ML C9, P7- "Lost Legends Of The Fallen Titan"

"Lost Legends Of The Fallen Titan" is the seventh Part of "Miracula Luxia" 's ninth Chapter- "King Of Hearts". It was released on 25.04.2020.
== Plot ==
Jared and his small army approach Mordreg's Pass in an attempt to convince the giants there to help them out against the cruel overlord Farrar and his army of vicious thugs.
However, they soon realize that there is one of Farrar's men there, keeping the giants in line.
Seeing that they have no choice other than slaying the giants and trying to kill the man, our heroes jump into battle.
== Story ==
On the next morning, half of Formello's best men and women prepare to go with Jared on a journey to the city of Bargha, along with John, Lethal, Annie, Barin and Aimee.
All of them go outside and leave a sizable force of guards to protect the city in their absence.
The small army of capable soldiers approaches Mordreg's Pass and look at it.
"This pass."- Barin says- "I've heard about it."
Jared raises his eyebrow.
"Interesting, Barin. Can you tell me more about it?"
"This isn't the time for stories and myths!"- John stops them- "We have to break through this pass and go further in!"
Jared shushes John.
"Shhh."- He says- "Let him speak. We might be able to learn something useful from those legends."
John sighs and shakes his head.
He turns to Barin.
"Alright, soldier. Speak."
Barin nods and begins:
"Once upon a time, a very, very long time ago, those used to be the lands of a very powerful titan. His name was one that was only spoken in whispers and with lots of fear- Mordreg. He protected his lands shortly before the first expedition of the Empire arrived in Avernum."
"Until the beginning of the expedition, he lived a normal life, constantly feeding on bats, rats, goblins and other smaller vermin, undisturbed by anything. However, when the first humans arrived, he was forced to defend himself. He proved to be quite a prick in the bottoms of the Empire soldiers of old, managing to kill many of them and scaring off the rest. Many more foolish adventurers tried to kill him, but to no avail. He was way too strong... and huge for them."
"And so, Mordreg lived in his lands for many more decades, the expedition unable to expel him from there. He watched as the cities of Spire and Bargha were built to the north and Formello to the south. He caused lots of trouble for them, killing many of the unprepared warriors and leaving many of the still-living ones seriously wounded. This continued for many more years... until the residents of Avernum were tired of his attacks and decided to work together to slay him once and for all."
"All at once, brave warriors from the main part of Avernum, as well as exiles from the Abyss attacked the titan's pass from both sides, slashing and shooting at his legs and trying to bring him down. Unfortunately, even that huge army of brave men and women was not enough to stop him. He easily stomped most of them with his mighty feet and crushed the rest with his huge club."
"Avernum was left without most of its defenders. Mordreg continued attacking the cities of Avernum. Everything seemed lost... until the arrival of a band of four legendary adventurers. However, they were unlike any of the adventurers that Mordreg the Titan has even seen. They had shining armor of the highest quality, the best magic to be ever trained. One of them even had the legendary halberd known as "Giantslayer. When the adventurers attacked the titan and fought valiantly against him, the man with the halberd figured out that his halberd hurts the creature much more than his allies' spells and weapons."
"That's when the brave, young man said to his friend: "Help me jump on his back and defend yourselves! I'll handle the rest!". And just like that... he jumped up, helped by his allies. He slowly climbed further higher on the creature's back. He reached his head."
"Without thinking twice, the man plunged the blade of the huge halberd into the titan's head. One scream came out of the mighty beast, and then... he fell to the ground with a mighty thud. Mordreg the Giant was no more, his reign of terror in the lands of Avernum was finally over."
"After throwing the huge giant's corpse into a river, the residents of the nearby city of Formello built a huge wall, as tall as the former titan himself and named the pass after him- "Mordreg's Pass". And this... is the end of the story."
Jared stares at the wall.
"Well."- He says- "It doesn't look as majestic as it was in the story. But whatever works, I guess."
John is unable to believe the fact that a titan lived here once.
"A titan? Nonsense!"- He says- "Titans are long extinct! The people of Avernum have hunted down all of them before we were even born!"
Barin smiles and shakes his head.
