Battle of the Hall of Ages

The Battle of the Hall of Ages was a battle between the magicians loyal to the House Of Life and the rebels who were unknowingly loyal to Princess Darkness. The battle was fought

Prelude
After Viren was defeated atop the Storm Spire and dark magic was banned across the Human Kingdoms, a discord appeared between the still dark magic users and the House of Life, a group of sorcerers who had abandoned the practice and began studding the way to follow the Path of the Elements. This led to the dark mages illegally continuing the vile practice in hiding, drawing them the ire of Michel Desjardins. This led to the First Battle of Brooklyn House where forces led by Sarah Jacobi and Kwai attacked. Thanks to the return of the Combination Magic, revitalizing the magicians, Jacobi and Kwai's forces were defeated and fled. However, Desjardins had died banishing the Dragon Lord and Amos Kane was now Chief Lector of the House of Life. This caused discord with many of the nomes (mage headquarters) with Jacobi and Kwai riling them up and forming a rebel faction that fought for control of the House of Life at the same time the House was at war with The Dragon Lord and his forces.

Over the next six months, the rebels grew stronger, recruiting many nomes and destroying others which they blamed on a slowly rising Dragon Lord or Xadia but never themselves. They also refused to acknowledge Amos as the leader of their enemies due to believing (rightly) that he was calling on the power of Chaos and instead broadcast their messages to Callum, leader of the Twenty-First Nome. Battles were fought between the two factions, but the rebels had the upper hand, being more ruthless and having more followers. Eventually, with the help of Jydrass, a young Evernear magician named Leonid reached out to the House of Life to warn them that the threat was worse than they thought: Jacobi and Kwai were working with the Dragon Lord and his wife and second-in-command, Princess Darkness, though most of the other rebel magicians had no idea of that fact. Leonid had learned by accident while secretly studying the Path of the Elements himself and also learned that the rebels planned to attack on the spring equinox a day before Darkness planned to attack, to distract the magicians and keep them out of the battle with Darkness and her own magicians. After learning of this, Callum ordered that the Twenty-First Nome help protect the First Nome as the magicians of the Twenty-First, followers of the Path of the Elements, were the only ones who really had any chance against the rebels.

After successfully convincing the Moonshadow Elves of Silvergrove to join them, Ezran, Claudia, Rayla, and Sobek arrive on the backs of Dragons to find the First Nome under attack by the Rebels.

