The Last Battle of the Storm

The Conflict

Prelude

More commonly known as the Thunder Battle, the Last Battle of the Storm was indeed a last battle - the last battle of the Ashes war. It lasted almost a week and saw bitter fighting on both the Skydweller and Stygian side. Before the battle, the two sides had been fighting in the Ashes War for almost ten years, with devastating consequences. Entire kingdoms were all but rubble, peoples wiped out, historic monuments and documents isolated and lost, and many, many lives lost. Up until recently, the Stygian side had recieved a surge of victories as desperate people joined their side, but under the leadership of General Riftan and General Sunmount, the Skyweller side was bouncing back. This battle would begin as their last desperate attempt to defeat their enemy and claim victory.

Deployment

Historians trace the beginnings of the Thunder Battle directly to the aftermath of the Battle of the Tides. Fresh with high spirits and good moral after such an astounding victory, the Skydwellers could finally enjoy a little breathing room. After taking three days to rest and mourn all their losses, the troops were eager to finish off their enemy - especially before hurricane season started in their encampment area. The Generals took the recent encounters with Luminian Lynxes as a good sign and agreed to send a small deployment of troops to spy on the enemy encampment, assuring that the rest of the army would follow behind. But it wasn't just a spying mission - no, they sent skilled warriors to be the spies. As according to plan, the spies infiltrated the camp, immediately causing a ruckus, and, in the ensuing chaos, the rest of the Skydweller Army swooped in to attack the Stygians before they could regroup.

Conditions

The is a reason the Last Battle of the Storm is nicknamed the Thunder Battle. I mentioned hurricane season? Well, it was just getting underway, and not far into the battle, an enormously vicious hurricane ripped through the armies, stopping all but the strongest dragons (and the Amnirclaws) from fighting in the air. Even aside that, for an entire day, nobody fought. Instead, they all tried to take whatever shelter they could and hope that they would survive. But the storm took them off guard, and it's estimated that roughly half of the already shaken troops were blown away, drowned, battered to death - all of them lost. There was no fighting when the temporary peace of the storm's eye came. Instead, everybody hastily constructed shelters to weather out the worst of the storm. But the fighting could not be stopped, and after the day's end, it continued despite the rain.

Battlefield

Because of the storm, three separate battles emerged - one in the air, between the most strong and agile dragons so as not to get blown away, and two on the clouds - one of the clouds where the dragons fought, and one where the humans fought. You see, in the air, working in human-dragon pairs is the best and only way to fight, and was how pretty much every single battle worked until then. But when on the ground, having humans and dragons fighting together is very messy and likely to mess everybody up. So the humans and dragons split apart, and since almost none of them had much training for land battles, the whole thing was pretty much a great, sopping mess until the fourth day, when things started cleaning up.

Outcome

Upon hearing news of the Skydweller's victory, celebrations broke out among the people. The festivities lasted almost a week. Some might say the people were being disrespectful by waiting a week before they mourned for their loved ones. Others would argue that the people, already broken by grief and war, had no other choice but to be happy - one can only be sad for so long. The Outer Treaty was signed, the last of the Stygians banished, and the remnant of the Skydweller armies returned home to their lands and their people with the joyous news: the war was over, and there was peace at last.

Aftermath

However, although there was much to celebrate, there would also be much to mourn. The Ashes War was the single bloodiest conflict in the history of the sky. That, combined with the aftermath of the Dark Plague, saw a terrible loss of life. On one hand, this almost forced the peoples of the sky to unite under one banner, which is a good thing - but then again, much of the people's culture was abandoned in the war, and lost behind the barriers of the Outer Realm. Almost three centuries later, we still haven't recovered all of it. But, on the other hand, this led to the rapid industrialization of the sky, and with this technology brought new ideas, knowledge, and freedoms.

Included under Conflict

Ashes War

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Air

Conflict Result

The END of the bloody Ashes War!!

Historical Significance:

Many important historical events have links with the Thunder Battle. For instance, that was when the barrier between the Outer Realm and the Inner Realm solidified. Because of this and a few other pieces of information we have about the day, historians estimate that the battle probably occurred somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico. Also associated with the battle are the first documented case of the Skybenders, the end of the tales of a certain magical scepter, and the ushering in of a newly advanced sky.

Legacy:

The Ashes War is perhaps the most significant conflict in the history of the sky. Thus, the battle that ended it is the single most important event to the people that live in it. It saw peace reign the sky once more, and the unification of once-separated people's - though the quest for reconstruction would still be ahead. Thanks to the Generals' leadership, the Riftan legacy, already prestigious, was forever immortalized, and Sunmount was rewarded by becoming the first dragon king. His line has since held to their oath of a just and righteous leadership, though Sunmount himself left most of his work to his councillors, but that's a discussion for another day.

Literature:

There are probably countless works of literature detailing the thunder battle. History books have entire chapters on its events. Many a scholar has written an article about it, not to mention the countless songs glorifying the victory, honoring the legacy, lamenting the fallen soldiers, and celebrating the history. It has also been the historical basis for plays such as The General.

Rendering of the Treaty of the Storm (formally known as the Outer Treaty) that followed the Thunder Battle and ended the Ashes War

Engagement

The Thunder Battle lasted roughly a week - here's a handy little day-to-day summary for you:

Day 1: The battle begins - Skydweller soldiers sneak into a Stygian camp, get noticed, and are attacked. The rest of the Skydweller army attacks from around, leading to a chaotic free-for-all battle.

Day 2: The storm hits - a massive hurricane with (surprisingly enough) lightning that wipes out almost half of both the armies. The majority of the second day is chaos, with soldiers on both sides just trying to survive.

Day 3: The three battlefields emerge - amidst a violent storm, three battles are fought in one, though they are clumsy, as most are not used to fighting on land or in a storm.

Day 4: Recooperation - the storm subsides temporarily and both sides agree to an 8-hour truce to rest, plan, and practice.

Day 5: Attack again - the Stygian side attacks 7 hours into the truce, wiping out even more of the Skydweller army. The fifth day is spent in another desperate scramble, and the Skydwellers gradually group together in the center, then send five forces directly outward to break the Stygian Ranks.

Day 6: The Hurricane reemerges - The storm comes back in full force, and the three battlefields return. This time, with old skills new once again, the fighting is much more coordinated. Thanks to their generals' orders, the Skydwellers used a pronged attack on all fields to cut through Stygian forces.

Day 7: ??? - it's unclear exactly the exact moment that the battle ended. What we do know is that Skydweller generals Riftan and Sunmount fought Stygian generals (whose names have since been lost). The hurricane's sudden disappearance during the fight allowed for the Skydwellers to manuever so that any Stygians fighting them would have the sun in their eyes, and used that advantage to wind the battle and capture the Stygian leaders, who took their lives rather than be forced to surrender.