Lucius
Among the Elves Lucius was an oddity. He was the only Elf outside the First King's family that took an interest in sword play. He even dreamed of walking the Holy Path and challenging Father's pets someday. No Fae had ever completed the task it was a personal goal of his to at least attempt it in the future, but he knew that it was a distant dream that would have to wait. Soon they would all go off to war.
He looked over his crisp black military uniform as he straightened and adjusted himself in line. Lucius had never been much for all the attention one got when they found themselves on a stage. He was glad he didn't have to speak.
Lucius was one of few Elves that adventured throughout the land in his youth. He had once run into Fenrir and Lupa of the Dire Wolves after becoming lost in the Forest of Avalon. He was a child of only fourteen years and stumbled upon a lone young wolf puppy. The pair of them disappeared into the wilds for days before Lupa hunted them down and returned the small Elf to Avalon.
During that time Lucius named the puppy Silver for his shiny gray coat and the two became bonded for life. As the two grew older the puppy grew into a mighty dire wolf that the Elf could saddle and ride. Lucius often told Silver tales and dreamed of how he would someday travel all across Eldaria challenging Dungeons and the Mythic Guardians like his father Fenrir. Silver always seemed to encourage Lucius to try his best.
Father was currently taking it under advisement on whether or not to allow Silver to go to war with him, Silver rarely left Lucius's side. Even as he stood in line at graduation, he could see the wolf stalking in the distance. He was upset Father wouldn't let him come on stage with Lucius and had been sulking ever sense.
That wolf is such a handful... he thought as he watched him pace back and forth.
Still Lucius had no desire to be separated from his friend either. They had spent many years together at this point and he couldn't imagine them being apart. While everyone else laughed at Lucius and his dream, Silver found small ways to encourage him. He might have given up long ago if not for his furry friend.
Father told them the human would likely have Knights mounted on horses in the war. He imagined himself as a Knight riding Silver into war against the humans and their horses. In his mind they would see him with Silver and run for their lives giving up on the war forever. He knew they were fantasies though and war would not be that simply won. Still in the Dungeon when they allowed him to use Silver, he could quickly overcome dungeon humans on their horses.
Inside the Dungeon Lucius and Silver would often dominate their opponents. Silver was faster and stronger than horse with the added befit of being able to fight independently. Once humans dismount their horse it had zero value in war. From his observation in the Dungeon they often flee at danger. Silver would proudly fight beside him never leaving his side, they made for a dangerous duo.
"Ranked forty third Lucius." Father called his name.
He stayed lost in his fantasy, grinning to himself as he snatched the diploma and took his seat.
*****
Damian
Although he was ranked dead last for the elite officer's cadets Damian stood proudly in place. He was, to anyone's knowledge, the only Dwelf in existence. It wasn't something that was forbidden or frowned upon it just simply wasn't common, Elves and Dwarves are drastically different. They live in harmony well enough because everyone knows their place, a harmony that Damian disrupted.
Damian was weaker than most Dwarves but had a much larger Mana capacity. It was still nothing compared to the Elves who were natural master of the magics. Dwarves didn't have the capacity to charge the Golem Armors themselves, five were usually charged at a time by an Elf, but Damian could charge one once before exhausting his mana.
Even with his weaker Dwelf body he could still use Golem Armor fairly well. He planned to join the Golem Knights Battalion anyways, so he had trained with the Elf Julian. He had helped Julian get accustomed to the Golem Armor while helping himself train. The Elf had proven a good match for him since he was stronger than most Elves. It made Damian believe Elves had no one to blame but themselves for having such weak bodies.
Julian had struggled too at first to fight with the hulking Golem Armor on. He fried circuits and burned-out systems from oversupplying mana but by graduation he piloted it quite well. He managed to even up his win to loss count with their duels. The motivation from their training had probably been what pushed Damian to achieve the top one hundred.
There were over ten thousand cadets in his graduation class, the most promising in all of Eldaria. Of those the top one hundred were chosen as the leading officers in the upcoming war. Father told them it was because younger minds mold much easier than old. The Older Fae were not of a mind that could properly understand what would be needed from lives too long-lived with peace. Father always shed quite tears when he spoke of the Fae knowing war, although he tried to hide it.
He had met Father a few times but the first was when he arrived at the school. He seemed rather interested in Damian the First Dwelf.
"How surprising a First Child not of my own design," he laughed and said as he reached down with a warm smile and messed up Damian's hair.
Father had been another reason for Damian and Julian's motivations for training. Whenever they would hit a problem or wall suddenly poof Father would appear. He would offer words of encouragement and new perspectives to help them achieve their goals and then poof he was gone again. The Fae all knew Father was a great god, but he didn't like being called so.
