The Death Element: by Nick Venom (books to read in a lifetime txt) 📕

“Good, Michael. Make sure to go and motivate the company of meatheads. I bet they’re itching for a fight. Let’s not disappoint them.”

“Yes, company leader,” Michael said before disappearing into the company. 

“Meatheads?” Arif questioned. “Aren’t these people a part of the same army as you?”

“They’re not a part of my unit. Only people like Michael I can respect; and that’s because we’ve been through hell together. Everybody else is an imbecile.”

“Huh?” He muttered. “I see why Ingrid despises you.” He muttered under his breath, low enough for Kelsey to not hear him.

Ingrid marched with the company, stuck at the back. She watched as men turned around and laughed at her, making jokes at her expense. She became a laughingstock amongst the company. 

“I don’t want to be here,” She muttered under her breath.  She was worried about being there, not because of her being laughed at, but of the fear she held for Zake. She witnessed his anger up-close and didn’t want to be anywhere near him again.

Unfortunately, Sand Johnson and Arif Kaiser forced her into coming. She knew that, by coming, her time on this land would be cut short. She wouldn’t be granted mercy like the previous time, instead, following in her unit’s footsteps. 

“Kill the Death Element user!” She heard Michael’s voice shout. “Kill the Death Element user!” He was parading from the front to the back with this chant, witnessing people following his chants.

Soon the entire company was chanting, “Kill the Death Element user!” At the top of their lungs. They were treating it as a normal saying, like nothing was off with it. 

“These bastards won't know what’s going to happen.” She muttered to herself/

“And you do?” A voice asked her. The voice belonged to the nearest soldier, Brent Grimes. This private hadn’t been caught up in the joking and laughing that the rest of the company shared in. Unlike them, he was friendly to her. However, this was the first time he had spoken to her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you heard me.”

“It’s okay-” He glanced around before slowing down. “I heard that you saw this Death Element user we’ve been tasked to kill. Be real with me, do you think we’re going to die here.”

“A hundred percent.” She bluntly remarked without hesitation.

“Well-” He rubbed his nape. “Maybe I should start praying.”

“I think you sho-” She was interrupted by the sounds of explosions filling the air. The explosions were then followed by blood-curdling screams and tearful sobs as many men realized that their comrades were blown apart or that they were missing a limb or two.

Explosive traps had been set with skeleton bats manning the string that triggered them. Once the skeleton bats were given the order by Derrick, they pulled on the string and sat back, watching as men were blown apart.

Following the explosive traps, Derrick’s elite soldiers popped out of the forests to throw their daggers. The daggers found themselves embedded in many soldiers. 

Kelsey watched as her company was being torn apart by the explosions and the ambush. The numbers were cut in half, which would’ve deterred any normal and sane captain but not Kelsey. She ordered her men to proceed forward, leaving the wounded to die of their wounds. Medics were ordered to continue, leaving the wounded to bleed out. 

The company was slowly turning on their captain and her destructive orders, but couldn’t gather the strength to stage a mutiny. Instead, they moved forward to complete their mission.

***

“What are their numbers?” Zake asked.

“Forty or so,” Derrick reported.

“Do they look desperate?”

“Yes, my liege.”

“Good, crush them while they’re at their lowest. Tell your elites to continue ambushing them along their path here. Make sure they avoid being seen or killed.”

Derrick nodded. “As you see fit, my liege.”

“Remember, no mercy. They haven’t retreated which means they’re hellbent on destroying us. Don’t let that happen.”

“Yes, my liege.”

***

“Push forward, we’re almost there,” Kelsey shouted. She glanced over her shoulder and witnessed another ambush. The Elite skeletons had ambushed another section of the company, decimating them. The company had become a platoon.

“We need to retreat, we’re going to be overwhelmed here. The Death Element user isn’t dumb. It shows intelligence to set traps and ambush us.”

“He’s a coward. And I intend on telling him that when I have my boot on his neck.”

“Will you survive to see that?” Arif asked.

Kelsey glared at him.

***

The platoon of soldiers reached the clearing, gawking at the sights of the developing kingdom. A few buildings, a barracks, and a watchtower stood defiantly in front of them.

“See, we’re here,” Kelsey said. “Men, ravage this place. Don’t leave a survivor.”

“Don’t leave a survivor!” Her surviving thirty-two men, excluding Brent, shouted. 

“Oh, no survivors?” Zake questioned, appearing from behind a leg of the watchtower.

“You! You’re the Death Element user!” Kelsey exclaimed.

“What if I am?”

“Then-” She looked around the clearing for other threats. “-I’m here to kill you.”

“See if you can try,” He said with a smug smile. “I doubt you can.”

“Oh, you don’t-” She was interrupted by an arrow whizzing past her ear. Mikey popped his head from the top of the watchtower and unleashed a single air, purposely missing her. 

