Shadowborn Read online

  “Come get us, you bastard,” Alexander whispered. “We’re ready.”

  Time loosened. Liam felt its passage across him like a blur, its length unchanged but its speed a thousandfold higher. The sun rose and fell, dancing with the illustrious moon, until it slowed, time hardening, the world resuming its proper way …

  Fire blanketed the Oceanic Wall. Every few moments, the fire parted and something struck the other side, creating silver cracks in the wall that spread thousands of feet. With night fallen, that fire, and the shield struggling to hold against it, were more than enough to clearly see the thousands of soldiers forming defensive lines across the beachhead. Alexander imagined what might be large enough to cause such impacts against the wall, decided not to bother. With demons, one never knew for certain their form, let alone their size.

  “Are your Seraphim ready?” he asked Kaster, who patiently waited beside him.

  “We are.”

  “Then take to the skies and ready your elements. Make them suffer long before setting foot on dry land.”

  “Will you not watch from the castle?” Kaster asked.

  “Here is where I belong. Now go, and ensure your stone casters remember their role.”

  “They will,” Kaster said, bowing. “May the angels ever watch over you, Commander.”

  “No angels will take me tonight,” Alexander said. “And none are coming for you, either. We’re putting an end to this war.”

  Kaster’s wings shimmered, and with a deep, pleasant hum he lifted to the skies to join the one hundred others of Europa’s Second Seraphim Division. Their wings shone like golden stars of the night sky, and their glow strengthened Alexander’s resolve. Not as much as the presence of his dragoons, though.

  Alexander walked to five neat rows of his dragoons behind the shield wall at the beachhead and stopped beside the nearest of the machines. The dragoon was a culmination of two years of work, a grand creation of gold and steel. The wide bottom was spherical, and it shimmered white from the power of five light prisms embedded within the protective metal that kept it afloat. The rest resembled a chariot with a cramped space in the center for the driver. The upper half of a golden dragon was carved across the front, its legs reared up, its mouth opened in a snarl. On either side of it, braced to the metallic chariot, were cannons shaped like the naval weapons of old.

  A pale bare-chested man sat in the dragoon’s cushioned middle, five tubes sunk into his back. His blood flowed through the clear tubes, traveling to the ten elemental prisms powering each of the two cannons. A seeing eyeglass was strapped to a pole beside his head to aid with aiming long distances. Iron clamps around his waist kept him steady. Dozens of wires controlling the dragoon’s movement sank into the man’s waist, his legs surgically removed upon his acceptance of such a crucial role in the war against the shadowborn.

  “Are you ready, Tarkir?” Alexander asked.

  The man lowered his head in a respectful gesture.

  “We have all suffered much,” Tarkir said. “Now is our time to pay it back.”

  The commander grinned.

  “That’s the spirit.”

  Alexander patted the side of the dragoon lovingly, eager to see its full fury unleashed. Soon. So very soon.

  The Lord Commander joined the rest of his army in watching the assault upon the protective dome. L’adim’s army raged on the other side, flinging its might against the lightborn’s defenses. The silver cracks spread wider and wider, so thick they appeared like frozen strikes of lightning. A deafening screech of glass scraping against glass emitted from the wall, coupled with what sounded like ice breaking atop a frozen lake.

  And then the wall broke. A deep rumble replaced its glow, strong enough to rattle bones. Wind blasted across the water, angering the surface and knocking helmets off Alexander’s soldiers. The great burning fire fell to the water, momentarily extinguished, but its fall revealed the vast demon horde, so numerous it took Alexander’s breath away.

  The iceborn led the way, dozens of giants twenty feet high lumbering across the ocean. With every step the water froze, granting passage to the army that followed. Among them came the stoneborn, even taller than the iceborn, vicious creatures made up of boulders cracking and twisting together into a humanoid shape. The fireborn and stormborn lurked behind, waiting for their time.

  Alexander raised his arm and shouted his command. Few would hear his voice, but they’d hear the battle cry of the dragoons.

  “Adrian,” he shouted. “Show them humanity’s anger!”

