The armies of the Four Courts met the Night Court army on the battlefield at sunrise. The Spring Court in their verdant green, the Summer Court in gold and crimson, the Winter Court in silver and icy blue, and the Autumn Court in deep russet and copper stood in a vast crescent formation beneath a sun streaked sky.
The soldiers gripped weapons, mages stood ready with their spells, and commanders rode their warhorses in tense silence.
Across from them, the armies of the Night Court stretched out like a cloak in black and violet. They did not speak.
Drums beat. Horns sounded. The moment just before war was like a bowstring drawn tight.
When suddenly the sky erupted with flames.
A great fissure tore through the clouds in a blaze of gold and scarlet flame. The winds howled with presence of heat. All eyes turned towards the sky as a brilliant fire bursts open like a second sun. From its center rose a phoenix, wings aflame, its cry ancient and eternal.
