The Elements, the Empires, the War.

[Fan of Rainbows]

List of Characters (will be modified as new characters are added and such)
Titanus Arizada/General Arizada/Emperor Arizada
Louis Sriza
Eveliea Nius
Emperor Axtrik (dead)
King Sildras (dead)
King Trisan


FEEDBACK IS WELCOME!

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 1
The Incident

In a land known as Gridiusa, there was the capital city named Utriuse. A boy named Titanus Arizada lived in the city. At an age of 16, being orphaned for many years, he was self-sufficient by hunting for food outside the city in Trikius Forest with his trusty mahogany bow and steel arrows. Titanus also had a friend named Louis for his hunting partner and they shared their daily kills without much if any dispute. They had been hunting together for many years and thus had developed the best ways to bring home fresh meat without fail.

On one occasion, however, after killing several wild turkeys, they heard a ground-shaking roar and saw a jet of flame soar into the sky. They each readied their bows, preparing for the wild flame drakes who sometimes did attempt to bother them and steal their kills. However...it turned out to be worse...much worse. A soaring flame shot into the sky with it's ruby talons literally on fire. The two boys scattered, shooting arrow after arrow behind them in a desperate attempt to knock down the mighty beast. The ruby dragon dived into the forest in an attempt to give chase, but the hail of arrows eventually pierced its wings. It gave one last jet of flame before disappearing into a fiery crash in the forest.

Titanus managed to make it back to Utriuse but he and Louis had lost each other in their panicking escape. What was additionally puzzling was that a ruby dragon had not been seen in the area since the Flame Empire occupied Utriuse, 50 years ago. The Flame Empire had also collapsed 17 years ago after a long internal civil war. So what was happening...

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 2
Suspicions

Titanus had abandoned his kills in the forest and thus was left hungry. During the run, his sack was torn on a branch and all the gold coins he had saved were lost. He however was friends with Eveliea, who was a cook at a local pub, she secretly gave him a fresh loaf of bread. Titanus questioned others about the possibilities of why there was a ruby dragon so near the city. However, most townspeople laughed in his face about the possibility of it and moved on with their daily lives. Titanus went to sleep with no ideas on how this could have happened.

The next morning, Titanus scheduled an appointment with with Emperor Axtrik of Gridiusa. As the territory was fairly small and few international problems occurred each year, the Emperor found plenty of time to listen to the citizens and meet with them individually. Titanus reported his concerns to Axtrik. Axtrik's response was that a ruby dragon owned by the Fire League army nearby probably escaped from its cage and that no harm was intended. Axtrik then said that he'd speak to the Fire League immediately and have the problem remedied. Titanus was fairly satisfied with this solution.

However, the next morning, Titianus was hunting the forest without his partner (he was recovering from the forest escape) and saw a ruby dragon flying about. He immediately raced home and really began to suspect something was REALLY wrong. Either the Fire League has blatantly done nothing about it or they were planning something to hurt Emperor Axtrik. Titanus then banded up with Louis and Eveliea to privately investigate the matter. So what was really going on.........

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 3
The Reasons and Preparations

That afternoon, Titanus, Eveliea, and Louis raced silently into the depths of Trikius Forest, each of them disguised in greenery to camouflage themselves. They each climbed into trees and looked at the Fire League Army camp from their vantage point. They found to their dread, that the army was eagerly drilling and that the generals were pointing at what looked like a map. Knowing that this must mean an invasion was imminent, they dashed back to Utriuse so fast that little time was felt to have passed. They raced into the Axtrik's study and reported their findings to him.

Axtrik ordered that poison spear aerial launcher traps and mines to be placed in the forest. The launchers used to discourage dragons, phoenixes, and fire spectres attacks while the mines used to confuse lava destroyer attacks. He then ordered that 10 pegasi riders (the maximum he could afford) to be put on standby and to have warriors and archers prepare for the defense of the city. Throughout the night, every citizen capable of doing physical labor was put to work setting up traps in the forest or preparing defensive armaments. Soldiers were put on rotating patrols just in case, the Fire League Army decided assault the city at night. No attack came.

