Twas a daunting and horrific place. Yet a place to earn the greatest of honor and valor. The Kingdom of Ravendan was in conflict with that of Kolag. It had been for a circling. The war had claimed many lives, as have enriched others. Here, at the battle for the Plains of the Goddess, a thread of fate was to be cut. Not by act of divinity, but by the intolerance of man.
These plains are as named. They are the ground of holiness. Once, concealing the temple of the Goddess Kailah. By the tears of her holiness, it was too, destroyed in a conflict of old. Today honor is to be sacrificed by a great and fierce warrior. Argon.
"Stay your hearts brothers! The enemy shall know the fury of the gods on this day! This day we grant them pass to hell!" the roar of Argon's harsh voice rallied his soldiers. They were prepared for battle upon the Plains of the Goddess.
Across the horizon the enemy ranks caught sight. Thousands of men, all in iron cases approached. The stamping stopped as the army was a ship away, glaring at each other across the green grass with the wind howling toward the east.
The enemy general stepped forth, Argon did the same. "Cast down thy arms, and pray mercy before the king! Refusal will grant thee thy death!" Argon called to him. "You're king is a tyrant. He exploits my kingdom, and now we have the power to fight back. My men are ready to lay their lives for our freedom!" the general finished, and following, a loud 'Hoorah' rang across the battlefield.
"What you call oppression is merely lack of cooperation in your own corner. Let thy choice be final, prepare for battle!" Argon turned and returned to the front-lines of his army. He faced his army as he knelt to the ground. His men did the same. "Kailah," he started, "your loyal followers call upon your protection once more. We know not what roads lie ahead, but we ask that you bless our blades." I care not for war among them, but his loyalty and faith is just. I grant his wish, I will stand by him and his men. Only for Argon's request, for I despise his king. But, I'm bound by code, I'll not harm him
Argon stood once more, turning to see the enemy falling back. Puzzled, he gestured for his army to hold and lines gestured those who followed. Moments passed as he cautiously stepped forward. The noon sun shined on his steel body, from head to foot with leather straps tossed across his chest and waist, supporting countless sheathes.
The enemy halted. Argon watched them. Grey skies emerged from the enemy, breaking off into single strands of what looked like ascending rain.
"The enemy has launched a storm of arrows! Raise your shields, men!"
The men gracefully raised their shields in full synch, and covered their defenceless neighbors. Moments after, the clank of metal clashing against metal rang though the air.
The rain had captured many moments before it cleared. After, the armies charged. Upon meeting the middle ground, swords and other weaponry began flailing. Screams and wailing of agony emerged from the shifting dust. Creatures were lashing. Blood was pouring. Good men were dying.
"Edmund! Watch your back! " Argon called to one of his soldiers as he withdrew a blade from the body of a fallen soldier. The soldier turned around after striking down am enemy to be greeted my another that was bracing to slice him. Argon hurled the withdrawn blade at the emergent and caught him in his chest. "Be keen on your senses, Brother." Edmund replied with a nod as he returned to combat.
Also turning, Argon saw bodies flying through the air from a certain point of origin. He kicked his occupying enemy down and dealt a stab to the heart. He then looked up seeing his men falling back. A line of sight cleared for him and he saw something he cared not to. A Raugh (ràh-oog). It was a cross of a bull and a panther. It had a rough, black coat, that was now smeared with blood, blood from bodies crashed underneath its paws and those penetrated with its sharpened tusks. It caught sight of Argon, for he stood steady. It began a charge for him. A slow charge, but still deadly. He remained steady. The bull came within arm of him before he stepped to the side and extended his arm, catching hold of one of its tusks. The bull hadn't stopped, so Argon was dragged into the air. He grabbed hold of its fur and managed to mount the beast. The Raugh came to an abrupt stop, causing Argon to fly over its head. He grabbed ahold of an ear, allowing him to only drape over the beast's face, straddling its nose. The Raugh charged for a collapsed stone wall, about a tree's way away, with its head lowered. Argon realized where it was charging. As the distance closed, he grabbed ahold of the other ear. He then pulled the ears behind the beast, causing it to raise its head just as they made contact with the wall. The wall shattered the beast's nose, and still pulling Argon to it with a loud clank as he slammed against the wall.
He pushed the beast from atop of him and stood back up. He spat on the dead Raugh and walked toward the closing womb of battle to rejoin his men.
