Bodies were falling, Iron against Iron, Spell against energy, blood was spurting. This siege From Jonea was merciless. They managed to break through the defences but Ulnerax's technology was unbelievably powerful against Jonea's simple siege's engines. But Jonea had an unprecedented advantage, they were known to have the best Rune-Blades on the Continent. Ulnerax's "Ether" cannons did not last long against the runic weapons of the Rune-Blades, Jonea's greatest proud. Their army of Rune-Blade was their greatest asset against Ulnerax's Ether technology. Ulnerax's forces weakened as Jonea's forces were penetrating their defences. Panic set in at the fort. The Guardian of the fort, General Garast, was desperatex and was considering all possible strategies while waiting for news from the empire, but he could see no way out. A messenger came to him and told him that they had a call on, the crystaphones from the Supreme Commander of the Ulnerax military force. Garast did not wasted any time and ran to pick up the cristaphone and ask:
- Hello my lord, sorry for rushing you but are you sending us any reinforcements because we need them urgently !
A voice answered from the Cristaphone:
- General Garast, unfortunately we can't afford to send you soldiers as they are mostly all on our invasion attempts on Kraan lands but his majesty the emperor sends you .....hum, his majesty sends you his "best" man on this matter. A mercenary ..... One advice, whatever this man tells you listen to him and obey if you don't want to find yourself impaled .
The call ended. A soldier asked the general if the elite armies were coming to help them. The General replied:
- No army, but one man, the best apparently.
A few hours later, a man on horseback rode into the middle of the battlefield, wearing a black cloak and carrying a sword on his back. The snow began to fall at that very moment, and when he arrived, the General came up and asked him:
- Well I have orders to listen to everything you tell me so what do you want from us ?
The man turned to the general, his face hidden by his hood, and replied:
- Tell your men to stay back, I'll take care of them.
The General was surprised by this request and told all of his men to fall back behind the last barriers and to let the men in black come through. The Ulnerax forces placed their defences behind the man. Two Rune-Blades swung at the man but before they knew it, they had been sliced in half and their body parts were frozen. In a fraction of a second, the warrior had drawn his sword and sliced them clean through. The blade of his sword was covered in frost: he was a Rune-Blade !
Thinking that his element was ice, the Rune-Blades of fire took first position. They threw fiery spells at him, but none of them hit him, he was protected by some kind of shield around him, a shield of wind. The flames concentrated into a single flaming orb, then the Rune-Blade of Ulnerax pointed his sword at the Rune-Blades and the orb shattered and imploded in the middle of the Rune-Blades squad. Almost all of the Blade-Runes had been killed. He possessed the powers of ice, wind and fire. He was almost unstoppable, he was protected by the storm, his sword froze everything it touched and he consumed his enemies by burning them with fiery spells. He advanced towards the remnants of Jona's troops and continued his carnage, swinging his blade to anything near him and exploding everything around him. Then a man arrived on the battlefield, his arrival encouraged the men of Jonea and they shouted "Long live the King, long live the King!"
The King of Jonea was standing in the middle of the battlefield. He pulled out a huge shield and a spear and a golden aura surrounded him. The dark rune-blade frowned and stood guard. Their battle area took the shape of a circle and they both went around the same circle. Before anyone could say anything, the black rune-blade charged at the King of Jonea and struck him with his frozen blade, but his blow was parried by the king's shield and it was he who was struck by the king's spear, which was surrounded by a golden aura . The King of Jonea was using Holy magic, the power of Light. The black rune-blade was wounded by this blow but did not fall, then he cauterised the wound to avoid possible infection and then went back on guard. Seeing very well that close combat would be a mistake, he decided to assault him with fire spells until he left a gap in his guard and put his plan into action. Dozens of burning bolts of fire traced their way to the king but were all blocked by his sacred shield.
Seeing his victory at hand, the king charged at the rune-blade, only to be hit in the chest by a column of stone. At first, he didn't understand who or where the spell had come from, but then he realized that where the black rune-blade had placed his left gauntlet, there was a hole in the rock. The black rune-blade had therefore mastered all four elemental powers. From his sword ice, from his armor wind, from his right gauntlet fire and from his left gauntlet earth The king stepped forward and said in a soft but authoritative voice:
- I've underestimated you, what's your name?
Surprised by his question, the black rune-blade answered in a voice of his own:
-My name,.... what does it matter?
The king continued:
- Why are you siding with them? With your power, you could help us fight the tyranny of the Ulnerax Empire.
As if to answer, the black rune-blade laughed, a sinister laugh, then stood up and replied violently:
- Why? I'm not fighting for them, all I want is a decent fight, an opponent worthy of me, and you've given me that. I'm finally going to give it my all!
The black rune-blade raised its blade to the sky and howled:
- May the Anger of the Earth hear my call! May the Rage of the Winds answer me! May the Fury of the Ice come to my aid! May the Wrath of Fire fall upon my enemy!
The black rune-blade had launched an incantation, calling on the power of the elements to reinforce his powers. The elemental powers enhanced his blade and it took on a colorful aura, shining like a rainbow. He stood guard and cast further protective and reinforcing spells to finish the job in one fell swoop. The king, seeing that everything was going to be decided on this one blow, himself launched an incantation:
- Heavenly Spirit, Provider of Peace, Guardian of Freedom and Lord of Light, give me the strength to defeat my adversary and bring down the enemies of your sacred word !
The powers of the Light permeated the king, and he himself cast a few protective spells and put himself on guard. Their runes were entirelly filled of energy. For a few moments, everyone, Ulneraxians and Joneans alike, were stressing out because of the aura these two fighters emitted. Then it was time for the final strike, as they ran towards each other at blinding speed. The final blow was invisible to all, as the impact of their weapons created a shockwave of unprecedented power. The entire fortress crumbled into ruined and most of the Ulneraxian soldiers died whith the fall. Everyone looked at the dualers, then saw the black rune-blade drop to his knees with the king's spear across his chest, then say these words to the king:
- Thank you, I've been fulfilled to the end.
Then he fell to the ground and didn't get up again. The snow stopped. The king himself got down on one knee and said:
- Yes, it was a great fight, I wish I'd known your name. Such a shame that no one will know about the greatest rune-blade that i've ever seen.
The Jonean warriors ran to their king, who was himself wounded in the right rib. Thankfully with his shield he had been able to save his army from the devatsation of their clash but it costed him this enormous wound. The healers brought their king back to their camp, the sieged had ended since there was no more fortress to take down but before the Jonean could capture him to interrogate him, the General Garrast preffered to suicide than betraying his faction.
Once he had recovered from his wound, a week after the battle he asked for his adversary's body to be found, so he could found out who he was and try to atleast give glory to this wonderfull opponent. It was fetched, but no body was found, and instead a hidden message was found, the words of which read:
- I'll be back, Sire Evyglis Sarvegla.
While everyone was shocked at the news of this dead man coming back to life, the king rose to his feet and shouted into the hall:
- How does he know my Name?
Because none knew his true name, only his closest advisors and his wife. And a random powerfull warrior who could turned out to be a threat knew his deepest secret...
But who is this Dark Strider ? This man wich seems to always be followed by the calm breath of winter.