1 Lord Eion's War

**100 Years before our story begins.....

The brisk night wind cut through the room as the soldier strode quickly through the door. Letting it slam loudly behind him. He walked quickly to the man lounging in the corner of the cabin.

"My Lord Eion, Sir, the troops are ready." The soldier spoke as he bowed at the man's feet.

The man turned to glance at the soldier with a look of disgust, the soldier was larger than he was, but his dirty, torn clothing and scruffy unkempt form was quite the contrast to his own impeccable appearance. Lord Eion sat upon a black satin chair like it was a throne. His clothing was well made and well-kept made of deep burgundy silks, soft black furs, and plenty of gold accents. Lord Eion narrowed his deep gray eyes and tipped his head back, shaking his muddy-brown hair out of his eyes.

"Yes Basil, I can see that for myself." he said gesturing towards the window, "Please instruct them to set out in ten minutes time."

"Yes, my lord, I will do so immediately. Will you be joining us on the battlefield Sir?" The soldier said, rising to his feet, catching the sneer that appeared on the other man's face.

"Are you insane Basil? What need have I to be on the battlefield?"

"I am sorry sir, please forgive me, I was mistaken. Surely someone as regal and powerful as you would have no place amongst we lowly soldiers." The soldier's voice cracked with fear as he once again averted his eyes from Lord Eion's face.

"You would do well to remember that Basil, I have kindly promoted you through the ranks of my army, but if you do not learn your place then you will find yourself cut from the ranks altogether." Lord Eion's voice dripped with authority and malice causing the larger man to quake in fear.

"Yes, my lord, I understand, I am truly sorry, it will not happen again Sir, I swear."

"See that it doesn't Basil, you may go now." Lord Eion said dismissively.

The soldier turned on his heels and fled the room as quickly as he could, he had come into the room with confidence and authority befitting the highest-ranking member of Lord Eion's army, but he scuttled away like a dog with its tail between its legs. The sight of it made Eion sick.

"These filthy pieces of scum are lucky I don't kill them all, if they didn't have a purpose to serve then they would all be rotting in Hell." Eion snarled as he rose to his feet. "What purpose would I have to go to battle with them, my pawns fight for me and do as I tell them, I am not there to protect them, I owe them nothing." Eion stalked to the door and flung it open with such force that the two men standing guard outside jumped in unison.

"What worthless men I have, are you so afraid of everything that a door startles you now?" He bellowed at the men.

"No, Sir." They answered together.

"See that you let no one disturb me, understood."

"Yes, Sir." Both guards answered nodding their heads as they spoke.

God, what luck, Eion thought to himself, my guard detail for tonight is the brainless Pevell twins. They don't even have half a brain between them, their only saving grace is they follow orders blindly and they're strong as oxen.

Eion was quickly making his way back to his throne-like chair where he had a basin filled with water on the table beside it. He reached into an inner pocket of his black fur cloak bringing out a black leather pouch, he untied the leather strings at the end and pinched out some of the shining silver powder within.

"Give me sight, show me light, bring into view the battle they fight. Show me the present, show me where my troops have been sent. Show me what I wish to see, show me the power of ME." Eion chanted as he sprinkled the silver powder into the basin. The surface of the water clouded and began to swirl slowly.

As the water got darker it began to swirl faster and faster. Soon the water began to clear, but the bottom of the basin was not what Eion was looking at. The basin now looked out upon a dirt road winding between two empty fields, grass swaying in the wind.

As Eion looked upon the image he saw men and horses march steadily into view at opposite ends. To the north was an army marching under a black banner bearing a silver fist, his army. To the south was an army marching with a midnight blue banner emblazoned with a golden sun and a silver moon, the army of the King marching away from Kingston.

"My army outnumbers the King's four to one, the king is vastly outnumbered this time, the capitol will fall, I will take over and with my magic I will rule over the whole country, and soon, the world. All the lands will be mine." Eion laughed maniacally envisioning the world he planned to create.

Dragging himself away from his thoughts and refocusing on the images before him Eion was stunned to see that things were not going the way he had planned. In the short time since the battle had started things had taken a turn against his forces. There were bolts of lightning, fireballs, gusts of wind, and razor-sharp shards of ice all flying through the air.

"What is going on, none of my forces can use magic, and to my knowledge the king's army does not currently have any magic users, so what is this, why is this happening?"

As Eion watched he saw that these magical forces were focusing on his troops. His army was being annihilated, where he once had four times the king's army, he now was equal at best, but three-fourths was more like it.

"HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?" He bellowed to the empty room. "Why is my army being overwhelmed by them? Why are they not wiping those idiots off the face of the earth like they were instructed to do?" Eion growled to himself.

Gripping the edges of the basin in frustrations Eion began to chant again.

"Show me the battle, show me the fight, show me why I might lose this night." As he spoke the view before him broadened, the figures grew slightly smaller as the image noticeably zoomed out showing the battlefield from a higher vantage point. Once this view changed Eion saw why he was losing this battle.

Flying high above the fields were large creatures that appeared to be half dragon and half human. They looked to be on average around ten feet tall, they had flowing fluid like hair in various shades ranging from silver and gold to blues, reds and even rainbows.

Their skin shone like it was made of metal or some other reflective material. The gleaming claws on their long human-like hands were noticeably sharp and looked lethal. And to top things off, the flying creatures were the sources of the lightning, wind, fire, and ice raining from the sky and wreaking havoc on his army.