the Gods they worshipped, the Mongols were highly tolerant of most religions, meaning that man was free to believe what they wanted.
As for their ruler, Genghis Khan believed in Shamanism, a religion connected to the realm of Fae. For this was a religious practice that involves a shaman, one who was believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness. The goal of this was usually to direct these spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for healing, or some other purpose I couldn’t give a fuck about.
All I knew was that the connections and the power obtained through these rituals were connected to Fae life. And as far as I could tell without asking outright, was that there was a reason the Mongol Empire became the largest contiguous empire in history, even after Genghis Khan’s death. And why, because Carn’reau, being worshipped as a God, had made it happen.
After all, he was known as a God of War for a reason.
And speaking of war,
“What is their race?” I asked my now commander and general.
“As of yet, it is still unknown, my Lord.” Again, I forced down the urge to sigh and scrub a frustrated hand down my face whilst muttering, ‘for fuck sake’, something I would have felt free to do in the human realm.
“And their leader?”
“Still unknown, and as for the look of things, he is either a coward or non-existent.” Now this did make me raise a brow for both were uncommon in Hell. An army without a leader was unheard of and one found at the back of his army calling the shots almost more so. For no army in Hell would have respected such a ruler enough to go to war for. No, something definitely wasn’t right here, and it was time to find out.
“Take your Zilant, and get a closer look, I want to know exactly what we are dealing with before our army goes into battle,” I ordered, making his silver eyes flash and the black ring that usually framed the iris started to glow crimson. This was a usual reaction before going to war, and one I had seen many times before. It was a show of excitement for what would soon be delivering death on the horizon.
My general literally lived for moments like this and it was the first time that I felt anything akin to feeling sorry for him. For if death was all that heated his blood then he was fucking missing out that was for damn sure! My thoughts of last night and being seated in the warmth of my Chosen One’s core was a memory that only strengthened that sentiment.
He bowed his head before turning his back on the shadow of an army barely seen from the cover of the Echoing Forest. Then he ran a gauntleted hand over the scaled head of his restless steed, before grabbing its horn and using it as leverage to heave his large body upon its back. Carn’reau and I shared a similar build, yet he was a few inches taller. Fae were known for their height of course, but were normally of a slimmer build, like most of his army. However, Fae royalty was the exception, for it had to be said the lineage of rulers were obviously known for breeding big, powerful bastards. Making me wonder what his brothers looked like?
My musing didn’t last long as I watched my general take flight, with his Zilant’s battle cry echoing along my lands, warning of all the rivers of blood that would be sure to follow. However, the moment the beast’s body swooped low at his command I knew there was something wrong when the shadows didn’t move. There were very few that wouldn’t have been running by now with such a sight coming at them.
“What the fuck?” I muttered the second I saw it suddenly get as low as it could before gliding straight through the army. But the mass of bodies didn’t go crashing into the forest as they should. Horns didn’t spear flesh and the whip of eight barbed tipped tails were met by nothing but smoke.
Smoke and mirrors.
Fuck!
The army wasn’t fucking real! I growled before letting loose a demonic roar of rage when suddenly I knew what this had been. A fucking diversion! The army around me took in my deadly demeanour quickly and in response gave me space as my demon snarled back over at my castle.