by SlyOkami
The carvings depicted a process, he noticed, as he had no choice but to inspect them.
The process began from the bottom, where a seed hatched open.
The seed then grew, forming a plant that finally found its way out of the dirt.
The plant then grew further, bearing fruit and flower, leaves and vines.
The plant was glorious, basking in the sun.
The plant was alive, as it bathed in the rain.
But the plant was growing old, as it began to dry up.
The plant rotted, losing its flowers and fruits, as its leaves and vines turned to dust.
And at the very top of the staff, carved into the black wood was the last depiction…
The plant had been cut, severed at the root.
But what had cut it, was never depicted in the carvings.
Kailu then saw his own hand reach out to the staff, seeing his hand open and slowly come to grasping it…
When suddenly someone else’s hand grabbed the weapon, and Kailu snapped out of his daze. Finally regaining control over his own body, Kailu turned to find Erik stand next to him and holding the large staff.
Erik gazed at the staff, then up at the rest that lay covered and chained. “So…you have chosen your master too.” He mused, then turning to gaze at Kailu. “But him?…Very well, I won’t argue.” He said, as Kailu took a step back.
Erik grasped the chains and they suddenly dissipated, he then gripped the black cloth that covered the rest of the weapon. “What is your name?” He asked the young Xilfir in elven.
“Kailu.” The boy said, retaining a calm expression even when faced with the Dragon. Then noticing the crowd that had begun to gather around them.
Seeing his calm, Erik sighed. “This weapon has chosen you, Kailu. I will warn you though, that this weapon is like no other. This weapon offers some of the greatest power within my collection, but it is a picky servant, and for a very dangerous reason.” He warned, then tearing off the black cloth and revealing the weapon fully.
Erik raised the pitch-black scythe before him and towards Kailu, as its long and curved blade vibrated with dark energy “This, is a Reaper’s Scythe, the weapon Death God’s offspring. Made in the heavens, for the sole purpose of harvesting souls and damning life. I found this weapon within a dead land, a forgotten place. And its user was nowhere to be found, the Reapers have long been killed off by an unknown force during the Dark Ages, so it had nobody to wield it…it wouldn’t even allow me to. Yet…it has chosen you, Kailu.”
Erik let go of the scythe, and it hovered in place, even turning for Kailu to take it. “This weapon is powerful, Kailu, but beware of the price. It will drain your lifeline, to give you power. It will suck your time on this world in return for allowing you to use it. Personally, I wouldn’t dare wield it even if it let me. But I shall leave that decision up to you.” Erik told him, then stepped away.
Kailu stared down at the scythe, looking over the carvings once more until he reached the blade. Realising what had cut the plant, and the carving’s meaning.
(“Everything dies…”) Kailu thought, and the voices suddenly returned.
(“Snatch your fate, child of shadow. Grasp it, before someone else takes it all away!”) The voices said, and as they did Kailu heard it.
He heard the sound he had wanted to forget.
Kailu heard the screams of his mother and sisters…
And he grasped the scythe, the weapon’s size changing to meet his needs. The rage and hate he felt at that moment, suddenly dissipating, as his heart was filled with an easing calm.
“There is no going back now Kailu, you are a Reaper now.” Erik warned, then turning away and walking off from the scene.
Leaving Kailu with his comrades and thoughts.
Walking out of the Dark Ages hall, Erik was met with Thea as she stared at the young boy wielding the most wicked looking weapon she had ever seen.
“Erik what is…going on here?” She asked with wide eyes.
“He’s making monsters, obviously.” Ivyieth said as she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, dragging her massive sword behind her like a beloved toy.
“I’m giving them options, as I did with you, Nerick and Shizuka.” Erik said, “Come with me.” He then told them before walking off. Ivyieth immediately followed, but Thea dragged behind as she took one last glance at the eerie scythe.
“I thought these were your…treasures?” Thea asked as she caught up with their quick stride.
