The sun slowly rose over the city of Thelvadore, bathing the world in warm, orange light. On any other day it would have been a picturesque view, however, on this particular day the wonder was missing.
In the distance, three miles away on the hills surrounding the small valley in which the city rested, stood a line of infantrymen, occasionally interspersed with what looked to be–humanoid–living flames.
Calagrophy de Thal stood at the battlements of the Fortress that formed the last line of defence towards the south. The sight of the enemy army so close to their home sent shivers down her spine. Not because she was worried for her own safety, she had long since left the realm of mortal magicians despite her martial focus, no, she was worried about her own troops.
Centuries of war had left deep scars, both physical and emotional. Many of the survivors belonged to the physically more resilient races, be it draconic beings, Werebeasts, Beastkin tribes like the Bearkin or the Turtlekin, or the more well trained Sunder Elves from the lands far east.
The short lived peace times between the fighting were by far not enough for anyone to recover from the horrors of war that had claimed countless times. The official number was roughly 15.000 soldiers, although she knew that it was more than that. Entire cities had been crushed and raided.
Surveying the forces ready to march, she knew that they had to be stalwart here. This was their last chance to save everything they ever fought for. Everything Thelvadore stood for. How many could even still remember the days in which they had started? Generations had gone by, the short lived races only knowing about the fated past through the tales of those that outlived their relatives.
If her rough count was anything to go by, the adversary outnumbered them three or four to one, odds that would already be hard to overcome. But the Flame Elementals made it very clear that they had a magician of incredible power at their command to support their forces.
If they paid any attention to the battlefield, they would be able to outlast the Thelvadore defences by weeks, if not months. There was no telling who exactly was responsible, although, considering the scale on which this war was fought, Calagrophy was certain that her Queen would know.
And knowing Vuthe de Thal, she would find some way to safeguard them, even if she would have to go against the gods themselves. For all her faults, nobody could accuse Vuthe of being a coward.
The question was, if her efforts would be enough. Truth be told, Calagrophy doubted it. As powerful as Vuthe was, even she had her limits. And if she was worried enough to be personally involved in the protection of the capital, their adversaries had to be truly dangerous.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she shook her head. Enough or not, it would be her duty to give her Majesty enough time to put into place any protections she could muster. That was her task, her duty, as Supreme General of the Thelvadore Liberation Army.
Turning, she looked over the men, women, and other beings who stood at the ready in the courtyard of the Fortress. These soldiers had proven their mettle again and again, fighting countless battles over the centuries. They were the best of the best of the remainder that had once been a grand army.
“Soldiers of Thelvadore!” she spoke, voice hard and loud, carrying easily across the entire Fortress. “For decades you have fought, centuries, even! You have proven your loyalty time and again, returning to the battlefield again and again despite the horrors you witnessed. There was not a moment of doubt in you. I am truly honoured to call you all my brothers and sisters in arms. Today we face our greatest challenge yet. The enemy has laid siege to our capital, to the home of those we’ve sworn to protect! They wish nothing more than to stamp out the peace they enjoyed, to raid and enslave the people who fled from the vice of those who seek to oppress them!”
Slowly she let her gaze wander across the assembled warriors. “When this Kingdom was founded, we did so with the idea to free those who suffer oppression and ill-intent by those in power. Yet, they will not learn their lesson, and now they seek to inflict those same horrors once again. I cannot ask you to throw away your lives. You have given more than anyone should ever give, have worked harder than anyone should ever work, and stood at the ready more times than anyone should ever have to. If you wish to seek a quiet life, then I will not blame you, nobody will! You have given your last, and yet you returned, standing here, side by side with me and all your compatriots. However, if you allow this General one last request, then I would beseech you to raise your arms one last time against those that seek to destroy everything we have built. To protect the principles by which we stand!”
A roar of approval echoed through the reinforced walls of the Fortress. Calagrophy looked on, proud of the army she had built together with her husband over the years. She truly could not ask for better warriors.
Glancing into the distance, seeing the enemy forces beginning to march, she nodded to herself. Corellanium Constronzis had anticipated that they would attack at dawn, to deprive Her Majesty of as much power as they could. The power that the night granted her.
“The horrors of war will not be something you’ll soon be able to forget, but history will remember your sacrifice. The people of Thelvadore could not be prouder of the fine soldiers that protect them. WARRIORS! TODAY WE STAND AT THE PRECIPICE OF FATE! FOR THELVADORE!”
