《The Legend of Rayola the Deathless [Dead]》 Change log; Updates and info. Last update; 21/05/2019 Next chapter- Due sunday
21/05/2019 Added chapter; 1.01; Dreams and old memories --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10/05/2019 Added chapter; 015; The Party --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 05/05/2019 Added chapter; 014; The Decisive Stand. Added POLL; IMPORTANT --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02/05/2019 Added chapter; 013; Light And Shadow Added sketch to Artworks. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. 27/4/2019 Artwork Added to ''Artworks'' : Nirlam The Defier. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26/4/2019 Added chapter; 012; In the midst of war --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23/4/2019 Created official Art page. All works and concepts I draw will be dumped there. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22/4/2019 Chapter 011; Interlude: The muddy path to death '' released ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 19/4/2019 Chapter order was rearranged; 001.5 and 004.5 shifted to 1 and 5 respectively. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18/4/2019 Rewriting completed. Proofreading of all chapters underway. Due- Monday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16/4/2019 Posted chapter- 008; Ghosts of the past. Final Editing of all chapters under progress. - Completed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15/4/2019 Posted chapter 004.5; Interlude ( Irregular order) moderate priority, self discovery. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15/4/2019 Added 600 words to chapter 004; Thoughts of an adventure. Expanded rushed parts, introduced new monster. (Just encounter, no actual contact.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15/4/2019 Added chapter Prologue. (Reorder) Changes added to Prologue Changes made to Chapter 1 and 7 Mass proofreading and revision in progress Will be updated by tommorow. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.01; The Memory Report. --------------------------Memory Report: ''Yellow'' Nael Kathay 012------------------------------- .:: To, my captain and all other office worms reading this ::. When I planned on taking a vacation, this was NOT how I imagined things to turn out. ¡°Go to the beach,¡± he said. ¡°No problematic threats,¡± he said. ¡°Just forget all your worries and relax,¡± he said. Well, James, I hope you are pleased when you see my name on the latest memory report. I hope that¡¯ll give you some insight to actually VERIFY information for at least once in your pitiful human life. I just had the worst day of my life right now, and that was BEFORE, I was being chased to my death by a freaking mutated Vampire! Well¡­ at least I think it¡¯s a vampire, it¡¯s strange that it¡¯s not burnt to cinders out in the open sunlight, but no blighted corpse would have the judgment, intelligence or speed of the scary woman who¡¯s currently chasing me to death. Vampires are scary enough as they are, and one that¡¯s immune to sunlight? I''m definitely not going to see tomorrow. I¡¯m scared and I''m not ashamed of that. You people really need to do more research on vampires. Contact those shadowhunters maybe. Good suggestion. You should try it. I have no proper equipment, nor the strength to deal with anything above giant snakes. OF WHICH WAS THE ONLY THING WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. James told me of a "breath-taking beach with shallow waters which were NOT infested with poisonous life forms, with good tourist-friendly services, pretty girls, and lots and lots of good drinks." After I got off the closest train, I headed to the town marked on my map. James said there was one here and that they sold all sorts of top -quality snake- leather merchandise here too. Glossy blue leather jackets that are naturally as strong as steel which is also relatively wallet-friendly? Hell yeah, I want some of those, give some extras so I can give them to my brothers and sisters in arms as well. Yea I¡¯m talking about you Sooya, I''m not as heartless as you think. I knew all of you fools were going to love it. But what do you know, not only was there a striking ABSENCE of locals, the entire town seemed to lack buildings too. Like, the whole thing, burnt to the ground... I, for one, wasn¡¯t aware of any mass genocide occurring in this location whatsoever. Being a member of the explorer¡¯s association, I was duty bound to report whatever things that seem odd. Well, this entire town seems a bit odd, Good observation skills, Nael, you did well. Then I had to figure out as to WHY the locals were apparently dead. There¡¯s no undead blight in this part of the world, but having an entire town go out like this has GOT to have nasty consequences. So I either have to report this to a local branch and not get any credits OR, do the investigation myself, and get a LITTLE bit of credit. Yea I know, someone there right now is going to be like; ¡°Oh, Nael, how could you be so low? There¡¯s practically a mass genocide right in front of you, and all you¡¯re concerned about are CREDITS?¡± Oh, well, I¡¯m just an elf trying to survive, after my own kind THREW me out because apparently, I¡¯m not glowy enough and I don¡¯t have enough magical stores to cast supremely flashy spells. Well, Boohoo. Those ''pathetic humans'' as they called them, were not so pathetic after all. Some of em were even WORSE than the monsters in the Great Forest. Especially those dimwits they call adventurers. Oh, the horror! But still, they accepted me and helped me to get my career as an Explorer started. I really need to climb the ladders to pay back my debts and I¡¯m not going to be able to do that if I''d be stuck as a rookie forever. Well, the problem is, they don''t have the time to wait for my lazy ass because they¡¯ll just bend over and die in a few decades. Wow, talk about a short time limit to fulfill a life debt. Thus, I need SOMETHING to distinguish myself fast or I won¡¯t be able to do anything. After all, a few decades isn¡¯t a lot of time. After spending nearly two hours in a ghost town filled with ashes and the stink of rot, I eventually gave up. The most I could find out was that there were dead soldiers from a bordering town that were apparently, as anyone might guess, Not supposed to be there. And you know what, they don¡¯t carry convenient letters stating all their intentions and plans like in the stories. I¡¯m not a detective. I gave up, you can figure all that shit out yourself. (yea I''m talking to you reds). Then I followed this really big trail of carnage to the edge of the forest, and eventually, came across a redmane bear. Yea, you might have heard of those majestically fluffy, grey bears with a large patch of red fur around its neck. Yep, those same giants which are twice as large as a normal bear, live at high altitudes, possess impenetrable skin and walk upright? Apparently, one of them had enough of the mountains and with the same idea as me, came to the beach for a vacation. I¡¯ve heard that they¡¯re highly territorial towards anything on two legs, so I got down on all fours to try to appear less ''bipedal-ey''. But apparently, that wasn¡¯t enough for the furry brute. You REALLY need to give more attention to those things, like what the fuck