Glory or Death

Far In The Future

A Boy was Sitting on a Chair, Around Him were Different Kind of Books, Small, or Big, It was Stacked over Each other, Creating a Tower of Books.

He was Reading a Book, The Window of the High Tower he Resides in was Open. Making the Fresh Wind of the Air, Come Inside the Room, Refreshing Him.

The Faint Sounds of the Winds were Music to His Ears, Along with the Occasional Sounds of the City.

The View of the Window was Magnificent, The Sea, Far on the Horizon and Different Kinds of Ships came to the Harbor, Both Civilian ones and Military ones.

He was In the Middle of Reading 'The Great Deeds of Arthur the Great' When a Knock was Heard on the Door of His Room.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"Come in."

Once the Words were Heard, A Man walked Inside the Chamber. With a Smile on His Face.

"Father!"

"Ah! My Boy! Why are you Locked here in your Chamber All Day!? You Need to go out for some Fresh Air you know?"

"Well, It's Peaceful Here. Besides I get Fresh Air here too, Father."

"Oh you Smart Little Munchkin." The Man said while Picking up the Boy and then Sitting on the Chair his Son was Occupying Earlier.

"Now what are you Reading here, Hmm?"

"It's About my Old Man, Of Course!"

"Oh, You're calling me Old now!? Perhaps i Didn't Teach you Respect Enough, Kid!" Arthur said while Tickling his Son.

"STOP!! STOPP!! HAHAHA!! Okay, you're not Old Anymore! HEHEHE!! In fact you're only 20 Years Old!!" The Boy said while Laughing.

"Now that's what I like to Hear. Now, Why are you Reading about me now, Hmm?" Arthur Said Curiously.

The Boy looked down Sadly. "Well, Because I want to be Great. And I don't Know what the First Step is." The Boy said Dejectedly.

Then, A Smile Came to His Face. "Most People Call you Great Father!! Can you tell Me how you did it!?"

"Well, The First Step is Realizing who you are. And what you want to Be."

"Well, I've Overcome Both of Those. I know who I am and Know what I want to Be. I want to be Like You Father! I want to Earn the Same Achievements as You!"

*CHUCKLE*

"Hahaha, Well that's One of the Reason you'll never be Great, Son."

"What? Why?" The Boy asked Sadly.

"Because you want to Be like Me and Earn the Same Achievements as Me. Besides You Haven't Even Realized who you Are. Remember, Son. If you want to Be Great, then become your Own Man, And Last but not Least, You can't Become Great when you've only Achieved the Same Things I Achieved now, Can You?"

The Boy Nodded.

"Look, Son. A REAL Dream is a Dream that Seems Impossible. Do you think I would have Achieved Greatness when I only Dreamed of Having a Family? No. I Dreamed a Dream that Seemed so Impossible that Even Death Herself wanted to Be a Mortal. Do you Know why?"

"Why, Father?"

"Because Were Mortals. We could Die at Any Moment, And Any Moment May be our Last. That is Why She Envy Us, Because we Could Die Earning GLORY Or we Could Die Dreaming our Dreams. Everything is More Beautiful Because we're Doomed."

The Boy Listened Carefully.

"In that Moment. Nothing could be more Beautiful.. More Lovely... In That Battle, Fighting With your Life on the Line..."

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"Glory or Death in your Hands." All the while His Son watched His Father's Face that was Filled with Wondrous Thoughts, His Expression Filled with Excitement.

He wondered when will He be Able to Experience the Excitement and Joy that was Plastered over His Father's Face.

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Present

Raganvad

Rome's Instruments of War Wrecked Havoc in It's Path, Just as Usual. The Bolts Pierced through the Enemy Ships's Armor, The Arrows Lit the Decks of the Ships, And the Catapults Crushing the Ships Like Eggs.

"GO!! Row to the Enemies!! Group Three, Keep Hammering them with the Arrows, Bolts and Boulders Until we Reach their Positions!! Group Two, Follow us Until you Reach Boarding Positions!! Group One!! You know our Job! We Pierce through their Lines and Attack them from the Inside!! GO GO GO!!"

The Men Followed His Orders, As the Men Manning the Catapults and Bolts Loaded it with another Volley.

They Fired again as they Wrecked Havoc among their Enemies, Raganvad and His Men were Sailing Straight Towards the Enemy Lines.