"I am no god. Just a Father watching over his children as they grow," he would always insist when they would try to praise and worship him.
Father said it was a waste of time to pray and worship to him. He often said all the knowledge we would ever need to survive anything is within the Records of Lost Knowledge. They would surely spend their time better studying than asking him for answers.
"Life is a gift I have given you, that comes with a choice. Find what you love and dedicate yourself to it," he would say before producing a book of interest to the individual.
All of Father's suggestions always led to great things. Elves who pursued the arts of music and painting. Dwarves who made great sculptures or designed one of the Great Cities. For Damian he suggested he attempt the top one hundred. Times were different now that war had come.
Damian wondered if humans were such evil creatures that deserved to be wiped out. He knew the lost tales recorded in the church were truth, but he found it hard to believe that something so evil could be the same as Father. Father often emphasized his different features from the Fae as he explained humans to them. He never went into much detail about human horrors committed just statistical numbers of kills and names of battles.
"You will learn all too well the evils of humans in the war to come. I do not wish to sully your mind a second before I must," he would answer when pressed for details.
"Just enjoy our peace while we still have it," he would mess up our hair as he let out a great sigh, "there are things once experienced change you forever... Put off that change for as long as you can."
Father always seemed so sad when he talked of humans. They almost seemed to haunt him in a way. He wondered what war would really be like. The Dungeon at the Academy recreated believable enough reenactment of wars in the past but they were lifeless Dungeon People that moved like game pieces, he knew it would not be the same. Damian knew it would be different to fight them in a real war.
He wondered if the Fae could actually take human life. Fae worshipped Father's unique imagine. Fae had long believed all humans nonexistent, and many Fae girls dreamed of days when they might have lived as humans and had a life with Father before the Great Second Creation. Many Elves and Dwarves had offered to bed Father, but he always refused them.
"A Father shouldn't lay with his own children," he would tell them as he sent them on their way.
Damian thought Father a strange God. He understood the genetic problems he used to shield himself, but from all he'd learned at the Academy it's well known none of the First Children came from Father's Blood. He created the First Children in a way different than reproduction. It was not the same thing, and he knew that. It had often amused Damian stirring a laugh during his days at the Academy when he would witness it in passing. He would remember his days in their halls fondly.
He was born in El Dorado where the Dwarves call home so he was unsure of what life on Elysium Island would be like. He wasn't treated poorly by the Dwarves, but he was drawn more toward magic than forging in the fires. His limit for growth had been small there and why he had chosen to join the Academy. If he wanted to learn exactly what it meant to be a Dwelf he was the only one who could find out.
His mother was an Elven enchanter who worked closely with Dwarven Magi Tech Research. She said she wasn't exactly sure which Dwarf was his father. The Fae all love freely it was a common occurrence to not know unless you had a second name at birth. He was told Father could tell him if he wanted to know but he cared not. It was Father that had found him and given him his path. It was Father had pushed him to grow and take in the good days around him. Father loved all Fae and enjoyed guiding them all through their lives. He was fine with just being Father's First Dwelf, it was all he needed to know.
He looked on in admiration at all the Fae standing and seated in front of him in line. He wondered if he would truly be able to stand next to them all as an equal First Officer. He had done everything he could to prove he was an equal. He didn't do it for anyone but himself. Many Dwarves told him it was Elven pride. Elves tend to joke with the Dwarves thar they are only so talented because of their Elven mothers' love. Dwarves only took pride in the thing they created and since Damian wasn't apt at creation he could only take pride in himself.
"And finally Ranked One hundredth Damian."
Damian thought Father looked rather exhausted after the long diploma ceremony. He quickly took his diploma and headed to his seat.
*****
Father
I think I broke the Fae. Half of them took their diplomas with the evilest smiles. I'm not quite sure how it happened. The laughing of the DaVinci boy sounded oddly familiar as well but I can't place where he might have learned it. I'm sure now that the evil of humanity just leaks from within me to taint my children.
God Dammit! I think as I hang my head low.
I thought I had done well at hiding my human tendencies, but I guess after hundreds of years I've let some things slip. I suppose it's okay since it's just the officers. I'm taking the top one hundred on a special boot camp trip I'll work out their kinks there.
As I look out at the reception before me, I'm quite proud. Everything I've helped them build here and the Fae they have all become is so warming and helpful. It is a shame that I must ruin them with war.
