Blood And Iron

Prologue: Blood Boils, and Iron Toils

"GANG!!! GANG!!! GANG!!!"

The sound of a hammer, hammering iron at a forge clanged out into the massive interior of the factory.

Everywhere, androids made of scrap metal, with eyes made of flashlight-like devices, hammered at molten metal, dragging scraps off of conveyer belts coming out of blazing furnaces.

"YES! Hammer at the iron!! Let the iron toil! Let it burn!! Let it rage!!!"

A massive android stomped into view. He was a tremendous armored being.. with a bulky gray body, with exhaust ports firing steam from his shoulders and back.. He had a large bottom jaw that was made from a crane's shovel. His right arm, was a massive mallet which had molten metal dripping from ports in the side of the hammer.

"We are Iron! Our blood is metal!!!" roared the android known as Hammor. "The age of the machine.. is NIGH! The glorious King has promised.. to lead us to a glorious era.. where Machines live free.. FREE OF FILTH!! But first... FIRST we must clean up the filth that dares infest our lands...  these DRAGONS! These FALSE FURNACES!!!"

The androids below all cheered, their burned and gray metal bodies gleaming in the light of their furnaces.

Meanwhile, only a few miles away.. was a quiet village, nestled in the mountains. Edo-period style houses stood all around. With peaceful ponds filled with coy fish, as bamboo fountains poured trickling water in..

Even though it was night time.. children wearing loose fitting kimono-like clothing ran through the streets, giggling

Plenty of the clothing here was japanese styled, and yet it was made of loose cheap materials.. well.. mainly because in a village where every time somebody used the power of dragons, their clothes got shredded, it was probably best not to make anything too expensive. Instead, in this village, expensive fabrics were used to make bags and other things that weren't worn. 

It was a very peaceful village, despite it's rather battle oriented culture..

Draz's muscular form sat on the porch of the largest house in the village, as he was the village chief.  He wore a Kimono now, that opened around the chest area, and held a clay bottle of sake in one hand. 

He smiled at the children as they played. Dragons were nocturnal, not to mention full of energy, so they never needed to sleep often (a reason why Narina can afford to work on her homework so late at night.). 

Here, the Ryuu people lived such a happy life.. 

In the distance, dragons flew, as this was one of the best environments for them to live. Plenty of lakes filled with fish that drew in Bull Sharks and Mutant Sharks, some of their currently primary source of prey. The dragons came into the village often, and would usually share their catch with the fishermen. 

As it so happened, the children themselves were playing with two cuddly baby dragons, that were around 7 months old, rolling around in the dirt with the little cuddly creatures, giggling. 

Draz's daughter, a 15 year old light blue haired girl, slender, dressed in japanese farmer's clothes, and holding a bowl of water, walked out, smiling at her father, before speaking in Japanese. "So.. the old drunk lives."

"Don't give me that Mitsuki ." said Draz with a chuckle. "I don't drink THAT much.."

"Perhaps, but I swear you'd sleep so long, that by the time you woke, pigs would actually develop the ability to fly." said Mitsuki. 

Draz laughed. "Maybe by then, my daughter will be married off to a swell man!"

Mitsuki frowned at this. "You KNOW that the man I was promised somehow became a woman.. don't you?"

Draz sighed. "Not by any fault of his.. or now I should say HER own.. I warned Wild Dragon, these so called Rebirthers are incompetent relying on Androids to run their business.. "

"F-Father..." Mitsuki suddenly pointed out in the distance. "Wh-what's that?"

Crashing through the trees, near the village, was a massive house, it was made of metal scraps and plates, as if it had been hastily welded together, and possessed burning smoke stacks that were sending clouds of smoke into the sky. It walked on six, sturdy, spindly legs, giving it the appearance of some ginormous robot spider. It had two burning portholes in the front for eyes, and a large shovel-like bottom jaw, much like Hammor.. and it was massive.. massive enough to match an entire factory in size..

after all.. it WAS a factory..

"F-father.. are the City Humans filming some... live action rendition of Howl's Walking Castle?" asked Mitsuki.

"Howl's what!?"

"Just.. an Anime I saw.. when I visited Akihabara.. "Muttered Mitsuki.

"This is no movie prop.." growled Draz. "It's them.. the King's Iron Legion.. DAMN IT! Gather the children! Move them to the caves! NOW!! I'll gather some of our warriors and hold them off! GO!!"

"But father I-" stammered Mitsuki.

"You are a competent warrior I know.." said Draz. "BUT THIS IS NOT THE TIME!! The people trust you, you must survive.. GOOO!"

Mitsuki gritted her teeth, but obeyed, shouting for the children to follow her, as she ran to the nearest house to warn them..

Draz's clothing shredded apart in a burst of flame and light as he entered his dragonish form.. and a massive black and red dragon which was covered in battle scars, landed next to him, growling.

"Come Ganto.." said Draz, petting the dragon's snout. "Let's show these metal men, that technology holds no sway over the might of a scaly hide!!"

The battle lasted an hour.. 

And it took only an hour to kill 91 of the Ryuu Tribe's bravest warriors..

The front end of the village had turned black, and molten.. as the androids raised their metal arms and cheered, and Hammor stomped over to the barely conscious Draz, lying on his back next to his slain dragon. 

All around the area.. were dead Dragon people.. some with wings.. some with tails.. all with scaly armored skin..  and their dragon companions lay dead too.. strewn around with the piles of torn up machines.

800 androids had fallen against 91 Ryuu Warriors.. and yet, these Androids were legion..

Hammor laughed at Draz, putting a foot on his chest. "You see Ryuu scum!? You see!? The cleansing has begun!! Your filth shall not set foot on the land promised to us by his majesty!! Your blood will boil, and our Iron will toil! We shall build a glorious new world.. a world of metal and the forge!!"

"Shut up.." Draz groaned.

"Heheh.. I shall let you live for now.." said Hammor. "So you may watch.. as we cleanse this world of filth.. FLAMES!! AT THE READY!!!"

Several large, sluggish androids, armed with methane tanks on their backs, and large barreled flamethrowers on their arms, lumbered forward, and then started blasting fire over the village houses, burning them down, while other androids moved in and began kicking down the fountains and smashing apart anything they could grab.

"It seems THIS Ryuu village managed to evacuate in time.. unlike your sister village down south." said Hammor. "They had so many children, we had to pile them up like a mountain to burn them all!"

Draz's eyes widened. "Y-you.. damn.. you.."

"Our iron shall taste blood dear foolish dragon filth.. and before this month is up.. we shall tear your lands asunder.. " Hammor said. "So speaks.. THE AGE OF THE MACHINE!!!"