Total Midnight Chapter 0: The Prologue

The vanguard. Really. The Midnight Hour was approaching fast and they had to hold this place for as long as possible, or at least until it ended. Dirk shivered in his black and gold trimmed lieutenant's armour the fur collar giving little warmth. This was a suicide mission he knew, none of the commander's had bothered to show up, he was surrounded by cannon fodder.
"Sir, it's almost time." He looked down, surprised. The man who had spoken was only a private, he looked to be only a boy. Gods they seem to get younger everyday.
"I know. We must hold them back so our families can sleep safe." The boy nodded
"Of course sir." Dirk stood there staring at the boy until he turned back into formation. Damn it was cold. He'd be fine facing this threat if it wasn't so damn cold. The chill that had taken the still air was lowering the morale significantly, he could see, the troops shuffling to keep the blood flowing. Then it happened. The air shifted, time standing still for what would be the longest hour they had every experienced.
"Get ready men, the time is now. This is what you've all been trained for. Give 'em all you've got and we can all go home to our loved ones with one hell of a story to tell." Dirk's little speech seemed to rally the troops even if it was only marginally. He scanned the pitch black that stood in front of them, seemingly going on for eternity. Then, movement, quick as a flash creatures emerged from the shadows, dark monstrosities whose elongated limbs ended in razor sharp claws, their hungering maws lined with knife like teeth.
"Hold steady men!" it seemed that this was going to be an easy fight, sure the creatures were fast but there was few of them to say the least. These creatures moved fast but they couldn't get through the shields as the men packed together. Still he felt uneasy, something wasn't quite right. Suddenly there was a blood-curdling scream that came from one of the men at the right flank. looking in the direction of the scream he noticed one of the men impaled through the chest with what appeared to be a massive barbed spear. As the man struggled, he noticed that the barbs were growing, causing the man's screams to intensify as they penetrated his body. Suddenly a thousand needles seemed to erupt from the man's skin intensifying his screams ten-fold. the troops around him stared on in horror frozen in spot. Then, there was another scream as another man was speared, then another, and another. Fear spread through the ranks, as more and more spears hit unsuspecting troops. Dirk drew his broadsword.
"Hold it together men!" All of a sudden the darkness shifted again as thousands of humanoid creatures came forth. Were they in formation? That couldn't be. How can they be organised? More of the quicker creature flowed from between the ranks of the humanoid creatures. These creatures took advantage of the fear that the spears had caused, sowing chaos through the ranks as they flayed his men of their armour before stripping them of their flesh in front of their comrades. He saw one come for him as he sidestepped it's attack, cleaving it in half with a great sweep of his broadsword. The creature let out a sharp high pitch scream before eroding into the earth. He looked back at the enemy formation in front of him as he noticed that behind them more creatures had emerged, these ones looked almost scorpion-like, their tails holding the spears that had been taking out his men from a distance. He knew they needed to take them out first, but how were they going to get to them past the formation that was holding up strong against his units. The humanoid creatures seemed to be evenly matched against his troops but the other creatures were making it a slaughter-fest. Bodies lay strewn across the battlefield, some missing skin, some missing limbs, others lay with their guts strewn in front of them. It was a mess to be sure. The air began to grow thick, almost palpable, all of a sudden. Then came the whispers, almost completely undistinguishable, but still somehow terrifying. Finally the source emerged from the wall of black. It was double the size of any man, dwarfing the creatures around it in it's intimidating form. It held a massive broadsword in one hand, it's other hand a massive claw that seemed to swirl with darkness. He took his stare away from the figure as one of the men ran into him. It was the private that had spoken before, he was gibbering like a mad man,
"I can hear them, they're in my head, the voices, heheh, I want them to stop, but they're screaming," He began clawing at his face.
"Make them stop, make them stop, heheh, they won't stop, they'll never stop, but I'll get rid of them, I'll get them out of my head."
The private began clawing harder, causing blood to stream from his face as he created large gashes. He just laughed maniacally as he began clawing at his eyes, blood rushing as he tore his own eyes out. Dirk could only look on in horror as the boy disfigured himself. He then began to notice more and more of his men doing the same. His troops were just breaking down into dissension, all order completely lost. The creatures were slaughtering them and he could do nothing but look on. The whispers intensified as he was suddenly faced with a large imposing creature in front of him. He looked up to see the commander staring down at him, his gut sank.
"I'm sorry Sarah, I failed." Was all he could muster, the last sight he saw was the massive claw descending upon him.