In the Name of House Stark( Arena of Honor )

                                              In the Name of House Stark

                                                   ( Arena of Honor )

    It was well past midnight, the kingdom was silent and shrouded in total blackness. Nothing lay in the way of The Great Other as the Lord of the darkness fulfilled his duty of keeping the night in a death like state as not a single being that lived or breathed in this realm lay awake. Nor was there a single star that shone in the sky that night.

There was only the abyss. Everyone remained in a silent and almost lifeless slumber. It seemed that no one challenged the order of the night that The Great Other had put forth. The god of old was doing his job well in keeping Westeros in total darkness. That was until a brave young Lord emerged. 

  He exited from his castle and began to lead his team forward into the blackness. They were all ready and prepared to face their next battle. This warrior was unnerved by the grasp of this evil deity.

There was nothing that could stop him from achieving his destiny as there was a great desire to fight that burned brightly within his heart. The light that came from his torch also burned brightly casting shadows against the void as he guided himself and his nine companions through the darkness as they began marching vigorously on their horses towards the battlefield. 

   The warrior and leader of his party rode his horse with great dignity and confidence as entered towards and through the gates of his destination. The warrior had found himself faced with a sudden problem. He was now burdened with being unable to see his surroundings. The light that came from their torches had now burned out as soon as he and his army had set foot into the gates of the battlefield. Rhilor the Lord of Light saw the predicament that the young warrior now encountered. Being moved by his act of bravery in indirectly challenging his nemesis the Lord of darkness, he sought to offer the lord aid.

    Just moments ago the young lord had found his kingdom being kept in total darkness being under the current influence of The Lord of Darkness. However, after his arrival and the unwavering courage that he had displayed was enough to cause the old god to flee, allowing Rhilor to invoke the moon and stars to return to their duties of guarding the night sky. The Lord of Light remaining unseen had also relit the fire in the torches of the Warrior and his companions before disappearing. With the light now restored the young man and his team were all able to proceed through the gates and into the battlefield where the fight would soon commence.

  This warrior was none other than my husband Omaewa the Warlord, and I was among those who followed him to fight in this battle, The Arena of Honor.

The Arena of Honor was the event where six factions belonging to the Great Houses of Westeros would all be divided to fight against each other for the glory of their House. Each of the existing factions consisted of ten members that would fight and aid their team. Each battling faction would need to use their team work, good coordination, and strength to be able to capture and defend as many buildings as they possibly could during the brink of battle. The faction that fought with the most valor, those who were able to score the most points, defeated all their enemies or had captured the City of Glory and held it for the longest duration will win the mantle of victory.

    We had fought in countless matches during the first season of the Arena of Honor each time and had resulted in us losing. Nevertheless Omaewa’s resolve and determination to win each battle had never left his heart as he kept leading us to fight towards victory and had never given up.

When we had fought in each battle our leader of the team, Omaewa had always displayed great charisma and inpeccable leadership qualities that I had always been sure we would make it to victory. However the odds for winning were never in our favor. Either we would come across fierce and vicious opponents or would lack the cooperation that we would need in order to achieve our victory. Sadly the first season had now come to an abrupt end and Omaewa had never gotten the many victories that he had hoped for. 

   With the start of the second season, which we had already fought in several battles and continued to have the same fate, our hope for victory had deepened and we prayed to The Seven for the victory and strength that we had needed for this match.

   We had all found our places on the ranks of the battlefield. That was when I had discovered the House faction that we were assigned with and would be fighting for. It was House Stark.

This was not the first time I had fought for the Stark family as I once resided in Winterfell when I was in my former kingdom and alliance and fought in many battles in their name. So fighting for their faction now was not something that I was unfamiliar with nor was the sudden gentle fall of snow surprising for me. It was expected and had always been a welcoming sight to my eyes and senses as I had been often accustomed to it during my past endeavors when I fought for the name of their family. I had hoped that this time we would bring honor to the name of House Stark.

   I quickly looked towards the other sides of the battlefield to see if I could measure the strength of our opponents. At first glance I knew that the other opposing factions' power was quite superior to our own. I sighed and thought to myself, “ What are our chances this time?? Each fight more or less ends up with the same outcome against the same sort of powerful opponents. 

I fear that we will lose to them again.” The thudding of my heart as it beated against my chest was loud and unsteady as I was uncertain of our outcome in this battle. My heart beat was almost as loud as the sounds I had heard from the other sides of the battlefield that came from our opponents who seemed to be organized and confident as their leaders began preparing and making orders on how to crush all their other opponents in this battle.

  My lack of confidence could not be shared with Oma who did not seem to be bothered or dismayed by the size and might of our opponents. He was composed and stood tall and with much confidence that it radiated from within him. He was fearless, not afraid of being defeated by his enemies; because he was not going to lose this time. He took his courage and strong will with him to battle and his demeanor began to affect all our allies that stood before us as we waited for our last moments before the barrier would fade and the battle would begin. Seeing this now gave me hope and made my uncertainties and worries dissolve like the dust. 