By early morning, the traps, and defenses were ready. All the soldiers were put on guard and prepared to fight. Emperor Axtrik and 4 sons themselves took up arms, preparing to lead their defensive army to victory. They were outnumbered 5 to 1 but believed that their strong fortifications would hold when the battle started. The 10 pegasi riders were prepared to go face to face with the Flying Armada, the best corps of flying troops in the Fire League's army. Emperor Axtrik, during this whole process, had forgotten about one critical issue.  This mistake would cost the ultimate price and start one of the most furious wars ever known to history. Empires would be created and empires would die, but this war would cost more than any war had before.

[Thalas]

What are you writing, short story or novelette?

[Fan of Rainbows]

As many chapters as I feel like basically, so no set length as of right now.

FoR

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 4
The Battle

At noon, on that day, the first ruby dragons were seen flying over the horizon. The pegasi riders were launched at them, preparing for the traps to trigger and confuse the ranks. However, the spears didn't launch and the line of dragons held firm. The dragons shot jet after jet of fiery flame at the riders. 6 riders were killed in the volley. The last 4 tried to shoots arrows into the dragons but the dragons were protected by thick armor on all parts of their bodies. The dragons quickly slaughtered the last 4 riders without taking any losses. The dragons then went toward the city and dove toward the defenses.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Emperor Axtrik realized his fatal mistake, when he saw the brimstone eaters swarming out of the forest toward his position. He angrily cursed, realizing that he had forgotten about them. They were used by the Fire League to disable traps and thus they had allowed the Flying Armada and lava golems to advance on their position without being bothered. The brimstone eaters were repulsed back by the warriors and archers easily enough, but the lava golems would not be repulsed. They had grown so large and formidable that they were immune to the arrows and used trees for clubs and throwing weapons. Warriors were slaughtered ruthlessly when they attempted to charge the golems.   

The rout was completed when the Flying Armada rendezvoused with the golems to fully decimate the position with massive rains of flame. Emperor Axtrik's 4 sons were already dead by this stage and Axtrik was forced to make a last stand. He ordered all the archers to release hails of arrows, but it was futile as little if any damage was done. Emperor Axtrik was fatally wounded by a ruby dragon's talon. Before he succumbed to his wounds, he requested that Titanus himself replace him as leader and rebuild his empire into a strong nation that will expand far and wide further then anyone has ever dared before. Lastly, he uttered one sentence, "Titanius..run...flee while you still can....go north...tell King Sildras that...I sent you...he'll underst...and." Emperor Axtrik then silently died. Titanius left Utriuse by a northern passage before the city would be totally conquered by the Fire League. Louis and Eveliea were nowhere to be found. War had officially begun...

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 5
King Sildras and His Empire

After a walk of several days, Titanius finally made it to Sildran, the capital and home of King Sildras. King Sildras ruled a mercenary empire which supplied other nations with troops in exchange that during the training of these troops, they could be used in the Sildran Empire's army. The empire was of medium size and reasonably strong. It held one of the best military academies within 2000 miles and thus was greatly revered for its military training. The Sildran Empire also traded various rare metals and industrial items. King Sildras himself was of medium age in his 50's. He founded the Empire 27 years ago and has been fairly prosperous since. His army is fairly strong and is composed of a variety of units. That's the background of the Empire.

Titanius got an appointment with King Sildras, explaining how the treacherous Fire League had betrayed Emperor Axtrik by cruelly conquering Gridiusa. King Sildras pondered why the Fire League would take such treacherous action against its friendly and weaker neighbor. King Sildras then took Titanius that he was informed of the beginning of the attack but he was such a significant distance away that even if he had his troops leave immediately, he would have never made it in time to prevent capture of the city and the Fire League forces would have also made a significant defensive position by the time the army would have arrived. Thus, the armies would only suffer extreme casualties without much achievement.

King Sildras saw that Titanius was very skilled in archery from his days of hunting and thus promoted Titanius to Professor of Archery to honor him. Titanius honorably accepted the position and over the next three 3 weeks trained archers. Meanwhile on the front, the Illumination Coalition had gone to war with the Fire League. Multiple other wars had also sprung up along the wilderness between rival empires, groups, leagues, and nations. Titanius commonly heard reports from scouts about battles on the front. On one day, a panicked scout ran back reporting that the Pirsan Empire ruled by King Trisan intended to attack the Empire. An army was readied within days and the army was ready to march out. This would cause the entrance of the Sildran Empire into the war, making it soon a total world war. This would also be the most bloody battle in the first year of the war.
 

