"I do." I answer firmly as I finish pulling back those who had fought so well. And, having pulled them back from the mouth of oblivion, I presented myself in the sky. As was once just was, I recreated it in my own image. With the plains becoming entombed within my multi-coloured magic.
"Another Valkinvar..." this chapter-mistress spat as her power began to spiral around her hands. A pair of flesh-shredding tornadoes waited for her call. As far back as her elbows before they opened up and moved away from her clutched hands.
"Zaphadren-Valkinvar!" I corrected with pride as I began to apply my focus towards my staff. An elegant, detailed weapon that was morphed into something far greater as I did so. All that power I had used to ensnare this army returned to me and a spiral of colour travelled along the metal shaft.
"AND YOU ARE STILL NOTHING!" she screamed in fury as her spells were sent out towards me. Pitiful constructs that only required me to raise my hand. From which a counterspell made of sapphire winds shot down the middle and split it apart. A fog then overtook the land.
It wasn't long before I found myself walking beside her, "Then what are you?"
Her response to the question was terror and confusion, she was once the master of this battlefield. And now she was on the run as scorching gusts of ruby and gold split away from me. They quickly bypassed her and shepherded her towards a mountain. And I lined up my next blow whilst she was trapped by the fire and lightning.
"VALERSRAKK!" she roared after freeing herself with a sudden burst of power. And when that word came, a fog-destroying roar came from the mobile fortress as it charged right for me. A viciousness it clearly had held in all this time. Though, I found myself backing away as I considered its name.
"The Castle of the Riders?" I questioned in bemusement as I smacked away a spell she had launched at me. Neither of them could hit me and I avoided it all with grace and tact. I treated them so casually it was almost as if it was a dance. Unfortunately for them, I was a demanding partner.
To my delight as well, they couldn't even turn their frustrations on the army or the Valkinvar at the fortress. My shields were too strong for them and as the mobile fortress found out. It wasn't worth the layer of skin it tore off. I kept their attention on me and made use of it.
"So if this mobile fortress, this Valersrakk, is the Castle of the Riders, they why not live up to the name and flee?" I rhetorically asked as I gazed down another admittedly magnificent spell. But to only know one of the winds while I knew four, it became unimaginably dull. I tore it apart with a flick of my wrist and turned it on her.
I wanted to see if she could take what she gave out. Though, clearly, not in its entirety as much of it was set aside to prevent the soldiers down below from shooting me. Thousands upon thousands of highly lethal pests which I just did not focus on. Their magic went to waste before it was spent in its entirety.
I choked their weapons, severing them from the supply that they depended on. It was a simple, quick effort that freed up much of this stolen magic for my own use. And while some of it kept the mobile fortress away. The rest was used to toy with the chapter-mistress as I threw her around like a careless child.
"It is clear you wished to put my allies within a mountainous tomb, that is what this magic was tuned for. So, how about I use it correctly?" I suggested as I reduced a mountain to a cloud of dust. With a gentle push, I then sent her into the dark depths of the stone cloud. And I turned away as she screamed against the reforming mountain and reinforced mountain.
"YOU DARE MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME!? CHAPTER-MISTRESS CHIARA OF THE ORDER OF THE OUTREACHING WIND!" she screamed as the mountain was blown away. A shower of boulders filled the sky, made up of not just that one mountain, but also the neighbouring ones caught within the emerald blast.
"No, but you make a mockery of me. The Valkinvar of the True Emerald Wind." I reply as my eyes start to narrow at the desperate woman. She spoke as if she was great, but I had seen no claim to this greatness. Merely a flashy show that even the Ordoar Imdvarce could put on despite their to-the-point attitudes towards magic.
"Your titles mean nothing to me, Valkinvar!" she spat as her power started to go into a single spell of immense destructive power. Even now, when she allowed it, the gusts of wind that just popped out of the building spell dug deep into the earth. A mine's depth each time this occurred.
"Clearly." I say as I slowly raise my hand as four winds appeared. One of nothing but the wind, one from the friction in the sky and the fires its heat created and a final one from the very sea itself. All of it gathered in a vast circle at the base of the plains and screams filled my ears. Her pathetic order was swept up into the forming tornado along with that army.
"I am not impressed!" she spat as her magic began to build. Yet, she thought I would not notice, but I did. She was ready just now to fire it, but she had put more and more of her magic into this spell in response to mine.
"Union of the Four Winds." I jokingly said needlessly as emerald, gold, ruby and sapphire light zoomed around us in a destructive circle. An unmatched beast roared in confusion as it was brought into the sky to join the vortex. And a steel behemoth that was brought low once again joined its brethren in the sky.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she screeched as all that power was sent out against me. Yet as she buckled under the strain of that magic, I merely glanced up at it. Unamused and unshaken.
