Blood
splattered the ground as the clashing of swords and cries of soldiers rang out
into the sky. A red banner marked with a golden bear was held high over one
army and a blue banner with a silver hawk held over the other. The red bear
army belonged to King Nathaniel Waltz of the east, a clever old miser who was
at bitter war with King Stefan Malroy. King Stefan ruled over the west and
fought under the blue banner of the hawk.
As Children
Nathaniel and Stefan were the closest of friends. They would spend their days
playing in the mountains of the east or the cities to the west and anytime they
fought they would fight on the same side. As time passed they both grew into
strong handsome men. Their playing turned into training and their pretend
battles turned into sparring matches. They were the best of friends and the
greatest of rivals.
“You swine,
you will never be strong enough to best me in one on one combat” Said Prince
Nathaniel. This was usually true as Stefan had a great mind for strategy but lacked
the reflexes and skill of a swordsman. “Your arrogance is such that you would
assume to win even if I trained a thousand hawks to fight on my behalf” Stefan
said with a smile. “Jesting as always. I would have bears of the forest mauling
you before you could train a single hawk” Nathaniel replied. Stefan lunged
forward with his training sword and Nathaniel blocked it easily. “I doubt you
have the charisma or patience to even tame a single bear. Your words are just
as foolish as my own” Stefan replied, then tried another attack. Nathaniel
continued to deflect Prince Stefan’s attacks and laughed as he did so.
“If I could fight you with my brain and not my brawn, I
would wind for certain!” Stefan said as he quickly became annoyed with the
sparring match.
The two men
spent their youth like this. Enjoying their time together as they spent equal
parts laughing as they did fighting. As they grew older they were taught how to
act like a king and how to prepare for the day when they each would inherit the
throne of their perspective kingdoms. Since the King of the East and the King
of the West were such good friends each kingdom was looking forward to years of
peace with their neighboring land.
But the
land was not joyous when the Stefan and Nathaniel took the throne. Due to their
own childish rivalry the two kings tried to out do each other. It started
harmless enough. One would make a bigger castle and the other would also make
their castle bigger. Stefan built a grand church, so Nathaniel build a golden
temple. At first the people of the land were cautious but happy at the new
buildings and extravagance that their kings bestowed on them. Then rumors
started of a magical treasure, the crown of the Archmage.
The
Archmage was the greatest wizard that ever lived. When he successfully learned
every knowable spell he traveled to the top of the great dragon mouth volcano
and used its burning flames and his own magic to form a crown for himself. The
crown was imbued with his magic and showed to all that he was the king of magic
and ruler of all that was mystical.
When the
Archmage died at the age of two hundred and fifty four, his crown was never
found. It was thought that he hid the relic to prevent the undeserving from
acquiring any amount of his awesome power. So naturally when the Kings of the
east and west heard of this crown they both set forth with soldiers to find the
crown.
The crown
was not only powerful but it also represented the final victory for only one
king. He who wore the magical crown would have no equal and would suffer no
rivals. Stefan and Nathaniel both wanted to ‘win’ and they used every resource
at their disposal to do so...
---Part 2 read next week.
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