Chaos: Genesis

After a couple of years of vigorous preparation, the Anshan army is now ready to embark on its mission of expansion. Darius marches with them on his first venture, and Spero gallops beside him on horseback. All around them, a few dozen armed soldiers march in formation, eagerness and determination gleaming in their eyes.

"This will be your first time in a life-or-death situation. Facing an Orc will not be an easy task but defeating a strong enemy is beneficial for quick improvement."

Cyrus rides up, "Don't you worry brother I will be by his side the whole battle, stay behind my shield nephew, and learn as I fight."

Darius nods and Spero rides up ahead, Cyrus follows.

Basir sneaks by, approaching Darius, "Being trained by the outsider himself, I don't know if I should be impressed or worried for you."

Darius examines the general, "It is only sensible that we learn from the most skilled; if more soldiers possessed his level of expertise, our army would be an unstoppable force."

"You are not wrong, but for an army to be the best, trust within the ranks must be upheld. The majority of the soldiers fear him, unlike the prince; who is regarded as a man we can all see as king one day. Spero on the other hand is seen as a parasite in our Kingdom."

"I've heard the rumors but why is Spero so feared, he's done nothing but help our advances."

Basir gives a stern look in the direction of Spero, "Once the fight begins, you'll see."

Basir gallops to the side, back to his platoon. After a few hours of riding, they arrive at their destination. Basir, Cyrus, Spero, Darius, and several other soldiers congregate.

Cyrus speaks out, "The Orcs are set to meet a few Reptilians for trade shortly. Both groups should be of small numbers. When the trading is about to commence, we will ambush them. Basir and his men will deal with the Reptilians, making sure to seize whatever they hoped to barter with. Spero shall attend to their beasts, while Darius and I take care of subduing the Orcs."

"What are they trading exactly?" Basir questions.

"Mana-infused weapons, the Reptilians stole them from some Dwarves down south."

"If we get those weapons it would be a massive boost for our foot soldiers." an archer in the group states.

"Do we let any escape?", Spero interrupts and the meeting gets quiet.

Darius gets a slight chill from Spero.

"Yes, they need to inform their superiors that we are on their every move," Cyrus responds.

As Cyrus finalizes the plan of attack, the group settles into camp, preparing for the morning's assault.

It is noon when they take up their positions for the impending assault. Three carriages arrive from the Reptilians and one from the Orcs, rolling along on their respective beasts. The Reptilian convoys are pulled by large Komodo dragons, while the Orcish wagon is drawn by horse-sized hyenas. The middle Reptilian slows to a halt, revealing a large container with a metal exterior and dwarven writings on the side. An Orc Captain strides up to the Reptilian Captain, and they exchange a brief discussion. Suddenly, an orc foot soldier arrives and hands a bag of gold to a reptilian underling. The Anshan archers tense their bows and in an instant, SWOOP, one arrow pierces through the neck of the reptilian underling, causing him to drop the bag which tears open and scatters gold coins all around. The two captains shout in unison to alert their men, readying them for the impending attack. Some reptilians scurry and burrow into the sand, while the orcs unleash their snarling hyenas.

Basir warns his men, "Look at the sand below, you see it move, stab it."

A Reptilian suddenly emerges from the ground, lashing out and severing the leg of a nearby Divinian soldier. Then its tail darts out, snagging the ankle of another Divinian and pulling him to the ground as a dagger plunges into his chest repeatedly. In response, a Divinian mage casts a spell that unsettles the sand beneath their feet, causing all of the Reptilian soldiers to resurface. Basir and his men mercilessly cut down the lizards. Cyrus stands defiantly against the Orc Captain, Darius by his side. An orc foot soldier manages to strike Darius, but Cyrus is quick to catch him before he falls. He propels him back up, ready for battle once more. Darius dodges the club from the Orc foot soldier and slices through the orc's liver.

"Leave the hounds to me!" Spero announces as he stands his ground as the four hyenas circle him.

One leaps forward, and without missing a beat, he kicks it to the right. Before the beast has time to regain its footing, another clashes its sharp jaws down upon him. He swiftly strikes it with an uppercut before preparing for the other two to charge in. But they don't; they merely continue to encircle him menacingly. The other two hyenas join in the fray, their high-pitched chuckles echoing through the air. Spero readies himself, waiting for them to rush forward. Suddenly, one of them charges and Spero twirls his body around, kicking up sand as he spins creating a cloud of dust. In a flash, a blade appears out of the cloud and penetrates the side of a hyena's skull. Another hyena claws at him and he hastily chops off its left paw. He grabs the creature's ear, yanking it in front of another beast, which gnaws its teeth on its unsuspecting ally in the confusion. The two hyenas recover and battle each other as the third one charges towards Spero and knocks him to the ground. He raises his sword, and the hyena's teeth collide with his blade. Spero feels the warm breath and saliva sprinkling his face. He retaliates with a kick to the hyena's stomach before forcing his blade between its two jaws, slicing through to make its lower jaw hang slightly detached. He stabs it in the lung, finishing it off. Despite missing a paw, the hyena still tries to rise, limping towards Spero only to be met by a knife thrown straight into its neck. The final hyena snarls at Spero as he brandishes his sword. He takes a step forward and the creature swipes at him; he dodges to the right and shoots a swift kick to its hind leg. The animal tumbles to the ground. Spero strikes it again, slicing through its side until the beast is no more. He strides past the one missing its paw, retrieving his knife from the lifeless body.

