As Apokalips scanned the surrounding canyon walls that loomed above them, he felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach. During his few years serving the Army of the Realm, he had learned to always trust his instincts. Apokalips eagerly signed up as a recruit when he was only 15 years of age. He wanted to honor his family name by defending the Realm and maybe gain a high position in the army. Through harsh and rigorous training, he had molded himself into an elite and deadly warrior. His skills in strategy, marshal arts, and weaponry were unmatched in his exceptionally large class. After training, he was assigned to one of the most successful and ruthless armies of the Realm; they called themselves the Avengers. There, Apokalips made his way through the ranks to this very point in the story...
The general of the Avengers, an amazing man, must have known it was a trap. They were boxed in from all sides with now way out but forward. Apokalips, at the end of the line, peered back to make sure there were no followers. At first, he passed the tiny spec in the distance as a just large boulder, but then it began to grow larger...
"General!" yelled Apokalips, "Large army approaching from the south!" The general warily turned back to look at the approaching spec.
"Everyone take cover behind the boulders! Archers, line up! Explosive arrows at ready! We'll take as many of em out with the first wave!" The archers obeyed and within in seconds, were lined up row behind row.
"Draw arrows!" yelled the general, "Loose!" At that command, several arrows flew soundly through the air and came crashing down on the invading army, exploding into fiery balls the size of a cabin. After the dust cleared, Apokalips was surprised to see thousands more charging at them, and even more surprised to see their demon resembling faces.
"Loians" whispered the general to himself. "Loose!" came the command one more time. After the second wave of explosive arrows, more demons could still be seen closing in on them fast. "There must be hundred thousands of them! All ranks form in position!" At this call, everyone taking cover behind the boulders emerged and formed into their squadrons. The Loians were now too close to risk using explosives. Their faces were grim, but expressionless as usual while they stared calmly at the advancing forces. Within minutes, the Loian foot troops had clashed loudly with the Army of the Realm. Then came the Loian cavalry, riding on their vicious wargs. They marauded through the Army of the Realm savagely cutting good soldiers down and painfully disemboweling them. For once in his career as a soldier, he began to panic. As he looked up from the corpse of the demon he had just slayed, he saw mayhem everywhere as his own fellow comrades and friends were being slaughtered. When he looked to his left, he saw the general finishing off a demon whom he had knocked off it's warg. After the general himself looked up and saw the slaughter of his own men, he called for his army to fall back step by step. After making the call, however, a demon on a warg into him and sliced a deep cut into his neck. Apokalips, filled with rage, tackled the demon down and made one swift slash with his honed shortsword named, Zedraikis, decapitating it. As he bent down to help the general, the general said, "No! It's too late..leave me...you are now the new general of the....Avengers...now...Apokalips.. serve it well..." Then he died. Apokalips rose bravely and with new motivation; he called for the archers to line up as his footmen began their slow retreat.
"Archers!" he said, "Draw explosive arrows!.........Soldiers of the Realm, flee to the boulders yonder!" He pointed at some sturdy rocks in the distance and the soldiers and he sprinted as fast as they could towards the rocks. When safely behind the rocks, he yelled, "This is our last stand, if they get past us, then they will be able to capture the capitol! We stop them now, or die fighting them!" The other soldiers nodded in agreement. "Archers, LOOSE!" Hundreds of arrows came crashing straight into the charging enemy lines engulfing them in large balls of fire. Apokalips' soldiers, who were safely behind the boulders cheered. The whole Loian front line had been demolished and only burning corpses of demons remained. After the dust clouds cleared, thousands more Loians could be seen advancing rapidly and in strong formation in the distance. Apokalips grinned....he had won the day..."Archers, draw explosive arrows!......Aim high at the canyon walls above the enemy forces!.... Loose!" Hundreds more arrows flew to the high canyon walls; as they crashed, the explosions caused the whole canyon to rock and quake. Boulders and rocks of various sizes came crashing in a huge rockslide onto the charging Loians, cutting off the canyon and killing thousands, if not more, of them. As the last clouds of dust faded, nothing could be seen, a wondrous sight to the soldiers who had come so close to death that day. When the proud soldiers marched back to the capitol, they were hailed as heroes and Apokalips was approved by the King, at the time, to receive the position of general of the Avengers for his incredible leadership during the crisis. In spite of his acquired fame, he never wanted to forget his comrades who had given their lives in the last battle and had their names inscribed in gold plates which stand in the Victory Hall.
To this day, Apokalips serves as one of Amblix's most esteemed and trustworthy generals, earning his honor by defending the Realm...