Ignis Apes

The fire's last few embers glowed orange as Leo admired the Ignis Ape constellation in the starry sky. It represented the mightiest of the fire apes who's ingenuity surpassed human wisdom. It dauntlessly protected its territory, the northern Ironwood forest, from the famished Gelu trolls that attacked every year on the eve of the Winter solstice. For centuries, children living near the Ironwood forest would poke their heads out in excitement at that time of year, gawking at the brilliant crimson and yellow lights that lit up the night sky. Little did they know that these lights represented the battle between the fire wielding Ignis Apes and frost wielding Gelu Trolls.

Leo smirked. It was fascinating in and of itself that humanity's mighty neighbors, the Ignis Apes, even existed, much less the fact that they could even harness the power of fire! And that's saying a lot seeing how humanity lacked the magical and science prowess that any proper civilization had like the arcane magic of the elves, the enchanted steel of the Dwarves, and the steam engines of the Gnomes. Humanity was at the bottom of the latter, even compared to mere Ignis Apes! They were just mere fire bending chimpanzees! It was laughable at best at how humanity pitied itself in the presence of these Apes, but even humanity's envy had to be swallowed. Their neighbor never asked them to lend a hand in the never ending Gelu Troll invasions; they were even magnanimous to the point that any stray troll would meet a bitter charred end before it managed to even set foot into human territory. What could anyone envy of a neighbor that would constantly protect them from inevitable peril?

Nevertheless, lurking deep within King Alfred the Fifth's castel, a slender dark robed figure played council to the human King, whispering tales of fire's magnificent power, history of the first Ignis Ape sovereign, and myths circulating an illusive stone that empowered the Ignis Ape sovereign: his beast crystal. As if a light sparked in King Alfred the Fifth's mind, he spent long sleepless nights over his new found understanding of the Ignis Apes. Maybe, just maybe, it was true that the Ignis Apes derived their fire bending capabilities from these so-called beast crystals. What if he could harness this, this unfathomable power? Finally slipping into a slumber on his fifth sleepless night, he finally decided to set out a plan.

The plan of Crimson Winter.

Leo sighed, recollecting his thoughts from this story. The hard earth beneath him offered to take his tired mind off this sorrowful past. Everyone knows it happened a century ago, starting with King Alfred the Fifth's empty promise of celebrating the Winter Solstice one week early. The Ignis Ape sovereign marched into the human Kingdom's capital, dignified and calm as always. After a great night of celebration of red wine, light ballads, and gleeful dancing, all Ignis Apes bade King Alfred the Fifth good night after strangely feeling a heavy slumber come across them.

Maybe the Ignis Ape sovereign was too kindhearted.

Maybe his magnanimous self had thought that graciously protecting the humans would in turn only bring about good fortune for his fellow Ignis Apes.

But the next morning, all was quiet.

No plebeian could spot the magnanimous Ignis Ape Sovereign, much less any of the tall orange Ignis Apes at all.

It was as if all of them disappeared.

Only the dark smoke of a bonfire could be seen wisping over the castle's gray battlements, vultures circling above as if a great feast would ensue.

With the missing Ignis Ape sovereign and the Winter Solstice looming, the Ignis Ape chieftains, those under the Ignis Ape sovereign, could only grit their yellow teeth and prepare for the Gelu Troll offensive. Their sovereign would return, they were sure. How could such an omnipotent and kindhearted lord be felled?

It should be known that they weren't as smart as the Ignis Ape sovereign, for only he possessed the wisdom and intelligence that superseded that of a human while the Ignis Ape chieftains themselves only possessed merits below the human average. Consulting lower ranked Apes was out of the question, so the Ignis Ape chieftains could only move forward with their lord's previous Winter defensive strategies.

That Winter Solstice, children near the northern Ironwood forest again spotted their favorite fiery lights parting the starry night, but their minds were also lost in thought thinking about those prideful soldiers they had seen leave their towns a few days prior. They had been bearing pointy Gnomish muskets, gleaming Dwarven shields, and magnificent Elvish mage robes.

That night, the forest burned crimson.

After a long drawn out battle, King Alfred the Fifth extravagantly stepped out of the northern Ironwood forest with carts laden with Ignis Ape and Gelu Troll heads. Kids cowered, plebeians cried, but the soldiers… the soldiers cheered.

"All hail the King!"

"All hail Dawn Light!"

