“Quickly, men!” shouted a man whose body looked like it had not only seen better days, but also that it had endured the laborious process of High-Class Egyptian Mummification, but with some slight alterations. “Even a blind man could see that they are in trouble! Drive yourselves harder and faster, lest we not reach them in time!”

The mummified military man stood tall atop a chariot pulled by steeds equally as shriveled as himself. Yet, despite the fact that they were not only dead but also shriveled up, the undead horses pulled the commoner-born general’s chariot faster than any living horse could hope to. The mummy of a man leading a legion of cavalry was the one responsible for guiding the Players in the game to the new area released in the expansion he and his Pharaoh were introduced in.

His name was Ratams, and he was not the type to let death stop him from serving his God-Queen. He knew full well who and what was responsible for the column of blackish smoke rising just ahead, and he had a (pardon the undeath pun) bone to pick with the bastards who had, up till now, run roughshod over the innocents he was sworn to protect.

He urged his mixture of living and undead subordinates on towards the village, not knowing that he would meet the man who changed his life oh so long ago and that said man would not be the only one there to greet him.

…

“What useless sacks of soiled sand you all are… To think that you cannot take down a single person!”

A Sand Elf who looked to be obviously more important than the others led a mixture of his own smaller warband and his kinsmen who had fled from Vaile back towards the razed village. He was very disappointed in them, the ones who ran away. Where was their sense of duty and honor? Did they truly think that they could just abandon their task, the one given to them by the greatest of their leaders to ever live, and just walk away intact? No, that was not the case, not by a long shot.

After this interloper was put down, he would punish these cowards for daring to abandon the task set upon them by Melark the Great. While he may not be that lofty personage, he would exact punishment on his great ruler’s behalf.

“But, my Lord, that thing is just-!”

“Shut your damn trap you cowardly mongrel! I did not give you permission to speak! Know that your dereliction of duty will be met with the shortening of your ears!”

“Wha-?! But-!”

“Would you prefer to be blinded as well?! If not, then cease your yammering and lead the charge! If this ‘white-red monster’ is as dangerous as you say, maybe you can regain your honor by dying horribly while slowing it down enough for us to kill it ourselves!”

The remains of the razed village were up ahead, still smoking and still emitting the odor of burning flesh. The war hounds would need something to eat after this, and it made sense to give them the charred meat of the village’s former inhabitants. After all, they were, all of them, beneath the great and mighty Desert Elf race, and should therefore be happy that their bodies would find a use as sustenance for their pets.

The seventy or so Desert Elves approached the village, completely unaware that the cloud of sand and dust kicked up opposite their path was caused by the cavalry of their mortal foe.

…

Vaile stood idle, or rather, he leaned idly up against one of the few walls still left standing in the village, watching over the child he had rescued. She seemed to pay him no mind and just kept offering thanks and other such things to the heavily damaged statue of one of Vaile’s Tamed Beings. Boy, if this kid knew what kind of relationship that he and her beloved Pharaoh had with each other… Well, perhaps it was indeed better that she did not know that truth. After all, sometimes ignorance is bliss while also being exactly what you need to keep yourself sane.

Please see all Lovecraft-inspired literature and media as to why.

Vaile was about to find a place to rest a bit, but as his eyes glanced over at the minimap he had neglected to close, he immediately shifted from casual to combat mode. Two forces, one moving at a higher speed than the other, were closing in on this position. While one of them was made up entirely of green dots (which designated allies), the other was formed completely of red dots, which you may correctly assume was a sign of a hostile force. Still, Vaile felt it would be best to be cautious, and so he grabbed the little girl and leapt into the burned-out wreck of a house that was still intact enough to act as a decent hideaway.

After just over a minute passed, Vaile heard shouts coming from opposing entrances to the town square, followed quickly by the barking of dogs, a flurry of various insults from both parties, and finally a dual order to charge forward. It only took a few moments after that for the two lines to collide into each other, resulting in a decent number of casualties on the Sand Elves’ side as the bodies of horses and riders, both living and undead, smashed their enemy with the full force of a disciplined cavalry charge. This, however, is where things began to become a quagmire.

The rear ranks of the Desert/Sand Elves released their war hounds, which ignored the forces of their masters and attacked the mix of mummies and living people that had now become bogged down in the melee. Vaile peeped out from his hiding spot and realized that he knew one of the mummies in the ‘allied’ cavalry.

“General Ratams! Look out!”

Before Vaile could intervene, the little girl cried out to the mummy Vaile had recognized, who did the wrong thing by looking over to Vaile and the child. This gave a war hound the opportunity it needed to leap up and try and rip off the left arm of the mummified general, but as Vaile had suspected, Ratams had not spent his time in the New World idling around. No, it seemed that Vaile’s mix of P***mon-esque training during the life-cycle of the game combined with Ratams’ own training and duties after the New World became a thing had turned the formerly squishy guide of an NPC into a battle-hardened warrior the likes of which would make someone like Lu Bu look like a mewling infant.

The dog bit down on his left forearm, but Ratams merely sheathed his sword and ripped the upper portion of the dog’s skull off, allowing the lower jaw and the rest of the hound’s body to go slack and fall to the ground. Drawing his sword once again, the mummy of a military man jumped off of his chariot and began to hack his way through the Sand Elves and their war hounds that were causing so much havoc. Vaile took this as his chance and after making sure that the child he was guarding was safely contained and protected within a barrier, joined in on the brawl that was making the village square all the more akin to a scene out of a partially realistic fantasy battle.

With Vaile’s addition to the side of the foes of the Desert Elves, the battle immediately shifted against the marauders. By the time the sun began to set beneath the horizon, there was not a single one of the Sand Elves or their forces left alive, be they man or beast.