The Beast King

"Some beastmen ask me how I can run into enemy lines without a shred of fear. To those beastmen I would say that the only thing to be afraid of is fear. Fear makes you weak, it makes you doubt yourself. So as long as I feel no fear in my heart I know that victory is assured." - General Strongheart

Hent Kur paced around the palace nervously. It had almost been three full days since General Itoum's return on what should have been a simple scouting mission and the rest of his roost was getting antsy. He wanted to go out and look for his general more than anything but he was ordered to stay his place by General Kisliv.

Kisliv normally wouldn't have any authority over him but a state of emergency was called which granted the bastard bug a temporary status boost. He almost had to wonder if Kisliv would have had his general done away with. Kisliv would normally act in the best interest of the nation and the two were never in any open conflict, but at the same time such tactics were the spider's bread and butter.

Looking to the other shifting beastmen he mentally argued with himself. Go and look for his general? Or to obey orders during this time of crisis? On one wing, General Itoum could be hurt. He was the nation's hero and the best flyer in the army, the nation needed him. But on the other wing, Kisliv's words do hold some merit. He could see it from out the windows, the various tribes of beastmen all shared one thing in common. They were all scared and the absence of their king during the state of emergency only made it worse.

Pacing between the barracks he stressed over what action to take. He wanted nothing more that to take off with the Golden Wing and save his General but the nation is in crisis and watching an elite squadron move out would cause undo panic. He could tell that the roost was thinking the same thing as him. If he didn't make a decision now, they would.

Nerves building up in his stomach, the tingling in his body shook him. It was then he made his decision. "Peek, Timmio you two will come with me to find the general, the rest of you stay here and do your best to ease tension within the capital." With his words he could see that he made a 'decent' decision. The majority of the squadron accepted this and the ones who didn't seemed like they were antsy to find the general as well. To calm their nerves he continued, "I know that some of you want to follow in search of our leader, but the deployment of too many of us will draw the eyes of both the public and General Kisliv. I'm sure you understand why this rescue mission must be done covertly."

His small comforting words seemed to put the restless ones at ease. That is to say, other than the greenhorn with a knack for trouble. "Covert operations are Kislivs motus operandi though. If you go missing he'll be the first to notice. I say we bring the full force and bring Lord Itoum back as soon as possible."

Kur would never admit it to the kids face, but he did have a point. He wouldn't be surprised if one of Kisliv's agents was outside the door right now. Rather than causing a fuss he needed to compromise with the kid, time was of the essence and he couldn't burn it explaining why the kid was wrong. "Very well, any who wish to tag along may, but we are leaving right now."

And so an additional four rose leaving ten in the room and seven ready to fly out including himself. He felt bad about this. Hent Kur could only pray that Itoum was still ok.

It wasn't long before the group of seven saw something of interest. A pillar of thick heavy smoke danced in a clearing not that far off, a few minutes flight at most. Kur didn't think that Itoum would have ever started a fire like that, but anything of interest was good enough by this point. The chaos of it all strained his mind, he wasn't sure if his decisions were correct. He wondered if he should retire after this, his indecisiveness in a time of crisis only made clear to him that he was unfit for a position of power.

Flying closer to the pillar he could see what looked live a village in the epicenter, trying to hone in his hawk like vision he could see dead beastmen all over. He couldn't tell what kind from this distance but the signs spoke doom for his leader. Itoum would have never abandoned these beastmen, and if the aggressors had won then that means he must be dead.

Stopping in the air and signaling his lessers to do the same he knew he had to prepare a speech, even if he didn't have the courage he needed it was of upmost important. Strength comes from the soul, the soul is strengthened by conviction, conviction is born of bravery, bravery is born of valourous words.

"Men, you know as well as I what that pillar means. Ahead of us lies a village of beastmen, a village of corpses. We all know that Lord Itoum would never allow such a thing and so if that pillar exists that means he must be among them."

