White knight chronicles: Canticum Mortem
The Dogma wars...
A war that engulfed the globe. A war that saw nothing good come of it. A war that started over nothing, and expanded until brother fought brother, fathers fought sons, and friends stabbed one another at the merest notion of betrayal. The world tore itself apart.
No-one knows how the war began. But everyone knows how it ended.
"Millennia ago, During the Dogma wars, the Yshrenians fought the rest of the world, in a bloody campaign to seize with force what they could not get with guile."
"Such was the fury of the war that the world began to revolve around it. wild animals ceased to exist, replaced with feral monsters. Their habitat destroyed in fire and steel, they began to die out, until the only animals alive were the ones thrown into war.Such was the Hate that the monsters, even to this day, attack humans on sight, as they did in the war."
Emptiness.
Darkness in all directions.
Scorched earth.
These were all anyone could see.
This was the Dreynor Wasteland, a huge expanse of broken rock and collapsed cliffs. Once the home of half the population of Dragons, now a ruined dustball, uninhabitable by both Dragon and Human.
Early in the Campaign, the Yshrenians had pushed out large forces, intent on Seizing the plentiful resources, guarded jealously by the Dragons. However, Selar, the Warrior General of Balandor, was intent on stopping the Yshrenian threat before it began. He immediately began a Campaign of aggression against all Yshrenian Traffic, halting almost all their operations. However, by the time the Balandorians had arrived in the Dragon's home, the Yshrenians had pursued a 'Scorched Earth' Tactic ; if they could not take the supplies, neither could the Balandorians.
As soon as the Balandorian troops had entered the scorched ruins, they were trapped. hundereds of Yshrenian Mages wove a great smoke spell, trapping the Balandor troops in a small island of light. Arrows rained on them incessantly, accompanied by the occasional magic outburst.
the Balandor troops held their ground, crouched behind shields or protected by their own magicks. but they could only protect from above.
The Yshrenians began to focus their magic; splitting earth. all the air rushed away from them, gales battering the Balandorian troops, as the floor shifted uneasily beneath them. some split open, tossing troops upwards to the sky, and crushing others with it's unknown, unknowable weight. finally, the balandor troops began to group together, onto a small safe place, guarded by their mages. and then, they summoned.
A huge glyph spread slowly across the open ground in front of the circle of steel. Whirlwinds of magic swirled incessantly, uneasily, casting dark shadows across the ruined floor. it slowly unfurled into a giant circle, and the earth stood still, and the wind ceased, as a dark shape was formed from darkness.
At first it was a mere skeleton, but muscles and flesh were knitted together onto it. it clothed itself in scales, and sprouted huge talons and fangs. two wings unfurled on it's back, and it roared to the heavens, finally free of it's sorceried confinement.
A Earth Dragon.
standing as tall as ten soldiers, it shook it's head as the mages whispered soothing mantras to it, pleading for it's assistance, lacing their words with subtle enchantments to convince it.
Arrows continued to rain down on them, blocked by the shields and bouncing off the slightly steaming scales of the Dragon.
it raised it's head, and deep brown eyes gazed into the murk cast by the Yshrenians. it drew in breath, as it prepared to begin.
As soon as it negamn to charge it's magic, it took power from the nearest source; the Yshrenians. many of their mages collapsed, overwhelmed by the psychic backwash, as the dragon grasped their colective magic and wrought the earth around it's very being, crushing the earth and spitting solid rock.
The Dragon let out a huge roar, and charged headlong into the darkness.
the troops, still in their circle of steel, watched as it quickly disappeared into the murk, and heard as smashing metal and screaming tore apart the night sky. huge colums of earth exploded above the darkness, bearing troops as they fired them into the night air. the dragon emerged from the darkness, flapping its wings steadily as it spewed rock on them, carving the earth to ribbons with incredible savagery.
twisting in midair, it sped forwards, talons and fangs bared, ready to kill.
as the soldiers watched, something with incredible force smashed the dragon out of the sky. it slipped into the darkness, its sclaes singed black, and slid along the ground, past the circle of steel into the darkness again.
a gigantic face emegred from the gloom. it had large flames on stalks on either side, and a cast-iron face-guard. the Cannon on it's back spewed fire incessantly, occasionally flaring up into an iridescent shot.
