chapter 1:invasion from the mountains

In a lonely set of hills there lies a village in a region that holds no significance to the owners of these lands. A village whose inhabitants will never be inscribed anywhere in the history of the world. content to live their lives without regard to the channels of history, content to live their lives in simplicity.

In this village their lies a stream that runs on the side of their little town, where the children of this quaint village would be playing. parents would be subversively watching as they continued about their day as all was well in their little part of the world.

A new father and mother play with their first child on the outside of the river, residing themselves where the edge of the water pools into the bank. The fields have been dealt with and the crops are planted, right now life is slow in this little village and the villagers are enjoying it to utmost degree.

Though as the children play a shadow throws itself past them, then another until the whole village is patterned to these shadows.with those shadows signaled the end to this peaceful village's existence, within seconds men on winged beasts start diving towards the village.

Arrows start to fly in all directions as the village was sent into a panic, screams of terror and sorrow fill the air. the sound of their screams cut short haunts the air. To make any sense of this situation is impossible as some freeze in panic and others run aimlessly trying to find some type of shelter from the invaders. These raiders were impossibly ferocious for the villagers to deal with; no attempt at self defense was even made as men and women were captured and slaughtered.

The young father from before holds his wife's hand as they run they run through the village, the mother holding her child tightly to her person trying to soothe the terrfied child, but to no avail as it cries endlessly. They run through the village in effort to try and make their way to the forest on the outskirts of the village in hopes to escape this sudden peaceful dream turn nightmare.

Running past everyone they've ever known watching their bodies being filled with arrows or dismembered by disembarked raiders who are perusing the village in a distinctly violent way putting an end to any unlucky souls that they may find. The family clings from wall to wall making it to the outside of the village away from the main area of conflict.

The forest's edge is simply a four hundred meter dash away from them. as they push towards the forest they are spotted by one of these raiders.a man dressed in light leather armor in his hands a bow,his waist would hold a quiver and though as the other raiders would mostly all find themselves with pitch black hair this one could particularly find random patches of white hairs among his black ones. Though they were not white hairs in the sense of aging one good look at the man and you could tell he is in late 20s at best, no the hairs were an unnatural white that were white as snow. His eyes couldn't be seen as they were covered with goggles made from carved wood that have little slits to see through.

With a grin he takes off from the main group and starts pursuing the escaping family. The father glances back to see the mounted raider flying towards him at incredible speed. He calls out to his partner to pick up the pace but it's no use. as the man takes off one of his riding gloves and holds out an arm off the side of the beast as if he was trying to snatch her. As he gets closer the man quickly throws himself in front of his wife and child in an attempt to protect them.

watching as the raider gets closer and closer his arm still extended to the side of his beast he barely misses them flying only a foot above their heads. Before the man barely has a chance to process this event he is met with a wave of cold that quickly envelopes him and his wife. the cold in an instant seems to harden freezing everything over, encasing the poor escaping family in a wave of ice from which they will never see the outside world from again as they spend their last few minutes of conscious in dread.

The village lies in complete ruin; the raiders would be finishing off anyone they don't consider good enough to sell into slavery as others start to disembark and plunder what few valuables this village has. within the hour all remaining villagers are tied up to spare winged beasts to be sold off into slavery as any food or money they had is divided among the raiders; And as fast as they came they left ,though leaving the earth scared and bruised where once a little village stood now a random collection of grassland with pieces of ruble lie. no longer relevant to the minds of anyone.

A few days later a scout mounted on a large lizard surveyes the area. looking upon the ruble with discontent knowing what it signified. Hours later in some quickly assembled tent not too far off from the village a commander sits among his informants discussing this acquired information."this is clearly the works of the luutons my lord the way the area is riddled with arrows and ice is clear evidence of their disturbing presence"

the commander's gaze looks heavy as he peers at his advisors." but why would they be so far from their territories ? we've never seen them come this far before, usually they stay closer to their mountains than our afar plains"his voice sounds not disconcerting of the evidence but confused by its existence.

