Heroscape: The Equestrian Siege

The red clad Valkyrie cackled manically as he swung his twisted spiked mace in a wide arc.  “You will fall, and Valhalla will be mine!” he yelled, blocking a blow from his old ally's katana with his oversized shield.  He flew back a few paces and looked down to watch the battle happening on the surface.

“The odds are against you, Utgar,” spat the green armored Valkyrie as he reloaded his crossbow.

“Ignorant fools,” he sighed disdainfully, diverting his attention back to his enemies.  He dove underneath the opposing Valkyries, swiping at Jandar's foot as he passed.  Jandar dodged easily, and countered by thrusting his pike into Utgar's raised shield.

Einar followed the evil Valkyrie general, keeping his katana by his side to improve his speed.  Utgar suddenly stopped in front of him, bringing his mace down.  Einar narrowly dodged the attack, ending up behind the insane Valkyrie.  Taking advantage of his position, Einar swiped his katana horizontally towards Utgar's back with his full strength.

The evil general turned and raised his shield faster than Einar had predicted he would.  The powerful strike left Einar reeling and exposed.  Utgar jumped his advantage and stabbed the poorly protected Valkyrie in the chest.  “Einar!” Jandar yelled in shock behind.

Utgar retracted his weapon, enjoying the pain evident on Einar's face as the wound bled out.  Utgar wasn't the complete monster that the other Valkyries presumed him to be, however.  “You should have never betrayed me,” he taunted, mercifully ending the Valkyrie's suffering afterwards.  The others watched as the dead Valkyrie fell.  And with Einar fell their hopes of defeating the powerful Utgar.

Enraged, Ullar fired his freshly replaced bolt, which Utgar deftly blocked.  “To think he ever fought alongside you!”

“Yes, to think that a weakling like him did...it's quite depressing,” the red Valkyrie replied.

The provoked Ullar swapped his crossbow out for the longsword around his waist.  As one, he and the two remaining opponents of Utgar charged.  The combined force of Jandar's pike, Ullar's sword, and Vydar's hammer struck with overpowering strength.  But, to their dismay, Utgar's raised shield took all of the impacts with ease, and a wicked grin adorned the villain's face.  Now that the others were close, Utgar swung his mace in an uppercut, clipping Vydar's wing as he tried to dodge.

The three good Valkyries retreated, now at a loss as to how to defeat the crazed general.  “His strength is impossible,” Ullar complained under his breath.

“Hope for a future may very well be lost,” Vydar agreed.

Jandar sighed as they reached their conclusion.  There was just no way that they could defeat Utgar, it seemed.

“Perhaps-” Vydar started, “-perhaps it'd be better if there was no Valhalla to rule.”

“We can't simply destroy the land!  It has inhabitants and our own warriors down there!” Jandar said, surprised that Vydar would suggest something so vulgar.

“I...I agree with Vydar,” Ullar confessed.  “It'd be more humane if we were to end everything at once, as opposed to letting them suffer at the cruel hands of Utgar.”

The reasoning was sound, and Jandar had to agree.  There was, however, one issue.  “How are we to dispose of Valhalla in its entirety?”

“If we can combine our arcane strength, we should be able to do it.  We'll do doubt die in the process,” Vydar stated.  “Prepare your strongest magics; I'll get Utgar to do the same, and when our powers collide, the resulting energy should leave Valhalla to rest in peace.”

Jandar and Ullar nodded, and they began preparing their most powerful spells.  Vydar dashed to where Utagr had been floating and taunting them, beginning a vicious assault to distract Utgar from seeing what the others were preparing.

Lightning sparked around Vydar's hammer as he brought it down with incredible force upon Utgar's shield.  Utgar responded with his own magic, and the shield erupted into flame upon contact.  The heat forced Vydar back and agitated his wounded wing.  Utgar's mace swung at Vydar from the side, and Vydar parried, sending a strong surge of electricity through the metal of Utgar's weapon.  The unexpected shock caused Utgar to drop his mace.

“No!” screamed Utgar, thoroughly agitated.  But before he could do anything, Vydar swung his hammer down again, lightning crackling around the head it met Utgar's shield.  Vydar pressed on, his weapon swinging repeatedly as if driven by primal instinct.  And each time Utgar blocked, the electrical storm grew larger.  Like Vydar had wanted, Utgar was magically increasing the quantity of flames engulfing his shield to ward off increasingly magical nature of Vydar's attacks.

“Enough play!” Utgar roared.  Vydar flew a few paces back, waiting for Utgar to make his move.  “You die now!”  With that, Utgar closed his eyes, and a massive inferno mixed with pure arcane energy surged out of Utgar's shield, the intense heat driving Vydar out of the path of the attack.  The stream of flames headed straight for Jandar and Ullar, who were still conjuring their powerful spells.

“Release your attacks!” Vydar commanded.  At his command, Jandar and Ullar opened their eyes.  Their eyes glowed blindingly bright as they cast their overwhelmingly powerful spells.  The clouds in the vicinity froze as Jandar's magic grasped them.  An arcane web united the frozen clouds and brought them into one compact space.  The spell's sheer amount of energy was released as a pure white beam sent towards Utgar's oncoming attack.

Ullar's spell, a whirlwind of titanic size with particles of raw arcane power drifting about, joined the clash.  The three spell casters pressed their spells against each other, hoping to beat the others.  Remarkably, Utgar, fueled by his rage and hatred, managed to push back against the two Valkyries opposing his spell.  He kept his eyes closed in concentration.

Utgar's success faltered when Vydar let his lightning into the mix.  With the fourth spell added to the collision, a while sphere formed where they all met.  The Valkyries put more power into their attacks.  The sphere expanded, glowing benevolently bright.  The temporary sun cast new rays upon the conflict on the ground, and all of the combatants looked up to witness the immense power struggle above them.

And still, the Valkyries fed their spells energy, and the sphere grew larger.  “This is the end, my firends,” Jandar said solemnly.  “May Valhalla be at peace.”  Utgar overheard Jandar, and he opened his eyes to see what he meant.  The sphere was mere inches from his face, and the light forced his eyes shut again.  Distracted, confused, and fearful for his life, Utgar let his concentration on his spell slip.  The rouge spell drained the last of Utgar's energy reserves, and he passed out.

Despite his unconsciousness, his spell fed the sphere that last bit that it needed.  Suddenly, the sphere compressed, becoming nothing more than a dense speck of energy.  The remaining Valkyries watched as Utgar's body fell to the surface, a fall that would inevitably kill him.

The speck crackled, stealing the attention of the three remaining Valkyries.  “We cannot contain it,” Ullar sighed.

Jandar looked down at the warriors whose fighting had ceased to watch the occurrences in the sky.  There was still time.  “But we can save them.”

Then the world went white.