that I will purge. And I will enjoy every second of it. We will not change"

Hans lifted an arm to Jürgen and placed a hand on the young knight's chest. A force pushed through Jürgen, but he did not move at all. Sharp pains like knives being driven into his heart covered his chest. Jürgen took a step back and put a hand on his chest, feeling around the painful area. There was nothing. No blood or wounds of any kind.

Jürgen: "W-What did you do to me?!"

Hans kept his hand on Jürgen, looking into his sons eyes.

Hans: "Change before it's too late Jürgen!"

The world around Jürgen began to darken, his body became near freezing cold. The pain in his chest began to worsen. Breathing became nearly unbearably painful.

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Erzebet held a hand on her stomach. She watched as the maids began to clean Jürgen's body. They had stripped him of his armor and began to wash away the dirt and blood from his skin. Erzebet could begin to see the three wounds that killed her husband. The young woman carefully approached Jürgen's body, taking his cold and pale hand into her own.

Erzebet: "I wish I could have told you... I was saving it for a surprise..."

The maids looked at Erzebet before stopping their actions and bowing their heads, quietly leaving the room and waiting in the hallway  outside.

Erzebet: "The baby is a girl. A daughter, Jürgen"

The room became quiet as Erzebet looked at Jürgen's face. Nothing happened. Only silence and grief was present.

Erzebet: "I told you not to go you fool. But you went anyways and look what happened"

The young woman's throat began to tighten and her breaths became shaky.

Erzebet: "I don't know how I can go on without you, my sweet"

Erzebet began to slowly let go of Jürgen's hand and wiped away a tear with her free one. The young woman quietly left the room. Silence. The maids kept their wait outside, watching Erzebet's silhouette fade down the long dark hallway.

As the maids prepared themselves to enter the room again, a sudden and low growl could be heard from outside of the door. The head maid grabbed the door knob with a shaky hand, her sisters staying close behind her. She slowly cracked open the door, allowing only enough space for her head to peek through.

Sitting up from the table was a dead man, panting in short and uncontrollable breaths. Jurgen placed a hand on his cleaned stab wounds with wide open eyes. His orange eyes looked panicked.

Jurgen: "I-I was actually de-"

One of the maids that hid back fainted at the sight of Jürgen. Only moments ago she was cleaning his wounds and staring at his lifeless face. Jürgen shot a glance at the maids who peeked through the door. The young knight slid himself off of the wooden table he was laid upon and fell to the floor, keeping a hand in his cleaned wounds. His body was weak and his mind was racing.

One of the maids ran after Erzebet while the others, who were still conscious, rushed into the room and began tending to Jürgen's needs. Jürgen