"Well, Mr. Braveheart, it is your choice whether you want to believe in what I said or not. But I assure you of this- the pass will be quite a challenge for us- the Formellian invaders."
Jared nods.
"I think we can all agree to that, Barin."
"Right, John?"
John nods, though still unconviced about the whole titan thing.
Meanwhile, the rest of our heroes bravely approach the pass and its wall and notice that there's no one on it.
"Hmm. This is very suspicious."- Jared says.
He turns to his allies.
"Keep your eyes open. We don't know how many of them might appear at once."
They move forward, but stop when a rock is shot at one of the soldiers, almost hitting him.
Jared looks up and sees a few giants appear from the holes in the walls.
Then some more.
And then... the walls get filled with giants.
"Well, well, well."- One of them says- "Looks like we don't have to hunt for our meal today, boys! It's our lucky day.
"We're not here to fight!"- Jared responds- "We just want to pass and attack Farrar's city from behind. Let us in right this instant!"
The giants look at each other, grin and laugh.
"What is so funny, you dumb creatures?"- John asks them- "Care to share?"
The first giant turns around an grins.
"Farrar is good. He pays us good and lets us guard this place. He even lets us eat decent food."
"So, uh... now you die. Sorry, it's gotta happen."
The giants reluctantly aim their rocks at Jared and his friends.
That's when a man comes out behind them.
"Enough!"- He says.
Jared stares at him suspiciously. He is a huge man, but there isn't much more to say about him, because a huge mask covers his face.
He looks at Jared menacingly as he comes at the end of the wall.
"I've been expecting you, Jared Kaos."- He says.
"Wait a second!"- Jared says- "Who... who are you?"
The man pulls his mask down and smiles.
"I am Nicholas and I am a proud part of Farrar's army in the city of Bargha. The one that will crush all of your weak towns, one by one!"
Jared sighs.
"I am so tired of wanna-be villains like yourself."- He says- "Just say your piece and let's fight. There's a person on the other side of the walls who needs to be slain so Avernum can finally be free."
"I know of your intentions, Mr. Kaos."- Nicholas says- "And I've got a proposition for you. I'll let you and your friends leave. All safe and sound. No one will be slain. However, we want one thing in return- the whole west side of your lands, including your precious Castle."
"What do you say?"
Jared sighs.
"I can see it in your eyes, Nick. You're of the talkative type who always tries to fool someone into believing him and giving them a fake sense of safety. But remember this. No one can fool me, or my friends! We are honest people who don't like wretched, manipulative people such as yourself."
He turns around to his allies.
"And what do we do with wretched and manipulative people."
All of his allies nod and aim their weapons at Nicholas and the giants.
"We make sure that they don't mess with us anymore!"- John yells.
"We cut off their manipulative claws!"- Annie continues.
"We show them that their way is completely wrong... by taking their lives."- Lethal finishes.
"And we don't respond to "please" or "i beg you"."- Jared says and shoots an arrow at Nicholas.
The arrow narrowly misses the man as the giants around him begin to shoot rocks at the invaders.
Seeing that the situation is too dangerous for him to fight, Nicholas decides to flee.
"Coward!"- One of the giant yells when he sees him running away.
"Don't let him get away!"- John yells and shoots at him.
Unfortunately, Nicholas proves to be way too fast for our heroes and they are unable to hit him. He quickly evades the arrows shot at him and flees further in.
"Curses!"- John says.
He turns to Jared.
"Sorry, buddy. He was too fast for us. He ran away like a mouse from a cat."
Jared nods.
"He is the smallest problem right now."- He says- "Look up there!"
John looks up and gets away just as a boulder almost falls on his skull.
He watches in horror as the giants on the wall prepare to send more boulders down.
Unfortunately, this new tactic proves to be too fatal for some of the Formellian invaders. They are crushed by the huge rocks, unable to get away.
John watches in horror as one of the soldiers next to him is completely crushed by the falling rock.
"Jesus Christ... "- He says- "This rock must weigh at least a ton!"
Jared nods.
"Calm down."- He responds- "I have an idea. Help me shoot at the launchers!"
John nods and aims his bow at the launchers.
