Battle Scars

[Luke]

The smell of blood inches thick on the ground poisoned the daylight air as if the Sun God himself was relishing in the battle of the Heartlands. The lushous green fields, the majestic elven ruins, bubbling brooks and mysterious forests standing in stark contrast to the vile, sweating and death filled affair which rampaged around them.

DESTROY THE ESSENCE TAINTED!!
The shout came from a tall woman with dark hair and narrow eyes. Her hands were tough and her muscles lean, probably from years of peasantry. Now, however she was proving to be more of a problem. Warryn and the Elven Armies had been fighting for hours now, trying to repel the Order of the Pure Heart. Most of the Elven battallions had been next to useless, their innate talents wasted and consumed by the amulets their human enemies wore as protection. Instead they were forced to fight upclose, where their weakened and forgotten muscles put them at a costly disadvantage.

The Pure Heart commander, 'Liarra' Warryn had heard her called, had fortified her troops within the ruins of some old keep or town, it was hard to tell. They had fortified themselves and every assault from the elves were repulsed at ease. Had they more time the Earth Elves would have burrowed under, or at least laid seige to infidels. But the Phoenix was in a deadly duel with the Cult of Eremine, not 2 miles away. Warryn's orders, as he was painfully reminded directly, was to destroy the Pure Heart and then reinforce the King.

Warryn stared at the fortifications ahead of him, last year he would have walked up the enemy, shield on arm and attempt to smash down their barricades. But the weight of responsibility had changed him, he had others to think about.

General, we have scouted the ruins, there is no way in that is less fortified than the other. The high elf scout bowed his head humbly and waited for his punishment... none came.
What about the walls? Warryn's monotonous question clearly confused the elf
The walls sire? They're made of stone... thick enough to withstand the strongest of magic and we have no seige engines, we even tested the vines and they aren't strong enou...
The vines? How many?
They cover the walls sire... but as I was saying they are too weak to climb...
Thankyou Imduil, join your troop, find your captain and tell him to ready an assault on their front as soon as possible.
Of course my General.

Warryn stared at the Eastern wall and smiled, he picked up his shield and strode out to the Pure Heart camp, stopping well within arrow range seemingly unpeturbed. He took a deep breath, and quickly checked himself.

I thought it would be good for you to know that within the hour I will be standing over your corpses, and you Liarra, I am going to rip that necklace from your neck and then bury you to your waist so that all will know you are half the being that I am.
Feeling content that he had given them fair warning, as was honorable he signalled for the attack to begin.

Hordes of Elves came sprinting up the hill, mired in blood and mud, lust for death in their eyes as they charged into the meatgrinder of the enemy.
Arrows flew from both sides, the fire elves incinerating them mid flight for protection and to cause maximum damage their enemies.
All in all it was a successful distraction. The Order moved most of their troops to the front, laughing at the slaughter and victory they were sure to behold. The Earth Elves however had other designs, Warryn and a few of his favourite mages moved to the east, chanting as they did so. They arrived at the unmanned eastern wall, their mumblings drowned out by the screams of the unfortunate.

The ritual circle opened and the battle was won. The vines on the wall grew exponentially, worming their way through the bricks, instructed and commanded by the Earth Elf mages. The stones heaved and fell backwards onto the enemy until a large gaping hole opened in the Order's flank, their fortress breached and their troops unprotected.

The rest of the battle was a blur, screams, swords, blood, bones, Liarra's mangled face and her incessant whining that the Earth Elf Coshwood would pay for his crimes. She died the next day, buried in mud and slashed to death by the crows and vultures which gorged themselves on the macabre feast below.

The Army moved then, to confront the new enemy. Tired, bruised and aching they shambled onwards, towards King and Victory.

The arrival was less than welcoming, the elements raged all around, storms overhead, fire and lightning in the air. The earth itself shook with anger as beings of power manipulated it without abandon. Most of the elves were dead, Erathils personal healer injured and exhausted was passed out near the entrance to the House. Warryn ordered the charge and as the words left him a lightning bolt arced across and slammed into his defences. He laughed out loud and then rumbled onwards, commanding the earth to slam into those enemies he could see. The first Cult follower he batted away with his shield braining him. The second, third, fourth died to his sword, the next six to magic... then he lost count.

The battle seemed to have stopped. The Army had battled to the centre. And there he stood. The Phoenix King, Earthil, Greatest of the First Borns. Everything about him screamed majesty, his crown, his posture, his clothes, his sword. This of course the elves were used to, and it was not that which gave them pause. The Army stood in shock and horror.

Blood! That's...BLOOD!! The fire elf was unfortunate then... he had not thought how damaging that statement could be. He was instantly silenced by the Earth Elf standing next to him and fell to the floor unconscious.

