Chapter 4

Accessing File: The Fall of Gilead

At the height of it's power The Kingdom of Gilead had attracted the attention of neighboring kingdoms and empires, all of who attacked the once great civilization. They each had their own reasons for attacking; many attacked because they saw the people of Gilead as pagans and heretics for their own religion and using Aura, while others attacked to claim Glead's rich resources. All of Gilead's armies were deployed to fight off the invaders and when it wasn't enough almost all of the Knights of Eld were sent to help ward off the invaders. The remaining Knights who weren't sent were eventually deployed when Fallen were reported attacking villages. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to kill them King Emmanuel Eld ordered the Knights and his son Prince Henry Eld to slay them. Without the Knights or the army around a sneak attack came upon the capital city. Survivors reported rat men who had disguised themselves as humans within the city began slaughtering everyone and then Grimm poured out of the catacomb tombs underneath the castle and destroyed everything. King Emmanuel died in the capital city's destruction and the rest of Gilead's lands were taken by outsider invasion but most had been claimed by the Grimm as the increase in negative emotions drew them in.

Xxx

33 years later

"The people of Gilead are heretics!"

"Gilead hordes the resources our people need!"

"It is a sin against our lord God that we don't destroy them!"

"Glob has willed us to end Gilead!"

"They are...

"Heretics!"

"Pagans!"

"Hoarders!"

"Heathens!"

"Infidels!"

Xxx

A man sits on a throne looking at the mural of Arthur Eld on the ceiling. The man had brown hair, dark brown eyes, wore armor, and upon his head was a golden crown that held thirteen different colored gems. This man was Emmanuel Eld, son of Arthur Eld and king of Gilead. He sees a man in a red cloak with black hair enter the throne room and kneels before the king.

"Report Justus," Emmanuel said.

"The Holy Roman Empire has refused all our attempts at negotiation my king," Justus said. "They still see us heretics in the eyes of God."

"After everything my father has done to protect Gilead and the outside world the other kingdoms can't see the real danger!" Emmanuel exclaimed. "Why can't they see reason!?"

"Perhaps their is a traitor within your court your highness," Justus said.

"Perhaps you are right old friend," Emmanuel said as he began to walk around the room. "But first we most focus on driving out the invaders and eliminating the devils we discovered on our lands."

"Of course my lord," Justus said.

Xxx

Elsewhere on a hill packs of Grimm were waiting before their master. He wore black armor that had predominant red markings and a red cloak. His head was covered in a helmet with goat horns on it but his eyes could be seen. They had red irises and black sclera. This man was the Fallen Los the Red. A jellyfish like Grimm then floated to him and an image of Rhea Dubativo appeared with an annoyed look.

"This plan better work Los," Rhea said. "He just lost Rando Thoughful, Bill Garton, Nort Randolph, and Sylvia Pittston to the Knights of Eld."

"This will work you old hag," Los said as his eyes glowed red and Rhea back away in fear. "We had to send everyone of us to draw out the Knights that my half-brother didn't send so we can destroy the capital. Besides, their Fallen killers the likely hood of them destroying some of us was a probability. Now fight the knight coming for you or I will kill you myself you old wretch!"

Rhea gulped in fear as the younger Fallen responded back to her and her image faded away. Over the last 33 years Los has grown more powerful than most of the Fallen with only Sammael and Maerlyn surpassing his strength but it is believed that Los will soon be as powerful as them.

The Seer then shows an image to Los.

"Justus report," Los said.

Justus says, "Everything is going according to plan master. The Can-Toi are ready to shed their disguises and face the city's defenders."

"Good, I am at Jericho Hill were the secret passage to the catacomb tombs is," Los said as he brought up a red orb and crushed it with the hand that held it. "The Can-Toi have received the signal now it is time for Gilead to Fall."

He then points to the entrance way and the Grimm rush inside ready to kill whatever they find. Once they all enter Los himself walks into the entrance himself.

Xxx

Unknown Village, Territory of Gilead

Fires rage and burn all around the people flee for their lives. All around they see monsters being fought by the villages defenders but a fight between a devil-witch and a Knight is the most important in this battle. The devil-witch was Rhea Dubativo and the Knight facing her was the twenty-five year old prince Henry Eld. The prince had blond hair and blue eyes. He had a look of determination and justice as he would not allow this devil woman to live any longer.

