Runescape: The Battle of Lumbridge

by Oryxace

With Guthix dead, and no one left to keep the gods out of Gielinor, a war begins, and a pivotal moment in history and the life of Oryxace starts; It would later become known as the Battle of Lumbridge.

1. Part 1

Part 1:

At the end of the last god wars Guthix awoke and banished the gods from Gielinor, for the next 2 millennia Guthix slept, knowing Gielinor was in balance. However peace cannot last, the resting place of Guthix was discovered by a naïve archaeologist seeking to save his career. He was followed by the Mahjarrat Sliske, and when Guthix awoke, Sliske killed him, destroying the balance, and the edicts he had put in place to maintain it.

With the edicts gone, and Gielinor open to the gods once more, they returned to reaffirm their power, and battle for the power Guthix left behind. I stood at the top of castle Lumbridge, when the first of Guthix' power leached into this plane of existence, a hole emitting a harsh green light appeared just outside of Lumbridge, within view of the castle. The first god to siphon energy out of it was Zamorak, in an attempt to stop him, Saradomin forced him into a stalemate. The followers of both gods became locked in a bitter battle for the energy leaching from the hole in reality, the initial clash destroyed half of castle Lumbridge. When I reached the ground the fighting had already begun, soldiers trying to defend Lumbridge clashed with Zamorakian zealots.

In the following dayss warriors from all over Gielinor arrived and began fighting, the battle quickly expanded to encompass all of Lumbridge, it would become known as the battle of Lumbridge.

I stood atop the castle of Lumbridge looking out at the clear sky, it had been a few weeks since the death of Guthix, and things seemed peaceful. Then the sky seemed to become clouded all of a sudden, the clouds were different, they had a greenish hue to them. I turned around to see a plume of green smoke rising into the sky, then a wave of energy struck me, the walls of the castle were blown apart. I felt my feet leave the ground, then I hit the water of the river Lum, if it wasn't for the eye Saradomin gave me centuries earlier I wouldn't have survived being thrown from the roof of the castle. I rose from the water, my Rune armour was heavy with water, as I stood it began draining out, I stepped out of the water to witness a flurry of activity, the Lumbridge guard was moving toward the source of the blast.

I followed them, as I climbed over the rumble of the west wall of the castle of Lumbridge I saw the crater, and two gods locked in a brutal battle. The crater was larger than Lumbridge, if it had happened any closer to Lumbridge it would've destroyed it all. I made my way to the crater, as I reached its edge I saw forces dressed in the colours of Zamorak and Saradomin locked in brutal combat.

"Interesting isn't it?" A voice said from behind me.
"It's another brutal war that's going to claim many lives." I answer.
"Come on Ory, It's not that bad, not like the wars we fought anyway."
"It seems that I'm the only one of us who's developed empathy over the years, Doom." I say turning around to face the figure dressed in black dragon leather.
"We've lived for more than 700 years, at least learn to enjoy the wars you're fighting." Doom says drawing his twin blood red sabers.
"I assume that you're going to support Saradomin." I ask, stretching my arms out and yawning.
"I believed in balance, but with Guthix gone, a lot of people are going to support Saradomin, so I think I'm going to support Zamorak this time." Doom answers.
"Then I suppose we're enemies then."
"I'll try to go easy on you, I won't use Bandos' arm." He says holding up his right arm.
"Then I won't have to use this." I say, activating my right eye.
"Sounds fun." He says jumping into the fray of the battle.
"I suppose that's Doom for you." I mutter under my breath.

I decide to take my time and get a drink before wading into the fray of the battle, I walk to the furthest bar from the fight. I enter it only to find a dagger at my throat, the bartender was cut and bloody, he had a determined look in his eye.

"Ralph, I'm not here to fight." I say holding up my hands.
"Several Zamorakians passed through here not that long ago, they looked like ordinary people, forgive me for being suspicious." He replies, lowering his dagger.
"I'll have a beer, and a shot of scotch." I say walking into the establishment and sitting down on one of the barstools.
"I thought you'd be the first to jump to arms in a situation like this, Ory." Ralph says pouring my beer.
"I'm taking a break today, it's my day off."
"Here's your beer, scotch is coming right up." He says placing the beer in front of me.
"Thanks."

