PROLOGUE:
The light shot through the clouds like arrows crossing the sky, Elewyn opened her eyes to the morning sun, the birds singing, and the usual sound of metal clashing as battles from the night previous had begun dwindling down.
The wounds the Aiver Warriors showed up to camp with seemed unnatural by all means. Some soldier, Grown men, trained to fight The great Granidra Drachae Of the Wyldelands came back screaming like babies. But she could see why, in the end their wings Frost burnt, their armour melted to their skin, their weapons gone But left markings where they used to be.
The summoners tried every domain they could to bring something to the battlefield that would turn the tides, but to no avail.
Elewyn walked through camp from her small tent, to a camp fire where she could see her squad sitting, She noticed the one everyone called snow first, her Astral markings giving her away.
As she grew closer to the campfire she could hear the sizzling of food, and the rolling thunder of water boiling.
The fire crackled like the wood houses that they burnt in keyosea's Outlands.
She could smell the putrid scent of sweat, and blood. Her squads campfire oddly close to a medical tent. She could hear the faint moans & cries of pain & anguish of patients being treated. Only faintly due to the Magic the medics used to surround their tents & structures.
The smoke visible to the naked eye, the wood harvested from the keyosea region, ignites as if almost soaked in oil, leaving behind a rancid scent, and thick smoke. Soot & Ash covered the surrounding area.
Elewyn was sitting in camp around the fire, with her small squad of Specialists.
Each one knew how to do something different. But the one Elewyn looked at with the highest respect was this little girl, whom looked Hauntingly Similar to the twin she had watched cut down years before.
Thoughts began swelling in her head, and myst formed in her eyes, only momentarily.
She was covered in what appeared like a massive tattoo to many of the Aiverian, but if any of the Aiver had been part of the Wyldeland Incursions, they would know it's not a tattoo but a mark from the titan that chose her as their champion.
***
'You cannot keep quiet for long young Aiver, She knows what your mind holds within it, she is one who can calm you when you go through your snaps'
**
She looked around & saw Snow glancing in her direction, although her eyes met Elewyn's, she seemed lost in a place many would not understand. Her head held low towards the ground, her Stars flaring up as though on the verge of casting a spell, she was long gone in thought like Elewyn first suspected.
As Snow caught her concentration on reality, she noticed Elewyn Starring at her with a distant look on her face. Snow knew what this look meant and immediately began to worry.
'Elewyn, why are you so down this morning?' Snow asked with discretion.
'I'd rather not speak of it Snow, how does your training proceed?'
'Training proceeds well, the stars speak to me at night, and the Moon shines brightly in my dreams'
*
The conversation lasted for a few minutes, before the scent of fresh food reached their noses, & their bellies grumbled as if they'd been starved for days, even though they ate the night previous.
As they ate the meat of a mysterious creature, and a few vegetable based plants they continued with short conversation, In between the grunts & slurps of the soldiers around them.
Elewyn, & Snow where the first two finished out of their squad, they always seemed to eat the quickest, but they also turned most activities during their free time into competition.
Snow, usually the winner just from sheer mystical might.
***
Small conversation & silent moments of reflection where disrupted by the blood chilling sound of Stellari Shamanic War Cries growing closer by the second, the sounds of the Shamanic war cries were that of the world itself, and the sounds where horrifying to the Aiverian soldiers. The war cries where Accompanied by the Piercing sound of war horns on the horizon, indicating that the Stellari Mounted forces had arrived. Soon the sounds of Elemental Magic & clashing of metal against one another was a cacophony in the ears of all encamped in the vicinity.
'SOLDIERS TO ATTENTION'
An Aiverian General Bellowed across the camp, as one Bellowed others Followed in Suit. Soon Aiverian Military leadership could be heard across the battlefield for what seemed like miles.
This was not a bellow of Assault, or Assembly. This was a Bellow of fear, and retreat.
Elewyn, & Snow spun to face the direction of the nearest Commanding officer, to see what the orders were.
Tangrash, The Commanding officer of Estewyr Battalion, Glared at his squads, each squad, a squad of special operations units meant to fill various roles on the battlefield, While fighting for each other. The battalion was the first time Elewyn & Snow had laid eyes on each other, since that day they fought side by side in many campaigns.
Tangrash Bellowed to his Battalion 'Soldiers, fallback to the Leviathan Islands of Aiveria. They cannot possibly reach us on the isles of the skies. They do not have the Wings we do'
With those words, and the sounds they heard coming from their general area, the Aiverian soldiers took towards the sky. Many chose not to look back, hearing the chilling sounds of Ice encase flesh, and hearing the blood-curdling cries of Aiverian falling from the sky, with no way to stop it.
Few Aiverian were left behind, Many stayed on the ground to protect the retreat, knowing the higher gods would greet them in Shad-radema, The High Heaven of the Aiverian, or they would see the Leviathan Isles Of Aiveria Again.
The Leadership lost hope for the ones on the ground when they turned to see the sheer numbers of the Stellari War force.
The Stellari had brought a new form of warfare to the battlefield, one the Aiverian had not prepared for, No peoples of Ovisia prepared for the warfare they were met with.
Natural Elements manipulated and weaved in ways unforeseen by the world.
The Aiverian People Had begun calling them Shamans, Elemental magi, that specialized in various forms of the arts. Many summoned spirits from nothingness, others summoned weapons from thin air or the smallest components. But the one that caused the most problems were the Life-Bearers, they healed the Stellari Wounded in a matter of seconds, making them almost impossible to stop.
The Stellari were always known for their heavy Beliefs in the Lunar Cycle and Astral systems, but this sudden fascination with the elements was new, and made battles with them much more difficult.
In combination with the Stellari Shamans, The Stellari Shield Warriors, and Graceful combatants made for a force even the Aiver couldn't match. Although unrelenting in their own ways, the power the Stellari Displayed on the battlefield was astounding. Using all around them to their advantage.
Then there was the Pegasus force, A force of Mounted Units that the Aiver could only manage with the Magic of the Dark Summoners, but even they struggled to find a Being of equality to the Pegasus force.
Elewyn, snow & Tangrash sat with their Company on the Virkon Isle, an Isle that levitated high in the Ovisian Sky, within the borders of Aiveria. Not the only Isle of its kind, but one of the largest, large enough that in the distance behind them they could see a stronghold waiting for them to enter.
Three quarters of the company looked on in horror as they watched the last few hundred Aiverian fall in honor, fighting for what they believed in, many of the soldiers friends, and brethren of the company that now watched on in terror. Knowing those soldiers were coming for them when they finished with the victims that did not get the chance to escape.
Elewyn Seemed to show a lack of emotion for her fellow brethren, as if lost in the thought of the bloodshed being caused, but snow knew how to bring her back to reality. With a waving of a finger Snow drew a small glyph in the air & spontaneously Elewyn was shroud in what looked like pure darkness from the outside.
What Elewyn seen though was an entirely different vision. Elewyn seen the stars, and moons of Aleatha, the Aleathen Purlue Sky of the Moon courts domain.She was able to point out the few Eclipna that believed the courts deserved a place in the world. Elewyn would only need a few moments in Twilight before she would be calm enough to be brought back to reality.
As the Twilight Shroud began to fade, she noticed the sky had changed to night, three of Ovisia's four moons appeared bright in the sky, and she could hear the sounds of Stellari preparing underneath them.