History of the Kingdom of Mountainwing
Page 2
In my opinion, the real history of Kingdom Mountainwing starts before there was a Kingdom. I have heard stories and they almost all start with the Mage War.
The Mage War actually took place a very great distance from here. Exactly how far away no one seems to know or particularly care. In that land, the King earned his position by being the most powerful Mage trying for the job. There came a time when a large number of Mages wanted to be King. The tests of power became heated, sides were drawn up and alliances were formed. Instead of casting their spells on objects as the original tests had been, the Mages began to cast them on each other and on themselves. Weaker Mages and even strong Mages who didn't want the crown, were drawn into the fight, usually against their will. No one could stop the fighting, though many tried. The forces of magic unleashed were overwhelming. The Mages began to cast time spells in hope of slowing their opponents down during a critical portion of a spell causing it to backlash on the sender. Spells to speed them back to normal time were cast by their allies added to the spells of protection against time tampering. Stronger and stronger spells were forged by the combined magic's of allied Mages.
As the Time spells reflected off the protection spells, whirling pools of time effecting magic spun off unstopped because the Mages didn't have time to eliminate a spell that represented no immediate danger to themselves or their allies. The towns people and those who came to see the show of magic were caught in the crossfire and died by the hundreds. Some died of old age in minutes and others, seemingly frozen though not cold, were left behind as families grabbed food, weapons, and changes of clothing before trying to outrun the whirling pools. No hiding place was safe. People would gather only to have a pool whirl their way and more would be lost. Families got separated and chaos reigned. It was a nightmare to those who lived through it and if not for the charisma and foresight of one man we probably wouldn't be here today.
That man was Blake, the son of the reigning King. The Prince, Blake, was the Son of an Elvish woman. I can tell that there is a story here, but no one seems to know anything about the Elf woman except that she was Blake's mother. When Blake came onto the scene, people turned to him for help. He had always been a great one to help folks in trouble and many times he had talked people into a calmer, more peaceful mood. Before he would let anyone join his growing little group he told them they must agree to follow his lead with no questions. Somehow Blake could sense the movements of the time pools. He told people that when he said to move, they needed to move, not slow him and others down with questions. Nearly everyone agreed and soon his group numbered in the hundreds. Blake quickly took his band of followers and headed for the hills hoping to find some natural protection from the time spells.
At the time of the Mage War, Blake was, as close as I can figure, about 45 years old. He looked closer to 30, thanks to the Elven blood of his Mother. The journey to this valley took about 5 years. They would have been here sooner, but many detours had to be made around large pools of magic. Any time you travel with that many people, some wounded, old, or very young, you cannot move very quickly. Another reason the journey seemed so long is that the group wanted to stay in the area thinking that the war would soon be over and the new King could stop the time pools and they could pick up their lives where they left off. Only the war went on and on. No one knows how long it lasted. Perhaps somewhere or somewhen that battle still rages.
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