The door to the bar opens, a heavily armoured foot steps into the bar, I ignore it and continue drinking my beer. The person enters the bar then sits next to me, his armour is almost more scratched and worn than mine. He removes his helmet, his hair is stark white, as is his beard, I glance over to get a better look at him, his cape is blue and white, adorned with a scale and a shield.

"I'll have a Dwarven Stout if you have it." He says in a gentle, commanding voice.
"Interesting cape you got there, you a member of one of those, 'neo-age' clans?" I ask setting my beer down.
"I suppose you could say that." The man answers setting his hammer down next to his stool.
"Which one?"
"Before I answer, may I ask your name?" He says turning his head to look at me, I notice that he's missing his left eye.
"Oryxace."
"I am Aethenous, leader of The Loyal Elite." He answers, "And you wouldn't happen be the Oryxace that wields the eye of Saradomin, would you?"
"Are you associated with the Relic hunters?" I say, taking a sip of my scotch.
"I wouldn't think so."
"Well it doesn't matter… yes I am THE Oryxace, I have lived for seven hundred fifty something years, and yes I do wield the eye of Saradomin."
"Interesting." He says drinking some beer.
"Come to fight me?"
"Violence is never the answer." Aethenous answers placing his drink down.
"Then recruitment, it wouldn't be the first time–"
"I came to enjoy a drink, not recruit living legends." He says smiling a gentle smile.

I spend the next few moments in silent thought, to my experience, one did not ask who I was unless they were looking to fight me. This 'Aethenous' seems to possess great wisdom, I think to myself as I finish my drinks, I should observe him for a while, might give me some answers to myself.

"Does your clan have any openings?" I ask.
"We always have room for a new recruit." He answers finishing off his own drink.
"Where is your clan's citadel?"
"You can use this talisman to get to it." He hands me a small blue and white amulet.
"And this will take me to your citadel?" I say looking at the small object in my hand.
"It will, if you are true of intention to join us." Aethenous replies standing and preparing to leave.
"Is your clan going to fight for the gods?" I ask as he opens to door to leave.
"Perhaps, we value balance."

I sit for a moment staring at the amulet for a while, must have a 'true of spirit' charm on it, I think as I put it on. The second after I put it on, the world seems to liquefy, then suddenly my lungs fill with water. The weight of my rune armour pulls me to the bottom of the small pool I've evidently become emersed in. I push off from the bottom of the pool, and emerge to the surface gasping for air, my armour begins to pull me down again, but I manage to get out of the pool before it can. I notice a figure standing over the pool, he's dressed in a black robe, and has the same cape as Aethenous was wearing.

"Welcome comrade, I am Pergaminos, I greet recruits and help them out of the pool if necessary." The person answers, extending a hand.
"I don't need any help." I say harsher than I meant.
"Perhaps you would like to complete the proper paperwork to officially become one of the Loyal Elite." Pergaminos says gesturing the a large building just off in the distance.
"I suppose that might be good." I reply, "But first, why did I teleport into a pool of water?"
"Think of it as a trial, if your intention to join wavered too much you would've been teleported back to where you put on the amulet."
"Seems counterproductive, even the most dedicated person would rethink their decision if they joined only to almost drown on their first trip to the clan citadel." I comment taking off my armour and letting the water drain out of it.
"Well it's worked out well so far, though most people float to the surface immediately, your armour must've weighed you down a lot."
"It does not matter, I'm even more intrigued with your clan than before."
"That's good, come we will complete that paperwork now."

It doesn't take long to get to the large building obviously serving as The Loyal Elite's main stronghold on their giant floating plateau. The outside of the building makes it look like a castle fortress, the inside is like a gentlemen's parlor, dark oak paneling and suits of armour lining the hallways. Pictures hung on the walls depicting great victories, and former clan leaders, I decide to take a closer look at some of them, as they looked oddly familiar.

"This is the battle of The Wilderness volcano." I say, remembering the battle vividly, my original clan The Reapers had fought at that battle, the final battle against the followers of Zamorak.
"The battle of the Wilderness volcano was the first battle that we have recorded in our clan's history, we believe that the Loyal Elite may have fought at earlier battles but we have no record of them." Pergaminos says looking at the painting.
"Do you know anything about the origins of you clan?" I ask, genuinely intrigued as to why I'd never heard of them.
"Unfortunately we do not, it has been lost to history."
"Would you like to know?"
"Perhaps you should take this up with the clan historian." Pergaminos says, obviously unhappy about my questions, "This way to the main administrative chamber."