"Leave." I tell her and her army as I gesture for my spell to leave the plains. They all went high into the sky from within a spiralling, multi-coloured tube of wind. A distorted worm that went beyond the clouds which is drew in more strength from. And, behind me, I called back the magic I had set aside for the defence of my countrymen.
I wanted them all to see the strength that guarded our country. Then, as I turned around to look upon them, the sky suddenly flashed and all were knocked over by the force. But, I found myself placing a hand against my done-up hair so the tails would not flap out ahead of me or against my neck. What was impressive for them was annoying for me.
"What a bother..." I remarked after briefly glancing up at the now cloudless sky as signs of my magic decorated the sky. It would be some time before things went back to normal.
"SHE DID IT!" was but one of many cheers I heard as I moved down towards the fortress. The witches and the soldiers of this place had fought well. Guareroisncer was truly here amongst them and Waionr had guided them well.
"Who was in charge here?" I asked the Valkinvar as I took over the command of all the lives here. But, when I did so, they began to step aside to reveal the bodies I had also retrieved. A number of them had lost their lives before I had arrived. As had their wing-head.
"Us two, I suppose." one Valkinvar-Imdvarce answered as she stepped forward with another. And while one tended to her repaired arm in amazement, shabby as the work might've been. The other one caught my curiosity by how much more damaged her gear was. It was such an odd thing to observe when those who had died had far less damage done to their armour.
And she didn't even have the strength to suggest that it was just because she was powerful enough to do so...
"Now, I am sure you probably heard me, but, I am Zaphadren-Valkinvar Gemorli. I am here to bring you home." I explain to them as my gaze turns towards the Valkinvar-Staguiffmani amongst them. She was in a state of disbelief, and she quickly dropped to her knees for a reason I could not guess. But, I was happy to assume relief was one of them because I could feel her tears as they disturbed the air around us.
"Home...?" the peculiar Valkinvar-Imdvarce questioned as she awkwardly adjusted to having the energy to move once again.
"Yes, Valkinvar-Imdvarce, we are going back to Thurn's Forge." I explain to her.
"But it's so far... Has... Has the rest of the?"
"You'll have it explained to you when we arrive, just know that the Line Before is one of the few places left in this land that we can count on."
"But that's the final line of fortresses and castles outside of Thurn's Forge..." one of them point out as a mood of despair took over.
"And we need everyone." I tell them as my magic worked in the background to open up a safe pass out of the fortress.
"Shouldn't we try to at least hold them here?" someone asked.
"Do not be foolish, you struggled against an airship and a single order of war-witches, this fortress has been lost."
"Y-Yes... Zaphadren-Valkinvar Gemorli." the one whose arm had been ripped off reluctantly said. But she left it at that and began to coordinate our immediate departure from this place.
"What do we need?" the other leading Valkinvar-Imdvarce asked me.
"Munitions, supplies, all of it." I quickly told her as the rest joined them. But not the Valkinvar-Staguiffmani who continued to weep.
"Zaphadren-Valkinvar Gemorli..." she whimpered as she shakily reached for the edges of my robes. And, like a mother, I guided their head against my leg and affectionately rubbed their hair.
"Everything is fine now, Valkinvar-Staguiffmani Dannatili." I told her, surprising her immensely with this reveal.
"Y-You remember me...?"
"Of course."
"Then why!" she began to nearly scream before she went quiet, "Then where were my orders...? Why was I...?"
"War is complex, it occupies much of my attention. Do not think on the past now, only the future." I tell her as I help her to her feet.
"Yes, sorry..." she let out as I turned my attention to the fallen.
"They fought well?" I asked, only to have my attention taken away from the dead by heavy footsteps.
"They all did." the only man amongst them answered as he aggressively dropped his weapon onto the ground.
"I am sorry for your loss." I tell him as I recall the difference in oath the men of the Valkinvar took. Whilst ours was a conditional betrothal to the Lord of Honourable War, Waionr. Theirs was as the guardians of the soon-to-be wives. Like how the father handed off their daughter, they ensured we made it down the grim aisle to our groom.
While these Valkinvar were now all with Waionr now, it must've hurt him deeply to have failed his oath nonetheless. Contradictory as it might seem to an outsider. Yet, I was quick to pick up on how he only focused on one of them. The Wing-Head.
"She only had to die because I was incompetent..." he spat venomously before he suddenly dropped to his knees. A loud bang of thick steel and flesh.
