The Battle of the River Drang

The Battle of the River Drang was considered one of the greatest battles in the history of the world fought between the Aegis of the Embered and the Realms of Morion in the year 382AD.
=== Background ===
The War of the Hollowed Realms was officially initiated by the Realms of Morion after Master Shadowblade Lyra attempted to assassinate the Empress Muriel of Mirrah and her children in 376AD, with the overall attempt being somewhat successful, with her only son Gothard being slain. A simultaneous attack was launched by Chief Sentinel Frieda and True Diviner Kaela on Mirrahnian eastern city of Broadleif, laying waste to the entire city, killing most of the inhabitants and razing it. Morion believed that they were justified in retaking the lands of Mirrah. This was mostly because the Nation of Londor (which Morion is now the remnants of) was mostly made up of the ancient lands of Mirrah, Forossa and Jugo, but Londor had conquered all of them with the help of undead armies and the Darkstalker Kaathe. When the First Flame was allowed to fade by the Ashen One, the rule of Londor effectively collapsed and the civilians rose up against them in all the lands, leading the hollows and remaining leaders to be driven out and officially moved eastwards, towards the ancient lands of Drangleic.
The Ashen One, King of Lorithia, upon hearing word of the attempted assassination of Empress Muriel, travelled to the Eastern Continent of Dwyrain, accompanied by Lord Roderick Ashwood and his Cavalry Unit and the Rhosyn Lords, for the first time in 377AD to create a Global Pact between the leaders of the nations of the world, to ally against the Realms of Morion. The name of the Global Pact became known as the Aegis of the Embered, with Empress Muriel of Mirrah declaring as its first ally alongside Lorithia.
In 378AD Catarina then declared their allegiance to the Aegis, with King Guthrie IV leading a large force over to the lands of Mirrah, along with his Rhyfelwyr and the Sieg Knights. He also helped establish a new city-state by the name of Emberholm, a stronghold and city to act as a strategic position for the Aegis as well as a place to plan from. The Eastern Lands, led by Emperor Isshin of Higashi, soon followed by sending their Drakeblood Knights and led by Drakeblood Knight Ren. The last to declare was King Aurous, who sent 1000 Jugo Ant Riders commanded by Frugel of Jugo, with King Aurous staying in Jugo as there were still problems occurring in Jugo at the time.
=== Guthrie's Prophecy ===
The Monarchs of Catarina are famous for their prophetic nature, with many foreseeing major events that could change the course of the world. King Guthrie had a prophecy on the night that Emberholm was established, detailing an upcoming battle, which would become known as the Battle of the River Drang. He envisioned a battle upon a great shallow river plain, speaking of an Eclipsed Moon in the sky. He also told only the Ashen One and the Sieg Knight Sieghilda of another piece of information he gained from the prophecy and that was that he witnessed his own death, being impaled at the hands of an unknown hollow. The part about the eclipsed moon was one of the most crucial parts of information, as it was known that this moon only appears every 193 years and the next one would appear in the year 382AD. 
This meant that the Aegis now knew the terms of the battle to come, there was only a couple lacking details: the exact location of the river that it was to be fought on and whether the battle is won or lost. When the Realms of Morion began to march against Mirrah in 382AD, the Aegis knew that the battle was coming and advanced out to meet them. Though rumour has it, the Ashen One pleaded with King Guthrie to stay behind at Emberholm so he could survive, but Guthrie refused before revealing to his men that he foresaw his death, before then leading the armies towards the enemy. Unfortunately for the armies of the Aegis, Lord Ashwood, The Rhosyn Lords, Lord Eldemar and Lord Ashwood's Cavalry Unit were patrolling the northern border at the time of the eclipse, meaning that the army was without one of its strongest units.
=== The Battle ===
As the armies of the Aegis begin to arrive at the River Drang, the enemy on the other side are almost instantly spotted and realising the River Drang is the one from the prophecy and the battle would be fought that night. With the Eclipsed Moon in the sky, King Guthrie IV took to the front of the army and ordered the charge of Catarinian and Lorithian warriors straight through the shallow river, with the Ashen One charging with. The Morion Warriors and Umbral Sentinels countercharged into the river and the battle officially begun with thousands of blades, scythes and pikes meeting in the shallow waters.
The Drakeblood Knights and the Mirrahnian blades, led by Drakeblood Knight Ren and Empress Muriel charge in a double envelopment route on the south side with the Jugo Ant Riders enveloping from the North and charge into the sides of the front lines of Morion enemies. Whilst the Drakeblood Knights and Mirrahnian blades effectively just clashed up against the southern side, the Ant Riders smashed the northern wall of Umbral Sentinels with their corrosive acid and completely overwhelming them, with Chief Sentinel Frieda being slain very early on the battle. To avoid extreme friendly casualties the Drakes were held back until the signal had been given by Ren to attack.True Diviner Kaela and her Eclipse Diviners, empowered by the Moon, unleashed a great wave of Dark Miracles onto the battlefield, destroying great units of Lorithian and Catarinian warriors. The Drakeblood Knights and Ren decided to take it upon themselves to charge the still held back Eclipse Diviners and Shadowblade Assassins, as the Drakeblood Knights fought with the strength of an entire legion of soldiers, as was their draconic powers. As the charge occurred, Ren signalled the Drakes to attack the held back units. As the charge was happening however, True Diviner Kaela, foreseeing the attacks by the dragons, released a powerful bolt of dark energy into the sky, piercing the Unnamed Drakes hearts and killing it instantly and fell to the ground crushing several Morion warriors. Realising what was happening, the Sieg Knights try to join the fight against the Diviners and Assassins alongside the Drakeblood Knights. Guthrie now on foot, wading through the shallow water and fighting with unparalleled bravery and separated from his rhyfelwyr. Whilst fighting the diviners, he is impaled through the back from an unknown soldier with a pike and falls face first into the river, before rolling over, facing towards the eclipsed moon sky and witnessing the prophecy that he had four years earlier. Sieg Knight Sieghilda meets Shadowblade Lyra in battle and a duel ensues, between the two powerful warriors. Lyra however managed to get the upperhand on Sieghilda, finding a chink in the Onion Knights armour and stabbing her through the heart killing her instantly. Guthrie's last moments was seeing his Sieg Knight Leader and great friend Sieghilda killed. Meanwhile the Drakeblood Knights are fighting an uphill battle and are losing their charge, but taking many of the diviners with them. 