Pergaminos leads me to a chamber at the top of the building, it has a domed ceiling, with glass panes allowing natural light in. Opposite the door there is a large desk, made of marble, and on it lay stack after stack of paper, sitting behind the desk, was Aethenous. He was calmly writing with a quill, he seemed to be lost in thought, as though he were writing something that would determine the fate of the world. His old face looked up for a moment to notice that we had entered, then promptly went back to whatever it was he was doing. After a long moment, Pergaminos broke the silence,

"Aethenous, we have a new recruit."
"I know, I can see him." He answers continuing to write.
"I thought you were in Lumbridge." I say surprised.
"I was, I decided that the battle was not worth my time, and came back here to work on my book. Can I do anything for you?"
"Pergaminos here says I need to fill out some paperwork." I say gesturing to Pergaminos behind me.
"Well then I guess you came to the right place, I have lots of paperwork here, choose a pile and we could be done by sunset a week from now." Aethenous replies, gesturing to a chair in front of the desk.
"That's not what I think he meant." I reply, becoming rather irritated with the man behind the desk.
"I'll leave you two alone for a while." Pergaminos says walking out of the door, and closing it behind him.
"Do I even need to fill out any paperwork?"
"Well that depends, do you want to?" Aethenous says putting the page he'd been writing on into a pile next to his work space.
"Then why am I here?" I say angrily, gesturing around the room.
"Oryxace, in your seven hundred years have you lost your sense of humour, and patience?" Aethenous says cracking a smile.
"You irritate me." I say glaring daggers at him.
"I'm glad you decided to join us, Oryxace, you'll find clan uniforms in that closet over there, please take one, you are required to wear it while in the clan Citadel's main building, a form of respect to the many who have come before."

I go to the closet, and remove a uniform my size, it's a black robe similar to the one worn by Pergaminos, except it doesn't have stars at the bottom of the cape, and the area for the rank remains empty. I take off the armour I'm wearing and stow in the usual pocket dimension, then I use my magic to switch my clothes for the uniform. It's surprisingly comfortable, I stretched a little while wearing it to get a feel for the fabric, the uniform was crafted from high quality materials.

"I assume that my rank is recruit."
"A safe assumption, but will you be able to follow orders?" Aethenous says, standing from his desk, and walking towards me with his hands behind him.

I took a moment before answering, it had been centuries since I had held a rank less than general.

"Should be a refreshing experience." I answer.
"Good, good." Aethenous responds, smiling, "Has Pergaminos explained any of the clan's history to you?"
"He told me a little about the clan's participation at the battle of the Wilderness volcano, but couldn't answer questions about your clan's origins." I reply.
"That is not surprising, usually only the leader of the clan may know the true history, you however, are an exception, considering that you've probably had experiences with our clan before."
"I remember fighting with 3 other clans at the battle of the Wilderness volcano, but the emblems of your clan were not present at that battle."
"Our clan's name and purpose were different back then, needless to say you would not have recognized us even a year after that battle." Aethenous said, gesturing to the empty air behind himself, "The battle of the Wilderness volcano was a pivotal time in our history, after it our clan underwent a massive reorganization, our leader Sauren of Misthalin realized that participating in violent actions was not the answer to the world's problems, and devoted us to the pursuit of peace, we have lived by his edicts since, maintaining balance in the world."
"Sauren…" I mutter under my breath, my heart aching with sorrow.
"Did you know Sauren?" Aethenous asks.
"I suppose you could say that… That I named by son of centuries past after him." I reply, smiling a fake smile.
Aethenous looks suspiciously at me, "Well at least he was well known."
"I suppose, I have a question regarding most recent events, which side will your… our clan be supporting in Lumbridge, it's a pretty even divide right now, Zamorak has sheer brute force, but Saradomin has more support, the Loyal Elite could tip the scales in either sides favour." I say.
"We support balance, which means we must support both sides." Aethenous replies.
"Where will I go?"
"Where you choose to go, unless you want to be put in a squad." Aethenous says looking at a paper from the seemingly endless stacks on his desk.
"I'll take the squad, might be fun to take orders for once."
"As you wish, I'll have Pergaminos assign you to a squad supporting Saradomin."
"Sounds fun."