Cyrus staggers as the Orc Captain's two short-handed axes flail savagely. Cyrus slams his shield into the Orc's face and thrusts his sword into its left arm. In a moment of quick thinking, the orc hooks the shield with the bottom of his axe and rips it off Cyrus' arm. As he attempts to extract his sword from the orc's arm, he feels a crushing force on his skull as he is headbutted to the ground. Darius witnesses this but is unable to intervene as he is occupied aiding a Divinian soldier in his battle against an orc. Cyrus dispatches the captain with a well-placed kick to the shin, rolling back onto his feet and readying himself for the next attack. He easily dodges the swings of the axes and yanks his sword out of the orc's arm. Cyrus backs away and readies himself, then charges forward with a powerful thrust that pierces through the back of the Orc Captain.

The Reptilian Captain and a few of his troops attempt to flee, but Basir and his men close in around them. Suddenly, one lizard releases two fearsome Komodo dragons. The archers fire their bows, the arrows merely grazing their scaly hides. A mage casts out a fiery blast that slams into one of the creatures, halting its movements completely. A tail lashes out, sending a soldier crashing to the ground as another lizard clamps its jaws around a soldier's arm, tearing it off. The survivors do their best to ward the creatures off, but Basir charges towards the Reptilian that released them and plunges his sword into his chest. In response, a Reptilian's tail whips out of nowhere and swats Basir's sword from his hand. He recoils as a dagger scores across his shoulder. Basir rushes in and hurls himself at the Reptilian, unsheathing his knife and thrusting it into its neck. His allies are getting tossed around by the immense lizard beasts. Its long tail swings down towards a mage, WHOOSH, only for the tail to be chopped off and sent flying to the ground. The reptile roars in anguish as Spero dodges its snapping jaws and scrambles away.

"Don't let their saliva touch you!" Spero yells out as a Komodo dragon spits its toxic saliva at a Divinan's shield.

Darius and Cyrus draw nearer to the action, allowing Darius to witness Spero in his element. He expertly slips past tail swings and bites, skidding on the sand to avoid harm. He slices off an arm of one lizard and the tailless one rushes in, its massive jaw snaps hungrily at him. Spero raises his forearm to block the creature's neck and plunges his sword through its jaw and into its skull with a single thrust. He dashes across spryly to the final animal, climbing on top of it as he drives his blade deep into its back repeatedly.

Dark energy seeps around Spero, an eerie whisper barely audible in the darkness, "Stop them..."

He watches with dread as several orcs and reptilians scurry away. He sprints towards them, chopping off the orc's leg and viciously yanking the tail of a reptilian. Grasping it firmly, he swings it at the reptilian's head with all his might before stabbing the orc, still writhing on the ground, and planting his foot on the reptilian's chest with a sickening crunch as his rib cage shatters beneath him. Darius stares in horror at the savage violence Spero unleashes, as Cyrus dashes over.

"Spero stop!"

Spero instantly halts his assault upon hearing his brother's voice, his eyes softening as the ravenous energy around him dissipates. A Divinian mage quickly weaves a spell, summoning a towering rock wall to block their enemies' escape as soldiers surround them.

"They've surrendered, no more," Cyrus speaks calmly as Spero reluctantly lowers his sword.

A few soldiers bring the corpse of the orc captain and lay it at their feet. The orcs stand in mute shock, while the Reptilian captain grits his teeth.

"Your deal is over, we will take your goods and send you on your way. We just ask you to deliver a message to your leaders. This desert belongs to the Divinians, the Kingdom of Anshan will not back down, we will control these sands and all who live on it", Cyrus proclaims.

The reptilian captain retaliates, "Screw you and your people! These are our lands, you and your divine judgment. Your race is no better than a human!"

Cyrus raises his blade to the Captain's neck, "This will be our last warning, you do not want to go to war with us."

The captain spits contemptuously on Cyrus but he maintains his composure. Darius notices Spero, and a flash of dark energy pours out of his hand as his visage shifts.

The captain rambles in their native tongue, Retila, "We will skin your bodies and burn your children!"

Spero walks forward, "We only need a couple to escape right?"

Cyrus asks, "What do you mea..."

With a flick of his arm, Spero slices through the neck of an Orc standing nearby, SLICE. He strides over to the Reptilian captain and grabs their head tightly in one hand, his eyes filling with fear as they glimpse into Spero's own wild, bloodthirsty gaze.

Spero swings his sword with a deafening shriek, SLASH, cleaving through the scaly flesh of the captain, and launches their severed head toward the last remaining Reptilian soldier. He beheads the Orc captain's corpse and hurls it at the last remaining orc soldier.

"We only need to send back one of each, now this will get the message across."

A suffocating silence envelops the area as the soldiers part, creating a path for their enemies to retreat. Cyrus grits his teeth and clenches his fists, struggling to contain his fury,

"That wasn't necessary..."

"We need them to know that our threats are serious"

Cyrus looks at Speros's hand and can see dark energy lingering,

"Your hand."

Spero looks down, awestruck that he activated his power unknowingly.

"Be more attentive brother," Cyrus says sternly.

Spero and Cyrus stride towards the carriage, laden with goods. Darius trails after them, his gaze traveling from Spero to Basir who meets his eye knowingly. Two mages chant in unison, their words weaving together as Dwarven runes shimmer around the container, magic circles form and runes activate before unlocking with an audible snap. A soldier reaches for a blade,

Spero stops her, "Don't touch anything. We must be careful, Dwarven technology is highly advanced, we need to make sure that there aren't any failed safes."

Darius joins in, "Aren't their weapons dangerous, if you activate the magic runes incorrectly won't they explode?"

"Only the prototypes, they spread that rumor through the lands to prevent thieves, they mix the fake weapons in their exports to ensure security measures."

Cyrus gathers everyone's attention, "No one is allowed to touch or handle any weapon in this container until they are analyzed by our blacksmiths, attach our extra horses to the carriage and we will all head out."

The Divinain soldiers follow his orders.