Nobody wins. (Hermitcraft x life series members au)

The Kings Council

Martyn and most of his men ride back through the white walls of Stratos, being greeted by the hand of the king.

"I trust our enemies have been killed." Jimmy says with a smile on his face, seeing how many men had survived the battle.

"You assume correctly, i can assure you the dwarves will no longer be a problem, but the king was not there." Martyn says, jumping off his horse and handing it to the stables boy.

"Oh well, im sure we can kill him another time. In the meantime, the king is requesting us with him, along with the rest of his council." Jimmy says as his yellow wings flap into Martyn's face.

"What are you waiting for then? Let's go." Martyn smiles, looking down at his bloody armour and sword.

The two of them walk through the city with a guard of at least twenty men, catching looks from the citizens.

They walk into the castle where the council meetings are held, making their way up the long winding stairs, which lead to where King Joel is.

<16 years ago>

Joel runs up the stairs he's always hated, as his city seems to be burning and the kings people unorganised and unable to fight by themselves, his green cloak dragging across the floor and splattered in blood.

He bursts through the door to find his king, distressed and seemingly going crazy, not that he can blame him, if he had been King and his city was falling he'd go a bit crazy himself.

He walks up to the king with his sword in hand, and a dagger sheathed across his chest.

"My king, what are we to do?" He asks, putting away his sword as the king directs all attention to him.

"Il tell you what to do, you go out there, and you fight! you kill them all! do it now!" The king shouts, standing in front of his throne, Joel feeling saliva land on him.

"The city is going to fall. Nobody is coming to help us, and we can't just go out there and fight. At least without you, a good king would go down with his kingdom!" Joel shouts back as the other guards in the room become weary of him.

"Don't forget your place, boy, one order, and these men will chop out your tongue if you dare speak out of line to me again!" The king spits out, walking up to Joel, screaming obscenities in his face.

Joel turns around to leave, realising he can't win an argument with the king. A king that's too scared to fight with his people is no king, he thought to himself, and he will not have his wife being killed because of his inept king.

"That's right, boy, run!" The king shouts with an audible smirk on his face, causing a slight chuckle to come from the other men.

It was in that moment Joel turned his head to look back, staring out the window, watching the fighting in the streets. He thinks for a moment before looking straight back at the king, a fat man who is only getting fatter. In the books, he was portrayed as some amazing warrior who was the best swordsman in all the realms, how far he had fallen.

Joel turns around, fully pulling out his sword, watching four men stand in front of him, men he had known very well, and now were opposing him.

One tried to poke him with a spear, a quick swing of Joel's sword caused it to snap in two, leaving the man with only a shield, and another two charging straight for him, forgetting everything about defence and with a quick movement to the side he completely avoided their swings, allowing him to slice behind their legs incapacitating them.

He knocks the shield of the other man out of his hand before thrusting his sword into his neck, killing him swiftly.

The other man was going to be the hardest, certainly one of the strongest warriors in stratos, the only other man in Stratos who had the green cloak, Martyn.