WHEN FIRE MELTS THE SNOW

[Draeris 3124]

A depiction of Haense through King Andrik, engulfed in flames.

 

WHEN FIRE MELTS THE SNOW

A tale of grand destruction in the former Reza

 

The Duma was proceeding as any other, with the feudalists and the centralists bickering over absentees and protocol. Lord Baruch’s roll call suddenly got interrupted by screams of despair: “Fire! FIRE!”. The room looked at each other in confusion, one even stating: “They’re just drunk, continue”. 

 

As the smoke enveloped the windows, the first men at the doors started to cough. Reality hit: the fire was more than an ale-induced fantasy. “Let us exit the palace at once!”, Lord Baruch stated, and many members of the Duma followed. Once by the door, they saw a sea of fire engulfing the streets. “To the courtyard then!”, Lord Baruch yelled, with an entourage following suit. But the gathering could not escape the flames as they discovered, entrance by entrance, that their chances to escape burned with city. 

 

A small pathway was found to the Church in the city, with a now disorganized stream of escapees screaming and crying as the flames came closer. The Brotherhood attempted valiantly to organize the evacuation, but to no avail, as the primitive panic of man overtook the ratio of the Haenseni. Most made it to the Church, unfortunately some did not. Yet the tale would not end there.

 

The calm that overtook the crowd was under false pretenses, as the priest preaching of GOD and sin was unaware of what would come next. The fire slowly embraced the Church as anticipated, yet a new participant to the tragedy arose. A paranormal force reviving the corpses under the seated faithfuls, clawing their way through the floors to feast upon the living. Ambushed by fire and attacked by the dead, the Brotherhood and armed citizen alike fought to keep both away from the women and children; who’ve reached safety in the back of the church.

 

That safety was short lived however, the gathering of warriors unable to hold the hordes back from their beloved. “To the crypts!” Ser Wilheim Barclay would shout, beckoning Ser Konrad Stafyr to follow his lead. The two steered a group of civilians as the army remained at the end of the line: fending them off from the dangers that followed them. The staircases seemed endless as the air became colder, with the torchlight growing more scarce. “Those who cannot fight, to the back!” Otto Sigmar exclaimed, “We will hold our ground here!”.

 

With the last guards nearly falling from the stairs due to their hasty escape, the citizenry hid behind the pillars at the end of the long crypts. A deep, spectral voice suddenly spoke to the Hanseti’s: “It’s just another moment.. Another singular moment before this all ends.. Descendants.. Your town is gone, there is nothing more to do besides facing the music. Prepare descendants.. For this fate has arrived”. This time, nobody panicked. Ser Konrad walked through the crowds, directing the wounded to doctors as the Brotherhood maintained a wall of shields. The sounds of blades in rotten flesh and sizzling fire interrupted the murmurs of the citizenry loudly.

 

The Brotherhood, led by the loud voices of Ser Wilheim, Siegmund Corbish and Philip Baden, were forced to slowly retreat against the monsters. The crowd following their retreat to the back of the crypt, all moving in a peculiar synchronized fashion. Swords began to break as soldiers had collapsed of fatigue: the battle was long and fierce.  “We come as crows!” and “Ave Haense!” occasionally were heard through the sea of sound, a true testament to the patriotic duty of the Hanseti that prevails in all circumstances. “Cut down the invaders rising from the Ashes!” Ser Roderick yelled, hacking down the last corpse in a fierce blow. As that corpse fell, there was a short period of peace with no corpses rising up. “Is.. Is this the end?” the murmurs stated, with people growing slowly at ease.

 

“Here it comes.. The end of the line, descendants..” a spectral voice spoke again, shattering the hopes of this tragedy ending. A new wave arose as the nearly depleted army took their last stand. Soldiers were smacked against the walls as the women cowered: the once organized line now fragmented by singular soldiers fighting for their lives. Karl Vyronov left a trail of blood as he fled the fighting scene, exclaiming “The bastards got me!” as he covered his eye, his statement interrupted by many shouts of “Ave!” and “Push forward!”. Karina Sofiya meanwhile cried “Aunti… It is so dark!” as the women violently dragged their crying children by their arms. Konstanz Barclay held his shield high alongside his brother Anton, deflecting the attacks from the wounded lord Vyronov. The flames consumed the pillars and the graves of the late men of Haense: the final room of the crypt still standing as a safe haven for the many unable to fight. Irissa Loraethis cried “We’re going to die!”, with folk at the likes of Sigmund Baruch comforting her. But as the men persisted, the fire became smaller, the people became calmer and the situation seemed to improve for the better..

 

As the last had fallen, with the final flame out, Philip Baden spoke to those in the crypt: “We have prevailed, true people of Haense!”.  

 

A sea of “Ave Haense, Ave Andrik” and “We come as Crows” broke the crowd into a festive state. With soldiers and citizens alike hugging and weeping. They had made it, they had protected their beloved. They survived the greatest tragedy in their lives. Many could not even believe it, asking their peers if they were truly saved..

 

Everyone had forgotten their class, ranks, jobs and names. They were all brothers and sisters now, who had overcome a destiny of death. The Hanseti had proven that brotherhood and unity was a recipe for survival, anywhere and anytime. 

 

With the last fires being put out and the folks slowly exiting the crypt. Common life would slowly restore itself in the Kingdom. They discovered that the despite the ashen buildings and the 4000 comrades fallen; Haense would always be Haense, as the broad shoulders of its many citizens had carried the grotesque task of protecting their fellow kin. The Brotherhood? The whole people were a brotherhood that day. And if they stood through this, they could stand through anything.

 

Ave Haense, a nation of brothers, a people that overcome. 

 

[MeteorDragon 3441]

Xavis sweats

[KIIWIKILLA 342]

1 hour ago, Draeris said:

Karl Vyronov left a trail of blood as he fled the fighting scene, exclaiming “The bastards got me!” as he covered his eye

 

1 hour ago, Draeris said:

Konstanz Barclay held his shield high alongside his brother Anton, deflecting the attacks from the wounded lord Vyronov.

As Karl Vyronov sits in his chamber nursing his now empty eye-socket, he thinks about how grateful he is to the young Konstanz for helping to save his life. He surely would have perished had it not been for the valiant Barclay man. 

[libertyybelle 6187]

The small Barbanov-Alimar princess whose cries sounded the crypts, sat in her father’s embrace. She recalled the events that had transpired moments before with anxious tone and nonsensical words, trying to explain such events to the Red Prince. Though she herself was not sure what truly happened that day.

[MadOne 4945]

A grumpy Wilheim would wobble around New Reza using a wheelchair, glad that all of his family members including Aedan were safely escorted out of the burning city after the incident. He would fall weak after falling prey to onea axe, not remembering it it fell on his leg or if a horrid creature used it to strike him in the rush of the battle.