Empire at War

There was shouting and screaming in the distance, the sound of fighting such as had perhaps never taken place since the world was born. Periodically all other sound was drowned out by a roar that shook the earth itself. It was enough to drive a man utterly mad, but that was of little concern to Hida Manabu; a thin ribbon of blood ran from each ear, and he was quite certain that even if he survived the next few moments, his hearing would never fully recover from the things he had heard in the past hour. For that matter, he was not entirely sure he would ever recover, or even that he wished to live. What he had seen gnawed at his mind, threatening to devour his very sanity…

No.

Manabu looked down at the handle of the shattered weapon in his hand. He snarled and cast it aside. He cast about, snatching up a hammer from one of the dead at his feet. He looked to the horizon, where he could see something huge thrashing about, casting dozens of men into the air with each movement. Even from here he could smell the blood. This was something altogether.

Manabu reached down within himself and found the anger and the hate that fueled him in his duties as a berserker. Even when he faced the most implacable foes, the deadliest oni, he did not let it overwhelm him. Now he opened the gates wide and unleashed the thing he kept chained in his heart. He snarled inarticulately, his hands gripping the handle of the weapon so tightly that the three-day-old wound on his left hand opened up again, dripping blood on the already blackened earth.

The berserker charged toward the distant horizon, howling madly as he ran. This was the day of his death, but in death, he would bloody a god.

***

Akodo Shigetoshi struggled to keep his mount under control. Even miles away from the conflict, the beast seemed absolutely terrified. He looked at his fellow commander.

“What is it?” he asked.

Hida Benjiro shook his head. “I do not know,” he answered. “I have never seen anything like it.” He smirked. “I have grown disgusted with the sound of that statement since the war started.”

Nearby, Utaku Yu-Pan stroked her horse’s muzzle. It seemed to be coping with the trauma better than Shigetoshi’s smalls mount, but even the legendary Utaku steed seemed anxious. “I have a scouting report from the front. Some of my men reported that the beast-headed demons were chanting ‘the god-beast comes’ for approximately an hour before the thing appeared on the southern horizon.” “God-beast?” Shigetoshi said.

“What does that even mean?”

“Some monstrous weapon of the Destroyer goddess,” Benjiro said, looking in the direction of the conflict. “Some horror from a distant land.”

“Hundreds of men have fallen before it,” Yu-Pan said bitterly. “It tears open our ranks and allows the Destroyers to push farther faster than ever before. Three villages have been ground to dust in its path so far.” She shook her head. “It is beyond death.”

“I will not hear such foolishness!” Shigetoshi nearly shouted. “The beast can bleed and it can die, and we will kill it!”

Yu-Pan ignored the outburst. “Shugenja have communicated the situation to the Imperial City. They report reinforcements are already being dispatched to our location. Crane and Scorpion forces will be arriving soon, as well as all available Mantis Units in the area.” She paused. “There are reports of Spider forces being sighted in the region as well.”

“Spider!” Shigetoshi spat. “Throwing their lot in with the beast, I wager!”

“No,” Benjiro said quietly, still looking to the south. “No, a thing like that has no allies. Only prey.”

***

Moshi Kalani stood on the sands and felt the scalding heat of the jungle wash over him, mixing with the pleasingly familiars sea air. The trip had been arduous, easily the most difficult he had ever experienced, but now it was finished, and the Mantis Clan stood on the shores of the Ivory Kingdoms. The reality of it all, that this was his command, only now had begun to sink in. The months spent on the sea had been such familiar territory that it did not seem unusual to him at all. Only now did he begin to wonder exactly what it was he was meant to do here.

For now, he watched as the men from the ships erected tends and temporary mooring along the coast. He would need to shelter the fleet properly in the event of storms, and the men needed some time to get their land legs back. For now, he could purchase a few days with the simple routine of making camp.

Then the real trial would begin.