As they Reached the Enemy Lines, Group Two Boarded the Enemy, With the Constant Hammering of the Bolts and Catapults from Before, They couldn't Even Organize themselves from the Boarding And was Quickly Defeated in their Own Ship due to not Forming even a Single Line.

Raganvad and His Ship Stormyr Sailed Straight Forward to the Enemies, With No Fear In His Heart, Only Excitement.

As They Neared the First Ship they Encountered, Raganvad Ordered the Men to Aim the Ballistae at the Hull of It.

"Loose!"

The Bolt Loosened and It Destroyed the Armor of the Hull. Right After that, Stormyr Rammed Straight Through the Enemy Ship, Dividing it in Half.

"HAHAHAHA!! C'mon Men!! Let's Show that Redwyne How Roman Ships Rule the Seas!!" The Men Shouted with 'Ayes.'

Morale was High, The Men were Seeing Their Ships Completely Ram Straight through the Enemy Lines and How their Brothers in Arms Boarded the Enemy Ships.

Stormyr was Again Looking for a Prey, Deeper in the Enemy Armada, Stormyr along with 10 other Ships looked as if 11 Ships Facing against the Might of an Entire Armada, When in Reality, The Enemy Fleet were Merchant Ships Facing against the Roman Fleet.

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Paxter Redwyne

He Looked at the 11 Ships Heading Straight Towards the Centre of the Entire Fleet. 'They Must Be Extremely Brave or a Bunch of Fools if they Sent their Lone Capital Ship along with 10 Ships to Face the Centre of the Redwyne Fleet Alone.'

"Load the Catapults. This Bunch of Fools will Die in only One Volley." The Men Followed His Order and Prepared the Catapults.

He Looked Behind the 11 Ships. The Mist was Thick so He couldn't See anything Clearly, But he Could See Smoke and Fire's were Rising to the Air.

'The Enemy caught us by Surprise, But after the Initial Shock we could Easily Regain our Composure and Strike Back. After we Defeat those Bunch of Fools. If the Enemy Commander is in their Capital Ship, Then he is Surely a Fool.'

The Catapults was Ready, The Men were waiting for the Order to Fire the Catapults, When He Was about to Say the Word, He saw Something far in the Distance.

Amidst Fire and Smoke, Something was Rising High in the Sky, He couldn't Comprehend it at First, Nor Realize what it was until it was Too Late.

Fiery Boulders were Heading Straight towards them, Along with So many Lit Arrows that He Had to Cover His Eyes a Little Bit to See it Clearly.

It was Too Late to Realize the Danger and The Arrows accompanied by the Boulders and Unseen - To Him Perhaps - Bolts Crashed into the Redwyne Fleet.

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Raganvad

He saw the Destruction that Rome's Instrument of War Did to the Enemy Fleet's Centre.

It Destroyed the Front of the Enemy Centre's Line and the Boulders Completely Destroyed some of the Ships in the Middle. No Questions Asked if they Survived.

The Arrows Killed many Men in the Decks of the Enemy Ships, and if they were lucky, Burn some Ships too.

*AHOOO*

A Horn was Sounded, The Same Pattern Group Two were Using. He Looked Behind Him, He saw Group Two's Ships of about 60, Sail through the Mist, Hungry for the Enemy's Blood.

Stormyr along with the 10 Ships accompanying Him didn't Stop to look at the Magnificent Sight Behind them and Sailed Straight towards the Enemy.

They were at the Head of the Pack, Leading the Entire Fleet in it's Voyage towards the Enemy.

They Reached the Centre of the Enemy First and as Planned, Stormyr Rammed Straight through the Ship and It was Broken in Half.

This Process Repeated for a Time until He Saw it. The Enemy's Capital Ship. He Saw Paxter Redwyne Barking orders at His Men, Desperately Trying to Counter Attack.

"There! The Enemy Capital Ship! Along with Paxter Redwyne!! Go! We Board that Ship!!" The Men followed His Order Sailing towards it.

"Ram it Once!! It won't Break like the Others so once Rammed we Board Quickly! Take Advantage of them not having their Footing and Quickly Kill them!"

As the Ship neared the Enemy, A Sense of Stillness Engulfed Raganvad's Head, Waiting Impatiently for the Impact. Then, as if the World Sped up, Stormyr Rammed the Enemy.

It Didn't Break Like Raganvad said, and as Ordered, They Quickly Boarded the Enemy. Among them were Raganvad Himself, His Axe in His Right Hand.