Pyredeamos.
it roared, huge hoofs of metal pounding the ground, as it charged the circle of steel, with a speed and ferocity that belied it's gargantuan size. howling, it dove at the Balandorians, killing as many with it's size as with it's cannon. the trooper's line broke, and many charged into the darkness, being cut down in their scores by the arrows and blades of the remaining Yshrenians.
Pyredeamos let out an earth-rending shot into the murk, where it collided with something, spewing fire hundereds of feet upwards.
The earth dragon, holding Solid earth as a shield in front of itself, emerged from the gloom. it ws scorched half black, but still stood tall. at the sight of it, many balandorian troops bagen to regrouop, bolstered by the appearance of the dragon. a huge scar now bisedcting it's face, it shaltered bahind it's shield. Another incredibly powerful shot blasted the earth shield in two, but the dragon had already discarded it and was charging headlong at Pyredeamos.
They clashed near the troops, and the very earth was sundered by the huge blows struck by each of them. the earth dragon soared upwards, wings flapping madly, to escape the conflagration being fired from Pyredeamos. swooping around, the Dragon caught Pyredeamos on the side of the cannon, tilting it over and knocking it to its side. Pyredeamos roared, collapsing on it's side as it crushed soldiers with it's bulk.
The dragon swopped straight into the ground, tunneling under it. Pyredeamos regained it's footing, searching the skies. it was not prepared when the earth shifted right beneath it, and the dragon came barreling out, almost cutting the monster in two. Pyredeamos was blasted backwards into the dark, crushing Yshrenians left and right. it seems that it must have crushed the last of the mages, for the darkness began to slip away from the circle. they could again see the battlefield, ansd almost immediately, half of them broke off and charged at the largest remaining formation of Yshrenians.
The dragon shook its head and roared at the prone form of Pyredeamos. the balandor troops charged at the Yshrenians. A shot from the still-prone Pyredeamos obliterated them, casting their bodies in to the dark. It forced itself upwards, turning to the dragon, bleeding deeply from several wounds. such a grevious wound would incapactitate the strongest dragon, but pyredeamon still stood. the two met again and again, crushing, tearring, firing. Fire and earth clashed in huge tornadoes, blasting the earth and any nearby soldiers.
Finally, both collapsed. The dragon, slash wounds all over it, fell badly, both of it's wings sliced off, two legs broken, all fangs lost. Pyredeamos stood, shaking, as it's mask had been smashed and it had a talon embedded into it's flank. charging up for one last shot, Pyredeamos gave a weak cry of victory, before incinerating the Dragon with a single, all-powerful shot of it's cannon. Scales split beneath the intense heat, and the dragon fell, finally dead.
Pyredeamos turned it's sights to the soldiers, who had just finished mopping up the Yshrenians. Only Pyredeamos remained.
gathering it's power to crush the few troops, Pyredeamos rasied it's gaping maw to the skies and let out a louder shout.
An arrow pinged off it's cannon. two more embeded themselves into it's side. a single arrw pierced it's eye. roaring, it steped backwards, as hundereds of arrows, fired by the Balandorians, clanged off it's armour and into its flesh. The sky darkened, as over seventy arrows pierced it. finally, slowly, Pyredeamos collpased. but still the arrows rained down. Soon, Pyredeamos resembled a giant pincushion. When soldiers ran out of arrows, they charged it's body with their blades, hacking it to pieces.
Face first in the mud, body covered in wounds, Fire extinguished, Pyredeamos died.
heya all! sorry it took me so long to actualy put my money where my mouth is and actually write something! but don't worry, i'll get into the meat of things soo. Please Read and review, otherwise the EyeOfLight will not give you your turkey sandwitch! my first fic...yada...yada... the usual stuff. and please, Constructive critiscism, not Destructive criticism. whatever language you speak: Danke schoen, Arigato Goezimasahita, Merci, Thanks!
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