The sun was rising in grassland of Hopeldof. The warrior looked at the never ending sea of grass with his tired eyes.
“It shall begin soon, we better get ready.â€-He was talking to a group of men who were standing behind him.-“Kolvo I want your flank to be set and ready, Burga make sure your mages are ready and are behind the main lines, Erval I want you to lead your horse men on a left flank, you know my plan so go get ready. All the rest of you, go to your warriors, remember I want the center of the army to be weak and the flanks to be strong. We will make them go into our trap, and then they think that we are about to fall our flunks will hit them from the sides and behind and destroy them. I want a lot of archers to be in the center, and only two lines of foot soldiers, arrows will make it so they wouldn’t dare to turn their backs and run away. Mages will attack the reserves and cut the main enemy forces from being able to get help. Alright carry on, may the will of the Gods be with you.â€
The warrior was old, his face had many scars, his eyes were filled with experience. The great Empire has gone to war once more, this time with the kingdom of the elves. The elves themselves were hated by humans for ages. Ever seens the blood wars there elve and human were killing each other with anger that seen no match. Then human race has come from another from another continent for it was destroyed by the anger of the Gods, and elvish armies were trying to stop them. Thousands of men, women and children died under elvish arrows, but human will to survive had lead them through. And so the human kingdom was born, the blessing for one the curse for another. Two hundred years have past humans have been taking revenge on those who almost destroyed their race, and the hate ran deeper. Now the elves stand as almost a crushed nation. Their forces have crumbled under the might of humans.
The name of a warrior was Tolkish; he commanded a Silver legion of the imperial army. He had a bad feeling about the up coming battle; he learned to never underestimate his enemy. The elves will strike hard; cause they have nowhere to retreat any longer, their time has run out. Either they prove their right to exist or go into the darkness of history.
The sun was almost in the middle of the sky then Tolkish heard the first horns. The elves were approaching. They were as beautiful as young trees that just had their first flowers. Their armors were shining as the light was reflecting on them. Tolkish turned his horse and assumed his position in the center of the human army, surrounded by his guards. All he had to do now was watch.
“Prepare the arrowsâ€- some commander yelled at his soldiers. –“Ready! Fire!â€
The first clouds of arrows fell on the elves, the first blood has been spilled upon the grassland. The elves were quick to respond, their archers shot, and hundreds of men made their last cry. Elves reloaded again, but this time it wasn’t gonna work
“Shields up! Spears out! Line formation! Front row shields down!â€- another orders came from the commanders.
This time all the elvish arrows could do was pierce the shields.
“Alright it is going fine, they are gonna go into hand to hand. Our front ranks will retreat and then they came in deep enough, the horsemen and the reserves that are hiding behind the hills to the east and west, will come out and destroy the remains of the enemy. There will be no escape, no mercy.â€-Tolkish was thinking in his head.
All was going fine. Elvish army was slashed with imperials. Tolkish was surprised; elvish army had children and women with them.
“So it has come to this. Fate is not without the sense of irony. The butchers became the cattle.â€- said Tolkish quietly.
Elves broke through human lines, and started advancing. Then the sound of the horn ordered imperials to retreat. Elves thought that they won the battle, and advanced at the retreating imperial ranks. Imperials were still sending arrows so the cries of death were still heard in the shining army. And then the trap was closed. The horsemen and the rest of the foot soldiers have advanced from behind the hills to the left and right. They took elves by surprise. But elvish commanders were not foolish, they ordered retreat in an instant. Now elves were running away and humans were hunting them. Elves almost broke away from the human armies. They almost reached the forest, but it was too late. Mages have attacked, the white fire has spread quickly, cutting the horrified elves from their escape in the trees. Human army has stopped in front of the crowd of horrified elves.
“Bows out! Aim! Shoot!â€- and the sound of human arrows has filled the sky, and then they fell. The cries of the dying elves seemed to have lasted for hours. The children, the old, the women, all lay dead on the battlefield.
