CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER_40: THE SECOND WAVE

The monsters moved like a black tide across the white snow.

Aldrich stood at the edge of the northern wall. His hands gripped the ice railing. His heart pounded in his chest.

Behind him, two hundred archers lined the wall. Their bows were drawn. Arrows nocked. Waiting for the order.

Twenty ice mages stood in a group near the center. Their hands shined with blue light. Essence gathered around them. Freya stood beside Aldrich. Her face was hard. Water floated around her hands in spinning ribbons. Ready to strike.

General Bjorn walked along the giant wall. His voice carried over the sound of wind and shouting. "HOLD YOUR POSITIONS! DO NOT FIRE UNTIL I GIVE THE COMMAND!"

The monsters were closer now. Five hundred yards. Four hundred.Aldrich could see them clearly.

The Ice Wolves ran at the front. Their bodies were massive. Each one the size of a horse. Blue eyes shining like frozen flames. Breath coming out in freezing clouds. Claws tearing through snow as they ran.

There had to be three hundred of them.

Behind the wolves came the Frost Giants. Fifteen feet tall. Bodies made of ice and stone. Massive clubs in their hands. Each step shook the ground. Their faces were blank.

At least forty giants.

And above them all, circling in the gray sky, were the Frost Dragons.

Three of them.

Each dragon was enormous. Wings spanning at least sixty feet. Bodies covered in blue white scales that looked like frozen armor. Their tails were long and spiked. Their claws were the size of swords.

Aldrich’s danger detection flared. Warning of Extreme threat.

One of the soldiers near him whispered, "We’re going to die."

Another soldier’s hands shook as he held his bow. "There’s too many. We can’t stop this."

General Bjorn’s voice cut through the fear. "SILENCE! YOU ARE WARRIORS OF WINTERHOLD! YOU DO NOT BREAK!"

The soldiers straightened. Fear still filled their eyes. But they held their positions.

Three hundred yards now.

Freya spoke quietly beside Aldrich. "The dragons are the real problem. If they get close enough to breathe on the wall, we’ll lose half our forces in seconds."

Aldrich nodded. "Then we kill them first."

She looked at him. "You can’t fight three dragons alone."

"Watch me lovely."

Inside his mind, Solomon chuckled. "I like your confidence, my boy. But she’s right. Those dragons are ancient creatures. One mistake and you’re frozen solid."

"Then I won’t make mistakes."

Two hundred yards.

General Bjorn raised his hand. "ARCHERS! READY!"

Two hundred bows creaked as they were pulled back fully.

One hundred and fifty yards.

"FIRE!"

The arrows launched.A black cloud rose into the air. Two hundred arrows arcing high. They flew over the wasteland and came down like rain.

They struck.Dozens of Ice Wolves fell. Their bodies shattered into frozen chunks. Their essence dissolved into mist.

But the rest kept running.

"FIRE AGAIN!" Bjorn commanded.

Another set lunched and more wolves fell.

But some of the wolves were fast.They dodged and weaved. The arrows killed some, but not enough.

One hundred yards.

The Frost Giants raised their arms. Ice formed above them. Massive shields. Floating in the air. Protecting them from the arrows.

The next set struck the shields and bounced off harmlessly.

Bjorn turned to the mages. "BREAK THOSE SHIELDS!"

The twenty ice mages stepped forward together. They raised their hands in unison. Their voices joined in a chant of a simple library art in Winterhold.

Blue light surrounded them.Massive ice spears formed in the air above the wall. Each one was twelve feet long. Shining with essence.

Ten spears. All aimed at the giants.

"LAUNCH!" the lead mage shouted.

The spears shot forward. Faster than arrows. They moved through the air.They struck the giants’ ice shields.

CRACK.

The shields shattered. Exploded into frozen shards that rained down on the battlefield.

The giants roared.The archers fired again. Arrows pierced giant bodies.And Three giants fell.

But the rest kept coming.Fifty yards.

And then the dragons dove.All three at once.

Their wings folded back. Their bodies became arrows. Falling from the sky toward the wall.Their mouths opened.Cold light shined inside their throats.

"TAKE COVER!" Bjorn shouted.

But there was nowhere to go.

The dragons released its breath.Freezing mist poured from their mouths. Not fire. Not lightning. Pure cold. Colder than anything natural.

The mist hit the wall.Soldiers screamed.Twenty men. Archers. Standing in a group on the left side of the wall.

The mist touched them.They froze Instantly.

Their bodies turned to ice. Solid.Their faces frozen mid scream. Eyes wide with terror.

They became Ice statues.One of them fell. Hit the ground. Shattered into pieces.

Aldrich’s stomach twisted.Among the frozen soldiers, he recognized faces. His own men. The soldiers from the royal kingdom who had traveled with him.

Five of them. Dead. Just like that.

Freya’s voice was shaking. "No. No, no, no."

The dragons pulled up from their dive. Wings spread. They soared back into the sky. Circling. Preparing for another attack.

The wolves reached the wall.They couldn’t climb. But they didn’t need to. They threw themselves against the base. Clawing. Biting. Trying to break through.

The Frost Giants arrived next.

They were tall enough to reach the top of the wall. Their massive hands grabbed the edge. They started pulling themselves up.

"SPEARS!" Bjorn shouted. "PUSH THEM BACK!"

Soldiers rushed forward with long spears. They stabbed downward. Piercing giant hands. Giant faces.

One giant fell. Its head pierced through. It crashed into the snow below.

But two more climbed up to replace it.

One giant’s hand reached over the wall. It grabbed a soldier. Lifted him into the air. Squeezed.

The soldier screamed. Then stopped. His body went limp.

The giant threw the corpse aside.

Freya raised both hands. "Enough of this."