“FOR THELVADORE!”
And with that she summoned her magical battle axe, easily twice the size of her already impressive frame and held it high into the sky, the light of the sun almost bending and absorbed by the golden light.
With a war cry that bested all war cries, she drew upon her draconic gifts, summoning an array of light based attack spells, sending them streaming towards the advancing legions. Next to her, the soldiers on the battlements followed her lead. All manner of magic and weapons were unleashed, from seas of frost to poison laced arrows, and everything in between.
Today would be the day that fate would be decided. Either they won, or they would lose it all. And Calagrophy de Thal would not be found rolling over and exposing her throat.
At least, this battle would be fought by people who had no greater wish than to see the vision of Thelvadore to its end. And she could not be prouder to have these warriors by her side at this moment.
In the distance, near the eastern gate that led into Thelvadore proper, Castaphiel Umnelma watched the enemy forces in the distance, his expression calm and stern. He had led many a battle during his time as the second in command of the Thelvadore Liberation Army, yet this might be the worst matchup he had seen yet.
Over the years he had learned how to hold a Fortress, even earning him the title of Bastion of Paternis. It struck him as odd that this battle outwardly looked far easier than the fierce battle of Paternis had been, but he knew better than to underestimate the adversary.
The Flame Elementals that were interspersed with the infantry line all around the capital of their Kingdom told him all he needed to know about who they were dealing with. No common sorcerer would be able to conjure this many troops, not even after a lifetime of training. Only those that left behind the constraints of mortality would achieve such a feat.
Summoning his massive battlehammer made of purple-grey metal, he turned to his forces. It was the smallest battalion they had left, but it was one that had specialised themselves for just such an occasion. This was their most important defensive location around the capital, and so it fell to him, to make sure nobody would get through.
He looked down at the men and women standing at the ready. Every last one of them met his gaze with one of fierce determination. Morale was low across the army, that much was true. But if there was one thing that the Thelvadore Liberation Army had over the enemy forces, outnumbered as they were, then it was the sheer stubbornness born from a lifetime serving under their Queen.
“I won’t bore you with a long speech, you know that is not my style,” he began with a faint smile. The laughter that came in reply belied the tenseness of the situation, barely hiding the anxiety everyone felt under the thin veil of humour. “You all know why you are here. You were chosen because you are the best of the best that we have to defend our most important fortifications. For over a millennia we have fought the slaver kingdoms, and today they have arrived at our doorstep. It is time for them to learn why we are the last Bastion of Thelvadore.”
A roar rang through the fortress, shouts of approval and yelled encouragement mixing together, giving their determination palpable intent.
“We only have one job, one duty to fulfil. To hold them at bay for as long as we can. WARRIORS! It has been a pleasure to serve as your commander. I am proud of what we have accomplished, and proud of the determination that fuels your relentless spirit. Should we meet our fate today, then we shall have a feast in Altis’ grand halls! FOR THELVADORE!”
“FOR THELVADORE!”
He nodded to himself, turning towards the enemy forces one last time, forces that had already begun their march. With a final moment to steel his resolve, he marched towards the stairs that led to the courtyard below, as the archers and magicians prepared their first volley of pure, concentrated destruction.
Today was the day they would prove their determination.
In the two millennia that Thelvadore has existed, even with all the many wars that they had fought, not once did they have to defend the very city gates from invasion.
All of their troops had experience on the battlefield, few in number but all from powerful and long lived races. Yet never have they experienced the desperation of trying to hold off an army that turned out to be an order of magnitude larger than their own from bursting into the city proper to rampage among the civilians.
The flame magician turned out to be much more powerful than Calagrophy would have given them credit for, and it showed. Over the last few days they had paid dearly for every inch of land they tried so desperately to defend.
Morale was low, the number of dead and wounded uncountable. The Fortresses had fallen one by one, with Castaphiel the last one to retreat behind the city walls. They had managed to hand out their fair share of death, but for every enemy they killed two of those fire elementals took their place.
Even during the nights the enemy had continued unrelenting, ignoring the threat that Her Majesty could pose if she wanted to.
Perhaps that was the plan after all, to lure her out. Calagrophy grimaced as she looked out on the blood soaked plains outside the city walls, littered with the dead.
