Siege of Dornhaf

*The Siege of Dornhaf were the largest battle during*
AOD, the forces of THO had planned this attack for months and now where ready
to recapture the city. The battle ended in success for THO when Mary Dawn, the
Dawnbringer and champion of Helio slew Sagitor with the Sword of Dawn, a blade
forged by Bragd during AOL. This victory marked the end of Zodiac Beasts, THO
gained vital territories to start a counterattack against the Zodiac Beasts.

## Background

AOD
were the chaotic time after Kaz’dur were slain during the war in AOL, his death
by the hands of Nidül unleashed his final plan. twelve Zodiac Beasts, creatures
from Nox Nihil were transported to Terrum to destroy the world and thus ending
the gods under Tari’el. Records show that seven of the twelve beasts landed on
Terrum, due to the war the gods were to wounded to help the races of Terrum.
Willhelm and Elaine created THO, a group of several members that led the
defence of Terrum.

After
the loss of Dornhaf by Sagitor and his commanders, he killed the royal family
and the city guard, the cult of Sagitor then enslaved the population of the
city and sacrificed over seventy percent of them to Vitrar, the Everserpent to
empower themselves and Sagitor himself. Willhelm, who is travelling in the
lands that now are Fehrelia got the news of the captured city by Castor Ashby,
the leader of the Eagle Company. They started recruiting and training soldiers
and planning a siege of the city. A war meeting between Willhelm Marlow, Elaine
Nyve, Adnir Fornheart, Isha Tempus, Mary Dawn and Celebros Wintertell. At the
end of March in 0e 50 THO had over 58.000 soldiers, the largest army ever
assembled on Terrum. Willhelm gave the marching order towards Dornhaf. They
arrived on the 5th of April 0e 50 and they planned the siege, Willow Marlow,
who had only a few days earlier celebrated his 19th birthday was chosen the
Lord of Strategy by the THO leaders.

Early in
the morning, when the sun shed its first ray of light Willhelm called the order
to attack. Willhelm yelled a war cry so loud that even Sagitor, resting inside
the throne room of the castle could hear the roar.

## The battle

On the
western flank Fornheart led the dwarven warriors of Teras-Mountains that were
in exile after Virgil took the mountains for herself. They were only 5.000
strong that were capable of fighting, but they had the willpower of 10.000.
Behind them Willow Marlow and Celebros Wintertell stayed behind with 3.000
soldiers, protecting their carriages and wares but also strategizing. On the
eastern flank Daos Chamberly led 10.000 soldiers directly into the enemy lines,
As he was the user of Te'kai, a deadly blade style using ice magic. Behind him
Elaine Nyve, Rowan Janys and Balthemor Vile had a strength of 10.000 soldiers,
on the right of the three Eirel Blight led 3.000 soldiers to sweep into their
western flank and cause chaos, behind her Isha Tempus led 5.000 soldiers as
backup. In the middle Alnasl Brisk, Mary Dawn and Willhelm Marlow led a force
of 25.000 in the middle to directly attack Sagitor and kill him.

The forces of Sagitor had overwhelming power in numbers, over 80.000
soldiers, and the cult of Scorpiel with their necromantic powers. On the
western flank Mizar, the Fire King led an army of 20.000 soldiers with Timiel
leading the necromantic sorcerers. On the eastern flank Alioth, the darkened
one led an army of 12.000 soldiers, more than double the size of Fornheart's
army. In the middle Sagitor himself led an army of 34.000 soldiers, Bek'thal and Tak'thal were commanders of the army under Sagitor himself.
Sagitor had placed 10.000 soldiers behind inside the city walls to protect the
city and to keep the throne room secure.

### Eastern flank

THO's
western flank started the attack with Isha Tempus and Eirel Blight in the lead
against Mizar, the fire king and his army. The ensuing battle was the most
fatal on the entire battlefield, at first the battle was going in Mizar's
favour, but whit the arrival of Isha Tempus backup the favour changed in THO's
favour. Suddenly a burst of flames erupted from the ground, a vortex of fire
erupted and caught some of Eirel Blight's army. When the vortex disappeared
Isha Tempus saw Eirel Blight's body on the ground, she was caught in the vortex
and killed by the flames. Isha Tempus flew into a frenzying rage, Her speed so
fast that not even her own soldiers noticed her disappear. Her blade had a
white light along the blade, and when it hit Mizar's body, it erupted in a
divine light so bright that the entire battlefield stopped.  When the light disappeared Mizar was gone,
the Nihilis that supported him were gone and Isha stood there alone, she stood
still looking up and tears ran down her cheeks. Moments later she fell down to
the ground, unconscious. Her soldiers ran up to her and carried her body back
to Willow and Celebros.