Water rose from the snow below. It spiraled upward. Higher and higher. Gathering into a massive sphere above her head.

She shaped it with her hands. The water twisted. Formed. Became something else.

A serpent.Made entirely of ice.

It was huge. Thirty feet long. Its body was thick and muscular. Covered in crystalline scales that reflected light. Its head was shaped like a viper’s.

Freya’s voice was cold."Strike." She said

The ice serpent launched forward.It flew through the air like it was swimming. Its body coiled and twisted.It slammed into a climbing Frost Giant.

The impact was massive. The giant was thrown backward off the wall. It fell fifty feet and hit the ground. Its body cracked. Broke apart.

The ice serpent didn’t stop. It circled back. Struck another giant. Then another.Each strike was like a battering ram. Giants fell. One after another.

Soldiers cheered. "The Ice Serpent! Captain Freya’s serpent!"

But there were too many enemies.More giants kept climbing. More wolves kept attacking. And the dragons were circling again.

Preparing for another dive.

Aldrich made his decision.

"I’m going after the dragons."

Freya turned to him. "What? You can’t"

"I can. And I will."

He activated his library. "Library of Hermes."

Power flooded his legs. His muscles compressed. Energy built.

"Speed of Hermes."

He launched himself off the wall.His body shot upward like an arrow. Fifty feet into the air.

Soldiers gasped. Shouted in surprise.

Aldrich soared upward. The wind screamed past him. His coat whipped wildly.

At the peak of his jump, he was level with the circling dragons.One of them saw him. Turned its massive head. Eyes locked onto him.

It opened its mouth. Cold light shined inside.Aldrich had already summoned his light sword.

The dragon released freezing mist.But Aldrich was already moving.He activated Light Exchange.

His eyes locked onto a chunk of ice on the wall below.

"Exchange."

He swapped positions.Suddenly he was back on the wall.he had dodged the cold breath the dragon released.

But Aldrich didn’t stop.He jumped again. Higher this time.The dragon turned. Where did the human go?it thought

Aldrich appeared beside it. Mid air.He swung his light sword.The blade cut through the dragon’s wing.

The wing split. Torn. The dragon roared in pain.It began to fall. Spinning Out of control.

It crashed into the snow below. The impact shook the ground.Ice Wolves scattered. The dragon’s body crushed several of them.

Aldrich was falling as well. Gravity pulling him down.He locked onto another chunk of ice on the wall.

"Exchange."

He swapped back. Landed safely.

Breathing hard. Essence draining fast.But one dragon was down.Two more circled above.

And they were angry.Both dragons dove at once. Straight toward Aldrich.

Their mouths opened. Freezing mist building inside.Aldrich prepared to jump again.

But then he saw it.Below the wall, in the chaos of battle, something moved.A massive shape. Rising from the snow.

Tentacles.

Huge,Thick. Made of frozen ice.A Frozen Kraken.

Its body emerged slowly. Twenty feet tall. Covered in ice armor. Tentacles waving in the air like serpents.

One tentacle shot forward.It smashed through the wall. Stone and ice exploded.

Soldiers screamed. Some fell. Grabbed by the tentacle. Lifted into the air.

And among them was Freya.The tentacle wrapped around her waist. She gasped. Couldn’t breathe. Her ribs were cracking under the pressure.

Her ice serpent dissolved. She couldn’t maintain it. Too much pain.The tentacle lifted her higher. Pulling her toward the Kraken’s mouth.

Aldrich saw it happen.Everything else disappeared.The dragons. The giants. The wolves.

All he saw was Freya, he couldn’t lget t her due

"NO!"

His body moved on instinct.Speed of Hermes. Full power.He shot across the wall. Faster than thought.His light sword shined,He leaped off the wall. Straight toward the Kraken.

The tentacle holding Freya was thick. Armored with ice.But Aldrich’s sword cut through it like water.The tentacle split. Severed completely.

Freya fell.buy Aldrich caught her mid air. His arms wrapped around her.They were falling now. Fifty feet above the ground. About to hit the snow. About to hit the monsters.

But Aldrich locked his eyes onto the wall.

A guard tower. Still standing.

"Exchange." He muttered

They swapped positions.Suddenly they were on the tower.Aldrich landed hard. His knees buckled. But he didn’t let go of Freya.He set her down gently.

She was breathing hard. Gasping. Her hand pressed against her ribs. Pain in her eyes.But she was alive.

She looked up at him. Their faces were inches apart.

"You... saved me."

Aldrich’s voice was quiet. "Always."

For a moment, the battle didn’t exist.

Just the two of them. Staring at each other.

Freya’s ice blue eyes searching his face. Something changed in her expression.But the moment shattered by a dragon’s roar.

Aldrich looked up.Both dragons already on them.Mouths open. Freezing mist building.

"Stay here," Aldrich said.

He stood. His legs were shaking. Essence nearly depleted.

But he raised his sword anyway.

"I’m not done yet."

The dragons came closer and closer,They breathed.Freezing mist poured toward the tower.Aldrich prepared to jump. To dodge, to do anything.

A voice boomed across the battlefield.

"SEND FOR THE TWIN WARLORDS!"

General Bjorn. Standing at the center of the wall. And from the city below, two figures appeared.

Walking calmly through the chaos. Through the panicking civilians. Through the burning buildings.Two women,Identical.Silver white hair. Ic -blue eyes. Matching armor.They moved in perfect sync. Like mirror images.

Astrid and Ingrid Frostborn.The Twin Warlords.They reached the base of the wall. Looked up at the battlefield. At the monsters. At the dragons diving toward Aldrich.

Astrid smiled slightly. "Took them long enough to call us."

Ingrid stretched her arms. "I was getting bored anyway."

Both raised their hands.And the water in the snow began to move.