The Four Kingdoms

             There were four lands, the plateau, the jungle, the plains, and the iceland, they were controlled by a ruthless scourge. Four heroes defeated the scourge that lived within. Each of them took one of the lands to become their kingdom. The heroes were Darkmatter, Catrunner, Grim, and RainBow. They chose through straws, Catrunner drew the jungle, RainBow the plains, Darkmatter the plateau, and Grim the iceland.
Catrunner's realm had plentiful natural resources and she soon became a center of natural resource trade. Her entire kingdom was in a turmoil politically until they all split into four warlike main tribes, the Alm, the Pine, the Oak, and the Palm; they all agreed to come together in times of need, but they maintained a distance otherwise. Her kingdom was divided yet strong, the unified four tribes were called the Evergreen Kingdom.
Next RainBow's kingdom had plentiful villages but almost no trees or ore, yet they soon became a centerpiece of the trade, they got valuable resources from villagers and they traded many for more resources. They're political standing was mostly ruled by the iron fist of RainBow, other than a few angry rebellions she was able to keep everyone in line. She had enhanced cavalry and was a major power in the rank of war. Her kingdom became called the Silver Wren Kingdom.
Next was Darkmatter's kingdom, his kingdom didn't have many natural resources but was extremely plentiful when it came to ore, they're kingdom quickly cemented itself into the ore and they became extremely powerful through they're very advanced armor and weapons. His people were hardy folk and each was proficient in weapons, even the saddest beggar knew how to use a hammer. Darkmatter created severe laws to keep his people in line. His kingdom was the most powerful and warlike with their new technology. His kingdom became called the Stonecall Kingdom.
Lastly was Grim and his kingdom, the iceland had nothing, it was a devoid land of ice and mountains yet Grim became a king of the people, he created a prosperous kingdom from nothing. His area allowed him to create new technologies in peace and he became one of the highest on the advancement rank, he based his kingdom around fishing and soon found new ways to bring his technologies to help his people. Due to his advanced technologies he was able to make an incredibly strong navy and soon easily took control of the seas, he became known as the Dread Frost Pirate. He kept his goings secret from the other three kingdoms and the other three kingdoms thought he was fighting against the cold, not prospering from it. His kingdom became the Crystal Dragon Kingdom.
All four of the kingdoms were posed with a challenge. Catrunner: wildfires, RainBow: rebellions, Darkmatter: Golems, and Grim: Frostbite. Catrunner's people were fatally hit by the wildfires and two entire tribes were killed before they could stop and protect themselves against the wildfires. RainBow's people started to revolt but RainBow stopped and punished them with her iron will but her kingdom became infested with assassins and thugs, but she was able to stop most of them without suffering too much damage. Darkmatter's people were attacked by Golems that looked like stone, and so they could no longer mine until they used their extreme attacks to destroy their enemy, they suffered a decrease in resources but nothing really serious. Grim's people learned about snowstorms, this didn't affect them at all because as soon as Grim found out he helped and comforted his people and created animal farms for furs, he also made sure everyone could get them for free. Despite the bitter cold, Grim's kingdom prospered and while everyone else struggled they actually created new advancements. These challenges will never really disappear but after all of the kingdoms dealt with them they lessened their force.
Alliances were created between Grim and Darkmatter, strength and stability. Grim never truly shows Darkmatter that he was advanced but he acted as if he needed the ore more than he actually did. A solid trade route was set between the two kingdoms. But then Darkmatter, without warning, attacked Catrunner's kingdom. His insane war power easily crushed one of the remaining tribes and it forced Catrunner to come out to parley. Catrunner proposed that he leave them be as long as they share some of their natural resources with him. Darkmatter pretended to agree with her but then as soon as they came close together he ran her through with his sword. Grim and RainBow's kingdoms erupted with rage as they learned that Darkmatter slaughtered Catrunner's people and betrayed the sacred code of parley.
