Chapter Three - The Beginning of the End.
A few hours after the original fanfare began, the greatest fighting force in the known worlds was assembled inside one, giant arena. All primed and ready to show off to their hearts content, to bask in the glory of the millions and millions of fans that had gathered from far and wide to see them fight... If only they had known what was to come.
The music died down, the crowd became silent almost automatically, and a tall, ominous figure moved towards the edge of an ornate balcony at one side of the arena. Long, white hair swept back over his perfect, Elven features. This was the face of Janus Krug, self proclaimed spokes-person for the mage council. He had lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and was still as sharp, and witty as ever.
With an odd gesture, several small lines of magic etched themselves into the air around his hand, summoning a form of microphone to address the entire stadium, and at the very same time, a large illusionary screen, detailing the glorified politician's face in perfect detail. He began to speak, leaving a moment to take in the anticipation practically bleeding from his surroundings. He knew what he was about to do would cause an almighty uproar. In-fact, he even counted on it.
"Ahem.. Ladies and Gentlemen. What I am about to tell you, is not something I will derive any pleasure from, I have had many sleepless nights turning this speech over in my mind, and I have come to a conclusion; which is that there is no easy way to do this. However, it must be done. First of all, I would like to congratulate the guymelef knights as a whole, and their mothers, and their fathers, and to dedicate this day, to those who have died in the service of the allied worlds. Now onto the difficult part. After many, many long months of painful discussion, it is the decision of the mage council to abolish the Guymelef Knight Wings."
And with those last five words, the entire crowd erupt into shouts, and screams of disbelief and rage, not a single person expected this. And after about five seconds of absolute havoc, Janus signaled for silence, blotting out the crowds voices with a simple spell, and after all had gone silent, he continued.
"People! Listen to me! The council sees this as our only option, as for the current state of affairs with the Dragons, we have been made an offer that we CANNOT refuse. They have demanded that all guymelefs be dismantled, and the hearts be returned to the Draconic homeworld within the month. If this is done, then they will agree to a cease fire. The guymelefs have been the sword and shield of our worlds for millennia now, but I say 'Why wield weapons of mass destruction when you can cast them away and have your enemy do the same?' In the long run, this is the best answer. I do not wish to see any more of our men and women slain in battle against the Dragons, and if things aren't rectified soon then the current scuffle will escalate to an all out war. You all know what they are capable of, if they truly wanted us obliterated, there would be little the knights could do about a thousand emperor dragons planeshifting in around a capitol city, it would be obliterated in seconds, and then they would simply systematically commit an act of genocide."
The uproar had become prominent again, but a little less violent. Children had heard of the Dragons in school, and some of the older people in the crowd may have actually seen one. Not the swamp dragons, or the land dragons that simply look like a glorified flying squirrel, no, the -true- Dragons. The Dragons's capable of obliterating a city on a whim, of killing hundreds with a breath, the Dragons capable of breathing magic like it was air, and give off almighty gouts of power. It's not unheard-of for one of them using dark energy in it's breath, slaying all those caught in it's path with purified death magic. The crowd agreed on one point of the speech, they did -not- want an all out war with the Dragons.
Somehow, he was starting to win the crowd over, their inexorable belief that the guymelef knights were a necessity was starting to be proven not all too inexorable after all. But Janus was not out of the woods yet, he still had people left to convince. The Knights themselves.
"Now, I am lead to believe that you are all reasonable, law abiding people, and thus, I offer you anything you wish. Anything the council has to give, within sane measure, will be yours. Be it riches, or position of another kind, anything you may want to repay this grievous loss. Will be yours" And with that last statement, he almost thought he had it in the bag, but as the council had said, Kraikon would not be so easily swayed.
Now standing inside the cockpit of the Aravahlis out in the center of the arena, Kraikon Gallowglass, the leader of the guymelef knights kicked his engines into life, and sped up in-front of Janus's booth. Even through the armor, you could feel the rage seeping out of the once peaceful man's soul, almost making the air boil to match.
