The shadow of dragon wings had come to cast day into the realm of night. The darkness crawled over the land like a tumbling wave, its presence a sign of the war to come. Thirty thousand men of Vermillion city rode beneath the cloak of the Drake they now followed into battle. Their war cries and swords sang into the wind as they stampeded towards the kingdom they had been commanded to overthrow. Among their numbers, came the swift gate of the Marshland Sabers and their riders, the Sisters of the Marsh. They too had come to join their fealty with the men of Vermillion, in hopes the rebellion would see them pressed into a higher station. All followed one woman into battle, Reia. Her golden plated armor danced with each gallop her stallion made. The pair were leading the others towards the dangers Morgaideign held. The Blood witch had been appointed the general of all those on the ground, while Adalaya sat atop her warrior Incendartu. She and the father of all dragons had come to lead the aerial assault. The Princess bellowed out in a valiant war cry, her sword thrusting through the air, showing her pride in the deed about to be passed. Incendartu pulled ahead of the rest of the army, his screech commanding those in the secondary flock to split off from their traveling formation.
Akar'gamon, Akria, and Emerald's mount Jaqk'aru split off in different directions, each focusing upon the gleam of armor off in the distance. Never had there been so many powerful dragons set free amidst the territory of Morgaideign. Their powerful wings made the air crack like thunder with every repetition they made. It was a ballad of lethal intent, one that could only be followed by rivers of fire and pools of blood. The three wyvern's made their way over the keep, circling it and blowing fire at its stone. Emerald held tight to the reins that had been made for her dragon. She looked to the stained-glass window she knew hid the throne room of the castle. Something deep within her chest spoke to her, told her that somewhere behind that glass, Raxseis sat waiting to be killed.
Inside, Raxseis and his brother stood watching as their little sister began to storm their home. They could view the dragons circling and knew they had no way out but surrender. But unlike his father, the new King had other plans. He had lost everything he held dear, at last, he finally was King of Morgaideign and now his sister wished to take that from him. Exsidious placed a hand on the window that his father had jumped from before speaking. "At last she has returned brother. Let us surrender and possibly live out our days under her rule. We have only forty thousand men, Adalaya holds what appears to be thirty or more, not to mention this grouping of dragons that have join her rebellion. We do not stand a chance Raxseis, for once place your pride aside and heed to my reason."
Raxseis shook his head and turned to face his younger brother. "I love her once, do you truly think that after all this time, I would allow her to steal my crown from me? If I will not seat the throne, no on ever will. She may do as she wishes, she may kill me this day and forget my memory, but she will be Queen of nothing more than the history of our kingdom." The King rushed to the cabinets in the grand hall, gathering his suit of armor. "Quickly brother we must get to the roof. See yourself protected by your steel and meet me there. I have a plan." The two nodded to one another before splitting off in different directions.
Adalaya had come to lean over the span of Incendartu's left wing. She watched on as her allies flooded the streets of her home with orange and black fire. In a rush, the Morgainian army had come to flood onto the plainlands. They stood watching as Reia and the rest of the brigade came charging forth. Archers had already begun to rush up the spiraling stairways of the keep. Many had already come to claim their battle formations. They stood covered in armor from head to toe, their bows now pointed toward the ground and the army traveling upon it. They came to loose their arrows, the hail came to rush over the land causing its own thin sheet of darkness as it flew. Reia pulled harshly at the reins of her horse, quickly steering him around the falling tips of steel. The archers reloaded their bows, and took aim, releasing again. This time the cloud of darkness grew even more grim as each warrior took three arrows to one bow. They reached upward and touched the clouds, before shooting down like silver comets into the flesh of their opponents. Blood came to splatter like broken glass, spraying in nearly every direction until a body fell limp into the grass.
Reia took a moment to look over her shoulder as several Marshland Sisters fell dead onto the battle field. She gave Cartumon a kick to his sides and took off charging directly for the open gate. Emerald, lead her dragon and mate Jaqk'aru, towards the Battlements of the keep. She too had come to learn their mother tongue and commanded him in such. The grand white wyvern banked left, spreading his jaws. His time free of his bondage had at last returned to him his glory within radiance. His blinding white scales came to round about the castle, his body coming to hover just before the men. They took aim, firing their bows at his softer underbelly. The arrows sank into his scales but not deep enough to cause deadly harm. His fire bladders came to send forth a cone of ice like fire that froze the archers where they stood.
They all froze like statues, their flesh turning to crystal within Jaqk'aru's breath. Emerald held on tighter to the reins as her mate became vertical. She could feel herself slipping from her saddle, and so her panicked voice reached out for his ears. "Shi'vani zavu via tae vartum carae," "Finish them I am slipping." She spoke. With a groan, the wyvern turned upon the air allowing his spike like tail to slice through the frozen men of ice. Their bodies came to shatter like the most delicate of porcelain, their remembrance now only piles of shining snow.