"Tell me prince, have you ever heard of the Reaptide Festival?" Rhea asked but Henry remained silent. "It was a festival that my 'brother' Maerlyn started in several of your kingdom's villages to get them to turn away from Gan and your other gods so they could worship the Grimm and others like me. They would sacrifice someone every week by burning them upon a Charyou Tree so their sins could used to bring crops. Then your grandfather came and drove Maerlyn away. Arthur had them return to worshipping their old gods and modified the festival to have a straw man burned at a stake for fun and festivities. I want those festivals back! So, I will revive them by burning you on one of this villages Charyou trees!"

Rhea screams and charges at Henry and fires a blast of dark energy at the prince but he disappears. Rhea looks around confused but she quickly turns around to block an attack that came from Henry. The two are sword locked but Henry is overpowering the Fallen woman.

"I am not just a prince she-devil," Henry said. "I am a Knight of Eld. Now have at thee!"

He breaks the sword lock and starts swinging at Rhea again. She tries blocking as best as she can but his swings were two fast causing her to falter. His next swing was so strong that it sent her flying through a house and landed near the Charyou trees. Her Aura shimmers and once she gets back up she sees Henry walking toward her with a lit torch in his left hand. She sees him and her eyes turn completely red as her veins begin to pulsate. She fires a eye blast at him but he blocks the attack with his sword. She then feels a sharp pain in her back and then feels the branches of the trees wrap around her. She stops firing her eye beam and is brought to the trees as their branches stop wrapping around her once her movements is constricted and then the branches tear out her eyes to prevent her from attacking. She screams in pain once it is done.

"With the power of my soul I can command plants," Henry said as he raised the torch. "I'll give you back your festival, burn witch."

He throws the torch at the tree setting it a flame and burning Rhea to death.

Xxx

Unknown Plantation, Gilead Territory

Sammael followed Los' plan but he had to fight three Knights of Eld. They were tough but not as strong as Arthur Eld. He had already killed two of them and now he was about to kill the third one but before he did he felt Rhea's death.

"So sister Rhea is gone as well, that's five of us who died in this plan," Sammael said. "But that's what you expect when fighting warriors who were trained to kill Fallen, bow were was I, oh yes I was about to kill you."

He turns to a battered and bloody knight who was on his hands in knees and a had a look of hatred.

"You and comrades were truly a challenge but you weren't strong enough to kill me,:" Sammael said. "Any last words?"

The knight spits blood at Sammael's face and says, "Go f### yourself devil."

Sammael wipes away the blood and with a neutral look he grabs the knight's head. His arm then turns black and he twists the knight's head around snapping his neck.

Xxx

Church of Gilead Chapel, Unknown village, Gilead Territory

Maerlyn had this village's entire population and the Knight he fought now lies battered and broken at his feet. The Knight was breathing heavily on death's door.

"Tell me Knight," Maerlyn said. "Do you believe your soul will find it's way to the afterlife or will you need the aid the goddess Chloe and the god S'Mana to help you find your way?"

"What do you care devil," the Knight said. "I'll be dead but my soul will find rest in the next world."

"Not if I have any say in the matter," Maerlyn said as the black orb on his staff began to glow.

As the orb glowed the Knight began to scream out in pain as if something was being ripped out of him. His eyes and mouth to began to glow but stopped once a ball of light came out of his mouth and entered the black orb. The Knight's body was now lifeless.

"Your soul is now mine alongside the hundreds of others that I've stolen," Maerlyn said as he looked at the hundreds of other souls crying out in agony to be set free.

Xxx

Unknown village, Territory of Gilead

John Farson was certainly taking pleasure in his work. He lead the Grimm to destroy this village and now he was mercilessly beating up the Knight sent to kill him. Farson had his hair tied back into a pony-tail and had his face painted with blood to intimidate his opponents and he practically had the Knight begging for mercy. He grabs the warriors by the neck with one hand and raises him up.

"Please...mercy," the Knight struggled to say.

Farson replies by saying, "Ask not what the Good Man can do for you, but what you can do for the Good Man."

Farson takes out a knife and mercilessly stabs the Knight in the face repeatedly. He only stops once his screams stop.

Xxx

Catacomb Tombs, Underneath Gilead Castle

Los could hear the screams and feel the terror and fear coming from the surface while in the catacombs. He had all of the Can-Toi placed within the city and once the battle was over most of them would most assuredly be dead whether by the humans or the Grimm. And those rat men would be fine with it for they lived to serve him. He enters the castle and sees the corpses of humans who were killed by the Grimm. He continues down a hallway to where he heard the sounds of battle and entered the throne room. The guards were fighting the Grimm and fighting alongside those humans was King Emmanuel. Los' target was insight, this is what he was waiting to do for the past forty years. Los then snaps his fingers and the Grimm stop and turn toward their master. The humans are confused until they look where the Grimm were staring at.