### Western flank

The
western flank, only comprising of dwarven soldiers from the Teras-Mountains.
They were up against over 10.000 soldiers with Alioth in the command, but they
had a willpower and the goal of the reclaiming of Teras-Mountains from Virgil,
Angel of Eternal Nightmares. The battle commenced, the dwarven soldiers fought
bravely and it's said that for every dwarven soldier three Nox Nihil soldiers
were killed. When the battle was at its peak, Adnir Fornheart came one-to-one
with Alioth, the darkened one. They fought furiously and it seemed there was
going to be no victor of the duel, but when Isha Tempus light shone throughout
the battlefield, Adnir took his hammer and swung it and hit Alioth so hard that
he cleaved him in half, killing him instantly. The dwarven warriors shared for
their commander but the battle wasn't done, they still had to defeat Sagitor
and liberate the city.

### Middle flank

The midden
flank was the largest and bloodiest battle on the entire field, Alnasl Brisk,
Willhelm Marlow and Mary Dawn led the western part of the midden army. They
planned to destroy their western flank and then attack Sagitor from the side,
catching him off guard. The eastern part of the midden army was led by Elaine
Nyve, Rowan Janys, Balthemor Vile and Daos Chamberly. The battle begun, the
three armies clashed in the middle of the field, The plan went as planned, the
western part of Sagitor's army begun to fall. Suddenly something happened that
no one of THO thought would happen. Large shadows flew over the battlefield,
darkening the sky and a collective roar echoed throughout the plain. Übelfin,
the Dragon Lord of the Elemental Dragons came flying with an army of elemental
dragons. They landed on the western and eastern flank, Übelfin and a majority
of the dragons landed on the western flank, this caught THO off guard, panic
spread throughout the army. Willow and Celebros
stood on the field behind the battlefield,  they gave each other a nod and Celebros
roared on a language unknown to other races, the ground started shaking and
from the woods behind them over 20 Metallic Elder Dragons and 40 Metallic
Dragons erupted from the woods. Willow and Celebros had planned this all along,
with the help of Weißir, the
Dragon Queen an Malow Morrow, The Dragon Lord they had put together the
strongest Elder Dragons and Dragons to attack Übelfin.

### The final attack

The battle that first had been seen as a
loss to THO now looked more favourably for THO. Morrow and Mirmulnir landed on
the western flank and Muirdris on the eastern flank. The battle plan had begun,
Willhelm Marlow's army successfully destroyed the western part of Sagitor's
army, leading to a encasement that could succeed in defeating him. Übelfin and
Malow Morrow clashed on the western flank, in dragon form they blasted magical
attacks at each other and used their claws and teeth to defeat the other. Übelfin killed Mirmulnir when he tried to
attack Übelfin, he successfully deflected the attack and blasted a fire ball at
Mirmulnir, killing him nearly instantly. With the loss of his kin member Morrow
flew into a rage and with Weißir's
blessing he created a metallic vortex that chaught Übelfin and he was killed by
the vortex, his body creating a small crater from the impact. With the defeat
of his commanders and Übelfin slained, Sagitor knew that he would be defeated.
He started attacking the commanders of THO, killing Balthemor Vile, Daos
Chamberly and Alnasl Brisk in a flurry of attacks. Sagitor then dropped his bow
and started chanting a spell, moments later, a shadow started to form in the
sky, no one knew what it was until it was too late. Sagitor had used the spell
"Wormwood" a level X spell with a condition so rare it can only be
used once every 659 year, called a Moonlight Convergence. A meteor was
descending from the sky quickly, everyone was in danger. Rowan Janys yelled at
everyone to run to him, when all soldiers and commanders were in a 250 m radius
he chanted a spell, then everyone started glimmering in a white and golden
light. Moments later everyone were in the woods, south of the strategy camp
safely from the meteor as it crashed down on the field and fire busted from the
crater. Sagitor was dead, but Elaine noticed that Rowan wasn't moving. She
tried to shake him awake but he laid still, with a gentle smile on his face.
Isha told the commanders that he had used a world class spell called "Vemotus"
to teleport everyone away from the meteor impact.

## Aftermath

With the defeat of Sagitor and the liberation of
Dornhaf THO gained a strategic point of defence against the remaining Zodiac
Beasts. The commanders still alive held a funeral for the commanders and
soldiers that died in the battle, Alune Spellweaver inherited Rowan Janys spell
book from where the school of Shadows later was born from. Alune Spellweaver
and Evander Cedar created after the battle the council of three, an
organisation were the three most powerful mages discuss matters relating to
magic and sorcery. Willow Marlow was appointed Lord of Strategy by his father
and the other commanders, meaning he became one of the lead commanders of THO.