He could see the fire die within each of their eyes with the knowledge that their general was likely dead. He knew it would hurt to bring that truth into words, but he isn't courageous enough to charge a priest with such conviction as his leader. His soul could not hold even a sliver of Lord Itoum's righteous valor. He knew this to be true in his squad as well. Without the inspiration their lord brought, none of them could face such a challenge.

He knew he couldn't inspire them, for he was not righteous, but what he could do was kindle their rage and give them purpose.

"THOSE BASTARDS KILLED ITOUM AND BURNT THE INNOCENT. WE SHAN'T LET THIS STAND. FOR OUR LORD AND OUT KINDRED WE WILL WIPE THESE BRIGANDS FROM THE EARTH. THEY WILL KNOW OUR FURY!!!"

The dread of the six we're quickly melted and soon placed with furry. The cries for war from the hawkfolk were earshattering, the cries filled with pain, sorrow and righteous furry. Anger at those that would slay the innocent. Sorrow for their loss. Hent Kur never was powerful with the spirit magics but he could see the beautiful flame lit in each and every one of their hearts. With the end of the war cry they flew into the village with speeds he thought he would never reach.

As soon as the first humans were seen was as soon as they were slain. The priests were the first to go. Kur refused to allow the humans use of their foul magic. His brothers did the same, even if they were too late to save the souls of the villagers from the human corruption they made damned sure that the priests couldn't destroy another soul.

After the priests were the knights. Their armor meant nothing in the face of the beastmen's rage, the strength of their souls bent the world to their whim. The magic in the world felt the rage of their souls and so gave them strength. Ripping through metal and flesh alike Kur slaughtered any human he saw. He cried hideously, both of rage and sorrow as he tore through the tin men.

After all visable foes lay dead Kur sat atop the corpses of both the villagers and the humans as he wept. He couldn't bare to think of what had happened to Itoum. Death at the hands of a human priest was not just death. It was death beyond death. Their magic destroyed the souls of all beasts. Any beast who fell would be denied a path to the next life. It filled him with grief. If only he had started his search sooner. He would not only would have saved his lord, but these innocent villagers too.

Hearing cries of his fellow Hawks he stowed away the foul feelings and jumped from the congregation of the dead readying himself for a fight. Fear pinned his heart as he heard the shimmering sound of magic as he saw the greenhorn burn before his eyes, Kur watch as the soul was snuffed and he couldn't do a thing about it. Looking at the sole human survivor he felt the hatred in his heart burn brighter than a thousand suns. He looked the human in the eyes only to see the bastard of a paladin. Haiden Vice.

Kur had never seen the paladin nor was he present during his and his master's infamous duel, but their was no beast that did not know of his cowardice. To use magic in a duel of honor, he knew this human would do whatever it took to win no matter how cruel. He could feel the malice and danger eminateing from the human. Kur knew that one of them would die this day. Two of his men were lost in the battle and the greenhorn died foolishly facing the cowardly paladin on his own. Even then the four to one battle gave him no comfort.

As the paladin glared at Kur with all the hatred in the world he stomped his foot onto the corpse of his battle brother and dug his sword into the deceased solider's head. "You damned vile beastmen. Those were good men you killed, they had wives, children and you bastards stole that from them." The cold furry of the paladin sent chills down Kurs spine while his arrogant and hypocritical speech kindled his hated further.

"These villagers were cleansed of the corruption in their souls. They will be watched by the gods as they give breath to new life... but you.... you...." his slow and purposefull words gave no illusion to how the human felt. The human drew his sword from the head of Kurs brother as if to make a statement. "I'll leave your soul to rot and fester, you monsters will face eternal damnation."

The unadulterated indignation of the human sent shockwaves throughout the dead town as he lunged at the four with unholy speed. Moving beyond the speed of sight the human sliced through two of his subordinates in an instant and was moving to the third. Timmio. Desperate to save his borthers life he focused his soul and begged the world to save him. The very fabric of reality heard his plee and felt his desire, sending a wave of force. The force nearly stopped his momentum entirely, sending the human flying into one of the houses, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in its wake.

