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Author's Chapter Notes:

The mighty city of Atus has held firm against invasion, handily deafeating their enemies each time. Will they be able to say the same when the Crimson Goddess arrives?

 

Tags: Giga, crush, and something special, pew pew

Horns blared across the high walls of Atus, stirring the men posted along its battlements to stand at the ready. One such soldier, Elius, stood atop his watchtower vantage point, looking out to see the cause of the warning now. The eagle-eyed man spotted them at once, breaching the treeline. Even from such a distance, it was hard not to see them with the bright crimson eyes blazoned onto their shields. He'd become quite familiar with the sight these past few days of battle.


Stretching far across the treeline, these warriors made for quite the intimidating sight. They stood at the ready, lined in formation. From just a quick headcount, Elius could tell this fighting force had numbered far greater than the last two that had attempted to take the city. Fearsome as these invaders appeared to be though, they did not worry the man.


Elius stood with bow in hand, eagerly awaiting his chance to rain down upon them. But his chances never came. In both previous engagements, the invaders had been repelled handily, not so much as reaching within firing range for the walls of Atus. They were broken in the field, and the reason why was clear. Sheer numbers.


Just beneath those massive city walls, stood the greatest military might ever assembled in these lands. The grand army of Atus, a fighting force without end it seemed. Their might had been split into two bulwarks against this enemy invasion. One was stationed just under the city walls, and the other, composed of their greatest warriors, was ready to meet any force out in the open field.


They thirsted for a third victory it would seem. Elius heard how their spears pounded the earth in resounding unison, hoping to goad the enemy out to another swift defeat. He couldn't help but smile at that, resolute in his army's might, and proud at their bravery. And yet, in the back of his mind, a dread lingered. He recalled several nights ago, and the terrible scene within the city itself.


"Fools the lot of you!" Elius could still hear the old man's shrill call from that night before in his head. The greying fool had been perched up on some crates, barking down to passersby in the crowded city square. "You've not seen her with your own eyes as I have!" With each moment the crowd grew, many trying to shout the raving lunatic down.


"We must bow to her wishes." Elius remembered the old man pleading so fiercely. Even now the desperation in his voice was so intensely clear. "If we forsake our gods for her, the Goddess may be merciful!" Abandon the gods? This plea had only stirred the crowd into a frenzy. They'd begun to throw whatever they could at the old fool, hoping to knock him off his perch. "We just have to-" The old man was cut off by the city guards finally pushing through the now raucous crowd and dragging him away. Elius remembered that final warning most of all.


"The Crimson Goddess will be upon us soon! She'll-," a swift strike to the temple put an end to the ravings, but the old man's message had been delivered. Not that Elius had known what to make of it. Exactly whom had he meant? A Crimson Goddess? It sounded laughable. It was laughable, he thought.


No goddess had shown themselves in those following days, only this army, brandishing their crimson sigils. Gods be good, it was blasphemy what the old man had called out. And yet, a pervasive seed had been planted in the back of Elius' mind, blossoming into the smallest of lingering doubts for him. What if the old man was right? He'd push the thought down every time, and yet, invariably it would return.


Luckily, a commotion out on the field distracted Elius from such thoughts. The invaders appeared to be making their move. The Atian army had not ceased their pounding; their spears still struck the earth in an intimidating display. Even with far greater numbers, the enemy had remained much more cautious than before, not rushing headlong into attack. Elius wondered what those troops were thinking, seeing the brilliant gold of Atus shining in such a formation, knowing that twice now they had failed to break the line. All across the walls cheers were let up hoping to embolden their fellow soldiers out in the field. 


They marched forward still, now locking their shields. The invaders inched closer and closer, not making any plan of attack clear. Gripping his bow tightly, Elius studied them. What were they thinking?


The enemy attacked suddenly, a volley of arrows let loose from within their formation. The Atian forces turtled immediately, covering themselves from the piercing downpour. The enemy advance slowed to a crawl after. They loosened volleys here and there, merely prodding the Atian forces, trying to keep them on their toes perhaps. Elius wasn't entirely sure what to make of this tact. The invaders either wanted to goad the Atian forces over to their positions, or to distract them for some unknown reason. There was no chance of his army leaving their positions, and it would be nearly impossible to flank around that vast front line. If either was their plan, then they were bigger fools than he'd thought.


