[u]The Storm of the Desert[/u]

[img]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9JibjrzoFGA/hqdefault.jpg[/img]

From here you could see the beginning of the great desert. The fertile valleys and hills of the empire of Arqantay ended here and the rule of sand began. The history between the Arqantay and the horse warriors of the desert has been one of relative peace, the villages were often protected by various fortifications but the occasional raid managed to bypass these defenses and manage to get away with some of the spoils o of war.

This situation was about to be changed by the decision of the emperor. The Emperor of the Arqantay was a man of ambition much like his father and his father before him, he sought to make a name in the history of his country by expanding his country but not in any random direction but rather in the direction of resources that were lacking in the home territories of the Arqantay. But this was a resource that the Arqantay weren't exactly very familiar with, a resource that had been a rarity within the territories of the Qachi of Arqantay for thousands of years. 

Said resources were crystals with magic properties needed to fuel the power of the earth mages and oracles of the Arqantay. Their power needed many of these crystal reserves and for better or worse these were imported from the rest of the world. The Emperor had thought about seizing these resources directly and his advisors full of themselves believed that the horse riders wouldn't be much a problem for the highly disciplined and honestly overwhelming numerous army of the Arqantay. 

The general assigned for this campaign was Roca Huachi, an old general who came from the close circle of the past emperor. He had been the one who led the Arqantay in their victorious campaign towards the south and had received quite the honors for it, and now he received one more chance to win glory and prestige for himself and his country. Today he stood on stop on of the tallest watchtowers of the empire, accompanied by a single man from his close staff.

[i]"Aqapi, I have seen this desert only three times. The first time I saw it when I was but a guard in one of these many watchtowers, a nobody a man who only served his ayllu and his emperor. The second time, I passed through here with an army and now I am here, watching the deserts I will conquer, I shall conquer the unconquerable, these were once the limits of the world for our people but now they will be within our borders. I will make history with my conquest."[/i]