“They are, but I’m giving them a use.” Erik responded as they stopped, finding themselves at the centre of the corridor. “And here are yours.” He then said, waving his right hand towards her as a full set of light blue armour appeared hovering before her, followed by several varying accessories.
Thea was speechless at the sight, she couldn’t even begin to guess at all their worth much less what magical capabilities they must have. “You’re pulling all the stops…aren’t you?”
“I’m just done holding back.” Erik said, turning to face the other end of the corridor. “Dejal, Fierv, Voltru.” He then called out, and each Guardian flew to stand before him.
“Is it finally time, master?” Dejal asked.
“Yes, it is.” Erik answered simply, as the floor before them lowered, opening into a large staircase taking below.
“Time for what?” Thea asked, “What is…down there?”
“Down there is the summoning room for each of my guardians, and I’m about to summon my fourth.” Erik said, then beginning to descend. They followed him.
“Master, then shall you finally unveil it?” Fierv asked, the canine elemental rushing ahead.
“Yesss! It-t-t isss finally t-t-time!” Voltru hissed as it flew about them.
“Elder brother…what are they speaking of?” Ivyieth asked, curious and confused herself. “Unveil what?”
“You shall see.” Erik said simply, as they reached the staircase’s end. Coming to stand before a room of separated elements.
Three corners.
One afire like a volcano’s interior.
One an ever-moving flow of earth and vines.
And the third, a raging storm of electricity.
Erik stopped at the doorway, and each guardian moved to stand in their element.
“Dejal, expand the room.” Erik said, and Dejal’s form suddenly froze like a statue.
As the room around them began to grow before them, widening into a larger circle and creating a fourth plain and empty section.
“Long ago…when I wanted to rule over this world as a mortal God…I created something to aid me in doing so.” Erik began to tell them, as he walked into the room. “I then just needed one last Elemental to make it soar. But young as I was, my Lair could only handle three guardians…” Erik said, coming to stand over the new empty section.
He turned to face them, “But I’ve awoken, I’m a Dragon now. No longer a Drake, I will awaken my creation in turn. I’m done hoping the Gods will get their mess together, I’m done hoping Nature’s Spirit will intervene.” Erik raised his arms before himself and began to chant.
“Whisperer of breeze, caller of storm. I summon you to my side, I bind you to my home and lair. Come, whirling winds. Come, raging hurricane.” Erik chanted, and the air around him suddenly began to spin. A whirlwind formed all around him, suddenly taking him into its grasp and raising him off the ground.
“I hear your call, summoner.” A harmonic voice came, echoing and repeating itself as the whirlwind suddenly opened up, the flowing winds glowing a dim green and forming wings larger than even Erik’s. “To serve a Dragon, I accept this contract.” The Elemental said as it took a vulpine form.
“Speak your name, Greater Wind Elemental.” Erik commanded as the creature stood before him and at the room’s centre.
The fox bowed, “Xeyl is my name, and how might I be of service?” it asked.
* * *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX3SMpJWZGk&t=177s
* * *
Erik waved his right hand before himself and the elemental dissipated from his way, then reforming behind him. “Dejal, raise the curtains and form us a path to the outside. The rest of you, show the newcomer their role.” He ordered them, and the four elementals dissipated from sight.
He turned back to the rest, walking to stand with them as the stairs suddenly changed. The steps melded back into the ground as the tunnel heading upward closed up. In the stair’s place, a new tunnel formed before them, taking far ahead into darkness.
Erik moved first, his eyes shining brightly and showing the way. “Come, if you wish to know what I had created.” He said, then Thea and Ivyieth followed.
They followed him as he lit the way through the still-forming tunnel, as everything around them shook and trembled. Erik began to fly his way through, but Thea and Ivyieth were left to stumble as everything quaked.
And for several moments they did just that, falling to their knees several times on the way.
Until the tunnel ahead broke open, and the moonlight beyond reached inside.