Watching them continue their haphazard volleys, Elius wished he could have given them a taste of their own tactics. If only he could fire upon them from his watchtower, he would have loosened arrow after arrow upon them. But he would have to remain content with simply watching the Atian front lines rip them to shreds. It seemed it would happen soon enough.


At last, the two masses of humanity would clash out on the field once again. The enemy set into a full forward march towards the defenders. Their gait picked up steadily until they were charging full speed. Each army let up a final battle cry before that terrible collision. Elius could hear the sounds of battle all the way back from his station atop the city walls. Shields scraped against one another, spears punctured their targets, and swords left their sheaths for the up close and ugly fighting. It appeared to be chaos down there. The enemy forces fought with a ferocity they had not shown before. A bloodlust that betrayed their questionable tactics only moments ago. Yet, the Atian forces held firm.


Even as the bodies began to pile up, the fighting raged on with neither side giving an inch. Simple math appeared to be on the Atian's side again though. Elius had noted that even with this newfound animalistic edge in the invaders, once more, sheer manpower would make the difference. Seeing his forces hold firm, he prayed to the gods that this would soon be over, and that hopefully, this would be the last of the skirmishes. Elius did not yet realize his prayer would soon be answered.


As the bloodshed continued down below, Elius found himself distracted by a curious sensation. It was nearly imperceptible, but he swore beneath his feet he'd felt something off.


Thud…


What was that? He wondered. The next that struck was much stronger than the previous. The impenetrable walls of Atus shivered slightly a moment, causing a murmur to spread amongst those manning it.


Thud…


Another, even stronger than the last, reverberated across the battlefield. Elius' gaze was drawn beyond it though, all the way to the treeline which was shaken by this mysterious tremor. The sky above it darkened as massive swarms took wing and let out all manner of calls. The birds perched within those mighty trees were fleeing from whatever had caused this shock. It was an ill omen.


One more shook the land as Elius looked back down to the battlefield. He could hardly believe what he saw there now. The invaders had simply ceased their fighting. Instead, they laid down their weapons, and kneeled. The Atian soldiers had hardly known how to respond, simply staring down at their enemies with the same bewilderment Elius was. They'd felt the tremors as well though, unsure just what to make of them.


Far beyond the treeline, a shape started to form on the horizon. Elius squinted, trying to make sense of it. It seemed familiar, strikingly so… She's coming… The old man's voice played out in his head as his heart dropped soon after.


The dull thuds resounded even louder now, not just the tremors themselves, but the terrible sounds that accompanied them. A sickening crunch and creaking bore into Elius' ears currently. Looking out into the massive forest, he put it together. Something was cutting a path straight through it, felling hundreds of trees and trampling them into mulch with every step forward.


Even as the citizens could not see what he was, they let their fear be known. Cries erupted throughout the city streets behind him, growing louder every moment.


Thud.


Despite spotting the figure as they were miles off, that last impact had still caught him off guard. The shock staggered him all the way back in his watchtower; he could only imagine how it must have felt to the men out in the field. Regaining his composure, Elius could see the Atian ranks broken, picking themselves up from the ground in a daze. He couldn't help but shift his gaze up after, seeing now in such frightening clarity what had been the cause of this shock. There at the edge of the battlefield, the Crimson Goddess towered over all.


The treads of her sandals alone were taller than the mighty walls on which Elius stood. Atop them were immense toes that stood mightier still. Beyond that, his eyes went up, and up, and up, past the greaves adorning her all powerful, and earth shattering legs. He saw that the goddess' garb was dark with a fine crimson inlay that accentuated her deific physique. When his neck was craned back as far as physically possible, Elius was confronted with the most bone-chilling sight of all, though.


The Crimson Goddess glared down on the field, her head adorned in a great helm topped with a blood red plume. Through eye holes blackened in shadow, the goddess cast her gaze down at the armies at her feet. Men shivered as those two black pits swept over them, somehow knowing that she could see them beyond the abyssal darkness that shrouded her eyes. That wasn't the only haunting vision of her helm though. Its half face mask was sculpted in such a manner to mimic her features in cold, unfeeling metal. Golem like, it created a stoic visage that would have been completely emotionless if not for the slight frown etched across her mouth then.


"Failures…" her voice boomed. Overpowering all, it was tinged with a clear displeasure that did not bode well. Although, it sounded almost as if that displeasure was addressed towards her own troops.


