Post by cmd1095 on Oct 8, 2024 23:01:50 GMT
It had seemed like a normal day at the Bulwark of Candor, despite recent incidents putting the fortress city on high alert, it had been a couple of weeks without so much as a whiff of suspicious activity. The heightened tension had worn on the soldiers, and the lack of any visible reason to be so overworked had led to a steady drop in morale. And it seemed like this day was just going to be another uneventful day of harsh patrol schedules, harsher training, and constant paranoia.
The morning had passed without incident, heading into the afternoon. There hadn't even been local monsters poking around the surrounding woods lately, things were so calm they were almost unsettling as the day stretched into the early evening. It was only as the sun began to set over the horizon that the tension would finally prove to be justified.
Dark clouds rolled in from the coastline, eerily fast in their approach. The port workers quickly set about closing the sea gates early for the night, expecting that whatever storm could roll in this quickly would be a nasty one. They did not comprehend how right they were as the sky turned dark and thunder rumbled. But this was not even the beginning of the day's troubles. That would first be noticed on the other side of the Bulwark, as a pair of guards looked out from the outer wall at the setting sun, and noticed something
A thin dark line spread across the sky, almost mistaken for the horizon at first glance, but it was too high up. And then the line began to tear open, like the jaw of some horrible beast opening and creating a rift in the sky. Others were forming as well at ground level, tears in space itself of varying lengths and heights
That was enough for the guards seeing this to make a sprint for the nearest watchtower to sound the alarm, but only one of them made it more than a few steps, as the other was struck down by a spear-sized needle shot out from one of the sky rifts. The survivor glanced back to see the rifts as what they truly were, as hordes of monsters poured out of them. All shapes and sizes of horrific creature, flying and terrestrial, charging out of these portals en masse. It was an army, and without warning, that army was on their doorstep
Alarms blared throughout the Bulwark, soldiers rushing to battle stations, and civilians locking down any non-military building. For as surprising as this assault was, and for how much civilian infrastructure there was, this was still a military installation, and even civilians in Fortis had military training. Those who could not fight fled towards the ports, preparing to board ships to flee the battle out to sea and wait for it to be safe to return... only to be met with another horrific sight.
The naval soldiers at the port were already locked in combat, portals having opened underwater and unleashed waterborne monsters with even less warning than the land assault. Most of the portals were on the outside of the sea gate, allowing the Bulwark's defenses to fend many off, but some smaller ones had been snuck past the gate, and the monsters were deliberately targeting any ship that could be used to evacuate. The port was in flames, and things were getting worse as the largest portal yet opened along the horizon. The line drawn across the sky indistinguishable from the horizon with its length, and the resulting portal blotted out the sky.
And then a true monster stepped through, it was slow, but even at a great distance from the shore it's size was immense. A monster who could threaten the entire Bulwark on it's own, a natural disaster given flesh. This was not a monster one could find just anywhere in the world. No there was only one sea something like this could exist in, and that was the Sea of Horrors in Radix, infested with monsters so powerful humanity's best and brightest had never managed to cross it. And something from that nightmare infested realm had been brought here. The forces manning the sea gate turned all their long-range artillery to begin bombarding it, but with so many smaller monsters to deal with the majority of the defenses were occupied.
With the Bulwark under assault from an army of monsters by land, and by a monster larger than any in the fortress had ever seen slowly approaching by sea, all hell had broken lose in an instant. There was nowhere to flee, and even if an evacuation were possible the sea monster would ravage far more than the fortress if left unchecked.
But the problems grew ever greater, as carried by flying monsters, soldiers wreathed in dark energy were dropped off in many parts of the Bulwark, going on a rampage against their fellow humans and adding even more chaos. Nowhere in the fortress was safe, or if there were a safe haven it would not escape danger for long. There was only two options remaining for those who had been calling this fortress-city their home
Fight, or be consumed.
The morning had passed without incident, heading into the afternoon. There hadn't even been local monsters poking around the surrounding woods lately, things were so calm they were almost unsettling as the day stretched into the early evening. It was only as the sun began to set over the horizon that the tension would finally prove to be justified.
Dark clouds rolled in from the coastline, eerily fast in their approach. The port workers quickly set about closing the sea gates early for the night, expecting that whatever storm could roll in this quickly would be a nasty one. They did not comprehend how right they were as the sky turned dark and thunder rumbled. But this was not even the beginning of the day's troubles. That would first be noticed on the other side of the Bulwark, as a pair of guards looked out from the outer wall at the setting sun, and noticed something
A thin dark line spread across the sky, almost mistaken for the horizon at first glance, but it was too high up. And then the line began to tear open, like the jaw of some horrible beast opening and creating a rift in the sky. Others were forming as well at ground level, tears in space itself of varying lengths and heights
That was enough for the guards seeing this to make a sprint for the nearest watchtower to sound the alarm, but only one of them made it more than a few steps, as the other was struck down by a spear-sized needle shot out from one of the sky rifts. The survivor glanced back to see the rifts as what they truly were, as hordes of monsters poured out of them. All shapes and sizes of horrific creature, flying and terrestrial, charging out of these portals en masse. It was an army, and without warning, that army was on their doorstep
Alarms blared throughout the Bulwark, soldiers rushing to battle stations, and civilians locking down any non-military building. For as surprising as this assault was, and for how much civilian infrastructure there was, this was still a military installation, and even civilians in Fortis had military training. Those who could not fight fled towards the ports, preparing to board ships to flee the battle out to sea and wait for it to be safe to return... only to be met with another horrific sight.
The naval soldiers at the port were already locked in combat, portals having opened underwater and unleashed waterborne monsters with even less warning than the land assault. Most of the portals were on the outside of the sea gate, allowing the Bulwark's defenses to fend many off, but some smaller ones had been snuck past the gate, and the monsters were deliberately targeting any ship that could be used to evacuate. The port was in flames, and things were getting worse as the largest portal yet opened along the horizon. The line drawn across the sky indistinguishable from the horizon with its length, and the resulting portal blotted out the sky.
And then a true monster stepped through, it was slow, but even at a great distance from the shore it's size was immense. A monster who could threaten the entire Bulwark on it's own, a natural disaster given flesh. This was not a monster one could find just anywhere in the world. No there was only one sea something like this could exist in, and that was the Sea of Horrors in Radix, infested with monsters so powerful humanity's best and brightest had never managed to cross it. And something from that nightmare infested realm had been brought here. The forces manning the sea gate turned all their long-range artillery to begin bombarding it, but with so many smaller monsters to deal with the majority of the defenses were occupied.
With the Bulwark under assault from an army of monsters by land, and by a monster larger than any in the fortress had ever seen slowly approaching by sea, all hell had broken lose in an instant. There was nowhere to flee, and even if an evacuation were possible the sea monster would ravage far more than the fortress if left unchecked.
But the problems grew ever greater, as carried by flying monsters, soldiers wreathed in dark energy were dropped off in many parts of the Bulwark, going on a rampage against their fellow humans and adding even more chaos. Nowhere in the fortress was safe, or if there were a safe haven it would not escape danger for long. There was only two options remaining for those who had been calling this fortress-city their home
Fight, or be consumed.
