A cutaway joke, a scene change, a comedic time skip.
Call it whatever you wish, the fact of the matter is that I told myself that taking over Abyssinia would be hard, a blink later and Abyssinia was mine.
Something happened between those two points in time, and this flashback should help me understand.
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Nine Days Prior
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"The Crown is mine," The Storm King cackled evilly as he held the crown of the long-dead Giraffe king, "One of the three great treasures of King Twiga is in my grasp!" He cheered, holding the crown above him so the rays of the setting sun would shine off its reflective surface.
The Crown resembled that of a medieval European ruler, the gold skeleton of the crown was covered with small diamonds, and in its middle, above where the eyes of those wearing it, were three large rubies.
"And Now," The Storm King slowly took off his own crown with one hand, and placed the crown of Twiga on his scalp, "To See what magic this crown has."
And as soon as the crown was set on his head, The Storm King understood why it was considered one of the Three Great Treasures of the Giraffe King.
"I can see all of it," He whispered to himself, as his vision reached and bent, allowing him to see all the corners of not only The Hippo Village but also the desert beyond it.
For The Giraffe King's crown gave the one wearing it a form of Clairvoyance, allowing them to see distant locations and hidden objects.
"Let us try something, Show me the first Storm base I built," The King said, and his vision once again changed. No longer did he have a view of the areas surrounding his person, now he was looking at the stone and wood structure his army built near the hedgehog and turtle villages at the edge of the continent. He saw his workers and officers moving about the building, he saw the nearby villages bustling with movement as new streets and buildings were being built.
"So it doesn't show me what I remember, it shows me how it is in the current time. Let us try this then, Show me the army of King Twiga." And his view once again changed.
Gone was the Storm Base and the villages, instead he watched as an old and wrinkled turtle moved her walking stick, walking slowly down the street before pausing and turning her head to face directly at where the point of view the crown was showing him, her eyes still shut.
"Oh? You found the crown did you?" Granny Kasa asked slowly, not waiting for an answer. "Don't worry about the Amulet, I'll bring it to you personally, you just worry about the sword. I'll see you soon," The Turtle said and a shiver passed through The Storm King's spine.
"I'm sure you have more important things to worry about, child. Be off now," The old turtle opened her eyes, revealing the shining gold orbs inside, and The Storm King was once again on his ship.
He took off the crown and gave it a long look before a sharp smile spread on his face.
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Five days before the present
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An Aardwolf was marching in the direction of one of the Argonaut ships, her heavy steps and angry expression making it so that none will stand in her way, an important letter to deliver was in her hand.
"Start a gang they said," Lulu, the Aardwolf who was secretly the great bandit leader 'The Hyena' muttered to herself as she marched in the direction of where Ms. Pasim was staying, "It's a lucrative business they said, Just take a few hostages for ransom they said, what's the worst that can happen they said. Look at me!" She grumbled angrily, thinking back on her days as one of the most feared people in south Afcari.
"I'm just some maid on the ship of a tyrant," She whispered as she climbed onto the ship where the only Okapi in the Storm King's fleet was staying, Who would have thought that the bandit will one day have to work side-by-side with one of her hostages.
Oh, how the turn tables.
"Halt! State your business," A short fat creature, covered in green scales and wearing a necklace made of fish bones around his neck shouted once Lulu entered the inside of the ship.
"I'm here to deliver a letter to 'Asclepius' Her eyes only." She said, and the crocodile allowed her to pass.
It wasn't hard to find the Medic, Seeing as she was the only vegetarian on the ship it was easy to find her eating her vegetarian salad- Yuck!
"A good Ribeye beats some lousy salad any day," Lulu kept her thoughts to herself.
Lulu approached the Okapi and passed along the letter, no words were exchanged on account of one of them being mute and the other unwilling to talk with them.
"I could be swimming in gold right now if I didn't join him," She grumbled to herself as she made her way back to the Royal Flagship, intending on going to sleep early.
"Actually," A voice cut into her line of thought, one of the two voices on the fleet that would terrify a person, and it wasn't The Storm King's
"If you did not join his Majesty, you would be with your pals in prison, mining in that quarry for stones to build more houses." The voice said before showing himself as he floated up to The Hyena.
"Come walk with me," Strife, the second in command, said before he floated away, not waiting for a response from the scared bandit.
The two walked in silence, the only sound coming from the steps the Aardwolf took on the carpeted floor of the expensive ship.
"So, how long did you-" Lulu decided to break the silence but was immediately cut off by the cloud creature.
"Do not take the king or me for fools. We knew from the moment you approached us." He said and turned a corner, forcing the woman to follow after him.
"Did you think we wouldn't understand what you were planning?" He asked, before continuing to speak, not waiting for her response, "A bandit hideout being wiped off the map, all of its members accounted for except for its leader." Lulu was scared.
"And what do we find not even a week later, coming to us all by herself, an Aardwolf with no background, no history, and-" Strife stopped in front of a door and opened it, revealing a sack of old mining equipment filled with Dynamite and a pair of large Fish-hooks tied to ropes around it.
"You fou-" "We found out your identity easily, yes." Strife closed the door, once more hiding the instruments that less than a month prior would have been used in an attempted assassination.
"Now I would like to reiterate some words that you probably haven't heard yet." Strife turned to look straight at the short woman, "If you ever think about trying another attempt on his majesty's life, you could consider your own forfeit. Should you try and abandon the Storm fleet and run away now that you know that your past is known to us, you could consider your life forfeit."
