The Red Day

The war had been raging for as long as any could remember. The Dragons and the Artificers both believed they were in the right of things, but neither side would relent. Not until the others were gone.

The Dragons believed they were peaceful, and they should share their knowledge with the world. They gave it freely, with no schools. It passed through a single drop of blood. This has always been their way of things, and they saw no wrong in this.

While the Artificers demanded knowledge to be learned. They could not entrust wisdom and great thinking, so simply. Artificers wanted to educate. Send people to schools, and form grand universities. They used machines of their own creations to fight for them, as they took on the dragons. Their vast knowledge of mechanics did nothing against the dragon’s might, but it didn’t stop the humans from trying again.

“We must use the ultimate weapon.” Holland Waymore, the Grand Artificer, proclaimed on the steps of Osamond City’s grand citadel. “The Dragon’s might is more than we ever foreseen, and if we wish to survive this fight, it is our only option left.” Murmurs came up from the crowd of onlookers at the words. The Ultimate Weapon had only been a myth until now. Having spoken about in only rumors. People feared its creation, to be a destroyer of mountains. If it was real, it would mean more than just the destruction of the Dragons. It would mean changing the very structure of Sanctums Reach.

Within the city of Pandamonium, a similar meeting was taking place. The elder drakes gathered together in thought to discuss the situation, and strategize against the Artificers. None could come up with a plan that would not result in mass death.

“Calling upon either of the gods is an outrageous plan! There is no need to go to such lengths when we have the strength to solve this problem ourselves.” The elder gold dragon said as he sat back on his hunches. He dreaded having to call upon Bahamut for anything to deal with humans. He would make a deal with them, and that is just what they should do. There would be no need to get him involved.

“And what of the queen? Would her way not be beneficial to all Sanctums Reach? If we call for her from the pits, Queen T…”

“Do not dare speak her name! Have you forgotten the last time she appeared on the land? The lives that were lost? The hordes of those demonic monstrosities that were set free? How many of us perished because of her and her beneficial help? No. We will settle this logically as we should have from the start.”

The meeting continued on in that fashion for nearly a month, but while they continued, the Artificers gathered their ultimate weapon.

It was Eighty Years to the day when the sky was reddening for sunset when the Artificers stuck the city of Pandemonium. The constructs they let free were just a distraction as the dominant force readied the ultimate weapon for deployment. The people who lived in the grand mysterious city ran for cover, as the dragons protected them. Saving as many as they could.

The Artificer’s themselves never set foot on the mountain range of Skarsgard. Deciding to stay within their home city and control their weapon from afar. They knew the weapon was about to destroy everything, and that it would end the war. It would make a dent in history.

“It is time.” As the sun hit the top of the citadel, the Grand Artificer nodded to the controller of the weapon. The man closed his eyes before he looked down at the array, sending a silent prayer to the gods that he was doing the right thing, before he triggered it.

At first, there was nothing. A dead silence spread across all of Sanctums Reach as they pulled all sound towards the mountain. Not even the wind hummed through the trees, nor the waves hit the shore, as if the planet itself was holding its very breath for what was to come. In the next instant, all the sound returned at once, in a grand explosion that took the tips of Mount Skarsgard with it.

They filled the sky with a fiery red dust as the debris from the mountain igniting in the explosion. The cloud that should have then fallen to shadow across the land, lingered in the air like a misty fog. Colored a crimson shade as flames snaked through it. A crater now sitting where the once grand mountain had once stood.

The whole of Sanctum Reach could see the destruction of the mountain. They knew who was responsible and the people of the planet rallied up. They marched towards Osamond.

“You took matters into your own hands. Now we take matters into our own hands.” Together, the people of Sanctum Reach rallied against the Artificers. The might they had shown against the Dragons failed against the people, and they fell. The great constructed city of Osamond, burned as the Artificers fled into their citadel. They left Holland Waymore on the steps alone as their last defender, but he refused to fight the people of the land. Realizing the mistake that he had made, he kneeled down and stared up into the faces of the angry masses.

“I have failed all of you. We should never use knowledge as a weapon of war. It should never happen again. Let this be a lesson for your future. This city and our crime should stand as a remembrance to your descendants of our grave mistake.” He closed his eyes as he uttered the last words, never seeing the face of the man or woman who came to take his life. There was no need to see them. The punishment he faced was just. His fellow Artificers would hide away in the citadel for now, but soon they would face the same fate as him. If they had any good left within their hearts, they would give themselves over to the people of Sanctum Reach.

The Artificers never gave themselves over to the people. Instead, they locked the citadel. Sealing themselves away until there was nothing left of them. The people left them to rot in their temple of knowledge and destroyed their city. They wanted to make sure no construct remained, that it hid no weapon that could destroy another piece of their home among the rubble.

Hundreds of years would pass, and they would remember the story as The Red Day. The day that night never came, and the sky bled. It was the death of Dragons and the end of their murderers. No one since has claimed the title of Artificer.