[Remants of the Holy Elven Empire – Unknown World]
Kroylin, king of the Sea Elves, peered at his trusted general who overlooked the vast city from a balcony atop the giant emerald tower that was the centre piece of this once magnificent empire. His most trusted general, Graylan, peered deep into the heart of the sea beyond the horizon. They had been there for hours when a scout had arrived with gut wrenching news. The sun peered out from behind the dark clouds for a moment encapsulating the entire city within a rainbow haze before it faded, and the darkness once again consumed them.
Kroylin cleared his throat. “What’s it looking like?” He sighed before turning to facing the well-built elf who locked gazes with him and let out a drawn-out sigh.
Graylan, with a swift motion, removed his cloak to reveal his exquisite suit of enchanted brass gold plated armour which had been bestowed upon him for his skills as a commander in the ranks of the elven armed forces. His crimson red hair glistened from the candlelight nearby and waved in the wind as the evening gusts pushed across the sky. “Your grace, our scout ships have reported a massive fleet of enemy ships heading towards us from the west. They’ll be here within three weeks.” He replied.
“So, they’ve caught up to us after all these years. To vanquish us once and for all. We’re so insignificant to them but they still come after us.” Kroylin said, before moving closer to his general who now peered below. The entirety of the city, up to the point where the sea began, was visible from the tower which sometimes kissed the clouds when they hung low.
Night began to fall and within a few moments had consumed the entirety of the city. A plethora of people rushed to close their shop and get home as the blue and orange lights, which were constructed from magical energy, began to flicker to life.
“As you know,” Graylan started, “It’s in their nature to destroy everything in their path as the other kingdoms have found out. Our once great empire is in tatters… I don’t know about you, but I will fight to the death. They have taken so much from us… I won’t let them add me to their undead ranks. We have to defend ourselves even if it ends in our demise.”
Kroylin observed the stout warrior in front of him before a faint mist glistened in his eyes, “Do you know where the attack will be coming from?” He asked.
Graylan cleared his throat, “From the scout’s report, they’ll be hitting us with a direct attack from the sea and by all accounts they are straight here. They might look stupid but the demons controlling them are cunning. They know if they take this city out that the rest of the kingdom will fall to tatters within days.” The image of the huge fleet arriving here haunted his thoughts, he had never faced such a host in all his sixty years reigning as commander in chief. The fall of the other kingdoms just made the outlook of victory that much more impossible to achieve.
Kroylin motioned his commander with a swift movement of the hand to come within the large door where a warm magically induced fire burned. The salty wind from the sea had become cold but that wasn’t the reason he had come inside, instead he made directly for the large jug that rested upon an old wooden table. He stared at the jug which contained Zineberry wine and began pouring it into the two metallic cups that also rested there. Once done, he took a sip of the bitter and sour liquid and pondered more on the details of the ruthless enemy they would be facing in the days to come. “How many do we face?” He asked gulping more down.
“They said the vessels completely filled the horizon… but a more reasonable estimation would be somewhere in the hundreds. Something that’s more unsettling is that the scouts said the ships were not anything like they had seen before, it was as if they were alive and were large enough to hold over a thousand troops each.”
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“What? You mean to say they have gathered a host of hundreds of thousands. This just keeps getting more dire the more I hear about it.” Kroylin scoffed before asking, “how many warriors can we muster?”
“Not enough. We have eighteen thousand that’s including the reserves and the royal guard. It’s not enough to last even a say against them. We need to attack them in the sea where we are better equipped to take their ships out. The mages could in theory blast them with enough destruction magic to sink as many ships as they can before they reach the port.”
“What can the mages do? How many can they sink?” Kroylin asked, “About twenty… or thirty ships which still puts us at a huge disadvantage. We need to call upon the other races that reside upon this Island, the only way I see us getting out of this situation is if we all work together.”
Graylan crossed his arms, “I can send messengers to the Dwarves, but I doubt they will join, the last time it took them a month to get here because they were all drunk somewhere down a random mine… and couldn’t remember the way back out.” He took a sip from his wine, “What about your brother, Krylin? Don’t tell me he’s still not talking to you?”
“That one can stay where he is. His ego will just get in the way.” Kroylin scoffed as the distasteful memories of his conniving brother resurfaced from the archives of his already stressed mind. He let out a sigh, “Alright… send a messenger. I’m sure his men would make a fine addition to the defence… but be warned, I will not be responsible for his misbehaviour.”
“Yes, your grace.” Graylan almost cheered, “I will send word to Elkwood City. With his magic, I think we can do enough damage to their fleet to lessen the impact upon our boots on the ground. I will call the banners from every village and settlement, but I doubt we’ll be adding that much to the ranks. As you already know the previous harvest failed.”
“I am aware… no need to keep bringing that up.” Kroylin groaned before filling his cup once more to drown himself in more sorrow.
Wanting to get out of there, Graylan gulped the rest of his wine down. The king did have an apathy to get grumpy when intoxicated and he really couldn’t be bothered to witness that with everything going on like it was. “It’s time I left and sorted things out.” He saluted his leader before making way for the door that led down a giant spiral staircase, in usual fashion he decided to not use them and opted to jump down. The enchantments bestowed upon his armour made fall damage almost non existent and allowed him to land like a feather from almost any distance. Lucky for him, the tower was just the right height not to fall to his death.
Once at the bottom, another group of scouts were waiting and were shocked at the entrance of their commander. They had heard stories from the other members of their unit, but this was the first time witnessing it for the first time. The one in charge of the group cleared his throat, “My Lord, we have more news that might be of interest to you.”
“I have much to do so get on with it.” Graylan scoffed making way for the large emerald door and waited for the men to speak before he made way to his office.
“We were on a routine patrol and discovered a group of large wooden vessels, they are unlike anything we have ever seen and are making way directly for the port.” The scout stumbled his words like a child.
Graylan peered into the scout’s eye’s and saw the look of utter dread upon his face, “What? I thought the reports said the enemy was weeks away.”
“My lord, these ships do not belong to the enemy. We used the [Looking Glass of Peering] and found them to look very much like us, except they had round ears. There was no trace of the enemy there.” The scout explained.
“Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating?” Graylan frowned before the men all looked sternly at him, “Alright, order a vessel to be made ready with the utmost haste. I will personally go to see what is going on here.” What in the name of the elven gods is happening? Graylan motioned the scouts to make a move as this situation had just got a whole lot more complicated. They were already thinly spread out on resources and fighting another enemy at the same time would only set their defeat in stone.