"They are a people of the highest mountains who used their beast to leach off of more civilized peoples. The lands of astra is many miles from their mountain ranges and not often victim to their raids"

the commander states out loud trying to reason why they might be here."regardless of why sir they still are here and we must take action of some kind before they are able to do further harm to our people!"

The other informants all seem to nod in agreement causing the general a bit of discontent. letting out a heavy sigh before speaking to the room" then first we must send a letter to the capital notifying the kings of astra of a potential conflict with the luutons. Then we must prepare to train our warriors in fighting an Ariel mounted combatant."

his voice rings with authority before he had even finished speaking, actions had already been put into motion to execute his command. The man who stands so proudly among everyone is a man from a great and ancient legacy, long patches of red hair cover his scalp to where only the middle of his hair is a dark brown. He stands taller than the other men at a staggering 6'9. bronze Armour ordains his body while underneath lie clothes that are dyed a deep red to signify his nobility and his stature.

his hand rests comfortably on the head of the hilt of a sword. His face is heavy with seriousness as his aging face shows great signs of wear . his left eye is blind as a slash goes from top to bottom of the eye. His name is Arden cofeneva astra, a name that carries much weight. He is a man whose name will not easily be forgotten to the erosion of time, as he exits the tent he heads toward his mount climbing onto his impressive beast, a giant lizard of some sort that rivals the beast of old. He positions himself onto his saddle and looks toward his little platoon" i know not why these raiders of the north have decided to plague our lands but it matters not as we soon we will drive them back to their freezing mountains and avenge our people whose lives were lost in these savage raids!"

the platoon of thirty men cheer their weapons held high they start patrolling the countryside the plains that follow along the river of the foremost northern provinces of the kingdom. twelve days later and three more destroyed villages they finally spot the airborne raiders; it seems they had just finished off another village . Arden and his men charge towards the raiders. The luutons quickly mount their and flock into the air increasing their distance from the ground bound astrans. Once they air are too high for the astrans arrows to hit, they swarm the astrans above head firing volleys of arrows at them picking the soldiers off without losing any of their own.

arden in hopes of stopping the volley raises his hands releasing forth a wave fire from his palms. burning the wooden body of the arrows but as the metat tips simply melt in his flames causing the molten metal to rain down upon them being striking his men down. quite a few of ardens man having already bit the dust, the luutons descend down towards they ground the raiders remove their gloves and seconds before crashing into the astran army they pull up releasing waves of ice upon them. Arden reacts quickly sumoning a wave of flames to keep his troops from freezing over.

Standing in the front of the platoon hes able to cancel out a great portion of the wave of ice. though he couldn't save the men on the farthest edges of the platoon he was able to save most of them.him and his surviving soldiers quickly turn to fire arrows back at the luutons sending a few to their graves though they get no chance to revel in taking a few soldiers down as another volley of arrows comes down on them. Arden is hit in shoulder before he can react his grip on his sword strengthens as he bears the pain he violently swing his sword in an upward strike releasing a thin wave of fire slicing through the raiders in his above him. A few other soldiers fire random blast into the overhead raiders fire meets ice, melted arrows fling around as both take heavy casualties. as the last of the luutons fly over head around 6 of the astrans remain to face down what looks like to be well over fifty luutons

suddenly among the flying hoard a winged behemoth descends from the flock on top of it is a man his presence chills the air causing Arden's hair to tense up . His hair was a brilliant white that blended in with the clouds of the sky. throwing off his goggles reveal his snow white eyes except for the black of his pupils . He looks at Arden with a gaze that sends chills down the experienced warriors spine.

