Battle of Jotunheim- First Fall
Hippolyta had seen war before.
She had seen comrades fall before.
Yet no matter how much she had convinced herself that she was immune to feeling hurt at the deaths of people she cared for, the pain never ceased to tear her from the inside out.
Her eyes were swollen and red, her body battered and bruised… yet she lived.
Her sisters tended to her wounds while the Wizard chanted spells in the distance, whose magic seeped into the core of their world, sending tremors once every while.
It was necessary, he claimed, to protect their planet from the wrath of those who might seek vengeance for the 'thoughtless' actions of her team…
Thoughtless… it was not.
Their sacrifice had prevented the deaths of thousands more, but she could not deny that it had sent a message… a message that said that their realm was ready for a higher form of war.
She saw the herald of Gaia enter her tent. Some of her sisters stiffened on seeing him but relaxed. Even now, when they saw him, their first instinct was to view him as a monster, just because of his external appearance.
True, he may have a body that resembled bark of a tree with weeds and vines all over him, but he had the heart full of compassion and kindness and the will of a true warrior.
"They are gone." He said solemnly.
She struggled to get up, only to fall back.
"They are…" She repeated, tears escaping her eyes despite herself. It was strange.
She had not cried following the many wars she had led before… when she had lost sisters to the brutality of men, and yet, tears fell freely now.
Maybe the thousands of years she spent in peace in Themyscira made her more susceptible to loss.
Either way, she mourned the loss of her allies.
Even now, she could see their final moments when she closed her eyes.
"Their sacrifice will not be forgotten." He spoke. "I… I was not sure any of you would return or if you would win."
"We almost didn't." She said softly. "I was the last of us. I was certain all was lost… but not without a cost."
His emerald eyes bore into her and she found herself recanting the events of the battle, despite the pain and horror she felt.
Maya thrust her hands at the frost giants, as for the first time in millennia, flames lit up in Jotunheim.
Her hair turned into strands of crimson flame, and her skin cracked to reveal magmatic lava lines that spread across her body.
Fiery tendrils swirled around her, before increasing in strength and expanding outwards. The frost giants in her vicinity stepped back, but they were not fast enough.
Their icy forms were instantly vapourized as Maya's body turned into a raging inferno.
Hippolyta smirked, seeing the raw power of the sorceress, whom she had come to regard as a sister, as her sword deflected a barrage of icy thorns shot at her by the frost giant, whose form was feminine, and she wore a cloak made of snow. She looked almost beautiful, reminding her of the one time she had encountered the goddess Khione, if it were not for her ruthless smile.
She slowly walked towards the giant braving the onslaught of icy shards.
The giant's smile faltered when she realized her attacks were for naught, and in a desperate move to save herself, she clapped her hands together, summoning a whirlwind of snow and hail which headed right for Hippolyta.
Before it could hit her though, Keela swooped in, carrying her out of the trajectory of the storm.
"Thank you, sister." She nodded her head, as the winged warrior laid her gently, before Keela charged at the giant herself with her mace, which cackled with electricity.
The giant sent other storms her way, which the winged warrior easily avoided, before brutally attacking the giantess with her mace.
Hippolyta couldn't witness further as she was cornered by another group of giants, and she leapt back into the battle.
They fought for hours end till the king and his royal guard appeared to confront them.
"There is no need for further bloodshed." Hippolyta said calmly, pointing her sword at the leader of the forces. "You have seen what we are capable of. Stop attacking our realm, and we will do the same."
"You dare to make demands, after destroying my kin…"
"After they slayed a thousand innocent men and women in our realm, destroyed countless homes and lands. Let this conflict end here."
"Never! Midguard will be ours! The All father is asleep and this is our chance to expand our empire." The king slammed his broadsword to the ground, and the battle began anew.
"I told you they wouldn't listen to reason!" Black Adam snarled, unleashing a bolt of lightning that pulverized a small troop of soldiers.
"We had to try for peace." Hippolyta insisted, bringing her gauntlets together, and making a shrill clang that disoriented the incoming soldiers momentarily, but long enough for her to dispose of them with her sword. "I agree with you, but we had to exhaust all options before submitting to this carnage."
"You claim to be from a race of fierce warriors. You even indoctrinate women of the villages to your ways, claiming them to be capable warriors as any man… and yet, you negotiate for a truce like a whimpering maid." He snapped, jolts of lightning escaping his eyes as he slammed his fist through one of the king's knights with enough force to reduce the giant to nothing more than fragments of ice.
"Hold your tongue, Teth-Adam!" Hippolyta snarled, throwing her shield like a discus and watched it cut through a swath of incoming golems before returning to her arms. "If we were not on the same side, I would have cut your tongue and fed it to you for your impertinence. It is true I am a warrior, but I was also a queen, and if you were a true leader, you would have known that trying to achieve a peaceful resolution to conflicts is not a sign of weakness, but a symbol of strength and wisdom."
Teth-Adam grunted before flying away from her, towards another section of the battle.
Though the man could keep up with her in physical combat, and maybe even surpass her a little due to his godly boons, he always lost to her in the battle of wits and words. He infuriated her to no end with his stubbornness, and yet underneath his arrogance, there was a noble warrior within, and despite his many flaws, he was honourable and remained true to his word... something even the king of the gods wasn't capable of, and hence he had earned her respect, however grudgingly it might have been from her end.
Hippolyta shook the thoughts from her mind and she concentrated on the battle once more.
Then, she heard it... a blood curdling scream of anguish from the distance. She turned around.
Their first casualty.
Keela's prone and bloody form which was suspended through a pike of ice, which had pierced through her gut. Her wings drooped lifelessly, as the King of the Frost Giants towered over her, his eyes filled with predatory glee.