is useful about the fact that they don¡¯t like things that walk on two legs if it¡¯s useless even if you try to walk on four? The experience was¡­ Traumatizing, to say the least, and I nearly died. The saving factor is that they were susceptible to shiny objects. I lost my incredibly polished elven longsword as a result. Well you see, THAT is what one would call ''useful information''. Print THAT in a textbook for Heaven¡¯s sake. It was the only item I was given as I was cast out from the elven community, you know.Stolen story; please report. Painful sacrifice. They gave it to me saying; "here take this, and good luck out surviving in the great wilderness." As if that would work, It was probably for the sake of decency. Well, you know what? Throwing me out wasn¡¯t a decent thing to do in the first place. I kept the blade in pristine condition so I could plunge it in the heart of that snobbish man they called a ''council head''. He pulled out a lot of bullshit, just because I and his daughter had a... thing¡­ Okay, I admit that me getting thrown out had more dimensions than what I initially claimed. I also hate that all that useless information is probably going to be inside this report. Anyway, there goes my motivation for revenge. I hope that bear cuts itself, but then again, I pray that it¡¯s not intelligent enough to start swinging that thing around. That would be horrifying beyond words, and I don¡¯t want to be responsible for it. And I¡¯m concerned about that because SOME people in SOME particular office are handing out false information to new recruits and I¡¯m having serious trust issues and concerns regarding that bear. Can''t you folks even properly assess the intelligence of a single bear? For that matter, I don¡¯t want ANYTHING to do with bears ever again. I felt like it was staring at a bug. If I make it alive, I¡¯m tearing down every single bear hunt in the lobby. After that, I had to fend off freakishly large birds, run away from a nest of snakes in the middle of their mating season, And survive a showdown against a feral raccoon over my lunch. That raccoon was stronger than it had any right to be. You people probably need to reassess the entire wildlife ecosystem. I eventually got to the beach, battered, bruised, and hollow inside. The beach was empty as was expected. James is so going die If get back, I promise you Sooya. You better start looking through the new applicants soon. There were no ''special shops and services'', no ''pretty girls'' of ANY race with the exception of turtles, if that would do. I have no idea what them reptiles find appealing but their shells looked shiny, so that may count? Probably. Then the worst of them all; no ''drinks''. As I was trying to reorient myself towards the direction back to the station, I saw it. It was a pretty girl. Apparently, the corpse of a pretty girl. She was the only person still in one piece except for the fact that she was dead. Just my luck. Damn it all. But then again, she was mostly naked give for a few rags and most of her features were pure white. Skin, hair, the whole deal. She looked human, but I guessed that humans weren¡¯t supposed to look like that. Then again, what the hell do I know? When my depraved eyes started to ogle her, I decided that I had enough. I would do the most decent thing a man could do the entire day after what I had experienced. To bury her. For giving me at least one glance for my virgin heart, I would repay the favor. And for the sake of decency alone, I decided to cover her up with the only thing available- seaweed. I dug a hole, Tossed the body inside with regret, and started to fill it back up. Then, as I was doing the most honorable thing I¡¯ve done in WEEKS, she apparently decided that I was just too perverted, or That I violated her or something, probably. I have no idea what goes in her head. I¡¯m just an elf, no Valak. Then she denied me of it. My sole contribution to goodness. Yelling and with pretty much VERY ¡®inhuman¡¯ movements, she got up and came after me. I was scared shitless. I was PRETTY SURE she was dead. I would never give away such an opportunity if it presents itself. I¡¯ve heard many a story like this where one would find a damsel in distress and then be her hero. But NO, someone up there just didn¡¯t like me, going as far as to tease me, and then send her to kill me. Blighted undead isn''t that fast, and she had the eyes. The glowing red eyes of a vampire. Wait. It was orange¡­. Then again, she was up and about in the light, and most of all, she was still dead. I triple checked. So an undead. Contact them shadowhunters. Right. Now. Fact number 5 of all standard explorer¡¯s facts; An undead exists because of either really dark magic, or it¡¯s severely pissed off. Pissed off so much that it¡¯s enough to resist death. No matter what the situation, there has never, in the 4900 years of which the association has stood, there been a case of ¡®friendly¡¯ undead. Since there was no blight, and no traces of dark magic, She was either severely pissed off or was a vampire. Either way, I¡¯m screwed. It¡¯s been nearly an hour since I¡¯ve started running, and I¡¯m not going to last much longer at this rate. She¡¯s still behind me at the speed of a desert runner like nothing ever happened. No fatigue, eh. Well, Fuck it. Fuck you, James. Fuck you, office worms with false info. I don¡¯t like these mental reports, lots of additional stuff gets mixed in, don¡¯t take them to heart, but it¡¯s not like I have any other option. Whoever is reading this, kill James for me if I don''t make it. And maybe fix that stuff about the bear. If I survive and this gets published or something, I¡¯m going to go into hiding for a few weeks. Nael, Sending memory report, Signing out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I felt a headache incoming as I read the memory report and sighed. We were in a Tavern and I gazed at James, Lily, and Mahki making merry with no reservations whatsoever. I felt my headache increasing. The five of us were part of a ¡®Yellow¡¯ team of rookies with myself as the apparent ¡®leader¡¯. Not like they actually listen to anything I say. It¡¯s more like I¡¯m the official gal to place all the weights of responsibility and whatever official bullshit anyone would ever throw at us. I stared at the report again for some time before putting it down. If I hand this over to them, they¡¯ll just laugh their asses off and say; "Oh Sooya, Nael will just scramble his way back here without a hitch. ya don''t have ta worry" or something along the lines. I had a feeling it¡¯s true though. He was the one among us with the highest chances of survival in any given situation. Not because of any skills or anything of the sort, but rather dumb luck or maybe one of his peculiar antics. They¡¯ve been so used to it that they accepted it as some universal law or something. They even started to associate him with a cockroach. They say he belongs with the greens but was rejected for official reasons. It wasn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve gotten a memory report from him, either and obviously, not the first time he survived after he did so. But it IS, a bit concerning that he just got thrashed by a redmane and a vampire in the same day. Then I read the report again and was having second thoughts. Memory reports were a unique specialty of the