Wars of Fire

Wars of Fire
Date	28-40 YSD
Preceded by	The Revelation of the Seventh Dragon, Birth of the Falcon Empire
Followed by	Years of Healing, Creation of Irollan, The Schism of Seven
Worlds	Ashan
Factions	Falcon Empire vs. The Demon Overlords
Commanders	Brian Falcon, Sar-Elam, unnamed elven generals vs. The Demon Overlords
Mentioned in	Heroes V

After being cast out of the material world at the end of the War of the Primordial Twins and the subsequent defeat of their deity, Urgash, the Demons established a foothold in the world during the Elder Wars, taking advantage of the general confusion and ignorance. Lurking in uninhabited places, they gathered their strength and grew in numbers, and launched their first great incursion in Ashan in 20 YSD; the event was known since as the Wars of Fire.

The first to react were the Elves — previously an inconspicuous race, they summoned forth the other races to do battle against the demon armies. The Humans of the Falcon Empire and the Dwarves of Grimheim answered the call. Even though the alliance was assisted by the great Wizard and Seventh Dragon, Sar-Elam, and his disciples, the war lasted for twelve years and caused great pain and agony, scarring the face of Ashan. Most of the Angels perished in those days, as they had already lost many of their kind in the Elder Wars, bringing them ever closer to extinction.

The Demons were finally repelled when Sar-Elam sacrificed himself voluntarily, donating all the powers of his divine soul and body to help lock the demon hordes away in a prison dimension. During the incantation of the impossibly complex spell that created the prison, Sar-Elam was betrayed by one of his students — corrupted by the Demons, Sar-Shazzar deliberately sabotaged the ritual. He introduced the tiniest of flaws into the prison, a weakness that allowed Demonic influence to seep into the world during the times of an eclipse, giving the Demons an opportunity to return. Sar-Elam's noble, selfless sacrifice caused Asha, in her sorrow, to drop tears on the face of Ashan.

After the Wars of Fire, the few surviving Angels took refugee in the Falcon Empire. Under their influence, the Falcon Empire turned away from Ylath, the Dragon of Air, and instead started to worship the Dragon of Light, Elrath.