The Battle of Broken Laurels

The was a great silence when the blow that brought  the Gaius low was struck. She had been overwhelmed, cut off from allies, and left to try and keep the whole of the empire together by herself, both on this battlefield and across the greater empire.
The man who struck her down, even in his plate and with Aetherform flickering as raindrops fell upon it's burning blade, looked shocked. Like he had not expected any of his blows to land. The great weight of what he had done seemed to settle across the whole of the battlefield at once.
Soldiers looked across the lines of battle, uncertain of what to do now. She had not been forced give up the Laurel, as many had wished to force upon her. She was now dead, and the Senate scattered and put to the sword. Who could lead the empire now?
No one knew, but generals on boths sides knew that too much had been lost to bring this battle to fruition and no one could simply relinquish their ambitions. I saw one man, a crown built upon his plate and filigree lain thickly across it all, roar as he swung his Aetherform weapon at a nearby arms-men, it's shape that of an axe.
It cut the poor man in clean in half. I still remember the shock on the young mans face as his upper half cartwheeled through the air.
The battle resumed without the pretense of order or orders. No one was in charge any longer, and everyone clawed at each other with terrifying ferocity.
Those of us that remain in command of our senses attempted to extricate ourselves from the battle, but even trying to leave seemed to infurate those lost to the battle-song. We had to cut our way out, and did, for what felt like hours. I don't know how long we fought and rode, slashing and trampling all thsoe that stood in our way, but it was morning by the time I felt like I could take a breath. I was so exhausted that I no longer felt the rain, nor noticed that our force was a veritable army made up of nobles and peasants from all sides of the battle we had just left.
We were all joined together in our fear, surprise, and desire to be free of the conflict that had eaten at the empire for nearly a century.
Little did we know that we would have to forge an empire of our own if we truly wished to be left out of the machinations of a dying empire, and prove it with our blades that had already been used too often.

-The Chronicles of Tar Falden, written by the first king of Tar Falden

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The battle that killed the last Gaius of the Old Empire

Conflict Type

Battle