"I want to offer a final congratulations to the First Graduating Class as well as thanks to each and every Fae that helped guide them and teach them along the beginning of their journey. I wish to say to those who are disappointed that they didn't Rank to worry not. There will be many opportunities to improve yourself in the future." I clear my throat as I shift the mood, "However I also wish to apologize to you all that I was not able to prevent the coming war. I'm sorry that evil has come to this world and that I must ask you to fight it in my place... but it won't be long before those of you who doubt it, will see just how evil the humans really are."
Everyone in the crowd before me was silent. I seem to be ruining the mood of the celebration. I can't only hope I have prepared them fully.
"Anyways enjoy your graduation feast. Tomorrow, we set out for basic training." I say to end the ceremony quickly.
I can head back to the war room now and plan the war to come. I quickly make my way there. Humans annoy me greatly. They infested that land like cockroaches. In just under two hundred years, they've grown to nearly a hundred and thirty million people. It took the Fae nearly eight hundred to grow that much respectively.
The humans have multiplied tenfold every thirty-five years. In a hundred and eighty-seven years they went from a thousand to ten thousand, then to a hundred thousand, then a million and so on. I caught them as they passed the hundred million mark. The Fae needed roughly a hundred years to increase in those numbers. As we are almost to our eighth century, we number roughly three hundred and eighty million total Fae.
However, even though we have a larger population I have the issue of many more elderly and children among them. As the children need longer to grow into adults than the humans, they also spent the last sixty to a hundred years of their lives as elderly. It is the price paid for a longer lifespan than the humans. The Dwarves spend sixty years on average as elderly compared to the Elves at a hundred.
I have a large part of the population completely incapable of defending itself properly. Sure, they could fight if really needed but I believe children should remain innocent and the elderly Fae have earned their freedom from the evils of war. I do not wish to taint any more than I must so ten thousand young soldiers a year will be trained until this war is over.
From what I've gathered the Empire's weaponry although advanced requires ammunition similar to a fuel cell to fire. Their guns can fire a hundred blast rounds before the cells are exhausted. I thought I was a step ahead with our mana powered guns, but we've hit a snag. There is no mana in the Empire.
I flew some Fae to test the MR1 and Golem Armor in old Ireland. They both worked without issue however it seems mana reserves don't replenish naturally like they do in Eldaria. Here you can exhaust your capacity, then take an hour nap and you're back. From our testing so far, the only way to replenish the mana has been with a potion the Alchemists developed. It requires Dew of the World Tree which only comes from the mana tree in Shangri-la. It is why I've decided against a quick blitzkrieg style war.
I assumed wrongly that magic would play a much bigger part in this war. However much to my dismay destructive magic requires a lot of mana to pull off. If mana can't easily be replenished during the war it makes the MR1s and Golem Armor all the more crucial. An Elf can fire the MR1 five thousand times or so depending on the Elf, and as long as an Elf recharges the Golem Armor the Dwarves can pilot it for a roughly a week at a time. The Golem Armor's force blast can be used five times and runs off a separate small mana core however primarily the Dwarves will fight with their great battle axes.
We've also introduced a new mana shield. We tested it against some Empire rifles, and it can deflect a thousand of their energy blast before it breaks. They're being installed in all the Golem Armor as well as given to all soldiers as standard equipment. I hope it will allow many more to return home from the war but unfortunately, I know that no matter what I do some of them will die.
I am not like Alexander; I do not claim some kind of false God hood. If anything, I feel weak and helpless since I can do nothing but watch and plan. I cannot promise them they will return home nor tell them they'll be fine when it's all over. I know all too well the Fae that go to war will never truly come back home. Their minds will be lost to the horrors of war, as deeply scarred and burned as their bodies will be. If I were truly a God, I could prevent this war by simply willing the humans away or creating a new planet to run away to. However, I am constrained to the limits of the Watcher System.
According to the Admiral's information Alexander has learned that Cleopatra has been spotted in London. I plan to give them a chance to surrender however I don't believe Alexander will take it. I think he will officially declare war on me and kick off the start of this war. I know humans well enough they don't actually need a reason, but they never pass up one when given the chance. It will take Alexander around three months to make the trip to London and find Cleopatra. I will use that time for my final phase of training.
The Fae basic military training. We will start in Avalon and spend a month on grueling physical training. From an intense obstacle course to hours of mind-numbing exercises we will finally transition to march on the mountains of El Dorado in full combat gear. The Dwarves have heard me talk about it and have been taking me lightly. Everyone expects the Elves to struggle and the Dwarves to be fine however I refuse to let anyone off easy. I will make basic training absolute hell for them all.
I slowly begin to smile until it eventually becomes an almost maniacal laughter.