Imagination Realm # 521
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A tale of Iziz
The tale of Iziz is a story about a young maiden and her journey around the known world to save her kingdom from monsters and demons.
Long ago there was peace throughout all the world. The people were all united together under one great empire, centered at the ancient city of Diado, that protected and governed them. Then one day the sun went black as the moon covered it. On that day monsters came into the world, they destroyed the empire and the great cities within it. The people were scattered and after hundreds of years they came together to build a great city, they surrounded this city with towering walls. These walls were not only to keep out enemy forces, but also to defend against the monsters that lurked in the wilds.
Over the course of the next few thousand years many cities rose and fell. One day, more than two thousand years after the eclipse, a great city was founded by a legendary warrior. His name was Andi, and he founded the city of Iziz. Over the next few centuries Iziz would grow to be the largest city in the world. Its walls expanded and grew thicker and taller. For nearly two millennium the city remained the dominant power in the land. This changed quickly.
Many cities forced their minor criminals and fugitives out of the walled cities to live in exile out in the Great Wilds with the belief that they would be consumed by the creatures that dwell in them. This worked for a time, but nothing lasts forever and over time many of these criminals survived and were able to tame the monsters and use them to raid and pillage cities and towns. The survivors and raiders created groups that encouraged the scum and vile filth of society to join them. This made the cities change their laws. More and more executions occurred as they tried to stop the growth of the raider groups and bands. This only encouraged more to seek sanctuary with these groups that grew in more and more power. The Raiders grew in so much power that they were able to conquer and destroy entire cities. They bended the surviving cities to their will. As the raiders grew, the cities diminished, and the land fell into chaos.
The cities formed alliances to protect their people and wealth from the raiders. These alliances then began to fight among one another and during the chaos the raiders captured women to join their bands. 4200 years after the eclipse, Varnalis Kostas is king of Iziz. He has modernized the military and society of the city. He was a wise and kind king. He had three children, Catherine, Cassander, and Eszter. His wife died five years after the birth of Eszter after a plague struck the city that killed over 200,000. He too had suffered from the plague and his mind became weak and easily manipulated. That is when things began to go south
The king had a new advisor, Bohazir, who began to trick and deceive the king into implementing new policies and taxes. Bohazir planned on asking the king to marry him to his daughter Catherine, in order form him to become king later. The people didn’t like this advisor and they wanted him gone, although no one said anything to him because he controlled the police and the army.
The king’s son Cassander was also evil and although he was young, he had much ambition. He had allied himself to Bohazir, not knowing that he too desired the throne. Cassander is a sadistic boy who pleasures in seeing others punished. He has assaulted his servants and he has lustful relations with many of them. Anyone who speaks out against him and his actions was imprisoned and tortured by his secret guard.
Every year the people celebrated the foundation of Iziz and the tales of Andi with the weeklong foundation festival in the early days of spring. This year was the 2000th anniversary of the foundation of Iziz and the people were having a massive celebration. During the celebrations the eldest daughter, Catherine desired to finally go to the outer parts of the city to see the forest. Although her father forbids her, she slipped away during the celebrations and travelled to the outer walls to see the Wilds for the first time in her life. While Catherine, who was 20 years old, was walking through the forests, she got separated from her guards and fell down a hillside. She landed at the bottom of the hill to see a large wyvern looking down at her. She screamed as any sound minded person would. Next to the dragon was a young man who upon seeing the girl, realized she must be wealthy for she had guards with her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up onto the wyvern. The guards just made it down the hill in time to see the wyvern and the rider flying away with a screaming Catherine on it.
Catherine could not escape because she was hundreds of feet above the ground. The young man turned around in his saddle and wrapped a cord around her hands and a rope around her waist. The rope was connected to the saddle of the wyvern. With that the man turned around and they flew off into the Great Wilds, farther and farther away from the safety of Iziz.