  The rider put his hands to the controls. The light beneath his dragoon brightened as the vehicle lifted higher into the air. Crackling sounds swelled from within the cannons, power building, building, until Adrian released it with a single press of a button. Twin lightning blasts surged forward in great swirling beams, rocking the dragoon backward several feet. The beams dwarfed any a single Seraph could manage and contained power Alexander knew nothing could withstand.

  The lightning blasts struck the center of an iceborn giant, and it roared as its torso shattered. Thick chunks of ice fell to the frozen ocean, blue blood flowing in streams down its waist and legs. The thing managed a single step before collapsing to its knees and crumbling.

  Alexander could hear the cheers of his soldiers at the demon’s demise even amid the chaos. The battle begun, the rest of dragoons unleashed their fury. Streams of lightning and fire shredded the iceborn, melting limbs and blasting holes through their elemental bodies. Ice and stone struck the stoneborn, cracking the boulders of their bodies and ripping off limbs. Ten dragoons atop the nearby castle joined in, assaulting the fireborn and stormborn lurking behind the initial wave of giants. The frozen ocean steadily cracked; the blasts that missed the stoneborn were often still enough to break the ice nearby and send them into the waters below. All in all, it was a blinding display, and Alexander was forced to shield his eyes to watch the battle unfold.

  Still the giants came, though far fewer in number. The first of the iceborn touched shore, and it howled as twin beams of fire slammed its neck and face. Its upper half melted and it dropped dead to the hard ground. But the bridge to shore was finally complete, and with a sudden surge the fireborn and stormborn rushed past the dying giants to the shore, eager to battle the thousands of men with their shields and spears.

  Now’s your time, Alexander thought, looking to the sky. Kaster’s Seraphim swirled above the battlefield, and when the horde of smaller demons approached, fifteen Seraphim dropped low into a strafing run. Stone flowed from their gauntlets in steady streams, forming a three-foot-high wall protecting the entirety of the shoreline. Alexander’s soldiers rushed to it, spears thrusting up over the top of the fortification at the incoming tide of elementals.

  The first few moments of battle were a slaughter, and not in the demons’ favor. The fireborn and stormborn flung themselves against a wall of stone and spears, having to climb one and avoid the other to even begin their attack. Their speed was their only advantage, but with five thousand men pressed shoulder to shoulder and shields at ready, there was no room for the demons to pass, no way for them to dodge.

  Alexander’s smile grew as his dragoons continued to sing. Giants littered the horizon, a number that would have terrified any regular force of ground troops but meant nothing to him. His dragoons would crush them before they ever neared his soldiers. His Seraphim circled, blasting the smaller demons with their elements while leaving the giants for the dragoons.

  Slowly men died along the barricade, but with each one that fell another was waiting to take his place. There would be no break in the shields, no gap in the defenses for the demons to exploit. This was it, their breaking point. Despite the countless lost battles other nations suffered, the proud men of Europa would show the world how it was done. It was all a matter of escalation. Soldiers weren’t enough. Seraphim weren’t enough. Machines of war, the greatest mankind had ever seen, were the necessary tools to crush the demons. The nearby dragoon launched
another terrifying volley of lightning, and Alexander beamed at his creation.

  The dragoons were but the beginning. Now that his original concept had proven superior on the battlefield there’d be architects and theotechs flocking to his aid. How much grander might these war machines grow? What of one piloted by several men, all with different elemental affinities? Gun platforms, airships manned by hundreds of Seraphim, grand cannons rolling on wheels … there’d be no limit. L’adim’s rebellion would be crushed, and through the horrors of war amazing new inventions would emerge for the betterment of mankind.

  A strange rumble returned Alexander’s attention to the battlefield atop the frozen ocean. The bulk of the demons were in retreat, something that hardly surprised Alexander, but the iceborn giants stood still, collapsing in on themselves, breaking as if from within.

  “What’s happening?” Alexander asked Adrian.

  The dragoon rider pressed his face to the eyeglass and held it there.

  “They’re splitting apart,” he shouted over the chorus of dragoon fire. “They’re becoming smaller iceborn, hundreds of them.”

