Shining Force of Equestria:Prelude
Max stood at the forefront of battle leading his brave warriors to fight an ancient evil. He quickly scanned the battlefield with his blue eyes. If he were a lesser man, he would have been overrun with terror for before him was the Devil King known as Dark Dragon.
Max, however, was not a lesser man for indeed he was the hero chosen by the light to fight this evil. Max was a prime example of a human standing above average in height with well toned muscles. He was armoured with a set full plate mail and his blonde hair emerged above his headband. Most impressive of all though was the great “Force Sword” that he wielded. The glowing turquoise blade emanated with an eldritch power great enough to wound the great malignancy.
And what was this great evil that Max and his stalwart warriors faced? Dark Dragon was an entity of pure darkness incarnate. As a great devil king, he sought the very domination and destruction of the very world of Rune. So great was his evil that the “ancients” sealed him in the great castle beneath the sea. The very fact that this paragon of evil was now facing Max, proved the great folly of the mission of Max and the Shining Force. His seal should never be broken, but it was and Max had no choice but to face him and overcome or submit to the inevitable annihilation of his world.
Max was not one to run; however, he rarely spoke as he led more by example than by stirring words, but this time was different, and he said, “ONWARD! STRIKE AT THE MOUTH OF THE DEMON!”
Ken, one of the great centaur paladins, felt only a slight amount of hesitation as he gazed upon the manifestation of enmity. Ken had brown hair with blue eyes. His lower half was that of a brown horse, though very little of him could be seen as he was wearing full plate mail with barding. He looked to his fellow paladins, Mae and Arthur, both with blonde hair and white fur. Ken gave them a gesture with his great valkyrie spear that told them that he intended to throw it at the moment the other two paladins charged with their lances and halberds. Upon seeing the look in Ken’s eyes May and Arthur knew what to do. Then Ken yelled,”NOW!”
Anri, Tao, and Alef, a human with white hair, an elf with pink hair, and an orange furred foxling, stood ready to unleash a great torrent of arcane death upon the great adversary. For the three girls were all wizards of great skill and power. After Max’s call to fight they knew what had to be done. First Tao began her channeling, followed by Anri, and Alef. After a few seconds Tao brought forth fiery doom with fireballs raining from the sky some as big as 2 meters in diameter. Anri then unleashed a great arctic blast that slammed chunks of ice the size of a man into the great devil dragon. Finally, and certainly not least Alef summoned four globes of bright blue plasma. These globes unleashed a torrent from the heavens in the form of hundreds if not thousands of lightning strikes upon Dark Dragon.
Zylo, the wolfling with grey fur, Adam, the ancient robot, and Bleu, the last of the sacred dragons, heard the call to arms from Max and did not hesitate to strike at their foe. Zylo lept through the air and unleashed a great slash from his claws summoning wolf spirits to strike at the devil dragon. Adam took aim with his arm mounted laser and fired a beam a blue destruction causing a great explosion. Bleu flew close to the evil dragon and took a deep breath before unleashing a cone lightning from his maw that seared the horrid flesh of the devil dragon.
Dark Dragon was hurt by these initial attacks but far from defeated. The great 3 headed devil dragon was not amused to say the least. “Whom do these insects think they are to challenge Dark Dragon?” The great devil dragon was weak due to his just being unsealed. Indeed, his heads looked to be more like bones with a glowing red for eyes than flesh. His left head was being attacked by the three mages, he felt it only appropriate to return the favor they had given him. The left head unleashed a veritable blizzard of death upon the three mages hurling chunks of ice upon all 3. It appeared that two had broken an arm and all three had many cuts and gashes from the ice.
The right head of Dark Dragon was engaged in melee with the wolfing, robot, and dragon. As his opponents were near, Dark dragon took a great bite in their direction. The sound screams and torn flesh soon followed. Zylo broke his arm, and blue had a gash on his back that seemed to be antagonized by the flapping of his wings. Adam however, went relatively unscathed as his armored frame was made by the “ancients” themselves.
The center head was being assaulted by the three centaur paladins, and max himself. The Devil Dragon took a great breath and belched the essence of pure darkness, grievously wounding the paladins and Max as if they were not wearing armour at all. “See mortal fools none can stand against the darkness made manifest, haha hah”
Seeing the turning tide of the battle Torasu and Lowe, the halfling vicars, summoned great healing spells to mend the wounds of their allies. Once the light of the fairy landed upon the heroes the wounds closed and the bones mended. They were still in this fight yet.
Again the three masters of the arcane brought the fury of the elements upon dark dragon with fire, ice, and lightning. However, they were so focused upon this that they did not notice the great skeleton with two great axes approaching them. Just as the axe of the skeleton was about to rend flesh in twain; Max summoned the eldritch energies of the force sword and unleashed a great blizzard upon the skeleton, and Dark Dragon. The blizzard froze the skeleton in place and the brittle bones soon shattered. The left head of Dark Dragon faired no better as it had been greatly weakened by numerous magical attacks. Max now knew they had a chance to win and said, “See the beast can be felled! Strike true my friends.”