Emmanuel realizes what Los is and says, "A DEVIL!"

Justus gets behind Emmanuel, pulls out a knife, raises it into the air, and brings it down. But Emmanuel could sense it and knocks away the knife with his sword and slices off Justus' head.

"So you were the traitor Justus," Emmanuel said as he turned toward Los. "Have at thee devil!"

Emmanuel and Los charge at each other and the fighting between the guards and the Grimm resume. The king and Fallen clash swords multiple times both warriors moving at inhuman speeds, Emmanuel because of his Knight of Eld training and Los for his Fallen physiology and training. Los then made his sword glow red and once it clashed with Emmanuel's the floor beneath the two broke causing them and a few others fell below as well. Emmanuel hit the ground with his back and Los tried to stab him when he fell from the air. The king rolled away before he was stabbed.

Emmanuel gets back up and his Aura shimmered gold showing that it was depleted. Los' eyes glowed red and he fired an eyebeam at Emmanuel. He reflected the blast back at the Fallen. He was hit and he falls back with his helmet flying off. Emmanuel walks toward Los ready to end his life but once he got a good look at the Fallen he was shocked by his appearance. He looked just like Emmanuel's father Arthur Eld the only difference was the deathly pale skin, purple veins, white hair, and the eye color he saw earlier. Los then opens his eyes and gives a devilish smirk before he turns black and melts into a shadow that moves around the floor and reforms back into Los.

"Who are!?" Emmanuel demanded.

"I am Los the Red," Los said. "I am the firstborn son of Arthur Eld and I'm your half-brother."

"That's impossible," Emmanuel said as he pointed his sword at the Fallen.

"Is it," Los said. "Have you ever heard of father's runaway gilly Crimson? When she became pregnant with his child she ran away and I was that child."

Emmanuel then screams and runs toward Los now lock blades and Emmanuel now has the advantage.

"Tell me your Semblance allows you to see into the future but it can only when you are under great stress and pain," Los said as his veins became larger and bone protrusions emerged from his back and elbows all the while he gained more strength. "Did it also predict your death."

Both brothers were now on even ground even but Emmanuel couldn't keep this up forever. He was beginning to tire and once that happened he would die. He breaks the lock and starts moving around Los and makes strikes on his half-brother. Los' armor took most of the damage but he began to make black tentacles from his back and used them to attack Emmauel. The king manages to cut several of them but his movements became slower and more sluggish. Los sees this and then makes his move and makes several strikes on his half-brother. The slashes he made destroyed his brother's armor and deep cuts were made into Emmanuels flesh.

Emmanuel's eyes then turn gold and he smiles. His Semblance had activated and from what he saw it made him happy.

"What do you see?" Los asked.

"I see your end," Emmanuel said.

"You will be killed by one of my descendants. Your brethren will seek to avenge you by destroying the Knights of Eld but they will lose more of their strongest warriors in the process."

We see Los being killed by Steven Deschain. We then see Steven Deschain and several Gunslingers fighting Maerlyn, John Farson 'The Good Man,' and the Big Coffin Hunters. We see Farson lying dead with bullet holes in his chest and head decapitated. Steven shoots the black orb on Maerlyn's staff, once it shatters the thousands of souls are released and they kill the Fallen wizard by tearing him limb from limb.

"The son of the man who kills you will hunt down the devil responsible and kill him, but you will reincarnate as my descendants son but he will die at the hands of his father. Laving you twice DEAD!"

We see Roland Deschain hunt down Walter Padick and their showdown in Empire City he uses a trick shot to kill the Fallen. We then see a vision of Roland killing Mordred.

Los turns his left arm black and uses it to grab Emmanuel by the collar of his chain mail and throws him through the hole in the ceiling back into the throne room. Los jumps into the air and slashes Emmanuel while he was in midair. Los lands in front of the throne and holds out his left hand. Emmanuel's severed head then lands in it and his body falls at the feet of Los.

The Grimm in the room were dead and only three guards remained, they were shocked by what they saw. The king was killed right in front of their eyes and his killer was a devil that looked like Arthur Eld.

Los removes the crown from Emmanuel's severed head and he places it on his own head. He turns to the guards and says to them.

"I am Los the Red like Emmanuel I too am a son of Arthur Eld."

As he spoke his eyes glow red and shadows emanate from him and they only grow darker the more he speaks.

"I have destroyed this kingdom and you will remember and fear me for it. Every time you see a spider remember that is me hunting for the weak. Every time you see a full moon that is me looking down on you filling you, your women, and children with fear. I am Los the Red, I am the lord of spiders, and I am...the CRIMSON...KING!"