 

[Feisty]

Hey... this is actually quite nice.

[Fan of Rainbows]

Thanks!

FoR

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 6
The Brutal Fight

The ground forces were composed of King Sildras was composed of antlions, archers, horned frogs, crusaders, ghosts of the past, and vampires. Air forces were composed of colossal, black, and emerald dragons. King Trisan's Army was composed mostly of archers, crimson dragons, crusaders, and handful of phase spiders. King Sildras ordered his vampires to charge, but the Trisan's crusaders endowed titans and smashed the vampires' heads. Black dragons then drove the crusaders back before being shot full of arrows. The Sildran army then used their crusaders to endow Owl's eyes to rain hail after hail of arrows on Trisan's forces. The crimson dragons then volleyed flame at the Sildran air units. The Sildran air forces by engaging in talon combat. Both sides suffered devastating losses in the sky.

On the ground, the hail of arrows was soon broken by a charge of phase spiders and poison spear artillery.  A charge of horned frogs neutralized the charge and a bloody stalemate began.  Eventually, Sildran antlions drove the weakened Trisan's army off the field. Both sides suffered heavy losses, and it was a Pyrrhic victory but it proved that the Sildran Empire could more or less stand up to a threat from another nation in a major war. Titanius lead the archers to several successful volleys of arrows that devastated the lines of Trisan's army. King Trisan was killed when a colossal dragon fell on him because he shot it down above his head.

In the aftermath, Titanius was promoted to general and took up the title General Arizada. King Sildras had his army retreat back to Sildran due to the heavy losses sustained. The day after the battle, Louis and Eveliea arrived in Sildran. They had managed to secure a ride on pegasus which was abandoned on a battlefield far away. The Empire rejoiced as more possible soldiers had come. Meanwhile, the Fire League and Gravitational Force Imperialists had engaged in a devastating war with no victor. Utriuse was burnt to the ground by the Fire League to prevent capture. The first bloody battles had been settled...but it would so be evident...that this war would not end easily and the Sildran Empire was caught in a war it did not support or want...

[Fan of Rainbows]

Chapter 7
The Need and Want for Ships

After the victory over the Prisan Empire, King Sildras and his people celebrated in Sildran. However, King Sildras was nervous about the Prisan Empire, because if they dared to attack once, even if they were defeated, they could still come back. King Sildras also had no navy for he had no major bodies of water in his territories so King Trisan could always attempt to flank the city by sending troops in from multiple directions. It wasn't a mere idea either, King Trisan had put that plan to devastating effect in a capture of the city Sirns in the Entropy League territory. That was also the first loss of a city by the Entropy League in over 80 years. It was an embarrassing and humiliating defeat, thus King Sildras' concern was not baseless.

Many of King Sildras' generals who grew up next to the sea in other empires saw the importance of a navy and the devastating effect it could have on enemy forces. They urged that strong navy be built immediately to counter water assaults and for the convenience of laying siege to cities. Titanius himself who had heard stories in Utriuse about famous naval battles, eagerly backed up the decisions of the generals. King Sildras then ordered that 50 warships be built and prepared for battle in accordance with the generals' requests. However there was one problem... 

There were no shipbuilders in the entire empire.  As the empire was never known for any water trading or combat (actually they had never engaged in either), they found out rather hard to build a successful ship. The first ship sank once it was introduced to the water. The second ship floated for 10 mins. The third ship for 15 mins. There was progress...very slow progress. King Trisan's army also kept attempting to harass King Sildras' forces repeatedly to the point where King Sildras grew so impatient after 3 weeks that he ordered the 50 warships just to be stolen from the harbor at Trysn of the Water League, 300 miles south of Sildran as it was the closest and the Water League was well known for having one of the best warship designs known to the world. This would be considered an act of war but King Sildras thought it was worth it in order to gain the mighty ships. Titanius volunteered to lead the raid, and at dawn, 45,000 soldiers marched out of Sildran...