We need you!!! - Tale of the week 30 // 2 Votes per member.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

Deliver your vote!!

Read the stories and vote for the one you like most.

2 Votes per person

Submission 1

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Seventh Battalion


"I told them... They weren't ready..." Spat Gargarious at the dead prince's body. "But, what did they do? Send them anyway... Second legion my a..."
"Garg!" Yelled a man, Gargarious quickly looked back, to see his battle-worn comrade, filled with blood, gashed and open wounds, running to him as he collapsed, Gargarious felt some sort of a sting in his heart, he kneeled down near his wounded friend;
"You'll be all-right, I promise you. You'll be fine. We've won, the healers are coming to assist the wounded, you'll be just fine" Gragarious mumbled helplessly as his friend stared back at him and suddenly smiled;
"That was one hell of a first battle... Eh?"
"Yeah. You did good, thanks for the help."
"My pleasure, Garg..." He said and his eyes became veiled, his breath disappearing and his heart stopping.
Gragarious got up with a pinch in his heart which went so deep, he thought it would crack him in half, he approached the enemy prince which he slew only moments again, and cut his head off, lifting it up from the hairs and approaching his dead friend's body...
"This one's... For you..." He threw the head at the enemy soldiers which were trying to gather themselves after this insane battle, and defeat for them, after being allowed to carry their fellow soldiers' bodies to their lands, the soldiers were awestruck, soon after the head landed near them, Gragarious ran to them, roaring, sword flinging in the air... He's had enough of life...

Submission 2

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Eulogy



Twelve weeks. Blood and fire. I stand alone now, amidst a field of the fallen, looking down into the face of my friend. He is gone now. He rose from the ranks to become our leader. He led us, inspired us, drove us onward through every challenge until our fame spread across every hill and dale of Total War Center.

Through week after week, struggle after struggle, he remained ever the voice of reason, ever the leader of the charge. A new week, a new battle to the death. And now he has left us. . .

I find myself dazed, the hot glow of a blood-red sun beating down upon my armor. It seems too much to believe. Were it not for him, I would not stride this battlefield today. If not for him, many the glory would have been lost, many the warrior would lie forgotten upon the field of battle. If not for his bravery, heroes we would not be.

He wielded his pen as a flaming sword and called for others to follow trembling where he tread in might.

His name? I give it to you, the name of a fallen hero, of a new Achilles,a name for the ages--mollsomg!!!!!!

Submission 3

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A New Leonidas

Today is the day where we, Spartans worth the worship of the other Greeks. Are holding out against the Romans at Thermopylae, our last bastion of defense. Truth be told that we are only 300, against their huge army of 10.000 men! It is the day where we shall die....... WITH HONOR AND GLORY!!

Pausanias, a cowardly figure can only listen to these words of bravery, yet a presence touches him, both inside his heart and outside his bodies. It is the deceased Leonidas. Who holds the Persian with his 300 soldiers, including himself here in this place where stains of blood has not been cleaned yet. Perhaps it is time he changes for the better.

There, the Romans are at us. Hold them at bay, I, Pausanias, sees them throwing their javelins, which they called pilum, if in plural is pila. I see 30 of my hardy fellows fall down. With blood coming out of their mouth, their face, their body, and lastly, their legs.

The Romans have all but one flaw, I know they are powerful, disciplined, an army worh our respect. But there is one and one only. Their leaders are in an internal strife. Soon, after we hold them out long enough they will fight themselves. I guarantee it.

The remaining 9.000 men of Rome has been demoralized by the Spartan moral. Their leaders, Publius and Cassius fights themselves. Soon enough they all crumble at each other's face to face of Rome's fights.

With Cassius dead to Publius' sword. Pausanias soon rushes at him, his sword has been blessed by the Sun. Cutting his head off his body.

Leonidas, know that I dedicate this victory to you.

Submission 4

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Novelty Gift

“Try something new every day!“ Tycho always said.

What Tycho liked to call his Agèma was now just a mercenary band, Lakedaimonian in name only and leavened with the worst scum of the Peloponnesus.

But the Oracle at Theudoria, high in the Pindus Mountains, changed their luck.

Nikephoros led the storming party, killing most of the Molossian guards before they even found their swords. Tycho then got to work on Sophia, leader of the acolytes. She was quite stubborn, and by the time Tycho got what he wanted, was missing several fingernails.

Rather than return south to their employer, Tycho took the band east to Macedonia. Their fortunes waxed in the succeeding months as they learned how to use their prize. Tycho operating the Box and Nikephoros interpreting the Scroll. The foreign incantations were clear, but undecipherable. Marginal notes, scrawled in a shaky hand, only hinted at their meaning.

Then Tycho got the band into a situation beyond even the capabilities of the God-Box. Finding the army they were employed to join already destroyed, they were ambushed by thousands of Thracian tribesmen and forced into a tight knot, sheltering behind their shields from incoming javelins.

None of the commands were any good this time. Blinding Light wouldn't last long enough for them to make their escape, Cloud of Sleep was too local in its effect and the Lightning of Zeus would kill just a few score among the multitude.

“Find something stronger!” Tycho yelled in Nikephoros's ear as they crouched under the great slab around which they had based their last stand.

“No! I don't know what it does!”

“Do what you're told you whore-son, what could be worse than this?”

Reluctantly, Nikephoros gave the pronunciation for the command that had no notes against it. Tycho stood straight, God-Box in hand, and addressed himself to heaven proclaiming the barbaric syllables...

