Rise of the Lions (2)

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Down in Lyrick's Valley, life has been great, the fields were bountiful, the livestock was plenty, and the threats were almost nonexistent.

Of course, we can't have nice things for very long.

...

It has now been a little over 6,000 years since the death of Alwin son of Lyrick.

The Likon Tribe had made various different innovations and invented many items that improved their day-to-day lives and even warfare.

in the twelfth millennium, AC (12,000's AC) the Likonian people had discovered a relatively vast supply of obsidian to their south where a now dormant volcano sits.

This led to them creating a hegemony in their local area over weapons that could beat out the traditional stone axes.

Of course, humans being humans, this launched them into several different conflicts.

These skirmishes and conflicts weren't quite big enough to be called a war, but nonetheless, the Likonians came out on top, and instead of annexing the attackers, they let them off but did in turn make them pay tribute for 1,000 years.

throughout the past 6,000 years, small conflicts and skirmishes were quite common but they never got out of hand, so the Likon Tribe lived in relative peace, that is, until the current chieftain, Arwik son of Liserk, caught wind of a tribe who was slowly conquering other tribes and they were coming from the east, which greatly worried Arwik.

The reason why Arwik was so worried about the eastern invaders, was due to the stories and even legends circulating speaking of eastern warriors who wielded this strange power and energy that allowed them to take on dozens of regular warriors at once.

There were even stories of great shamans who could control the elements and devastate their enemies.

Of course, these stories are speaking of primitive aura knights and mages, but this concept was unknown to the Likonians along with most of the western half of the island.

While there are a few reasons ranging from, the east being a more dangerous area, so the rise of aura and mana came quicker, or due to the hegemony the Likonians had over most of the central western half, there hasn't been a reason to look for another power.

Nonetheless, this worried Arwik.

Arwik would carry that worry with him for over a century until his death in 16,720 AC, leaving his grandson, Eriken in charge.

...

Within a grand tribal stone building sat Chief Eriken, the current Chieftan of the Likon Tribe, he sat on his seat of power which had been occupied by his forefathers going as far back as Lyrick himself.

Kneeling Infront of the chief was one of his scouts, who had brought grave news.

"Chief! the invaders are making a move towards us, we have identified them as the Eleric Tribe, a strong tribe who started in the east just past snake river (the river separates most of the island in half) they had finished consolidating and now are looking to invade our valley!

Eriken was only 5 years into his reign and yet, his greatest fear had come true.

He knew it was only a matter of time, who wouldn't want to conquer a valley that was filled with extremely fertile soil, not only that but Lyrick's Valley was placed in an extremely strategic location that would act as a staging point for any would-be conquerors farther into the west.

Eriken immediately gave the order to have all 70,000 warriors carry their weapons at all times in case of an attack.

While this may seem like a large number, most of their ranks were bolstered by hunters who had never fought another human before.

Plus, Eriken knew they were outnumbered, the enemy tribe had a total of 150,000 warriors spanning all across the different tribes they had conquered.

...

It only took another year to pass before the Eleric Tribe launched their first incursion into the valley.

Thankfully for the Likonians, the entrance of the valley was narrow to the point that only waves of 20,000 could come at a time without running the risk of getting wiped out in an ambush.

The two sides would commence a brutal game of tug-a-war for the next century.

The year was 16,850 AC, for the past century and almost twenty-five years, the Likonians have been able to fend off the invaders relatively well.

For the past half a century it was even easier due to the Likonians using weapons made of a new material called "Branix" which translates to... Bronze!

That's right, the Likonians had officially been the ones to usher the humans into the early bronze age, at least, the humans living on the same island.

With these new weapons in hand, the Likonians kept on defending and in the blink of an eye, another half century passed.

It was now 16,900 AC, and the tables had officially turned.

The Eleric Tribe had finally after more than two centuries, employed the help of their aura knights and the occasional mage.

Although the aura knights didn't make that much of a difference due to the Likonians wielding superior weapons and employing guerrilla tactics, the mages were devastating on battlefields of large proportions.

It wasn't until another twenty years and many causalities later, that the now chieftain, Tarkel son of Eriken, captured one of the aura knights and learned about the existence of aura and mana, along with how to accumulate aura.

He had also learned that the Chief of the Eleric Tribe was a mage unparalleled to any within his service.

Now armed with this knowledge, he shared it with the strongest of his warriors, who, were almost all descended from Lyrick.

Over the years, as more and more descendants came to be, a peculiar thing happened, the direct heir of each chief, most times the first son, would inherit the white hair, electric blue eyes along with all of the special characteristics of their lineage. While the other children would as well, the physical features, as well as the crazy strong abilities, would dilute themselves with each generation.

This led to the rise of many branch families who most of the time was the warrior elites of the tribe and had their own "estate" of farmland in which they had either war slaves or workers who would tend to the crops.

Although they had lost the hair and eye color characteristic of the now-called Lyrickson line, they had a lesser form of the special constitution that the direct heirs had, making them more sensitive to aura and mana compared to others.

So, with the introduction of aura, these families became even more powerful as aura knights rose from their ranks.

