Part One: The War on The Dragons - Chapter One: The Everlasting War
Everything was grey and ancient, from the water in the lakes to the gargantuan Archtrees that housed the Everlasting Dragons. This was the way the world had been for Millennia, but with the newly found fire that the inhabitants of the bellow had discovered, that would soon change.
Lightning flew in the skies ripping the stone scales off the Dragons and puncturing their wings, making them fall to the ground where they would be attacked by the Silver Knights of Gwyn, Lord Nito, and Lord Gwyn. A spear-wielding silver knight who had the unique ability to conduct lighting removed his spear from the skull of a Dragon he had just ended and looked around, looking for where to go next.
Before he could figure out where to go, he heard a defining sound in the sky above him. He looked up and saw what made the noise; A barrage of lightning bolts, possibly in the thousands, went hurling toward a Dragon of unbelievable size. The Knight looked in wonder at the creature crashing from the sky; he was mesmerized by it that he didn't even notice that it was crashing in his direction.
He heard running to his left, so he turned to look and saw another of Gwyn's Silver Knights charging at him. When the Knight reached him, they tackled him to the ground, moving him out of the way of the crashing Dragon. He was alive, but threescore of his fellow knights were not so lucky.
The Knight that saved him offered his hand to help him up; he took it and was back on his feet.
'Who art thou?' the Knight asked.
Looking at the Dragon that almost crushed him, he responded, 'Ornstein.'
As Ornstein faced the Knight, who saved him, he was offered to shake this Knight's hand as he spoke 'Artorias.'
Ornstein shook Artorias' hand, and Artorias said
'Remember we are fighting a war; I cannot always be around to save thou from impending doom.'
Ornstein picked up his spear while Artorias collected his Greatsword and shield; he wielded his sword in his left hand. He ran, looking for something to do, moving with the speed and agility of a Wolf, perfectly jumping and vaulting over any obstacles in his path.
Ornstein then heard the horn that signalled all Knights under The Firstborns command to return to the main camp. He headed back and looked to see how many were absent. Most of those he had seen but an hour ago was nowhere to be seen when he made it back to camp.
He knew they were there for the reason that was yet to be revealed, so he decided to sit down and check his weapon and armour. He sat down on a nearby rock and took off his helmet, stopped for a second, took a deep breath, ran his fingers through his slightly short brown hair, which was short so he wouldn't have to fix it every time he put his helmet on.
Then he checked his helm for damage; he began to inspect his spear for any cracks. Whilst he was checking his spear, he heard a familiar voice
'What do thou think we have been called back for?' Artorias asked, sitting down next to Ornstein.
'I do not know. Why art thou here?' Ornstein asked Artorias.
'I am a part of The Firstborns Company.' Artorias responded.
'Then if thou art truly a part of this Company; what is my rank?'
Without pause, Artorias responded, 'You are The Firstborns and Lord Gwyn's first knight.'
'Why art thou sitting here with me? Surely there are others for you to talk to?' Ornstein asked Artorias.
'No, I do not. Thou art the only person I have properly spoken to during this war.' Artorias responded.
'The same can be said for me.' Ornstein said to Artorias.
'Has any damage been dealt to thy armour?' Artorias asked.
'None that I can see.' Ornstein responded.
Artorias removed his helm, revealing his short black and slightly messy hair. He held his helmet in his hand and looked at it;
'I hate wearing this armour and using such a small shield. A Hood is better than a helm, in my opinion, it is far easier to repair and manage, and this armour is far too heavy.' Artorias told Ornstein.
'I agree to a certain extent. This armour is far too heavy, and this helm leaves far too much of one's face exposed to attack. I hate these capes on our armour.' Ornstein responded.
A voice spoke, 'Might I sit here too?' The voice came from someone about half the height of Artorias and Ornstein.
Ornstein moved right to give the small Knight a place to sit. When they did sit, they removed their helm to reveal that they were a woman, an uncommon sight amongst the Silver knights as most of the women didn't want to fight.
'My name is Ciaran, and you two are Artorias and First Knight Ornstein.' The Knight, now known to be Ciaran said, she already had her helmet off, showing her blonde hair.
