In a small unnamed village by the great Nilus river, a young hippopotamus was poking the desert sand with a stick, drawing pictures on the ground.
"When will something interesting happen?" He asked himself, as he dropped the stick and lay down on the soft desert sand.
The sun was shining bright, the fishermen were busy in the river, sugarcane season is getting closer, and a giant fleet of black airships was approaching fast.
Overall, it was a perfectly normal, boring, regula- A GIANT FLEET OF AIRSHIPS APPROACHING FAST?!!!
Quickly standing up on his log-like legs, his pink hide stretching as he ran towards the village.
Finally.
Something interesting was happening.
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"How goes the search for Twiga's crown?" I ask the crystal screen in the communication room, on another airship in front of a different screen, Jason, the man I placed in charge of hunting down the treasures, answered.
"The search has been going well, your Majesty, We managed to recruit the help of some local Crocodiles to find the location of the shrine holding the crown faster, we already narrowed down the location of the shrine, what's left is confirmation, and then retrieval." He told me, his back rigid as he saluted me through the screen.
"Ho? And what about the crocodiles? Will they be a problem?" He hired local help, outside thinking and good leadership is why I appointed this guy as captain of the Argonauts, but you should always know who you're working with.
There's a reason I don't hire Mercenaries to fight for my army, and my lack of funds isn't it.
"Not at all, sir. The Okapi we saved from the Hyena, Miss Pasim, has been a wonderful help to us all. She earned the Crocs' undying loyalty by mixing a medicine from the local herbs to treat the child of a chieftain, and with them loyal to her, and she loyal to you, there shouldn't be a problem." I don't correct him that the Okapi we saved isn't loyal to me, she's only on the fleet to get to her home quicker.
She'll only be loyal if she either manages to convince her village to join the empire, or leaves the village to join the empire.
"Your Majesty, we will be landing in an estimated 15 minutes," One of the soldiers that actually works in the comm room asks me "Shall we send the message to the rest of the fleet?"
"Send it, make sure that the captains have a list of the supplies they used ready when we land," I order him before turning back to Jason "Make sure the Crown gets here before Abyssinia notices we're at their borders, I'm giving you a month to get back here with the crown, is that understood?" I tell Jason.
"We'll be back before the Cats even notice you're there, your greatness!" He salutes one more, hitting his mask with the back of his hand in the process.
"Very well, Dismissed," The screen shuts off, returning to its reflective blue crystal.
I sit on a chair in the middle of the comm room, simply staring at the crystal screen for ten minutes, before I stand up, give another order to the workers in the communications room, and take my exit.
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Down in the Hippo village, the town was gathering around the central plaza, waiting for the chieftain to tell them what to do.
Never has an entire fleet of airships come towards the village as it has at this very moment.
Do they alert the Abyssinians? Do they run away? Do they do something else? They do not know.
And as a purple hippo wearing an expensive coat with a small crown on her head walked onto the stage at the center of town, the hippos went silent.
Their chieftain and self-proclaimed "Princess" Was about to speak.
"People of my fair principality," She started, knowing full well she doesn't have a principality, "We are gathered here on this monumental and historical day," She continued, knowing that a fleet of this size arriving in her village is a historical moment, "To discuss the course of action that we as a community shall take in the effort of dealing with the situation that we have presented with at this moment in time," And finishes her opening with what might be the most neutral wording to the situation she thought she could.
Princess Lavander isn't a princess, but she really wants to be, and there are two ways a common hippo like her could become the most extravagant of royalty.
Make her own principality, or marry a prince.
A Prince would never want to marry a hippo, let alone go to the far reaches of the Great Nilus River to do so, so building a Principality was what she had to do.
And in a matter of sort, she succeeded, turning her small fishing village on the far outskirts of the rich trade kingdom of Abyssinia from a no-name collection of huts near the border to the largest population center of hippos in the south half of the Afcari continent, perhaps even the entire continent, or even the world!
"I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter before coming to a choice, what do you all think should-" And before Lavender could finish the rest of her speech, a small airship, the size of an ocean fishing vessel, landed in front of the crowd of hippos, just behind the stage she stood on.
The Side of the airship opened up, extending a metal walkway from the inside of the ship to the outside, landing on the stage.
Soon, three creatures exited the airship, two large gorilla-like bipeds covered in white fur and an armored face mask, and a smaller creature walking on two short stubby legs, its back covered in brown quills, and a small badge on its chest.
The two larger creatures were carrying a metallic box in their hands, lowering it gently to the floor of the stage in front of the shorter creature.
From the box, a speaker extended out, and a small microphone was picked in the brown hedgehog's paws.
"Hear ye Hear ye! You have been graced with the presence of the supreme emperor of skies and lightning! The heavenly ruler from the land beyond the waves! The one who shall grasp the world in his undying embrace! People of this fair village!" The hedgehog called out as he yelled into the microphone, his voice expanding all across the village, reaching the ears of every hippo.
"You are to make room for your new emperor!" The hippos started murmuring among themselves as the hedgehog's voice raised in intensity, a toothy smile stretched on his face as he sang praises for the unknown emperor in charge of the fleet as more and more airships started landing in the empty desert outside of the village.
"For you have been graced by his Majesty! The Storm King!" The hedgehogs squealed in what many of the hippos could only guess is what some of the younger generations call a fangasm, as the largest ship in the fleet landed right at the entrance of the village.
The Airship was twice as large as the next biggest airship in the fleet, with enough room on it to fit all the inhabitants of the village several times over. It's a marvel of engineering how an airship that large could even get off the ground, let alone float for as long as it must have.
The fuel source must be miraculous.
And as the nose of the airship pointed at the crowd, a hatch opened underneath it, a metal walkway covered by an expensive red carpet lowered from the front of the gigantic airship, and two lines of soldiers marched out, careful so that none of them touch the red carpet separating the two columns.
As the soldiers reached the bottom of the walkway, they stopped and turned sideways, each soldier looking straight at the soldier from the column in front of him, before they slammed their spears on the ground and saluted.
And as the two rows stood there motionless, not letting go of their salute, A small creature that looks like a cloud exited the ship and quickly made its way to the bottom of the walkway, where the carpet ended, before it too stopped and looked back at the airship, waiting for one more person to make his appearance.
Tap Tap
The sound of footsteps echoed through the airship as the creature the hedgehog called The Storm King made its way towards the walkway.
Tap Tap
What kind of creature is it, that it could gather such a large military power without alerting any other nation?
Tap Tap
What kind of creature could claim to be a supreme emperor of the skies? What kind of creature could be given a title such as a heavenly ruler?
Tap Tap
What kind of creature would shout to the world its goal of grasping the entire world in his embrace?
Tap Tap
And a tall figure covered in white and black walked out of the airship, his two-toed feet taking measured steps as he walked down the red carpet laid down in front of him, on his head between his two large horns, sat a small crown, almost comedic in how tiny it was in comparison to the rest of him.
And soon the creature reached the bottom of the walkway and the end of the carpet, and he took his final step off the airship.
And so the creature, The Storm King, made his first appearance on Abyssinian soil.
And the future history of the world was irreversibly changed as a result.