Erik flew out and landed on the paved black ground, the shaking and trembling stopping right then. Thea and Ivyieth cautiously also made their way outside, finding themselves on a road.
Then glancing at the road’s other side as an avalanche of stone suddenly flew down from above.
Seeing that…beyond the other side of the road, beyond the railing was a drop…
The both of them walked over to the edge, and Thea gasped at what she saw.
The road’s end wasn’t just a drop…
The road’s end was the edge of the floating piece of land that they now stood on, and it was rising higher with every passing second.
She stepped back and turned around, looking up at the massive castle of black stone that lay over the mountain they had just come out of.
“Every people…Every king, needs a kingdom.” Erik said, turning to gaze at the castle himself, then looking down the road they stood on which took around the mountain. He gestured for them to follow, as he tread down the sloped road. “And this, this is my creation. Both a weapon, and a fortress.” He explained as a breeze suddenly picked up around them, raising the three of them off the ground and into the sky.
Thea’s expression paled severely as they rose, seeing the floating island beneath them more clearly now.
A great stretch of land lay before her, oval in shape and seemingly carved out of the world with precision. Now floating in mid-air, and held up by a massive serpent made of dark clouds whilst raging winds blew all around the island. Growing out of the island’s centre was a mountain with a castle built on top, and to either the left and right and out of the mountain grew a town of the same black stone as the castle.
Erik raised his right hand forth, and a blaze suddenly surrounded the island. “With Voltru and Xeyl making it soar and move. Then Dejal and Fierv to give it shape.” He said, and the ground on the island’s edge rose and formed walls, the flame seemingly entering the rock and changing it into the black stone that the kingdom was made of.
“This, will be both our city, and our warship!” Erik exclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the island, reaching the confused and gathering rebels he now saw roaming the town below. “I give you our kingdom. I give you the palace that shall not be forgotten, I give you the roads that you shall tread, I give you the houses you shall live in and the walls that you shall protect. My people, this is your new home.” He said, turning to look at a gasping Thea and an overly excited Ivyieth.
“This, is The Dark Citadel of Dragon Empire.” Erik growled, then raising his right hand towards one of the many rifts that riddle one side of town, the rifts Kyllix had opened. Suddenly each distortion of reality shuddered, and each rift melded into the other.
“Widen the path to elsewhere, no key is needed. Ajar the door,” Erik chanted, “Open to a new tomorrow, from this day that shall pass. Draconic School; Drako; Lair; Rift Manipulation.” And as he chanted the powerful spell, the rifts which had joined into one distortion, moved to his command.
The warping light that was the now singular rift, soared out of the town and into the sky before him. Briefly Erik gazed through the bubbling, twisting light, as its colours changed.
When the distortion’s colours settled from the previous mixture, to a singular dark grey, it then flew off.
The distortion rippled into the sky, stopping several meters off the island’s edge and suddenly expanding as Erik opened his hand.
Forming a massive portal, a circular tunnel in reality which reflected what lay on the other side…
And within the liquid-like circle of light was the reflection of a grey, stonewalled, city.
“On to tomorrow. On to where our people lay enslaved and broken. On to destiny, for it waits for no one.” Erik exclaimed, and Voltru below began to move.
The dark clouds that made up the Elemental serpent’s body flashed with lightning and rumbled with thunder as it moved.
And as Voltru moved, so did the entire island on its back.
Erik, Thea and Ivyieth landed on the island’s walls. Standing closest to the portal as they approached it. Next to them appeared Makaela and her retinue out of a burst of shadows, and then Kayle suddenly popping out of nowhere with Nerick who’s arm she held onto.
They watched in silence as the portal’s edge shuddered on contact with the island, the wall of shimmering light then seemingly absorbing the land as if it was sinking into a sea of reflective water.
They watched the portal grow nearer to themselves, as the island continued to sink deeper.