The king soon heard about the happenings of that day and fell into a deep depression. The prince Cassander was secretly delighted to have his elder sister out of the way. The king immediately set out a search party, but he knew that she would never be found. The guards that were with her that day, were imprisoned for their failure and notices were sent out to the surrounding cities and kingdoms to keep on watch for his daughter.
During these events the princess’s lover Michael Manassisa, was very distraught at the loss of his beloved. He was comforted by Bohazir who deceived him into thinking that this happened because of the King. He gained Michael’s trust and loyalty which he would use later in the future.
Catherine was taken to a temporary camp set up by the raiders. There she learned that her captor was named Aesir and his wyvern was named Haetir. Aesir doesn’t treat her harshly and he even protects her from other raiders who attempt to take her. After several days of flying, Aesir unties her hands because they are swelling. These acts of kindness made her trust him at least a little. She also learned to not fear Haetir, who is really a big sweet heart and likes the smell of her.
Back at Iziz there is growing concern that the rival city state of Alistair might march against them to subdue the city. There was a fear that they would gain the support and allegiance of the city states that wanted to see Iziz fall from power. The king in his depressed and confused state ordered that the ambassador from Alistair be arrested. The advisor was pleased with this and he encouraged a state of emergency to be declared. During this he used his power to round up people and imprison them in the name of the state, under the pretense that they were spies or sympathizers of the rival cities.
Aesir during the next week opened up to Catherine and treated her with greater kindness, although he still intended on selling her at the markets at the Den of Thieves. Upon reaching the Den of Thieves though, he had a change of heart and after learning of what exactly the buyers had planned for her, he broke off any trade and said she was not for sale. In an ensuing brawl Aesir killed the towns headman and was forced to flee with Catherine from the people’s wrath.
Catherine then learned what Aesir did for her and the fact that he put his life in danger to save her from a terrible fate. They stopped the next night at the ruins of Diado, the ancient city that was destroyed by the first monsters. While they stayed there Catherine thanked Aesir for his kindness and he apologized for capturing her. He promised to take her back to Iziz if she promised to pardon him for his crimes. She agreed to this and they fell asleep. During the night a band of spider riders came upon their campsite and they frightened Haetir away. Aesir and Catherine were paralyzed and taken away.
King Varnalis meanwhile was preparing his armies to march against Vallenhein, which was a city in the south that had allied itself with the city of Alistair. The city state of Archimedia also sent troops to help Iziz and Varnalis left the city to travel with the army. During his absents Bohazir began preparing to overthrow the king and put his son, Cassander, temporarily in power. He convinced Michael to persuade most of the noblemen to accept the idea of Cassander as king. Bohazir had everything in place for his grand plan.
Meanwhile Catherine and Aesir were taken to the raider Free City of Faxon where they planned on turning in Aesir to the Den of Thieves leaders for a reward. Catherine meanwhile was to be forced into marriage with the spider rider’s leader, Ammo. The day that the Den of Thieves men arrived, Haetir attacked out of nowhere and freed Catherine who then was able to escape Ammo and flee into the Wilds with Haetir. After waiting in the Wilds for two days, Catherine and Haetir sneak upon the Den of Thieves men and free Aesir. All but one of the men were killed. The last man was named Sone. The three of them then began heading to the city of Alistair.
Ammo was also convincing the other Raider leaders and lords that the time had come for them to destroy the remaining cities and become rulers of the known world. He revealed that he had connections with a barbarous people to the west called the Magyarzgan and that he planned on using them to conquer the cities and the world. Ammo sent out messengers to all the raiders, criminals, vagabonds, and rogues to gather together at the Free City of Fieldingstone.
Back down south the war was going bad. Even though Iziz and Archimedia had amassed three times as many troops as Vallenhein they were still defeated in battle. After a siege of the city failed the army turned back and retreated to Iziz again. While on the way back the Archimedian’s army left them alone and returned to their city. The Iziz forces were attacked and harrowed by Vallenhein soldiers all the way back to Iziz territory. None of this was the king’s fault, many of his commanders were incompetent and were following secret orders by Bohazir.
