Location: South West edge of Revenia.

King Naphthalious stood atop a hill, waiting for the servants to finish packing up his tent. Today was the day that he would exterminate the iron beasts that his local nobles had failed to. He needed to punish them later, after he had finished cleaning up their mess, he thought.

He watched as his Royal Army packed up the camp under the gentle morning sunlight, specifically though, Naphthalious watched his wife, his queen. Beautiful as ever, he thought, as he watched her direct the soldiers.

His gaze was interrupted by movement at the edge of the clearing. The scouts had returned. Soon they approached the main tent. He decided to go back to watching his queen for a little longer and let his advisors figure things out first. After a while he reluctantly tore his gaze away from his wife. As much as he loved watching her work, he had work of his own to do.

He made his way over to the main tent.

As he entered, his scouts and advisors spoke in unison. “““your Majesty””” they had said.

“What do you have for me?” Naphthalious had asked.

The advisors had shared a glance, silently deciding who would speak.

“Your Majesty” one of his advisors spoke “The scouts have found the nest of the iron beasts. We must march for half a quarter day south east, and then another half a quarter day south.”

“Very well. Have everything ready to go as soon as possible. I want to have defeated these iron beasts and have set up camp before night fall.” Naphthalious commanded.

“As you say, it shall be done, your Majesty.” the advisor spoke

“Good.” Naphthalious said, as he walked out of the tent.

Not long after, his servants had readied his carriage, and seeing that the camp was nearly cleaned up he made his way over to the carriage, and climbed inside.

After a brief wait, he was joined by his wife and the carriage lurched forward.

Aside from his wife's flirting, the ride had been rather uneventful, and eventually they had arrived. He had given his wife one last kiss before she donned her helmet and stepped out of the carriage to direct the army.

He had then stepped out himself, and made for his advisors to prepare a plan of attack. He had doubted that it was necessary, but this was the Royal Army. It would not do for a soldier to perish because he had not prepared a plan.

Finally having decided on a plan of attack, he sought out his wife, and explained the the plan: half of the army would stay in front of the strange den, and make lots of noise to distract the iron beasts, while the other half would perform a sneak attack from behind, climbing onto the iron beasts and attacking their weak points.

He observed his army, the orders spread amongst their ranks quickly, and the well trained soldiers knew what to do. Soon enough, the army was in position. He watched from afar, using his spyglass. It wouldn't do for him to be killed by a stray attack after all. Still, he wouldn't miss a chance to watch his wife's combat dance for anything.

No sooner than he had thought that, the first half of the army began stomping on the ground and banging their swords against their shields. The well trained soldiers stomped in unison, their stomps causing the ground to shake with each stomp. He had even felt the tremors they caused from atop his carriage.

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Soon enough, one of the beasts roared and emerged from the strange den, soon followed by four more of it's brethren. The Army backed up, still making lots of noise to make sure there weren't any more left in the den.

After no more came out, the first half of the army charged, and the second half of the army quickly and quietly approached from behind.

He watched as his wife jumped onto the fifth iron beast, and started her dance, slicing at the metallic arms protruding from the top of the beasts, doing more damage with each consecutive hit. Soon she was hacking into the flesh of the beast, her blade leaving larger and deeper wounds with each strike. The battle raged for almost half a quarter day, before the last one had been slain, his troops were exhausted but they were all alive.

The Iron beasts were strange, like no beast or monster Naphthalious had ever seen before. They did not bleed. To kill them, you had to keep cutting at them until they died, and they were not easy to cut. Many of the soldiers' swords were ruined from hitting the solid iron beasts over and over again.

Then he heard it. First the thunder, then the ripping, and crunching, as if the sky was being ripped apart. Then he saw his wife explode.

Location: Capital city of Revenia, Naphthalious’ palace.

“CHRISTINE” Naphthalious screamed, waking up from the nightmare that had plagued him for the last two years.

He sighed. The ever since that accursed day, the iron horde had seemingly decided that his kingdom should be removed from the face of myriad.

The five beasts his army had fought on that day, which had taken almost half a quarter day to defeat, had been a mere scouting party. Now, he had lost nearly half his kingdom to the iron horde.

He sighed again, looking out his window. The sky was starting to alight, but the sun was nowhere to be seen.

Naphthalious stood for a moment, before deciding that there was no point in going back to sleep. Perhaps one of his children was awake, he thought, beginning to dress himself for the day. He didn't get to spend nearly as much time with his children anymore, he spent almost every hour from sunrise to sunset holding together the cracks in his kingdom, and fighting off the iron horde.

He knew that if nothing changed his kingdom would fall apart, and the iron horde would take his precious children, and all the precious children of his kingdom, and the adults would all be slaughtered.

He just wished that the other kingdoms had listened to his plea for help, rather than dismissing good claims.

He approached the room of his youngest, Luma. He knew that even if she escaped the iron horde somehow, she would not survive the cruel world outside his kingdom.

Peering into her room, he found the little ball of joy curled up around her stuffed horse, a gentle smile on her sleeping face as she dreamed happy dreams.

Naphthalious smiled gently at the adorable sight, and quietly closed the door, moving onto the next room.

He quietly opened the door to the room of his second youngest, the young man who would have inherited the throne after Naphthalious grew old, had the iron horde not decided that his kingdom needed to be destroyed.

Peeking into the room, he found that his son, Eric, was at his desk, having seemingly fallen asleep while studying something.

Chuckling quietly, Naphthalious gently picks Eric up and carries him to his bed, tucking him in, before leaving quietly, closing the door behind him.

Lastly, he moves to check the room of his eldest child, Lilly. Upon opening the door, he finds the usually scowling teen with a serene smile on her face. Not wanting to wake her and ruin the scene, he silently backs out of the room, closing the door, and heads for his kitchen.

While Naphthalious knows it is unkingly to cook, dress himself, or sew, but right now, he was a father, and he refused to let anyone get in the way of him loving his children. And today, he decided that he would convey his love by cooking them a feast of a breakfast, each bite filled with his love. He had to make up for the time he couldn't spend with his children, after all.

And so, Naphthalious spent the rest of his time before sunrise making pancakes, and then writing a note for his children to read once they woke up, because by the time that happened, he would already be in the war room.