  Alexander stared at the battlefield, contemplating. If the iceborn giants were suddenly numerous and small, it would nullify the effect of his dragoons. A clever strategy, but it would only make them weaker to the Seraphim strafing them from above. And why just the iceborn? The stoneborn continued their lumbering approach. True, the stoneborn were more resistant to the dragoon barrages, but only by a small margin. Why not change as well?

  “Commander?”

  Alexander turned his attention back to Adrian, and he didn’t like the worried look on the rider’s face.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  Adrian squinted into the eyeglass.

  “A shadow’s coming.”

  So, it seemed L’adim would finally make his appearance as his army was being destroyed. This sounded excellent to Alexander, not worrisome.

  “Where from?” he asked, thinking his dragoons could concentrate fire on the shadowborn.

  Adrian pulled away, shaking his head.

  “Everywhere.”

  “Every—?”

  Alexander grabbed the edge of the dragoon and pulled himself up. Adrian backed away as best he could to make room. Shifting himself half onto the seat, Alexander looked through the eyeglass, though truth be told the shadow had grown so close he didn’t need its aid. Adrian was right. It didn’t approach from any one direction. Instead, roaring dozens of feet high from horizon to horizon came a tsunami of darkness.

  “Nothing we cannot handle,” Alexander said, hopping down. “Stay strong and unleash hell, rider. That’s an order!”

  The dragoons blasted their elements into the distance, ignoring the stoneborn. The ice, stone, and lightning vanished within the shadow, while the fire broke into momentary swirls of flame. Nothing slowed it. Alexander’s heart fluttered as the tsunami approached. He’d never before witnessed L’adim in person, only heard rumors of his power. Was this it? Was this overwhelming wave his true presence? So be it. The demons could bleed, and they could die. The shadowborn was no different.

  The wave of darkness curled as the shore neared, and with chilling silence it slammed downward upon itself and flooded against the stone barricade, hiding the smaller demons from view. The soldiers braced themselves, but no attack came. The liquid darkness pooled and curled at the barrier, licking it, teasing it, but not passing over. The stoneborn giants were the only demons left visible, the shadow up to their chests as they lumbered onward. Dragoons focused their fire upon them, the battery steadily wearing the giants down.

  What was the point of this? wondered Alexander. To hide their retreat?

  And then a torrent of fire erupted several hundred feet away from the barricade. It moved through the shadow, the fireborn hidden within its chaotic inferno. Stormborn joined them, their lightning crackling through the fire and shadow. It seemed a cloud of hell had risen before their defenses, and within it hid all sorts of monstrosities. The shadow wasn’t there to hide the demons’ retreat. It was there to disguise their attack. When the fire and lightning reached the wall, the demons leapt over the barricade, assaulting the shield wall with renewed frenzy.

  The dragoons resumed firing upon the stoneborn, but the creatures endured, not caring for their losses. They bent to the darkness at their feet, hands scooping. Alexander’s eyes widened with horror as he realized their plan. The stoneborn giants hurtled dozens of demons through the air in a single, smooth pitch, aiming for the row of twenty dragoons behind the embattled defense line.

  The demons landed and scattered in a rolling chaos. Their high-pitched laughter grated up and down Alexander’s spine as they jumped up to attack. Soldiers scrambled, dragoons firing even as fireborn sank their molten teeth into their flesh and stormborn flooded their bodies with electricity. A few Seraphim broke ranks to help defend, the rest too busy holding back the tremendous tide slamming into the defensive barricade.

  Alexander climbed onto Adrian’s dragoon and drew his sword.

  “Keep firing,” the commander shouted. “I’ll keep us safe!”

  The dragoon’s cannons sang as Alexander swung his sword, slicing a fireborn in half. Its burning blood splashed the ground beneath the dragoon, hardening in the soft white glow of the dragoon’s engines. A stormborn sparked below them, zipped to the side nearest Alexander, and then leapt up at Adrian’s throat. The tip of Alexander’s sword greeted it, piercing through its open mouth and out its belly. The yellow corpse collapsed over the side.