Grim's kingdom drew into itself, seeming to be self-defense, and severed the trading route between Darkmatter's kingdom and declared that they revoked the alliance. Darkmatter thought that this meant that Grim was weak so in his bloodlust he set off toward Grim's kingdom. When he reached the freezing mountains his head cleared and he realized he may have made a grave mistake, and when he saw Grim's army seem to rize up from the cliffs and mountains he definitely knew he made a mistake. Grim was actually only second place to Darkmatter when it came to war strength and with his strategic mind he was able to create the perfect mountain warriors. His warriors were clad in titanium armor laced with warm furs to survive the cold and make their movements silent. His cavalry were on armored mountain goats and each person had wicked javelins. And finally Darkmatter saw Grim rise from a nearly invisible patch of snow clad in titanium armor laced with netherite, a silver wolf pelt cape, and holding a scary helmet in the visage of a dragon with crystals arcing throughout it. Grim drew a blade so black it seemed to suck in all of the light around it and slid his helmet over his head. At the ring of goat horns Grims army formed together perfectly and rushed down the mountain's sides gracefully towards Darkmatter. After a fearsome battle of ice and blood Grim faced Darkmatter. Darkmatter tried to parley but Grim declined, saying that he 'would not parley with traitors'. Darkmatter rushed at Grim with his hammer but then with a gust of snow Grim seemed to disappear. It was only when Grim's icy, black blade came out of Darkmatter's chest did Darkmatter see him. Grim's eyes behind the dragon helm were scary, they were cold, hard, and completely devoid of any emotion, like the iceland itself. As Darkmatter lay dying in the snow he felt his wound go cold and felt the cold spread. One of Grim's men drew a beautiful picture of Grim kneeling next to Darkmatter, who was frozen solid, making the symbol for peace over Darkmatters body with his sword stabbed into the ground next to him.
RainBow's spies only got a little intel on the battle, they say that Grim barely defeated Darkmatter, which surprisingly was a lie spread by Grim to hide his victory. She decided to make an alliance with Grim and they met together at the border of their kingdoms to discuss their terms of engagement. This was one of the most important events that happened during the time and one of Grim's guards wrote a detailed description of what happened:
"Our King joked and laughed with us as we awaited for Queen Rain. Our King had long blonde hair so light it was almost white because of the place we lived in and different hues of blue were highlighted through his hair. He had a short beard with the same highlights. He had two earrings, one was a modest spruce hoop, a gift from us, his people, and the other was an enchanted black opal hoop, both on the same ear. He was clad in basic clothing, baggy white greaves, ice-blue shirt with titanium buttons rolled up at the sleeves and unbuttoned at the chest, his special silver wolf pelt cape offset to one shoulder, regular gray stained leather boots rimmed with gray fur, a gray fur belt, and his ice-blue button shirt was cut in a way to show his part of his chest and his entire bare arm, which was covered in blue symbolic tattoos that seemed to glow. His basic sword was sheathed at his hip, its black blade hidden from sight. He wore a modest titanium circlet with a beautiful blue gem set into the center. His muscles and slightly sunken appearance show'd that he was a hardy and strong person, never taking more than his people. He is a good King, kind, compassionate, modest, benevolent, and just. I know I was lucky enough to be put into his personal guard. Then after we all relaxed on the comfortable chairs Queen Rain came into the room. She was dressed like a real queen, she took no liberties and was clad in a garb much fancier than the modest garb of our King. She wore a low-cut bodice covered with different gems, she was breath-taking and her dress was cleverly added to a warrior's armor, obviously also ornate. Her brown hair was braided with silver leaves and emeralds, her crown was two silver wrens connected and covered with gems. Our King rose gracefully to offer his hand to Queen Rain, they exchanged pleasantries and then got to business. They talked in such elaborate and diplomatic ways that I had no need to decipher but then finally they seemed to come to an agreement. Our King seemed content and happy with the results as we all rode to our kingdom and he was joking and laughing happily with the rest of us. Our home never seemed so beautiful when we returned home. - Breon'' .
This showed the happenings of the important event and the agreement that the two kingdoms came to was an agreement of peace and exchange of resources for hopefully many years. But, sadly, this peace didn't last for many years. It only lasted about a year until RainBow started to plot the downfall of Grim. RainBow believed that she could very easily crush Grim's simple armies and conveniently overlooked the hard, battle ready people under Grim's rule. She often asked for tours of his lands but to her great disappointment she was only ever shown the trade route entryway and Grim's humble cottage and the surrounding town, she never saw the tirelessly, skillful blacksmiths and forgers working hard to please their good King. She thought that he was a modest fishing kingdom, a paper tiger, lucky enough to overcome Darkmatter's might. She tried to get personal with Grim through seduction, flattery, and ego feeding but she quickly found that he tolerated none of this and simply deflected most of the flirtatious looks and words she threw at him. Her efforts to get personal with him and under his guardianship fell to ruins and she quickly escaped from that stream of trickery without getting caught. She found Grim to be a puzzle, a mystery wrapped in respect and a wolf pelt, and she found herself digging into his past, the times when the four of them had been heroes together. She found that he had actually easily covered up any traces of his personal history with his skill. Finally she made her first move. She sent a party of assassins up into the mountains. After days of no report she finally went the route she plotted for the assassins. Her guard found three of the assassin's bodies, each frozen solid and broken into pieces that were scattered across the snowbanks. She made it back to her kingdom and recorded the bitter colds that she knew nothing about, even when she went to that Kingdom.