Just as a giant is about to throw a boulder at one of the soldiers, the young hero shoots an arrow at the machine with all his might, sending the rock falling backwards and crushing the giant's feet.
While the creature is in pain, he uses the opportunity to quickly shoot it in the head.
Jared destroys two of the launchers, the last ones in the line.
The rest of the giant see that their secret weapon is destroyed, but they decide not to give up. They continue throwing small rocks at the heroes, some of them killing the nearest to the wall.
"Jared, they're mowing us down!"- Lethal tells his grandson- "What do we do now?"
Jared thinks about this. Then, he sees a passage in the cave wall nearby.
"Cover me! I'm going to go in there and see what is inside!"- He says.
Lethal and John nod and shoot at the giants as Jared sneaks into the cave.
There, he sees a passage sloping sharply up.
"This must be it."- He says- "Our only way to win this battle- to kill the giants in a direct, melee battle."
"Well, here goes nothing!"
He shows John and his grandpa the passage and the three of them go up there.
Soon, they arrive at the spot of the wall where the giants are shooting from.
Annie sees the three of them and tries to call them out, but is stopped by Commander Jones and Jim.
"It looks like Jared has a plan."- The commander says- "Let's help him finish the job!"
Jim nods.
"Let's jsut hope that they don't get in too much trouble!"- He says.
"They won't."- Commander Jones responds- "The giants are far too slow to fight both us and them, so let's surprise them!"
"Got it."- Jim says- "For Avernum!"
"For Avernum!"- Everyone else yells and continues shooting at the giants.
The huge creatures are completely taken by surprise when some of them are slain by the three heroes on the wall.
Jared, John and Lethal work together to stop the giants from trying to shoot at the invaders below- by slaying them themselves in a hand-to-hand battle.
Fortunately for them, most of the giants are not prepared for a surprise attack and don't have anything else to defend themselves, besides rocks. Those die very easily.
The rest of the giants, however, are a different story. They are well prepared for everything. Once the enemy comes in sight, they leave their rocks on the ground, grab their clubs and swing them at the three heroes.
John takes the frontal blows while Lethal stabs them in the legs. Finally, when they are fallen, Jared stabs them in the heads to finish them off.
Soon, all of the giants are dead, thanks to the superior teamwork of the Formellian raiders.
Unfortunately, many of the brave soldiers died in the fight, leaving Jared with only a very small force to command, consisting of himself, his grandfather, John, Annie, Barin, Aimee, Commander Jones, Jim, as well as fifteen other soldiers.
The rest of them- fifty more, lie on the ground, either crushed by the boulders or with smaller rocks stuck in their heads.
Jared stares at the carnage sadly and sighs.
"Well, our army was almost crushed by this clearly superior force."- He says to his allies- "But the war is not over! As long as there is one of us still standing, we will keep fighting until the bitter end!"
"I know it well, my friends. I know that you are scared. But this is not the time to be scared. This... is the time to be heroes. To be the ones who bring the long-awaited peace into our troubled lands."
"We will live through this! We will crush everyone who dares to stand in our way and show them how wrong they are to challenge us! Is that right, fellow heroes?!"
The remaining raiders cheer loudly.
"Then let's proceed! Avernum counts on us! Let us be the light that helps it to shine once again in this everlasting darkness of conflicting emotions!"
With those words, Jared goes forward, passing numerous corpses of both giants and humans as he does. The rest of the invaders join him without hesitation and all of them walk forward, ready to crush Farrar for what he has done to their lands.
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Slowly but surely, our heroes destroy enemy after enemy and come closer to the city of Bargha.
Soon, they will have the chance to fight Farrar's army and help Jared take on their cruel and tyrannical leader and take him out once and for all without any mercy.
The final battle is close. The light shines stronger and stronger with each defeated enemy.
Soon, the ray of hope will pierce the darkness in the Abyss and show them how powerful the good people of Avernum really are.
Until then, the adventure continues. Day after day, the struggles continue, but the hope does not fade away. The eyes do not close. The heart does not stop beating for the safety of everyone.
Our heroes will keep fighting until their last breath. Onward, brave heroes!
== Trivia ==
* This Part is perhaps one of the few Parts that has a very long title in the "Miracula Luxia" series of stories overall.