   A few minutes afterwards the barrier that obstructed all factions from partaking in the match had finally vanished. It was now time for us to fight for our faction House Stark! I was ready to fight for my faction with all my heart and might not allow anything to prevent us from succeeding. Omaewa, the captain of our team, made the first march to. He rode his horse, his armor shining brightly reflecting light from the snowy battlefield as he marched towards the strongholds to capture them with great force.

  All allied forces began marching after their leader, following his example to claim those buildings for our faction. Within a few moments we had reached the strongholds and I was able to quickly claim as many as I could for our team. Shortly afterwards the forces of House Stark had prevailed and had occupied all the strongholds within the perimeter of our base. All we had left to do during this first stage was to wait until our strongholds were ready to be constructed and build them into outposts. 

   While most of us had been focused on capturing the strongholds, our main building had almost been left vacant and open for our rivaling factions to easily take it from us by surprise. Luckily for us that would not be the case. Captain Zero, one of the most powerful members of our team, wasted no time in quickly sending his armies to our main Castle and claiming it before all would be too late. 

Thanks to his quick thinking and great efforts the castle House Stark was now safely in our hands. However Omaewa had noticed that the castle had been lacking reinforcements and support. He quickly rose forward after sending aid to Captain Zero, and gave the order for all members present to reinforce our main castle. “ To you members of House Stark, well done capturing the strongholds. I like to see everyone fighting to the same cause, but having the strongholds won’t be enough for us to make it. We must all be aware of our surroundings and capture whatever we can once it becomes available. Now our castle needs assistance, quickly send some troops over so that we can undermine our enemies.”

  Everyone was quick to heed the words of their captain and quickly sent their reinforcements to help Captain Zero in defending our main castle. By the time our armies had reached House Stark, the trading posts had now been built.

It seemed that our team was so far off to a great start but as I turned to look forward I saw the altars named after the Seven that stood before me.

The glowing golden dome of protection surrounded them and blocked all who would try to claim them. Soon they would become available for all factions to claim and our team would have to be ready to march as fast as our steeds could carry us and capture them. I knew that once it happened chaos would unfold as all the other factions who had been somewhat silent so far as no interference coming from our opponents had taken place. That would soon end once the altars were ready. Our enemies would not allow us to hold the altars once they had been captured,they would continue to try and take them from us. That is why it was so crucial that we all be prepared and have extra forces to help our allies defend them once this came to pass. We all readied our horses and waited for the protective domes that surrounded the altars to disappear.

  The last moment had passed by and I watched as the protective barrier broke freeing the atlars now making them available to be contested. With the altars now free,all members of our team rode faster than any current towards the altars that were near our snowy base. As myself and my horse reached closer to the altar I heard and felt the heavy thumping sound of a rider moving closer and closer by the second. It was coming awfully close to the same route that I had been riding towards to reach the altar. I had only hoped that at this point that it was just one of my allies but as I came within eye reach I saw the rider was not a friendly nor a familiar face. That was one of the members of our rivaling Houses, Greyjoy. Though he nearly made it before me I had a slight advantage over him. They were not used to constant winds,freezing conditions that came from House Stark’s region. As we both almost collided at the tip of the altar the raging winds and snow blew past us with a fierce vengeance causing my competitor to fall back but didn’t deter me. I rode straight past the storm into the altar and once I arrived I fought my way inside taking out the guarding soldiers from the building. Claiming the altar for our faction. Many of the other members of our faction were also able to quickly capture them with ease.

 Though our team had not yet obtained the leading rank we had still prospered greatly in this battle and felt that we had indeed still had a chance at trying to best the other factions.

Lead by Omaewa we had continued to capture vacant altars and those held by our adversaries.

The soldiers that fought by our sides began to cheer at our small triumphs and any doubts that we had about the battle that constantly probbed us vanished into thin air. The morale of our team was greatly lifted and so were our spirits. Then the sky above us began to suddenly darken followed by a group of murky gray clouds and low angry grumble of thunder.

   I was in utter shock by what had just come upon us during this battle. Something just didn’t seem right. The whole mood and atmosphere during this battle had changed in an instant.

I felt this panging feeling of deep trouble as if something dreadful will fall upon us, but I brushed this feeling aside hoping that I was worried over nothing and that all would be well as we fought. Then what I had been fearing the most since the arrival of the altars came to pass. From a short distance I could see many soldiers heavily armed and ready to fight that belonged to House GreyJoy and Baratheon riding aggressively towards our altars. 

   We soon found ourselves along with our regiments of soldiers completely surrounded by the Greyjoy and Baratheon armies.

There was nowhere for any of us to escape from our soon to be fate. Nothing could be done except to fall like a hero trying to defend our altars or surrender and fail anyways. The forces of attackers had finally made it to our castle and one by one our armies defending the altars got destroyed by our enemies. We were being defeated and all of our altars that our team had worked so hard to capture would be lost to us.

