Prologue:
It had been three hundred years since the dragon emperors ruled Cantha. Three hundred years of conflict, of violence, of chaos. Since the last emperor of the Dragon Empire, Emperor Kisu, had been brutally murdered by personal guards the once peaceful empire had fallen to ruin. Every race and tribe had been fighting tooth and nail to secure his or her slice of Cantha. The Aerie, vicious birdmen from the ragged mountains of the Tzaidien range had successfully attained dominion over this land. The Luxon's, a conglomerate of several seafaring tribes, had been fighting for the control of the inland sea and forest against the deeply religious and spiritual Kurzicks for the three hundred years since Kisu was killed. The Jade brotherhood, a human gang that had quickly gained followers and recruits since they successfully captured the capital, Kaineng City. And finally the Tsi-yan alliance, the surviving ruling family, said to be the direct descendants of the Dragon emperors. They controlled the large Island of Shing Jea, and had several strongholds on the mainland.
Chapter 1: Foreigners
"Captain Tang, we have your scouting report," squeaked the voice of a small, scrawny, soldier. Captain Tang, arms folded, turned from his view of the green valley spanned out in front of him and looked at the small scout. Captain Tang was, like his father a tall, yet well-built man in. He had risen in the ranks of the Tsi-yan Alliance fast, too fast for some of the leaders of the alliance. His leather chest piece was adorned with many medallions and trophies of his exploits. The captain looked down at the scout, the man was sweaty, and panting, like he'd just been chased by a group of angry kappa. Tang uncoiled one of his arms and took the scroll out of the small man's hand. The scout scurried off and returned to his duties. Tang held the scroll out in front of him and unrolled it. Captain Tang rolled his eyes, yet again the Scout had put together an annoyingly large report, filled with useless details that absorbed Tang's precious time. The first thing that struck Tang about this scroll was the messy scripture, it was almost illegible. But neatness aside Tang read it.
Scout Ming's report: Midday, Nongkam, Fifth age of the Phoenix 512CC.
The day started off routinely, we left the fortress with a team of three, myself inclusive and we headed for the valley path. We trekked for three hours until we reached the northern plateau that has a view of the entire Panjiang Peninsula all the way to the coast and to the Sea of Lyss. The sight was terrifying. There were at least ten foreign vessels, the design and make I have never seen before. The people on board had set up a small palisade encased campsite. These people were extremely strange to my eyes, they had dark skin and rode large grey animals with long tubular appendages on their heads. After an hour of observation we noticed a further three ships arrive on the coast, I estimate there now combined numbers at 1100, by no means a small force. As we were preparing to leave we were spotted by one of their mounted units. A force of ten men, all riding large cat-like creatures with long fangs, claws and stipes. We immediately mounted our horses and rode for the fortress, once the invaders caught site of use nearing the wall they broke off and returned to their camps. I believe these foreigners should be considered a threa-
WOOSH! An arrow streaked past Captain Tang's face, he immediately snapped his head in the direction where it had come from. Amassed in front of Tang's fortress was the entire force of foreigners, drums pounding, banners waving, soldiers chanting. The noise they made was immense, but the Captain realized a larger problem, like snakes coiled waiting to spring, six catapults were being wound back, preparing to fire. The fortress was in a state of utter confusion, there were archers scrambling to mount the walls, footsoldiers running out of their barracks, strapping on their armour and grabbing their weapons and artillery crews hauling their machines out of their holdings. CRASH! The wall shook and Tang was thrown off his feet, the first catapult stone had impacted the wall.
A further five perfectly aimed shots impacted against the wall, the stone structure that had stood guard over the valley for 200 years buckled and collapsed, several archers fell to their demise as Tang pulled himself up. Even before the dust had begun to clear the foreigners were pouring through the breach. The Tsi-yan guard, the most revered soldiers in the alliance formed a shield wall at the breach, sticking their spears through the gaps as they braced as the invaders clamoured up against their shields. Stab! The 120 spears of the Tsi-yan guard trusted in unison, the invaders cringed in pain as the spearheads buried themselves into their flesh. However more and more of the foreigners began to pour through the breach, Captain Tang realizing this may be his only chance, rushed to the far tower of the fortress, the beacon tower.
Dashing past screaming soldiers being carried away by fellow warriors and crumbling buildings collapsing around him Tang arrived at the stairway to the tower. Captain Tang cursed as he saw the 200 hundred steps to the top of the tower, mustering all his strength he scaled the steps, 10, 20, 50 steps, he paused for a short break, 75, 80, 121, 140, 178, 199, 200. Captain Tang gulped down the air as he arrived at the top, then as if stabbed in the gut, he froze. Amassed in front of him was a force of, millions, their troops filling the entire Jao basin and valley, their ships blotting out the clear blue of the ocean. Tang gazed down at the battle below, the Tsi-yan guard was decimated, the main fortress was ablaze, then it hit him, he was the only man left. Tang came to, regaining his focus, he poured oil on the wooden stack and picked up the torch, standing over the stack he dropped the flame onto the wood, it caught instantly causing a wave of heat to wash over Tang. Suddenly cold enveloped the captain, he looked down, a spear had gone through his chest, piercing his leather armour and ripping off his decorations. The invader twisted the spear, just to hear Tang groan, and then he loosened his grip on the and let Tang fall into his own fire. The dark skinned man pulled Captain Tang's still burning body out of the fire and threw it over the edge of the tower. He cried out in triumph and beat his chest fanatically, an awesome roar of noise overwhelmed the valley as the entire army cheered in victory.