Tolkish has looked upon the field and saw a young elf, rise up from the pile of the dead. He had something in his hand. Last thing Tolkish felt was a wave of heat hitting him. All of his army was dead.
The news reached the capitol in 8 days. The elvish wizard was destroying the cities one by one, supported only by a small army of elves, just barely 300 warriors.
â€My Emperor, we must act quick. Silver, Bronze and Gold legions were already destroyed. Elves will reach the capitol in 2 days. You must sent your Imperial army, Metal and Rock legions. Move the dark arrow legion into position, we must use all our forces!â€
“You have been a good advisor to me, Plekurus. But I can sense that no human army can defeat the elves now. Our only hope remains if I face their leader. By the ancient tradition I shall duel the wizard who has destroyed my armies and cities.â€
“But sir, if you fail..â€
“I if I fail then we are doomed, but if I never face him then we are doomed any way. My decision is made. I want my sword, and other gear to be enchanted by best mages you can find. Two days, it will have to be enough, we shall not go into darkness of history, we shall stand strong. Prepare the troops outside the city, I want every legion to be near the city walls by tomorrow morning. You have your orders, you can go.â€
Plekurus leaves the room. Next morning, emperor in his enchanted mythril gear, with a 3-foot long one-handed sword and a small shield rides out on his horse in front of his army.
“We make our last stand here. We are human kind, we are last hope. We shall die, everyone of us shall die, if that is what fate requires of us. But we shall show all the world, we shall show our enemies, those monsters who killed our men, women and children then we were trying to survive he wrath of the Gods, we shall show them that we are strong, that we will not go quietly into the night. That we are humans, that we are the lords of the earth. All who die here will die well, for you will be remembered in history as heroes who saved man kind and banished its enemies forever.â€
“For the Emperor!!â€- Someone yelled in the crowd-“For death and glory!!â€
“URA!!!!!!!â€- The whole army
Emperor smiled and spoke again-“They will be here soon, tomorrow by midday. Go report to your commanders. Form up and we shall crush them quicklyâ€
“What is the reason for all of this my lord, you were saying you were gonna duel the leader of the elves one on oneâ€- Plekurus was confused.
“So they won’t loose hope. Besides after I kill the leader we still gonna have to take care of his army.â€
Next day at midday the elves have reached the walls of the capitol. Two armies were standing on opposite sides of the field, 100 thousand humans, and 300 elves.
The horns have sounded meaning that humans want to negotiate. A small group of warriors have separated from both armies and met in the center.
“His highness demands your leader to take his sword and fight his highness to the death, according to the ancient rule of battle honored by both racesâ€- Plekurus was the messenger
“What do you humans know about honor?â€- the young elf spoke with hate-“ I accept your emperor’s call for battle. There is that coward?â€
“I am hereâ€- one of the people standing near Plekurus took off his shroud and the sun light reflected of off his armor.
“Alrightâ€- elf turns to his companions, leave, but be prepared to attack, humans can’t be trusted. Although this battle will be short, and I will be victoriousâ€
Everyone left, two warriors were left alone in the middle of the field, their swords pointing at each other. Elf attacked first, his sword was quick as lightning but Emperor was quicker. He dodged the hit and attacked himself but only to have his sword hit the blade of the elf. Elf attacked again, this time he tried to hit the neck and kill his opponent with one thrust. Emperor dodged at the last moment, and his blade hit the elf in the stomach. Elf fell Emperor started laughing.
“And this is all you can do? By what mistake of my generals did you take my cities?â€
â€Your generals made no mistakes.â€- he started slowly getting up, he reached down his pocket and pulled out a shining object.-“This here is a greatest instrument of my people, it shall reed the earth of the plague which is human kind.â€
He pointed the ball at the Emperor and the bright lightning came off of it. Emperor was dead but, he took his last strength and hit the orb that killed him. Elf screamed, orb broke and a terrible explosion destroyed all the lands that were inhabited by both human and elf.
