Cataclysm
The irony of the news that reached the general made him smile in a way I've never seen before. The Yrvillians and New Draconians were destroying each other. Within days of each other, Bern and Arkhosia were burning, both capitals sacked. But these empires were not done yet.
Weeks later, their armies marched on our position. We, the last remnants of the Coalition's army had to stand against them both. We chose our ground as best as we could: Brynn's Field in Lignia. The walls of Ap Wys were across the river, but the breaches there made it useless for us. What cosmic joke was this that we had to fight a three-sided battle? I wouldn't have wagered against Loghi's hand being in this.
A battle on two fronts was any commander's nightmare. But that wasn't the real nightmare; that was something we never saw or expected.
Like a well-oiled clock, the bells of the hour chimed and each army appeared on the field. The dragonborn were disciplined. The tieflings and their devils and demons a charging horde. And us caught in the middle, outnumbered beyond reason. The familiar chaos of battle engulfed us like a wave crashing on rocks. And we shattered like a scattering of water droplets. The blood was everywhere and it was all we could do to distinguish friend from foe. Wizardry, sorcery, and black eldritch warlock power sizzled overhead and decimated the lines.
And then it happened. How I survived can only be ascribed to the blessings of the gods. I don't know if words can describe what happened. What destroyed us all. The noonday sun was suddenly engulfed in darkness and we were all, all of us, tossed like a rag doll in a titan's hand. I felt the concussion throwing me, and I was shielded by the hill. I think it started in the southwest, but that didn't matter. The silence afterward frightened me the most. What could destroy three armies in a heartbeat? It was night just like that. I must have gone crazy, I thought. The stars were out and everything. I was certain I was mad, in fact, when I saw a giant ghost of a goddess striding across the land.
Chaos returned in a waking nightmare. The screaming of the wounded and the insane was suddenly around me, though the sky remained cloaked in night. Some of my comrades, and some of the enemy, were twisted like candle-wax melted in the sun. The worst of the deformed were the wizards and sorcerers, and the priests even. And they were insane. Moments ago it was ordered battle, and now it was chaos. The magic of the insane arcanists and the avowed priests was turned against friend and foe alike. I saw one wizard blast himself into a pyre of blue flame, and it burned higher and brighter than anything I'd ever seen before.
I ran, and the world felt like it was tipped on its side. I couldn't get my balance. I ran from the field, and I'm not afraid to admit it. It wasn't cowardice. It was survival.
Ralazin
4th Army, Colym Reserve
The gods! The gods are angry! They have abandoned us for we are beyond redemption! I repent! I felt their hand crush me to the ground. The city! The city vanished before my eyes! The darkness! It's the end!
I came to Huysum to learn from the famed school of evokers. I wanted to help the armies of the Coalition and be a battle wizard. It was going to be my first day of study when it happened. I felt that I must write about what I saw because, well, I don't think anyone else can.
As I started to say, it was to be my first day at the school. I awoke at first light and prepared my paper, my quill, my ink. I went to break my fast with the other students. All seemed as normal. There weren't many of us that day. Most of the students are sent off to join the army as soon as they learn to cast their first fireball. And the teachers, well, most of them are too old or too wounded to fight anymore. So I went to class, eager to learn and be a part of greatness. We met under the old oak tree and Master Hinard started the lecture for the 4 of us new wizards.
In a breath, the day turned to night and a massive concussion slammed into us all. I heard the bell tower come crashing down, the bell clanging as it slammed into the stone tiles of the courtyard. Rubble was strewn all over, some of it thumping into the oak roots I was suddenly amidst. It took me some minutes to get my bearings, when I regained my senses, I was feeling a strange tingling and a buzzing in my ears. Groggily, I sat up to realize that the buzzing was the shrieking of Master Hinard. He was bleeding from the eyes and howling. In a burst of orange light, he crackled into the air floating with immense power radiating out from him. I was awestruck, paralyzed on the ground with wonder. And then he unleashed a bolt and incinerated the boy next to me. My awe turned to horror and I don't think I ever moved faster in my life. I scuttled behind the tree from the Master and tried to get to my feet. I was so unsteady. But I had to move. It was throwing me off that it was dark as night. The sun should be up; it was a minute ago. It's gone now.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the roof of one of the school buildings blast upward in a rain of burning fire. And another wizard flew out also howling in madness. I dodged the raining debris as I stumbled from the tree, mindful of Master Hinard behind me and the danger he represented. The wizards had gone mad and were destroying everything in their path. I had to get out. I tripped over the bodies of younger students. I don't think any of them survived the initial blast. Later, I think I survived because I wasn't trained yet. My lack of magic use saved me, I think. As I fled the school, I saw more and more dead wizards and apprentices. The living wizards were crazy, and they looked to have been the more experienced masters.
I got out of the school by the barest breaths. Luckily, the crazy wizards were easily distracted. None of them focused on chasing me, thank Lugh. I made it out and into the city of Huysm, only to find a new horror waiting. The darkness of night still prevailed. I couldn't understand if maybe I lost time when the explosion or whatever it was hit. But I was going to write about what I saw in the city square. The inhabitants of the city fared about the same as me. Knocked senseless and groggily moving about. At least I don't think any of the other citizens were driven crazy by whatever happened. They were, however, very panicked at the darkness and what was happening in the square. I don't know to describe it except as a glowing window to another world. It wasn't square or anything like that, but more like a jagged tear. But through it I saw a flaming landscape. At first I thought the square was on fire, but when I moved around, I could see behind the window and the buildings there were not on fire.
As I stumbled around, it felt like I couldn't get my balance. Like the world was tilted to one side. I clung desperately to the side of the building and was witness to another tear opening up with the worst sound I've ever heard. Like the moaning of a thousand people, there was an eerie purple light and suddenly I couldn't see the building ahead of me anymore, but instead I saw a bright blue sky and a verdant field of green wild grass. And there were creatures running across that field straight towards me. It was like a story coming to life. The creatures were beautiful, graceful, humanoids with pointed ears and slanted eyes. Some of them had goat legs and others were tinted green. But they were being chased by misshapen giants with lopsided eyes. And then they ran through the rift and they were on the street with me!
I couldn't stop and ask them anything. They just ran and I could see the malice in the gross eye of the giant about to step through the tear. I ran too. Everywhere I ran through the city there were more of these windows or doorways opening to landscapes out of dream and nightmare. Hordes of creatures that I've never heard from were streaming from many of these. It was all I could do to avoid notice. Fortunately, many of them looked as confused and lost as I felt. And still there was that strange sense of tilting that just wouldn't go away. I think it was almost like being on a ship in a stormy sea.
I thought about hiding, but who could say where it was safe? These windows were ripping open everywhere and anywhere. I saw one open far above the ground and hapless creatures were spilling out to plummet to their deaths. I took the wisest course, like many of the other people around me. We just picked a direction and ran. I ended up going south and by some miracle, I made it out of the city. The further from the school I got, the fewer the windows that were opening up.
I joined up with a band of refugees, and we decided Huysum was not going to be safe. We were scared most of all about the darkness. With these people, we discovered that no time had been lost. The sun merely disappeared. That was the worst of it. Would it ever come back? I was in no condition to write anything then, of course. It was all about survival. We just started moving, gathering what supplies we could from farms and abandoned or destroyed inns we found along our path. Or we simply just went hungry, which was often enough. Three days we traveled in the night, despairing. We were being hunted the entire way. Creatures came in the night and attacked us while we slept, carrying off the weakest of us. And then that dawn of the 4th day, the sun rose. And still we ran on.
