In the entire region of Baylein, there is not a more legendary, or a more controversial place of higher learning, than the Battle School in Helam. \u00a0The school has been training young men for at least fifty years, and Trelon has gained a reputation as both a caring teacher and a vicious punisher. \u00a0Young men who decide to attend the school do so with a firm knowledge of their humanity. \u00a0They are expected to be both killer and peacekeeper. \u00a0Any young man who walks through those gates with too high an opinion of himself, is immediately and permanently shown why arrogance and ego has no place in a soldier.<\/p>\n
The first class to graduate did so two weeks early when war broke out between the continent of Astynia and the island nation of Galdin. \u00a0All thirty-four graduates were immediately sent to the demilitarized zone on the eastern border of Astynia to act as a security force. \u00a0Early in the war, Galdinian military began an attempt to claim the DMZ. \u00a0They were pushed back by the Astynians, but there was great cost on both sides. \u00a0The Astynians then approached Baylein for military assistance, not in battle, but only as a security force.<\/p>\n
It was at the Battle of the Two Lakes where Trelon threw off his mantle of teacher and leader, and became a legend. \u00a0Because of him, all thirty-four of his graduates saw fierce battle, but not one was killed.<\/p>\n
An hour before dawn on the southern shore of Lake Nord, a lone Galdinian scout approached the edge of the outer encampment and pleaded for an audience with the Astynian commander. \u00a0The audience was granted and the Galdinian was allowed into the camp. \u00a0This is what he told the Astynian commander.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come here on pain of death. \u00a0My people do not know I am here. \u00a0If you kill me, no one will know. \u00a0I only wish to bring you a warning. \u00a0I am no traitor. \u00a0I did not come here to betray my people. \u00a0I only come here to prevent a massacre.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn hour after dawn, this camp will be invaded by an army that you cannot defend against. \u00a0It is an army of creatures so vicious, that many of your men will be unable to face them. \u00a0Even my own people are terrified of them. \u00a0I do not know what they are or where they come from, but they are terrible. \u00a0My king has made a deal with forces beyond his understanding in order to win this war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, these words were taken with some apprehension. \u00a0None of the Astynians believed this man\u2019s tale, but because they were not stupid, they increased the capabilities of the front lines and prepared for the attack. \u00a0When the attack came, their preparations were thrown into the wind.<\/p>\n
A fog bank had rolled in and covered the entire lake, extending about a half mile into shore. \u00a0When the invading army appeared behind the lines, chaos came with them. \u00a0It seemed the creatures were made of fog. \u00a0When they attacked, their attacks were brutal. \u00a0When they were attacked, their bodies turned to mist. \u00a0No man was able to injure them. \u00a0They killed the Astynians without mercy.<\/p>\n
When it was believed that all was lost, and the Astynians were prepared to surrender, Trelon and his thirty-four boys, no, thirty-four men, approached the melee. \u00a0All thirty-five of them, to a man, had decided to no longer sit and watch the massacre. \u00a0They decided to do what they had been trained to do\u2013fight.<\/p>\n
He split up his little army into three units and sent one of the units east, another west, around the lake, and the third he kept with him. \u00a0He and his small company then walked directly into the fog and headed for the center of the conflagration. \u00a0As they walked they stayed low and avoided any confrontations with the enemy. \u00a0In order for his plan to work, they needed to reach the center of the fog bank without attracting attention to themselves. \u00a0As they crept the last few feet into the heart of the darkness, he saw what he had hoped and expected to see, and he was terrified.<\/p>\n
There were four robed creatures standing in a circle. \u00a0Each creatures right hand was on the left shoulder of the one next to it. \u00a0Inside the ring of brown robes was an altar of stone. \u00a0Sitting on top of the altar, was a blue globe about three feet wide. \u00a0Each of the creatures left hands were resting on the globe. \u00a0The creatures were mumbling incoherently, and the globe pulsed with life.<\/p>\n
Trelon knew that the four creatures must be killed at precisely the same moment, or the fog and the mist creatures in it would continue to grow. \u00a0They split into groups of two and each group slowly crept behind one of the creatures. \u00a0When they were in place, they acted as a single, highly polished machine and struck their enemies in unison. \u00a0As the four creatures fell to the ground, the blue globe shot a narrow shaft of blue light straight into the air. \u00a0This was the signal for the other two units to begin moving into the fog. \u00a0Trelon moved to the altar and with a single thrust of his sword, shattered the globe. \u00a0The fog immediately began to evaporate, and the Galdinian soldiers were exposed and quickly dispatched by the combined efforts of the Astynians and the young \u2018Trelonians\u2019.<\/p>\n
Trelon and his little army were hailed as heros and the reputation of Trelon and his battle school became legendary.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the entire region of Baylein, there is not a more legendary, or a more controversial place of higher learning, than the Battle School in Helam. \u00a0The school has been training young men for at least fifty years, and Trelon has gained a reputation as both a caring teacher and a vicious punisher. \u00a0Young men […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epic-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107,"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azenaria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}