Chapter 1:Planting the Saplings (Prologue 1)

Arius Lionheart pov:

Heavy shallow breaths escaped my lungs as I tried my best to breathe, my throat and lungs ached as what measly air I inhaled felt like tiny shards of glass cutting me apart from the inside as it entered and escaped my body.

As I started to come to and observe the situation around me, I realized that I was laying on the ground on my back while facing the sky. I was currently in a large-scale battle taking place right outside the capital city of the Draconium empire.

I needed to grasp the situation and state of the battlefield as fast as I could. The rebel army was outnumbered 2 to 1, and they would surely falter if I wasn't at the helm of their charge leading them by example and to victory, for that is my role as the figurehead of the revolution.

I don't know how long I had been out for, but its couldn't have been long, I could still feel the heat from the explosion that hit me square on knocking me away and putting me in this precarious situation.

I pushed my broken and battered body off the floor, my joints creaked as I pushed myself to my legs. I probably had a few broken ribs, thankfully they hadn't pierced any of my vital organs.

I felt a sharp pain in my hands and legs when I pushed myself off the floor, I most likely had a few minor fractures in them. Thankfully they didn't seem like they would hinder my movements. The broken ribs on the other hand would cause a problem if i don't take care of them right now and move recklessly later on.

Having stood up I brushed off my armour observing its state. The former pristine and pearly white armour decorated with golden accents was nowhere to be found. There were dents, gashes and missing chunks all around it, and even my left shoulder plate was completely missing.

I took off my helmet, dropping it onto the ground. Its eye slits had been damaged by the explosion that knocked me off my feet and I could no longer see out of them properly.

But small wisps of golden flames were leaking out the holes in the armour as if patching up the missing areas of the armour, the flames converged together near my neck and shoulders covering them with mane of golden flames.

The white surface of the armour was now caked with dried blood, soot and dirt. It was an unsightly sight there was no way I would be able to inspire confidence in my men looking like this

I closed my eyes and flared up my aura, the wisps of golden flames grew and consumed my whole body, the flames consumed all the dirt and impurities covering me giving me a pristine and clean look.

I then concentrated all the aura onto my upper body, the missing pieces of my armour were once again patched up by the flames.

Now i had to make sure my body could move, I controlled the flames and sent some inside my body. First I manipulated the flames to reach my ribs feeling each one, I had three broken ribs that were in precarious situations. I wrapped the flames around them and pulled them back into place. The flames wrapped around the ribs like bandages keeping them in place. I gave the same treatment to the fractured bones in my hands and legs in order to stop the bones from suffering more damage. Not that it would help if I were to get hit hard enough to crack my bones, But, at least the current damages would not get worse by me moving around.

Now I didn't need to worry or limit my movements in order to not cause myself internal damage, unfortunately this wouldn't do me any favours in the pain department. My bones were still broken and muscles were still torn to shreds.

While I could heal my body with my aura, that would use up too much of my reserves and I didn't have the luxury of emptying my reserves for anything other than destructive power. I still had to cut down the emperor.

I had no idea when reinforcements would arrive, so I needed to hold out as long as I could until help arrived and so that I could take a brief rest.

My mana reserves were practically empty and my aura reserves were running low as well. While I could ignore my empty mana reserves for now, should I use up all my aura I would no longer be able to keep my wounds in check and die from the damage I have accumulated over this long battle.

Falling back was not an option, right now we had to push harder than ever and bring an end to this battle. In order to top up my aura reserves I had to take a gamble, where not only was my life at stake but so were the lives of my soldiers.

I finally opened my eyes and took in the sight of the battlefield. As I focused all my senses were bombarded with stimuli from the battlefield. First thing I noticed was the rancid smell of burning bodies and corpses. Over time I had gotten used to the smell, had it been me from 9 years ago, before the revolution began, I would have already vomited from just how rancid the air was.

