The Forgotten War

The year 79AD is fraught with mythological significance. There was the destruction of Pompeii, terrible Norse rumours of Ragnarok from the frozen North to stormy Lindisfarne. Several prophecies hinted at dark events on the way.

According to history, the worst thing that happened that day was that two Roman towns were buried in ash, killing hundreds in mere moments. Terrible as this event was, it was not the worst thing that happened that year, it is simply the worst thing that people remember...

Asmodeus did a very, very good job in erasing the most significant historical event since, well since anything, from anything but Viking and Celtic legend, which nobody believes anyway.

On August 25th (modern calendar) AD 79, the world ended but it also did not. It was a very close thing.

This battle, called variously 'Lucifer's Folly', 'The Harvest of Heroes', or 'The Neverwar' , depending on who you listen to, two vast armies faced one another in the shadows of the Megiddo valley in Isreal/Palestine. In the foremost ranks of one army stood the greatest heroes you have every heard of; Nephilim every one. Opposing them, the seemingly unending 'armies of Hell'; imagine orcs, kobolds, trolls, giants, every type of monster you could imagine and some you wish you hadn't...

"He was most amazed by the fact that it was a lot quieter than he'd thought it would be. He didn't really know what he'd been expecting but not this. He heard the gentle ruffle of banners being pulled at by the wind, the jingle of harness as the soldiers around him moved from foot to foot or stretched to keep muscles from cramping on them.

Otherwise, silence, pretty much, which only made the waiting worse.

Across the other end of the valley, they were gathered. It looked like a huge wall of shadow from here, so large was the mass of enemies. Some early calculations based on what their local scouts told them, said that they were outnumbered somewhere between 450-1 and 'it doesn't really make much of a difference we're all going to die anyway'.

Of course, thought Fionn, as he tightened then loosened the grip on his spear, they had almost every hero that had ever lived on their side so those were pretty good odds to some of them...but only if you actually believed the stories...

He smiled as he rotated his shoulders and looked around at the men and women beside him.

There was a knot of big Norsemen over there, all axes and hammers with their winged helmets and shiny armour. Big fella with the hammer had sparks jumping all over the place which was something Fionn considered unwise in the presence of so much nervous metal. They were clearly bonnie fighters though, he'd heard that the big one with hair and beard of the purest white had cut his way out of the dragon that'd tried to eat him. He caught Fionn's eyes and cocked an snow-white eyebrown in greeting before turning his head back to the bigger fellow with the fancy hammer and sparks.

Fionn's group of hairy, tattooed warriors stood in a loose knot of aggression, clustered around the Big Man himself, him as had brought them here from the Eagle Isles far away in the Most.