I've put off voting long enough I guess. There are a couple of these that are really good so I'm not taking away from anyone but my vote finally went to Ifrix.

The main reason for my choice is because I'm in love with the coloration and whenever a map feels like I want to eat it then I'm all in. So killer job on that.
I know you have a river running through the wall in once spot but that's just a little masking issue. I know you crushed to get it done (even if you aren't completely finished with it).
I also have to award the whole historic march of time you have with all the little markers. I just think it's a lovely piece.

MistyBee's entry is also great, even if I'm not a Harry Potter nut. I'm not as in love with the coloration as I am with Ifrix's but it is not at all bad.
Aeshnidae's is spot on with regard to the challenge as well and I have to say I like the poetic touch. I've thought about trying to use some of my own poems in a piece and you may have inspired me so thanks for that. For me, the entry is a bit on the cartoonish side but that's not entirely bad, it's just that I am more in love with realism I guess. Not that I dislike comic style so much as I do lean a tad more towards realism as my personal preference.

You may wonder why I didn't just vote for all the ones I liked and so I'll just say we used to have an honor rule that only allowed so many votes based on how many entries were in the challenge. In one such as this with so few, we never had more than 1. So one is what I cast. I think the rule used to be something like 1 vote per every 5 entries.

I'll rep everyone I can but if we all vote for every piece it's tough to squeeze out a winner. You have no idea how much agony it is choosing. All of these could honestly be used for something legit.

Great job everyone and I look forward to more sweet works from all of you. I hope I can find the time to be in more of these myself as I surely need to keep pushing.