Nerick being the first to step…fall through, as Ivara suddenly flew out of nowhere and rammed straight into his back.
(“Master left me behind! Master cruel! Bad master!”) Ivara exclaimed through their bond as she nibbled onto his ear, but Nerick simply groaned as he rose from the brick floor. Standing back up, he found that they were on the other side now.
“Is that…” Ascal said as he stared at the city surrounded by a calm desert.
“Yes,” Erik said as he stepped to stand at the wall’s edge. “That, is Lahihr.”
Indeed it was, in mere moments they had reached the city of slaves.
And within those mere moments.
…
The Dragon Empire, had begun its invasion of Sinbeni.
Some more mappage
Found myself a bad-ass city map generator so I took it for a spin.
Here’s the generator if you’re interested; https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator
Pre-Invasion Map:
Ch 55 / Part 1 - The Dragon Empire Invades
Lahihr
13:00
The horns blew loudly, the sound of the alarm echoing throughout the re-enforced mining city.
Signalling the danger, that need not be announced.
A danger that needed no warning, as all could see the night black castle flying over them, held up by a snarling beast of storm.
Citizens ran, pushing and trampling over one another as panic reigned over Lahihr.
“The end of time…” A drunkard whispered to himself as he stood alone at a tavern’s doorway, staring up at the looming monstrosity that flew over the very city’s walls, as the horns, the shouting and screaming, became a background to the sound of rumbling thunder it…that the Dark Citadel gave off.
Terror filling him, as it filled all.
A terror that was only heightened at the sight of them.
Pieces of the black storm that carried the island began to tear off, small black clouds dividing from the main mass to then hover down to the ground. Hundreds of them rained down into the streets, and upon those clouds, they stood.
A full set of armour, pure white in colour and shimmering with the moonlight.
They were Dreadblade Knights, marching out into the streets in platoons, slowly forming together into a singular armada. But the invaders did not end there, not by a long shot.
As the clouds who dropped them off, rose back up to rejoin the storm that now shadowed over the entire city. Whilst more pieces broke off from it, lowering the now armed rebels who numbered many hundreds more than the Dreadblades.
The streets swarmed with escaping citizens, as the invaders suddenly gathered within their walls, and the guards were given little time to react.
Forced to abandon their posts at the wall and barracks, the Sinbeni defenders had little time to set up blockades and co-ordinated platoons to counter the sudden invasion.
And without even a single fight breaking out, without a single drop of blood being shed.
Erik’s army had taken over one-third of the city.
But he was far from done.
As he stood upon Voltru’s snout, staring down at the city below from the storm’s terrifying head.
“It begins,” Erik said to those who stood with him.
“Why not just storm the castle?” Nerick asked as he and Ivara took a peek over the cloud’s edge.
“Because it is too reinforced to focus everything upon it right off, and I’m withholding my power for when either the Spirit Beast or the Pact show up. Unless you’d like to take on every single Sin Wyrm that guards it yourself?” Erik explained.
“That sounds dangerous, don’t.” Kayle nudged Nerick who seemed about to accept that challenge.
Ivara though, whined in displeasure.
It sounded tasty to her.
“So what’s the entire plan then?” Thea asked as she kneeled by the edge, staring down in anticipation.
At that moment, Makaela appeared in a burst of shadows behind them. “We’ve taken most of the residential district over as ordered, my Knights guard the streets by the wall while the rebels have been posted throughout the rest in between.” She reported in elven whilst walking to stand between Erik and Thea, sneaking her hand around Erik’s arm to then lean forward, looking over the edge and down at the city herself.
Causing him no little amount of distraction.
“We’ve taken the first move, forcing the citizens out of the residential districts which we’ve taken over, the trade district nearby and some of the warehouse workers on the other side. Doing so we’ve pushed many non-combatants into the military’s or noble’s care, this will put stress on them both and also make them focus on a more defensive approach. Even if only temporarily.” Erik explained.