Redshirt Rising: Prologue

Prologue
It was almost sunset, and as the sun set on the usually peaceful Castle Brownleaf, a shadow crept across the field surrounding the castle. If one looked closer, they would see that following the shadow was a monstrous horde of blood thirsty creatures. These creatures had swept across the eight other human kingdoms, and now they had finally come to finish their conquest. The soldiers of the eastern wall of the castle were led by none other than Sergeant Crash Daggar, one of the bravest men the Dravian army had. Whenever someone looked Daggar in the eye, they could see why most men followed his orders closely. His towering physique was paralleled only by his booming voice and sharp wit. His armor was always clean and shiny; one could see the seal of leadership on his armor from far away with ease. Daggar looked at home in this extremely tense situation, calmer and more collected than any normal man would be.
When Daggar saw the eastern watch tower light its fire, he knew that the siege of the century was about to commence. Daggar took one look at his platoon, and he noticed his headcount was one shy. Daggar sighed to himself. He didn't even need to take roll to know who was missing. Daggar bounded around the walls of the castle, looking for his missing volunteer. He knew that Private Jaffy meant well, but Jaffy was not cut out for soldiering. Jaffy was weaker than the rest; the quartermaster could not even find armor small enough for him. As a result, the already clumsy Jaffy bumbled around clumsily, and he could barely see out of his helmet. If he weren't drafted, Jaffy would not be in this war at all. All citizens of Dravion took an aptitude test to determine where they would best serve society. Jaffy was assigned a "red-shirt" after his aptitude exam, which meant he was to assist people who had scored higher than his pitifully low score in the physical or mental categories. Not only that, but Jaffy was assigned to be a red-shirt for a red-shirt assigner, meaning he was an assistant to the guy who determines who assists who.
Sorry sack of shike has no place in a war, thought Daggar.
Jaffy had no doubt found himself on the north wall on accident again, so Daggar had gone there first to look. Sure enough, there was the wayward private, looking as lost as ever. Jaffy's eyes lit up for a split second when he saw Daggar; he was thinking that he had found the right place after all. When he saw the rage in Daggar's eyes, his face fell.
"JAFFY! If you don't get you're sorry self to the edge of the east wall on the double, I will throw you off this shiking wall myself! Get up, you useless red! What, did you forget which wall you're supposed to be on? Am I that hard to miss, or are you sabotaging the effort from here? Are you a monster, or are you human? Either way, you are the sorriest piece of shike that ever facked a troll! You stupid, useless, shike covered-"
Suddenly, Jaffy heard a thunk, and Sergeant Daggar's head jutted forward as his eyes rolled back in his head, and his diatribe came to an abrupt halt. As the six foot four man fell to the ground with a thump, Jaffy saw what had caused his silence. Sticking out of the back of Daggar's head was a crude black arrow. Jaffy's jaw dropped. He stared at this giant paragon, a leader of men who had just had his life extinguished in a fraction of a second with no warning whatsoever. After two staggeringly slow seconds, Jaffy's training kicked in (slightly) and he yelped "NORHERN WALL!"
Immediately, the northern wall erupted into chaos. Men looked around for the enemy, but they couldn't see anything. Where had the arrow come from? Jaffy looked to the top of the tree directly in front of where Daggar was shot, and saw the monster that had shot the arrow. He was a coalskin, a type of monster that served as assassins for the Laiyan army. They were expert marksmen, masters of poison, and their namesake hide made it awfully difficult to find them in darkness. The only parts of him that were easily visible to Jaffy were his bright green eyes and crooked, gray teeth as he grinned at Jaffy, taunting him without words.
I am so facked, Jaffy thought.
He let out a shriek of terror, clumsily flailed about, and his helmet came down over his face. Inside his oversized helmet, Jaffy panicked. He frantically dropped his spear to free up his hands to lift his helmet, but just as his hands came up to his face he felt a sudden, powerful impact on his forehead and a deafening clang that rang through to Jaffy's skull. The impact was so strong it knocked Jaffy to the ground. Instinctively, Jaffy's hands rose to his forehead, and he felt a sizeable dent right over where his exposed forehead used to be. He let out a sigh of relief and stood up abruptly. About three quarters of the way up, another impact jarred his helmet, throwing him to the ground yet again. He heard a crunch, then a disgusting gurgle, and finally heard a thump as someone or something fell to the ground at his feet. It took a split second for Jaffy to realize that this time, instead of something hitting him, this felt more like he hit something.