"IF YOU THINK THAT WE ARE GOING TO LET YOU TAKE AWAY OUR LIFES WORK FOR A TOKEN PRIZE THEN YOU MUST BE AS DUMB AS YOU ARE ARROGANT! Janus, the council KNOWS what we have been through, we have been at your service for MELENNIA, and now you just throw it back in our faces just to make the dragons happy? well I say FORGET THE DRAGONS!" That last line bringing a deafening shout from the crowd, and causing Janus to ruffle his brow in agitation. He had hoped that Kraikon would adhere to his supposed obedience to the council and show some rebellion, but not enough to break his hold over the crowd. With that in mind, and a few subliminal waves of power, another set of contingency spells interwoven with his very being when off. Powerful blue magic's began to grow in power, and wards that still lay just below the realm of normal sight flickered briefly, not long enough for any human to see it, but long enough for one man in the entire crowd to catch on.
Until now, the old man had known something was wrong; his mind was hazy, and pliant. His arcane senses may have been out of practice, but they were by no means any less useful, and he had seen the sudden jolt in the level of blue mana about the arena. If it had been a few hundred years ago he would have picked up on the Chanjelin Wards in an instant, countering them without a thought and setting up as powerful an Aquas Ward as he could as soon as possible. Only EXTREEMLY powerful blue mages had access to that sort of spell, and the only one he knew of in the area was also probably sitting on enough countermagic to throw anything he could muster back at him. The years he had spent living in peace had allowed his contingency spells to dwindle, and as a younger man, Janus would have never been a match for him.
Making a risky move, he drew upon the weave, and before anyone could notice him, summoned a field of illusion around himself. But not quick enough, he noticed that Janus turned his glare upon him, barley hiding the shock upon realizing who he was dealing with; His old mentor.
Without a visible change in expression, Janus's aura flared into preparation. Invisible wards earthed into the winds of magic from his persona, locking down on the available mana in the area, and putting a strangle hold on the magical powers of all but himself. Preparing for the worst, as he knew exactly what the old man before him was capable of. But he sensed little complication in his aura. The fool had allowed his contingency spells to dwindle! This would be easier than he thought.
Tapping into the winds of magic, Janus opened a telepathic link to his old master, and began to speak in a snide, arrogant tone, to his former superior; "Aleron you senile old FOOL! What are you doing here!" His entire body crackling on a magical level, raw, seething energy burnt Ætherial scorch-marks into the winds themselves. Janus was a power-house, and he knew it.
A few hours after the original fanfare began, the greatest fighting force in the known worlds was assembled inside one, giant arena. All primed and ready to show off to their hearts content, to bask in the glory of the millions and millions of fans that had gathered from far and wide to see them fight... If only they had known what was to come.
The music died down, the crowd became silent almost automatically, and a tall, ominous figure moved towards the edge of an ornate balcony at one side of the arena. Long, white hair swept back over his perfect, Elven features. This was the face of Janus Krug, self proclaimed spokes-person for the mage council. He had lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and was still as sharp, and witty as ever.
With an odd gesture, several small lines of magic etched themselves into the air around his hand, summoning a form of microphone to address the entire stadium, and at the very same time, a large illusionary screen, detailing the glorified politician's face in perfect detail. He began to speak, leaving a moment to take in the anticipation practically bleeding from his surroundings. He knew what he was about to do would cause an almighty uproar. In-fact, he even counted on it.
"Ahem.. Ladies and Gentlemen. What I am about to tell you, is not something I will derive any pleasure from, I have had many sleepless nights turning this speech over in my mind, and I have come to a conclusion; which is that there is no easy way to do this. However, it must be done. First of all, I would like to congratulate the guymelef knights as a whole, and their mothers, and their fathers, and to dedicate this day, to those who have died in the service of the allied worlds. Now onto the difficult part. After many, many long months of painful discussion, it is the decision of the mage council to abolish the Guymelef Knight Wings."
And with those last five words, the entire crowd erupt into shouts, and screams of disbelief and rage, not a single person expected this. And after about five seconds of absolute havoc, Janus signaled for silence, blotting out the crowds voices with a simple spell, and after all had gone silent, he continued.
"People! Listen to me! The council sees this as our only option, as for the current state of affairs with the Dragons, we have been made an offer that we CANNOT refuse. They have demanded that all guymelefs be dismantled, and the hearts be returned to the Draconic homeworld within the month. If this is done, then they will agree to a cease fire. The guymelefs have been the sword and shield of our worlds for millennia now, but I say 'Why wield weapons of mass destruction when you can cast them away and have your enemy do the same?' In the long run, this is the best answer. I do not wish to see any more of our men and women slain in battle against the Dragons, and if things aren't rectified soon then the current scuffle will escalate to an all out war. You all know what they are capable of, if they truly wanted us obliterated, there would be little the knights could do about a thousand emperor dragons planeshifting in around a capitol city, it would be obliterated in seconds, and then they would simply systematically commit an act of genocide."
