War for Earth: The Passing of an Empire Vol. II

War for Earth: The Passing of an Empire Vol. II Diary of High Lorekeeper Baeldon --The Call--

The loreseekers heard it first. They told us of the battle that the ogres brought to the Rathe Council. Their complacency had ended in a great war, in wonderful glory. Our loreseekers told us what our god told them, that these smaller, younger, fiercer cousins were shining in the light and power of war while we remained in our valley, rulers over a peace that war had earned us. As our loreseekers spoke about the battles on their pulpit with vast fire in their voices we became hot to join them. For days our forges blazed and our smiths worked tirelessly to produce new arms and repair the old. Our warriors drilled and fought to the death for the glory of Rallos Zek and leadership of our war parties.

When we learned of their failure we were torn. Most wanted to rush forth and follow their path, to defeat the powers of Earth that defeated our tiny cousins. Others thought that to do so would make us seem weak, followers not leaders. What our king thought I can not say for certain. He had been privy to counsel that the rest of us did not know. Some say wise counsel while others call the high loreseeker council of those days the greatest traitors our people have ever known. Far more often spoken, though always under breath, was that our king had turned coward. Regardless, when the call came we answered. As one of the oldest Rallosian clans and because of the seclusion of our home, He chose to gather his army at Krithgor for his assault on the other gods.

The remnants of the ogre invaders were the first to arrive. We recognized some of them, though few enough of them returned. For their initiative and ferocity, these were named commanders of the Rallosian army. This was not something we accepted. It was well known that any individual Krithgor could defeat half a dozen ogres, heroes of the previous battle or not. There were fights, many fights. Ogres were killed in single combat by giants many times, yet none challenged those ogres given charge of us by our god, for that was not allowed. Undoubtedly this was the reason our king ordered us to head north in the night prior to the opening of the portal. [More in Vol. III and IV.]