Dawn Light, that's what King Alfred the Fifth now called himself after showcasing an awe inspiring display of fire magic during the genocide, fire weaving in and out of his fingertips as he shattered the trust, shattered the empathy the Ignis Apes always saw in their pitiful human neighbors.

Under a new banner of a crimson dragon, Dawn Light granted war heroes the right to consume a mighty beast crystal harvested from the body of an Ignis Ape or Gelu Troll. One by one, potions were created out of said crystals, allowing even the feeblest of war heroes to emerge as valiant fire and frost mages.

A new age, a new dawn had been born.

A dawn of magic.

Having tasted the glee of unrivaled fire magic, Dawn Light thirsted for more. Hurriedly emptying the vaults of his Crimson Dragon Kingdom, he purchased new Gnomish technology and Elvish magical tomes. In one years time, Dawn Light's hazel eyes were set on the quiet snow capped mountain range North of the Northern Ironwood forest. Gathering his now magic empowered and musket wielding army, the kingdom drew its breath as its valiant crimson cloaked soldiers approached the dreaded Gelu Troll mountain range.

With a raise of Dawn Light's hand, the rocky ground before the mountain range ceased to lightly tremble as the army finally stopped its march. Perking their ears, wide eyed soldiers listened, they listened for the inevitable.

Far away, almost unrecognizable with the frosty wind, a low growl rumbled deep within the white mountain peaks. The rocks below Dawn Light's army slowly froze over as, one by one, 6 meter tall azure Gelu trolls began to appear over the nearest summit.

The eve of the Winter Solstice had arrived.

With a snap of Dawn Light's black gloved hand, a large green fireball arched through the sky, setting forth an unending battle cry.

"For the Kingdom!"

"For Dawn Light!"

The Frostfire war had begun.

Humans, who had always piggy backed on the victories of the Ignis Apes, now had to take up the mantle themselves.

Leo prodded the lingering timbers as he pondered how in god's name the King had managed to achieve all of this. Of course, Leo did not know about how the King had a mysterious council that thought eating random gleaming rocks called beast crystals from the corpses of Ignis Apes and Frost Trolls was a good idea.

That man must have seriously been stoned.

Anyways, Leo only knew the general course of events that led up to both wars and ultimately how the human Crimson Dragon Kingdom had finally fallen.

Yes, fallen.

As one can imagine, when the balance of power is disturbed, outside forces will step in. And step in they did. With the human power hungry war machine clearing lands closer and closer to the Dwarven strongholds and Gnomish port cities, a total of three Dwarven Kingdoms and Gnomish Merchant Republics bounded together to place an end to humany's vie for supremacy.

For as the saying goes, "it's not the lust for dominance that propels us, but the fear of subordination that drives us forward."

And so, even with the gleaming road Dawn Light paved for humans into the realm of magic, so too has humanity's greatest kingdom met its end as Dawn Light, King Alfred the Fifth, fell in battle to Dwarven King Everfist. With a swing of a molten 2 meter warhammer, Dwarvern King Everfist made the whole human army fall onto their knees and, before anyone could raise their sword in defiance, they were all struck dumbstruck. A large ravine emanated from where the warhammer cleaved the earth, swallowing Dawn Light and numerous of his mages into a pitch black abyss. Not wasting a second, large explosions resounded one after another as Gnomish artillery sailed through the air before being shot down by the few surviving fire and frost mages. Now in disarray, the Gnomes and the Dwarves made short work of the remaining forces who, once full of hopes for a bright future, now fled in horror.

Dawn Light was gone.

Their King was gone!

With tears and howls marking the battlefield, the battle that came to be the tombstone of the Crimson Dragon Kingdom left the human race in a state of peril. Only those fire and frost mages that survived the war could provide protection to civilians from the yearly onslaught of the Gelu Trolls or the occasional bandits.

With this, the history preceding modern times had been set and now required Leo to live by the new rules of this new world. Currently, he was only 22 years old which was not enough to have enabled him to gaze upon Dawn Light himself when he was still alive a century ago. His family currently lived under the rule of their resident fire mage, Lord Klassen, a former sergeant in the Ignis Legion. Yes, Lord Klassen was already past his 120th birthday, but don't mistake him as an old sack of bones strewn upon his death bed. For some reason, he only wore a couple of wrinkles around his frowning finely chiseled face and graying hair, as if he had just turned 60 last month. Maybe it was due to that mysterious beast crystal infused potion he had mercifully been granted by Dawn Light.