Assassin after assassin after assassin she sent. The assassin that got closest was her best assassin but even then the assassin only was able to throw one blade at the King before being overpowered. By looking through the assassin's eyes by magic she found that the King had actually caught the blade without even so much as looking at it, he was in deep, good natured conversation with some of his blacksmiths. He was asking them if they could, could they please speed along the manufacturing process if he sweetened the deal with extra food and precious metals. They agreed readily not only because they would profit from it but that they respected him and knew he was making the best decision for their kingdom. Then she had doubts, how could he have that much awareness and speed? She finally decided that she must send a full scale attack upon him if she was to win.
Silently moving like a wolf, one of Grim's intelligence members ghosted away from the Queen's palace. Shadowflyer made his way back to King Grim. Sitting on a hill overlooking RainBow's palace , wind whispering through his highlighted hair, sat King Grim, his crown set on the grass next to him. He appeared to be lost in thought but when Shadow ghosted up the hill he turned to meet him. Shadow relayed the call to war to him and Grim congratulated him and sent him back home to relax, his job was done skillfully. Shaking his head sadly Grim stood gazing at RainBow's palace for the last time, silhouetted against the setting sun. He turned and followed Shadow down the hill to their goats. Grim's kingdom became a beacon of war. All of Grim's soldiers were battle-ready. Grim made a speech that his scribe wrote down: "We stand here on this fateful day. I hope we land upon the better side of the double-edged blade of war. I cannot ask you, my people, to sacrifice yourselves in my name. I cannot bear to watch as my people, my friends die. Let us fight in the name of our Kingdom, not in the name of me. Honor the memory of all who came before us and hope beyond wishing that we find ourselves safe, or in another journey that only the dead can know. We stand here, ready to fight for our Kingdom. We stand for what we believe in. I cannot lead you well enough through this troubled time, let me try and lead you to better pastures. We must do what is right for our Kingdom, no matter what. I will mourn every soul that is killed this day. We must embrace our enemies. Frost itself guides our blades. For the Crystal Dragon!" This was his speech that he made just hours before the battle. The two forces met in the joint where their two lands met. RainBow was surprised to see that Grim's people were already in formation and ready for her. In this flatland she was confident that the terrain advantage that Grim used to beat Darkmatter would not work well for them here. She signaled her forces into a standard shield wall. Grim stepped out of his army and she stepped out to meet him. They both threw down a white flag and strode toward each other. Grim begged RainBow not to let this happen, to call this off. RainBow refused and took out her bow. They walked back to their armies and as soon as they merged with their armies the armies met for battle.
The battle was a stalemate, neither truly getting the upper hand, and soon both armies could not go on. Grim took an unhealthy share of the fighting and stayed at the frontlines for longer than any of his people. It seemed that whenever one of his people were struck down he drew strength from his anger of their death and hacked through the enemy. RainBow and Grim met on the battlefield. Both were battle weary but ready to stop this endless war. RainBow took the first move and shot with her massive magical longbow. Grim barely had time to bring his battered shield up. Both armies stopped to watch their King and their Queen battle. After ten minutes of battle RainBow deceived Grim by shooting a magical smoke at Grim to stun him. Grim, never having to fight this magic before, was stunned and RainBow shot him in the chest.
RainBow grinned triumphantly but then the grin immediately fell from her face when she saw Grim, blood spilling from the hole in his chest, stride out from the smoke. Grim reached for a small sheath on his back, he had lost his sword during the battle, and unsheathed a short blade made from ice itself. Spilling from his glowing blue eyes came smoke that shifted to look like ice. RainBow stumbled backward and sent arrow after arrow at Grim. Grim's eyes turned completely black and he charged at her with his ice blade turning black like an endless void. She calmly backed away from him but then saw to her horror that he had thrown his blade at her. The blade clicked and then slowly started coming undone into a chain sword. RainBow knew she couldn't dodge this. The sword bit into her and neatly froze her, still living, in pure black ice. Grim stumbled and fell, his cracked Dragon Helm falling from his head. Blood black as his blade spilled from his deadly grim wounds. He looked up at RainBow, the hero he once knew, and fell to the ground, his black blood spilling from his eyes and his chest. His blade transformed into a beautiful black crown with all four emblems of the Kingdoms set into the brow. Grim's last and final dying wish, a ruler that would lead his people to 'better pastures'.