Explorer¡¯s association and are actually written by a highly complex, intelligent construct which receives memory/thought fragments sent from the members of the association via another complex network system which is a headache just to get even the most basic understanding of. The original Network system was basically useless since the memory fragments would just be a mesh of complex overloaded information, and was utterly useless. Then some guy or the other named Lord Belthrow made this self-learning golem and several generations later, someone asked it if it could make any sense of it. And what do you know- It did! After that, it would sort through those fragments and send a report based on it to an association official to get it sorted out and if it doesn¡¯t contain sensitive information, have it published to everyone close to the sender. That particular golem, named the ¡®Blue Tree¡¯ of all things, is the core of the Explorer¡¯s association and the heart of its success. But the fact is, it''s a self-learning golem, and as was expected, it eventually developed a personality and huge levels of sass. Though all the info in the report is very much accurate, it also contains EXTREMELY accurate and irrelevant thoughts of the sender as well. At the same time, it''s hard to ignore, and the association even has an entire team dedicated to figuring out a complex report. I KNOW this thing has a lot valid of information in it... but then again, it¡¯s hard to take it even the slightest bit seriously. Sometimes, the golem gets pissed for who knows what, or maybe it just feels like trolling others and would dump a lot more shit and hand it out in an extremely unique fashion. If it¡¯s edited, the thing would get MORE pissed, and no-one wants that, so to try and appease it, the more...¡¯ unique¡¯ ones get ¡®published¡¯. Not any of the confirmed casualties get published but still¡­ I have no idea what the hell I¡¯m supposed to do with this and so, I put it aside for now. It would be better for Nael if I show it to the others... a bit slowly, at that. 0.02; Beginning of the deathless .:: ...... ::. I stared at my hand, it was ghostly white as was my hair and almost all of my features... Maybe all my features would be a good educated guess since it was almost like my body was completely bleached of all colour. I wasn¡¯t sure since I couldn¡¯t see my own face, but oh well, nothing a few dyes can¡¯t fix, but I wonder what to do with my skin, it¡¯s so¡­ white, I- My thoughts were cut short as a sudden feeling of wrongness started to wash over my mind. My head started to pound like never before, like someone started banging it with a sledgehammer. My heart was pounding. My heart¡­ ... Strange, was that my imagination? I stared at my breasts and noticed something missing¡­ I can''t really put my head around it. After a few seconds were spent strained to find what was wrong, I figured out eventually that it was the steady rise and fall of my own breathing which I was accustomed to all my life. It just wasn''t there anymore. Something felt wrong, and with a shaking hand, I felt my face. Cold. My skin¡­ Cold. My breath¡­ Non- existent. My pulse¡­ Dead. Panic started welling inside me as I wondered what in the world had happened to me. Clearly, something¡¯s wrong with me, am I dead? HOW? Why is my pulse dead? Am I some sort of zombie, or an undead? If so, Why am I still aware of myself? Am I an ''abomination''? Oh, by the Gods, NO! Entire forests and territories had been burnt down for less! What the hell happened to me? And where am I?... wait... WHO am I? ... I can¡¯t remember my own name. I remember all this random knowledge about baking cakes and detail of empires, but¡­ ¡°WHY IN THE WORLD DO I NOT REMEMBER MY OWN NAME?¡± I screamed out in frustration and despair. Tears dribbled down my face as I wondered why I still had them despite everything. After what felt like an eternity, I lay on the grass as I felt the wind blew my hair onto my face and felt it through the holes in my torn dress. Then I started to wonder why my red gown looked like it was chewed out by a bear and then regurgitated after a severe case of indigestion and finally, left out to dry. Wow, nice imagination I¡¯ve got there, pretty much useless I guess.On closer inspection, I found out that my gown was NOT actually red, but that it was actually dyed with blood, as was the case with most of my lower body. Did I really get chewed out by something? I can feel my feet though. Although it did, feel a bit... Odd, like I was controlling something a bit¡­ detached. I tried moving my body. The reaction speed was so instantaneous that I was taken a bit back since I barely felt any tensing of muscles or anything... -- just action. Then I noticed that my sense of hearing was magnified exponentially, though my smell and touch felt a bit dull. Weird. Not dulled, but different it seems. I was experiencing sensations differently. As I scanned the clearing In the forest I found myself in, I felt a significant sense of familiarity. This place was important to me in some way though I did not know why. I stood there, taking in the scenery for hours, till I noticed the sun dipping behind the mountains, getting some sleep so it can return tommorow for its daily visit. I didn¡¯t feel any exhaustion, even after standing there for so long, but I tried to sleep anyway. After several hours, I caught the faint orange tinge in the sky, signs of the morning sun rising in the distance. Then I realized, that I failed to sleep¡­ No, I realized that rather than ''couldn''t'', it was just not possible for me to do it. Finally, within the depths of my cold heart, I felt something. *You finally accepted that you are no longer human.* A voice in my head informed me. MY voice, but it spoke to me, not as a thought, but in crisp, ringing, vocal sounds that resounded across my head and spoke to me directly. I tried to speak to it. Am I sane for trying? Maybe not, but I did it anyway. {What do you mean?}It was a bit quick, but I managed to echo back. * I can hear your every thought, for I am a part of you. You think you will no longer be able to enjoy the pleasures of life, or grow old with a family like everyone else, just waiting till your flesh rots away and fall off, eventually turning into those shambling monstrosities that plague the fields of death. I could hear all that, and that''s a pretty depressing flow of events I see there. But that will most probably not come to pass. * {Hey! I''m not a monstrosity.} * That''s what you, said. Cheer up, You''re not a monster. * I sighed in exasperation. Now I was talking to myself. Shutting out the world around me, I walked. Sauntering for days on end, with no purpose or goal, through the sun, and through the rain, as days turned to nights and nights turned to day, I continued to wander. Till I came upon a cliff. A cliff, which cut into the midnight sky, and as I gazed at the stars, I felt like I could just jump off and fly into the distant unknown, like how the dragons of old left the mortal lands and flew off to the ancientcontinent, the Dragonlands. The cliff hung over a beach and I stared down the narrow rocky ledge, there was jagged rock, about two hundred feet below. The waves washed over it, an unstoppable tide. As I stood there, thinking, I remembered my journey. Nothing interrupted me during my trip. There was nothing truly dangerous in this region but still, Creatures scurried away from me, probably realizing for what I truly am. I didn¡¯t want to be this¡­. THING, whatever the hell I was right now. As I contemplated my future, and about how I would pass the days by, I felt pain in my heart. Regret and deep anguish washed over my entire being and it hurt so much that I wished to just cease to be.