On a bright and sunny day, a massive tower pierced up into the heavens. Massive red banners coated in flames hung from its walls, interspersed with windows and gates of all shapes and sizes from which all manner of flying creatures took off and landed. On the ground below, a massive city was arranged in a neat grid around wide roads made of stone to one side of the tower, while empty plains stretched into the distance on the other side. The buildings were uniform and built of stone, miniature fortresses with little adornment save the banners of a red dragon upon a black field.
The sound of hammer upon metal sounded out throughout the city as smoke belched into the sky. Thousands of blacksmiths worked their craft, forging countless swords and spears and suits of armor. Bakers kept their ovens working around the clock as they churned out mountains of bread and hard tack to fill the endless warehouses, weavers sewed together uniforms, bandages, and banners until their hands trembled, and brewers continuously emptied and filled their barrels with as much grog as they could brew. Clerks ran through their offices carrying stacks of paper taller than themselves as they worked into the night to keep track of it all.
Countless soldiers gathered in the field beyond the city, sparring, exercising, and marching in formations. Dragons and wyverns and griffins and giant birds and all manner of other flying creatures flew in neat triangles, guided by the riders on their backs as they flew over the beast cavalry charging below.
And in the center of the field, a man stood facing three dragon riders. He stood a head taller than even the tallest soldier, adorned in a sturdy but worn suit of metal painted red. He held a red glaive in his hands as flames wrapped around him. One dragon flew straight at him, another flew over and to his rear, and the third unleashed a green cloud of acidic mist.
He ignored the mist as the fire wrapped around him flared and pushed it away. He jumped up over the dragon approaching and landed on its head, knocking its rider off with a swing of his glaive. Then he jumped off the dragon’s head and propelled himself upward with a blast of fire from his feet. He caught the tail of the dragon flying overhead and pulled it down, swinging the dragon and rider both down towards the third pair. The group collided and collapsed to the ground in a tangled mess before the man landed back on the first dragon, driving it into the ground.
He then landed back on the ground and shook his head as the riders groaned and picked themselves off the ground. He was about to question them on their efforts when a courier came running in.
“Priority message for High Councilor Rippotis!”
Rippotis and shook his head.
“General Rippotis. Let me guess, it’s from High Councilor Heigiosa?”
The courier’s eyes widened while General Rippotis shook his head.
“She always sends a message around this time. Well, hand it over.”
He took the message and read it, shaking his head. The three dragon riders walked up to him.
“What does it say, sir?”
He shrugged.
“What it says every time. That she strongly recommends I don’t personally participate this time.”
The dragon riders frowned.
“…what will you do, sir?”
General Rippotis let out a light chuckle.
“What I do every time. Thank her for her concern, and then perform my duty.”
The general took out the reply he had already written when the Grand Subjugation was first announced.
“Here, deliver this to High Councilor Heigiosa.”
The courier saluted and departed. General Rippotis took a deep breath. The expected message from Heigiosa was the last thing he was waiting for, it was now time to begin. The other Tower Lords were still preparing for the Grand Subjugation but not the general. He started preparing for each Grand Subjugation the moment the previous one ended. He gathered and trained his forces, stocked his supplies, and even sent out his scouting parties at regular intervals. He already had his forces organized and prepared to march, his targets laid out, and his operations planned in full.
Stolen novel; please report.
Because he knew, more than anyone, that humanity was at war. A war for its very survival, one that never faded. After all, he was there. He was there at the beginning, when arrogance and greed brought down a calamity that ended the world as they knew it and drove humanity to the brink of extinction. He was there in the desperate struggle for survival before the intervention of the gods, when a band of refugees fled for their lives for years without end against the relentless onslaught they couldn’t hold back. He was there when his army had to abandon entire cities and eventually their entire nation just so that a few could live.
That was why he would not be called Tower Lord, or High Councilor, but General. So long as the Hunger endured, General Rippotis would never be at peace. He would fight to defend humanity to either his dying breath, or until the threat was extinguished. Heigiosa knew this too, though she wished for him to rely on the power of the gods. For General Rippotis, though, that was not possible. His own role in the disaster, and humanity’s role in general, demanded that he lead the charge in pushing it back.
