THE WAR BEGINS
The king of Elves looked around, and said "I do not doubt your eagerness, to win today's war. I know, my people are not afraid of death, but still I want to ask you all again, ARE YOU PREPARED TO WIN TODAY'S WAR ?"
"YES", replied the Army with all their strength.
"ARE YOU ALL, PREPARED TO KILL OUR ENEMIES FOR OUR KINGDOM ?" Asked Markus.
"YES", replied the Army with all their strength.
"ARE YOU ALL, PREPARED TO SACRIFICE YOUR LIVES FOR OUR KINGDOM ?"
"YES", replied the Army with all their strength.
The Morale of the Army was at its peak, the Elves were eager to march to the battlefield. Markus had a smile on his face, 'today is the day which shall be written in the history of this world. Today, we might become Heroes who saved their home with their lives on the line, or we might become villains who were standing in the path of the Empire's unification.'
"My Generals I leave it to you, to lead this Army, to do what is needed to be done, believe in yourself and the Elves who follow you, pray to the Goddess that she leads us to victory."
The four Generals, Eastern, western, Northern and southern, came in front of Markus, they kneeled and laid their weapons on the ground, with their heads bowed they said "we shall not dissapoint you, My king."
A white horse, with long hairs and loaded with all kind of weapons on his sides was brought in front of Markus.
"BULLAT, today let's show your speed to the enemies" Markus said, while kissing the forehead of the horse. The horse name was Bullat, the fastest horse in the Elfen Kingdom.
Bullat kneeled on his fore knees, Markus mounted on him, Markus looked towards his Army, A path was opened for him in the center to come to the front, Markus said "March, to the battlefield, towards victory."
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"My lord, could it be that the Elves have sensed danger and they have changed the plans", said Luther, Mounted on his horse, to John. They were already at the battlefield, waiting for the Elves to arrive and join them.
John looked frustrated, "tell me, what the fuck our scouts are doing ?" He said.
"My lord, you know very well about Einar Elva, The Northern General of the Elves. He has sense abilities that allow him to know the exact location of target even from kilometers away, sending a scout in such a condition where the scout getting caught is inevitable, will only raise further suspicions, so, I decided it would be best to not deploy a scout." Said Luther.
The battlefield was a barren dusty land, far away the huge walls of Empire was vividly visible, as the dust settled, the army of Empire with more than Hundred thousand soldiers started to become visible.
On the other side, near the Entrance to the forest, John with his Liberation Army of Forty Thousand soldiers, was still waiting for the Elves to arrive.
As the sun was rising towards the head, soon Markus walked out from the Huge trees of the Devan Forest. John turned, slowly the Elven army walked out following their King. The Elven Army was much more well organized than the Liberation Army.
'As planned earlier, we both have equal number of soldiers, still I feel inferior, Such variety of soldiers with ten thousand archers, ten thousand magician, if I were to go against them with this army of mine, there is no chance that I would win.....Thankfully I have my Aces hidden.' John thought.
He then looked around as if he was searching for someone amongst the Elven army, he became anxious. He was Mounted on his black horse, he goes to Markus, but even before he could reach Markus he was stopped by someone.
Einar was standing between Markus and John, Markus said "Northern General, It's fine, Lord John is our ally."
It wasn't that Einar didn't knew that the Elves and the Liberation Army of the Humans have formed an Alliance, but he still stopped John from approaching his King, just as a precaution. John requests a handshake with Markus, to which Markus replied positively, Markus, while holding John's hand said "Lord John, I appologize for being late."
"Lord Markus, I understand. It's fine but more importantly The Queen of Elves is nowhere to be seen. Could it be, that The Queen of Elves will not be Joining us in today's war ?" Asked John.
Markus said, "Lord John, I understand your concern, but please be rest assured, The Queen of Elves has decided to stay back and protect the normal civilians of Kingdom. But just in case we need her, she can come here with in moments as a reinforcement, after all, I guess you know she can also ride on wind."
John smiled, "haha, of course I know it well, the miracles of blessings from the Goddess of Devan."
John and Markus turned towards the Alliance of Army, Markus raised his right hand and casted a huge spell, the spell, enlarged as a circle and covered every single soldier of the Alliance Army, it was a spell that would transmit his voice to everyone within that circle, Markus said, "soldiers of my Elfen Kingdom who follow me, and Soldiers of The Liberation Army who follow Lord John, today we all have a common Enemy, The soldiers of Empire who have come to take away our happiness and peace, remember the faces of your allies, together we shall win this war."
Markus lifted his spell, John and Markus turned towards the Army of Enemies, they began their March towards the Empire, on the other side the Army of Empire was also continuously moving forward.
After some time, both the Armies came in front of each other and stopped at a distance of meters apart.
The Army of Empire also had two leading figures, An old man in his 60's with long white hair and long beard with a fair skin. He was equipped with 'Ultimate grade' Armor and he was an expert of 'Grand master rank'. He is known as the "SHINING SWORD OF EMPIRE". An Ex-Duke of the Empire, 'Roland Martyr', he retired years ago, but is back on the battlefield to take revenge for one of his dead son, who was killed by the Elves five years ago when he trespassed into the Forest of Devan with his troops to prove his bravery.
The another leading figure of the Empire's Army was, A man in his 50's whose beards and hairs are not white yet. He was riding a black horse with a black sword of 'unique grade', and even his armors were black, he was a huge man, with a height of around 7 feet, he was an expert of 'ultimate rank', the rank which is almost impossible for a human to reach with his short life span. He is one of the Duke of the Empire, the Patriarch of the 'Willkins Family', a family with a history of over three hundred years, they have remained loyal to the Empire from the beginning, his name is 'Horatius willkins'. He is known as 'THE HUNTING WOLF OF EMPIRE'.
Markus and John came forward towards the center of both armies, and from the other side Roland and Horatius also came forward. It was complete silent, with only sounds of winds blowing dust with it. Both the parties kept staring at each other. The silent was broken by John, he said, "we wish for peace for all, and not bloodshed, so, I challenge for a duel of best of three, and I believe that both of you will adhere to the result of that duels."
Horatius said "the Empire also wishes the same for itself, we accept your challenge and promise to adhere to the results.
since, you have challenged us to the duel, we will be the one decide the Rules."
"Go ahead, I am well aware of the rules." Said John.
Horatius continued "the three duels will be conducted 1 vs 1 at a time, with only the General or above rank participating from both the sides.
The duel will not stopped until one of the two participants accepts that they lost, or one of the two dies. Then the remaining one shall be declared victorious and acknowledged by both the parties.
If anyone from any side intervenes the duel, then the intervening side will be the one to loose. DO YOU ACCEPT THESE CONDITIONS ?".
John replied "Yes, we accept all the conditions."
Horatius looked towards Markus who was only listening to all these with no reactions, Horatius was expecting from Markus to also reply, but instead of replying to Horatius, he turned his horse towards his army and left, after reaching some distance away, he said in a cold voice "Don't worry, we Elves know how to respect our promises, but Remember Don't take us for fools."
Even though they were far way from their armies, and what they discussed was not audible to others but they were clearly visible to the Armies. One of the soldiers from the Empire who was standing in the third row of army was able to witness how Markus looked.
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22 years later...
In the Forest of Devan, The Captain whose hand was cut by the Young Elf man, continuously bleeding and in extreme pain, on his knees at the foot of young Elf man, he was the same soldier who had witnessed How Markus looked years ago....
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