'We are. Art thou a part of this Company too?' Artorias asked.
'Indeed I am. I assume that thou art too?' Ciaran asked.
'That we are.' Artorias responded.
'I do not mean to insult thou but, when out there in that battlefield, what doth thou do?' Ornstein asked.
'Although I may be smaller than the other knights here, I do the same as you: Slay Dragons, to which I have one to my name.' Ciaran responded.
'I am impressed; most of the knights here who are double thine size could not claim to have killed one of the dragons.' Ornstein said to Ciaran.
'Size doth not matter, Ornstein, thou art smaller than I, and next to the Firstborn, thou have slain the most dragons.'
Just as Artorias had finished his sentence, Ornstein was summoned to the Firstborn. He stood up, grabbed his spear and walked toward the tent.
'He hath forgotten his helm.' Ciaran said to Artorias.
Artorias sighed. 'We shall give it to him when he exits. Thou art more than welcome to stay and talk if it is in thine interest.'
'Thank thou for offering, but I must take my leave and check up on a friend.' Ciaran said to Artorias.
'Doth thou mind if I come with thou?' Artorias asked.
'Thou may come with me.' Ciaran responded.
Artorias picked up his sword and sheathed it on his back, put his shield on his back on top of his sword, and placed his helm on his head so as he could carry Ornstein's in his hand.
After a short walk through the camp, they arrived at the infirmary tent, where all the wounded and or dying soldiers were. Most knights died on the battlefields, so the infirmary had barely anyone in it.
Once they had moved through the infirmary, Ciaran spoke;
'We are here.'
Artorias looked to see where they were. He could see that they were in the armoury, where two giants currently were. One was smithing, and the other was making what appeared to be arrows which were handmade with stone tips and wooden shafts.
'Gough, how art thou?' Ciaran asked the Giant, making arrows.
'I am the same as I always am.' Gough responded.
Artorias faced the smithing giant and asked
'What is thy name?'
The Giant responded, continuing to focus on the weapons he was making
'I am a Blacksmith, and that is all you need to call me.'
'Art thou here for thine swords?' Gough asked Ciaran.
'I am.' She responded.
'Well, here they are.' Gough said as he handed Ciaran her two straight swords.
Before he said anything else, Artorias realised he still had Ornstein's helmet with him. He decided to give it to him, as he could be in that tent for hours.
'I need to go and give Ornstein back his helmet.' He said.
'Tis fine, Artorias, I shall be here talking to Gough.' Ciaran told Artorias.
Once that was said, he began walking towards the tent that Ornstein was in.
Meanwhile, the Firstborn had summoned Ornstein to him, and Ornstein realised he had left it on the rock he sat on. He entered the tent, which was large to accommodate Nito, The Witches of Izalith, and Lord Gwyn, The Firstborn and Gwynevere.
'Ornstein, where is thine helmet?' The Firstborn asked his First Knight.
'I misplaced it when I was on the battlefield.' He lied.
'Well, now that you are here, we can begin.' The Firstborn said.
'Doth thou have a plan?' Gwyn asked his Son.
'I do. We have you, our Knights and me all in a large group so as when we attack one of their larger Dragons with our Lightning, instead of it being spread out, it hits the same area doing enough damage to bring it crashing down. Dead.' The Firstborn told Gwyn.
'Are thou sure that is a good decision? It seems too risky if it were to go wrong: we lose lost of soldiers.' Gwyn asked.
'It should be fine if it is done correctly.' The Firstborn responded.
'And Nito will kill it with his Miasma of diseases as Izalith, and her Daughters will burn their Archtrees.' Ornstein added.
'Yes, but only if this goes right.' The Firstborn said.
'What is thine opinion of the plan, Ornstein?' He was asked by The Firstborn.
'Well, Sire, if it is done right, nothing would keep this Dragon alive.' He said.
As he finished, a Knight came through the tent flap holding a helmet in his hand.
'First Knight, I found your helmet on the battlefield and came to return it to you.' Artorias said as he handed Ornstein his helmet.