Battle
Arriving at the tunnel beneath the Great Sphinx, they find that it has been blasted open and following it, find obvious signs of battle such as damage from explosions and a badly injured, but alive, Leonid. After leaving Leonid with a Slow spell to try to keep him alive, they arrive at the battle where a shabti lion tries to attack Claudia, but she changes it back to normal with the Divine Word Fah given to her by Isis. They find that apparently the rebels attacking through the tunnels caught the House's defenders off-guard and Jacobi and her elite men got into the Hall of Ages to fight Amos alone while other rebels blocked the reinforcements from the House from getting through to him. Entering the battle, Claudia turns a magician fighting Julian into a hamster while Rayla destroys a rhino conjured by another evil magician. They find that Sean Ryan is using an water spell to constrain enemy magicians with ropes of seaweed and has his army of Kelpies attacking anyone who gets in his way while Alyssa fights another Earth elementalist who is no match for Alyssa who has the power of the Primal Stone gifted to her by Rex Igneous behind her and is trapped up to her shoulders in quicksand by Alyssa. Cleo was being treated by Jaz after having her arm turned into a sunflower, but had turned her enemy into a human-size volume of the "Lost Secrets of Xadia" by Phineas Kirst. Shelby had scattered her crayons to trip up enemy magicians and was whacking them with her wand. She also turned a metal warrior into a potbellied pig. Some of the residents of the First Nome were helping too by throwing talismans and deflecting spells. Khufu was riding an older magician around the room, choking him with his own wand and steering him into walls until the magician's face turned blue and he flopped to the ground in surrender while several other baboons swung overhead to join in a battle with those of their kin belonging to the Rebels. Felix had unleashed a squad of penguins on another magician, who cowered in a magic circle with some sort of post-dramatic stress, screaming "Not the Shards again! Anything but that!" while Blake used the Hi-nehm rune to repair a massive hole the enemy had blasted in the far wall. Itzel had entered her "heat-mode" and was using her Sunfire Elf heritage to slice demons and Shabti apart with her glowing Sunforge Sword. Above the battle, Freak the Griffin was diving through the air, engaging in uraei in single combat, gobbling up one of the winged snakes in a bite, although the Desert griffon was still sorely outnumbered, the uraei having singed his fur and damaged one of his wings, causing him to spin in wild circles. Meanwhile, on the ramparts and battlement, Callum and Sobek found a battle more similar to a war was taking place between the mages and elves against the Rebels and their demons and shabti. Freak's rooftop nest was ablaze, which had activated the castle's fire-alarm and caused a miniature rain cloud to appear above it. The portal sphinx statue's head was broken off and had landed on a battlement, causing a section of the battlements to collapse into the moat with the statue's head. Something had evidently exploded, which had caused a massive black starburst to stain the chimney. A squad of enemy spellcasters and demons had taken cover behind a crashed statue of Thothtrona and were pinned in combat with Zia Rashid, several mages of the House of Life and several elves, dwarves and humans of various ages while Soren lead several more Elven, Dwarven and Human warriors alongside several animated statues, suits of armour and amulet magic-created creatures against a platoon of demons. Above the courtyard, on the wide dining balcony, where Corvus, Jacira, Opeli, Bast and a few of Callum's trainees were dueling a squad of staff wielding mages, demons and even several Laistrygonian Giants, Scythian Dracaenae and Hellhounds, sweeping their staffs in a sword-like fashion, knocking out magicians, slicing demons to sand and kicking monsters into the Ocean Rune pool, where the albino crocodile, Philip of Macedonia, was only too happy to entertain them. Meanwhile, Nyx swooped overhead, battling a Harpie in mid-flight while her Ambler used its size to scatter attackers and rescue magicians, friend or foe, from the moat, knocking a giant raven into the courtyard, where it met it's end in the jaws of Ezran's Hellhound friend, Mrs. O'Leary. However, just as Soren seems to gain the upper hand, the Rebels monstrous forces attack from the entrance, causing the defenders to fall back as at small monster attack for explodes into the courtyard. The attack begins with a dozen Laistrygonian giants, yelling with ear-piercing roars and carrying shields made from flattened carts and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at a phalanx of animated statues, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire phalanx was thrown aside, a dozen stone warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls. Fortunatly, though caught by surprise by the Rebels, the House had made preparations for a invasion, booby-trapping the entrances with magic traps. At a word from Charles Beckendorf, hidden catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze. But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: around forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. The snake woman dispersed in all directions, some hitting the traps the House had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Soren’s warriors rushed forward to meet them, but several were able to enter the hall, where they were met in battle by the indoor fights, lead by Rayla, who, drawing her two swords, engage one of the serpentine creatures while, nearby, Soren had somehow he’d managed to climb onto the giant’s back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield. Finally, a Hellhound as large as Mrs. O'Leary bounded into the hall with a howl, only to be met in combat by its just-as large kin, Mrs. O'Leary.

Just then, Pyrrah swoops into the Hall, Ezran having called her, and lands, creating a minor earthquake that knocks several Rebels of their feet. Isis leaps from her back and joins the allies from the air. With all of this help, Claudia, Soren, Rayla, Callum and the others are able to reach the doors where Lance, now merged with the powers of the Sun itself, single-handedly battles the guards on the doors. Lance is able to throw one magician with inhuman strength, encase another in a cocoon of light, disintegrate the staff of a third, which causes the remainder on the enemy to surrender. After making sure everyone is alright, Lance uses his powers to turn the doors to the Hall of Ages to dust and the initiates charge inside to help Amos.

