[[Humpty Dumpty]] sat on a wall that ran along the perimeter of the Kingdom of the [[Gosland]]. With his elbows on his knees and hands coupled, the big bird sighed as he looked upon the approaching [[enemy forces]].
Howard Douglas Duck is an eggbound bird of great stature who had performed many monumental tasks for the Kingdom of the [[Gosland]], 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 beak Though gaining the nickname of ''Humpty Dumpty'' due to having many pieces of his birth shell stuck to many places on his body, 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 battlebird faction.
[[Continue]]
//(text-colour:yellow)[From the very soil the eggs seem to grow. A small white cap is the only sign of their sudden existence. Day after day the egg grows larger and larger seemingly on it's own. They generally hatch into all manner of bird, with no real way to tell what will hatch beforehand. The Geese rule Gosland, as they were the cleverest, most ruthless and most numerous of the waterfowl. They make the rules that every bird in Gosland must follow.
Not all eggs end up hatching, these eggs simply grow only to rot, but even in this exception there are exceptions. One out of a dozen eggs that don't hatch will have a bird still inside of it, parts of the bird's body will have grown to be inseperable from the strangely strong shell. Many birds consider this a disability, something to mock. The eggbound learn to regard the stuck shell as permenant armor.] //
[[Return to Start->Start]](text-colour:cyan)[Not everything that emerges from an [[eggshell->Gosland]].
is a meek and gentle waterfowl. There are amphibians, snakes, reptiles, predator avians, and worst of all, the really big eggs. These eggs are extremely rare, but they can give birth to birds the size of castles that shake the earth with every step and presumably cannot see any prey that doesn't move. The enemy that approaches now are a tribe of horned water monitors, each armed with teeth and claws meant for ripping out bird throat.
They usually travel in packs of five but the force heading towards the kingdom appeared to have at least five hundered. ]
[[Return->Start]]Like most [[Gosland]] 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 will fight with beak and claw until it returns to him.
[[Previous->Humpty Dumpty]]
[[Return to Start->Start]]Whilst sitting upon the wall's ramparts, a jet of scalding water came from a horned monitor 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 dexterous feet. All the shell on his body prevents him from flying properly. The monitor below continued shooting short bursts of water at him as he continued downward. The bird heated the water even more so that it just evaporated before coming close.
Once right above the creature, Humpty conjured a ball of flame in his foot 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 slits of the lizard's face. It stopped spewing water and limped away toward its brethren in pain. As Humpty safely touched the ground, the pained monitor exploded, its body becoming deadly shrapnel to its own kind.
Many of the enemy died because 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 monitors, decimating them with his magic. Unfortunately, he got heavily injured as the battle lengthened. His entire left wing and the feathers on the right of his face were torn off by the vicious lizards 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 monitor 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 the ground.
(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. My shell made me strong*.]
[[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 remains 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.
Shards from his shell were infused into a giant brazier, to be forever lit upon the wall he defended.
[[Continue->Foreword]][[Humpty Dumpty->Start]] by Ryan Hood. Edited by Hunter Skapura.Humpty and his flock formed a long line along the ramparts and rained balls of fire and beams of flame down upon the monitors.
[[Continue->Victory]]They bombarded the enemy for hours and took shifts so that their mana could replinish and not risk their own spells rebounding unto themselves. 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]]