Ornstein took the helmet from Artorias and put it on his head. Artorias turned to leave but was stopped when The Firstborn asked him:
'Knight, what is your name?'
Artorias responded 'Artorias.'
'Whose company art thou a part of?' The Firstborn asked.
'Yours, Sire.' Artorias said.
The Firstborn looked at Artorias as he had an idea;
'I would like for thou to take a look at this plan and give me thine opinion of it.' He asked Artorias.
'Why me?' Artorias asked The Firstborn.
'I would like to know what one of the knights who would be a part of this plan thinks of it.' He responded to his Knights question.
'Are you sure that is a good idea, Brother?' Gwynevere asked.
'Yes, I want to know what my Knights think of my plans before they have to play them out.' The Firstborn said to his sister.
'Are not thine plans always a success?' Artorias asked.
'Yes, however, my plans that are thoroughly planned and picked at for every potential outcome are not nearly as good as plans that have been thought in the heat of battle. As with them, I merely decide what I will do and then execute it, but long thought out ones have me needing to decide for long periods what everyone will do, which ends up successful for a brief period but then it crumbles and fails.' The Firstborn replied.
With that, Artorias walked up to the map on which the Firstborns plan was laid on. The Knight inspected the plan for a few minutes, then spoke;
'It is a sound plan, but...' He trailed off.
'But what?' Gwyn asked Artorias.
'But, I doth not think it is wise to have all of the Knights that compact, because if one of the Dragons were to crash in that direction; the losses would be catastrophic, and I doubt we would enough to win or even fight another battle as those that didn't die would be injured, severally.' Artorias told the room.
'What would thou propose to happen?' Ornstein asked Artorias.
'Well, I am aware that the likely hood of this being used is slim. But I think that if you had the Knights instead of in a cluster, in an arch, that if anything were to go wrong that it would give more Knights enough time to get out of the way, thus meaning that you would be sacrificing damage dealt to the Dragons for greater numbers of Knights in the future.' The Knight finished.
Everyone looked toward the map on the table and played out in their heads what that would be like on the battlefield. The Firstborn tilted his head as he thought about the plan that had been presented to him.
'You are right in saying that we would be sacrificing damage for numbers, but that lack of damage dealt to a singular point could mean that the Dragon would cease to fall and subsequently it could take out most, if not all, the Knights there.' Artorias was told by the Firstborn.
'I had not taken that into account, sire.' Artorias responded.
'It is a good plan, and with the proper methods and numbers, could be very efficient.' The Firstborn told Artorias.
'But thank you for thine input on this, now go with Ornstein and get your equipment ready because we leave in three minutes.' The Firstborn added.
Artorias and Ornstein left the tent and saw Ciaran by the rock they had been sitting on a little while ago. She was sitting down with her swords in the ground and her helmet beside her.
'Thank you for returning my helmet, Artorias.' Ornstein said.
'Doth not forget it next time.' Artorias said back.
'Ciaran, I suggest that you get your equipment ready as we are leaving in a few minutes.' Ornstein said to which Ciaran nodded and followed Ornstein's suggestion.
As Gwyn's Firstborn walked out of the tent, he stood in a single position and shouted
'Knights! Get ready. We move in two minutes!' After he said that, all the Knights in the camp started to get battle-ready.
The Firstborn walked over to where his First Knight stood with his two friends and spoke to them all;
'Artorias, thou and Ciaran art to go with Ornstein, you go where he goes unless specifically told otherwise by me, my father or Ornstein. Ciaran, go and get Gough; he will be needed for this battle. Ornstein, Gough, Artorias and Ciaran are under your command for this. Thou art to get Gough into a position in which he will hit the Dragon with his arrows. And since thou, as well as Artorias and Ciaran, cannot cast Lightning like the other Knights, you will be with me trying to kill it if it does not die when or before it has hit the ground. If that were to happen, use thine lightning power to attack it.'
'Doth thou understand what has been said?' He asked the three Knights in front of him. They nodded in response.
'Good, now getting moving.' He finished as he walked away to get his sword spear, ready to kill a Dragon.