It was a great bloodbath for many of the members of House Stark. The snow that coated the ground where we had fought and defended the altars was once white and pure, soon became no more; it was covered,stained, and defiled by blood, death and sorrow. I felt the bleak feeling of doom and hopelessness, the feeling of failure and of defeat. Something that many of us were now beginning to feel. All but one.

   Our commander of the army, Omaewa, who was not going to let us go down so easily. He pulled his sword out as if we had never lost our buildings, had a massive army full of forces that were never slain by the enemy and had never been defeated. He was once again calm, composed and most of all ready to vanquish his enemies. Nothing had charged his motives or how he was going to turn this war. Even when we had already heard the crumbling of the walls of our fortresses,the metal sounds of boots of the enemy soldiers as they began approaching the stairway, even when flames broke out and many of our soldiers were lost trying to defend our buildings. Omaewa’s desire to defeat his enemies and not give up burned even higher than before. He gave us the command that would change the course of battle indefinitely. Despite that it seemed that this battle was no longer worth fighting for. 

 “ This war may seem lost but we are not going to give up our chances of winning or let the sacrifices that our soldiers have made for us all go in vain.” said our leader The Warlord. “Today the Stranger will not take anymore of our soldiers, nor we will let the other factions bring us down to the bottom. No, as captain of your team and leader of House Stark I ask you all to keep fighting and capture as many altars as we can. For Glory and Honor in the name of House Stark, CHARGE!!!!!

   The words that came from Omaewa now resonate deep within the hearts of our teammates. 

The lost will and morale was now restored by each and everyone of us and everyone began to unsheathe their weapons and remounted our horses charging towards the altars once more. With the defeat long forgotten we took back our buildings with brute force and surprised our enemies who were not expecting House Stark to fight back.

The members of House Baratheon had never expected that their buildings would fall to the members of House Stark as the soldiers they left to guard their altars soon perished by the hand of Omaewa and his companions. Omaewa's name would soon be remembered by all those whom he had fought against as he defeated them single handedly with his sword. The armies of House Baratheon which had once defeated us and relished their victory over our cities would now flee in terror at the sight of The Warlord and his armies when they had passed by them after defeating one of their comrades. Some of the other House factions would also meet the same demise.

  While House Stark had made a quick comeback against their opponents and began ascending to the ranks, Captain Zero remained holding our main castle. He worked relentlessly in trying to defend our building from the constant attacks made by the enemy forces. Eventually he had lost the building sometime after Omaewa had led us back on the path of victory. Lord Omaewa had discovered that our castle had been lost again to the Captain of House Baratheon when he saw their flag placed high above our former castle waving its shade of magenta in the air. Their Captain had proudly displayed their banner as a way to discourage Omaewa from continuing to lead his team while taking revenge on him for causing part of his members to fallback from the match.

    Omaewa saw this gesture that was meant to taunt him but was not perplexed nor did he allow that to affect him negatively. He stood tall and proudly ignoring all the attempts that our adversaries from that House had tried to make to dissuade him from fighting valiantly. Without hesitation he stopped capturing the altars and rode with a large army towards our former house like a hurricane and easily swept out all the troops from House Stark, restoring our former glory.

 As the battle continued to go on Omaewa continued to lead our team in conquering many more buildings that came in his path. The Sept of the Seven,Mining Sites,and several Minting Shafts were easily taken by our forces.

The City of Glory was one of the buildings that was always unreachable to us.

All we could do is bask in its wonder and watch as the other factions fought for it. I knew what Omaewa’s thoughts must have been every time he passed by the city, “ One day just one day I will capture this City for our Faction.” That day was yet to come.

Pretty soon all the buildings were starting to become the same to me as by then the hour had grown very late and exhaustion had gotten the better of me. My vision had started to blur and I would almost get thrown off my horse from weakness if it wasn’t for Omaewa who saw my disorientation in time to hold the reins of my mount that kept me balanced while encouraging me to keep fighting and not give up on our battle. 

   Time was going by as House Stark fought against the other deadly factions trying to hold their own. Until the last minute for the battle had arrived and we knew that the battle was almost over but then the forces of House Baratheon had tried one last time to take our building. They sent their armies charging at our castle and within seconds castle House Stark was once more at the verge of being occupied by the Baratheon forces.

Several seconds before our castle could be completely occupied by our opponent ,the battle came to a quick end and prevented House Baratheon from succeeding at capturing our castle. House Tyrell was crowned the winner, being ranked first place,with House Targaryen and our House faction being placed second and third. 

   Despite the fact that our House faction still didn’t win this match our team had made a significant improvement. This was all thanks to the great leadership, strength, and undying will to fight until the very end that had been displayed by our Great leader Omaewa that our team was able to move up from the bottom and achieve third place. 

   Our party of companions was then happy to have finally left the Arena after a long, tiring and prosperous battle. Omaewa and I had wished our former team members the best of luck before we too had departed and returned back to King’s Landing. I was exhausted at this point and headed straight to my castle to rest. I knew that Omaewa would be planning a way for our future team to try to make it to first place for the next match of Arena of Honor. As I began making it back to my castle I saw the sun beginning to fill the sky with its radiance as the new day would be a new sign of hope.