SIR ST in AoH!

The sixth round of Arena of Honor had arrived super fast for SIR ST, now he had to once again stand at the gates of battle hoping for a great outcome to come his way. The event, as always, consisted of 6 factions filled with fighters from across Westeros of every background and skill level, with different goals, some hunting glory, others simply trying to rank up in the rankings even a little bit, SIR ST was the latter given the hardships he had encountered this season. He is a familiar face on this battlefield as one lone fighter that had tasted both crushing defeat and the capture of the city of glory in the past seasons. This season, capturing the city of glory was a distant dream as his coordination with the team was never there. But despite that, he was still not making his own, not because he expected it to be different, but because he refused to give up to at least win one time without the help of others.

Though the last few rounds had brought nothing but disappointment with finishing only 5th or 6th, SIR ST chose once again to venture in alone for this round. No coordinated alliance, no team of trusted warriors at his side, just the same burning drive that refused to die and overwhelming strength in the face of his opponents. This time, he told himself, it might be different and fully believed it to be the case. Maybe, just maybe, he could break into the top three, that was the only goal that he's set for himsel, maybe this would be the round where everything finally went his way.

As he awaited the reveal of the 6 factions and his own teammates, he felt a familiar mix of hope and fire inside him that he had felt in the first round of the season, he believed in his gut feeling this time around.

But then suddenly, once the names appeared of every faction, including his own, his heart sank. His teammates were fighters from DNa, an alliance with which SIR ST had a troubled history from other events where they met on the battlefield. Old disputes, unspoken tension, and bitter disagreements resurfaced in his mind as if they had happened yesterday. He and DNa had never seen eye-to-eye, and now they needed to fight together in battle. "Will they even agree to fight together? Would they acknowledge my presence at all?'' were thoughts that crossed SIR ST's mind before they had to discuss a strategy.

Before discussing the strategy, SIR ST had a look at their opposition, RoD, one of the strongest alliances there is, the hopes of winning dwindled. They were in the House Stark for this round, the one house SIR ST must avoid fighting at all costs if he wished to capture altars. RoD was the overwhelming favorites to win this rounds, and there was no doubt in SIR ST's mind, now he only needed to talk about this with the DNa warriors and come to terms despite their past difficulties.

Faced with such a threat, SIR ST tried to take a smart approach, he proposed building trading posts for a steady stream of points and targeting the altars for boosting the number of points per minute with objectives. It was a balanced, realistic approach in his mind that gave their team a fighting chance without walking straight into the city of glory battle, where they were bound to lose.

But when he reached out to his DNa teammates to share his thoughts, all he was met with was silence. His words hadn't reached them, they didn’t answer. Instead, they began building bow strongholds in an instant, ignoring the the trading posts benefits, and this gave everyone on the battlefield a clear advantage. SIR ST watched in disbelief as this unfolded before his very eyes. Once again, he had been cast aside, alone in a team where cooperation was just a fantasy.

But he didn’t give up, if no one else would step up, he would at least try to be the one to do it. SIR ST then focused on the altars for the entirety of the round, clashing against enemy forces again and again. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but with great perseverence and willpower, he managed to claim a few altars, giving his team precious points to slow the bleeding and to try not to end up on the last place.

And then the City of Glory opened and as expected, RoD captured it first, ready to claim what was practically theirs. But what crushed SIR ST wasn’t the enemy’s strength, it was the betrayal of his own team. Instead of reinforcing the altars or protecting what little ground they had gained, DNa focused entirely on the city, leaving SIR ST to fight alone. Obsessed with the prize, they left everything else vulnerable.

As a result, all of their points were gone, and their placement did the same. RoD took control of the city without problems from DNa. SIR ST fought desperately to stabilize the point loss, but it was impossible to pull the work of 9 other members by yourself, no matter how strong.

5th place was all that he could salvage, a sad ending for all of his efforts, he had given everything but found himself dragged down by teammates who refused to act as one. The sting was sharp, but familiar, too many rounds this season had gone this exact same way. The only thing keeping him going was that the season was not over, not yet, he would keep pushing through.