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. But the thing is, It wasn''t mine. These emotions weren''t mine. An impulse started to grab hold of me. As scared of death as I was, the bottom of this cliff seemed terribly appealing, And like a moth drawn to fire, I just walked off of it without even a thought of what I was doing and hurtled towards my end. I felt a shock and blacked out for who knows how long. Eventually, with a jolt, I came to my senses. ¡°Wait¡± I croaked. *what the hell just happened?* The voice in my head sounded a bit confused, but I sensed a feeling of guilt bubbling deep inside me. There it was again¡­ emotions that were mine, but not. However, now was not the time to think of that. I shifted my gaze to assess my situation and I wish I didn¡¯t. Everything that was supposed to be inside, now just¡­ wasn¡¯t anymore. Gore was everywhere, guts and blood lay scattered across the jagged rock. So¡­ even that isn¡¯t enough to kill me. There was no possible way for me to even walk in this state. I felt like crying, tears welled up in my eyes, but before I could even think of what I was to do, the waves washed over me and dragged me into the sea, where I blacked out again, drowning for all eternity. I was suspended in the blackness, Unfeeling. Blind. And every bit dead as I was supposed to be, but eventually I started to see flashes. Heard distant echoes, and slowly but surely, It grew, and grew, and grew, Till¡­ Within the blackness, I had a dream, or was it a piece of broken memory? [ I saw a young girl, full of life and vigor. The daughter of a local baker, who frolicked around without a care in the world. ] I left the memory and stared at another. [ I saw the girl standing in the clearing I woke up in, and running around, being an idiot ]. It felt wierd, watching myself like this. It felt like I was peeking into someone else''s life. It made me... uncomfortable, yet I continued to do so, for I was curious, Was this who I used to be? But my mind was too distracted by what had happened. Why did I suddenly feel all that¡­ emotion? Is there- Before my chain of thoughts could grow any further, another memory flashed. [ I had noticed an oddity, I apparently had spent a lot of time in that clearing, almost as if I was visiting something¡­ it was clear from her actions, MY actions. And from seeing conversing with thin air, repeatedly, I tried focusing on it further. every time I went there, talking to something it seems. ] Just as I was wondering if I was crazy or not, I realized that the air was not as empty as I thought it to be. [ There really was, something there.] The girl I used to be, knew that there was something sinister there. At first, I thought it may have been some ghost or a spirit maybe, though I wasn¡¯t so sure right now. As I focused on intently, my vision shifted, and I saw colours that did not exist. At least, not normally. They were unnatural shades of what I usually saw, but their placement was skewed. I noticed how they were concentrated. It seemed to be a sense of death? No¡­ A sense of life, apparently. But then I saw it. Whatever it was, it was clearly alive, and it was a being so impossibly incomprehensible that It could not be perceived by human eyes. Well¡­My eyes apparently. I was utterly blinded. I¡¯ve never seen a ghost or a spirit, but from what I¡¯ve heard from legends if any of those things were anywhere close to whatever was residing there, The world wouldn¡¯t be safe anymore¡­ Well, the world was never safe, but still. Maybe I¡¯m being dramatic, but there is no possible way that, that¡­ THING should even exist. Huh, and look at me, running around the field like a little girl without any regard for my life whatsoever. {Clearly an idiot} I spoke in my mind, checking to see if the voice would respond... *Still am.* The voice replied without fail. {Good job, me.} Silence. Then I saw my memory flash again. Huh, so I wasn¡¯t killed by whatever the hell that was? Strange. I saw myself performing feats of idiocy one after the other, goofing off with my sister. Well, idiotic, but sweet. Then yet anothermemory flashed. But for this one, I felt a sense of conclusion. Was my dream coming to an end? [ I was surrounded by smoke, and burning houses, and fire. A raging fire that rose up high into the sky. I saw soldiers massacring my friends and family. I myself was scrambling through the forest, bleeding, crawling, missing feet. ] Wait... Didn¡¯t I have both feet when I woke? {I am clearly insane, aren¡¯t I?} *Fact*. {Why thank you, mind, that¡¯s a wonderful confirmation! It describes us perfectly!} *You seem jolly, and awfully detached from all that, even such dark memories¡­* {Did I¡­ lose something important?} *Maybe*. There again, the guilt. I could feel it seeping into me. But I had no time to inspect this. The memories continued to play out. [ I saw myself in the clearing, choking on my own blood, praying with hope, DESPERATION, that whatever thing in that accursed clearing would be able to save me from death. Then I saw a shadow form in front of me, a tear in reality, and I realized that whatever it was, It spoke to me. ] Just as I started to make out the words, I was jolted awake, screaming. And I screamed only one word *Droyara* The stuff of legends. Creator of both the greatest heroes and the most gruesome stomach twisting evils. A Demon, or an accursed godling from another realm, no-one knows for certain. A being of chaos, as heroic as it is vile, As irrational as is it wise. A paradox in itself. Hmmm¡­. Why did the voice mention it? Why did I know all that information? Was that what the thing in the clearing? Was it really just a coincidence? Oh shit, I may have screwed up big time. Now I know why I am what I am, I Think. Probably. Everything''s messed up, and I don''t even remember half of it. And if my guess was right, I¡¯m going to regret existing way more than what I felt so far, and for very different reasons entirely. Well, whatever. Things happen when things are supposed to happen. No point in fretting over it right now. Opening my eyes, I saw that half my body was covered in dirt. I tried to move. *Oh* ¡­ I was rather¡­ Complete, by the way, Do I have an ability to revive, or a regeneration factor? But I¡¯m dead, so how does that work? *Droyara Magic perhaps.* Yea that¡¯s it, the universal truth; When in doubt, think of magic. Explains most stuff that goes poof. I cleared my mind and tried to assess my situation again. I¡¯m rather buried in dirt, only halfway through, so far. Seeing that I was a few feet below the ground, realization dawned on me. I was being BURIED. Hah, was this my funeral? Who¡¯s attending? Better than being cremated I suppose, Wonder how long it would have taken for me to come back from that one. {Will I actually come back from being burnt to dust?} *Hmm¡­. Really not gotta try that-* Wait¡­why am I thinking of burial methods rather than why it¡¯s actually happening? FOCUS! STAY ON FOCUS, GIRL! Back on track, Wait, why the hell do I reek of fish? Wait¡­ {Stay caaaaaalm } *Is that seaweed around our¡­* {BE CAAAAAAAALMMMMM!