Day 1 of battle, 1:46 PM

The squad I ended up assigned to shipped out almost immediately, I had the best armour out of all of them, I also didn't seem as frightened as them. Our squad commander was a man by the name of Dog, a young lieutenant he appeared to be new to his command. We arrived at the battle to find a camp set up for the wounded, already there appeared to be massive casualties, the battle was localizing to the crater, which meant Lumbridge was being spared the worst of the damage, for now.

"Alright, our orders are to support a wedge formation to break the enemy line." Dog says looking over a piece of paper, and a map.
"I volunteer to head the formation." I say, drawing my sword.
"No can do, commanding officer always takes point."

Slightly angry I mutter 'yes sir', we quickly arrange ourselves into a wedge formation, then follow other squads into the fray. I take up a tank position behind Dog, as we enter the crater I begin to get a sense of it, I've seen bigger I think as we march past a wounded swordsmen. The first arrow hits the guy behind me, goes straight through his eye slit, he drops dead as we tighten our formation. Another arrow bounces off my helmet, I follow the arrows trajectory only to see an angel of shadow, a man dressed in Zamorakian armour, his eyes glowed red as he fired arrows at us. He fired several arrows consecutively, 2 of them hit my, one bounced off my armour the other embedded itself in the gap in my shoulder armour.

"Over there!" I yell pointing with my sword.
"Hazeel take him out!" Dog yells to our marksman, however before he can notch an arrow 3 arrows appear in his left eye socket.
"Damn it!" Dog yelled, raising his shield.
"I can take him out!" I yell, activating the eye of Saradomin.
"Then do it, I don't want to lose anymore guys!" Dog yells in response.

I quickly target the archer and unleash a thin beam of power, it leaves a hole in the shape of Saradomin's emblem, on his chest, he drops to the ground.

"Good, let's move forward!"
"What about Hazeel, and the other guy!?" I yell as we begin moving back into formation.
"A team will be by soon enough, right now we have an objective, support a wedge into enemy territory!"

Reluctantly I let the issue drop and we began moving forward again, the bodies were becoming more frequent, the guy in front of me vomited. Lieutenant Dog seemed hesitant to continue, but grudgingly he put one foot forward after the other. The battle was truly lready becoming a bloody mess, it spiralled out of control, the Lumbridge guards could barely hold a perimeter, let alone fight the Zamorakians. Suddenly Dog stopped, I almost walked into the guy in front of me, looking forward I saw nothing but smoke, then 2 fireballs shot forth from it, one impacted Dog, the other narrowly missed me, I used the eye of Saradomin to quickly clear the smoke only to reveal a single mage, and a beast unlike anything I have ever seen. The beast seemed like a fusion of a greater demon, a titan, and a monster from the youngest child's nightmare, I grabbed Dog and pulled back.

Then I raised my sword in challenge to the mage, the mage launched more fireballs at me, and the beast charged. I easily deflected the fireballs, the beast on the other hand hit me full force, and buried me in the ground. Using the power of the eye of Saradomin I quickly blew a hole in the beast's head through the ground, then dug my way back up. The beast dropped dead, and the mage began backing away, I used a bolt of energy to rip the mage in 2. As I turned to aid my squad, I was met with looks of horror, it looked as though they feared me almost as much as they feared the enemy's god, I turned away from them, and stood between them and the enemy.

"IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO!?" I yelled in the direction of the enemy camp.

A wave of infantry men emerged from the smoke, their swords already dripping blood, it was obvious that they had ripped through Saradomin's wedge. I raised my sword, my squad wearily raised their own and stood in a circle around Lieutenant Dog, a few seconds later the enemy was upon us. I swung my sword and ripped through the armour of a tank, then slammed my shield into a slim swordsman, knocking him down. I planted my foot in his stomach, so hard that his armour cracked and blood splattered my boot, his screams echoed a bit longer in my head than the usual sounds of battle. Worry about a guilty conscience later, I told myself, Right now, it's kill or be killed, so kill to survive kill so your squad survives…i

I unleashed the power of the eye of Saradomin, using its power I incapacitated the enemy infantry around us. I picked up Lieutenant Dog, and ordered a retreat, no one argued, we made it back to our camp as Aethenous arrived on a horse. He quickly dismounted, and walked past us towards the battlefield as a wave of Zamorakians approached the Saradominist camp. Aethenous raised his hammer and began striking back the Zamorakians as they reached the camp, he seemed very nimble for an old man. The wave of Zamorakians was quickly repelled those that survived fled, a pile of bodies lay in his wake, his body language suggested a great reluctance to kill.