The last hit also knocked off his helmet, barraging Jaffy's senses with light and sound. All around the poor private, the siege was in full swing. Jaffy could not tell how the battle was going or help his comrades by just lying on the ground, so he mustered the courage to at least sit up and look at whom or what he hit his head on. Lying at his feet was the same coalskin that he had seen moments ago, only now his head had a white, milky liquid gushing out of a large hole in it as the monster lay motionless. Jaffy let out sigh of relief and amazement: he had apparently gotten his first kill, although it had been a pure accident. He also looked around and saw that his helmet had saved his life earlier as well: an arrow lay broken right next to where he sat. Jaffy had little time to celebrate, for soon the wall shook violently underneath him, forcing the soldier to steady himself in the seated position.
Jaffy instinctively turned to where the shaking came from, and noticed that a large flaming boulder had crashed into the eastern wall. Everywhere was chaos and mayhem. Some coalskins raided the north wall while the bulk of the assault was happening on the eastern wall. Jaffy picked up his gear and went to the edge to look over to where he was supposed to be. Jadeskins, the foot-soldier of the Laiyan army known for their sharp tusks, simple minds, and tough signature husk could be seen ascending makeshift ladders to the top of the wall. Jaffy also could see a giant mobile tower crawling towards the wall. Jaffy knew that he should go to his unit, but he also knew that he might just get in the way. He quickly decided to rush to the eastern wall to help with the jadeskins, but just as he started to move, the very air surrounding him shook with a thunderous BOOM. Jaffy felt a sudden intense pain in his legs, and was suddenly flying through the air towards the ground behind the wall. He felt surprisingly at peace as the ground rushed to meet him, and he glanced at the northern wall to see the 30 foot high and 18 foot thick stone wall had, in fact, been blasted to bits entirely.
I knew I was facked, Jaffy thought to himself.
Jaffy awoke moments later with an intense pain in both his legs. As the rest of his senses came to, he surveyed his surroundings. He looked down at his feet, or rather where his feet should be, and observed that his legs ended at the knees. He started to panic, and looked around frantically. He was in the castle keep, where a makeshift infirmary had apparently been set up. He looked to his left, and suddenly his breath was taken away. He was looking at the most attractive woman he had ever seen. She had long, straight auburn hair, deep brown eyes and skin so fair he would hesitate to touch it and sully its beauty. She was so beautiful that his jaw dropped and it took a second for him to notice the headgear she was wearing that gave away who she was. When he did, his jaw dropped even further and he struggled to find something to say.
"My Q-q-q-queen!" He stammered, aghast at the fact that the Queen herself was looking him in the eye.
"You've done well, soldier, but your day isn't through. Hold still for a moment; this may sting." She placed her soft, delicate hands on his leg stumps, and he felt an intense burning pain that was somehow worse than when they were blown off. He wanted to scream, but something about the queen made him calmer and he simply sighed. Then, a glow emanated from her hand, and the pain in his legs subsided for a moment. This is what magic feels like, Jaffy thought. Then, just as abruptly as the pain had subsided, there was a sick cracking sound as the most painful experience Jaffy had ever imagined racked his body. Jaffy shrieked and cried out so loudly that both Jaffy and the Queen were surprised at his volume. He then looked down at where his legs used to be, and there they were! Jaffy laughed despite himself, and moved his new legs around excitedly.
"Sorry I screamed, my queen, I was not prepared, and I-" Jaffy was cut off.
"Well, I did say it would sting, didn't I?" said the queen as she kissed his cheek and started to stand up. "Return to where you are needed, Sergeant Jaffy." As she said this, she touched his uniform, and suddenly he was wearing a Sigil of Leadership.
Jaffy immediately thought to argue with her, but he realized that arguing with any queen, let alone the Witch Queen of Dravion herself would be pointless. Jaffy sighed. If he were made sergeant, things must be really bad. Jaffy put on his armor and did as the Queen ordered. He went to the wall and prepared to die.
As he looked out, Jaffy noticed that the battle was going better than it started. Witches were using magic to lay waste to throngs of enemy troops, and it seemed like the tide was turning. Jaffy turned to a fellow soldier who wore the rank Jaffy had worn earlier this morning and tried to sound as authoritative as possible as he uttered in a false baritone.
"Report."
"Sarge, we are holding the keep as the witches take care of the Laiyans. They seem to be doing quite well. We were seriously facked before they showed up. Then again, it's kind of hard to say, since we only have to hold to sun up."