Without warning, her sandaled foot rose from the earth and began to hover forward. The Atian forces out on the field had thrown down their weapons and bolted at this, fearing that she would bring it down upon them. Men screamed as they rushed back towards the city, hoping to avoid this terrible impact. Not the invaders though. Elius saw that even with the goddess stepping forward, they had not moved an inch. Still they bowed to her, almost appearing to welcome their end.


She brought her foot down in the middle of the force; thousands were wiped away unmercifully in a moment. That single step had decimated much of her forces. Her own men… Failures she had called them, crushing so many of the wretches down into the earth like nothing. The unflinching expression she wore made it clear just how little she thought of what she'd just done.


"I'll take the siege from here," the goddess said down to the survivors at her feet, before stepping past them. It was almost as if she had crushed her own men underfoot simply because they were in the way. In any case, the goddess had clearly shifted her focus from them to the fleeing Atian soldiers now.


Elius watched on in horror at the whole frantic scene. The sound her foot made as it cut through the air and rushed overhead was deafening. Shadow enveloped thousands before another terrible crash right into the middle of that mass of humanity.


Entire legions were crushed beneath her immense tread. The shockwave of its impact tore through many more, knocking them to the ground as they fought to escape. He could see so many bodies flung as if they were nothing, sent into the air alongside cascading chunks of earth. The fissures snaking around her step swallowed even more. The loss of life was already staggering, and that was before she brought her other foot to rest besides this one. Even more troops were crushed, but the goddess did not finish there.


Dragging her sandal to the right, the goddess tore through the earth, smearing countless men into a canyon of her own making. The poor souls had only been afforded a mere glimpse of the unforgiving tread before it bulldozed them into oblivion. 


Elius turned pale watching this all, shaken not only by the tremors, but the sights he'd witnessed. More than half of the Atian forces out in the field had been completely decimated with those simple acts. Some still struggled to rise up to their feet and flee. The goddess would have none of that.


As their lungs burned with ragged breathing, they could see her foot passing overhead. All around them the bodies of friend and foe alike rained down from her sole. She was toying with them, cutting off their escape by simply lifting her foot mere inches forward before bringing it down. They were stopped in their tracks seeing the wall that was the heel of her sandal cut off their escape. The goddess wasted no time after. She scraped her sandal backwards, wiping out hundreds of the escapees with it, before turning her gaze forward.


The furthest escapees were beginning to make contact with the second bulwark of soldiers. They'd not yet broken rank themselves, commanded to hold position despite the living calamity coming their way. Elius could hear soldiers all along the walls pleading for their commanders to order the gates open, hoping to bring their forces out there back in a full retreat. That was a foolish hope on their parts, he knew. What good would hiding behind this wall be against a goddess like her? None, he thought seeing her peer down upon this  unbroken line of warriors at her feet.


She stood there staring at them for what felt an eternity. He saw some men break rank and make a run for it, but the rest held. Perhaps they were quaking in their boots, but they still stood their ground against this war goddess.


"I must admit," the goddess finally spoke again, "you are brave little ones." She chuckled at the sight of them all standing firm. The goddess' laugh resonated low in the pit of Elius' stomach, before she continued. "For that, I'll make it quick."


Before Elius could even question what she had meant by that, he looked up to see a peculiar sight from behind her great helm. Within the black pits, a light began to emerge. With a crimson hue, he could see the goddess' eyes now. They began to shine bright, the intensity of that glow increasing each moment. After long, they shined so brilliantly that Elius needed to look away, almost as if he were staring into twin suns.


It was as he shielded his eyes, that Elius heard a sound like none other before. A hellish screech that sounded of metal scraping against metal and a deafening thunderclap that followed soon after. Hundreds of men vanished in an instant as Elius was nearly blinded in his watchtower. He looked down to where they were, only to find a blackened and smoldering pit carved into the earth. The men in closest proximity to it flailed intensely, cooked alive in their armor. She was charging up a second blast when Elius finally put it together.


The goddess' mere gaze was death, an intense beam of light shot out from it. The entire surrounding area was bathed in a crimson hue, as she vaporized entire legions with a glare. Elius began to sweat profusely as the air itself became heated from the focused energy. When she was finally finished, fused layers of superheated earth was all that was left where the soldiers once stood. Aside from some stragglers that were too few in number for her to notice, the entirety of the Atian forces out in the field had been annihilated.