} Well, There''s... *You do know, that you¡¯re the one being ¡®not calm¡¯ here, right?* Okay, I give up. ¡° @&arz^%(¡°¡±!!_?:>@Kah ¡± ¡­ I tried to take a deep breath to calm my nerves but then realized that I forgot how. Well, ¡­what do you know, I¡¯m getting tired of this. Then I saw him. I saw a guy bringing a shovel over and before he did, I jolted forward and yelled ¡°STOP!¡± We stared at each other for a few seconds and I managed to take in all the details of my¡­ *What do I call this guy again? what do you call the person who buries you? Is there a name for that? Is-* FOCUS, FOOL! {Okay, calm now, analyze facts.} *Facts; He¡¯s an elf, as apparent from him pointy ears¡­. Probably. There ain¡¯t a lotta pointy eared folk, and not all of em are tree huggers.* huh. Then I noticed his gleamy midnight hair, his smooth glossy skin, his¡­. Handsomeness? *He¡¯s definitely an elf or at least part, don¡¯t have a Trueblood¡¯s trademark glow. Damn them, I hate that race of damn magic saturated charmers. How is it fair that they get all the wonderful goods in a full package? It¡¯s unfair to all other magic casters.* {Okaay?} That was wierd. Do I have something against Elves? Then I took in his attire. A brown suit adorned with padded light armor and a yellow band on his left arm. {Someone from the Explorer¡¯s association? They have a similar uniform but why is it brown? Is it supposed to be brown?} *I thought it was more¡­ white-ey.* I don''t know where I got all that information from, just like last time, but I assume that I know some basic stuff. Probably. I don''t know... Then there¡¯s the yellow band. Those bands designate ranks within their organization, right? What does a yellow band mean again? Ah, a rookie. Probably. Or was it a designation? I¡¯m not sure of explorer details so I¡¯m not going to go insult him in the face. Just as I was about to speak, the handsome elven explorer in all his magical might and glory, Screamed. It was horrible, silly and was probably the most High pitched, anti-climactic, Idiotic and Girlish scream I¡¯ve ever heard. *Congrats bruh, you just had me beat.* Damn¡­ My life can¡¯t possibly get any worse¡­ Right? ... Right? 0.03; Introductions .:: Burnt Town; R ::. I stood over an unconscious man { The same man who screamed like my little sister. } *Hah, I remember her screaming like that when she thought there was a monster in the barn just to eventually find out that it was just a drunk who apparently waded through ¡®all kinds¡¯ of filth after he got lost in the woods after a particularly nasty night in the local Inn.* Something about this guy probably triggered that memory. Hmm¡­ so I just need to keep moving forward and I¡¯ll probably recover most of them. *That¡¯s one goal to look forward to.* Sister or otherwise, This guy was a serious mess. His attire wasn''t brown at all, just caked in dirt. *What the hell happened to him I wonder?* { Something bad, I may guess.} ¡°Now, what the hell do I do with this guy?¡± I thought aloud as I prodded him with my foot. After I glanced down at myself, and I decided that I¡¯ll just help myself to his jacket first, no matter how dirty it was. Some things were just more important. ¡°Sorry dude, I¡¯ll ask you properly when you wake up.¡± I carried him back to the shack by the beach. Then I decided it would be better for him to get a better impression of me lest he goes screaming off again. And so, I set off to gather some firewood from the plundered shack nearby and start a fire. It was a bit difficult to find any usable firewood from the woods at this moment since there was still some lingering moisture from the rain that poured barely a few moments ago. Eventually, due to lack of anything else, I had to pulverize an already broken table andpiled all of it out front. Made me wonder what happened here.It probably has something to do with that attack in my dreams, but I wasn¡¯t sure of how recent that was. Or even if it was anywhere even close to wherever I was right now. I had no idea how long I spent adrift, or how far the sea carried me. I was no survival expert but I eventually managed to set the thing on fire and added more combustibles into the mix. Now for the food... There was still some dried meat in the storeroom so I lucked out. That also meant that whatever happened here was fairly recent. Well¡­ whatever. I tried a bite. No problem with my sense of taste. *Check.* I swallowed and as soon as I did it, I felt nauseous. My stomach started to push it back up. I tried to keep it in, but to no avail. Tried different stuff to eat, but none of them stayed down. {Can¡¯t eat normal food then.} *Noted in memory.* Wonder if I can eat at all... There goes my chances of being a gourmet. I let out a sigh. From a corner of my vision, I saw the guy stirring. He slowly rose up and sat against the log I placed him next to. Blinking a few times, he got to his senses, and started to check himself for injuries and saw that His broken arm was set straight. He suddenly shook and frantically searched around till his eyes caught sight of me.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He froze. I waved at him and promptly said ¡°Hi¡± After blinking a few more times, he slowly got back to his initial position. I swear I could hear the gears turning in his head as he charted out a plan for escape. It was the second time I caught him and knocked him out, so he probably figured that he couldn¡¯t outrun me. After a few minutes of intense silence, ¡°Hello?¡± he eventually spoke up. ¡°hey¡± I replied with a smile on my face. ¡°you can understand me?¡± There was a queer expression on his face that I couldn¡¯t make out very well, but the disbelief in his voice was obvious. Was it really that strange I could talk? *He thinks you''re undead, girl. probably. I don''t know what he''s thinking. How can we possibly? Don''t bother with that.* ¡°Of course, we wouldn¡¯t be in a conversation otherwise now, would we?¡± He shook his head and muttered something inaudible. I still managed to make out the word ¡®impossible¡¯ despite everything. That¡¯s advanced hearing for you. Really need to train that more. ¡°What do you want with me?¡± Was the question that came eventually. ¡°I want to talk,¡± I replied He had a dubious expression plastered on his face. With a sigh, I started to explain ¡°Well, you see, I barely have barely a few fragments of memory left and have no idea who or what I am, and talking to someone like yourself might clear me of a lot of things on my mind.¡± ¡°someone like ¡­ Me?¡± ¡°well yes, you are an explorer are you not?¡± ¡°technically yea but¡­-¡° He looked up at me for a brief moment and with a low voice, asked, ¡°you¡¯re¡­ not after me?¡± I was confused ¡°why?¡± He dismissed the question with suspicious enthusiasm. "Why would I be after you?" He remained silent. I tried to think. why would I be after him? There was nothing, other than the fact that he might have thought that I was going to kill him as a zombie or something of the sort, but we already resolved that, did we not? I wondered as I glanced at him. He was looking at some seaweed scattered by the fire. Strange. ¡°Then what do you want me for?¡± He broke the silence. ¡°You could contact your guild and get some questions answered right?