“There’s a lot of these damnable things!” I heard Carodus shout and unlike the battle cries and chanted hymns of some of the more religious Knights fighting by our side it was the first noise I had heard from him since he had rejected my order. Like every Legionary he had been taught to fight silent and cold but as a centurion he would have been used to shouting orders and blowing whistles during such a battle.
Thedret twisted the bladed end of his glaive in the approximation of one of the daedra’s guts and it came apart like wet paper. “We must hold them off for as long as we can. Whatever magicka is summoning these things cannot be sustained forever, nor can they remain in this world for long.”
Knowing what I did about the barriers between the world and Oblivion from personal experience with Oblivion Portals I knew that however long it took it was going to be too long.
“Agreed.” Another of the creatures was hacked into two pieces that disappeared before they even struck the ground and I twisted Sunchild into the path of a second. “Kill any in our path but we need to rescue as many people as we can.”
When the Atronachs had first appeared, a large majority of the faithful had rushed towards the main doors but many others had simply fled in whatever direction appeared to be the opposite to the daedra. As there was only the door leading into the rear courtyard, the stairs to the undercroft, the stairs leading to the belltowers and the door to the priests’ quarters there was very few ways to exit the cathedral. Although the enormous stained-glass windows appeared to offer and option to escape, the wrought iron depicting the various Divines and Saints ensured that most would be lucky to fit a head through let alone the rest of their bodies.
On the far side of the cathedral I could see a pair of local guardsmen and a Legionary who had been caught in mid prayers holding off a baying swarm of Atronachs from a group of civilians. As they fought, a priest was lifting up some of the smaller children under his care and passing them through the hole bashed a window depicting Arkay. Whatever thoughts of blasphemy or desecration were put aside by everyone nearby and I caught glimpses of hands reaching up from outside from passers-by helping the crying children climb through the gaps only just large enough for them to wriggle through.
But for every small victory such as that, there were several defeats. The press of civilians trying to get through the double doors of the entrance and outside to safety had not only blocked and trapped many within the cathedral but had also ensured that it would be some time before any guards or help from outside would be able to make it inside. What was partially worse was that the press had also ensured that the small numbers of Men-at-arms escorting Viconia and the Mace were for the most part stuck wallowing two dozen metres from the entrance, keeping their shields locked together and cutting any of the sentient light beams down when they came too close.
The daedra also struck at random, and while it was obvious that they were seeking out the Mace many scattered like cockroaches under the light of a lantern and attacked everyone they could reach. More than one group of unarmed civilians were slaughtered by ravenous packs of the burning Atronachs and age or ability to defend themselves didn’t matter as the beings killed the young and old alike. Spurred on by several such sights a handful of defenders were also cut down in their attempts to stop the ceaseless and mindless slaughter, proving to the survivors that anyone who was cut off from allies would die just as quickly.
Most at least. Such concerns of being outnumbered and overwhelmed didn’t matter to the likes of Falid and he simply chose the largest concentration of the creatures and attacked them head on. For anyone else it would have been a quick route to the grave but if I wasn’t mistaken the daedra were actually forced to back away from the enormous sweeps of his greatsword that cleared a space five metres in diameter around him. Surprisingly Thedret was also in the thick of things and appearing alone and unsupported but still holding his own with his enormous polearm. The brief glimpses I gained was of a strange dance or ballet from the young Knight Mentor, using the iron tipped end of the haft and the deadly glaive on the other end to hew his way through the mass without pause.
The rest of us continued to fight for our lives in more traditional ways but I did catch glimpses and the sounds of another member of our group on the other side of the cathedral closer to the door. Mazoga hadn’t gone far in the hours since our arrival and had also thankfully been inside when the daedra attacked and was attacking in her own way, a style as straight forward and as subtle as a battering ram.
What was extremely concerning after I realised it was the way that not all of the Atronachs were attacking everything and everyone they could. Groups of them were clustering together at several points throughout the cathedral seemingly at random but always in a position that offered some space. Most were in locations that we could not easily reach through those that were attacking us but they were bunching together so tightly that making an exact count was entirely impossible.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Each one of the huddled groups were pressing and writhing like a swarm of bees, clambering over each other and twisting and almost becoming one as they condensed together. The sheer intensity of so many in one place was enough to burn into the eyes with a single glance in the general direction but there was also no mistaking the subtle traces of magicka from the masses.