As he says the last word the glass windows in the throne room shatter and the guards runaway. Los is pleased with what he has accomplished he drops Emmanuel's head and then crushes it under his foot.

Xxx

Ruins of Gilead City, Three days after the attack.

All is quiet in the ruined city. The Grimm patrol the city of ruined buildings and corpses that liter streets, both human and Can-Toi. All over the city a scarlet eye was painted showing that it now belonged to the newly anointed Crimson King.

In the throne room of the castle Los was seated on the throne and his 'guests' had come to converse. They were Sammael, John Fason, and Maerlyn.

"Your mission was a success," Sammael said congratulating the Crimson King.

"Yes but we lost Rando, Rhea, Bill, Nort, and Sylvia," Maerlyn said. "Not to mention the Knights of Eld are still out their and you let three escape with knowledge o who you are. They'll want revenge on you for what you did."

"The Knights will have to lay low they'll be hunted by both us and the other kingdoms," Farson said. "Though they'll make good sport for me to hunt, but what's stopping the people of Gilead from reclaiming this city from the Grimm?"

"This," the Crimson King said as he tossed a book to Maerlyn. "I found this book in the castle's library, turn the page to the book marked one."

Maerlyn turned the pages to a bookmarked page though he did took notice of a chapter talking about two death goddesses named Selena and Morphia. The bookmarked page talked about necromancy.

"We can resurrect the dead humans and Can-Toi as undead warriors with he purpose of preventing anyone from taking this land," the Crimson King said. "They shall be known as the Kuvian Night Soldiers and they shall be Discordia's defenders."

"Discordia?" Sammael asked.

"I will be renaming this desolate land," the Crimson King said. "After all no one but the dead and the Grimm shall live here."

Epilogue

Catacomb Tombs, Discordia, two days later

After the assassins were created the Crimson King remained in the city he was about to leave for the Darklands but their was something he wanted to do first. He journeyed into the catacombs to see the tomb of his father. The Crimson King came to a hallway that had a large door that lead into Arthur's tomb. There were twelve stone statues of the twelve animal guardians of Gilead and behind them were tapestries depicting each guardian as a humanoid figure wearing knight armor. The statues and tapestries were giving off a spiritual energy that was connecting them to the guardian they are connected to all but the turtle guardian Maturin.

"It seems IT was right about you being dead since I can't sense your energy from your statue and tapestry," the Crimson King said as he cut his own hand and used his blood to write over the rhyme below the statue.

And it said in Latin:

Rest in peace Maturin the Turtle who died choking on a galaxy.

The Crimson King then enters the tomb. It's large and circular decorated with tapestries depicting the gods and goddesses worshipped by the people of Gilead. Gan, the chief god represented by a picture of a dark tower. Bessa, the wife of Gan represented by a red rose and is the patroness of riddling contests and gamblers. Buffalo Star, who is represented by a buffalo and is said to offer his body to those who are starving and his fur coat to give people warmth. Chloe, a woman in golden armor who fortifies souls on their way to the afterlife. S'Mana, a man dressed in middle eastern garbs who restores inner harmony in souls. Nis, an old man in a robe carrying a stick with a lantern on it and is the god of wisdom and divine inspiration, if a soul is lost in the land of sleep where he dwells he will help the soul return to it's body. The Queen O'Green Days, a goddess depicted as a young long-haired blond woman wearing a dress made of leaves and a crown made of fruits and flowers, and is the patroness of lambs, chicks, calves, foals, kids, and is the protector of new growth and young children. Raf, a god depicted as a man in a orange tunic with wings on his feet and is the god of speed and agility.

As he walked into the room he could feel the spiritual energy the tapestries had with each depicted god. He then reached the center of the room which had the stone sarcophagus that held Arthur's body. On the four sides of the sarcophagus the Crimson King draws a scarlet eye with his blood and then he writes a message on top of the sarcophagus in the Gilead language:

Whoever disturbs this sarcophagus shall face the undead wrath of Arthur Eld.

-So sayeth his firstborn son Los the Crimson King.

Los then places Emmanuel's crown on top of Arthur's Sarcophagus and then holds his arm out forward and it glows black for alongside the sarcophagus for a second.

"Treasure hunters will come for your sword old man," the Crimson King said. "It's just an ordinary blade but they won't know because my magic will refurbish it and it will appear brand new."

A portal opens behind the Crimson King and he walks through it leaving the kingdom to dust and ruin.

Once more we close our story. Thank you all for being a wonderful audience and I hope this story was to your liking.