When the king returned the noblemen revolted against him and put him in jail. They blamed him for everything and they put Cassander on the throne. Bohazir then turned on the commanders who had commanded the armies and executed them before they could tell anyone about Bohazir’s plot. Cassander was very pleased to be king and he immediately began executing his enemies and he killed many innocents which made the citizens hate him.
Catherine, Aesir, and Haetir arrived at the city of Alistair where they expected to be met with open arms, although Aesir expected some trouble seeing how he was a criminal, but he believed that the word of the princess would keep him safe. They then learned the hard way that Alistair was at war with Iziz when the city guards attempted to arrest them. They managed to get away due to the quick actions of Aesir, but Catherine was shot in the back by one of the guards. Aesir carried her back to Haetir and they flew away. It seemed that there was nowhere safe for them to go so Aesir headed north to the lonely town of Lost, located in the terrible and barren desert known as The Dust.
Haetir managed to fly there in just a few days, but Catherine had gotten an infection and was dying. After getting help by some friendly travelers to cross the mountain range that surrounded The Dust, Aesir and Haetir were able to make it to the town of Lost where they got help from an old friend of Aesir’s named Mowe. Mowe was able to heal Catherine’s wounds and Aesir told the story of their journey. During his talk with Mowe he told him that he had feelings for Catherine. Little did he know that she was conscious during this and heard him say that he loved her.
Catherine took several weeks to recover, during which they told each other their life stories. Catherine learned that Aesir’s mother was the chief of a group of raiders before she was killed in a raid that went wrong. Aesir never knew his father and after his mother’s death the raiders abandoned his eleven-year-old self to die in the wilds. He was rescued by Mowe who was traveling through the Wilds on a great wolf in search of herbs and rare medicines. When Aesir was fourteen, he’d discovered Haetir, who had been injured by hunters. Aesir saved Haetir from death when he surprised the hunters in an ambush and wounded several of them. Haetir them followed Aesir back home and had never left his side since then. Mowe moved up to live a quiet life at Lost, while Aesir rejoined the raiders.
During the last days of their stay at Lost, Catherine told Aesir that she knew how he felt about her and that she cared for him, but she did not love him. Although Aesir was downtrodden by this he kept his hopes up for the future. On the day that they were to leave, news reached Lost that the raider bands had joined together and were creating an army to attack the cities. Just then some raiders attacked the town and chased Catherine and Aesir into the desert. The good timing of a giant sand worm attack allowed them to escape and they flew west to evade the bands that were hunting them. The man at the head of the band was Sone.
The news that Catherine and Aesir had learned was weeks old and at that time the raiders were attacking the city of Eyren. They were able to force the city to surrender after they promised to leave it untouched, but once the gates were opened to them, they sacked the city and killed tens of thousands. By the time Catherine and Aesir escaped Sone in The Dust, Eyren was firmly under raider control. The raiders then sent word to the northern cities to surrender immediately and to join them. Many did and those that refused were destroyed. Ammo then gathered together the raider lords and leaders in the newly conquered Eyren where he had them declare that he be ruler of them all. He later had all the leaders assassinated so he could remain master of the raiders.
Ammo, now the ruler of all the raiders began a march west to join up with the Magyarzgan. Along the way he gathered armies from the cities that swore allegiance to him. He caught up to Sone where he made him his 2nd in command. He commanded Sone to find and kill Catherine and Aesir, he feared that they might make it back to Iziz and warn them of the coming attack.
