Chapter 3: magic introduction (world building)
In the realm of Avila, a world where magic and fantastic creatures existed, a maritime city was being under siege by an army of thousands of soldiers wearing green cloth and a banner depicting a snake biting its tail. The siege had been going for almost two weeks without any breakthrough from either side, the walls of the city showed signs of mild destruction from dozens of catapults outside the city. The projectiles were mainly used to demoralise the defenders and it worked over time, since getting shot at with boulders wasn't pleasant. The sieging camp suffered some light damages as well, with some craters here and there, mainly during the beginning of the siege to show the unwelcomeness to their aggressors. Both camps had columns of smokes rising high into the sky.
The city of Premer was located at the mouth of the Minr river where it met with the sea. The city had tall brick walls with strong stony towers, its main gate was composed of three heavy metallic doors put one behind the other. The canal had to go through a portcullis, which was a gate made of a big grille. The city itself had two wide main roads, one coming from the main gate to the castle situated in the centre and the second was coming from the port to the castle. Around that building, there were another set of limestone walls that were smaller similar to the size of two men. It separated older looking buildings made of wood and limestones as well as the castle that was among them and the more recent constructions made of both bricks and wood. Usually people would peacefully go about their lives but with the siege, they would rather stay inside and avoid going out as much as possible, especially during the night where guard patrols were the only ones outside.
On a balcony of the castle, two figures were facing the sieging camp.
"My lord, the Ahas army under lord Falmer seems to grow at a faster pace than the usual Ahas ones. Should we try to capture them instead of killing them?" A man in full plate armour with chainmail said to the other one wearing a long purple cape.
The man hummed as he thought for a moment, observing the lights of the enemy camp.
"We're in a dilemma, my friend." The lord replied without turning his eyes away from the battlefield. "We lack the resources necessary to capture them alive and we lack resources to kill them faster than they can reproduce. Do you have a suggestion, Merdosa Picha?"
"Should we deactivate the magic dispelling stone? That way, our mages could decimate them?" Picha said as he glanced at the courtyard of the castle.
In the courtyard were a handful of people wearing the standard mage dress of a blue robe with a hood, they held a staff with crystals at the end of it.
The magic dispelling stone, also known as city stone, laid in the middle of the city, it was hidden from sight with fake walled off houses because it was the size of a two story high building. Its purpose was in its name, it emitted waves that cancelled magic spells, except for some very rare type of magic. It was used to protect cities and other important locations, keeping them from unruly magic casters. On very rare occasions, wealthy merchants could buy small, hand sized dispelling stones to protect their caravans. Rumours said that a very old divine mage managed to cast a fireball from within the area of effect of a stone, those who pretended witnessing it mentioned something about mixing components blessed by his patron.
There were different types of magic with different ways of using them, but people mainly used standard magic that was centred around elemental manipulation.
"The Ahas may have a weaker tendency to magic, but they are numerous enough to nullify their disadvantage. It would be like millions of pebbles compared to dozens of boulders. Let's hope our naval reinforcements arrive soon or we'll be forced to ask the Order for help." The Lord said with anger in his voice. "I don't want to be indebted to them."
"I'm sorry, Lord Olf. It was my blunder that led the Ahas to land in our borders and come so deep within our region. I shouldn't have trusted the Order either." Picha apologized, biting his tongue.
"It doesn't matter anymore, general Picha. Both are slithering snakes of foreign lands trying to extort our resources, trying to bribe us into letting them take advantage of our people for their own benefits. Had I been the King, I'd have mobilised every lord and nobles to counter influence these bastards." Olf replied, frustrated at the shortcomings of the crown.
"What should we do of the Ahas people already within our walls and our organisations using those kinds of slaves? Even the admiral of the royal fleet has Ahas blood within her, not even counting on the Healing Lord Alm whose adopted children are Ahas." Picha asked, thinking of his Ahas concubine.
"If they are against us, we'll deal with them quietly. I always strived for Premer's human majority. But having Ahas soldiers at our services would be… quite useful indeed. Such a shame that they are a violent bunch at birth."
The Lord and his knight general kept silent as a mass of naked Ahas soldiers crashed onto the city's walls, getting shot down by volleys of arrows or boiled alive by hot sand thrown at them. Their cries as they died were covered by the cheers of their fellow comrades who stayed behind, some were even smashing their shield with their sword or spear. The suicidal charge didn't even scratch the defence, only piling up corpses at its base where there were already a few days old corpses rotting, the only living beings in those piles were flies, rats and agonising soldiers. These specific individuals didn't fear death as they didn't seem to know what dying meant. One of the banners, that a naked Ahas held before crumbling from his wounds, was harbouring their motto: May I path the road to victory.
The Ahas were a race of humanoids that seemed to have been crossbred with reptiles. The singular term was Ahan but nearly everyone used the plural as they were rarely seen alone, the singular term was mainly used to mention exiled members of their society or to sound knowledgeable. Their skin colours ranged from dark red to brown with dark wavy patterns running along their limbs, it might look like tattoos for anyone unaware of such race. They had a pair of sharp fangs that often dripped with poison when they felt threatened or angry.
"I suggest that you calm yourself before I send you to the next charge, young one." An Ahas said to another one that was baring his fangs with a hiss.
Their noses were flat, almost non-existent and their eyes were usually yellow or green or red, with vertical elliptical pupils or round ones. Most of those who had catlike eyes were working at night or for underground jobs.
"Working night shift again, Hoshee?" An Ahas yawned during the evening.
"Of course. I was born for this. Yesterday I managed to shoot a deserting human near the farms over there." The other Ahas replied, pointing at the farms with an arrow.
"You know I can’t see in the dark. You mean the death-filled ones or the barren ones?"
The Ahas usually had black hair but the ones on the battlefield lacked any hair attributes, as if it hadn't time to grow. The patterns on their limbs looked smudged, similar to ink on a rubber balloon after being filled with air.
Far away from the war zone, a hundred of fully armoured soldiers were standing idly in a square formation. The motionless army were all the same height, some even had padded shoes to match the height. They all wore a grey piece of cloth on their helmet, like a bandana. A man on a horse was observing the battlefield from afar with the help of a small hand telescope. He was the only one with just a chest plate for protection, as he wore a blue tunic and a brown pair of pants that was a bit too wide for him. On his back, there was the symbol of a sword and a feather crossed together. The mysterious man smiled as he saw the Ahas sending another wave of soldiers.
Let's see the bright sight of this world!