The 3rd Party

<p>Zesteria<br/>The Era of Chaos<br/><br/>Serenity blanketed the war marked plains of Mutim, along with an aura of death which could be felt within each breath. The sun could be seen setting over the horizon, marking the sky with colours of pink, red and yellow, as an army of hundreds of thousands, dressed uniformly in white coats on which embroideries of gold, yellow, and other colours which seemed to signify the rise and setting of the Sun, marched over, towards the centre of the plains. Some of them could be seen carrying varied weapons, like swords, spears, axes,halberds and others, whereas others carried orbs, wands and aged sticks with a magical aura with them. On a closer look one could also see that they had an insigna of the Sun on the back of their hands. <br/><br/>From the opposite side another army dressed in contrasting black coats with embroideries resembling the silver of moon marched over who unsurprisingly had an insignia of the crescent moon on the back of their hands. At the head of each army various large and small magical beasts could be seen, being rode by the top brass of both the armies. Some beasts also carried weapons of mass destruction whereas others themselves were considered as the harbingers of despair. In the air too various people on flying beasts could be seen as they looked down disdainfully on the opposite troops. <br/><br/>'Thump, Thump, Thump' , the armies marched towards each other, firm and steady, their rhythmical steps like thunder on the land , which itself could instill fear in the weak of heart. Their eyes sharp and focused like those who have made a conviction to follow through their goals or die doing so.<br/>Both the armies came closer and closer towards the centre and each other, signifying the coming of a bloody war. <br/>The beasts too roared and lashed their tails in the ground showing off their imposing aura in an attempt to frighten the opposition. <br/><br/>However as the two armies neared the centre, a surprising sight could be seen which bewildered the leading personages. Although a few could still be seen maintaining their tranquil faces as though they had expected to see such a scene. <br/>In between the two armies a cot could be seen, on which sat cross legged a man, his facial expressions hidden beneath a peculiar mask, through which only his striking heterochromatic eyes were visible. The mask depicted two different halves, the right entirely white , which gave one a feeling of tranquility with a hint of sorrow, whereas the left was entirely black with a red smirk which seemed to give off a feeling of madness and arrogance. The man had short spiked jet black hair and donned a blue robe which was covered by runes of different types. An aged wooden table was placed before him, on which was placed a pot of hot tea along with some cups. A few scrolls could also be seen lying on the table. <br/>He seemed oblivious to the two armies marching towards him as a cup of tea was being relished by him, and he seemed to be in a place devoid of everything, in a state of tranquility. <br/>The two armies neared one another and when the both of them were at a distance of 50 metres from the man, horns and conches where blown, stopping the thundering march of the troops. From both the sides a group of people atop the most magnificent of beasts stepped forward and started to make their way towards the man in blue as though they had come to a mutual understanding with each other, wanting to deal with the 3rd party first. <br/>Still the person in question remained calm taking delight in his tea. <br/>As the two groups closed on the man, from the side of the troops with the Sun insignia stepped forward two men, one of whom seemed to be in his 60's with blonde hair with an average build and his companion who seemed to be rather young perhaps in the early 20's had an height of 6'2 and a stoic build with pointy ears and a fair complexion. <br/><br/>From the opposite group, came forward two men who complimented each other with the fact, that they both had dwarfed heights. However while one seemed to be human, the other had big round eyes and greenish skin similar to a goblin with a sinister smile etched onto his face . All these people made their way towards the man in blue and stopped when they had reached within a hands distance from him.<br/>The man gently put his cup on the table and waved his hands summoning four chairs seemingly out of thin air.<br/>"Sit",the man said to his guests and gestured towards the chairs. All the guests sat down while the man with pointy ears chose to keep standing and took his place behind his comrade. <br/>"Its time we get to business and decide what's gonna happen now", said the dwarfed human. <br/>"Right. I agree with Kruma that we need to do so. Otherwise we can just begin the bloodshed and decide", said the aged man with a sharp glint in his eyes, showing his determination to do things decisively if need be.<br/>"Hu, hu, hu", laughed the goblin sinisterly," don't worry scum of righteousness, we have plenty of time to let the blood of your people flow. We might even be soo kind so as to feed your bodies to the beasts and free your families from the gruesome sight of your contorted bodies, heh,heh, heh."<br/>Hearing the goblins provocation the young man flew into rage and a terrifying aura erupted from him. <br/>"Stand down Ariel, no need to get all worked up over meaningless provocations ", said the aged man and grabbed the young man's arm so that he might not make any rash decision.<br/> The goblin seemed to be content watching this scene play. Meanwhile during this whole ordeal the man in blue was sitting quietly watching the whole show however it seemed that everyone's attention was on his every movement and they seemed to be waiting for his suggestion. <br/>Silence reigned over the group and tension was growing when the man finally decided to break the silence.<br/>"It really doesn't seem a good day to battle. Does it ? " <br/>"There are no good or bad days for a battle, all we need is a goal and an enemy who is stopping us from achieving our goals, to battle," said Ariel.<br/>"Well said young man. What u said is indeed true. However i still stand by my first statement that it isnt a good day to battle. Everyone has their own perspectives in life after all and i tend to like listening to others." <br/>"Enough of this talk of yours, wearer of the Mask of Zonder. We dont have all day to listen to your eccentric talks. Lets get this matter over with," said the dwarfed man.<br/>"Ha, Ha,Ha, as always in a hurry, aren't you Gizma ? " replied Zonder. "Well even I don't like too much of a delay, so lets begin. The thing is, me and my colleagues don't approve of this little war or whatever other fancy name you may be calling this. We believe that a solution can be reached as always and would like to do so. So u must stop otherwise we might be forced to intervene," said Zonder with a commanding and firm tone," Also I believe that it is in the best interest of everyone that we don't intervene," smirked Zonder, threatening the two groups, his eyes looking into theirs as if daring them to do exactly that. <br/>"Insolence," replied the goblin fuming with rage hearing the naked threat. "I don't believe that your entire institution thinks what u just said. And even if they do, do you seriously think that u could take on both of our armies. What a joke, " laughed the goblin. <br/>However his laughter was cut short as he had a feeling as though he was suddenly liberated from all his burdens. He felt as though he was stuck in the moment, unable to process anything. Slowly his surroundings changed as he saw the shocked faces of the opposite group and then the darkened expression of his own companion Kruma. Then came into his focus his own body which was jetting out dark red blood from the neck as it fell down on its knees and behind that standing calmly with a cold smirk was the man who seemed devil incarnate. Only now did the goblin realise that his head was flying and then fell down towards the earth which was the last thing that he ever saw. <br/>"Now that we have removed all the idiotic materials, shall we continue," Zonder said, as he took back to his cot wiping his hands, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.</p>