Catherine, Aesir, and Haetir continued to travel west to escape the clutches of the Raiders. They were forced to hide in the dark forests known as the Spider lands. Here they had to fight off hundreds of large and giant spiders. They barely escaped with their lives, but Haetir was bitten multiple times and the poison greatly weakened him. After just flying a few miles, Haetir had to land. Haetir collapsed from the poison. Luckily a group of Dragon and Wyvern riders came upon them and agreed to help a fellow rider out. They strapped Haetir with ropes and carried him and the others to the walled city of Caldorn that openly traded with the friendly dragon riders. There Haetir received the medical treatment that he needed, while Aesir made quick friends with one of the riders, named Trillion. Trillion was evidently attracted to Aesir and this caused Catherine to feel some jealousy. One-night Catherine saw Trillion kiss Aesir. Catherine confronted Trillion and told her that Aesir was her man. Trillion responded by saying that Catherine had told Aesir himself that she did not love him. Catherine then realized her mistake and went to Aesir and told him her feelings for him and that she did love him. Trillion didn’t seem disappointed at all over this, she offered to escort the group to Hamal, a small city located in the Great Lake of Connan. After Haetir regained his strength they left for Hamal. Catherine also befriended Trillion and Trillion promised to help Catherine get back to her city to stop the upcoming war.
The War though could not be stopped. The Maryarzgan attacked the Walled city of Caldernest, which protected a pass that allowed them to enter the Great Wilds. The city was swiftly defeated by the hordes of invaders under the leadership of Hung Arian. They met up with the raider army and together they attacked Caldorn, causing remaining cities in the north to collapse to the power of the Raiders and Magyarzgan.
War could also not be stopped in the south. Iziz was now under attack by Vallenhein and Alistair. The Free Cities and minor walled cities that were allied with Iziz. Only the city states of Spokanee and Archimedia remained. Cassander was in the middle of a diplomatic meeting with the city state of Ballandea, when he had a fit because the ambassador for Ballandea wouldn’t kneel before him. He had the man killed on the spot, effectively declaring war on the city. After this terrible failure, Bohazir gathered the police, army, and the people to arrest Cassander.
Cassander was quite shocked to learn that no one really was loyal to him and he was thrown in prison. Bohazir then turned on the noblemen that supported Cassander and had them imprisoned or killed. He made Michael his second in command because he was popular with the people. Bohazir named himself “protector of the state” while the war was going on, He gave himself complete control over everything in the city, effectively making him dictator.
Bohazir went to the surviving noblemen and promised to free them if they swore loyalty to him. Those who did not were killed immediately. He then began to prepare Iziz for siege warfare. While he was doing this, he also had to fight a small war with Cassander’s secret guard. During this fight, Cassander was freed from jail along with his father. They attempted to escape the city but failed. Bohazir decided that they were too dangerous to keep alive and so he ordered that they be executed in a few months. Winter was coming and Bohazir hoped that this meant he could have a longer time to prepare because he did not expect to be attacked in the cold.
Catherine and the others arrived in the small town of Hamal where they then received news of the happenings in Iziz. They needed to leave immediately for Iziz. Before they left however Aesir asked Catherine for her hand in marriage, which she happily accepted. They then took flight to the walled city of Jou Zambe, which is located on the Black Skinned Coast on the northern coast of the Sea of Adraciss. When they arrived at the city of Jou Zambe they discovered that the dark skins were much more advanced than anyone had thought. They had great airships, many railroads and steam engines, along with steam ships, they even possessed horseless carriages.
The dark skins agreed to ship them over to another dark skin city called We’Jema. Catherine was treated with great respect because of her royalty and when she told her tale she was able to persuade the leaders of the dark skins to send support to Iziz. She talked for many hours with the King of the dark skins, Maaz Mohe, who promised to prepare his armies for war while also send messengers out to find anyone who was willing to fight against the raiders. They then packed Haetir, Catherine, and Aesir on a ship and set sail, Trillion began flying to We’Jema to see who could get there the quickest. While on the voyage to We’Jema the ship was attacked by a sea serpent that nearly sunk it had it not been for a brave sailor who jumped into the creature’s mouth, covered in explosives. The ship made it too We’Jema just five hours before Trillion and her band made it there.