¡± He winced. ¡°Ugh¡­ that would be¡­¡± ¡°what¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°Actually, you see, I, ugh ¡­ Sent a memory report back.¡± ¡±what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°well¡­ It¡¯s a, ugh message we send back to the hub when we¡¯re in extreme danger, and for several reasons, I¡¯m going to lay low for a bit of time before I return.¡± ¡°why?¡± ¡°several reasons.¡± His tone was a bit suspicious though. He started to rummage through his pack that apparently seemed to have more space inside than what it had any right to possess. Magical perhaps. There were, some pretty stones embedded on it. okay, back to the conversation. ¡°explain.¡± ¡°for one, I don¡¯t trust you.¡± Huh. ¡°Okie then how will I get you to trust me?¡± He took out a vial filled with Yellow Liquid and chugged it all in one go. It probably tasted bad since his face twitched. Then, to my amazement, he flexed his broken arm like it was never broken in the first place. *Healing Potion. Takes longer for it to fix things completely, it probably still hurts like hell.* Oh. ¡° It¡¯ll take some time to get there anyway, The next scheduled train here is in a week¡¯s time and we¡¯re practically stuck here till it comes, so I¡¯ll judge you when the time comes. And don¡¯t think your vampire hypnotism¡¯s going to work on me. I wave a lot of wards placed on me, and if I catch even a whiff of your magic on me, I¡¯m not going to help you. ¡± ¡°vampire?¡± ¡°You¡¯re one aren¡¯t you?¡± Is shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± *Vampires don¡¯t just regenerate entire bodies or walk out in the open sunlight.* Yea, no shit. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything¡± There was a Hint of emotion in my voice but I hope he didn¡¯t catch that. I handed him the dried meat. ¡°Here.¡± He stared suspiciously at the meat. Then he glanced at me before testing it as if it was poisoned or something. *Which he probably thinks it is.* Eventually, he took a nibble, Then we sat there staring at each other in tense silence for nearly an hour. He looked like he expected to drop dead at any moment now. Finally, he relaxed with a sigh and roasted it in the fire before digging in. ¡°Why don¡¯t you have any?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°you can¡¯t?¡± It was a question. ¡°I can¡¯t eat. Anything It seems.¡± He nodded with fearful understanding. ¡°vampire¡± ¡°vampires can be killed¡± ¡°so?¡± ¡°I nearly regenerated my entire body, and I can walk in the sunlight without issue.¡± ¡°A better vampire then.¡± ¡° I¡¯m not.¡± I shook my head with exasperation, trying to convince myself more than him. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I eventually croaked. ¡°Nael. You?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­. I don¡¯t know.¡± He stared at me quizzically. ¡°It starts with an R I think.¡± ¡°Let''s go with Rayola then, need to call you something.¡± I smiled and stared at him for some time. That was a cute name, I liked it- ¡°It used to be my dog¡¯s name.¡± He continued. ... ¡°I will just stick with R¡± I concluded. ¡°Rayola¡± He corrected ¡°R¡± The bastard was starting to annoy me. ¡°Ra-¡° ¡°No.¡± I cut him off ¡°Need to-¡° ¡°No!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to listen to you and you can¡¯t convince me otherwise, Rayola.¡± ¡°UGH!¡± Is it just me or is he extremely obnoxious? *He is.* { Agreed. I will probably regret this right? } *Yes, but it is necessary.* Right. Necessary. { Can I just sleep now? } *Well¡­ We can¡¯t, remember?* I didn''t know what else to think at this point. I let out a long sigh. 0.04; Redmane Fluff .:: Burnt Town; Rayola ::. Today I saw a fluffy bear. And then I died. *AGAIN.* {Yes, Again.} It was a very strange bear if I say so myself. And when I say strange, things get really bonkers. Nael and I were at the town nearby, searching for clothes or any useful items or objects of relevance to investigation in his case, and maybe some food. He was oddly enthusiastic to get his jacket back too. Well, anyways. There we were trying to pry open a broken door which was stuck when I hear a loud noise from around the corner. Both of us turned just to see a huge grey bear with a red patch of fur around its neck. It was colossal. I¡¯ve to think I¡¯ve seen a bear or two in the region. Probably. I¡¯m not sure, but What was in front of me was larger than any bear had a right to be. THAT, I¡¯m sure of. Then the next thing that¡¯s odd; It was walking upright. Bears don¡¯t usually walk upright if I remember correctly. Do they? It was already had a hulking figure, with added fluff. Now it looked like a titan. Then the thing that stood out the most; It was carrying a sword. A. Freaking. Sword. Like¡­ why??? Bears don¡¯t do swords, right? That¡¯s why they have claws right? But there it was, equipped with a double sided blade nearly a metre and a half in length with a silvery yellow shine to it. If I were to tell this story to someone else, ''How does it even hold it'', one may ask. The sword has a long hilt, ''but do bears even have fingers'', one may ask? The answer is simple; the mouth It was LITERALLY armed to the teeth. With a graceful twirl, it flung its head. *We bear-ly saw anything* {Your puns are horrible.} *That applies to you too you know.* {I know.} I saw a silvery flash before I saw the sword get impaled onto the wall right next to James with a thunk. Splinters flew everywhere from the shattered wood and it rained down on us. James, by the way, seemed like he was about to pass out on a moment¡¯s notice. *He was already panicking BEFORE the bear threw the sword.* {was he? huh, need to inspect that} Now the poor sod just pissed himself. *Maybe he was traumatized by a bear once in past perhaps.* I admit that the bear was scary but not to the level to reduce an explorer to this state. OR SO WE THOUGHT.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. The bear was absolutely horrifying. *Straight out of one''s darkest nightmares.* We ran through the wrecks of buildings, in and out of houses. It plowed through everything with an earth-shaking roar as if those solid brick walls were nothing but dust. We split up and scaled buildings with a level of parkour skill that would put the legendary siege infiltrators of old to shame. BUT STILL, it managed to track our movements and force us both into dead ends and chokepoints. Like WHAT the actual FUCK??? By the deities, It¡¯s a BEAR! Why the hell is a BEAR so freaking Intelligent? And WHY is it so aggressive? It¡¯s not like I did anything to warrant such action. Right? Just as I was jumping off a roof, the very same blade flew at me with a speed matching an arrow and cleanly cut me in half. After which, it promptly grabbed what was left of me and threw me like a ragdoll at the wall. I don¡¯t remember anything after that, but by the time I came back to my senses, Night fell, and neither James nor the Bear was nowhere to be seen. ¡­ My stomach still hurt. I still feel pain just fine, huh. So why didn''t I feel anything back when I jumped off the cliff? Maybe I broke my spine or something when I landed? Ah, I''ll try not to get hurt... Probably. But one thing, I am sure of. I never want anything to do with bears ever again. EVER. After lurking through the shadows for about an hour, I picked up faint noises from inside one of the houses. Turning the handle, I slowly opened the door and entered noiselessly. After searching the rooms, I eventually saw Nael in the kitchen. He was sprawled on the floor, deathly still. I calmed myself down after I noticed that he was still breathing. Just asleep. *Not everyone dies as easily as you do, you know. Are you trying for a record or something?