As he slowly descends above the group his face never changes its just a wall of unrelenting self content. Arden has no idea what to do and falters he simply gazes at the descending raider. the luuton looks at Arden with little disregard and hovers his hand over him and without saying a word he releases a wave of cold upon him. Arden eyes goes wide he throws his sword to the ground to use both hands to release a wave of fire from his palms. the two opposing elements battle for superiority ice and fire clash pushing at each other. Arden pushes with all his might to try and subdue the unrelenting blizzard while the raider looks at him with almost a look of slight annoyance to the struggling astran.

the red leaves Arden's hair as he exhaust his power the raider simply looks at him in a voice that cuts into his soul. Arden is outmatched as wave of ice pushes onto him "die astrou"a single hair on the man turns black as he pushes more energy out of his extended palm. Arden is frozen solid in a case of ice

The mounted warrior lands on him shattering the frozen warrior he looks at the surviving members of the terrified platoon and grabs a random soldier"you will give message to astrou king, astrou or die"

his voice shakes the soldier. by native speakers standard the man spoke like a heathen his understanding of the astran language seems to be small but his voice seem to show no care for his possible blunders. The solder nods his head his full attention given to this heathen trying to remember ever single word the luuton says as the rest of his troupe is killed behind them. once he has said what he needs to he throws the soldier to the ground and flies off heading north.

weeks later the three kings of astra sit in their throne room as the soldier barges in looking feeble and rugged. he falls onto all fours as he approaches his kings"my kings i have a message for you from the luutons!"

the high king stands up getting off his throne approaching the soldier looking quite perplexed"from the luutons? where is Arden? i had just received his letter merely two days ago telling me the luutons have been raiding our towns along the potami river"

the soilder weeps not daring to raise his head"hes dead sire i am the only one who was sparred from their onslaught we were wiped out in mere moments"

the high king eyes widens. in his confusion he pulls the soldier to his feat and shakes the shaken soldier"get ahold of yourself what is the message from the luutons!"

the soldier whimpers closing his eyes as he repeats everthing the luuton to him word for word" behold the glory of Aklha Fon has arrived in the land beyond the mountains submit to him now and your toll will be light and your grief will be evaded" the high king of the astrans felt his blood boil upon hearing the message and throws the messagner to the ground. His hair was a deep shining red with maybe a few loose strands of black among them and his armour was a deep red made from organic looking material mixed with bits of gold.

pointit at the surviving informant with much fury in his eyes"you will report every single last bit of information you have to our scribes immediately and if i find out a single bit of information was left out i well burn you to ashes myself!"

the soldier quickly picks himself up and runs out of the room. The high king collects himself and goes back to sit on his throne between the other two kings. letting out a heavy sigh he looks over to one of his courtiers and speaks with a melancholic voice" report to the Cofeneva clan that Arden has been killed notify them of the changing of succession and offer my condolences."his courtier nods and goes to do his bidding.he picks up a small journal and sighs as he starts looking through it. After a few minutes his finger rest on what he was looking for.

He mumbles abit to himself and sighs as he stands back up."please get me sir rexan lacerana "

a few courtiers look nervous as the name is said aloud. one even steps up looking quite confused"the flaming beast of astra your sire? he hasnt seen combat in the last 10 years since the unification wars what use can he be in this conflict?"

the high king shakes his head"sir rexan is a brilliant swordsman and thats not entirely true hes been defending our northern borders. after Arden there are few among us who can rival his strength besides i have a mission that only he can do"

the courtiers sighs and nods head leaving to do his kings bidding. The word is put out and rexan is called for , within two days he has arrived at the capital and is bowing in front of the king"how good is to see you again uncle how may this lowly knight be of service to you?"

his voice sounds serious yet playful. It bears no hostility but much weight. His hair has a single row of red hair going down the center of his head. underneath his bronze armour lays a well built physique. the high king now joined by the two petty kings look down at the 30 year old knight.they nod and rexan raised his head' we have summoned you for a great task rexan it seems the luutons have a new chief named the Aklha Fon that wishes to see the lands of astra submit under his boot''

the high king speaks with a serious tone. Rexan nods his head letting the high king speak'' We need you to rally a force to launch a counter attack on their lands our armies are currently patroling for their hordes but the luutons with their winged beast continue to evade us and when we do come into contact with them we suffer heavy casualties. The truth is we astrans have never fought against such a foe. So with a heavy heart i need you to ask help from the sokarans.''

