Within the land of Elmmora, at the edge of Mount Lyke’s vast mountain range, a humming noise echoes from an ancient dwarven stronghold. Inside this stronghold rests an ancient war machine in a worn and dusty capsule.
An Elmforge.
Waking from its long, dormant sleep, blue arcane energy surges through the Elmforge with eyes illuminating through its circular glass window.
The energised chains holding it in place are now powerless as it breaks free with remarkable ease and pushes the door open. The seven-foot tall Elmforge steps out of its capsule for the first time in an age. The blue arcane energy not only illuminates its eyes, but also its mouth and between large white metal plates. A large dwarven insignia is inscribed on the machine’s left calf.
Its sensors sweep the area for life. Nothing. Nothing but the sound of tiny creatures skittering in the walls. "How unusual," it says curiously.
It then turns around, looking up to a rustic sign above its capsule written in ancient dwarven text. It reads aloud the only legible part that remains, “Krankos,” to proclaim its name.
Memories flood the machine’s mind back to when the capsule room was alive with arcane energies from top to bottom. Dwarven armies watching over the machines and ensuring fellow Elmforged were primed and ready to unleash devastation. Several capsules line the walls where the machines once rested, every one damaged and empty. The room is dark and damp. It is in disrepair; a shamble of its former self.
"Where are my tiny engineers?" Krankos asks. "Or what about my siblings, have they already broken free? Where could they be?"
Krankos walks around the base, searching the wide corridors, scanning for anything familiar; some clue as to why or what reason it was activated? What is its purpose? Convinced there must be some reason for it to wake.
Entering the Chamber of War it becomes clear that Krankos is alone. The banners dusty, worn and torn, torches cold and furniture decaying. This brings on an unusual uncertainty for the machine. A machine designed to cause beautiful death and destruction upon their enemies, now left alone?
Wandering around the base it slowly makes its way to the Great Hall. The hall is as decrepit as the rest of the building. Once grand, now the walls are charred and mostly in ruin with the doors to the entrance dangling off their hinges.
The wreckage of the Great Hall creates an unsettling feeling, bubbling from its stomach, “What if my masters were kidnapped?”
Running to the light, Krankos stops in the doorway, Sun reflecting off its armour, Krankos looks out to the main courtyard. Skeletal remains, destroyed equipment and scorched earth are all that occupies it now. What is particularly odd however is that the doors from the outside are still shut and walls still standing. Whatever happened here was done from the inside.
"How strange?" the machine says.
Krankos walks around the courtyard aimlessly until, suddenly, its eyes light up, "What if they have all just popped out? What if my purpose is to tidy up the building for their return?"
It then proceeds to collect the skeletal remains and take them to an old mine further up the mountain. Years ago this was referred to as the Mine of the Fallen and fallen soldiers were buried inside the mine, under a pile of ore and rubble with a torch placed securely upright. In respect, Krankos treats the remains the same honour, burying them within the mountain, repeating, "May your body strengthen the mountain and soul now rest."
Over the coming weeks, Krankos continues to tidy, clean and repair the base. It scrubs the walls of scorch marks, dusts the fixings, uses the piles of rubble to fill in the walls, relays the foundations, plants new crops, reconstructs the old capsules and uses the torn banners to jigsaw new ones.
This continues for several weeks. Every night Krankos meditates on its purpose while waiting for the great gates to open once again. It thought about seeing it's tiny creators, talking to itself, "Why thank you tiny master, I have worked well. Yes, I think a drink would go down nicely. Shall I sing a song for you my good friend?"
"Let's not worry about being alone,
'coz there's much far worse outside of our home,
like no meat, no drink, or violence in the street,
no I'd much rather be all alone."
Krankos waits and waits; continuing to talk and sing to itself as the weeks turn into months. With each passing day, Krankos spends longer and longer watching the door with fewer tasks to complete. Just staring.
Until one day, Krankos hears a sound in the distance that echoes with familiarity. The noise captures its thoughts, listening to them very carefully. This is the first time Krankos detected any life, other than the tiny skittering creatures when it woke, but even they have since dispersed.
The sounds are reminiscent of the dwarfs that once cared for the Elmforged. Memories faded over time but enough of its memories remained to make Krankos jump up from meditation in excitement.
"That must be them! Finally they have returned! I must open the doors and greet my tiny masters!" Krankos exclaims, marching to the large doors in the courtyard, lifting the large metal bar, throwing it to the side and swinging the doors wide open.
Krankos almost sings, "Welcome home!" as it steps foot outside of the walls with arms wide open.
A couple of minutes pass with no reply before Krankos looks down. Nobody is there. The Elmforge checks its feet, even lifting a foot up to make sure it did not step on anything. Nope. "Huh? At least I didn't step on them. But where could they be?"
Looking back at the door, “I suppose I should go back inside then…”
Before once again confining itself inside the lonely mountain, Krankos looks back to the landscape. Even though the Elmforge had left the base before, it never really took in the landscape, only ever leaving with the purpose of war. However Krankos can now see it with fresh eyes.
It sees devastation and destruction.
From the mountains edge, miles of woodlands burnt to the ground, craters in the land and large cracks in the rock. Most of the land around the mountain is long, lost of life - a scar of war. Only a small, newly forming forest lay between the mountain and large woodlands surrounding the area, forming an almost perfect circle.
Krankos’s head drops, asking itself, ‘Did I do this? Why would I? Did my master's command it?... No… No, they made me. Don’t be crazy Krankos, they wouldn’t cause such destruction, they are our makers.’
Snapping itself from its train of thought, Krankos hears the familiar sounds once again. “I can’t stay inside the base until I at least know what that sound is.” it says, honing in on the sounds. “It sounds like it is coming from the tiny forest…”
The machine runs, climbs and jumps down the mountain as quickly as it can. Its large feet land at the foot of the mountain before sprinting towards the growing forest. The trees are spaced apart, forming a pathway through it. Krankos begins to make out shapes of small beings up ahead, bringing more excitement and urgency to its movement. Krankos's excitement grows further still, recognising many similarities to its tiny masters; though not as threatening or as shiny.
The mysterious figures turn to face the Elmforge, unaware of what is approaching, but as Krankos comes into their field of view, fear sets in their eyes.
Krankos yells, "Hey you! Tiny ones!" to get their attention so it can finally reconnect.
The dwarfs drop their weapons and run shouting, "Slænijj'r!" (Pron. Slay-nij-er). This is from the dwarvish tongue, meaning ‘Warbringer.’
Arriving at the centre of the forest, it stops and calls back, "You forgot your weapons!"
The dwarfs continue to run off into the distance. Krankos watches them in bewilderment, “What’s a ‘Warbringer?’”
Investigating the area, there are steel axes, primarily used for chopping rather than combat, left behind at several marked trees. “Why would they leave their weapons?"
Then a red creature swoops down from high in the tallest tree. Gliding down at speed, Krankos is unable to get a good look at the creature as it flies around a corner, out of sight. Krankos approaches with caution, 'What horrifying creature is this to have the name 'Warbringer.'
As Krankos peaks around the corner, the creature turns. Its claws, long and sharp. Krankos's eyes brighten in disbelief.
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