The following chapters are a recording of the events that occurred in the Bull-Rock War, running from the Summer of 308c to the Spring of 309c.
Tallen van Rook, the Ranger known as the greatest Outland Ranger in history, was hiding like a ninny on the battlefield of "The War," which was really just a wasteland with mountains in the distance and some tall rocks here and there.
Sure, he had taken down hundreds of matadors by himself, but he had been at least one hundred feet from them at the time, sniping them down with his bowedge. Now, he was on the field of battle, only thirteen feet from one of the bull-riding warriors. Nevertheless, he nocked an ice arrow and drew it back as far as he could. There was no way he was going to just sit there. He was going to shoot a matador at point-blank range, and it was going to be great. No arguments.
Tallen tumbled out of his hiding spot, found the matador, then quickly released. The arrow penetrated the matador's helmet like it was made of butter, then flew straight threw the head, the point of the arrow peeking out from the other side. The matador's entire body turned to ice, and Tallen shattered that icy body with a single punch--the arrows were so enchanted so that if it hit, the shooter of that arrow could run up and break their victim, exposing their core so they could crush it. Tallen did that very thing, stomping on his victim's remains.
The sound of a core crushing was not unheard by nearby matadors, however. Two more turned to Tallen, who drew two arrows at a time and nocked them both, preparing to fire. It was not a matter of hesitation; Tallen wanted them both dead as soon as possible. He sure didn't want them chasing him. It was a matter of the bulls. See, the matadors rode bulls and had tamed them, henceforth, became attached to the bulls. If a bull's rider was killed, the bull tended to get very, very mad. So Tallen came up with the best solution he could think up.
He shot the bulls right as they reared up and exposed their weak undersides, preparing to charge.
The bulls both fell flat on their faces, shattering themselves as they turned to ice. Tallen quickly nocked two more arrows and shot the matadors, crushing the bulls' cores before proceeding to crush the matadors. Promptly, he made a tactical withdrawal and ran away so that more matadors wouldn't see him. His destination, of course, being the rock that he had been hiding behind before. He trusted that rock, respected that rock. He and that rock had been through a lot together in that first week of the war.
A normal person, perhaps a citizen who didn't kill things as a part of their job, would ponder that they had just killed three people and two bulls with no hesitation. However, the Rangers had been cruelly trained so that they didn't care about killing matadors or Scorch Knights. Killing someone they actually knew was completely human, however, was unacceptable beyond measure. Everyone knew that. Instead of pondering the death of three men(or women, Tallen could never tell) that would have killed him if he hadn't killed them, Tallen looked for some more Rangers. To the west, he could see a few Woodland Rangers doing what they did so well--taking down matadors with arrows to the head from a great distance so the Badland Rangers could run in and finish them off.
Tallen couldn't see anything to the east, but he wasn't looking hard enough. Either that, or every other Ranger in existence was in the middle of the fray, and Tallen knew that there were more bowmen than those that sat to the west. Maybe I should go into the fray, as well, Tallen thought, looking down at his bowedge. Going to the fray wouldn't be difficult with the weapon he had in his hands. As one should and would know, a bowedge was called such a thing specifically because it wasn't just a bow. Not only did it fire arrows like a normal bow could, nor did it just have a magical string that could retract, the bowedge's limbs had blades on them, so that they could be used for close-ranged slashing. Not only that, but one could also retract the string and pull the bowedge in half, making two knives.
Tallen retracted the string with a simple tap of one finger, then tumbled out from his rock. He didn't let out a heroic shout; he wanted his presence to be a surprise. He held the bowedge by its grip and ran for the nearest matador as silently as he could. "Excitant Rubrum," he whispered, and felt a burst of strength, as he had used combat magic to trace his Mark. He found a matador, then leaped into the air, the Mark of Strength giving him twice the height and speed. With a single slash, the matador no longer had a head.
Tallen mounted the matador's bull, then braced himself and dug into the matador's open neck, pulling out the core and crushing it with one Strength-induced hand. He kicked the matador off their mount, which became greatly angered until it was impaled in the neck by Tallen's bowedge's lower limb. Tallen found and crushed that bull's core, too.
"Hey!" A voice shouted to Tallen. A matador was there, armed with those specialty matadorian lances. "Stop killing all of my teammates!" they continued. Tallen decided to show off, and he spun the bowedge as fast as he could, bringing it around himself, then throwing it into the air. As soon as the bowedge left his hands, however, the matador charged him as quickly as they could. They were clearly an opportunist. Tallen barely dodged a strike before whispering "Armis." Quick as a wink, the non-leather armor he wore became weightless steel, allowing Tallen to catch his bowedge, then dash in for a duel with this matador.
He swung, and the matador blocked it easily, then stabbed Tallen in his chest plate with a CLANG. Tallen and the matador clanged for quite a bit before Tallen's Mark of Strength and his Armis spell wore off. He braced himself for a death the second his bowedge left his hands from a matadorian lance strike.
The matador stabbed for Tallen's head and was immediately killed.
Tallen opened his eyes and found he wasn't quite dead. No, there was a stone soldier standing there, an arcane scimitar in one hand, held in a position that implied he had just cut off someone's head. Tallen picked up his bowedge and thanked the stone soldier, who cut out the matador's core and crushed it before choosing to say, "You're welcome, Outland Ranger. What is your name?"
"I'm Tallen. Tallen van Rook. Technically, I'm a Commander, but Oculus hasn't assigned me to a squadron yet, so--" Tallen answered.
"I don't care about your status. As long as I get the satisfaction of ending these worthless invaders. Say, do you want to fight with me? I'm Feiro." The stone soldier extended a hand, which Taleon shook.
"Yes. Let's fight together, Feiro."