Besides, there was also the issue of the beastkin. Their role as the instrument of disaster and tyranny could not be forgotten…but in General Rippotis’s opinion the rhetoric had gotten entirely out of hand, and it was not like they had a choice in their own creation. Still, humanity had to be united in the face of the existential threat, so he would not allow the issue to break them apart. That meant, though, that the best way to ensure the survival of the beastkin was for him to personally subjugate as many independent Towers as he could before the other Tower Lords arrived, especially those who had been raised on the rhetoric without the knowledge of where it came from.
Well, his soldiers were as disciplined and well-trained as he could make them. He trusted them to follow his orders and his policies, but as a member of the High Council he still felt a responsibility to personally rein in the excesses wherever possible. Heigiosa knew this too, and so she would always fear for his safety, but never go so far as to order him to stay behind. Part of him wished he could ease her concerns, thus why he always waited for her message before departing, but they both knew that he had to go. Every decision that had led them here demanded that he did.
At least, until today. General Rippotis was just about to give the order to launch the subjugation when he froze. The dragon riders all began to frown, staring at him in worry. One of them eventually spoke.
“General? Is something the matter?”
General Rippotis turned his gaze to her.
“Change of plans. Lieutenant General Krimistis, you are now in charge of the operation until I arrive to take command. Move out immediately and proceed as planned.”
Lieutenant General Krimistis’s frown grew deeper.
“General? If I may speak freely…”
“Granted.”
“What exactly will you be doing?”
General Rippotis decided to entertain her question, since this was utterly abnormal for him.
“I’ve received a mission from the gods, which takes priority. I will join the subjugation once my task is complete. But we also must not delay our duty, so you all must see to it that the operation launches on schedule. Am I clear?”
The three dragon riders, his lieutenant generals, all saluted and spoke as one.
“Yes, sir!”
General Rippotis turned and departed, walking towards the Tower under his command while the lieutenant generals began barking orders. Soon, horns began to blow throughout the city and the field while fireballs shot into the sky from the top of the Tower, detonating into pre-organized patterns. His army burst into frantic motion as they organized into their marching formations and set off.
As for General Rippotis, though, he let out a sigh. He guessed Heigiosa would get her wish for the first time since, well, ever. But humanity’s debt to the gods, as well as his own, outstripped even his own duty to his troops. He would not delay a mission from the gods for anything save the imminent destruction of humanity itself.
Though, one thing caused him to tilt his head.
“Why bees?”
Bees played an important role in agriculture, to be sure, and could present a fearsome threat to the odd predator, but they did not feature much in Rippotis’s Tower. Ultimately, General Rippotis used the Tower more as a training ground, and used what monsters he had as mounts or in support roles. He firmly believed that humanity needed to take the leading role in the fight against the Hunger, to ensure that they had a personal stake in the war for their own survival. He also believed the Towers were to support them in that effort but should not supplant human effort in any endeavor. A swarm of bees was more of a direct combat option than he preferred to use, and he preferred to rely on wild bees for their agricultural contributions. Maybe he could eventually raise a bee monster that could be used as a mount? But he would have to go further than that if he wanted bees to have enough of a presence in his Tower to justify the blessing of a god. A god he had not known had existed until today, even, though that was no excuse not to treat her with the reverence and respect she deserved.
However…the more General Rippotis thought about it, the more he began to nod. After all, bees were tireless workers and perfectly brave soldiers. They worked selflessly for one another and the good of all. And when they were faced with threats infinitely larger than any singular bee, they banded together to fight back at the cost of their very lives…and in doing so could overcome a threat no individual bee could ever hope to.
In that, they faced the exact situation that humanity now did. So, perhaps there was a place for bees in his army. Perhaps they could not only support his troops, but act as an example for them to strive for. He bowed his head and thanked the gods for their guidance. It seemed that even after all this time, there was still much for him to learn.
He would learn and do anything he needed to if it would ensure humanity’s survival. And so, General Rippotis, one of the Three Elders of the High Council, Commander of the Dragon Banner Army, survivor of the Great Calamity, left his army on the eve of a Grand Subjugation campaign to raise and build houses for bees…