rex looks shocked to hear this. Ask help from the sokarans? Has the situation really gone that bad so fast that the high king would ask our neighbors for help?rexan looks toward his league with a certain look of dread as knowing the grandness of the favor but not sure if her could do it." i need you to ride to the grand chief of the sokarans and ask them for aid in our battle against the luutons"

the king's words seem to fall heavy onto the room. Rex looks shocked, his mouth gaped open at hearing the king's words. He stands up not sure how to feel about the kings request."sire you can't be serious think how this would make us look are the luutons really that great of a foe and why would you even expect the sokarans to help us?"

rexan proclaims with much endeavor. The high king looks at him with much vigor and proclaims"rex your county that you hold is the the border of our two civilizations and I've heard many times how you have stopped approaching war parties from the west from attacking sokaran cities. I think you are best to negotiate this request for aid. The sokarans have dealt with the luutons a fair amount as their lands lie underneath their mountains so they must have a method of fending off these flying raiders. Ask what you can of them on how to defeat them if the sokarans can fend off these hordes how could the mighty astran people not?"

Rex is taken aback by his kings words. He must truly believe these luutons to be a threat, he thought."Sure they overpowered the aging hero Arden and his handful of men but surely our full forces will wipe out these invaders!"

the high king shakes his head"we do not know the full strength of their horde if Arden was defeated so quickly i fear the strength of this Aklha Fon. now enough rex i have made my attentions clear."

rex stands silent in front of his kings silent without further delay he turns to start preparing to make the journey north west to the land of Sokara.

As rexan prepares to head off as one of the kings couriers shouts for him. as rexan would look at the man hed be holding a long and cylindrical wrapped object as he ran towards rex. As he gets to him he bends over presenting the wrapped item'' this is to be a present for the grand chief of the sokarans by order of the high duke of the Cofeneva clan regardless of how the proceeding negotiations turn out"the courtier proclaims with a weary voice from having to run.

Rex looks at the item wrapped in fine deer hides curiously and goes to pick it up. upon grabbing the item he fills off about its weight its not by any means a large object but it had a decent amount of weight to it only furthering his curiosity; a fine staff, an an exotic wood, a well crafted weapon?

He chuckled abit at the last thought. The grand chief was a known softy, its well known that he refuses to touch anything with an edge and as a warrior would only use hammers and clubs or on the rare occasion his fist. So the thought of giving him a weapon would be quite insulting.

A young man from behind rex looks at the wrapped item with much content''oh so my father is finally getting rid of it huh?"

rex looks backwards, startled by the sudden voice from behind him though a bright smile pushes onto his face as he sees who it is"cofus my boy dont sneak up on me like that!"

the young man before rex couldn't be any older than 20 his hair brilliantly shined red with only a few patches of black stylishly scatterd into a visually pleasant pattern. bronze Armour adorned his lithe but sturdy looking body. Smiling at his superior"sorry captain i didn't mean to startle you"

Rex sighs patting cofus on the back looking happy to see the young"no its fine you just startled me, but what are you doing here? I told you and the others to stay here and train with codia."

A shiver goes down cofus spine at the mention of the name"my father believes that this would be good opportunity to get some diplomatic experience under my belt."

rex nods approvingly as he got on his mount;a large red lizard that looks like it could swallow a horse whole,as he gets ready to head off."alright cofus but let me do all the talking the sokarans are a very self righteous people and wont take lightly to any offenses"

Cofus hops onto his lizard mount excitedly with a bright smile on his face"of course captain my lips shall be sealed once we get into daonertofiaa "

Rex nods now just waiting for the couturier with the grand chiefs gift to finish strapping it onto his mount so they can head out. Once they're ready the three of them leave the city heading north west.

For three days they travel through the kingdom of astran riding through the duchy of rex's clan the lacerana until they reach Rex's county by the most north western border. just on the other sides lie the lands of Sokara, a duchy that stops at the higher points of the potami river.

where dense forest turns into a temperate marsh to the west and grasslands to the north. the party crosses a bridge made by an unknown carpenter whose name will never be uncovered. As they entered these wild grasslands the air feels ripe with static with the sound of static periodically buzzing into existence only to fade the moment arrives. they make their way to daonertofiaa the home of this grand chief they are hoping to form an alliance with the powerful warriors of the plains to help defend against the oncoming hoards of the luutons .