The uproar had become prominent again, but a little less violent. Children had heard of the Dragons in school, and some of the older people in the crowd may have actually seen one. Not the swamp dragons, or the land dragons that simply look like a glorified flying squirrel, no, the -true- Dragons. The Dragons's capable of obliterating a city on a whim, of killing hundreds with a breath, the Dragons capable of breathing magic like it was air, and give off almighty gouts of power. It's not unheard-of for one of them using dark energy in it's breath, slaying all those caught in it's path with purified death magic. The crowd agreed on one point of the speech, they did -not- want an all out war with the Dragons.
Somehow, he was starting to win the crowd over, their inexorable belief that the guymelef knights were a necessity was starting to be proven not all too inexorable after all. But Janus was not out of the woods yet, he still had people left to convince. The Knights themselves.
"Now, I am lead to believe that you are all reasonable, law abiding people, and thus, I offer you anything you wish. Anything the council has to give, within sane measure, will be yours. Be it riches, or position of another kind, anything you may want to repay this grievous loss. Will be yours" And with that last statement, he almost thought he had it in the bag, but as the council had said, Kraikon would not be so easily swayed.
Now standing inside the cockpit of the Aravahlis out in the center of the arena, Kraikon Gallowglass, the leader of the guymelef knights kicked his engines into life, and sped up in-front of Janus's booth. Even through the armor, you could feel the rage seeping out of the once peaceful man's soul, almost making the air boil to match.
"IF YOU THINK THAT WE ARE GOING TO LET YOU TAKE AWAY OUR LIFES WORK FOR A TOKEN PRIZE THEN YOU MUST BE AS DUMB AS YOU ARE ARROGANT! Janus, the council KNOWS what we have been through, we have been at your service for MELENNIA, and now you just throw it back in our faces just to make the dragons happy? well I say FORGET THE DRAGONS!" That last line bringing a deafening shout from the crowd, and causing Janus to ruffle his brow in agitation. He had hoped that Kraikon would adhere to his supposed obedience to the council and show some rebellion, but not enough to break his hold over the crowd. With that in mind, and a few subliminal waves of power, another set of contingency spells interwoven with his very being when off. Powerful blue magic's began to grow in power, and wards that still lay just below the realm of normal sight flickered briefly, not long enough for any human to see it, but long enough for one man in the entire crowd to catch on.
Until now, the old man had known something was wrong; his mind was hazy, and pliant. His arcane senses may have been out of practice, but they were by no means any less useful, and he had seen the sudden jolt in the level of blue mana about the arena. If it had been a few hundred years ago he would have picked up on the Chanjelin Wards in an instant, countering them without a thought and setting up as powerful an Aquas Ward as he could as soon as possible. Only EXTREEMLY powerful blue mages had access to that sort of spell, and the only one he knew of in the area was also probably sitting on enough countermagic to throw anything he could muster back at him. The years he had spent living in peace had allowed his contingency spells to dwindle, and as a younger man, Janus would have never been a match for him.
Making a risky move, he drew upon the weave, and before anyone could notice him, summoned a field of illusion around himself. But not quick enough, he noticed that Janus turned his glare upon him, barley hiding the shock upon realizing who he was dealing with; His old mentor.
Without a visible change in expression, Janus's aura flared into preparation. Invisible wards earthed into the winds of magic from his persona, locking down on the available mana in the area, and putting a strangle hold on the magical powers of all but himself. Preparing for the worst, as he knew exactly what the old man before him was capable of. But he sensed little complication in his aura. The fool had allowed his contingency spells to dwindle! This would be easier than he thought.
Tapping into the winds of magic, Janus opened a telepathic link to his old master, and began to speak in a snide, arrogant tone, to his former superior; "Aleron you senile old FOOL! What are you doing here!" His entire body crackling on a magical level, raw, seething energy burnt Ætherial scorch-marks into the winds themselves. Janus was a power-house, and he knew it.