Long ago, in lands not far away were people, whose lives were simple and the only thing that mattered was survival. The first kingdom was being built in these lands. Long before the first castle was ever erected from stones. No such bastions of defense existed. The first fields were planted as mankind moved far away from the nomadic lifestyle that had them chasing herds of animals across the lands to survive.

The first written language was penned by the youngest of scholars. A dawn of a new age reigned over the world as iron was forged into the first advanced weapons. The birth of the sword in an iron age. Warriors clad themselves in leathers and hides to protect themselves from claw and dagger. They wore paint upon their skin to show their allegiance to clans that stood strong in the harsh lands.

The first King rose to power, Elvar the Ironback. Chosen of the gods, He who climbed to the gates of heaven and spoke with them. He stood with his people as they gathered around as he received a warning from those above. A darkness was going to come. One that would ravage the lands and slay the people of the kingdom before retreating to their dark homes deep in the bowels of hell. The people needed to prepare. A night four months from then they would come.

Elvar brought forth his greatest messengers whose feet were as swift as the wind. He told them to gather all the people of the land. Those that came would survive the great darkness that would wash across the lands. Those that did not, would have been warned and it would be up to them to survive the trial.

Seven leaders answered the call and brought their people to the lands of Elvar. They brought with them spear, shield, ax, and sword. All the food they could harvest to last the long night that would bring either destruction or salvation. What was one hundred people swelled to three hundred. Every man, woman, and child that could wield a sword were given one and forced to train rigorously. Those that knew how to fight were given other tasks.

A great trench was dug around the bastion that would be the last village of the lands. A man deep and lined with sharp deadly stakes that would kill anything that fell inside it. They lined and snaked unpredictably around the lands in layer after layer of death. A grand palisade was erected as the forests all around the land were harvested and planted to defend those that would find salvation inside. Longhouses to hold the people were built in haste so that no one would sleep in the cold air that fell upon the land.

That summer was filled not with celebration but with tense and deep worry. The cried of men and women stabbing dummies over and over until their arms could hold a weapon no longer sounded across the plains. Every nail, every scrap piece of iron was melted down and shaped into the very tools that would be bloodied on demons was handed to anyone that could fight.

The seven leaders and King Elvar were made weapons that seemed to be blessed by Urdo the god of iron and forging. From the skies came a beast that would fight and bleed alongside them.

Beating its wings as wide as two longhouses came the daughter of Urdo, Forgemaster. Every scale she had was a shield to be given to the people of the lands. She pulled and melted down her scales she could spare so that the walls could be reinforced and held together. It was a wonder that such a beast whose very skin was made of iron could fly boggled the mind. Only that which is blessed by the gods like King Elvar could manage such a thing.

The people ran to the dragon’s feet and begged for her to stay and defend against the darkness that would fall upon them and in its grand judgment Forgemaster nodded. Using her magic she drug iron from the mountains. Literally calling it through the stone so that by the passing of the fourth month everyone had weapons, the walls were prepared and defended. A million arrows lay ready to be shot into the hordes that would come.

A great feast, one for the ages was held the night before the great disaster would come to the lands. Eight heroes and a dragon were celebrated as men and women danced and lay with one another. If they would survive then new life would need to come. Children played for the last time running about in a great game of tag that lasted the night. Ever vigilant Forgemaster looked on across the plains that would be the last stand of these people. She drank in the maze of trenches to stop the beasts and demons from swarming every side of the village.

Then she reached down into her magic, called to Urdo, and Klaxu to give her strength. With a shout that shook the mountains far around she raised the village on a bed of stone. Made it climb dozens of feet towards the sky so that any being that wanted to bring destruction to the bastion would have to climb treacherous and dangerous earth to reach those inside.

Forgemaster collapsed into a great slumber as she shook and drained a great amount of her magic. She whispered to King Elvar and the Heroes that she would wake when the final wave of demons would come. The gods had tasked her with one final battle against their leader that would shake the earth with every step. In her final sleepy breath she asked that the heroes would do everything in their power to stay alive so that they would be there to help her fight the greatest of evils that would come.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The village worried for the life of Forgemaster who had sacrificed scales and a great deal of her strength to give the people their best chance to survive the night. They prayed to the gods above to keep her and the people safe.

The sky turned gray as rain began to fall. Darkness fell and no moons rose into the sky that night. Men and women lined the walls looking over the great expanse before them. Then a wave of fire erupted on the horizon bathing the world in light as if a second sun rose into the sky. A plume of ash and death rose into the air as demons spewed forth from the bowels of hell and flooded the land.

As the people watched a wave of flaming creatures of a thousand shapes, all so alien and different from one another came from the orange light. Their laughter haunting and the ground wilted before their feet. The demons stopped on the edge of the first trench as thousands of them lined the earth in a great circle. All of them lit by the liquid flame that washed across the land behind them.

