For in darkness I was walking,
And destruction lay around me, from a fight I could not win..
-Ensiferum
The lines from ensiferum played in my head, over and over, as I walked the ruins of Khymeria, the life splinter. Distraught, exhausted. This was no ordinary battle, this was war. We were ambushed by a rogue untamed summoner from the far distant lands of Darykh-Nahka, Drake of Arnak. While we believe the Gloridax did not command this attack on the lands of Khymeria, neither did they step in to chain one of their own, as the Drake ravaged through our lands, sometimes with armies from the burning lands, sometimes from the land of the dead, mortis.
The forest, which once used to wear the shade of lilac twilight with unmatched elegance, looked so grey today under the setting sun. The trees had fallen, like our kingdom and the once beautiful green leaves were turned to mere ashes from the blazing fire. The fire had stopped as the army from the burning lands returned home, but glowing flickers of ember were all over, through the cracks of the thick tree barks, through the cracks of destroyed landscapes, and through the flesh of our fallen warriors.
I could barely muster enough strength to walk. I picked up a cowboy hat from the ground, dusted the dust off it. This belonged to one of our newest recruits, the Silvershield Sheriff, who fell fighting valiantly to protect the innocent lives. Our home as we knew it, is now barren wasteland.
A roar of dragon interrupted my thoughts as I got alarmed, expecting another attack. I looked up and saw a Manticore descend from the skies. On it was riding a Lady, Daria Dragonscale. As the Manticore landed, Daria stepped off of it, she looked around with horrified eyes. Daria is known as a true warrior across all splinters. War and battles are not something foreign to her, but this. This was beyond all imaginations, the cruelty, the rage that must have been unleashed to bring about such bloodshed, such destruction.
With sorrow in her eyes, she asked what do I plan to do next. "There's no plan, we barely have warriors left standing to put together a response team. And I don't think that's necessary anyway, the khymerian land have been devastated. The Drake of Arnak will probably have already left." I paused for a moment, and whispered, "I just don't understand why. Why would he attack khymeria?"
"Drake is here for the light. The light of Khymeria. He won't leave without it. You may know her as the Angel of Light."
"But...but why wou...."
"We don't know." Daria interrupted me. "We don't know what he intends to do with the Angel of Light. The gloridax has sent me to find out and bring Drake back for questioning."
She added, "We have got to work with what we have. Surely there must be some monsters still out there in the khymerian forests who I will be able to lead into a fight. Even a few low mana ones will do. Drake usually goes after the bigger fishes. He puts up a strong defense. I can increase the meele attacks, so we should preferably look for such."
I thought for a while and added, "All of the larger, high mana monsters broke the summoners' binding spell and have left drake's side when they realized the evil that Drake was unleashing. By then, most of the damage was already done. But the little ones, they're too weak. Their mana isn't strong enough to break the summoners' binding spell. We may find some of the khymerian low mana monsters, hiding, that might have escaped the full wrath of the Drake of Arnak."
"Brilliant! Let's not waste any time."
We set off into the evening searching for any who we could gather for a fight. As we watched our steps and walked past a cave, we saw a glimmer of shiny crystal by the river! It was a Crystal Jaguar. He was injured, but he was raging with anger, maybe from the loss of a loved one, like everyone else. I told Daria, "Crystal Jaguar's thorns will come in handy against armors. With your Manticore, we now have two thorns and any one who comes close enough will pay the price."
"I really like this idea, might just be what we need. Remember, low mana monsters usually have pretty low health too."
After hours of searching, as we were almost about to give up, we heard something swish past us, wickedly fast. This could only be a Feral Spirit. Tiny, but super sneaky creatures. We could really use some speed and sneaks to catch Drake off guard! Daria and I both knew there's nothing more to search in the forests. Whatever we met so far were either extremely wounded for a battle, or dead.
Daria decided she'll fly up to the mountains with Manticore in the hopes of persuading a Fire Spitter she saw earlier on her way to khymeria. These are fast flyers, with a strong range attack from a distance. Its speed and fly also allows it to evade some sneak attacks, pretty handy little beast! I will head into the city to see if we have anyone remaining from the Order of the Silvershield. And then we meet at the edge of the forest.
After an hour long search I only had the Defender of Truth and the Peacebringer who were in any condition to walk into a battle. The magic from defender of truth and an extra bit of added armor could be extremely useful, especially when we're going head on with only low mana, low health monsters. Peacebringers are fast enough, with the accuracy of hawk-eye with their arrows!
As we approached the edge of the forest, Daria was just getting off of Manticore, a Fire Spitter by her side. We headed straight to Drake's bunker by the lake.
The noise of our approach drew Drake out and he immediately realized we intend to attack. He quickly assembled whatever of his army remained. So did we!
As I rode the Crystal Jaguar to clash head on with Drake's Spineback Turtle, Feral Spirit was super fast and sneaked up on his heavily armored Crustacean King. Our Defender of Truth slid an attack past the Spineback Turtle's armor before Peacebringer, flying on the Fire Spitter's back combined to entirely shatter its armor! In between, Drake's Naga Windmaster broke through Crystal Jaguar's armor and almost knocked me off of it, we were lucky to avoid it's poisonous venom. Drake's Manticore came in for an attack and hit right on target, but Crystal Jaguar gave him a taste of his thorn! Me and crystal Jaguar ran straight at the turtle and while inflicting significant damage, were thorned ourselves now. Soon after, Medussa hit the knockout blow.
I hit the ground hard, and as I tried to get back on feet Daria Shouted, "I need you to command the fleet from the ground. Let me take it from here!" Manticore evaded a couple of range attacks as Daria charged fiercely at Drake's Spineback Turtle. It was weakened and I commanded Fire Spitter and Peacebringer to deal the final blows at it. While the turtle fell, Drake jumped up and was swooped out of the air by his own manticore. Daria fought them valiantly, but most of her efforts were being wiped out by a healing Crustacean King, hiding by the lake. Feral Spirit had its eyes on the Crustacean king, and it struck a vital blow to end it, while evading an opportunity attack from Drake's Friendish Harpy. Feral Spirit was just too quick! And Daria fought valiantly with her Manticore to take out Drake's Manticore and knock him off to the ground.
Drake fumed furiously and commanded Friendish Harpy to show no mercy. With attacks from Naga Windmaster and Medussa, Manticore was hurt bad, and was in no shape to carry on. But it was a little too late for Drake's army, as we sailed to victory from there.
As the last monsters of Drake's army fell, Daria used Gloridax enchantment to immobilise him indefinitely. It would take some time for her Manticore to heal and for her to be able to fly out to the mountains of Darykh-Nahka.
As we walked back, Daria warned me, this may just be the beginning of something bigger. She reminded me, the army we went in with today, could have easily been beaten if Drake had a few more magic monsters, like the Ice Pixie, or Mermaid Healer, because our strategy had an important reliance on the thorn abilities of crystal jaguar and manticore. Using less meele and more magic counters this perfectly, while also bypassing the armors provided by defender of the truth.
Dawn was upon us. The golden sun was just rising behind, as we walked out of the forest, on to the Khymerian city center, with our battered, but victorious army marching right by our side. We saw smiles on the faces of our people for the first time in weeks. I looked around the ruins of Khymeria. Soon we have to start rebuilding. But for now, we tend to our wounded, and bury our dead, with dignity.
Enter the Second Year of Splinterlands Quidditch held by the BDCommunity!
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