Incendartu landed with ease before the gates of the city. He stood proud, watching as the commoners ran frantically behind the formation they thought would grant them safety. Adalaya, at last, let go of the iron bars she had grown accustomed to. With much concentration, she stood up and watched as Incendartu came to turn his head toward her. He was awaiting her command, she placed a hand over her stomach, and rubbed the armored corset that lay protecting it. "My son, this is my gift to you." She spoke before making her way down her dragon's neck. She drew her scimitar and looked up to her mount. "Devo'kei istum," "Demolish it." She commanded. Incendartu stepped before her, turning his wing to block her from any rubble that may fly backward. Through snarling fangs, the mighty dragon saw a blast of fire shot into the brick. Time and time again he attacked until the mortar began to melt from the heat. He rose on his hind legs and slammed down onto the wall, and watched as it crumbled beneath him.
Raxseis and Exsidious had managed to make their way to the very top of the keep. The pair watched as Morgaideign's main defense came to fall, the survival of their people now stood resting in their hands. Exsidious followed his brother to a catapult, and with haste began to see it loaded. Raxsies called out for several of the King's Guard to come and assist them. The men saw the catapult loaded and began to ready it for firing. "You two stay here with Lord Exsidious, I will distract the green wyvern. I want him killed first." The men shared a glance of worry but did as told. Raxseis ran for the edge of the Battlement removing the cloak from his armor. He jumped and waved his arms yelling in attempts to gain Akar'gamon's attention. "Hey! You flying lizard! It's me you want, isn't it?!" He watched as his aunt's mount circled and flew directly for him. The beast's roar shook fear into his bones. For several long moments, he was staring into the jaws of death. He could see green flame circling at the back of the serpent's throat and in his fear he ducked behind the stone wall. Akar'gamon let loose his secondary weapon, poison. His flame shot forth in a luminescent revolution of green hues. The air became thick and hard to breathe in. Raxseis began to choke, his palm fell onto the stone for stability as Akar'gamon took a bite out of his refuge. He fell backward onto his ass and scurried back like a disobedient child fearing the lash. The Wyvern locked his wings onto what remained of the wall and began walking forward. It was then that Raxseis figured he had overplayed his hand until a boulder struck the creature in the head. A wail of pain shot into the wind as the emerald Wyvern lost his grip and began to fall. His vision went black and his body collided with the ground below. The snapping of bones could be heard for miles around, the collision of his weight against the soil leaving a crater nearly three times his size in its wake.
Just a few hundred feet from the gate opening Reia watched as her dragon fell. Without thinking she pulled back on the reins and Cartumon reared, whinnying his protest into the air. Reia was so trained on her best friend falling to his death that she failed to realize she had come to be targeted. From the edge of the gate stood Tarbion, spear in hand. As the stallion reared, he saw it thrown, and the endpoint implanted deep into the horse's chest. The force of the throw carried the steel into the heart of the horse until the wood came to splinter into its ribcage. It wasn't until the witch felt her horse stumble on his hind legs did she realize what had happened. "NO!!!!" She yelled out as he fell into the soil nearly crushing her leg in the process. She crawled away from the saddle and moved to look in his eyes a final time as they grew cold and lifeless. She turned upon her knees and looked to the direction in which the spear had come. There standing with a devilish grin on his face was her brother.
The clash of steel could be heard all around the battle field, at last, the army of the kingdom had come to clash with the outsiders. But even over the song of steel and war cries of men, Adalaya could hear the mournful scream of her aunt. She took a moment to look in her direction, she could she her rushing to her feet and charging toward something, but to what or whom she did not know. "Incendartu, go to my aunt protect her, I will be okay. I will make my way to the cell's and free your children. Do whatever you must, and slay whoever stands in your way." She said nothing more and faded down the stairwell to the underground cages.
Reia had come to meet her brother in a fist to cuff combat, their swords creating showers of sparks with each clash they made. "You son of a bitch!" She screamed as her sword Nightsong went about her head and aimed for her brother's face. He blocked the attack with his bracer and ducked down to take a swing at her feet. She leaped up missing the attack by mere inches. Upon her landing, her fist found its way into his jaw. He turned and spit blood before they came to lock swords again. "Oh, now sister, why bring dear mother into this?! We all know this war is your doing!" The Witch circled him for a moment, her eyes growing hot with rage. "Oh so you say, we all know none of this would have happened if not for you!" They charged again, but this time Tarbion saw his sister back handed. She fell into the dirt her lip pouring blood onto her teeth. She shook her head to clear her vision just as his foot came to stomp her in the stomach. The pain knocked all the air from her lungs, but even still, she rolled away from him, taking a moment to look over Akar'gamon, he still wasn't moving. Reia took to her feet, gathering her strength. "We all know why this war has come to pass brother. It is because I wouldn't let you fuck me the way you fucked our sister!" She swung again, this time all her rage flowed through her efforts. Tarbion saw his weapons crossed and aimed at her throat. She swung low whipping her sword around her head as she did. She stood up once his blades had been recalled and sliced him in the right cheek.