"A soldier that lays down their life for another one is a sacrifice worthy of commendation for all time. Do not try and attribute a negative stigma to her own choice. Do not dishonour her like this."
"She died because I could not load that cannon on time..." he seethed before he went to strike the ground. Though, to prevent him from potentially killing anyone, I place magic before him. It made him roll onto his back in pain, but it prevented a needless loss of life.
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"She died to save the army." I correct as I reach my hand out to him so I could pull him up. Something I am sure would surprise the gun crews still up here. As, well, I didn't give off the impression of tremendous physical strength, did I? A beautiful, bountiful woman did not imply that at all.
It humoured me enough, though.
"Now, on your way, Valkinvar-Ammimpaurst, there is much work to be done." I tell him as I step aside to give him access to the bodies. If the supposed failure rested on his shoulders. Then I would allow him to at least get it out of his system by handling our dead sisters.
"Is the path back to Thurn's Forge clear of the enemy?" Valkinvar-Staguiffmani Dannatili asked me as she stepped closer to me.
"Not fully, no, so we will travel together. Our power will ward off anything that comes between us and the Line Before."
"Finally... Back to where I should be..." she mutters as we step to the edge of the fortress.
"Tell me, how did you come upon this place? It had been ordered abandoned because of the infeasibility of trying to defend it." I ask her as I gaze out towards the body-strewn battlefield. The far end of the plains was completely devastated by artillery fire. At least, the parts not enveloped in that display of power by our discarded foes.
"From what Wing-Head Allyoceer told me, Wing-Tip Vapooliar came upon her force and rescued it, essentially. And from here, they went out to save many more troops and Valkinvar, including me."
"Interesting, which one is that?" I then asked as I turned away from the battlefield.
"She's the Valkinvar-Imdvarce with the armour missing a piece from the crotch area. Assuming it still stands out after all of this."
"I think it does." I say as I recall the figure I was asking about. I would have to question her about this. Even if she didn't command our side of this siege, she set it all into motion.
"Should I join the others and help them?"
"Yes, of course." I tell her before she quickly heads off in a nervous state. One might even forget that she was even a soldier if she kept on moving like that. And once she departed, I looked out towards the plains that had finally be freed. Their enslavement as a battlefield had ended and a cautious peace filled it.
Scars it would never recover from had dug themselves in well. Hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost just trying to force themselves past the king of the plains. The Long Battery Fort had proven itself well, and though it was but a corpse now. It stayed on its thrown, surveying the work its power could create.
.
.
.
"My Royal Highness, Prince Jhrartur, I must again protest this choice!" I once again heard to my frustration.
"And you would make me repeat myself?" I questioned as my patience was strained to its limits by this man.
"As the Director of the March, it is my obligation to advise you!"
"All you are doing is annoying me." I dismissively comment as I go back to reading the poetry I had brought along with me. Tales of valour and the strength of my father. A man of such calibre that there had never been another like him... I was nothing compared to him, but all I saw was the light he brought into my life!
"You are marching us right along the Dragon Coast!" he protests from atop his disturbed ryphurgok.
And I, from atop my unperturbed one, look at him, "So?"
"So...? So!?" he lets out angrily before he starts to throw off all kinds of threatening gestures. And the rest of my staff snorted in amusement before they went about keeping their worries in reserve.
"You should know by now, Director of the March, you won't ever surpass his genius." one of them say.
"Oh, I don't want to if this is what I can expect." he remarks before the sound of a hopping juperse gets my attention.
"And what do we have here?" I ask the rider, although he gave no answer as he could not. Silenced by the gear I obliged him to wear in preparation for the end of this war. But, that didn't matter, so I took up what he had to offer and inspected it. It appeared that one of my insider's had an urgent piece of information for me.
"Taking lead!" the Grandest Leader of the Charge declared as I broke away from my position at the very tip of the marching column. And, under the guidance of this rider, I had my ryphurgok follow them through the quaking earth and the ceaseless sea of steel. No salutes came for me as it had not been ordered, however, the men had enough independence to make way for my great beast.
"Open it up!" I order the Emerald-Clothed Guard who was ordered to accompany me on this mission. And quickly, I stepped off of my mount and into the bulb we had brought along. A gift from those who travelled the edges of the Moonlit Plains around my home. It wasn't standard by any means, but the aelenvari knew how to make comfortable mobile accommodations.
And, with the item in hand, I went to my desk and relaxed into the fine, wind-blessed wood furniture. I tapped my fingers on the fine remains of a once great tree and I stared at the device. I was very curious as to why it had come. No orders or requests had been made, so what could it have been.
"Now, let me hear you speak." I tell it as I finally answered the device. And, despite the safety measures I had put in place to distort the magic trail. I quickly figured out who was contacting me.