RainBow, still alive but locked into an unbreakable cell of ice, watched as her friend and ally died from her actions. She remembered all the happy and jovial adventures that she and her crew went on together. Darkmatter the giddy teamster that made them all laugh, Catrunner the cunning thief that got them into so much entertaining trouble, and Grim the levelheaded weaponmaster that each of the crew looked to him for guidance. Tears fell down her face as she remembered how hard Grim tried to convince them to stay as heroes, not become Kings and Queens. She realized that Grim had been trying so hard to keep them and his people together that he knew he would have to die for it. Grim's helm rolled across the snow and came to rest at the foot of her prison, the empty visor seeming to give silent judgment to her. She cried harder as she remembered that each one of them had killed each other through their actions. Then she felt a warmth. She opened her eyes to see one of Grim's people setting the crown upon her frozen head. The man that did so was a grizzled old man with smile lines deeply marking his face. He looked at her and slowly tottered off, a tattered polar bear cloak flowing in the wind behind him. He picked up Grim's body with surprising ease and gently carried him off towards a small grove. She felt the ice melt off her and the crown set itself firmly upon her head. She carefully followed the old man, unsure what he might do.
The old man arrived at a small cozy pergola. There were three chambers with a different throne in each of them. He carefully placed Grim's body on a throne made of sprucewood, fur, and ice crystals. Darkmatter's body sat upon a throne made from stone and ore and Catrunner's body sat upon a throne made from bamboo and jungle trees. The old man carefully closed Grim's empty black eyes and turned to RainBow. He walked away quietly after paying his respects to the fallen Kings and Queen. RainBow sat in the center crying and watched as the thrones slowly transformed the dead sitting on them. Darkmatter's frozen and shattered corpse transformed into a statue made from delicate platinum shards. Catrunner's body transformed into vines and roots that curled and flowered delicately around her butchered corpse. Grim's maimed body slowly froze  into a perfect ice statue with different colors of ice highlighting it, RainBow's arrows frozen in place inside his chest. Each one of the transformed bodies miraculously opened their transformed eyes. Each silently watched RainBow before sliding their inanimate eyes closed.
Suddenly huge blocks of each of their respective ore fell down upon RainBow's shoulders, the weight of all of their actions. RainBow sat in the center bearing the weight of their actions upon her shoulders. She felt her arms starting to give out but then suddenly the weight ceased. She looked up and saw a spectral form of Grim lifting the blocks from her shoulders and carefully setting the burden upon his own. He smiled. Something she had never seen before in her travels with him and the entire pergola seemed to light up with a warm light. He gently wiped a tear from her cheek before walking away towards a ghostly door that appeared. He opened the door and she saw beyond that door awaited her friends. He stepped into the door and before he closed the door he looked at her one last time. The door closed. The burden had been lifted from her shoulders, Grim understood. She cried tears of loss and joy for her lost friends. She stayed in that pergola for a long time.
The sun had set at three of the kingdoms, but in one, the sun was just starting to rise. Birds chirped sweetly as the brilliant light of the sun in the Icenrotock Kingdom gently brushed its soft light upon their feathers. The trees whispered slightly as a warm gust of wind glided through it. RainBow looked up to the sky with tear stained cheeks, and saw a rainbow curving gracefully over the rising sun. The Kingdoms had united under one rule, RainBow's. This couldn't have happened without Grim's sacrifice for a better world. Without Catrunner's unexpected death. And without Darkmatter's corruption. These three things were what led to a better future.
Today I sit on my sturdy rocking chair, drinking honeyed coffee from my spruce cup, and choose to remember these tough times. I was a major part of this and saw each one of their experiences, it's very painful to think about. That's why I'm writing this all down. RainBow has grown to become one of the greatest Queens I have ever seen, better than even Grim. Now I'm going to close this book, lock it away tight, and appreciate that, like RainBow, this burden has been lifted from my shoulders. All by writing it down for someone to hear. Goodbye forever.
Sincerely,
Ogman Beartree
The old man closed his book thoughtfully, tossed the book onto the cabin table, and took a deep draft of his coffee. He sighed contentedly and stood, grabbing his polar bear cloak as he stood. He grabbed his massive longbow and set off down the dirty track to the Kingdom's walls. A strong gust of wind blew his long, iron gray hair and beard, and he grinned in an almost childish way, enjoying the breeze. The sun was rising, yet again.