It was true though... Earthil was bleeding and the more Warryn stared he could see the variety of cuts, bruises and injuries he had sustained. It was impossible, nothing on Velmaneth could harm him, he was infallible and yet here he stood, mortal and weakened.

A flash of pain stabbed Warryn, cutting to his mind and slashing open memories then the words, Now Warryn, now is the time.

The Army had felt it too and battle resumed, the Cult and Elves alike dying in droves. But still Warryn stood and stared... if ever there was a time to defeat Erathil now was it, his servitude would be over, he would be free to pursue his religion. But still he could not harm his brother, his brother who had slaughtered his guild, turned him against Danahil. Family Warryn. Blood. The royal voice rang in his head again.
He was right, the blood on the King's forehead, that on his arms was the same as Warryns. They were kin, great beings, warriors.

He roared with as much passion as he could muster, and charged up the slope to where Erathil was battling Jazdu, bludgeoning four more Cultists as he went. The Phoenix king was hard pressed, he danced and his sword flashed beheading several of the cultists at his back, but at the cost of ignoring the god-like being in front of him. Magic flared as Erathils defences struggled against the magic, tearing his protections down one by one and breaking through to cause shallow cuts and scratches. There was a fire elf too, burning brilliantly, a Sentinel. She had done well and charred bodies surrounded her, Warryn knew from experience that she could not leave.

He was finally there, only ten feet from Jazdu, the Diamond Elf's eyes grew dark and the magic of stone rocketed towards the demi-god seeking to bind him forever in a rock embrace. Jazdu's eyes flicked towards Warryn and he could swear its mouth curved into a smile. The magic of course had no effect and it was then that Warryn realised his mistake.

There was a bright blue flash and then wracking pain, every muscle, every part of his flesh, tearing itself apart. Warryn looked down and screamed as his transparent diamond skin showed there to be a storm raging inside of him, lighting ricocheted within him, finding no escape and instead tearing apart his organs and bones.

Erathil leapt towards Jazdu and they continued their deadly dance, neither gaining the upper hand. It was however apparent that Erathil was weakening.

Then a cold and dark feeling replaced Warryn's pain, earth magic, from his shield slammed into his chest again and again and again banishing the storm and quelling the dynamo. He mouthed thankyou and then rejoined the fray shielding his Brother where he could and slashing with his weapon when the opportunity arose. At least the elves were doing well, the Cultists were able to retaliate with magic specifically deadly to their individual races but Warryn was not foolish. He had made sure that mages warded those of their opposite element before the battle.

Two minutes in their three man duel and Warryn was unable to use his sword arm, his right leg was almost shattered and Erathil was favouring his left suggesting the same. They seemed at the beings mercy and just as it seemed to attack again it vanished. Warryn grimaced... he felt ashamed to be relieved but he couldn't deny that he was.It felt like no victory, the Elves had halved in number if not more, the Phoenix King refused attention and instead claimed he had to meet with the Heroes. Warryn was left to consolidate the battle

As was the story of the Battle of Pure Hearts and Magic. No glory. No victory. No spoils.

Just Erathil's blood.

[Ben]

**Despite the activity going on across the battlefield, it is eerily quiet as everyone tries to go about their tasks as quietly as possible**

"Did you get your necklace?"

**The voice comes from a blue-skinned elf wearing badly damaged leather armour**

[rachel]

A wave of exhaustion crashes over Yazatia as she walks across the battlefield. After the glorious chaos of bloodshed she feels oddly depressed by how quickly a predictable order has been formed by elven soldiers and healers alike. Still, like them she doesn't want her homeland to stay littered with mutated enemy corpses. Ignoring several large bleeding gashes across her arms and back, she orders a few of the less injured fire elf mages to start building a pyre while she and some of the other warriors begin collecting the bodies. Not all of her fallen enemy are dead. As she drives her sword into the throat of a human muttering for mercy, she notices a fellow fire elf slowly carving patterns into a Cult member's broken arm, smiling at the muted gasps of pain.

"Kill her properly." Yazatia moves to stand behind him, not in the mood to be argued with. "If you want to torture people for fun, do it when you're not representing Lord Erathil."

The fire elf looks up, annoyed, then quickly stands when he recognises the Sentinal. "She is our enemy," he protests. "What does it matter what I do to her."

"Lord Erathil is King because it is his right to be so. He is the greatest and most powerful being that ever walked Velmaneth, and neither he, or us as his soldiers, have to bully or threaten anyone to prove this. So when our great Lord gives a simple instruction, such as don't torture humans for the sake of it, I imagine he expects to be obeyed. Unless you want to ask him personally?" Yazatia smiles. She almost wants the fire elf to say yes.

