Injury

Hurry

Philza quickly takes out a piece of paper, a black long feather and some ink. He starts writing to Technoblade, explaining that there is very little time for the preparations. He also writes that he will send his best guards to help the process of the training and that the problem with the small army will have a solution shortly. Then the emperor runs up to the tower, attaches the message to a crow and watches it fly down to the cottage. Then he immediately goes to the nearest guards and orders them to tell all the guards in and around the palace to come to the palaces hall.

Once all of the guards have gathered in the enormous hall, Phil lifts his right hand signalling everyone to be silent. The hall is fully silent now. You were probably able to hear a pin drop. Everyone was waiting for the emperor's speech.

"Thank you everyone, for coming on this early morning. As some of you might have heard from your colleges in the far south, there was panic over a potential war. Well... today I received a message signifying the start of it. It looks like there was an attack, from the Esempi, on one of the many towers on our border. As far as I'm aware not many people got severely injured and no one died... yet. The reason I asked you all to come here is now pretty obvious. Some of you will need to go and help our people in the south. Others will show some posters in the city and maybe some villages near the city, that will hopefully make some people want to join the army and serve this country. The rest of you will be asked to join the army as well or help general Technoblade with the planning and the training of the soldiers. Thank you everyone again, and sorry for dragging you all here and giving you this absolute cruel information."

With the end of the speech being shown, the hall starts getting louder again. The leader answers a few more questions from individual guards, but then he leaves the hall to go check on the war propaganda posters.

In the far south, there is an old village laying on the top of a hill. It once used to look so peaceful. Now all that's left of it, are some burned oak logs still strong enough to hold themselves up straight. The few people who were able to survive the horrible fate that they just met, are now doing they're best to not burst out in tears. There are people helping their friends and relatives or even people they don't know up or carrying them with them. They all meet in the centre of the ruins, counting the people that are left. They get ready to travel far, not knowing where exactly, but at least some where new and with great opportunities to grow new farms and houses. All of them are working together to pick up the things they have left, like food and some clothes. This village has had a war like this before, but that was almost fourteen years back.

Back in the capital city, panic has been caused. There is a crowd of people standing in front of a big poster. Most of them are wondering if that poster is real or not, because Hypixel has been so peaceful and happy for a long time, that the citizens can't believe that the poster is about joining the army.

The general and the soldiers are already training. They are finally finished with the planning and are now learning how to block a strong attack. Defending will definitely be the most important thing to learn, because if there isn't enough time to learn how to do a strong attack, Hypixel will at least still have a chance to save their home. A few new soldiers have arrived at the training field. This makes the army over six hundred soldiers strong. Philza's plan worked. There are also the best palace's guards helping Techno with the training. Either fighting against the new soldiers, so that the soldiers can block it, or explaining some basic attacks.

Sunrise comes, and now the army has doubled from the one of that morning. If something like this happens the next day, Hypixel will have a chance to keep up with the army of Esempi.

Back in the castle, two boys are standing on the balcony, looking down on the crowd. A knock on the door.

"Come in."

The emperor enters the room. He has a tired expression on his face, with deep rings under his eyes and hanging shoulders. The facial expression soon changes into a sad one. His two sons walk over to him. They ask him if he's alright and drag an armchair over to him. The tired man sits down, letting out a long sigh before taking in a deep breath again and telling the boys all that has happened in the last week. He tells them about the letter, the army, the attack on the towers, the panic and the training. The boys don't seem to be surprised, they of course were already suspecting something similar, but they still don't quite understand.

"Why though? I thought the last war was going to be the last one. I thought we didn't have any enemies. What does the Esempi want from us?"

All those questions spilled out of the youngest prince. The only answer his father gave him was:

"Power."

The next couple of minutes there is only silence. All three are thinking of a solution, how to prevent many people's lives being taken, or thinking of a way they can make a trade with the Esempi. But all of them also know that the leader of the Esempi only wants more and more power and land. He could've attacked Kinoko instead of Hypixel. But because Kinoko is such a tiny piece of land, Hypixel would be the better choice. The leader of Esempi also knows that Hypixel hasn't been in a war for a long time, which means that the army probably isn't as strong as a decade ago, because of the long time that they weren't in combat. Then the older prince called Wilbur asked a heart breaking question to Philza.

"Do we need to fight?"

...

"No."

"Why not? We can help this country! We have sparred enough-"

"This isn't like sparring, Will. This is real, this is life or death. One small mistake and your opponent will not hesitate smashing a blade through your heart."

"But what are we going to do otherwise? Stand on our balcony and watch everything happen like a theatre scene?"

"Also no... you'll stand by my side. And if I need to go and fight, you will stand next to your personal guards and Ranboo and Tubbo in the castle. Ranboo is going to protect you well, he has trained hard, just to protect you two. The castle is well protected as well. It is definitely the safest place for you two to be, if not next to me."

The two princes aren't even trying to convince the emperor anymore. Both of them just sit still, while the emperor stands up and leaves the room.

The training was very successful. Most of the soldiers now know how to fend off a pretty strong attack and some of them even know how to conduct one. The sun is setting. If you didn't know about the upcoming war, you could think that Hypixel's capital is as peaceful as always, with the beautiful red sunset reflecting the different colour variations of the houses.