Humpty Dumpty

[[Humpty Dumpty]] sat on a wall that ran along the perimeter of the Kingdom of the [[Ashkin]]. With his elbows on his knees and hands coupled, the man sighed as he looked upon the approaching [[enemy forces]].

Howard Douglas is a man of great stature who had performed many monumental tasks for the Kingdom of the [[Ashkin]], helping establish them as a great power, not to be trifled with. Reaching his mid-sixties, Howard was well known as a mountain of rippling muscle. He had piercing orange eyes and a black beard that reached to the bottom of his neck. Though gaining the nickname of ''Humpty Dumpty'' due to once being a heavy set child, Howard wears the moniker with pride to inspire others to work on themselves and move past the trivialities of the nature of children. His [[powers]] meant devastation for any who crossed him. After they were discovered, he quickly climbed the ladder in the King's military, soon becoming the leader of the battlemage faction. [[Continue]]

//(text-colour:yellow)[Legend tells of a mighty creator. One who formed life from the ashes of his slain kin. They were engulfed in flames of destruction and the ash figures created were glazed with the fires of rebirth. The figurines appeared with skin colored like obsidian and there were both men and women. A kingdom grew rapidly as they discovered they could reproduce. Many centuries later, some of the figures discovered abilities such as heat and fire manipulation. These allowed them to progress rapidly in terms of technology and military might. However, the abilities came at a cost. If used too much in a moment, the figures would stiffen and crumble to ash. Because of this, and realizing their flippant behaviour, the figures created rules to control themselves and proclaimed themselves as the Ashkin, acknowledging them as descendants of the mighty creator but never to be confused as his equal.] // [[Return to Start->Start]]

(text-colour:cyan)[Most believe that the Aquapes were borne from the creator's brothers before they were [[slain->Ashkin]]. They were massive beasts, made from rock and water, held together by magic. Appearing as ape-like, most stood around two meters in height with few being around 1.5 meters tall. With sharp fangs and claws, the Aquapes could tear into their enemies flesh and spew scalding water from their throat. They usually travel in packs of thirty but the force heading towards the kingdom appeared to have at least five hundered. ] [[Return->Start]]

Like most [[Ashkin]] that developed powers, Dumpty gained heat and fire manipulation. What made him special though, was his deep pool of mana and his high tolerance of nature. Once his skin starts to stiffen due to mana depletion, he just forces himself through it and continues fighting with weapons until his mana slowly regenerates. [[Previous->Humpty Dumpty]] [[Return to Start->Start]]

Whilst sitting upon the wall's ramparts, a jet of scalding water came from an Aquape from below Humpty. He was [[hit]]. He [[dodged]].

Humpty was not able to respond to the attack in time, causing the stream to hit him. He fell off of the rampart but slowed his descent by releasing pulses of flame downwards with his hands and feet. The Aquape below continued shooting short bursts of water at him as he continued downward. The man heated the water even more so that it just instantly evaporated before coming close. Once right above the creature, Humpty conjured a ball of flame in his hand and condensed it until it reached the size of grape. The enemy's mouth was agape, allowing water to spew out, so the battlemage dropped the concentrated ball of flame into its gullet. A few seconds passed before small flames leaked out of the cracks of the rock creature. It stopped spewing water and limped away toward its brethren in pain. As Humpty safely touched the ground, the pained Aquape exploded, its body becoming deadly shrapnel to its own kind. Many of the enemy died as the injured one was able to retreat far into the crowd. Humpty continued [[forward]], ignoring his squadron, and battled the beasts. or Humpty jumped and propelled himself back on to the rampart to [[rejoin->Alive]] his squadron.

After dodging the bout of water, Humpty called for his men to join him along the ramparts. [[Continue->Alive]]

Hours passed as he tore through the Aquapes, decimating them with his magic. Unfortunately, he got heavily injured as the battle lengthened. His entire left arm and his right ear was torn off but he cauterized both before the blood even hit the ground. The fires of rage and battlelust drove him forward into the enemy forces, not waiting at all for the King's reinforcements. Though numb to the pain of his injuries, it was clear they were slowing him down as each use of magic threatened to make him fall. He heard shouts from his fellow mages in the distance behind him. He had made great headway and was surrounded by bodies littering the ground. Some were scattered piles of rock and splashes of water and many became statues as Humpty drained all the heat from the water which fueled them, leaving them as ice and rock. More enemies were looming further from his position but his strength ran out as his squadron neared him. He slowly made his way over to a fallen Aquape turned ice sculpture and sat on it to wait. [[Continue->Death]]

The battlemages rode their horses to their commanders position to find him sitting upon a dead Aquape. As they got closer, Humpty turned his head toward them and wore a stiff smile. "Forgive me for my brashness." he slowly said to them, his bright orange eyes dimming. "I must leave the rest to you as I seem to have pushed myself too much." Humpty couldn't feel his mana regenerating and felt his entire body slowly fall to ash, starting at his feet. (text-colour:red)[*So this is what it's like.*] he thought. (text-colour:red)[*Thank you for this gift of yours, creator, and all it allowed me to do. From ash I came, and to ash I return*.] [[Continue->Conclusion 1]]

The men who witnessed Humpty Dumpty's departure were shocked by his sudden death. A small unit was formed to collect his ashes and bring them to the king as the remaining force staved off the rest of the Aquapes. The King and the people were devestated by the loss of their beloved military commander. They threw parties celebrating him and vigils mourning him. His ashes were infused into a giant brazier, to be forever lit upon the wall he defended. [[Continue->Foreword]]

[[Humpty Dumpty->Start]] by Ryan Hood.

Humpty and his men formed a long line along the ramparts and rained balls of fire and beams of flame down upon the Aquapes. [[Continue->Victory]]

They bombarded the enemy for hours and took shifts so that their mana could replinish and not risk turning to ash. Humpty only took a few short breaks, continuing the onslaught until the remaining creatures retreated and escaped. [[Continue->Conclusion 2]]

The King congratulated Humpty Dumpty and his men, and honored them with parties that lasted a week throughout the kingdom. [[Continue->Foreword]]