Upon seeing the body of his mother, Sieglynx picked up the Storm Ruler sword. Filled with the same rage that would rival that of Siegfried, began to unleash a great whirlwind storm from the sword, only to be attacked and killed by Lyra too. But the attack still persisted and was released towards the Eclipse Diviners, almost annihilating the entire unit and slaying True Diviner Kaela. Lyra, was wounded in the attack and decided to withdraw from the field. Siegwyn, the last Sieg Knight left picked up the storm ruler sword and chased after Lyra into the wood behind the river. Upon seeing the deaths of two of her generals, Lady Lilian of Morion finally revealed herself from the wood behind, advancing with an army of thousands of hollowed undead. The Ashen One, realising what was coming, attempted to order the armies to group back together, with most being displaced across the battlefield with no lines. The Hollows then charged into the water, fighting with no fear of death. The Drakeblood Knights become almost completely swamped by the huge army and are forced to retreat back to the main army, with only 2 knights remaining alongside Ren and Muriel, both fighting very well.
Morion was turning the tide of the battle with the use of their hidden army, leading to many of the Aegis' forces dying, but the Aegis still had one drake left: Ren's personal dragon Ieyasu, who finally began to attack using dragonfire, strategically attacking the outside walls to avoid attacking any of the friendly troops. The horde of the Undead still persisted however, advancing into the lines of men completely breaking all formations and for the first time, all parties were in the same group of battle. The last Drake, causing catastrophic destruction to the Morion Warrior units, began to infuriate Lady Lilian. With great accuracy, Lilian launched her double bladed scythe into the air, before lodging into the side of the Drake's head, mortally wounding it mid flight. The Ashen One, witnessed the death of the last Drake as it plummets to the ground. He suddenly saw Empress Muriel getting swarmed by the Undead Hollows and started to fight towards her position. Luckily, the Ashen One got there in time to drag Muriel out of the situation she found herself in. Muriel and the Ashen One fought side by side, slaying waves and waves of Undead. Realising the situation as the army of the Aegis was dying and the death of Ieyasu, The Ashen One was said to become enraged and called upon his ancient unkindled power for the first time since the flame had faded. The men around him saw him glowing with a cold white light as the moonlight shone down onto the battlefield. Feeling this power, he leaped into the air, mimicking the moves of the blood of Gwyn, before crashing down into the center of the undead army, nearly slaughtering them all as the ground cracked along the bed of the river.
Upon witnessing the power, the fighting effectively stops dead in its tracks, with all witnessing the eccentric move the Ashen One had just pulled off. The River was said to become deathly quiet and the Lady Liliane approached the Ashen One, with the armies surrounding the two. In that moment, the two decide to settle on a temporary peace, with no hostilities for five years between the Aegis and the Realms. As the short negotiations come and go, the armies begin to retreat from the River, with no victory for either side but extreme casualties for all.
=== Aftermath ===
As the battle concluded, Siegwyn continued to chase after Lyra before catching up with her and a duel followed. The duel was however extremely quick due to Lyra's wounds, with Siegwyn knocking her blades aside and beheading her in a single swipe. Siegwyn then walked back to the battlefield and threw Lyra's head at the feet of Liliane, who could no longer act against him and began to march her army back to Morion. Morion suffered greatly in the battle, losing almost all of the Undead Hollows, complete loss of the Umbral Sentinels, nigh annihilation of the Eclipse Diviners and the deaths of all three of The Sablists.
With the larger army, the Aegis also suffered many losses. The bodies of King Guthrie, Sieghilda and Sieglynx were brought back to the White Palace in Catarina, informing Prince Guthrum of his fathers death and the fate of the current war. Subsequently Guthrum is crowed as King Guthrum I, still pledging support towards the Aegis. He also makes sure to keep the line of succession in check and within the five year peace, has a child in 384AD. Ren, deeply saddened by the death of his dragon, mourned his long time beast friend, honouring him in the effect that he had on the battlefield. As such, the bodies of the Drakes and the Drakeblood Knights are also brought back to the Eastern Lands, by Ren and several other warriors of the other nations. The bodies of most of the warriors that had fallen in battle are burned in order to prevent reanimation and use by Morion. A Great Remembrance was held in Emberholm as a tribute to those that had fought in the war and the Battle of the River Drang and was held the year following the battle.
King Guthrie was posthumously honoured by his son with a title, for charging headlong into battle knowing full well it would result in his death and fighting bravely to the very end. He became known as 'Guthrie The Fearless'. Whilst there has been battles with larger numbers in the past, this one was considered to be the greatest of all time due to not only there being a large amount of soldiers but because of the amount of different nations that took part. Never has an alliance with this many Kingdoms, Empires and Nations fought in a single battle before, making this one all the more memorable in the history books.
Category:Battle