Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Firestorm of Autumnbrush

 Torinn and Theon Bloodbane rendezvoused with the Vestarr forces by the time the sun rose, followed by an army of fifty thousand of Valeria Karvine's Draconians. They were almost ten miles outside the city of Autumnbrush, on the banks of the wide Falchion River, which split Aetherian in two, and was frozen during the winter time. Lord Karlon's forces were made up of the armies from houses of the Snowlands, much of the Swamplands, the Guardians, the Ice Epsilon of Coldwater, and even the Duar of Aranor.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?" said Theon. "The last time all of these races fought alongside each other was ten thousand years ago."

"I know," agreed Torinn. "Much has changed since then." Young Lord Karlon was standing on a tank, addressing a dozen of his brown-armored Elite Knights when Torinn and Theon found him.

"We're ten miles from Autumnbrush, everyone," he announced. "House Fall is counting on us to free their city. We'll take two hours to gather water, for the men to rest, and keep marching. Is that understood?" The Elites nodded their heads with an "mm-hmm", and they dispersed.

"You seem an effective commander," said Torinn, as Karlon jumped down from the tank.

"Thank you," he said. "I see Queen Valeria has sent the reinforcements she promised me."

"She is our Queen, but we are yours to command, for the time being, my lord," Theon assured. "Where are we marching?"

"Autumnbrush," Karlon answered. "House Fall's city."

"The Lysanders have taken it?" asked Torinn.

"Right," answered Karlon. "We have to free all of the Swamplands from their control. They're fortified at Vallea, and they've taken Autumnbrush, Deathmarsh, and they attacked the Guardians at Stonedrake, scattering them." Suddenly, Karlon could feel the ground starting to rumble.

Please tell me it's just reindeer, he hoped. Soon, Torinn and Theon could feel it, too. Whatever was coming towards them was way too huge to be a stampede, and Karlon began to sense a dark power coming from the east.

"Is something wrong, my lord?" Theon asked. Karlon ended up running across the fields of snow, with Torinn and Theon following him.

"Everyone, form ranks!" he shouted. "Form a defensive line facing towards the sunrise!" Torinn shouted the same orders to the Draconians and Duar, speaking in Draconic, and King Talavir shouted them in Fae to the Ice Epsilon. The Duar soldiers formed a line with their small rifles in front of the Vestar, Ingram soldiers, and Guardians, who stood in front of the Draconians, who were armed with long light machine guns. Behind them were the Coldwater archers with their dragonwood bows. By the time the ranks were formed, the aura of darkness had grown immense, and another army came over the hills of snow but stopped at the top. They were all Draconians with dark scales, and there was one that stood a foot taller than the rest. He was the most vile of their race, Grax Ironhand. Torinn drew his glass greataxe, and Theon drew his greatsword, while Karlon unsheathed Blizzard, and Ser Dalton Blackburn drew a silver sword that ignited with fire when he touched its hilt. Grax Ironhand snarled at Torinn and Theon, and they both snarled back. Grax then raised his huge mace into the air with a roar, and the dark Draconians began to charge across the snow. There were thousands of them, even more than what Karlon's army had, but they didn't attack with strategy or discipline. Still, Karlon could sense a feeling of dread from his soldiers and the Duar, but not the Guardians, Epsilon, or gold-scaled Draconians.

"You should return to Green Hill, my lord," King Talavir advised.

"I'm not abandoning my army," Karlon argued.