The whole trip takes around three weeks days; one week to reach the sokarans-astra border from the astran capital and two more from the border to the city in which the chief calls home in the center of the sokaran plains. They spent the night in easily assembled tents. A fire was not necessary as autumn was still only around the corner and summer nights provided sufficient warmth. Only using a fire when to heat their food as they travel. The grasslands on the other side of the border are a nice contrast to the more forested areas the astrans resided in.

Their arrival was met with much attention in the city of daonertofiaa. The sokarans had no such lizard like mounts the bright red clothes and hair stuck out like a sore thumb among the sokarans with their blues and yellows. While the astrans themselves looked upon the sokarans curiously. the random bolts of long blond waves in their hair and their weirdly blue and yellow eyes that seemed to pierce through them sent chills down cofus spine. Not knowing where to go they head to the largest building in the city a tower that was made from some weird blue material that looked rough like stone but clean as marble.

As they try to approach it they find themselves stopped by two men suitied with light armor made from animal hides and leathers. Their hair looked shockingly ecstatic as it bolted out in an electrifying way. Rex hops off his mount urging to cofus to do the same"good evening we wish to seek an audience with lord dyues. I have been sent by the high king of astra himself"

Though the gaurds look at him with a gaze of confusion before looking back to eachother speaking in the sokarans language. Cofus sighs lowering his head looking defeated" great they dont speak astran"

As the two parties attempt to speak to each other a young woman fashioned in wraps of leather and fur of beautiful yellows and blues. her hair was purely blond with parts of it sticking out like beautiful feathers. She stood at the same height as cofus with a stature that is broad and full of confidence, as she approached these strangers in her land. She stands in front of them with her arms crossed. her gaze giving much hostility "what are you astrou doing in my village? Come to try and spread your shitty influence here too?"

a harsh voice which had very little femininity to it.the two astans stand there looking shocked at hearing this cofus slowly approaches the young woman"and who might you be young lady"

her eyes dart at him like daggers as she gets right in his face almost pressing her eye against his" listen here you red hair brat i dont know who you are calling young lady i'm probably the same age as you and this here is the land of Sokara my grandfather is the grand chief of these lands i dont care what stupid place your line is to be the dumb king on your little council my family has ruled these lands for ages and you wil–!"

her rant is cut short by a massive man standing at well over 8 feet tall; his face was cut out by shadows as he stares down at the young woman with much menace, his eyes shine through like wicked candles looking to burn her soul. The man looked ancient but still moved with grace as he picked the her up"GORA you little brat what have i told you about talking to our visitors like that!"

Suddenly all of bravado she had shown fades away as the giant elderly man holds her up. looking away from his eyes as she tries to hide her guilt"what are you talking about Grandfather i was being perfectly friendly isn't that right kind sirs?"

her voice trembles as she still refuses to look him in the eye as she speaks she sounds desperate. as she looks at the two foreign noble men cofus looks confused and a little scared of the behemoth himself and just goes along with her; scared to see what she might endure from his wrath if he says otherwise "um yes i'm sorry sir there must be some kind of confusion miss um gora i think you said it was was being an excellent greeter"

rex looks at cofus with a little grin finding himself amused with cofus inexperience. The large man puts her down and nods then boldly stand in front of both of them bending over so that he may look them in the eyes. "welcome to the land of Sokara astrans i am the grand chief of the sokarans people Dyues kola what brings you to my lands?"

the man's body showed no signs of aging his entire body seemed to be in peak shape this was no doubt the legendary dyues a mighty warrior who fended off one thousand raiders by himself a man who has roamed the lands of iskra for over 120 years the head of the kolas clan a clan that has ruled this region for centuries. One wrong step and his help is all but lost and potentially the fate of the astran kingdom