"My Royal Highness, Prince Jhrartur. It is done, the obstruction to the twelfth army has been resolved. They may advance once more without issue." they explained.
"Wonderful, that problem is now no longer a festering issue." I comment as I lean into my chair. Enjoying the comfort it offered to my back over the need to keep an upright posture on my ryphurgok. I then took the moment to rub my face a little as my exhaustion got to me. So many things depended on my power, that of the Lone Lancer's son.
The man who awakened Jhroungijherammujhernosumonaterikra all those years ago...
Yet, as I was needed, I forced back all these little annoyances and stood back up. It wasn't healthy and my body was buckling under the strain as is. But I had a responsibility to my country and my future subjects. Power and control were all that mattered.
And it was rather appropriate as well that I pulled myself together. Because I felt an intrusive presence at the head of the army. So I got up and made my way outside. Staring out towards the individual that had gotten in my way with a distinct lack of amusement.
"Bring her here." I tell the Emerald-Clothed Guard with a wave of my hand. And as he went off to swiftly get her here. I admired the finely-crafted pin that held all those sheets of emerald fabric together. The Unseen Pin, something I once wanted myself. An immense honour that stood far beyond all others...
Yet, she was violent and the army was suddenly put into a defensive stance when she struck the Emerald-Clothed Guard. That king of warriors did not react in any manner, however. But the power that suddenly burst from the place she struck was something else. The men here had never seen such power.
Though, I was quite sure many others were just on-edge because of that ridiculous get-up she had on.
"What do you want, Gyear?" I asked her after I returned to the head of the army on my ryphurgok.
"To see what my little brother is up to." she remarks casually as the Emerald-Clothed guard returns to the entrance of my office. I never gave the order, but I appreciated the insight he had in knowing when I didn't need him.
"I am not your little brother." I correct with a sneer as she approached me.
"Doing well?" she asked my ryphurgok as she tried to spook it like the others.
"You know his lineage makes him impervious to your scare tactics." I tell her calmly while everyone else trembled in fear.
"Nonsense, he's just an animal." she comments before I move my hand forward to stop her deceptive backhand of it. Nothing she did had any degree of gentleness to it. She was, after all, a dragon. Power was everything to them, to hide it was shameful.
"Why're you here?" I asked her as she made some kind of strange noise. She was idle? Bored?
"Already answered that."
"Get on, will talk about this in my office."
"I'll walk." she remarks as I bring my ryphurgok around again.
"Get in." I soon demand of her as the Emerald-Clothed Guard sees her in for a brief instance.
"Straight from the Moonlit Plains?" she asks as she quickly makes herself at home.
"Take off that stupid, black cloak." I snap as I aggressively tug at it myself. She looked ridiculous dressed like that. She already had natural armour essentially filling the role. She didn't need some ragged sheet to cover herself up with.
"It's important." she tells me with a smirk as I stare up at the impressive, unbroken crest of horns that she had. Not once had she ever been defeated in battle, or so her body claimed.
"Your aura alone gives away who you are, Gyear." I remind her.
"Our father, the King, taught me not to be so obnoxious with it."
"You are a walking natural disaster."
"And you are a obsessive man with the blood of millions on his hands."
"Do not lecture me with your thousand years of half-baked philosophy."
"I won't, just here to see how you are."
"Right now, annoyed that you are here, interrupting my advance against the Theocracy!" I snap at her before I suddenly move back into a chair when a painful headache came.
"Aww, is my little brother exhausted?" she mockingly asked as she came over and put my temple against her bare, human-like belly.
"Leave..." I growl as I force myself away from her. Even though I was as exhausted as I was, I was more than capable of contesting with her strength.
"No, thank you. I'll stay."
"Then stay in here." I tell her before a thin beam of pure emerald light stops me. And as I turned towards her to give her a stern glare. I watched as she smugly smiled at me with that glowing index claw of hers.
"I want to stay with you!" she chirps as I force my way back down. Then, after that, I send a non-vocal message out to my staff to carry on the march. If Gyear insisted on being an issue unless I was around, then so be it.
"There are no games in here, Gyear, if boredom drives you here then you will not find entertainment either." I explain as I took off my sabre so I could at least occupy my hands for the moment. Give me something to vent into whilst I knowingly let her wind me up.
"I am content to wait for now." she answers ominously.
"And I'd be happy for you to wait so little time that you leave." I tell her as I lean back against my chair.
"So hostile..."
"You are disrupting something very serious."
"Something incredibly stupid, more like, travelling the Dragon Coast." she laughs mockingly before she seemingly opens her ear to the talks of my staff.
