Helios's two nightmare ravens, Tina and Robin, circled high above the Nether Principality. Their crimson eyes glowed with an eerie light as they looked down at the artillery shells hitting the Seeker's barrier.
Inside the command tent, Helios watched the watched through the revens vision, his own reddish-gold eye shimmering with intensity.
"How is it going, Supreme Commander?" Commander 1 asked, his gaze shifting between the map and Helios.
"It looks like the barrier is getting weaker," Helios replied, his voice low. He glanced at the four men gathered around the tactical table.
"It's been two days," Commander 3 remarked with a frown, his tone heavy with disbelief. "How can their Seekers hold out for this long?"
The ravens watched as spider-web cracks began to form across the shimmering dome.
"Get the army ready. The barrier is breaking," Helios commanded, his voice calm.
"Yes, Sir!" the four men barked in unison, saluting before hurrying out of the tent.
Once they were gone, Helios leaned over the map of the Nether Principality, his hand pressing firmly against the table. "Zyla," he whispered.
A silhouette detached itself from the darkness at his feet. Zyla emerged from Helios's shadow, kneeling. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
"How many nightmares do I have?" Helios asked, turning to face her, his eyes glowing.
"You have more than two hundred shadows, Sire," Zyla answered respectfully.
"How many of them are on your level?" he asked, a spark of genuine interest in his voice.
"Only one," Zyla admitted, her head bowed. "And that one might be stronger than me."
"What about the other three nightmares you mentioned?"
"They are nearly as strong as I am," she replied.
Helios began tapping his nails rhythmically against the table, a calculating look crossing his face. 'There are five thousand soldiers... how am I going to put two hundred nightmares in all their shadows?' he mused. 'Unless...'
"You may return," Helios said. Zyla nodded slightly and dissolved back into the darkness.
A moment later, the two ravens, Tina and Robin, flew through the flap and landed on the table.
"You two got back quickly," Helios noted. 'It seems becoming nightmares gave you spiral energy, and you can almost fly faster than a bullet now.'
"Supreme Commander, everything is ready," Commander 1 said, re-entering the tent with a stiff posture.
Helios didn't look up. "Why don't you tell them to start moving?"
"We need you," 1 insisted.
Helios let out an annoyed huff. "What for? Going to the front line. I'm a Commander, not a soldier."
"No," Commander 1 countered. "The King said you should give a speech before the men go to war."
Helios gritted his teeth, a vein pulsing in his temple. 'That old man can't even let me rest in peace.' "I don't have a speech ready," he snapped.
"That's fine. The King said you should use this," 1 said, handing over a folded piece of paper. "I hope it's useful."he says walking outside.
As the commander left, Helios snapped the paper open. His eyes widened, then narrowed into a look of pure fury.
Minutes later, Helios stood upon a raised podium. Before him stood over a thousand men in perfect formation, flanked by the heavy iron hulls of tanks. He looked out over the sea of faces, his expression unreadable.
'Well, if some of them are going to die, I might as well give them a speech so their deaths aren't meaningless,' he thought.
He summoned Circlet appeared, floating just above his head. Channelling spiral energy into his throat to amplify his voice, he spoke.
"My fellow soldiers!" His voice thundered across the field, vibrating in the chests of every man present. "Today is a historical day—the first battle against the Four Kingdoms Alliance!"
The crowd stirred.
"They thought they could hold one of our principalities captive and we wouldn't do anything about it!" Helios continued, his voice rising in intensity. "Today, we show them why the Aethelgard Kingdom is the greatest!"
Behind his mask of leadership, Helios felt a pang of disgust. 'The King told me to give this speech and half of it is a lie. This is just a rebellion, not an attack by four kingdoms.'
"Today we will free the innocent citizens of the Nether Principality! Today we start the rise of the Aethelgard Kingdom! Today, we start history!" He raised his hand high, his eyes glowing. "Now, pick up your weapons and march to war! Fight for your families' future! Fight for your friends! Fight for the Royal Family! Fight for our Kingdom! Long live Aethelgard!"
"LONG LIVE AETHELGARD!" the soldiers roared back, their voices a deafening chant of energy.
"Now, march forward!" Helios pointed toward the horizon.
The earth trembled as thousands of boots and heavy tank treads began to move, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as the army advanced.
"Interesting," Commander 2 remarked, watching Helios from the side. "How can someone who just became a Commander give such a speech?"
"No wonder they made him Supreme Commander at the age of twenty-three," Commander 4 added, looking impressed. "He has quite the reputation too."
"Didn't the King give him that speech?" Commander 3 asked curiously.
Commander 1 placed a hand on 3's shoulder and sighed. "The King gave him a letter, but it wasn't a speech."
"In all my twenty years," Commander 2 said with a weary sigh, "the only time the King gave me a speech, it was just encouragement and a few talking points. I doubt it was different for him. He basically created that speech on his own."
Helios watched the soldiers march, his heart cold. 'I just told them to fight for those bastards in the Royal Family...'
His mind flashed back to the letter, his jaw tightening.
Dear Helios, if you got this letter, it means you didn't want to give a speech. I just have one thing to say: I have your sister. Don't forget that.
He remembered slamming his hand on the table in a rage as he read the final lines:
That's enough encouragement. Now, give your speech and mention things like this being an attack from the Four Kingdom Alliance. That is all. I hope you win the war. Signed, the King.
"Supreme Commander?" Commander 1's voice snapped him back to reality. "We still need to talk about what to do with the artillery at the Nether Principality."
"Fine," Helios said curtly, stepping down from the podium.
They gathered back around the map in the tent.
"Supreme Commander, what should the troops already stationed at the barrier do when it breaks?" 1 asked.
"I say we leave them there and let them bomb the place," 2 suggested.
"No," 4 countered quickly. "If we do that, the moment the barrier breaks, the Nether Principality's army will swarm our troops."
"We should let them fall back and regroup with the others so they can attack together," 3 proposed.
"What if we just let them wait?" 1 asked.
"That's risky," 3 argued. "If they just wait, they'll be sitting ducks. The reinforcements will take over an hour to reach them, and that's not even counting the tanks."
They all turned to him. "What do you think, Supreme Commander?"
"Let them fall back and regroup with the others," Helios decided.
"What if their Seekers recover their spiral energy?" 2 asked hurriedly.
"Don't worry about that," 3 replied. "They won't take the risk unless they want to fall into madness. Besides, we can't keep firing we might hit civilians."
Helios looked at the map. "Did you tell them to move in groups when they enter the Principality?"
"Yes, we informed their leading officers," 2 confirmed.
"Good," Helios said, his mind already drifting to the time he put his nightmares in a few soliders shadows. 'My nightmares can keep an eye on them then.'