It didn’t help that the continued absence of Her Majesty on the battlefield had led to a lot of her soldiers losing all hope. Shade Dragon Vuthe de Thal was legendary for her personal involvement at the front lines, even though it’s been nigh on a century since she last properly displayed her combat prowess. She had earned herself numerous accolades and titles through sheer effort and willpower alone, even the prefix before her name a recognition of her mastery and perfection of Shadow Magick.
Now the enemy stood directly in front of the city gates and she still hadn’t shown up.
Calagrophy had learned why, eventually. Over the duration of the battle Corellanium had informed her of the plans being made back in the palace. It made sense in the grand scheme of things, but it didn’t help morale. Not only could she not tell her soldiers the reason for Vuthe’s absences as that would give their game away, even if she could it wouldn’t change a thing for the troops still at the front lines.
She just hoped that Vuthe and Tizanta would be done before the walls fell. It was a desperation move; the kind of hail mary that none of the Thelvadore Council would ever approve of in any other circumstance, but it was the only shot they had. At this point it wasn’t even a question of victory, but one of survival. If those two failed the rest of it didn’t really matter anymore.
Her thoughts were disrupted by the warcry ringing out in the distance, a sure sign that the assault would continue soon. With grim determination she hefted her heavy battle axe, long since tainted a dark red from all the blood the typically so clean white-gold weapon was caked in. There simply was no time to properly clean it.
Straightening herself, she readied herself once more, preparing to give her own warcry in response. She had to rally her troops behind her, prepare them for the counter offensive, but something interrupted her.
A sudden sensation rattled the battlefield, one she hadn’t felt in nigh on a millennia. Like a herald of the apocalypse, a creeping wave of magick washed over the lands; more powerful than anything even the strongest of her soldiers would ever be able to accomplish if they worked together. It was a subtle thing, hidden well beneath the chaos of the world, but so unmistakably there that none would miss it.
In its wake came a shift, a change in the world that made all the alarm bells in her head ring from the sheer intensity and wrongness of it. The natural flow of magick stopped, unnaturally held in the claws of a single being, obeying an authority that transcended the realm of mortal existence.
Just as the enemies crested the nearest hill, the world shifted, sunlight dimmed, and immense power started radiating from the palace. An aura washed over them, indomitable, domineering, and protective. It held the promise of safety for those under its rule, and the certainty of death for those that opposed it.
Despite knowing exactly who was responsible for this, Calagrophy couldn’t help but feel a certain anxiety gripping her heart at the sheer overwhelming force of the feeling. Still, she let out a long breath, forcing herself to calm down. For all the wrongness, it was the one thing she’d been waiting for the entire fight.
Shade Dragon Vuthe de Thal had finally come forward to help protect the capital.
She didn’t know exactly what her best friend had planned, nor did she know what kind of contingencies Tizanta had put into place, but at least now they would have a fighting chance. With Her Majesty finally joining the fray, they would be able to push the attackers back, overwhelm them and take back the Fortresses that they had lost.
But much to Calagrophy’s shock, her best friend had other plans.
Through her aura, Vuthe signalled all of them to return to the palace, to abandon their homes and their stations, to seek shelter in the one place that was certain to protect them. It was a command never before given, yet one that held far too much authority to ignore.
For a moment Calagrophy was shocked, unsure why the Queen would give such an order. But it was unmistakably her, nobody would be able to fake her aura like this. With a feeling of looming dread, Calagrophy remembered the fire elementals, and the sheer power that would be required to keep an army such as this summoned.
It was very likely Vuthe knew something that Calagrophy didn’t. And that alone was terrifying.
“Fall back! To the palace!” she ordered, trying to organise an orderly retreat, wearily watching the army still marching on them.
A torrent of magick rushed through the air, stifling and overbearing. Breathing became hard as the presence of a Goddess took hold of the world around them, forcing existence itself to kneel to her very whims.
With a crack, the spellwork that had covered the city–courtesy of their most accomplished defensive spellcaster, Tizanta isk Thesekar–shattered, like a rainbow breaking apart. But instead of winking out the pieces stopped midair, before moving of their own accord.
Even from the walls Calagrophy could see the Palace, in front of which stood her old friend, radiating power like the sun.
Something rose up behind Vuthe, a gate taller than even the palace itself, and with it came an authority that forced the world to obey and had even Calagrophy, Vuthe’s best friend for millennia, protected by her aura and the will that came with it, buckling in her knees.
People of Thelvadore! Barricade yourself in the palace. Lead young and old, weak and sick, for we leave nobody behind. Fate is upon us on this day, and it is our duty to persevere.
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