Next I heard the shouting of soldiers in the distance, the cacophony of shouting was habitually interrupted by guttural screams and death rattles from enemy and allied soldiers alike. Next to me I heard the muttering of my soldiers who had stood by my unconscious body protecting me to the best of their abilities. I couldn't make out what they were saying over the sound of a giant explosion that occurred no less than 10 meters away from me and the group of soldiers.

The sky was covered in dark clouds, most probably due to the smoke billowing from this battle that has raged on for days at this point. The dark sky almost seemed to have a reddish tint to it due to the fires that consumed the sky and the land. This scarlet sky always accompanied the royal army of the Draconium Empire, it wasn't some overwhelming magical spell or an omen of warning. It was simply nature's response to the ultimate weapons of the Draconium Empire.

I could see the silhouette of a giant creature flying underneath the dark scarlet clouds. The creature was practically camouflaged and blended into the scenery of dark skies thanks to its deep scarlet scales.

Despite that, the deep red flames it spewed as it flew above the battlefield made it stick out like a sore thumb. Surrounding the creature there was a squad of approximately 20 bluish white Wyvern surrounding the beast.

The explosion that sent me flying and the one that landed close to me were just a byproduct of the aerial dog fight between the platoon of originally 60 wyverns as well as their riders, and a single dragon along with its dragon knight.

The platoon of wyvern riders was reduced to a third of its original force, while the dragon had suffered some cuts it was still in fighting shape and would eventually kill the entire platoon. After doing so it would set its sights on the battlefield and bring utter destruction to the revolutionary army.

It was clear I had to intervene and give the riders an opening to attack. As long as we deal enough damage for it to withdraw from the battle today we can still win today's skirmish and make huge progress in taking over city walls and eventually the city.

Having made up my mind I stuck my hand out towards one of the soldiers, opening my palm in order to receive something from him.

"My lord what do you need?" he asked

"Would you mind lending me your spear?" I replied

He obliged and handed over his spear to me with a look of bewilderment. It had a brown wooden handle that ended with an iron spear tip at the end. It was by all means an average spear

Judging by the blood covering the blade this spear had been used to take 1 or 2 lives at least.Taking the spear from him I started to walk away from their group until there was a fair amount of distance between me and their squad.

The feeling of walking with a fractured leg was unpleasant to say the least. Sadly I am unable to dampen the pain with my aura as my aura is specialised towards pure destructive power, making it hard for me to use it for anything other than that.

Without my helmet I was able to feel the wind on my skin, my dishevelled golden coloured hair blew in the wind and flowed wildly. Then I began to push my aura to its limit.

My hair seemed to have caught on fire, its lock flowed back and transformed into flames at its ends, my eyes seemed to have transformed into pure golden flames leaving no remnants of my once blue eyes.

The flame-like hair expanded and started to transform into a golden mane of flames. The hand that was also holding the spear also got fully engulfed by flames, which crept on and eventually engulfed the spear as well. The spear transformed and seemed to crystallise.

Having begun to use my aura seriously I began to emit a considerable amount of light, shining like a lighthouse in the dark ocean that was the battlefield.

Even the dragon was drawn to the sudden appearance of a light source, once it turned its head to look in my direction we made eye contact. Despite the hundreds of meters of distance between us, I managed to look into its yellow slitted eyes.

"Thanks for looking my way you overgrown lizard"

Having taken a stance suitable for throwing I launched the crystal spear with all the might I could muster. The spear traveled through the air faster than the dragon could perceive it. The spear practically teleported in front of it, though it was too late by then.

Before it even realised what happened it began to scream in pain as the spear was lodged cleanly into its right eye.

The wyvern riders didn't let this opportunity pass by and cut gashes all over the dragon's body while it was stunned.

Not that the dragon cared for such paltry wounds, it now had a target and someone it had to kill.

Once again I made eye contact with it, this time the singular yellow eye was bloodshot and filled with nothing but hate. Then it ignored the platoon of wyvern riders and single mindedly charged at me.

I needed to do something, and I needed to come up with something fast.