Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Sworn Revenge

The Knight Ezekiel sits on a chair in a beer cellar, his face covered in darkness as he chugs a tankard of beer.

A man in chainmail armor slams the door open, running down the stairs.

"Sir Ezekiel, there has been a revolt on Wallaby Way!" He exclaims, warning Ezekiel of an occurring mutiny, waving his arms to catch Ezekiel's attention.

"I don't blame them." The Knight Ezekiel mutters under his breath, finishing the beer.

"Forgive me, sir, I didn't catch that." The man says confusedly.

Sighing, Ezekiel says "It's nothing, let's go." He walks towards the man, tossing the tankard to the side, and rests his hand on the man's shoulder as he walks by. The man swiftly follows behind, walking out of the beer cellar and into the tavern.

"You going to pay for that beer Ezekiel?" The bartender requests, Ezekiel waves his hand at the bartender. "Put it on my tab," Ezekiel retorts, annoyed. "Whatever you say." The bartender replies.

Ezekiel walks up to a table with around six other men, "We're heading out, there's a revolt on Wallaby Way. Let's go." Ezekiel commands, grabbing his helmet, large shield, and greatsword. Putting his helmet on and sheathing his sword and also putting his shield on his back.

The men jump up, saluting and shouting "Yes sir!" in unison.

They grab their stuff and follow behind Ezekiel.

As they walk out to their horses, something explodes to the south, catching everyone's attention as they stop in their tracks. "Isn't that where Wallaby Way is?" one of the men asks, Ezekiel looks back at them and nods, jumping onto his horse, the men doing the same.

Ezekiel rides full speed towards the explosion, the men following just behind. "In formation!" Ezekiel exclaims to his men, they respond shortly and form a triangle.

The reach Wallaby way, everything is reduced to ash, and what isn't is stained black.

"Holy shit... What could cause an explosion so strong?" One of the men asks worriedly.

"Stay on your toes," Ezekiel commands, observing the surroundings as he jumps off his horse, unsheathing his greatsword.

He moves around some ash, looking through the rubble. Looking for any signs of what may have caused this.

Around the edge of where the explosion had ended, he spots a hooded woman laying on the ground

Between labored breaths, she seems to be mumbling something. Ezekiel sheaths his sword, getting down on the ground to listen to what she's saying, as he gets closer, he begins piecing together what she's saying.

"..ky... The sky..." He just barely discerns what she's saying, panicking and looking up just in time to see a giant face form in the sky, its mouth spread inhumanely wide.

"Get down!" Ezekiel screams, shielding himself and the woman from what would happen next.

The men begin panicking, kneeling and covering their heads. One so petrified by the face in the sky, he just freezes.

From its mouth, a light forms, growing in size until it shoots a ray of death onto the men.

The force pushes down onto Ezekiel so hard, it feels like his soul is going to leave his body. His bones cracked, and fine cuts appeared around his body
as he resists the deadly beams force.

His body aches, and he screams out in pain. His veins bulge, just barely being able to keep himself up from squishing the barely-alive woman underneath him.

His consciousness begins slipping from his fingers as his body weakens, and his eyelids grow heavy. It seems like this is going on forever.

The magic beam fades away as does the face, his body finally giving in. Before he passes out, there's another explosion, except he's right in the epicenter of it.

Images flash before his eyes, a barren, desolate world. Devoid of any life or meaning. Just desert and craters. This is what will become of the world.

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It's up to Ezekiel to stop it.

If anything, he at least wants this woman to survive. He may not know her, but if he can save someone one more time, no matter who they are, he'd be able to rest in peace.

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Ezekiel's heavy eyelids slowly lift, he doesn't know how he survived, but he isn't sure if he's glad he did or not.

Something is off. He's not breathing at all. His hands are cold. His heart isn't beating. Is he dead?

Ezekiel sits up, it appears the woman he protected is still fine.

Confused and muddled, Ezekiel feels around his body. How is he alive? He shouldn't have survived that. It appears he didn't. Ezekiel shows no sign of living whatsoever.

How did the woman survive then?

He brushes his questions aside; It's his philosophy to not let questions prevent him from doing what's most important.

He stands up, looking around. They appear to be within a crater, lifting the woman, Ezekiel puts her on his shoulder, attempting to climb out of the crater.

He reaches the top, looking around and seeing nothing but a wasteland. The air is smokey and hard to breathe, the humidity is sticky, and it smells like rotten flesh and ash.

Fog covers everything further than a few miles ahead of him.

What a terrifying force if it trampled the kingdom like this.

He lost his faith and loyalty in the kingdom a long time ago, so this sight doesn't bother him much. It almost makes him happy, if it wasn't for the thought that innocent women and children died because of this.

He moves forwards, he needs to leave the kingdom immediately.

Past the remnants of buildings.

Past the charred bodies.

Past the birds pecking away at a body, that somehow managed to be shielded enough to not be charred beyond recognition. You can see the fear on his face.

He walks past familiar landmarks.

A destroyed fountain, his favorite tavern, his favorite weapon shop.

It's all gone.

What could do something like this? What has such unimaginable power, it can just flatten kingdoms in such a fashion?

Ezekiel has hunted monsters who had escaped into the city before, but nothing came close to this.

This isn't right. This is slaughter. No, it's a massacre.

Unimaginable fury rises from Ezekiel's chest. "I'll kill whoever did this. I'll make them wish they were dead. I'll rip their fucking heart from their chest and shove it up their ass! I Swear on my soul!" Ezekiel screams, clenching his fist.