[CaptainofDespair]

The fiery hues of burning oils splattered across the finely hewn stone buildings of Ost-in-Edhil, scattering the populace like rats aboard a smoldering vessel. Amongst the flames and ruination, the city’s guards stood solemnly, awaiting the inevitable charge of orcs that would crash around them, as the sea-water of the oceans splashes against the rocks. And to them, they were much like those rocks and boulders that resided along rough shores; they faced a tormented, spiteful ocean in the orcs and men who had come to destroy them, and they, like the sea-stones, stood their ground, slowly being eroded away by the turning gears of time, and the pounding of the waves.

The early morning sky was ablaze, as Angoroth looked upon it, a wry smile etched in his features. Solemnly and methodically he led his steed through the ranks of orcs and men alike; instilling the fear of their master and the bloody pleasure of carnage in both mind and heart. Some would look upon him, while others withdrew their eyes from his gaze. He laughed inwardly, thinking, “Such a fine sport it is, to watch man and creature suffer in agony, in the calm before the storm. Their pitiful eyes reveal what their lips could never utter. Ha!” For him, the ageless and malevolent, war was but a sport, spectacular in its intricacies and unpredictability. For all others, it was only a destruction; of life, of home, of a way of life. For the Children of Illuvatar, it brought unwanted change, a collapse of the old. And it always would.

As he neared the front of the lines, he withdrew two worn pieces of cloth, which he had stolen away beneath his cloak. He brought his horse to a halt just beyond the ranks of his soldiers, if they could be called that. Silently, he motioned, and two poles and a torch were brought before him. Thrusting one pole into the ground, he took the second, and the barely alight torch, and rode to the edge of the burning city, her walls crumbling, and her gates sundered from the horrendous torrent of fire. He sat upon his warhorse, just out of bowshot range, but within still within earshot of both forces. Slowly, he unfurled the first banner and mounted it upon its new resting place, its colors faded and indistinguishable from one another. But, the symbols upon it, born of elvish fonts, were clear to those soldiers of Ost-in-Edhil who stood at the front, and on crumbling battlements. Shouting aloud to them, he forced the banner-pole into the earth. “This, Elves of Eregion, is the banner of Gondolin, taken from its fall! You and your city, like the Hidden One of the old days, will be torn down, forever left in ruin and oblivion! Hail, Elves, for your destruction is nigh!” He could not see the responses on their faces, though he much would have liked to, for it would have been a twisted, pleasurable moment for him. So, without hesitation, he reared his horse, and rode back to his own lines at a trot.

Walking his horse now, as he gently approached his arrayed force; he unearthed the remaining pole, and attached the second banner. Unfurling it, a deep black flag of ancient evil, before orc and man, he waved it enthusiastically. “This, my army, is the Lord whose mission you serve. Hail the might of Angband and Morgoth! Go forth, now, and destroy!” The throngs of his army cheered violently, and as he motioned for them to march, the catapult fire faded, and ceased. The weight of the orcs and men upon the earth was evident, as it shook and shuddered beneath their wicked feet, forbidden to hinder their dark quest. It felt like an eternity, as if time slowed to a halt, as the Army of the Enemy pressed ever onward, toward the city.

As their march brought them ever closer, Angoroth raised his fist, and gave the order that sent the army hurtling at the Elves that awaited their dire menace. The battle cries and shrieks of the wounded and dying could not be muffled out by the sounds of war. The orcs, the first to be thrust into the fray at the gates, were quickly slaughtered by the scores. The accompanying waves however, slowly ground down against the Elves, as men and orc were now cast against them. It would only be a matter of time…