Jaffy was puzzled at this for a moment, but then he remembered something. Laiyans were deadly allergic to sunlight, and soon it was going to be sunrise. This meant that they only had to hold for an hour or two more before the day would be won! Jaffy let himself get excited, and smiled. His smile was answered by a small smirk as the private continued.
"Then again, Sarge, we have no idea why they bothered or how they expected to survive after taking the city, since the sky-scorcher still hasn't shown up yet."
As if on cue, there was a thunderous boom and a terrifying roar that vibrated the walls of the keep. Thick, black clouds covered the sky, blocking out the moon, stars, and any hope the humans had. Sky-scorcher, the Dragon Queen of Laiya had arrived to finish her conquest. Jaffy's heart sunk. Then, he saw a light emanate from the base of the gate to the keep as the giant doors opened and about thirty beautiful women dressed in long, flowing robes left the safety of the keep. At the head of the pack was the now familiar face of Thuala, the Witch Queen of Dravion. She spread her arms wide and shouted to the thick, dark clouds.
"Thalissa! You have plagued this land for far too long! Show yourself and face me, or are you to cowardly to show yourself?"
The thunderous clouds laughed back at her. "I'm the coward? You arrive late to this battle and you arrive with thirty witches to challenge just little old me, and I'm the coward?! HA!"
Just then, a column of fire burst down from the sky, enveloping the thirty royal witches. When the smoke cleared, twenty-nine of the witches lay dead, leaving just Queen Thuala standing among her dead sisters. Jaffy could see the sorrow on her face turn to rage as she floated up to the height of the keep. Jaffy noticed that her robes were unscathed, and her eyes were radiating a light that made it appear as if she had no eyes at all, just glowing orbs in their place.
"ENOUGH!" Screamed the Witch Queen as she raised her hands to the sky, and the heavens suddenly cleared, revealing a massive reptilian winged beast. Sky-scorcher was even more terrifying than Jaffy had heard. She was larger than the keep Jaffy stood on, and the gigantic leathery wings were so wide that they could cast a shadow over the whole city. The mighty Witch Queen looked tiny compared to the monstrous might of this great beast, but it was also plain to see that they might be closer in power than size suggested.
"Fine, have it your way." Uttered the Dragon Queen nonchalantly, and the Dragon dove towards the Witch Queen. Thuala ascended to meet her, and a fraction of a second before the collision the witch blasted the Dragon with lightning and dodged to the right of the fearsome beast. The lightning reflected off of the Dragon's hide, and blew apart a few buildings below.
Wow, I could have been in there, Jaffy thought to himself.
The siege had seemingly paused for this epic exchange, but the lightning seemed to awaken the battle anew. The remaining witches needed help on the ground, so Jaffy sent a small group to go and aid them. He didn't go himself, for he knew he was far less adept at combat than his newfound title suggested. He looked to the sky again, and saw Queen Thuala raise her hands to blast the Dragon with ice magic. This seemed to have a better effect than the lightning, but not enough to slow the monster. The Dragon kept trying to catch her smaller opponent, but never seemed to make contact. Finally, the Dragon Queen got frustrated and belched a giant fireball at the witch.
Thuala responded by opening her mouth and sucking in the entire fireball into her mouth. Jaffy shook his head in amazement.
I hope I survive this so I can tell Ben this when he grows up. Jaffy thought about his unborn son for a moment, and this strengthened his resolve.
He led the remaining group of his men down from the keep and into the fray to assist the witches clearing out the city. He had to defend his city from this outside threat. He had to make this kingdom safe for his son, and he wasn't going to do that by simply watching some magic beings fight over his city. He knew defeating Sky-scorcher was the key, but how is it possible to harm such a mighty creature? As his group neared the fray, he had an idea.
"Men! Make our way to the north wall!" He commanded, and his voice sounded naturally authoritative. The men didn't hesitate as he led them past the witches and right into a group of Jadeskins, led by one larger creature. This creature had marble white skin that Ben could see the purple veins and arteries pulsing underneath it. Ben knew that this creature was one of the more feared creatures in the Laiyan army, and they were called Alabasters. The Alabasters were treated as the lieutenants of Laiyan forces, and considered four or five times as tough as their green counterparts. Jaffy bravely charged up to the Alabaster first, and his platoon followed close behind. As Jaffy got close, he swung his axe as hard as he could, and he cut a sizeable chunk out of the Alabaster.