"I am prepared for what will come."
"I know, which I am eager to see."
"Seeing can be done from very far away."
"But it means more when I am here in person."
"No, no it doesn't..." I groan as she stands up to briefly wander.
"So are you still interested in history?" she idly asks me as she goes through some of my book collection.
"Every day my life is driven by the history of this land."
"Yes, when thousands of years ago, before my birth, the land was flooded by the Empire of Water."
"The Grand-Kingdom of Ibenorocco and the All-Coast Empire." I correct her out of respect for our ancient enemy. They have done some dreadful things to my land and people. But that is also what made them something I had to respect. Such control, the power they had, it was not by luck.
At least, when it wasn't regarding our ancient ancestors...
"It's just a little strange to me, you can and are on your way to unifying this continent for the first time in what could be more than ten thousand millennia... Yet, you base your purpose off of something that has not happened again for longer than I have lived."
"The Grand-Kingdom still lays claim to swathes of our homeland. Under our very feet they claim by divine right that they are due the land up here."
"They never invaded, they never subdued the lands which they had washed clean of life. The people of that time are long gone."
"Yes, they are all dead, entombed in grand mountains of gold, marble and riches. They are revered heroes for the greatest empire in the world." I say as my grip tightens on the rear of my sabre.
"An idea terrifies you, a dream you have constructed yourself."
"I will not see my people divided any longer, I will free them from the nightmare that plagues us all."
"Let's ask what your people think, then?" she proposes as she stands up straight before me.
"The Braves and my officers will agree with my points."
"A fraction of a greater whole, but we can't ask the people can we? Or have you finally gotten over the disobedience your ineptitude creates?" she asks, knowing full well that it would make me angry.
"I tire of you being here, Gyear." I remind her as I start to consider recalling a vast sum of my magic so I could turn it on her. I would drive this dragon back to her island home!
"So do the dragons who roost here." she comments with a smirk as she turns her head outside.
"You brought them here..." I realise as I step outside into the increasingly violent gales that blew against us. The cliffs themselves should've had updrafts like this, but there shouldn't have been anything like this out before us!
"We best head out to greet them, Little Brother." she tells me with a smile as she gently settles onto the back of my ryphurgok.
"Stay here, leave this to me." I tell the Emerald-Clothed Guard as they showed no signs of reacting to the oncoming dragons anyway.
"You are being challenged by every dragon here." Gyear whispers into my ear with clear eagerness to it.
"I know." I answer calmly as I had my ryphurgok force himself ahead against the wind. And while the rest of the army dropped down and braced themselves against the oncoming winds. We marched on ahead. And my ryhurgok did so with proud squawks as he dug his legs into the solid rock below.
"My Royal Highness, Prince Jhratur..." one of the officers let out worriedly as he forced himself down onto the back of his own mount.
"The royal colours." I demand as I go past them all. Though, with each step I made, the roars of the dragons grew louder. More were coming and all of them wanted to test themselves against the approaching power. If they understood that they were moving against Gyear, I could only guess. But, to save the army, I had to do this.
"Wind-Empress Gyear... Why are you hiding behind the human!?" boomed a mighty beast that greatly dwarfed even the greatest of castles. And I turned back to look at my father's pet as she took on a different attitude.
"To let him show you why you live out here, and not at Jhroungijherammujhernosumonaterikra!" she teased as she submissively knelt down at my side.
"Fitting." I scoff as I change my focus to the dragons that just kept on coming. A mountain of scales and windy breath was forming rapidly. My failure meant the loss of the army, and I intended to see no such thing!
"Well, Human? Enlighten us as to what the Wind-Empress means!" the dragon laughs before it spreads to the rest of them. And as they did so, they blew out bright light into the sky. An already green sky turned even brighter as the density of magic rapidly increased. For a moment as well, the land struggled to withstand the many different auras that were so close together.
"I, I am Prince Jhrartur, Firstborn of His Lunar Majesty, Heir to the Seven-Peaks Union of the Jhermonikra. And you are standing in my way." I tell him as I bring my standard up and slam it into the ground. But, instead of flapping towards me as it effortlessly buckled to their power. It blew outwards and grew and grew until it was unfurled fully.
The winds stopped blowing towards us and my power set it all aside as the wind came in from behind. And all down the stretch of the army, my power enlightened the men and displayed more banners. The ground then quaked even more than the dragons had made it do so. Rolling thunder that rhythmically travelled through man and beast as we staked our claim.
And at my side... The greatest of all wind dragons. The Wind-Empress Gyear kneeled submissively at my side. I didn't even reach for her raised-up palm.
I just marched forward and the dragons backed away in fear.