* I Sighed. Eventually, I also noticed that this was the last house we were in before the attack. Things were still being arranged for departure. I tapped him awake. ¡° What happened?¡± I asked. He freaked out, scrambling away from me. ¡°huh?... why do you look like you¡¯re seeing a ghost?¡± Gulping, he eventually gathered his wits. ¡°I¡­.ugh, saw you plastered on a wall, smoking, and everything.¡± *Oooh, literally saw a ghost.* {Shut up.} I grimaced. ¡°Don¡¯t remind me.¡± Hmm... smoking? what did he mean by that? Was I set on fire or something? Just as I was going to ask him, we heard a noise I turned in alarm, only to see a raccoon rummaging through Nael¡¯s pack, stretching it out to the max. It was funny seeing half it''s body disappear inside a pouch the size of a fist. ¡°Hey Nael, there¡¯s a raccoo-...¡± I stopped myself when I saw Nael¡¯s face. His eyes were glazed over and he almost seemed soul-less. ¡°what happened?¡± He just gave a long, depressed sigh and walked out the door. ¡°But, your pack!¡± No reply. Doesn¡¯t he need it? ¡°Shoo¡± I tried pushing it away just to get scratched wholesale. The damn bugger was feral. Should have just left it alone. As I walked into the hallway, I saw Nael slouching on a chair that somehow survived the carnage. ¡°What happened to the bear?¡± He shuddered and started to rub his arms as if to keep warm. ¡° I holed myself up in a basement and had to wait till it got tired and left. I still think It¡¯s watching us. Waiting.¡± ¡°You¡¯re over-reacting¡± I told him, before adding, "Right?" He just shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not stepping a single foot outside this house till daybreak.¡± He finished. ¡°understandable.¡± I let out a sigh. Then I sighed again at the thought of how it¡¯s possible to sigh when I¡¯m not even breathing. My heart isn''t ready for any of this crap. {Oh, wait, it¡¯s already out of service.} *Applause!* *Give yourself some applause!* I just leaned back against the wooden support, and when I glanced at Nael, he was already asleep. And that¡¯s how day two ended up. *We probably need to put up a revival count too.* {Why?} *Just so when someone is a tavern brags to you about danger, we can proudly say that we¡¯ve already died twenty times or something like that.* {So that we can invite an eradication?} *GAH! you''re no fun, just say that it''s some sort of rare ability or something* {That would be one hell of an ability to have. But then again... it is.} I just shook my head in dejection, and stared out of the window into the blackness. 0.05; Thoughts of an adventure. .:: Burnt Town - x- Eastwell Border town; Rayola::. ¡°I TOLD YOU that it was following us!¡± Nael screamed from above me. We were at the Train station. More like forced to be there in actuality. ¡° It¡¯s not MY fault that Fluffy was so good at hiding his presence, why are you blaming ME?¡± ¡°FLUFFY? DID YOU JUST CALL THAT MONSTER- FLUFFY?¡± I winced ¡°RAYOLA, YOU DO NOT, AND I SAY DO. NOT. CALL THAT SUPREMELY INTELLIGENT, HOMICIDAL, MONSTROSITY OF A BEAR- FLUFFY!¡± We were prancing around the station trying to find purchase on the levitation platform before- ''Fluffy'' could catch up to us. So far, we failed spectacularly. We got barely got here in one piece, but couldn¡¯t actually manage to complete our objective. That is, to steal the old reserve train and get the hell out of here. The Train, as they call it, was the height of innovative magitech. It was a stone Levitating disc of about a few hundred metres in diameter lined by metallic rings, which were surrounded by smaller levitating platforms used to load and unload both passenger and cargo onto the seats along the rings of the disc or the centrally suspended cargo hold respectively. Apparently, you could also link several of them together. It then moves along directional runes placed at intervals, driven by a magical construct, at high constant speeds irrespective of the load that particular train is carrying. The best feature of the whole thing is that it''s extremely mobile and the construct manning it is trained in combat maneuvers, so no-one has to worry about being shot down out of the sky. The worst problem was its long reuse cooldown and high mana consumption. It practically drains the air dry. No-one''s going to be using magic anywhere near that thing. The longer the distance the more astronomical the cost and cooldown. It''s annoying but acceptable. Nothing is perfect. It¡¯s the first time I¡¯m seeing one, and I can''t help but be very impressed. Sad the Association isn''t very keen on sharing it. Probably could have started a revolution on its own. It was hard to control, but we could get to the main disc via a levitating platform on the ground. Fluffy, probably figured out what we¡¯re trying to do and was now trying to cut off our escape with renewed vigor. After nearly an entire day ofJumping around the roofs of the Small brick station, the workshop, and from the tops of trees,we finally managed to get on the Train and left the damn bear behind. The thing took a long time to actually move after we threw off the Anchors holding it in place up in the sky. We were rewarded by the sound of the bear roaring in frustration. It was trying to climb a large tree in uncomfortably close proximity. *Hell, that bear is persistent.* It was a difficult situation and we had to actually drop an entire platform on top of it to escape while it was collecting itself. I just hope it doesn''t learn how to fly with that thing. It was a terrifying thought. *From what I''ve seen, I have a feeling it would.* Concerning. I had a talk with Nael. If anyone asks, it was never there in the first place. IF, anyone inquires that is. No-ones going to know we ever existed. Nael was contemplating whether we should crash thewhole thing somewhere remote and was weighing its risks. I leaned back on the outer ring and laughed while Nael was collecting his thoughts. He frowned before leaning back and indulged in a few moments of laughter as well. He then closed his eyes and we shared a few hours of silence before He made a loud groan. ¡°Ah, shit!¡± Heyelled in frustration. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Forgot to do something in a nearby farming town, we need to make a stop.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± I asked. ¡°This is not an officially sanctioned vehicle, we can get the construct to drop us off close to the place but Since we took the spare without any official permission, we have to redirect the thing somewhere else so as to not get into trouble ourselves.¡± ¡°okay.¡± I got that part. ¡°the problem is, when we get off, we have to wait for the next inbound train and because this village is on a wider, more rural route, it¡¯ll take nearly two weeks before the next one arrives.¡± ¡°mmmm okay, I can wait, I don¡¯t see the problem.¡± I had no problem waiting. ¡°well, it¡¯s with regard to my membership. I¡¯ll probably get a large penalty for being evasive of responsibilities.