Under no illusion that the paladin was dead he ordered Timmio to take to the sky's and return with warning to the capital. General Kisliv needed to know that Itoum was dead and that the humans were still here. Kur wanted to think he had a chance but the pain in his side sung a different story. He had used soul magic much too recklessly and it had already taken its toll. As he watched Haiden rise from the rubble of the village house he could only wonder how differently this would have been if he had adopted magic sooner and took the time to learn.

He knew that this was no time for what Ifs as the human bellowed a harrowing warcry. Readying himself he made a silent promise. As the deaths of everyone here laid solely on his shoulders he swore that this vile human would pay for what it has done. Kur knew he was going to die, but he swore that he would not allow it to happen until he had righted his wrongs and atoned for his cowardice and indecision.

Haiden charged once more, seemingly slower than before as he made an overhead slash. Kur was to slow to dodge the lightning quick blow so he was left to bring his own sword up to defect it. The parry was made haphazardly and much to slowly which offered up his talons for his opponent. Oddly Kur could feel the loss of his talons but at the same time it was almost unnoticeable.

As soon as Haiden committed to his blow Kur had already positioned his blade for the paladins neck. Between the helm and the pauldrons, that's all it would take, one clean strike. Pushing his sword with the entire weight of his body he moved to end the fight. Haiden noticed his compromised position and moved away wile making a horizontal strike towards Kur's abdomen.

As Kur felt his sword sheer the metal and peirce the flesh of the shoulder whilst he felt his own skin split in turn. The strength of his soul hardened his flesh, but the paladins magic heavily nulled that point.

Falling to the ground Kur saw the paladin stand over him with a look of disgust. "You vile beast. You were meant to be born as our brothers. You were meant to be a man."

Hent Kur sank further into the soil as the heavy sabatons of the human kicked him to the ground. His injuries to much to bear and his body unable to move. The sneer of the self-righteous human taunted him. It was as if Haiden knew that he was unable to fulfill his promise to the dead.

"Look at you. Vile filth, an animal scrounging for its very survival. We would have taken you and cleansed your soul. We would have givin you the opportunity to be born anew, as a human. As you ought to have been." Haiden's cruel gaze softened slightly, as if he bought his own bullshit. As if he truely thought that destroying a soul was the same as healing it. It made Kur sick.

"But what do you do instead? You resist, you indulge I the beastly behaviors which destroyed your soul in the first place."

The glare of the paladin returned as he didn't hide his furry.

"I do not hate you, but I spare you no pity either. May the gods have mercy on your soul, for I shan't."

As he rose his sword to the sky Kur saw the gleam of the sun on the baleful steel. Closing his eyes he accepted his fate. Not only would he die, but his soul would be lost. He sent his last goodbyes in the hopes that his mother would hear it in the afterlife, for he would be unable to tell her himself.

Kur waited for his gruesome death to come. Seconds passed, and the seconds began to fell like minutes. He felt something wet hit him and he opened his eyes. From the mouth of the human jutted a bloodied spearhead as the beating of wings was seen behind his head. Suddenly the spear jerked to the right and brought the still standing corpse with it.

Kur looked up to see none other than Timmio flying above him. He wanted to be angry for his disobedience. He wanted to be mad that Timmio endangered the entire capital by risking the loss of valuable information, but he couldn't. Kur knew what would have happened if the paladin had killed him, he shed a tear thinking about it. And his tears did not stop as he looked upon his fallen brethren who were not sparred such a horrible fate.

Rising to his feet he looked to the heavens and cried. His voice hoarse with the pain he cried. He hated this war with the humans. He hated that their survival depended on their deaths. He hated the magic which burnt the world and all the vile beliefs it brought. He just wanted a world where beastmen could be safe.

As he mourned for the lost he heard the cry of his last remaining brother. Looking to Timmio he saw one of the village beastmen plunging a sword into his chest. Her blue fur and silver armour was beautiful, contrasted by the ugly hate on her face. He turned to the sound of shouting on his left only to see another hateful beauty adorned in gold. He watched her as a great ball of flame grew before her. Watching the flame make its was towards him he could only hope this magic did not sear his soul. His duty was done, he could finally say goodbye to his mother.