He Immedieately took to the first Man He saw, The Man Had Quickly Stood up after falling down, and Ran Straight To Raganvad, Screaming Bloody Murder.

Raganvad took Advantage of the Man's Momentum and Once the Man Swung His Sword, Raganvad Dodged it and then Quickly Swung His Axe at the Man's Head. Chopping it off.

After that, Raganvad Looked Around, One Enemy was Pinning a Roman Soldier and was Beating Him Up with His Fists. Raganvad ran to the Man then Grabbed Him in the Collar, Faced Him, Then Chopped His Head Off.

Raganvad Took the Roman Soldier's Hand and. Helped Him Stand Up. The Man Nodded His Thanks and quickly Found a Sword as a Weapon.

He Ran to an Enemy, The man Prepared for the Attack but Raganvad Faked an Overhead Attack and Dodged the Enemy Counter then quickly Went for the Mans Guts.

When the Man was Screaming for Help, while Clutching his Stomach, Raganvad Ended His Misery by Chopping off His Head.

"YOU!!" Someone Shouted at Him, He Looked to the Man to See Paxter Redwyne. Covered in Blood.

"You're the Roman C**nts Lord Aren't Ya!? Int hose Fancy Armor Of yours!! C'mon! Fight Me!! Let's End This Here and Now!!"

"HAHAHA!! Never Knew You had the Guts!! I'll give you a Fight!! Come on!!"

Paxter Ran at Him, They Met and He swung His Axe to Paxter, Paxter Dodged it and then Swung His Own Sword, Raganvad Parried and then Punched Paxter.

Taking Advantage of the Situation, Raganvad Tried to Chop his Head off but Paxter Dodged it then Counter Attacked, Paxter Swung His Sword and Raganvad Parried.

Paxter, Then, grabbed Raganvad's Sword Arm and Tried to make Raganvad Lose his Axe but Raganvad Quickly Pinned down Paxter, Making both of them Lose their Axe and Sword.

Raganvad was on Top, and Quickly took advantage and Punched Paxter Repeatedly. Paxter Reach For the Sword in His Side and Used the Pommel to Hit Raganvad's Head.

Raganvad slid to the Side and Paxter quickly went atop of Raganvad and started to Beat Him up.

Raganvad was Hit Several Times, and His Nose started to Bleed.

"HAH! Thought you could Defeat Me!? Well you thought Wrong!? Today's the Day you're going to Die!"

Paxter Took the Dagger on His Side and Tried to Stab it on Raganvad's Neck, Raganvad took a Hold of Paxter's Hand to try and Stop it, But Paxter were Overpowering Him.

The Dagger started to Reach Raganvad's Neck, His Neck started to Bleed, The Dagger Inching Closer and Closer to End His Life.

'Is this it? Is this the End? My Dream Has Not been Accomplished. My Best Friend, Arthur, Calisto. My Love.... My Son. His only a Year Old.'

A new Fire Lit His Heart and Raganvad Twisted Paxter's Hand and He Loss the Dagger, He Punched Paxter's Head Repeatedly, Making Paxter Get off of Him.

Raganvad Quickly Took an Axe to His Side and went over to Paxter to Pin Him. "Come Here!! Any Last Words!?"

"NONONONO!!" His Pleading was Unheard and Raganvad Attacked Paxter's Head with His Axe.

After a Time, Raganvad Stood up.

*Sigh*

He looked around and saw that His Men were Winning, He didn't bother to Help and just Sat at the Deck, Leaning on a Pole.

After a Few Minutes, His Men Won. And a Soldier went to Him.

"Are You Okay, My Lord?"

"Yeah, Just a Few Bruises here and there, Broken Ribs, Broken Nose, and Bleeding at My Neck. Im Totally Fine, Just like those Readers over there."

"Okay, My Lord. I'll get a Healer for you." Just as the Soldier were Leaving, Raganvad Held Him.

"Here, This Axe is Yours Now. I Killed Paxter Redwyne with It. Now Go look for my Axe, It's all Black so you'll know It. Ask some of the Men if Some of them have Seen it."

"Thank you, My Lord. I'll go look for It."

After the Soldier Left Raganvad just sat There.

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Victory.

Glory for Raganvad.

Death for Paxter Redwyne.

Glory for Classis Braavosis.

Shame for the Redwyne Fleet.