To War

Merenda looked out over the plain stretching before the gathered human armies. They'd managed to unite all seven of the human kingdoms together under one banner for the first time in centuries. The result was the mightiest army ever risen since the time of the Imperial legions of old, and what frightened Merenda most was that it wasn't enough. Looking down in the valley below them, situated in the midst of the vast plain rose the glittering obsidian edifice of the Sovereign Palace where the Emperors and Empresses had once ruled. Now a blackness hung about it, a miasmic cloud before which the ground was upheaved and the souls of the dead arisen.
Against such horrors as now lay around that once beautiful seat of power Merenda was unsure if the entirety of the unified human kingdoms could stand such a fight and win. The sylfaen had withdrawn from the world and the dweormir remained ensconced within their hidden homes within the mists of the mountains. It lay upon humanity's shoulders to stand and challenge the evil now dwelling within the world.
“Is there any word Sigmund?” Merenda asked her lord-at-arms pensively as the sun began to set behind the gathered armies.
“No Lady Merenda, we have received none.” Sigmund replied. “And the sunset is nearly upon us. If they do not arrive soon—“
“Then we will fight still, we must take the ramparts before dawn if we want to pass through the blackness without consequence. If they are not here then we must risk it all on our own merits.”
Sigmund looked to her pensively as he replied grimly.
“Then we will fail, you must know that Lady Merenda, and without the promised aid we cannot guarantee that all the assembled kingdoms will follow your banner.”
“We will die if we do not go Sigmund, you know this.”
Her lord-at-arms nodded quietly, having nothing more to say.
Merenda turned to watch as the sun began to set, soon it would begin, and the test of human blood would be laid bare for all to see. She hoped that it would be a test they'd all pass. The sun dipped below the mountains and the world became lit with an unearthly purple glow emanating from the Sovereign Palace as the miasma dissipated and sank into the earth. The fortress' obsidian walls glistened with the purple glow and as Merenda watched deathly creatures comprised of shadows and death rose from the earth. Where their eyes should have been glowed fiery purple embers that blazed with deathly light.
“It begins.” Sigmund said ominous. “We must go now.”
Merenda nodded, her heart sinking as the reality of having to face these hellish abominations on her own. She had hoped for allies to heed her call, and had been promised them. However that hope had been dashed it seemed.
“Pass the word,” she ordered. “Raise the banner.”
Sigmund nodded, his voice carrying in the stillness of the night air. All up and down the line of armies. Instead of the various banners of the seven kingdoms, a single banner was elevated over the armies. The banner bore upon it the Imperial crest, not raised in nearly a thousand years. A golden crown with seven gems set upon its surface rested upon a black diamond within a purple field. It was the emblem of Merenda's family and one which they had held close for generations. Knowing what it signified was what had unified the seven kingdoms here and now in this most dire of moments.
The hope of a resolution to the centuries of war, the seating of a new Empress and the defeat of the Umbra Magus that now desecrated the Sovereign Palace. It all rested on this and Merenda did not believe that any amount of unity amongst humans could carry the day by itself. Despite the forlorn hope she harbored, she would not back down now. Too much had been sacrificed, too many had died and the Umbra Magus grew more powerful each passing year. Soon it would be too late and the world would be bathed in darkness forever.
A cry went up then, a cry that carried throughout the armies of man. Merenda turned in confusion at the outburst, wondering what fueled it and then felt her heart soar as a light as bold and brazen as the sun beamed over the armies.
“It's them!” Sigmund cried, the delight in the veteran lord-at-arms' voice evident. “They've come!”
Merenda watched as pyrebirds soared overhead, accompanied by drakes. The later set the very skies around them on fire as the latter trumpeted a challenge to the darkness ahead of them. However they were not the truly awe inspiring sight. The massive dragons that followed after them, alighting on the slopes and looking down towards the evil facing them with their glowing eyes as their curving horns flanked their heads. Snaking heads of lesser creatures could be seen throughout the armies and amongst them massive fourlegged creatures that towered over man and beast barred their fangs.
The draekin had come and with them hope was restored. Merenda looked atop the head of one of the largest dragons and saw a figure standing atop it. The one who had brought the draekin stood there, atop the head of his kind. When this was over she would have to thank him for what he had done, perhaps no other being on this earth could have performed the miracle which had just been wrought. They had other matters to attend to now as she lowered the vizor of her helm and drew forth the Dusk Blade.
The Imperial sword glistened in the dark with the same mirrored surface that bedecked the Sovereign Palace and it was at the glorious seat of humanity's power now besmirched with the horrors of darkness that Merenda pointed the tip of the Dusk Blade. Trumpets sounded, dragons roared and pyrebirds set the night sky to daylight. The thunder of hooves, the sweeping wind of wings and the roars of human and draekin alike shattered the stillness of the night as around the Sovereign Palace the dark creatures now defending it stirred and came forwards to meet their attackers. It would be upon this field in this night that the world's fate would be decided and from which either Empress or Umbra Magus would rise.