CHAPTER 1; SPARKS OF WAR
"War has never been a topic suitable for discussion among most due to the presumed complexity of the nature of what is assumed to be good and evil and in many cases it is broken down into a matter of what is moral and what isn't, but the honest truth of it all is that the cruelty of war is merely judged by it's simplicity, nothing truly should be judged till the battle is concluded, there are 2 types of men on a battlefield, the one that's trying to kill you and the one you've killed, that is the simplicity of the matter and when it all ends, whoever's the victor is whoever was right and moral from the start for history was made and written by the victors for the victors "
- Lord Hugo Batri
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The roars of thunder resounded in the near empty archways of the citadel, the sea of clouds on its outside painted in red from the destruction beneath, Zeraphina stood at an arch looking down her golden eyes filled with sorrow, the wind brushed against her pale skin as her plump red lips opened slightly, she heard the cries and sorrows of the alliances but she could swear they were auditory illusions, the citadel was too high in the sky for her to hear such,
" my lady they await us " a knight in white garments approached her
Zeraphina looked towards the knight then at the see of red clouds, guilt gripped her heart as she thought of what she was supporting, the lives that had been lost weighed on her mind
-hundreds, thousands, millions… I truly have lost count
She slowly lost herself in thought
" your holiness… "
Returning from her inner thoughts she faced the knight again renewing her confidence and self-righteous inner monologues that what she was doing, what they were doing was the right thing.
" lead the way "
The Knight led her down the archways, the view of the endless red clouds continuing, the moon didn't come out this night she assumed it was hiding from the sight of the brutality that unfolded underneath, 'the might of a god and the wrath of his people' was how her brother had phrased it, he wasn't wrong though, at least for the most part
" your holiness we're here " the knight once again pulled her from her thoughts
She stared before herself, a large bronze door stood before her, or was it really bronze, the metals of the divine looked normal but often had strange properties,
-sigh
" open " she commanded
The large doors slowly began to open, and as they did, a voice called from the other side,
" ladies and gentlemen of the Federation, high lords, nobilities and chiefs, arriving…the holy daughter of the reverend, sister to the great redeemers, the saintess of sorrow, her holiness saintess Zeraphina Gawain "
The large doors fully opened, she gazed into the large hall that stood at the other side, the room was filled with the nobilities and lords of the federation all on their knees bowing to her, she didn't like the feeling of joy that came with watching such a sight but she'd have to get used to it, it was all just the beginning, the knight now standing beside her gave her a look that spoke in words to address the people;
" oh children of the federation, your greetings are humbly accepted… " she paused as the nobilities began to rise fear clear on their faces, she couldn't blame them though, her father had created such a scenario even for his children, " hw many years, hw many years have we been at war, hw many of our family have we lost? Many, but today it all ends, all the blood and suffering will finally come to an end "
Zeraphina paused again to add a dramatic effect to her next words, before they became saints they had spent some time as beggars and street performers and she'd learned a dramatic pause always got the crowd;
" Today great children of the federation we enter a new era, one where the thorny roots of mage craft and magis are cleansed from society, no from our continent, today we put an end to years of war, bloodshed and suffering, let us lift our cups and celebrate the prosperity of our future, let us toast to the greatness of our federation and let us praise the might and benevolence of our lord and savior", she grabbed a drink from a table next to her and lifted it up to make a toast " to styxx"
The crowd in unison raised their glasses as well as they replied " Ha'afil"
Every person present in the room drank their glasses as the tension that was once present with Zeraphina's entrance slowly dissipated and the nobles and elites continued with their celebration .
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Underneath the large red clouds chaos unfolded from all directions, the echoes of explosions lead to deafening of ears, the pure light show of spells and grand magic completely brightened the chaotic arena as the large creaks of the titans movements were seamlessly overwhelmed by the greater explosions that were used to try and stop them in their tracks,
Their large metal heads made from a material foreign to this world grazed the bottom of the skies, their thick armored bodies didn't stop in their tracks as waves after waves of large blasts hit them only to be tanked effortlessly, the beasts of the bronze giants towered over the armies of the alliances as their march was unstoppable.
From the far back of what seemed to be the remains of a nation, the armored angels of the diviner descended upon the alliances, their blades taking in the blood of the mages they had slain, on this once good earth magic would no longer have a place in this land or maybe even the continent, the destruction of what they once called home was evident, the lives continuously lost with every breath was inevitable, magic had lost this war and whether the alliances accepted this fact or not was unnecessary for it was already set in stone.
The bronze giants closed in on the ruins of the city as the mages gazed upwards to their demise;
" may lady hestia guide my soul in the eternal flame " a mage said as his ruined world went dark.
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[ 80 years later, year 920 of the new federal calendar, south of the federation ]
The frost of the fortress city of falkorh did nothing to calm to burning tension as the disaster bells rang, it had been years since such an event had taken place but even then the soldiers did not slack in learning what it meant and protocols to follow thereafter,
Beyond the towering walls of the great city a blizzard had been approaching and although the soldiers knew not what laid within, the wall turrets and city guns that had tirelessly been recharging and aiming for the blizzard told them it wasn't friendly,
-boom boom boom
The mana turrets fired tirelessly into the vast incoming wave of snow that approached the walls, recharging nearly each minute to refine again, the inner city guns fired relentlessly towards the blizzard, as the storm continuously approached, the armed soldiers held their rifles tight as they thought of the people they'd evacuated from the city, their resolve strong they braced for the impact but it all stopped, the thundering round of gunshots and canon fire from the walls and inner city had stopped, a soldier ran to the commander a single question on his mind;
" sir could the turrets have killed whatever was coming ", the soldier asked
" maybe it di… "
Before the commander could finish his statement a large section of the wall was burst open as a large ice golem destroyed it with its hands,
" fire ! Fire !! Fireeeeeee !! "
The soldiers instantly let loose as the turrets and large guns began reshooting, why they had paused in the first place was a mystery but one they had to solve later,
-boom!!
Another part of the wall was destroyed and frost giants charged in with hordes of ice trolls and orcs, the freezing blizzard then finally hit as the soldiers lost their visuals and wereslowly consumed by the storm, the sound of cannon fire, army rifles and large city defense guns echoed in the frozen storm but slowly it all died out, deep within the Centre of the great blizzard sat a woman in beautiful silver and blue light armor, her silver hair tied back in a pony tail and her deep gold eyes staring ahead towards the city, falkorh had falllen.