"No." The fire elf quickly lowers his eyes. "I meant no offense."

"Then finish killing her and take her to the pyre."

Satisfied that her point will be remembered, Yazatia strides on the find other corpses to burn.


*Yazatia East: Fire elf Sentinal*

[Luke]

Warryn droned out orders, though he knew the jobs would be mostly finished soon. He wanted to talk to his brother, actually all of his kin, but these days he spent little time with them. Funny, he thought, that joining Erathil and Kazrazil for kinship resulted in him being estranged from them and marched around half of Velmaneth.

He noticed the Fire Elf yelling at another, something about torture but he had lost his taste for conflict and a steely solemness crept over his mind. Then he heard the question from the blue elf, his eyes were sore and he couldn't see well after his encounter with Jasdu, but he saw blue skin.

If that was addressed at me then you should ask it directly, and say the name of who you want to hear it.

He muttered under his breath something about how Air elves probably hadn't advanced enough to have names yet and shot what he thought was a stern stare at the creature.

[Ben]

**The elf smiles before flicking a salute**

"General Coshwood, sir, did you get your necklace, sir?"

[Luke]

I suppose you mean the one from that Pure Heart woman?

He seems perfectly placated, missing any irony in the elf in front of him.

I said I'd rip it from her neck... I did... it's on the floor by her body I expect. Why do you ask?

He seems genuinely curious, he didn't pretend to understand the new strange magic which denied the powers of essence, but he'd been told that understanding and caution made good generals. Better to start late than never.

[Ben]

**The elf removes a pack from his back and opens it before the general, revealing his hands are badly burned. Within the bag are several dozen necklaces. Some are broken, some seem to be decaying rapidly and in the bottom there are a couple of inches of metallic dust.**

"Some of the necklaces seem to corrode and break down into almost nothing when their owner is dead, some seem to retain their form. I think it has to do with how important the wearer. The Heartlands are saturated with magic, the crust is thinnest here and so we are closer to the jewel then any other place in the world and here is where our people live, a people aligned to the elements, to magic. The earth cries out in pain from these necklaces so I'm collecting as many as possible so they do not pollute our land."

[Luke]

Oh.

He seemed a little embarrassed, this newcomer already knew more than him, and was working to prevent a threat to the earth, to Gerethenax. If anything it made him hate these Pure Shard freaks even more.
'
Um good work soldier... That however made him feel sick. Damn air elves.

Then to all his captains;

when we are finished here we need to return to the ruins and collect every necklace from those heretics. Be careful when you do it, use leather pouches or wooden wagons. Don't worry elves soon this day will be over and you can sleep for a week.

He turned to the blue elf, walking in the direction of the ruins. Show me. If that woman was a general of some kind I expect her's will be an interesting find and we may be able to salvage something useful out of this bloodbath.

He walked uncomfortably, wondering if this was some air elf trap where a group of them would be waiting for a group hug session or something else equally ridiculous. Maybe this creature wanted to single Warryn out to talk about 'feelings'. Warryn immediately decided that if he did then this elf would have a worse day than Liara.

[Ben]

**The elf lead Warryn back to Liarra's body, talking as he walks**

"The more important the position of the wearer, the more pureshard is in it. Pureshard is natural...in a way...Eremine coated the jewel in it in order to stop the most harmful and destructive power of the jewel from being released and destroying the world. It's like placing stones around a campfire to stop it from spreading, they prevent a danger, but pick those stones up and you get burned. It should have remained where it was and never been brought to the surface but at least two wells have reached the jewel resulting in the creation of Serke Kemi and The Colourful Isle. On the side the well was dug, small amounts were brought to the surface but on the other side of the world, where the jewel broke through the surface, there would be a lot more."

**They arrive at what remains of the woman after the birds had moved on to easier meat. Beside it lay a silver amulet, it was caked in mud but seemed to glow eerily.**

"In its natural state it is simply another type of rock, extremely resistant to magic though it certainly is. Mined, smelted, impurities removed, crafted...it disrupts the magic of the world. This world is held together by magic, there is magic in the water, the earth, the fire and the clouds, in light in shadow, in life and death. The effects of this metal..."

**He stops, then looks from the amulet up to Warryn and smiles**

"I'll be honest, I don't know the long term effects of it, I've never heard of so much of it being used, I'd just rather it was gathered together and kept safe than left around to cause damage."

[Luke]

Warryn nodded as the elf spoke, he knew a fair bit of the jewel, in a way he was born on top of it, his earthen skin pressurised into Diamond upon its very purpose, but he was busy then, crippled in agony.

Still it unnerved him that rocks could cause him such hassle, he was after all the Earth's Paladin, he should be able to command them otherwise.