One such group was very close to the main doors, another was further within the cathedral close to the primary altar and the third was less than a dozen metres away from where Alexi and I had found ourselves fighting side by side. Each swarm of Atronachs filled the entire cathedral with their strange luminescence which, while blinding was still assisting us in fighting the others in its own way. It was also making it more difficult for more of their kind to birth themselves into the mortal world as it appeared that they needed some form of steady light source to spawn.
The swarm nearest to us heaved and rolled like a blanket over a sleeping individual and both Alexi and I shared a glance as something else within the mass moved. Whatever the being was, it was no wispy strand of vaguely humanoid light, it was tall and broad, twisting and tearing the last strands of embryonic energies as it finally tore free of Oblivion’s grip.
“Okay, now what?” I growled, ripping Sunchild across where I vaguely guessed where one of the atronach’s faces were and being rewarded with a tiny shower of glittering flakes.
Nearby, Thedret had just finished eviscerating a pair of the cavorting daedra and spun his glaive neatly. There was no doubt that he, like the rest of us were sweating and panting from the exertion but his Redguard heritage turned waxy at the sight of the larger creatures pulling themselves into our world.
“Aurorans!” he called out, taking a few steps away from the hulking figure that rose to its full height and stretched.
There were only three of them, but the size and power within them made the number of them appear to be overkill. Each had the appearance of golden knights wearing a suit of form covering and beautiful golden armour that gleamed like the morning sun. Every single one of them were taller than every mortal present, including Falid but his winged helm gave him a few centimetres of height over them. Unfortunately, they were almost just as broad and moved with a supreme grace of creatures not of our world.
“Well, this just got a lot worse.” Alexi said in his usual cheerful manner despite the tenseness of his jaw and sword arm. The swarms of light Atronachs fell away like autumn leaves and most appeared to dissipate and fade after their energies had been siphoned away to summon these new daedra.
“New plan!” I shouted, gesturing to the figures as they began to wade through the remaining Atronachs. “Kill those things and get everyone the fuck out of here!”
Unfortunately for us there was still too many foes and far too many civilians scattered about for it to be easy and already the remaining Atronachs were twisting and moving further away from us in an obvious attempt to merge together to summon more of the golden giants. One of them immediately charged into a small group of cowering civilians and began laying about with a gigantic double bladed battleaxe than shone with starlight and another rushed us without any hesitation.
What was even worse was that one of them had been summoned between the great doors of the cathedral and Viconia’s group of Men-at-arms. This being assaulted the press of screaming humanity without any mercy or restraint, killing several with every blow of its sword that was almost the length of Falid’s and sending sizzling arcs of crimson through the air.
The situation was too overwhelming, too quick to keep track of and it was no doubt that the initiative of this battle was well within the golden claws of Umaril’s minions. About the only thing that I was thankful for was that none of the Aurorans appeared different or otherwise unique beyond what weapons they had been summoned with and so far at least the Unfeathered one had failed to show up himself. It was still becoming an unmitigated disaster and there were only a few of us who could do anything about it.
Falid as always treated the appearance of a daedra that was taller and heavier than himself with about as much emotion as he did ordering a meal. Although his expression or any hints of surprise was lost behind the ebony skin of armour he wore there was no hesitation in him, or in fact any of the rest of us as we immediately attacked these new foes. The closest Auroran managed to drop its sword down quick enough to parry the Black Knight’s blade but it was obvious that the creature was the stronger even if ultimately not by much.
Several of the remaining guards and armed priesthood hired to protect the church lost what resolve they had and joined the fleeing masses who were doing everything they could to escape. Some were huddling in cloisters and corners, others where crawling and wriggling their way under pews and altars and a steady stream were pushing and shoving their way out the back door and down into the catacombs away from the fighting. What was somewhat surprising though was that not everyone was fleeing. Some were unable to, trapped between the bulk of the daedric horrors and any possible avenue of escape and others but commoner and noble alike were taking up arms to defend themselves and others. For every two who were trying to escape there was one who did everything they could to fight.
A priest fought alongside myself and the others, wielding nothing more than a censer filled with incense on a chain as though it was a flail, and more than one of the worshippers had drawn knives or even their tools to defend themselves. Further away a grossly overweight nobleman dressed in clothes that were worth a year’s legionary salary was fending off a pair of Atronachs with little more than a jewelled dagger and a candlestick. The fact that he had obviously put himself in the way of the beings and a family of commoners to protect them was somehow even more ridiculous than the fact that he was actually succeeding. Elsewhere weapons that had fallen from their original owner’s hands were snatched up by those closest as the people of Leyawiin chose to defend their families, friends and their faith from the daedra.