The Alabaster let out a grunt of pain, but was not harmed enough to keep him from counterattacking. The nasty beast swung his club right at Jaffy's head, but Jaffy ducked it just in time. Jaffy felt as if he were being guided by something other than himself; something faster and cleverer than he was. The mighty swing caused the Alabaster to fall off balance, which gave Jaffy just the opening he needed. Jaffy kicked the legs out from under the creature, and the Alabaster fell with a solid crunch on the rubble-strewn ground. Jaffy finished his opponent with an overhead swing of his axe, cleaving the head of the enemy lieutenant in two. Jaffy took a second to look down at his fallen opponent, and his fellow soldiers looked at him in admiration.
What the shike was that? The formerly inept Jaffy thought.
He had never learned anything like that in training, and, come to think of it, he normally wasn't even strong enough to hold the axe in one hand, let alone cleave an Alabaster with ease. As if to answer his inner question, the Sigil of Leadership that the Queen had earlier placed on his chest glowed slightly and felt warm to the touch. Thank you, Jaffy thought as he looked up quickly at the Witch Queen locked in an epic battle in the sky. Jaffy then motioned his victorious (although fewer) comrades forward to the wall.
The group was met with little resistance as they got closer to the wall. The Laiyans had moved past this section, and had abandoned their larger siege weaponry behind the wall. Perfect. Jaffy instructed his troops to search for a catapult while he looked for whatever blew the north wall to hell. He came across a crate with a label in a language he couldn't read. Fortunately, there was also a diagram of an unfortunate jadeskin touching the crate and exploding. Thank God for Laiyan stupidity, Jaffy thought to himself.
Jaffy scrambled for a moment until he found something more delicate than an axe to open the crate with, and when he did, he called over some of his men to help. When it was finally open, Jaffy's company found a spherical ball that had a glass window on the top of it. Through it Jaffy could see the ball's contents.
"A plumskin!" Jaffy gasped. Plumskins were quite rare, and were known for their self-destructive tendencies and their ludicrously explosive blood. It was rumored that only five or six well placed Plumskins could take out the entire capital. If this one woke up and noticed the soldiers, there wouldn't be anyone to bury. Jaffy held his finger to his lips, instructing the troops to stay as quiet as possible. They gingerly laid the ball into the cradle of the nearest abandoned catapult, and the soldiers started to move the catapult. The catapult made a giant CRACK! As it moved over a piece of rubble, and everyone stopped dead in their tracks. No one breathed for about four seconds, and the only sound was the echo of battle in the background. When no one exploded, Jaffy let out a sigh of relief.
"It looks like we take the shot from here" Jaffy whispered to his men. They looked at each other quizzically, having just now wondered what exactly their brave leader's plan was.
"We are going to shoot the dragon down." Jaffy explained. There was a short pause, and then all but one of the soldiers gave Jaffy a look that clearly told him to go fack himself and ran off. The remaining soldier, an older man, extended his hand.
"'Name's Kluney. Sigil of Leadership is pretty cool, huh? Makes people into crazy sons of witches, though." whispered Jaffy's new friend as he pointed towards the glowing sigil on Jaffy's chest.
Jaffy shook his hand, and the pair of them set up the catapult for the impossibly long shot. Luckily, the catapult was stolen from the same kingdom Kluney was from, so it was easy for him to calibrate. They decided to calibrate it to shoot over the entire city, so if they missed the Dragon then the orb would destroy some nearby forest instead of the interior of the city. Then they waited for the Dragon to be where they hoped the sphere would go, and let it fly.
The catapult splintered apart with a tremendous crack as it fired far past its normal parameters, but the ball flung forth from it at an unbelievable velocity, and soared directly at the Dragon Queen. The great beast didn't even see it as the ball slammed into her right flank.
The ensuing explosion was felt all across the capitol. The Witch Queen was thrown into the keep below, but she deftly landed on her feet, looking up in surprise and confusion.
The Dragon's right arm and leg were blown off and crashed into the keep below. Both epic combatants were so shocked that neither reacted immediately. Sky-scorcher reacted first, crying out in pain and rage. She raced away from the keep with unnatural speed. She flew north, towards her kingdom, and right over Jaffy. As she flew over him, a building sized chunk of her dropped off of her and fell towards him at alarming speed. As he looked up in amazement at what he did, he also noticed he had no time to move out of the way of the massive piece of flesh that was covered in steel-like scales.
"Well, I had a good run." Those were the last words of Jaffy the Red-shirt Hero.