The pair continued their painful battle, as the war raged on around them. Tarbion had gotten the better hand at last. He had come to force Reia to her knees, one of her swords had been disarmed from her grasp leaving her to resort to her sidearm. She took hold of her Swordbreaker Reincarnation. Her brother drove his sword towards her face but saw it caught in the slots of his sister's weapon. With one swift twist of her wrist, her brother's sword broke in two, leaving him to only one weapon. Reia forced herself to stand but was rapidly knocked into the dust by Tarbion's fist. She laid back upon the soil her stomach curling into knots. She could feel the ground shifting beneath her, but it was not the weight of a dragon nor the clashing of men that caused its unrest. Her eyes rolled nearly to the back of her head as there he was. High on a mountaintop came the Keeper. He was as tall as two stallions with fur that gleamed as white and pure as snow. The center of his head claimed a red marking, one no one knew the meaning of. He charged to the edge, his claws digging into the soil to slow him. The snout of the hound came to shoot into the wind, his roar thundering over the land like a galloping herd. Everyone on the battlefield came to still, even Tarbion paused. The Keeper looked over the land and the fires that burned around it. His roar had begun to channel the energy of elemental bending within the amulet on his neck. The mountains surrounding Morgaideign began to crack and crumble. The land had come alive, for the inhabitants who had never known the beauty their home-land possessed now had the chance to witness it. The mountains began to form ,they had never been formations of soil at all. Instead, they had been titan like dragons who had been placed in an eternal sleep until their master summoned them. They stood larger than even Incendartu and held trees and branches for wings, while magma ran through the inside of their bodies.
Tarbion looked down to his sister, a look of shock and soul binding fear in his eyes. He dropped his sword and turned to face the jaws of Incendartu. The dragon saw the man bitten in half before he swallowed his entire body down. His forked tongue ran over his flew's before his clutches saw Reia lifted from the ground. "Come, I have been commanded to protect you, but I believe you need to protect my mistress. You do not want to be here when they begin their attack." He pointed towards the slow moving Soil dragons. "Take me to her at once."
Emerald had come to land with her dragon, who had begun to bleed profusely. Her hands moved to his wounds as his scales slowly began to fade. The pair had come to land away from the fighting, for some reason he had lost his ability to fly. Within several long moments, the radiant dragon that once was had come to revert back into a weak and vulnerable human. His hair was a shining silver, his eyes a radiant gold. The arrows still rested within his abdomen. Emerald leaned down to smell the wounds and knew at once why he had grown so weak. The arrows were laced with dragons bane.
Raxseis had made his way down into the battle. His brother fighting by his side, to his surprise Adalaya had climbed onto the back of yet another one of their captives. Out of the cells they flew, all forty-six of them. The collection had been a rare and valuable one. Out of the flock of serpents came Ice dragons, Swamp Dragons, Wyverns and wingless drakes. The Princess lead them into the air flying over the Titan's that now stomped across the land in what seemed like slow motion. The Keeper charged ahead of them making his way over to the fallen Akar'gamon. The amulet on his neck began to pulse and swirl in brilliant colors, suddenly a stream of rainbow hues began flooding into the warrior's chest. The channeling energy came to a halt, and Akar'gamon's chest arched upward as if something had come to shock him. Still, he did not move. The Keeper once more channeled the energy and this time it worked. The chartreuse Wyvern roared awake his eyes unable to believe what he saw.
The white hound locked eyes with him for a moment, and suddenly Akar'gamon could see into the very soul of the beast. He watched as it left his side and made way towards Raxseis. Adalaya came to land beside her aunt and most favored mount. She looked at them both and then to the sky before speaking. "We have set the children of our greatest ally free, it is time we bring Morgaideign to its knees." She turned upon the dragon she rode and watched as one titan came to stomp its foot into the ground. With its force, a crater came to be made that split the land in half and caused the rest of the wall to be crushed to egg shells under the shock. Plates of rock began shifting upward into the air, impaling the warriors of the age old kingdom. At last, Raxsies locked gazes with his lover, in that moment the only thing they shared, was a poisonous sneer.
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