Chapter 2 The Imminent Collapse

Now it came to pass that Ronzak the Sorcerer had grown very strong in the dark powers. He was certain he would be able to overpower all opposing forces and enslave all of mankind to his service. He began to discreetly envelope all the remote villages under his spell and force all able bodied males into his army.

As his army of conscripts grew, he moved ever closer to Freetown, the seat of government for the entire known world. So tactful was his progress that he was virtually at the outskirts of town before the alarm was raised.

The army of Freetown mainly consisted of citizen reserves who were allowed to remain at home with the agreement that they could be called to action at any time. Only a small garrison protected Freetown and even smaller groupings of regular soldiers were dispersed throughout the world as advance guards.

Nobody was aware that Ronzak had taken most of the reserves and advance guards into his own army, so when the threat was finally apparent, there were only a few defenders available.

There ensued many long and heated debates within the government about how to respond to the inevitable ultimatum from Ronzak. The sides were almost even, half the government advocating surrender and servitude to Ronzak’s will while the other half vowed to fight to the death if necessary to preserve freedom.

Being a truly democratic society in which all major decisions required approval of the citizens by plebiscite, all who remained free of Ronzak’s enslavement were called for the vote.

Ronzig and his father Ronik were unaware of these proceedings as they were in the far Northern regions of the world, beyond any map of the time. They had been on the ice fields for several years learning a new magic called Blue Ice which promised to convert the desert regions of the world into oases of abundance.

Ronzig was the first to perceive the turmoil back in the know world as his superior telepathic abilities began picking up fragments of distressing thought waves. He called his father to him saying, “There is trouble.”

The two called up a cyclone and rode it a most speed back towards Freetown. All along the journey home, they saw devastation. The land was blackened as if by fire and nothing grew anywhere. Women and children in village after village were on the edge of starvation and no men were to be seen.

Ronik told Ronzig to remain in the wasted lands and work to restore life to the land, for it was immediately apparent that sorcery was at the root of the tragic situation. Ronik continued to Freetown to help with the defense of the world.

Upon arrival in Freetown, Ronik was immediately aware that the situation was far graver than he could have imagined possible. He feared the cause was hopeless and to fight would mean death to all. At the poling area he gave a short speech to all, revealing his expectation that death would almost certainly be the outcome of resistance to Ronzak’s forces and advise everyone threat in his opinion, death was preferable to slavery. So powerful was his argument that the decision to fight to the death was almost unanimous and so, the fate of the brave defenders was sealed.

The following day, hostilities escalated into all our war. The battle raged for three full weeks before the defenders were driven behind the walls of Freetown and a siege began. The battle was costly to the extreme and less than one third of the defenders remained among the living by then. Because of the reduced numbers of defenders, the siege was a prolonged one. If more had lived starvation would have come early to Freetown, but come it did.

The defenders decided that a final battle to the end was preferable to a slow death by starvation and resolved to make one final charge into the enemy’s ranks.

Meanwhile, Ronzig had been working to restore vitality to the outer regions. He was moving throughout the territories bringing the land back to life and forming an army of women and children to help defend the land when he met a young woman who said her name was Spirited Away. She was, like all the others he met, dirty and hungry and without hope. Spirited Away revealed her secret to Ronzig in a tale that is another story; she was a fairy from the far Eastern land of Turquoise and she had been deprived of her magical powers when she was caught up in one of Ronzak’s spells.

When Ronzig cast a cleansing spell on her, Spirited Away’s true form was revealed and her magic was restored.

Ronzig immediately made her his General over the army of women and children and felt the rejuvenating strength that comes with having an ally to join in the struggle with him. They finished gathering the new army and were preparing for the long march to Freetown when Ronzig was struck with a fiery slice of excruciating pain across his chest.

At the very moment that Ronzig felt that mortal pain, the battle was drawing to a devastating conclusion at Freetown. The defenders had ridden out to meet the opposing force and had fought bravely, but superior numbers were prevailing. There were no more than one hundred defenders remaining to battle against a force of ten thousand and yet they refused to yield.

Ronik had led the charge and fought his way through the throngs of enemy soldiers until he finally came face to face with his son. He commanded Ronzak to withdraw and end his conquest, the young sorcerer merely laughed and sent an electric charge at his father. Ronik parried the first few attacks and retaliated with ice storms which Ronzak easily shielded himself from. Finally the sorcerer’s superior magic prevailed and Ronik was severed across the chest by one of Ronzak’s electric charges and fell lifeless to the ground.

Ronzig, having felt the pain of the death blow, left Spirited Away to the task of leading the army to the battle and he summoned his cyclone and made haste to Freetown in hopes of saving his father.

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