The King of Archimedia, Themistocles Maeander, died from a heart attack and his dashing young son Hassinkra became king over the city. He then pulled out of the war and declared the city to be neutral. At the same time the city of Spokanee fell to the forces of Ballandea. Iziz was totally alone now and completely surrounded. Bohazir was in quite a pickle. He attempted to make peace with the other city states, but they would have no part in it. He did plan and lead a great delaying action that gave him temporary fame in Iziz, but this wouldn’t last long as the combined armies continued to march to Iziz. Bohazir also betrothed himself to the young princess Eszter who was only eleven. He planned on marrying her to legitimize his reign. He also decided to execute Varnalis and Cassander early and ordered that they be killed the next day.
Mae Mona Vaughn, the servant of Catherine, was able to set free the King, but when she came upon Cassander to set him free he mocked her. She opened the cell door and he tried to assault her, so she cut his throat and left. Mae had long been abused by Cassander and she was done with him. She then helped King Varnalis hide in the city.
When Bohazir learned about the escape of Varnalis he began a search for him the next day. Mae was able to deceive the police into not searching her house. She then communicated with an underground group called the Foremen. The Foremen were anti Bohazir and they were trying to gather supporters in secret to revolt against his regime. The Foremen took Varnalis and spread the news of his survival and escape. They also told the people the truth about Bohazir by getting Varnalis to write his story in a friendly newspaper that wasn’t under the control of Bohazir. The news spread quickly throughout the city and the people revolted against Bohazir in order to reinstate him as king, civil war had begun.
The city, now in civil war, was completely unable to fight off the force that was now beginning to surround the city. The king of Alistair was just about to begin the siege when news arrived that Alistair was under attack. He quickly rounded up his forces to go north, with his army gone the remainder of the armies left under the fear that they wouldn’t have enough to defeat Iziz. So Iziz was spared for now.
Catherine and Aesir arrived at Iziz with their band of dragon riders to find the city in flames as the people and the army battled each other. Bohazir attempted to have her group killed but this failed, and she was reunited with her father. The army commanders were shocked to hear that Catherine was still alive, they decided that they would have no chance to win this fight. So late in the night the commanders arrested Bohazir and declared their loyalty to the King in order to save their own necks. Varnalis pardoned them and they immediately began preparing again for war. Catherine told them all of the massive army that was heading their way. Bohaziz though wasn’t finished. He was able to escape prison with the help of his fellow conspirators.
Catherine also told her father about her marriage with Aesir, he was obviously angry, but none the less he approved it and pardoned Aesir. The city was in full war mode, everyone was preparing for battle with the Dragon riders giving air support. It was now late spring, it had been more than a year since Catherine’s kidnapping. The city of Alistair was under attack by the Raiders and Magyarzgan. The King of Alistair would not surrender however, and he took the remainders of his army and retreated to Vallenhein in the hopes that they could retake his city in the future. Now with this area cleared the army of the Magyarzgan once again began its march to Iziz.
The people of the free cities surrounding Iziz were evacuated and brought into the city, although many remained behind to defend their homes. This refugee crisis caused much tension and riots broke out. King Varnalis was able to get things under control again by paying the families and households that allowed the refugees to stay with them. The defenses were almost ready for battle, but they would not get the chance to complete them.
Early in the morning, hundreds of thousands of raiders with their monsters and many hundreds of thousands of Magyarzgan surrounded the northern wall of the city. The battle had begun. For several days the city’s defenses were able to hold off wave after wave of attack, but after five days the raiders brought up their fire drakes which destroyed the defenses and caused the troops and soldiers of Iziz to panic and flee. The army broke a hole through the first wall of the city and began to pillage the outer districts. The Dragon and Wyvern riders under the command of Trillion were able to kill or injure the Fire Drakes which gave the cities people hope of survival, this hope was short lived as more enemy reinforcements arrived the next day. Ten days into the siege some of the Raiders were able to make it through or over the walls and attack the inner-city districts, although they were eventually all slain or captured. During this part of the siege Trillion was killed by Ammo. Aesir learned from one of Ammo’s captured staff that Ammo had killed Aesir’s mother to become the leader of the Raiders and that Ammo was Aesir’s father.