“KLUS-TYR-BOM-MY-PO-SY-CHON”

There followed the loudest noise Niko had ever heard, thunder, earthquake and fire all rolled into one.

Some unknown time later, he awoke and crawled painfully out from under the slab. The whole plain was pock-marked with craters and the only remaining signs of life were piled body-parts. By some strange irony, he stumbled on the head of Tycho, still bearing an expression of surprise. On a whim he lifted it and addressed his ex-leader.

“So, what would you like to try next?”

Submission 5

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

HAZE...

"I've walked this field before. The field littered with bodies of brave heroes and vile enemies. Ages before...And now I walk upon it today."

The lone Spartan straightens up and looks into the distance. His eyes gazing into distance, almost as if trying to see beyond the limits of time, somewhere where he used to burn with same passion, in some other age.
It finally hits him...As the warm finally flushes the chill away from his tired body, he starts to feel the cold rim oh his helmet cutting into his skin just below the eyes...He remembers what made him live through the day...
It wasn't the will to live, it wasn't the training he endured since the earliest days of infancy that he could remember...It was the words his "civilized" enemy spoke, while commanding savage slave tribes...
"Surrender your weapons, Spartans!"
He remembered the overbearing attitude of the foul fiend...The tingling feeling of rage burning up the last bits of his sanity...

He slowly kneels down, cutting a head off from one the dead savage slave, and lifts it up, having thrown his sword away, looking into it's empty eyes, almost as if looking for an answer...
The lips cracking dry, open and unleash a thunderous shout, turning his face, just a mere moment ago an example of serenity, into beastly distorted face of terrors:
"MOLON LAVE!!!" *
Now, with a limp, he looks into distance, the head of savage dangling by it's blond hair and whispers, almost tenderly:
"Molon lave, tora..." **
A late-day haze sets in the field of horrors as a Spartan Paean slowly sends a steady stream of welcome chill through his spine.
Checking the weight of his shield on his left arm, he threads slowly towards his unit readying for the final charge at the bewildered remnants of Roman army now free of barbarian allies...

*Come and get them. = Free translated quote, you all are more or less familiar with, attributed to Leonidas at Thermopylae as an answer to Persian request to lay down their weapons.

**Come and get them, now...= Pay attention to the way it's spoken. "Tora" is modern greek, as I didn't manage to find ancient greek version of "now" term.

Submission 6

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A life had and lost

Slias knew what was coming….

Only one foe could inflict such carnage upon a legion….

Only one enemy severed the heads of the fallen….

Only one evil could turn the sky, the home of the gods, the colour of Hades….

The horsemen from the East were coming….

Coming by the thousands….

They had slaughtered Rome’s finest legion, the guardians of their Eastern border….

What could one small city do….

Made weak by Roman protection….

His men would need to be strong….

If they faltered then all they knew would be destroyed….

He had seen them come once before….

He still heard their hellish battle cry….

Could still sense the fear that gripped a veteran to his very core….

He still felt the spittle from their horses upon his neck….

The barbs of their arrows as they tore at his body….

The hopelessness as his friends died around him….

The humiliation of slavery….

The searing pain of the pack masters whip….

He could still taste the dust of the chalk mine….

The metallic taste of his own blood as he rotted….

He could feel the ecstasy of escape….

The warmth of sunlight upon his broken frame….

The embrace of his wife he thought he had left forever….

All to be lost….

All to be banished….

All to be forgotten….

All to be replaced….

Replaced by despair that the savage horsemen had returned….

…..and the knowledge that he would never feel again.

[Theodotos I]

Voted. First voter, actually.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

Voted. First voter, actually.

On this one i messed up the first attempt.

[Theodotos I]

How?

[Hesus de bodemloze]

It was an only one vote poll.

[Theodotos I]

Things like that happen. Don't worry.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Arrrg, I accidentally voted for only one, help please, how can I refresh or something in order to change that? I want to vote for 2 :/

[Sunbird Alkibijad]

I cast 3 votes...

[Theodotos I]

Arrrg, I accidentally voted for only one, help please, how can I refresh or something in order to change that? I want to vote for 2 :/

PM Pontifex. As a moderator, he can add in votes manually.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

I cast 3 votes...

Pleas state which vote you wan' t to get removed.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Hesus, can't you add my vote manually? As I entered only 1? if you can, stop by my profile and I'll PM you the vote, currently I have to go... So... Later!

[Hesus de bodemloze]

Hesus, can't you add my vote manually? As I entered only 1? if you can, stop by my profile and I'll PM you the vote, currently I have to go... So... Later!

Go to Pontifex his profile and PM him to add your vote.

[Juvenal]

It would be a good idea to post the picture as well as the submissions.

Maybe in a spoiler?

"Haze" and "Novelty" got my votes. I also really liked "A life had and lost", had the soldier in the picture not been so obviously Spartan I would have voted for it.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Well, my voting was fixed, I'm happy. I hope more non-writers will come by and vote too, the writers are biased (Me amongst them, of course), we need more publicity!

[Theodotos I]

Don't tell me, another run-off. . .

[Juvenal]

Ugh, I'm joint last!

I was actually quite pleased with this week's effort. I suppose it just goes to show that my tastes don't align well with other people here.

Fear my vote gentlemen, it could prove to be the kiss of death! (muhaha etc.)