*BOOM*
A giant fireball landed dead center in a formation of warriors.
"Don't give up", they said.
"We'll make it through this" they told me.
"The hero will protect us", they all whispered as reality became more...real
We were f*cked
If I was at a betting ring and had to guess the odds of us living or dying it would be a 1:99 ratio.
Yet I lived.
I survived.
I started to thrive.
I cast my lot with the 1 within the 1:99 ratio and won.
But did I really?
*Boom*
"We lost a third of our warrio-"
"CAPTAIN HORK, WE NEED YOU DAMNIT, GET UP, PLEASE GET UP!"
Pain, that was all I knew for a moment, but then there was light. The pain disappeared and my eyes snapped open.
My world was filled in with a blur of mostly grey and brown. I blinked for a moment, gasping for air. I was sweating and dizzy, it took a moment but my eyes finally focused. I was in a room, cobblestone walls with a wooden ceiling and floor. Magic inscriptions covered the room's flooring, walls and even the ceiling.
That's right, I survived, I didn't die there. The hero along with an army of 100,000 warriors tier 2 and higher led the war against the Abyssal Demon Legion Summoner, a lengthy title for sure but it most practically explained what we were up against. The ADL Summoner itself was a tier 4 Undead demonic entity, as the 'Legion' Summoner title would imply it was akin to an entire 2000 strong army by itself because of its summoning ability. Each Abyssal Demon it summoned was a being comparable to a tier 3 combatant. The worst of which was it's 2 Abyssal Guardians which were semi-tier 4 entities as well. Our 100,000 strong was indeed numerous but 99% of that army were merely tier 2 combatants.
We indeed did achieve victory in terms of keeping the enemy out, but the battle in question could in all honesty be left in debate on whether it was a victory or not. 2000vs100,000, We came back with the lives of 894 Abyssal demons and both of the Abyssal Guardians. The ADL Summoner lived and escaped with its life. 87,238 tier 2 warriors were estimated to be dead with over 4500 more missing. That left around 8000 survivors from the war, and out of that 8000 about 7300 of the survivors had varying degrees of injuries. Out of the elite 1000 in our army only 472 came back with nearly 200 of them being transported back with severe injuries. A pyrrhic victory at most one would call this.
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Yap alert here, if your not interested in the lore/background setting please skip to the next chapter. The real start of the story begins there.
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Our nation, The Everspoken Nation is currently at the weakest it's ever been since the Fragments war between the humans, the Giants, the dwarves, the elves, the dragonkin, the greenskins, the beastmen, and the demons 300 years ago. In those times reaching tier 3 was more common but the death rate was also much higher as well. Many tier 4 existences had fallen, such as the dark elves Great Shadow Shaman, or the Greenskins High Orc King, there was also the beastmen's Grand Beast Emperor in those times, each one a powerhouse at the top of the pyramid, but each had also fallen in the Fragments war, and with them their races fell below the status of a recognized nation. That war ended not by the had of the races that had participated in the war but by one of the ancients, a legend in the world today, that war was ended by alone entity of one of the few races blessed with path towards greater heights then all the others, a dragon.
There is a saying that each being has a limit, most people's limit was at tier 2, some reach beyond and became tier 3, then there were those given a certain destiny and granted the ability to reach their races peak, tier 4. As there are lesser and greater among those in a single race so are there lesser and greater among the races themselves. Among these greater are the dragons granted the ability to be the strongest beings in any tier they are in and the ability to ascend tier 4 the fabled realm to reach the mythic tier 5 or half divine.
The dragon to end the Fragments war was a tier 5 Violet Dark Dragon, he was said to have suppressed the all the other race's forces by the presence of his aura.
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Author's thoughts/poem: nothing much to say except this is the first novel I'm trying to go somewhere with, if you have any constructive criticism for me then all I have to say is:
Your critiques will be checked-
If it is not useful it will be rekt-
In any case that it is actually needed-
I'm afraid it will have already been yeeted-
Don't come to me asking for fixes-
The only corrections being done will be your stitches-
:)
On a more serious note, I will deeply appreciate any tips and grammar corrections or critique you guys might have for my first actual novel. I hope you guys have a great day!