The Last Night in the Old World

Earendel Helheim

The old king wiped the blood from his face, and looked about the room.  The castle was on fire!  He didn’t need to be told what had happened, there was only one way the castle would be overwhelmed before they knew they were attacked, and that was the Elves.  “Carter, sound the alarms!  Get the mages and my son quickly!”  Carter looked over, still stunned by the explosions that had just rocked the throne room.  “Yessir, of course!” And ran off to complete his orders, leaving the king alone in the vast throne room.  

The king walked to the windows cautiously to evaluate the situation.  It was worse than he could have possibly imagined, there were at least three elven armies at the east wall alone.  He walked from window to window, counting troops.   The Dwarves had joined the elves, and had at least 6 armies, possibly more.  The Aarakocra were flying overhead, shooting their bows and dropping bombs on the castle.  It was worse than he ever could have imagined.  He would not be king after tonight.

“Father, we are being attacked from all sides, why have you pulled me here?  I need to be commanding my men!” The young prince cried out.  The king looked at him sourly.  “Tonight, you will refer to me as your majesty, understood?  Do not question me, this one time.”  He extended a hand, gesturing for the prince to sit at the throne.  “Father, I can’t sit dow—“ “LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY BOY!” The king boomed.  For all of his training, his son was still a child.  It makes what he was about to do even harder.  “Sit down, and wait for the court wizards.  I will explain when they get here.”

The mages filed in to the throne room.  There were five mages, but only four had shown up.  Carter was with them, looking defeated.  “Mathias is dead, isn’t he?” asked the king.  “Yes, your majesty.  His quarters were bombed, there wasn’t much left of him.  I was able to recover the ring from his body though.”  Carter pulled out the signet ring of the court mage and handed it to the king.  “Very well” sighed the king.  he turned to the address the wizards. “Gentlemen, tonight we enact our plan.  We are down a mage, so I will stand in for him.”  The wizards all looked like he had ordered their execution.  The turned back to the prince “You are king now, understand?  I die here tonight, but you will take our people to a glorious new frontier!”  “Your majesty, what are you talking about?  What are these old men going to do to help?  Why are you going to die?”

“I knew this day would come.  The elves are far too powerful to allow our kingdom to persist, and there is no escaping them.  The dwarves are allied with them, as are the Aarakocra, and the Silver Kingdom.  The days of my father’s empire are lost.  So, we came up with an alternate plan.  We will open a portal, allowing us to move to a new realm, where we can be free of these problems.  It will take these ‘old men’, as well as me, since Mathias is gone.  The magic will consume our souls to create the portal.  You must take our people through.  Do you understand?”

“Father, there’s go—“ the prince started, but was cut off.  “I said to call me your majesty.  I also said not to question me.  We’ve been working on this plan since long before you were born.  There will be no arguing.  Go to the courtyard and assemble the civilians.  They will go through with the storm guard first.  Then get your soldiers out.  Do you understand?”  “Yes, your majesty.  But—“ The king slapped the prince, and cast silence on the room.  There would be no arguing now.  The prince bowed before the king, and turned and left the room.  The king dropped the spell.  “Gentlemen, by the looks of the city we only have minutes to accomplish our mission.  Lets get to work.”  The mages nodded and started preparing the most powerful spell any of them had ever seen cast.

By the time the prince got to the courtyard, the storm guard was already being overwhelmed with civilians at the gate.  “Let them in!” The prince shouted.  “Sir, only the king can give that order!”  “I am the king now.  King Marcus II is dead.  I am now King Marcus III”.  The prince grimaced.  He had wanted to pick a new name, but couldn’t think of any.  “Yes, my king” bowed the soldier. “Men, open the gate!”  As the gate opened, thousands of civilians started to pour in.  “Organize them here, and tell the troops at the walls to fall back here when they see the signal!”

—

Hundreds of crossbowmen were on the walls now, shooting down the air forces before they could reach the castle.  They had successfully evacuated the city and the army into the citadel, but now there was no room to move.  Only the troops on the outer walls hadn’t evacuated.  Suddenly, the roof of the throne room blew off, with a powerful arcane light blasting into the night sky.  The prince went to the main entrance of the castle.  Inside, he saw it, the enormous gateway to another world, spanning the entire width of the dining hall.  Through it, he could see a very different scene, an arid landscape, which was nothing at all like his swampy kingdom.

“GET THE CIVILIANS THROUGH!” Cried the new king.  It didn’t take much effort.  As soon as the civilians saw a way out, they started flooding into the dining hall.  Within minutes they were all through.  “Soldiers, through the gate!  Get in defensive positions on the other side!”.  As the troops started marching through, carrying food, supplies, and weapons, the king looked over to spot Carter, his father’s assistant.  “Carter, is he gone?”  “Yes, my king.  He ordered me to deliver this to you.”  He handed him a small rod, with a button on the end.  The new king looked at Carter, puzzled.  “Carter, this is an immovable rod.  What use do I have for it?  “My king, that rod can seal the gate.  If you push that button, the gate closes, and only you can reopen it.”  “I see.”  The king tucked the rod in his belt and moved towards the gate.  The last of the troops were moving in.  So were the elves.  “Get through the gate Carter, and see to it that they aren’t panicking over there.  I will be through shortly.”  Carter nodded and moved through the gate.

The king stood to the side of the gate, gesturing troops to it.  Most of the men at this point were wounded.  He waited until he could see elves in the courtyard, and passed through the gate.

—

It was blindingly bright, this new land.  It did not seem very promising.  Marcus frowned and turned back to the gate.  Elves were running towards the gate now.  He clicked the button on the rod, and the gate became opaque.  There would be no returning any time soon.