With renewed vigor Adam, Zylo, and Bleu charged the right head of Dark Dragon. Zylo jumped and slammed his claws into beast. Bleu did an ascent and dive bombed the devil with a ball of lightning and claws. Adam launched his rocket fist into Dark Dragon to great effect. The head was wounded but not out yet. Bleu in his zeal to dive bomb the devil dragon forgot about one crucial thing. He forgot that he needed to stop, and his momentum carried him close to the maw of the great dragon. Not to miss an opportunity Dark Dragon snapped his jaws around Bleu’ s neck and removed his head. “This is the fate of those who oppose me!” Blue’s body fell in a slump.
The remaining members of the Shining Force were enraged when they saw there ally fall. However, they were not too worried as the priests were very familiar with resurrection magic. The only great annoyance would be the whining from Bleu later about how his share of the gold was much smaller as it would be spent on the reagents for the resurrection ritual.
Max responded to the site of the fallen dragon by unleashing a great bout of lightning. He summoned four blue globes of plasma that unleashed the wrath of the heavens upon the weakened right head of Dark Dragon. Thus, causing the right head the explode in a great mass of bone and arcane energy. Now someone not of the Shining Force might ask what a swordsman would be doing casting such spells? Well, Max was not the mage of the caliber of Anri or Alef, but he did not neglect to learn at least one offensive spell. As leader of the Shining Force Max often encountered situations where his blade could not reach but a quick spell used tactically could change the outcome of a battle. Also, as the leader he had been instructed in the most important of magics, mass teleportation. It was the responsibility of a good leader to assess the battlefield and issue a retreat when the situation warranted it. With the “EGRESS” spell Max could safely retreat and take his allies with him.
The three paladins had inflicted great wounds on Dark Dragon. Ken reached for his valkyrie spear and threw with all his might impaling one of the devil dragons eye sockets. Mae and Arthur followed up with charges delivering lance and halberd into the great behemoth. Dark Dragon saw that the battle was not in his favor, he was still just too weak after being unsealed. However, he saw an opportunity to end this fight for what army can fight without its general. Dark Dragon summoned four spheres of plasma and released a veritable deluge of lightning into Max’s body. Unfortunately, for Dark Dragon, Max was only wounded and not out of the fight.
Max preyed upon the desperation of the devil dragon and charged with the Force Sword at the maw of the center head. Dark Dragon attempted to lunge at Max. Max quickly dodged the attack. Max made a sweeping slash at the dragon further wounding it. With the dragon stunned from the wound Max unleashed a great feat of swordsmanship. Max swung his sword so fast that wave of eldritch fire formed from his sword and flew into Dark Dragon with a resounding explosion.
The final head of the great beast had been slain. All members of the Shining Force cheered at the apparent victory. Dark Dragon screamed, “No these puny creatures cannot defeat the Lord of Darkness! Never, I will not be banished again! The powers of Darkness will sustain me!”
It became apparent that Dark Dragon was not dead and only weakened. A great sense of dread came over the members of the Shining Force. Then the dragonewt adviser Nova said, “Dark Dragon still lives!! Perhaps we cannot kill him! There must be a way… Max, Dark Dragon must be sealed away again and only you can do it! Use the Force Sword Drive it through Dark Dragon!”
Dark Dragon then mockingly said, “Fools! Nothing you do can stop me I am Dark Dragon darkness incarnate!”
Unfortunately, Max’s hands were bound to the Force Sword and he could not move. Eldritch power that sealed the dragon was preventing Max from releasing his grip. Nova yelled, “Break free we won’t leave without you!”
Max was still unable to loosen his grip. Max made the decision that any good leader would. “I cannot get free but you won’t die with me!” Max then cast his “EGRESS” spell.
Max’s allies appeared on the coast of runefaust overlooking the castle of the ancients in the sea. Mae said, “Max cast his EGRESS spell to save us but where is he?”
Lowe then queried, “That spell is supposed to get us all out. Why is he not here? Why?”
Nova replied, “I do not know. Perhaps it is the duty of a great hero to stand vigil against evil, perhaps a hero is needed elsewhere and the light has sent him to where he is needed.”
Mae then said, “Wait there is still hope the castle has not yet sunk into the sea! Perhaps there is still hope.” Just as Mae said that the castle of the ancients sank entirely into the sea. “I guess that is it then oh Max...”
Nova then stated, “Well Friends that is that and now we have to begin the long journey home.”
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Unbeknownst to the other members of the Shining Force Max did not die in the sunken castle. Max appeared in a blinding flash of light on the outskirts of a great forest. Upon his arrival Max noticed that the great Force Sword leapt from his hand and into the air. The sword hovered for but a second before a great explosion mana poured forth from the sword. The sword seemed to split into two lights one dark and one light. Then the lights repelled from one another. The light one was stuck into a tree nearby. The dark one however seemed to fly off to the East past the Horizon.
Max went to examine the light near him but was interrupted by pain. The most intense pain that Max had ever felt in his entire life seemed to rush over his entire body. He attempted to remain standing but could not as the pain was too intense. The next thing Max knew was complete darkness as he had succumbed to the pain.
To be continued...