Side Story 113.1 - Humanity's Duty
On a bright and sunny day, a massive tower pierced up into the heavens. Massive red banners coated in flames hung from its walls, interspersed with windows and gates of all shapes and sizes from which all manner of flying creatures took off and landed. On the ground below, a massive city was arranged in a neat grid around wide roads made of stone to one side of the tower, while empty plains stretched into the distance on the other side. The buildings were uniform and built of stone, miniature fortresses with little adornment save the banners of a red dragon upon a black field.
The sound of hammer upon metal sounded out throughout the city as smoke belched into the sky. Thousands of blacksmiths worked their craft, forging countless swords and spears and suits of armor. Bakers kept their ovens working around the clock as they churned out mountains of bread and hard tack to fill the endless warehouses, weavers sewed together uniforms, bandages, and banners until their hands trembled, and brewers continuously emptied and filled their barrels with as much grog as they could brew. Clerks ran through their offices carrying stacks of paper taller than themselves as they worked into the night to keep track of it all.
Countless soldiers gathered in the field beyond the city, sparring, exercising, and marching in formations. Dragons and wyverns and griffins and giant birds and all manner of other flying creatures flew in neat triangles, guided by the riders on their backs as they flew over the beast cavalry charging below.
And in the center of the field, a man stood facing three dragon riders. He stood a head taller than even the tallest soldier, adorned in a sturdy but worn suit of metal painted red. He held a red glaive in his hands as flames wrapped around him. One dragon flew straight at him, another flew over and to his rear, and the third unleashed a green cloud of acidic mist.
He ignored the mist as the fire wrapped around him flared and pushed it away. He jumped up over the dragon approaching and landed on its head, knocking its rider off with a swing of his glaive. Then he jumped off the dragon’s head and propelled himself upward with a blast of fire from his feet. He caught the tail of the dragon flying overhead and pulled it down, swinging the dragon and rider both down towards the third pair. The group collided and collapsed to the ground in a tangled mess before the man landed back on the first dragon, driving it into the ground.
He then landed back on the ground and shook his head as the riders groaned and picked themselves off the ground. He was about to question them on their efforts when a courier came running in.
“Priority message for High Councilor Rippotis!”
Rippotis and shook his head.
“General Rippotis. Let me guess, it’s from High Councilor Heigiosa?”