It had ceased being a battle when the goddess appeared, he realized. It was an extermination for her. With hardly any effort she had destroyed the greatest military might in these lands. The only thing standing between her and the city of Atus now, was the wall that Elius stood upon.


The goddess looked down upon the city with the faintest hint of a grin etched onto her lips. His heart beat rapidly waiting to see just what she would do now. He felt the end come as her leg stirred and she took a step forward. Her foot was so low, Elius feared that it would crash into the wall itself and take him with it. That didn’t happen though. What did was perhaps far worse.


Another watchtower down the wall was obliterated as the toe of her sandal flew directly into it. Sheets of rubble launched directly into the city, but that was merely the beginning. Right in front of him, Elius was afforded an up close view of it all. Her foot glided past in what almost appeared to be slow motion. He could see in such grisly detail the bodies from the fields that remained stuck to it, strewn all across her vast sole. The air her sandal displaced sounded like a vortex and threatened to pull him off his perch. He held onto the battlement for dear life, as everything swirled around him, not wanting to get sucked up into that gale. Others were not so lucky. Dozens of men were flung screaming off of the wall as her foot continued to pass overhead.


He was given a reprieve when it finally passed, but only for the briefest of moments, before the awful realization. The high walls of Atus had meant nothing to this goddess. she’d simply stepped over them as if they were nothing. They were nothing, Elius realized watching her foot now. The cries let up from the city below as her sandal sailed over them all were haunting. The streets had become congested with citizens all trying to scratch and claw their way out in some vain hope of escape. To the bitter end they fought all as her foot lowered.


The wailing was silenced at once and replaced by a thunderous impact so loud, Elius felt his ears all but burst. This close, the shockwave flung him backwards against a wall within his tower. He reeled on the ground, feeling as though several bones had been shattered from the collision. It was the least of his worries though. He could feel the entire structure shudder around him. Outside, he swore the walls threatened to crumble all around him. Besides some bricks shaken out of place, his tower had thankfully held; he would need to get out quickly though.


Stumbling to his feet, Elius rushed out of the watchtower as swiftly as his trembling legs could carry him. While descending the stairs to the wall proper, a shadow quickly passed by. He looked up to see her other foot rushing deeper into the city. The tremor of that step sent the man nearly toppling down the stairs headfirst. It was sheer luck that he had not broken his neck in the tumble. A wave of pain shot through him, his mind finally registering how battered he’d become in these last few moments. But he couldn’t quit. He had to fight! He had to do something.


Feeling the earth shaken again as her nearest foot lifted up in front of him snuffed out the flame within Elius though. Seeing all the debris, all the bodies, falling from her sandal tread, it all started to truly dawn on him. More screams in the distance were silenced as her foot rested on countless more lives. 


He looked down off the wall at the footprint she'd left so near. A perfect outline of her presence there only moments ago. Everything within the crater had been crushed so thoroughly beneath her immense weight that he could hardly believe it had once been a vibrant city street. One step had destroyed the entire surrounding area. He could see his fellow citizens lying motionless or trying to dig themselves out from the debris. All of it from one step…


Elius wondered a moment if that old man still drew breath somewhere in the city now. If he did, was he laughing himself silly? He'd warned them all of her, and they'd been too foolish to listen.


In the distance the blinding red flash from earlier returned. The goddess let loose a blast into the city now. The grand market was awash in crimson as the crackling red energy of her vision tore it apart. The entire area was aflame in a moment, the goddess merely chuckling at her handiwork. She did not cease the attack there. Entire roadways full of citizens were glassed, as she dragged the beam through the streets with explosive results. It travelled all the way to the grand temple. Elius saw the building burst immediately at first contact with the searing energy.

 

Afforded this full view of his once proud city's destruction, Elius fell to his knees, well and truly defeated. The man didn't know what else to do. He'd done nothing in the battles themselves, and done less than nothing in whatever this was. He threw himself down and prayed: prayed that this would all be over soon, that no harm would befall him, and that somehow his city would not be completely destroyed. He hoped that those prayers would be answered, not by the useless gods in that temple of ash and soot. No, he prayed to her, the one true Goddess, watching as she meted out her wrath.

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