But of course, the main ruling family were the strongest of all, the first two tiers came easily to them while the third was only reached by Tarkel and his son Ulreg.

With these newfound powers, the Likonians would hold on for almost another century until the year 16,998 AC, when the chief of the Eleric tribe entered into the battle himself, Uldwin a 3rd tier mage made a huge impact on the battlefield.

Only one year later and the Likonians had already been pushed back more than they had for the past two and a half centuries.

In the year 16,999 AC, Tarkel made a grave decision, he chose to lead the tribe out of the valley and flee to the northwest towards the highlands in hopes that the Eleric Tribe would get distracted by the other surrounding tribes just long enough for the Likon Tribe to lick their wounds and prepare for a counter offense.

And so, seeing no other choice, Tarkel declared an exodus out of the valley.

As they were leaving, several branch families along with 20,000 warriors elected to stay behind to buy time for the rest of the Tribe to escape.

That was the last they ever heard of those brave souls, as the years passed, no word ever came back to them about the fate of those who stayed behind. Their sacrifice was made sure to be kept as a valiant story to pass on and to this day, the story of the brave 20,000 is still being told to kids and adults alike.

Tarkel made sure to quickly get everyone out of the valley as fast as possible to not waste the sacrifice that was given for them.

...

The Likon Tribe had been moving northwest for a little over a year.

Thankfully, the Eleric Tribe didn't send any pursuers after them, so they were able to reach the highlands with relative ease, considering their condition and dwindling food source, things were going just fine for the Likonians.

But of course, humans will always want more.

In 17,000 AC, the reaming 12 prominent branch families had decided to break off from the group and go in their own different directions with their followers to settle elsewhere.

Although he made many attempts to get them to change their minds, Tarkel was unable to stop them from leaving.

And leave they did, out of the roughly 300,000 Likonians, only 60,000 elected to stay with the main family and Tarkel.

This meant that each branch family would create their tribes with around 20,000 people in them.

Instead of migrating elsewhere and running the risk of stumbling into the sights of the Eleric Tribe again, the 12 branch families now tribal chiefs in their own right as well as the Likon Tribe, all spread out throughout the highlands, and they conquered their way through as a means to increase their numbers.

Although they were only a fraction in number compared to before, due to the Likonians as a whole possessing bronze weaponry and having aura knights and even a couple of early mages within their ranks now, they could conquer most of the late stone age tribes in the area.

And conquer they did, during their migration north to a cliffside on the northern coast, the Likon warriors spearheaded by Tarkel, had conquered enough people to bolster their numbers from 60,000 back up to 250,000.

...

It took the Tarkel and his people another five years before they reached the northern coast, once they got there, they started looking for the perfect place to establish their new territory.

After a month of searching, they finally found it, the location they chose was right next to the coast, but instead of beachside, they were next to a cliff that led down to a rather large beach area that was encased by the cliff itself.

So, once they set up base, they could later create a walkway down to the coast and fish for food, and later on, even make a harbor, but that's the way in the future.

It was as if the gods were on their side because their next discovery made everyone elated.

They found a plateau maybe a mile away from the coast.

The plateau was around the size of 1,000 sq km in area and it had a huge waterfall going down on the side facing the coast.

With the help of Tarkel's second son Ryeck a newly 2nd tier earth mage, they were able to create a pathway up to the top of the plateau within a few months.

Once the tribe had successfully reached the top of the plateau, they were all astonished at the soil quality that was up there.

While the soil wasn't as good as Lyrick's Valley, it still beat out regular soil down below, and even then, the soil in the highlands was surprisingly fertile.

What they didn't know, was the soil being such high quality was due to Tristan's tampering.

To make up for the destruction and fracturing that occurred due to his raining down asteroids and fire on the first humans, he sent out a wave of mana to revitalize all of the plants, animals, and everything else.

The Likon Tribe decided this was as good as any other spot to settle, so they got working on their new home. Thankfully, there was a small forest over in the southern half of the plateau (they are in the northern half).

Almost a century passed, and now most of the Likonian tribes had settled along the northern coast with a couple of the tribes occupying rivers and one on a lake.

...

It had now been a millennium since the Likonians tribes entered and conquered their way through the now named "Likonian Highlands".

Although there exist other people and cultures in the highlands, all of them know that the Likonians are the undisputed powerhouses in the region, and the only people who could threaten the Likonians are other Likonians.

By now, most if not all of the people of the island have entered into the bronze age, and along with it, the era of city-states.

The city atop a plateau named Likon City or The City of Likon was ruled over by its "king", a member of the direct line of Lyrick's descendants.

The past 1,000 years have been nothing but plentiful for the Likonians and even the other inhabitants of the island.

around 500 years ago, the mighty Eleric Horde that swept through most of the island besides the Likonian Highlands and the Southern Flood Plains, had collapsed due to fighting in a way that was extremely reminiscent of the Mongols.

The City of Likon had seen a boom in population, in the past millennium the numbers had increased from around 250,000 to roughly 700,000.

And for the foreseeable future, it seemed that the peace would live on, of course, humans will always be humans, so who knows when the next major conflict or war will happen.

But either way, no matter what, the Likonians will be ready for what's to come.

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