  “Fly higher!” he shouted to Adrian. The light beneath the dragoon beamed brighter, steadily lifting the vehicle. Another stormborn lashed at Alexander, white and gold light swirling around its reaching hands. Alexander pulled away his leg, grimacing as a claw made brief contact with his ankle. Electricity traveled all the way to his hip, firing off muscles and flooding him with pain. He returned the favor with his sword, slashing off the stormborn’s jaw and then kicking the damn thing to the ground.

  Another volley of demons arrived, but the Seraphim were ready, and there were fewer of the battered stone giants now to throw them. Men died by the hundreds along the barricade, but Alexander held out hope. This was the demons’ last hurrah. They just needed to survive a little bit longer. His eyes searched the battlefield, a troubling question tickling his stomach. The fireborn and stormborn were racing through the liquid shadow to attack the ground troops. The stoneborn had assumed the form of giants, doing their best to besiege the dragoons behind the front lines. But what of the iceborn? Where had they gone after breaking apart and vanishing beneath the crawling darkness?

  The ground shook, an earthquake thrice the power of when Y’vah’s shield had collapsed. Alexander gripped the side of the dragoon, his jaw falling slack. It couldn’t be. His eyes must be deceiving him.

  Shadow and water rolled off the creature rising from the waters beside the tall castle cliff. Its head was the size of a cottage, its broad shoulders little blue hills. It continued to rise, higher and higher, four arms digging into the steep cliffside as it pulled itself up from the ocean. The gargantuan creature was beyond anything Alexander had ever seen. Its three-fingered hands bore enormous spikes of ice, and they slammed into the hard stone, pulling itself toward the castle. The creature had milky white eyes, no mouth, and a crown of horns formed by nine jagged spikes of frost. Long, thick icicles trailed from its head down to its waist, frosted white and shimmering like frozen hair.

  “The iceborn,” Alexander whispered, still in shock. “It’s all of them together. Every last one.”

  The cliffside began to crumble under the gargantuan’s weight, but it kept digging deeper, pulling itself higher as boulders crashed into the ocean below. The dragoons turned their fire toward it, needing no order to prioritize such a terrifying monstrosity. Fire, lightning, and stone struck its arms and sides, sending showers of frost flying in small white puffs. They were but bee stings, inconveniences as the iceborn climbed, and cli
mbed, until it reached the castle and the dragoons stationed atop.

  It took less than a minute for the iceborn to smash the ancient fortress to the ground. Its four arms thrashed and grabbed, walls crumbled by its strength, towers collapsed like they were made of glass instead of centuries-old stone. Alexander watched it all with newfound horror in his gut and tears threatening his eyes. The ice of the creature’s face split wide, giving it a mouth with which to speak. The creature’s voice thundered across the countryside like a volcanic eruption.

  YOU ARE CHILDREN WITH TOYS. BREAK THEM. BREAK THEM ALL.

  The entire cliff collapsed, castle and iceborn crumbling together to the ocean. The iceborn’s laughter was still audible over the roar of the stone and the splash of the water.

  Alexander climbed down from the dragoon, his hands shaking and his knees weak. The plan had been to retreat to the castle should the battle turn ill, but there would be no retreat. There was no castle. The gargantuan iceborn had crushed it to rubble with its mere fists. The soldiers had lost the stone barricade along the beachhead, forced to engage in scattered duels without shield brothers to rely upon. The stoneborn had stopped flinging demons and instead were throwing enormous chunks of ice and stone at the Seraphim in the sky, scattering them out of their tight formations.

  No hope left. The battle was lost. Alexander reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy gold cylinder. He twisted off the top, then pushed the bottom, connecting the light element inside to the many wires built into the cylinder. A thick beam of light focused by a series of mirrors across the top shone into the air. Alexander held the light aloft, waiting. Within moments one of the golden wings curled his way, a Seraph coming to answer his summons.

  “Our forces are broken,” First Seraph Kaster said, landing before the Lord Commander on one knee. “What are your orders?”