Lulu was shaking, she didn't know what to do, she could try and knock him out now and try and escape, but will she even be able to hit a cloud?
"If the king orders you to do something, you do it with minimal questions asked, if he tells you to jump you ask how high, if he tells you to run you ask how far, if he tells you to grab the pair of hooks behind this door and open your own stomach like a fish, you pray that your blood doesn't dirty the carpet. Do you understand where I'm getting at?" Strife leaned forward, looking the bandit in the eye.
"The moment you decided to commit a crime as horrible as an attempted regicide in our empire, your life was forfeit. The only reason you still breathe is because of The Storm King's unmatched generosity and compassion." He leaned even closer, the smell of ozone invading the nostrils of the ex-bandit as small sparks of lightning danced behind his cloud eyes.
"Do not make him regret his decision," And with that, The right-hand man of The Storm King turned and left, his back exposed and unguarded, a perfect opportunity to strike.
And yet, the Bandit couldn't even think of attempting to try and strike at him, so frozen in fear she was, the smell of ozone and charged electrons still fresh in her mind.
And when the cloud turned the corner and went out of her sight, the Aardwolf collapsed on the floor.
Tears silently flowing down her eyes all the while.
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During the invasion, One hour before the present.
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King Meowmere was sitting on his throne, waiting for the good news to reach his ears.
To hear that the barbarians that entered his land were repelled and that peace has once more returned to his glorious nation.
"Your Majesty, Surely you must reconsider, The Invaders have flying boats, none of our defenses can reach them," Minister Softpaws, one of his advisors, told him his advice.
"There is no need, These barbarians would need to land in order to take anything of ours, that will be when we strike them," The King of cats said as he reclined in his chair, "Our great city of Panthera has stood tall for a thousand years, and it will stand undefeated for a thousand more, There is no way for these Flying Sailors to win, Our nation has always been fated to win."
Uneasy whispering followed the proclamation of the king, as outside of the castle windows, the sky was covered by a sea of black clouds, hiding the uncountable number of ships flying over their nation. All across Abyssinia panic was rising as the ships simply flew over the towns or stopped above strategic military positions, yet no creature exited the ships.
"Your Majesty, A Message has arrived!" A Cat wearing a metal breastplate yelled as he ran into the room holding a bottle in his hand.
"Oh? Read to me what it says," The king ordered and leaned forward on his throne to listen to the message.
Opening the bottle, intending to pick out the paper rolled into it, the crowd was horrified to find that instead of a paper note, a cloud of black and blue emerged, slowly coalescing into the shape of a face.
"Greetings, King Meowmere of Abyssinia, I am Strife, the right hand to The Storm King, and I have been tasked with receiving your surrender."
While that was happening, high above the castle of Panthera City, the Storm King, and the real Strife, sat in the makeshift throne room of the Royal Flagship. King Twiga's crown on the King's head, showing him the discussion happening hundreds of meters below him.
"Surrender? You must be joking," Meowmere laughed, his soft black fur glistening in the light of the hall, his own crown nearly falling off his head in the process.
"We will never surrender to you," He shouted and pointed a finger at the magical cloud in a bottle, "Guards, apprehend this fool!" In response, Strife merely sighed in disappointment and his image from the bottle dissipated into a shapeless cloud, floating out of the palace and towards the sky.
"This a terrible plan dear, please tell me you have a way out of this mess," Queen Mittens asked her husband, who simply waved her question off.
"Plan? I don't need a plan, they're all the way up in the sky, like cowards, What's the worst they could do?" And as those words left Meowmere's mouth, The Strom King took off Twiga's crown and smiled.
"It's go time,"
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What followed would forever be considered the most humiliating military loss a nation as powerful as Abyssinia has had in recorded history.
As all the ships stationed above their respective targets opened their doors mid-air, and like paratroopers, The Storm-creatures jumped out and started their tasks.
They didn't need a parachute for their natural biology will allow them to fall uninjured from those great heights.
And as all across Abyssinia, creatures entered encampments and captured the leaders and soldiers, not a single soul was lost.
And when The Storm King himself decided to join the fight, the battle was officially deemed over.
With a bident in one hand, his armored cuirass covering his body, The Storm King jumped off the Royal Flagship and landed on the plaza outside the palace of Panthera.
The soldiers on the ground have already been defeated, The Cat Lords didn't stand a chance against the sudden and quick assault of The Storm King's army.
And with a single powerful kick to the door of the palace, It was over.
"We Surrender, You can have Abyssinia! We are yours to command!" King Meowmere cried as the crown of the king of Abyssinia, the nation of the Cat Lords, Landed near The Storm King's feet.
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Flashback End
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"That was it?" The Storm King thought to himself, feeling annoyance at the turn of things. "Why did it have to be told through a Flashback? I know I'm supposed to be the villain of the story, but If me not being evil enough was the reason then I'm sure I could find a solution."
The Storm King waited for the universe to send him a message that it heard him.
"Oh Storm King, Please don't kill my beautiful Wife!" King Meowmere cried pathetically on the floor in front of him, "Take me instead!" Snot was pouring from the black cat's nose, his wife shook her head in disappointment at the state of her husband, one of the cats near the back frowned and quickly left the room, and more Storm-soldiers entered the palace.
The Storm King couldn't help but sigh.