“Yeah, I don’t,” Zake remarked, his smug smile growing in size. 

Angered, Kelsey charged forward. Her men followed her actions, charging forward. Ingrid, Brent, and Arif remained behind, watching as the platoon of thirty-two men raced towards the capitol building. However, Selena and her skeleton soldiers appeared from behind the capitol building, devastating the overwhelmed soldiers.

Kelsey, on the other hand, wasn’t overwhelmed. She engaged in a duel with Zake, blocking his attacks. He emitted darkness from his palms, shooting these beams of darkness towards her. However, she dodged the attacks, reaching him.

Zake quickly crafted a sword made of darkness, swiping at her. She dodged the attack and pierced him in the gut, pushing it farther into his body. “I don’t doubt I can.”

“I think differently,” Zake remarked, grabbing the blade of the sword with his bare hands, and ripping it out of him. He then turned the sword and pierced Kelsey with it. “I stick with my original statement.”

Kelsey looked around, noticing Jessica pop her head from behind another leg of the watchtower. “You win, but-” She pushed Zake away from her and tore the sword out of her body. She was now bleeding from her stomach wound and was nearing death. However, with her fleeting moments, she dashed forward and slashed at Jessica. She caught Jessica off-guard, slicing at her stomach before falling down. Kelsey fell headfirst into the ground, dead in mere seconds. 

“Jessica!” Zake shouted, rushing to her side. 

“Will I die?” She asked. 

“No, you won’t. Derrick, I need help!” He shouted. 

“I see light.”

“No, don’t you dare go towards that light,” Zake shouted. Derrick appeared at his side, horrified to see Jessica’s state. “Can you heal her?”

“I’m afraid not. Neither can Selena or Mikey. None of us monsters have the abilities that a Holy Element user would have.”

“Can you tell if there are any Holy Element users near us?”

“The captain of the unit from a few weeks ago was one.”

“Is she here?”

“My skeleton bats tell me, yes.”

“Get here, kill the rest.”

“As you see fit, my liege.”

Derrick disappeared, ordering his Elites to nab Ingrid while Selena dealt with the remaining soldiers. 

The Elites surrounded Ingrid. Brent and Arif, who stood by her side, brandished their weapons. They held their weapons up, pointing them at the skeletons. 

“We’re outnumbered!” Brent shouted.

“We’re dead. I should’ve counted my blessings.” Ingrid whispered to herself. 

Arif waved a baton at the skeletons. “Let’s go down with a fight!” He declared.

“I would prefer it if you-” Derrick said, appearing from the dense vegetation. He pointed a bony finger at Ingrid. “-followed us willingly.”

“You want me?” Ingrid asked, pointing at herself.

“You are a Holy Element user, correct?” He asked. She nodded her head. “We need your services.”

“You want me to follow you?”

“My liege would appreciate your services.”

Ingrid looked over at Brent and Arif. “What about them?”

Derrick placed a finger over his non-existent throat, slicing it. 

“I’ll go-”

“Good, my liege will like to see you.”

“-but they have to go with me.” Ingrid pointed at Brent and Arif. Derrick glanced over his shoulder towards the watchtower. Knowing that Jessica was dying and wouldn’t survive without Ingrid’s help, Derrick decided to venture on the easy path and allow Brent and Arif to follow them. 

“Let’s go, my liege needs you.”

The only thing that escaped the forest were rumors of Kelsey and her company’s defeat as nobody returned to Bluehaven. This also became the first declaration of war. Zake wanted Bluehaven destroyed by the end of the year. He wanted Ingrid’s superior tortured and killed. He wanted to protect his home, even if he had to walk over Bluehaven to do so.

In the end, he walks on the path of death.

Hello All!

The Death Element is a Connected series. This means that every new season/installment will appear on Revival before being re-released as a separate e-book. 

With that news out of the way, Revival has gotten a new addition aside from Connected and Non-Connected series (Non-Connected series have their first season released on Revival with future seasons/installments not being released on Revival), the release story has changed. Instead of the Rotational style between six or seven series, this new Straightforward style sees a series play out a season's worth of episodes before going onto the next series.

Speaking of the next series, The Assassin & Royal (a Non-Connected series) will be the second series to be released with this Straightforward style. Three episodes have been released before this style has been applied, so the remaining five episodes will be released to finish the season out. 

Thank you for reading this rant of the new version of Revival. Starting with chapters 24+, Revival has changed drastically. This change allowed for the first season of The Death Element to be planned out and written.

I enjoyed writing this series and can’t wait for the second season. As for my next Revival project---The Assassin & Royal: Season One”---I can only hope that it turns out like The Death Element S1 in the amount of motivation and creativity I had for that series.

Publication Date: 12-28-2021

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