I made pure shard once... I combined magic of all the elements in a ritual, forged one piece of pure shard and set it into armour, creating the holy armour of my lord... it was powerful then, disrupted the effects of the mist and enemy magics... but it never stopped my own... you say it hurts when we touch them, would it kill us to wear them? I've fought in pure shard armour? In times of old, when my lord was at his power I would have planned a grand ritual and asked him to nullify the effects of these rocks... but now that the Gods have other problems I am loathe to call on his power.

Still it is interesting, an army of elven casters, all protected from enemy magic would be something great to behold...

He kept talking aloud to himself, his curiosity reaching new heights.

Do not bother Lord Erathil with this... if you wish to do further research you have leave from military service and I will try to provide you with all that you need. If you don't then your findings should be turned over to the army or to Da'arvan. Understood? What is your name soldier?

[Ben]

"I'm not really part of the army, I came here to grant help where I could and hopefully ensure the land is not injured by the battles fought upon it. I'm a druid and although I understand the usefulness of metal, I have seen the damage done to the land by extracting it from the earth. On the whole I would prefer it stayed where it was. I will speak to D'arvan about it, I assume the way it is extracted, purified and forged controls how it affects the wielder or wearer. These purehearts care little about how it would hurt creatures of magic or perhaps made sure that it would."

**He looks at Warryn for a second as if trying to make a decision**

"I heard once that Air Elves may not even have names."

**He pours some water from a flask on his belt into his hands, and wipes some of the dirt and blood from his face, revealing that rather than pure blue he has some areas of green**

"But I'm a Water Elf, people call me River."

[Luke]

Warryn visibly relaxes, and then his face contorts in confusion. Erathil had mentioned a River. Then it dawned on him and for the first time that day his face spread into a grin.

Brother? I'm sorry for how I have treated you today. My alignment to the Earth can make me a little rash...

He looked down at the ground almost ashamed and then perked up. The Coshwood's were nearly all reunited.
If these Elf-killers learn to forge pureshard into weapons, or worse, if they can scatter it like the mist, then we won't be able to win the upcoming battles. We need a way to counter it's effects... I wonder...

Warryn held out his hand, palm down and concentrated hard. His diamond skin discoloured, flicking from Black, to Red, to Blue, to Green... it seemed to cause him physical exertion shifting his skin to new gemstones. He looked at the pure shard necklace and tried to mimic it's colour and composition. Just when he thought he had it his skin returned to it's diamond default and he panted, tired.


No, maybe that won't work... probably not a good idea either.Have you found a safe way to transport these necklaces? I would take that one to Da'avan if you will allow it. I have much time for the Druids, noble Brother, if you need anything know that I do not abandon my kin.

He held out his hand to shake the water elf's hand, a little apprehensive now, it wouldn't be the first time his kin had shunned him and called him traitor.

[Ben]

**River reaches out his hand, then embraces his brother**

"No apologies are necessary, I'm sorry for not announcing myself Masonil...Danny told me a long time ago that you had to remember us or discover us on your own. You didn't abandon us...I've worried for a long time that we abandoned you. I'm sorry."

**He releases his brother before bending down to scoop up the necklace. Before he does so, he rips a piece of his shirt off and uses it to pick up the fallen amulet before wrapping it over and over before tying the thick parcel of cloth up and offering it to Warryn.**

"Here, take it, I'll take the rest to him when I've done another search of the battlefield, I want to gather as many as possible."

**He looks uneasy for a moment**

"I will speak to our youngest brother soon...I've been delaying it for...well...years."

[Luke]

Warryn, for a moment, seems almost to well up in tears, but then filters his emotions and returns to calm monotony.

Danny - he had said...

If you want I can be there to introduce you... do not put it off, he is most welcoming. Nothing means more to him than family. It was the reason I gave my service to him in the first place... that an awkward moment concerning Fort Drake.

He took the amulet, offering thanks, and walked slowly back to the camp, sending a few elves to help River in his task.

He also grabbed the nearest meta-mage, his favourite; Ilindril and asked him to take a message to Da'avan, asking him to meet Warryn at the main battle camp to discuss the recent battles. He knew he was preoccupied elsewhere with the heroes, but Warryn was willing to wait.

He helped the troops pile bodies and burn them until his muscles ached and Ilindril begged him to rest, then he sat cross legged on the floor, hands palm down to the earth and listened to it's vibrations. It had grown quieter recently, just as the sun had grown stronger... that wouldn't do.

[Phil.Priest]

Those adapt at sensing such feel a presence of light magic within the area and shortly after a flash of air magic erupts. To those who incappable of sensing such powers a High Elf just simply phases into sight, steps toward the Diamond Elf and bows...

Lord Warryn, I am informed by one of my colleagues, under your command, that you wished to speak with me?