Elvar stood with his brothers, “IT IS TIME MY PEOPLE! WE WILL STAND NOW OR DIE! THOSE THAT FALL WILL MEET THE GODS! FIGHT AND EARN YOUR PLACE IN THE HEAVENS! WHEN THIS IS OVER I WILL CLIMB TO THE GATES OF HEAVEN AND CALL YOUR NAMES SO YOU KNOW WE HAVE SURVIVED!”

The people cheered his name. “ELVAR! ELVAR! ELVAR!”

As they all screamed their defiance into the sky the wave of death came. The thousands of demons charged and the first fell into the great trenches impaling themselves upon the stakes below. They screamed in bloody murder as they were crushed beneath the feet of others. Then the next trench, and the next as the demons flooded them with their blood and bodies. Still they came, they had the numbers to spare.

The first one came into range of arrows. A hundred bows were drawn and aimed into the great beyond. The enemies were so thick that aiming was not needed. “LOOSE!” Dozens of voices called as they first volley flashed into the sky. “LOOSE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!” Wave after wave of arrows flew through the sky and fell with the rain bringing death to the demons.

The demons reached the stone wall and were crushed beneath the press of their peers. The sounds of a thousand claws scrabbling on stone filled the air. The hero that wielded the spear launched himself upon the wall and called to those around him. “STAB WITH ALL YOUR HEART! KILL ALL WHO COME INTO RANGE!”

With screams of defiance they started to stab down the wall into every demon that came into range slaughtering dozens before the demons became wise and started to snatch the spears and drag the men and women with them over the edge of the wall so they would fall to their death.

The hero of the spear had his snatched from his hands and as he tumbled after it he laughed into the sky and pulled two daggers. As he fell into the wave of demons he slaughtered a dozen of them before they overwhelmed and killed him.

A new type of demon came. A dozen demons that could fly swooped through the sky and landed amongst the archers and began to tear through them like a blade through paper. The hero of the bow came forth. Arrow after unerring arrow felled demons. As the last one fell from the sky the hero had one last arrow to loose into it. The arrow pierced the skull of the beast. But it did not fall. It charged and impaled the hero on a dozen claws. As blood poured from his mouth the Hero screamed in defiance and kicked the arrow deeper and slew the demon in his last breath.

Hero after hero fell to a new type of demon as the first one cleared the wall. The spears could not penetrate its deep scales. A hundred legs like tree trunks powered it as it charged through houses. Those that wielded axs fell upon it hacking through its skin like it was bark before them. King Elvar was there with his mighty blade and cut leg after leg off crippling it so that his people could slay it as he moved to the wall.

Elvar stood as slew demon after demon as he buried his ax into their skulls. More heroes fell until two stood beside Elvar. One wielded a great sword as large as half a man, the other a shield that could not be penetrated. All three of them stood as the walls fell. Demons raged amongst the people as the last defenders protected the long houses that held the sick, injured, old and young.

Elvar held a dozen wounds upon his chest. Then Forgemaster awoke. It was time for the final confrontation. She raged and slew demons by the dozens as she forced the creatures back to the wall and rallied the men and women behind Elvar.

A beast came from the clouds. Like a hawk with four taloned legs and six wings swooping down. A rain of spines descended as it flapped its wings. Forgemaster spread her own wings to shield the men and women. The skin tore on her wings. A hundred holes ripped her ability to fly away from her. As she opened her wings the archers beneath them were ready. The volley flew into the sky and paid back the loss of wings from Forgemaster by crippling the demon of the sky. As it crashed all the soldiers charged with Forgemaster at the head of them.

She leapt upon the beast and dug her talons into the beast as soldiers fell upon it with ax and blade. A titanic fight began as the demon’s skin erupted with a dozen mouths that clamped and chomped upon everyone that was within reach of it. The shield hero leapt into its largest mouth and propped open its jaws opening it up for Forgemaster.

The dragon took a deep breath and brought forth its power in a great gout of fire that powered down the demon’s throat, The shield hero kept its mouth open as a deadly blow was struck against the demon.

There was one fatal flaw in Forgemaster. She had shed her scales to help save the men and women and arm them with blade and shield. The demon formed a spike in its final moments and rammed it into the chest of the dragon impaling one of her lungs. As her body flooded with blood Elvar brought down his ax and severed the head of the beast.

The demons had a ripple of fear wash through them at the death of their leader and a scream rang out that turned them to flee from the city. They ran from the lands back into the bowels of hell for they could not defeat the indomitable spirit of mankind. Of the three hundred souls a mere fifty stood alive. Elvar and the great blade hero stood before them as Forgemaster wheezed in pain. She would never fly again. If a miracle came she would survive.

The village took in the dragon and while she slept they guarded her as she had guarded them. Elvar made good on his promise and climbed to the Gates of Heaven and called out to the souls of those who fell and let them know that mankind had survived thanks to their sacrifice.

Evil had been vanquished and heroes had fallen. They would be forever remembered in the hearts of the people. Even now there are those that tell the tale. May you hear it in your heart and carry it on to your children, and grandchildren. Do not let their names be forgotten to time.

The King looked at me with shining eyes. He gave a single tired nod and motioned towards the door.

“Well done Bard. Well done.”