Histories of the Homeworld

The Terror Wars, Part Three

28,382-28,390:1 (-21,610)

	Arack and his platoon of 20 warriors encamped at the Ahl’She Outpost, atop a mountain overlooking the ocean.  Below were the legions of Daksah and the lone Deep Terror swimming ominously off shore.  The men not only wondered how Arack knew this would be here, but more so of how he intended to fight, much less defeat the horde below.  The Ahl’She Outpost was built very simple and held the platoon that day and evening.  Arack, in another display of odd behavior, had decided to invade the coastline at night.  
	
	There still exist a few collections of memoirs and journal entries that were written by the soldiers of Arack’s Platoon.  The most memorable of these ancient writings are those of Fierus.  In his memoirs many years after the Battle of Sigil Rock, he wrote the following about that evening sitting at the Ahl’She Outpost and watching Arack as he prepared:

	“We had been preparing for the assault for the last few hours when I took notice of General Arack staring off into the ocean as the sun set to the west.  He seemed to be focused intently on the horizon, where the water met the sky.  Completely oblivious to the danger that lurked between us and that horizon, he seemed almost to be daydreaming of some place pleasant.  A strange peace appeared to settle over him.  We can easily look back at that battle and say how well we fought and how fearless we were, but in truth, none of us were anywhere near as confident as he that evening.  One of the men asked the General, I remember, how it was that he was so at peace before such chaos.  His reply is what perhaps let us share in his peace, and I have no doubt it was what led us to victory.  He said, ‘I have seen the sky as it is, as these things below never have and never will.  There are legacies there.  There are echoes of ancient voices.  Those voices sing to me now, and I am at peace.  You need only listen, brave warriors, and you will hear them too.’”

	As it is told, the Platoon witnessed in the distance what appeared at first to be an island, but they saw it move as no island would move.  It floated in the sky beyond, and twinkled as the sun set.  They would see this phenomenon again, but we in the present know that what they saw was the city of Tu’Shah, the city of crystal and dolomite left to us by the Old Ones.  They would have no understanding of what they saw that evening, but it was enough to motivate them as to the power of Arack’s words.  

	Just after the sun dipped beyond the endless waves to the west, Arack bellowed into the canyons of the Ahl’She Mountains a mighty yawp.  The signal was given and the Platoon pushed mighty boulders from the mountains.  These boulders fell into others and created an avalanche of rock and snow as they tumbled down the mountainside toward the Daksah colony below.  Caught completely off-guard, the avalanche smashed into the crude constructions along the coastline.  Sliding down just after the avalanche were Arack and his men, riding upon great sled-like creations.  They reached the destruction at the bottom and were met by the numerous Daksah that survived.  The platoon used the confusion to their advantage and slaughtered each creature that had the misfortune to stumble out before them.  They set fire to every structure as they passed, and very soon the entire coastline was ablaze.  The smoke screened their movements from Daksah fighters, but more importantly it prevented the Deep Terror which now thrashed viciously in the shallows less than a mile out.  Moving like phantoms, the platoon moved quietly through the nest, killing the Daksah as they scrambled about.  At last only two sounds remained:  the crackling of the fire, and the breath of a monster.

	Half of the platoon, as instructed, ran from the smoky air into visibility of the Terror.  The creature slithered through the water towards them, raising its mighty arms and crashing them upon the shoreline in attempts to smash the soldiers.  With the creature distracted, Arack and the remainder of the platoon dove into the shallows and swam out behind the Terror, to it’s tail end which remained virtually still compared to the upper section.  Very quickly, they climbed onto the creature and began grappling their way up to its head.  The Terror, of course, did not care for the infestation, and began to thrash about wildly, even dipping into the water at times.  But the platoon held fast and continued to scale the creature’s body.  They reached the top and produced short swords from their hilts, which they began stabbing repeatedly into the Terror’s head.  Arack, it is said, locked gazes with the creature and muttered the following, “You’re time has ended.”  After which, it is said, Arack thrust his sword deep into the Terror’s eye.  It howled in horrific agony, and fell dead into the shallows.  As Arack had promised, not a single man had been lost.

	The celebration upon their return was fit for a God.  But as Arack slept that night, a terrifying vision filled his thoughts.  He dreamt simply of a pyramid.  At the base tier of this pyramid were thousands and thousands of Daksah.  On the next ascending tier, Arack saw hundreds of Deep Terrors, like the one he and his men had recently killed.  Ascending still, the next tier held only a single creature.  It was more enormous than anything he had ever seen.  Larger than a city, perhaps, even in waking, he trembled at the thought of it.  It leered at him through cold, soulless eyes, and growled a guttural trembling that shook Arack’s bones within his body and fluttered his beating heart.  But the, he dreamt, a brilliance shined from beyond the beast, from yet another tier of the pyramid.  The beast cowered from the entity that radiated above, and embraced him in its brilliance.  Some children’s tales to this day hold that Arack awoke the next morning with wings.  Though I expect that is just something we tell our children as part of indoctrination.  If indeed such a thing had happened, surely there would be writings that suggested so.  

	Whatever the case, Arack awoke the next morning and rallied the entire Legion of Khal’Shye.  He was given command over the Tryhlian Army as well, and for the first time in history, our people marched together into destiny.  

	Scouts had reported a massive buildup of Daksah in the Ashloga Wetlands, as well as many sightings of Deep Terrors off the coast.  The time was right, the scene was set, and our people were ready.  For thousands of years, the Terrors and their vile kin had plagued our people.  The new combined armies under General Arack were now poised to strike back one final time.