"I guess that's Aeth for you." Pergaminos said walking towards us.
"So is the entire clan deployed at this point?" I asked.
"Yes, we're all here now, though our presence isn't going to do much, we evenly split between the 2 sides." Pergaminos answers me while wrapping his hands in bandages.
"I could easily shift the balance in this fight."
"Then I suppose it depends on which side you want to win." Pergaminos says walking towards the battlefield with his spear at the ready.

Day 2 of battle, 12:34pm

"Dog we need to shift our position or we're going to get killed!" I yelled at Lieutenant Dog, as I blocked an incoming blast of fire.
"We have our orders, we're to hold this position until reinforcements arrive!" Dog replies, blocking a volley of icicles.
"We're not going to survive long enough for those reinforcements to arrive!" I yell, firing a blast from my eye.
"We'll make it!" Dog yells, "Tighten the formation!"

We respond in kind and tighten up, wave after wave of magical blasts strike us, despite the obvious direness of the situation we hold position. A blast of energy strikes the corporal next to me, he drops to the ground exposing a hole in our formation, before we can react a fireball flies into the hole, striking our wounded. They scream as the fire burns them, there's nothing we can do, but close the hole in our formation, and keep taking the heat of it.

"WE NEED TO PULL BACK!" I scream over the explosions of magical energy around me.
"WE CAN'T!" Dog screams in reply, "THE ENEMY FIRE IS TOO THICK, WE'D BE RIPPED APART IF WE TRIED TO RETREAT, WE NEED TO HOLD POSITION!"

I do as he says, 20 minutes later, several consecutive blasts of magic rip apart our formation, I grab Dog, knowing that he was the one most likely to survive, and retreated. Using the eye of Saradomin I create a shield around us, and begin running back to our camp, I hear the screams of the wounded from our squad as the Zamorakian mages bear down on them. I enter the camp panting heavily, then drop Dog to the ground, and collapse to knees, my hands on the ground I try to come to grips with being at war again, it had been a long time since I fought one so bloody.

"What happened?!" Yelled one of the Saradominist generals, "Why did you pull back!?"
"Our formation was ripped apart, we barely made it out of there!" I yell standing to face him.
"And you gave ground to the Zamorakians! Unacceptable!" The general yells at me, "You are to fight to the last man, and die in service to your god!"
"I will not die for such a petty reason!" I scream at him, allowing my power to roll off me in anger.

The general shakily backs up, then passes out, obviously a man who has never seen war, I think to myself. Aethenous walks up next to me, seeing Dog, he puts a hand on my shoulder,

"How long has it been since you fought a war this bloody, Oryx?" He asks in a calming voice.
"At least 500 years, there was an incident with the relic hunters, but nothing like this…" I answer feeling tears roll down my face, "So much death…"
"I respect a man who has not become desensitized to violence even after 700 years." Aethenous says kneeling next to me, to check Dog's vitals.
"I've developed empathy, I've had to watch my loved ones die as I lived on, 3 times now... I don't want to watch people lose their families in petty wars like this." I say, wiping the tears from my face.
"Some would say that this war is not petty, and that we must fight in it to restore peace to this world."
"What do you believe?" I ask, standing and preparing to head back into the fray.
"I believe that this war is a pivotal moment in the history of Gielinor, this battle decides what people want more, good or evil, The Loyal Elite fights it because of its significance."
"What if Zamorak wins?" I ask looking back at Aethenous.
"Then so be it, but the Zamorakians will be no match for the forces of Saradomin once they reach here in a day or two."
"We shall see." I reply wading back into the fray.

I doubted Aethenous at that moment, but little did I know, he was right, the arrivial of the White Knights on the fourth day of battle marked a change in the virtual stalemate. They brought with them generals with greater strategic experience than the ones that Saradomin had in command. With the use of the White Knights, and better strategy, the battle quickly turned around, however it would still last 5 days after their arrival, because of the arrival of the Black Knights in support of Zamorak.