When Snow turned Red.

The last time the gates of Snowfalls were breached, it was done by the sixth Mashirotzu and his twin sister. They rode the two great dragons Starflamer and Marble into the city, followed by an army of loyalists made up of Dwarves, Elves, and the little human kingdoms bold enough to stand against the tyrant fifth Mashirotzu.

When the fifth Mashirotzu, Kanzo murdered his twin brother, the fourth Mashirotzu Tanzo, and anyone who dared to stand up against him from ascending to the throne, his brother's widow escaped to Stonehaven with her children prince Hodei and princess Ozai, they were protected by the Dwarf king Rathnar until they came of age and waged a war to regain the throne. A war that left the whole of Snowlandia divided for the decades that followed. But since then, the gates were never breached again, not even during the great war.

Snowlandia, my home. I swore to protect it with every inch of my being and I was ready to lay down my life without question, that is the way of a true warrior. We were under attack, and the enemies were inside the gate of the city. I was no stranger to battle, and although my father always said "A real warrior never craves battle, for he is well aware of the sacrifices that come with it," I sometimes crave battle, but it was one thing to fight an enemy, and it's another thing to fight them in my city, in my home.

"Stay the hell in your position, or the dragons will mistake you for an enemy and burn you to ash," I screamed at the annoying dwarf prince Rauthhorn who moved around playfully as the dragons burnt the platoon of orcs that was earlier charging at us.

"Relax, Lord Karui. I am no stranger to fire, but this fire...dragon fire is beautiful. I will not lower my gaze from it," the dwarf prince joked.

"Heed my brother's warning, prince Rauthhorn. The dragons can be unpredictable sometimes," Konoiki cautioned him.

The dragons circled around about two times, burning every orc in sight and they finally continued to the gates. Ikari flew down to me and I placed a hand on her scaly forehead.

"Where the hell is your dragon, little brother," I asked Konoiki.

"Well, I never know! She's always doing her own thing these days," he replied.

"It is your responsibility to care for the beast, you irresponsible brat," I started to shout at him, but before I could say much, Shantara appeared in the sky, flying towards him.

"Well, you can rest your mouth now, my dragon approaches," he laughed and the dwarf prince joined him.

This is no time for jokes, brother! We are under attack, people are dying. Get on your dragon, we must get to the gates now!" as I talked to my brother, a unit battalion of Hirotoki warriors marched toward us, led by my childhood friend, Nagadeisu Hiritoki.

"Hello, old friend," he greeted.

"Naga, my friend. I see you now lead your own battalion."

"Yes, and here we are, saving your butts again," he smiled.

"Considering I have saved yours thrice as many times," your debt is yet paid, I smiled back.

"Oh, so you can laugh, oh mighty lord of the whiteheads?" Prince Rauthhorn interrupted us with a burst of thunderous laughter.

"I see you have a Dwarf in your most," Nagdeisu said, acting as if he was seeing the dwarf for the first time.

"And he's royalty too," I smiled.

"I see," Nagadeisu replied.

"Some dragon riders are already heading to the gates, I assume you are heading in the same direction?" I asked.

"Yes, the White Halls was attacked by the Ashasha, during a summit of all the lords. They of course put the Ashashas down like the dogs they are, but it was of course a distraction. Your father is gathering the regular army for a larger response and all the other lords have sent goat heads back to their domains for more troops to protect the capital, but we have been ordered to secure the gates first."

"Ashasha attacking the lords was a fools' errand, who attacks those tough bastards? Since when does the Ashasha work for Orcs? I do not think it was just a distraction though, I also think the gates are not that important, not yet anyway...

Several places in the city have been attacked in the city, they are already at the gates in small numbers. Those attacks are the distractions and they tried to take out all the lords in one swift attack too, which means they had prior information of the gathering, probably an inside one. The distractions are to mask something they're doing, and the attack on the lords was meant to take out our government. This was carefully thought out and executed, Naga."

"I have forgotten what a genius you were, Karui. I agree with you, there is more to this."

"You must turn your men around, split them up, and investigate the explosion sights for any clues you may find. Protect these sights until reinforcements arrive. I will have a word with my father. We must be smart about this."

"They must have used a portal," Konoiki suddenly interrupted us.

"What?" Nagadisu exclaimed.

"How else did those big Orcs get into the city undiscovered? The Orcs stopped coming close to the capital after the purge, they stuck to raiding defenseless border towns and villages The answer is simple, they used a kind of portal, which means they have at least one mage. You said it yourself, brother, the Ashasha and the Orcs hate each other's guts, but they work together now? It does not sound sane. This is a mage or mages at work."

"You might be correct, Konoiki. Good reasoning.

Do you have runners, Naga?"

"Yes, of course," Naga replied.

"Send your fastest runners back to the White Halls with words of our discoveries, the rest of your battalion proceed to the explosion sights, cut down any enemy you meet and send words about your discoveries to the gates. You have the fastest land riders after all." I asserted.

"But I have a different order," Karui, Naga complained.

"I am overriding your lord's orders, Naga. I impose specter rights, we have no time to waste, old friend!

Konoiki, you and the dwarf should get on your dragon now, we ride for the gates immediately!"

"You really like ordering people around, don't you," Konoiki murmured but I ignored him.

I got on Ikari's back and we headed for the gates. We were soon joined by other dragon riders, and the sky was full of dragons. On the ground, a battalion of Yokozuna warriors was on the move. They were led by Lord Yokohama himself.

"The other lords won't be far behind, I'm sure. The Hanara would probably be tasked with protecting the back gates, although it is not likely that an attack could occur there, it leads to the rest of the country. The capital was designed to be entered to have those two gates, and the city itself is a gateway to the rest of Snowlandia as the southernmost city in the kingdom.

"The Hanara would probably be joined by the Kazakarez, they fight better together, even though they don't like each other very much," I whispered to myself and I was right.

The regular army was divided into two, and Naga's runners got to the White Halls in time. One-half of the regular army moved to support Naga and his men, while the rest moved to the gates, joined by the men of the city guards.

Lord Shioto and his men also joined us in the sky, the blue colors of the Sheenzu riders filled the sky, and as we got closer to the gates, a dark mist started to emerge.

"What the hell is that?" Konoiki screamed.

"That is a Wraith mist," I thought to myself. I had read about it in the chronicles of the last great war. A lot was said about mists like this but the most important thing said was that they only emerge before great catastrophes, conjured up by only the most powerful dark mages.

" I guess my foolish brother was right, we have a dark mage to deal with," I murmured.