The leader of the Magyarzgan, Hung Arian, was having doubts about the siege, he had lost large amounts of warriors and he believed that the Raiders were cowards who would flee the moment things went bad. He was about to call off the siege when news came that his daughter had been killed in battle and her body was mutilated. This was only half true, she had been killed in battle, but it was by a Raider who thought she stole his kill. She was not mutilated though, this was a lie meant to make Hung Arian fight harder. It worked, Hung Arian was enraged at this news and began the attacks with new vigor.
Then on the fourteenth day of the siege, just as the second wall was about to be overrun, salvation came. Hundreds of dark skin airships appeared over the horizon and battled off the enemy dragons, wyverns, airships, and balloons. They also bombed the enemy lines which caused them to panic. Tens of thousands of dark skins and their allies attacked the enemy flank, forcing them to face this attack which eased pressure on the city’s defenders. Hung Arian and his hordes used their massive numerical superiority to devastate the dark skins lines, they were about to defeat them entirely when another army of dark skins, this one many times larger than the last arrived. These extra troops provided the boost that they needed, the dark skins were able to turn the tables and they began to force back the Magyarzgan.
The fighting went on and on with both side gaining and losing and then gaining time and time again. It looked as though this would continue until everyone was dead, but on the eighteenth day of the battle a large force of foreign troops from around the world arrived, itching for a fight with the raiders who had caused them so much trouble. This was the final piece to tip the scale. Hung Arian led one last desperate charge to break the dark skin lines but was shot and killed. His warriors were demoralized and began to retreat. By the end of the twentieth day, the Magyarzgan armies were gone from Iziz. The prisoners or stragglers that remained behind either found a way back to Magyarzgan, became outlaws, or integrated into society.
Now with their main allies gone, the raiders were doomed. They had suffered appalling loses and were suffering from desertions. Those that were in the city were trapped and those with winged beasts rarely escaped without being shot out of the sky. On the twenty fourth day of battle Varnalis led the last charge against the raiders and Aesir killed Ammo. The fight was fierce and lasted well into the night. By the morning light the fighting had ended, the remaining raiders, now under the leadership of Sone, had fled or surrendered. The battle was won.
The people were in the midst of celebrating this victory when Bohazir suddenly kills Varnalis after hiding in the crowd. Bohazir is then captured and thrown into the jaws of Haetir. Michael, the previous lover of Catherine, admits his mistakes and offers to be imprisoned. Catherine pardons him for his faith in Bohazir, but she still banished him for a few years to the Free City of Themiscule. The people then have a grand funeral for the dead king and a wonderful state wedding for Catherine and Aesir. Catherine then joins Aesir and the combined armies to chase the Magyarzgan and Raiders who had escaped.
A few months have past and there is change everywhere, the last of the Magyarzgan escaped back into their homeland, were killed, or settled in the lands they attacked. The raider groups and bands were nearly destroyed with their major bases being burnt or captured. The Walled Cities in the north rebelled against the raiders who had occupied their lands. Eyren remained under Raider control though for several more years.
Catherine had led her armies valiantly against her remaining enemies and she had allied her nation with the dark skins. After liberating Alistair from the raiders, she was able to unite the other city states under a confederation of city states to ensure lasting peace. The land was saved, peace was restored, Catherine was crowned queen, Aesir was declared to be the royal consort, and an heir was on its way. Iziz, and the world was safe at last. For now.
here is some art work that I think represents my characters perfectly
The Royal Family
Aesir and Bohazir
Haetir
Other Wyverns, Fire Drakes, Giant Spiders, Sand Worm
Ammo, Trillion, and Hung Arian
Mowe and Mae Vaughn
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