In the Hall of Ages, the initiates find the rebels, led by Sarah Jacobi and Kwai attacking Amos who is now commanding a huge combat avatar of chaos magic alongside the Chaosstorm Elf, Set. Kwai attacks with bolts of lightning that do nothing while Jacobi uses netjeri blades that wear down the avatar. Other magicians attack with gusts of wind and water, shabti creatures and in one case, cheese to little effect. Amos, struggling to control the dark powers, knocks Kwai flying and one man into the curtains of the Human Union Age, stunning him and encases the cheese master in a sandstorm that Amos stops before it kills him. The allies and the initiates are stunned as it seems the Chaos is controlling Amos, but Callum realizes that its really the other way around and Amos is controlling Chaos. After hesitating for a moment, the initiates charge into battle to help Amos, but noticing them, Jacobi orders the real attack to start, having simply been distracting and weakening Amos up to that point. On Jacobi's signal, Kwai blasts Amos in the face with lightning while the other magicians lasso him with ropes, weakening him. Jacobi then puts a noose of her own around Amos' neck, bringing him down and dissipating the avatar until Amos was only surrounded by the thinnest of red shields. Using this to her advantage, Jacobi puts one of her blades to Amos' throat and demands the initiates stop. Jacobi tries to use the chaotic situation to her advantage, telling everyone that the Path of the Elements has only brought confusion, Darkness and Chaos itself in the Hall of Ages. Set is infuriated by the fact that his attempt to help led to this and Claudia tells Jacobi that Amos is channeling Set's power and is in control and Set is a useful ally when properly managed. Amos tries to get his niece to flee and fight Darkness instead, but Callum insists on fighting for Amos as their Chief Lector and uncle. Jacobi declares herself the new Chief Lector and sentences Callum and Rayla to death while offering the initiates amnesty if they surrender. Rayla points out that Jacobi is working with Darkness and in anger, Jacobi blasts her with ha-di. As Callum was still weak from his fight with Slithraa only days ago, the spell shatters Callum's shields and flings him back into the curtain for the Age of the Gods, stunning him. When Rayls tries to help, Kwai blasts him with lightning, stunning him too. While Jaz attempts to help Carter, the other initiates are stunned and Jacobi adds to this by using magic to tell them to give up. She then throws one of her blades at Callum, but before it can kill him, Rayla mentally causes the dagger to melt into moonlight. Jacobi's attempt on Callum, her boyfriend and one of the only hopes of re-gifting humans with a elemental power that does not require dark magic angers both Rayla and the spirit of Luna Tenebris and they open a chasm in the ground from which the spirits of the moon and night swarm, wrap Jacobi in ghostly linen and drag her into the darkness, making Set proud of Rayla for her actions. Callum, relatively uninjured, takes the opportunity to try to get the rebels to see sense, telling them that Darkness is preparing an army of monsters to obliterate them all and they all need to join and fight together and help them as Jacobi and Kwai led them astray and blackmailed them to Darkness. Sadie points out how the rebel attack was timed only a day before Darkness's siege so the magicians would be weakened, if not all dead, leaving her enemies undefended from Darkness's own "pet" mages and magicians' spells. Finally, the rebels listen and turn on Kwai, releasing Amos. However, Kwai channels The Dragon Lord' power, the Dragon Lord taking control of his mind in order to aid Kwai in destroying every magician present to aid his servant and wife's siege, Kwai telling them that they're too late as Darkness's army will obliterate their forces and is already preparing a ritual that will free her master and husband from his otherworldly prison, who bring about his eternal nightfall. Now on the same side, both the rebels and the initiates attack Kwai.

As the magicians turned on him, Kwai blasts everyone with his lightning. Isis, Luna Tenebris and Set protect Claudia, Rayla and Amos respectively while Callum manages to deflect the blast aimed at him before Rayla helps him to his feet. However, everyone else is knocked out by the attack. As Sadie prepares a binding spell, Kwai conjures creatures to attack the defenseless magicians and Sadie focuses on protecting them at Amos' order. Amos attacks the creatures, but they just reform. When Callum tries to attack Kwai with his Primal Tornado avatar, Kwai blasts him again and he is sent into a stone column which collapses on top of him, but his tornado protects him. Lance summons all of his magical animals to protect the fallen magicians while Rayla turns to face off against Kwai himself who is unimpressed at being faced with the failed assassin. Rayla summons jackals and battle armor with a Startouch Spelling staff. Rayla is able to deflect all of Kwai's attacks and her jackals attack Kwai, distracting him and allowing Rayla to hit him with a massive blow from her combat blades. The blow defeats Kwai and his creatures vanish. However, Kwai refuses to give up and uses up all his life force to cast sahei or bring down causing him to turn to sand and the Hall of Ages to start to collapse. While Amos wants everyone to get out, most of the other magicians are still recovering from Kwai's attack and won't get out in time so Ezran asks if there's no way to save the Hall. Such a thing is beyond the powers of Set, Luna Tenebris and Primal Sky Magic so Ezran realizes its up to him and his own power. Ezran calls on Pyrrah and then finds the calm in himself before casting Ma'at. Calling upon Ma'at restores order to the Hall and repairs it, saving everyone and ending the danger.

Aftermath
Using so much power causes Ezran to pass out for a moment, but he quickly recovers. By the time he wakes up again, the other magicians have recovered from the attack and Callum lets her know that they have to get to the surface and that Darkness's armies are approaching by the minute even though they both know that they've used up much energy in this battle and several were in no condition to fight, though they had little choice. However, some Rebels are still uncomfortable, looking from the body of their fallen lieutenant to the heroes. However, just as it seems hopeless, Gandalf appears on a rock and reveals that the sky is turning black both from nightfall and from the swarms of bats that herald Darkness's approach, showing them of one of their spies report of the army and the darkness of the army itself. The uncomfortable magicians join, ready to fight the monster who had controlled them. The magicians begin preparing for either to battle Darkness's pet sorcerers or healing the wounded. They then join with the other forces via portal, and, under the command of several of their former lieutenants, prepare for the upcoming invasion ...