act two: protecting a kingdom
"Our soil has had barely the time to adjust to its new master, and already its old has returned for jealous vengeance... this was not what I'd intended for, Johnathan."
The sky lights are of crimson, clouds rolling through a medieval point of time where men march across a blood-soaked ground in hopes of capturing castles and kingdoms and calling them their own. The sun, a sun whose eyes had beheld so many generations of cultural innovation among the tiny human race inhabiting its neighbor Earth, had watched in dismay as nasty things of disease and famine cut a swathe through the cultures of man, decimating them and bringing them crashing to the ground.
All those many years of advancement, of mankind's evolution... all potentially put to waste by things unseen by man's own eye, predators lurking and drawing death upon all. The Black Plague had torn through the lands, leaving all but a single kingdom standing in areas such as these, where men had fought over the remaining land like children fighting over a toy. Like nothing more than a simple toy.
Prince Jonathan of the Northern Continents, Second in Command of His Nation's Royal Army, stood within the walls of a kingdom that were not his own, having left his own in the care of his military forces. Prince Jonathan, a wise and powerful fighter, was still for the most part greatly inexperienced in true warfare, however he had nonetheless brought with him some of his greatest military specialists to aid in the coming battle ahead of him... a battle he would fight in alongside of his noble king.
King Dominic of the Continent Collective, First in Command of His Nation's Royal Army and Protector of His People. He had not always been the king his people knew him as now... far from it, in fact: he had only recently obtained the throne. Once a great war general, a former king of the outer lands and a revolutionary leader of the people, King Dominic had seized control from the former King of the Continent Collective, peacefully sending him forth to the outer lands thereafter for safe dwelling.
It was meant to be a bloodless transaction, and an understood necessity in the face of the coming storm that was the invading forces of the far east. The former king, whose birthname of Carmine was of significance in song. Known by his men as something of a young lion, Carmine was a brash, headstrong king... prone to bouts of overzealousness in battle and often underestimating the soldiers he would come to face when joining his men.
With the skillful warriors of the far east breathing down the neck of the Continent Collective, it was saw as a much better chance to have a former king and skillful veteran of war leading the fights, than the young roaring lion that was the Continent Collective's former king.
King Dominic had rightfully seized the lands of its former master, and in doing so had publicly acknowledged the former young king's great skill in-battle, speaking in favor of him and telling all who had ears to hear of the young king's potential for future greatness... and he had thought that such words might sate that roaring lion. He had thought that such words might even influence the roaring lion to march into battle at his side.
Instead, it seemed... the roaring lion had returned to its former land of home with a ready army and an angry message of violence for its newfound king, all the while those warriors from the far east continued their forward advance upon the Continent Collective. With the new king's forces spread thin thanks to his predecessor... and the young Carmine's stubborn belief in his self-proclaimed birthright to the throne, the new King Dominic had begun to grow impatient, and in-turn had became angry himself.
Angry enough to bring the Northern Continents into the picture. Angry enough to unite with their leading Prince, to face against a collective from the outer lands that had united together with a similar purpose: a quick overtaking and slaughtering of all who would oppose them in the process.
These were men who would disregard their lands in favor of power, but upon seizing power, would still proudly face the far eastern warriors and attempt to win in a battle for their newly divided kingdom.
"Aye," Jonathan spoke, his eyes lifting towards the heavens as he let a soft sigh escape his weary lips, "It would seem that things have taken a turn for the worst, my King."
King Dominic frowned as he stared down upon the advancing figures in the distance, still so far from his kingdom yet so large upon the horizon. He had more than enough forces to meet them, to hold their advance... but soon, the first waves of the eatern invaders would be coming from the other side, and the good king would quickly find himself trapped between two wars, threatening to tear his kingdom to the ground should he waver once in his determination.
For his people, for his nation... for the continent he loved so dearly, King Dominic put on a bold front and a brave face, speaking victory to his men while silently strategizing exactly how that victory could be achieved. He only had the vaguest of notions as to how the victory could be reached, but even in the vaguest of notions lied a great hope... and a belief that, should all else fail surrounding the good king, he would find a way to rise above it all.
"Though a thousand may fall at my side," the king suddenly spoke, turning his head with a smile to the Prince, who stared back with an intrigued expression, "And ten-thousand at my right hand... they shall not bring me harm."
Should such a thing be necessary... King Dominic was ready to fight the battle alone, and show them why he had become a feared force of the outer lands so very long ago.