¡± That was.. troubling. I brainstormed for a solution but found none. Wait¡­ ¡°You told me that you sent something called a memory report when you were in an extremely dangerous situation right?. So if you can make them believe you¡¯re injured or something?¡± ¡°Hmmmm¡­ That¡¯s probably a good idea, let them think I¡¯m dead or something, That would teach those idiots a thing or two about actually being nice to their team-mate for once.¡± ¡­ After a day¡¯s journey, the disc started to dip. Nael hurried over to me. ¡°Jump¡± ¡°wha-¡° ¡°There¡¯s no official stop here, we¡¯re going to attract attention otherwise." ¡°Can¡¯t we just set it down slowly?¡± He shook his head. ¡°No, if you stop it now, It¡¯s not going to start up again for an entire three days. We''re jumping the train onto the trees. You¡¯ll survive even if you don¡¯t get hold of one, but that¡¯s the plan, here take these.¡± He handed me most of his travel packs. ¡°wha- I¡¯m not here to carry your stuff!¡± ¡°Hey, does carrying this affect your chances of survival?¡± ¡°uh¡­ no?¡± I replied. ¡°then shut up and do it.¡± "BUT IT''LL HURT!!!" "Jump, you stupid scaredy-cat." ¡°Oi, weren¡¯t YOU supposed to be scared of me?¡± I accused ¡° That was before I realized that you were a degenerate failure of a vampire, with the only good point about you being that you can be used as bait.¡± ¡°HEY! That¡¯s not something you say to a lady!¡± ¡°You girl, are no elegant lady. Now shut up, and JUMP!¡± Fair to say, nothing eventful happened on the way down. The train slowed down a bit close to a river, where the trees lining it''s banks were conviniently close. The trees were tall here. Incomparably so to the ones I saw in the clearing I woke up in. Apparently, we were in the Northern periphery of the Great Forest, or the Great Wilderness, as is called in various regions. It''s supposedly the native lands of the Elves, although they live at the Southern end of the same. The forest is too dangerous to cross unless one is extremely familiar with it, and its very hard to get the details too since most pureblood elves are extremely Conservative and unforthcoming about it. The only information we do, know is from the occasional Elf that wanders out to satisfy their wanderlust. Both of us managed to grab a branch safely without any damage, and slowly made our way down. Thankfully, I didn''t fall. *A bit disappointing but it¡¯s adjustable.* {Oi, don¡¯t get me into pointless trouble.} *It''s not like you avoid that by yourself you know.* I shook my head. Then we walked half a day North. The forest was Huge, Lots of big trees. Each at least a spear wide. Some even as wide as entire houses. I could see the rough texture of the bark and the deep crevices that ran along with it, all the way to the top. There were large ferns, still holding on to the morning dew, scattered across the Clean, wet, forest floor full of dry leaves. It was a wonderful sight. Also a bit unnerving. For the forest was eerily silent. Vile creatures were prowling the vicinity despite us dropping off near the periphery. We paused for a moment. Nael led the way, climbing rocks, trees, wading through foliage... An extremely uncomfortable route, especially since it was very close to a clearing. It was confusing, but all he said was that it wasn''t safe, whatever that means. But who am I to say? I''ll just leave it to the guy who seems to know what he''s doing. Even if he''s annoying me. Both of stopped. Something was wrong. We could barely hear it, but there it was, the faint sound of ripping coming from ahead of us.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As weaved our way through the great prop roots of the titanic tree that blocked our view, we came across it. A monster, that was the only word to describe it. A gigantic winged monstrosity that was ripping chunks out of a stag with it¡¯s gigantic teeth. The stag was no easy prey, A majestic beast with crystalline antlers and a form twice the norm. And it was still alive, thrashing, turning, hoping for a desperate attempt at escape, or a merciful end. The monster didn¡¯t notice us, It¡¯s beady eyes were focused on it¡¯s prey and the excited quivering of it¡¯s giant body shook up the forest , The wings of the beast were folded so it could grab onto the stag with the claws at their end. Even hunched down, it still towered over twenty feet. It¡¯s other features were hard to make out, there was not much to make out between the furred rat like body and the thick tail that snaked through the dry leaves behind it. Suddenly, there was silence. Heavy silence. It paused eating. Suddenly, it raised its snout in the air, and its whiskers twitched. It did, notice us after all. We were frozen in fear. It started right at us. It''s eyes appraising us. Eyes as blacker than the darkest night. full of pride, Intelligence, Arrogance.Indifference. Then it turned back to its meal with obvious disinterest.Saved, because we didn''t satisfy its palate. We quietly traced our path back and took a new route around it. "A Sazkadur," Nael said, shaking his head. He didn''t talk further. Neither did I. I''m never going to be able to look at mice the same way ever again. Finally,we crossed the borders of the forest, uneventfully onto vast extensive plains. I could make out bountiful farmlands far away and roofs of a relatively small village dotted the distance. It was still too far away to tell, but I could thank my improved vision for it. I''m barely adjusting to it, it''s very distracting and gives me constant headaches when trying to stare at things too far away but it has its uses. "Eastwell." ¡°that¡¯s where we need to go?¡± ¡°Yea. " He let out a sigh of relief. We were tense all the way here, and it took a toll on him. His face looked tired, worn, but happy. ¡°what¡¯s there?¡± ¡°family.¡± I shot a glance at Nael. ¡°You trust me to be around them?¡± He shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re not that bad. Just a fair bit annoying as I see it.¡± ¡°Ow. So are there a lot of elves here? I didn¡¯t know they were present in these parts.¡± ¡°There aren''t any. ¡± I was confused and it probably showed on my face. ¡° Haha, it¡¯s complicated. I¡¯m not really welcome back where I¡¯m from, but the people here took me in.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± He just nodded and spoke no further as we trotted ahead, increasing our pace. We reached the edge of the village by dusk. Nael waved at some farmers, who waved back. We took some turns and eventually got to a large cottage at the end of town. It was a lively place, tall brick walls, chimneys, a tiled roof, large windows. Expansive gardens. The whole perfect retirement home, fit for a noble. I heard squeals of children from inside. The door shot open, and abunch of kids ran to greet us. ¡°Mr elf, you¡¯re back!¡± ¡°Nael, Nael, let¡¯s play magic hands again, no-one believes me when I said I beat you-¡° I watched with amusement as he was swarmed by at least a dozen children. I never thought he was the sort of guy who likes to play with kids. Then again, judging by his expression, he probably wasn¡¯t. Not like they cared. I choked back my laughter. Then they noticed me, shooting me curious glances. A little girl tugged Nael. ¡°Nael, who¡¯s that pretty girl, and why does she look like a dolly?¡± Dolly? Is it because of my appearance? That''s... An evil smile spread across Nael¡¯s Face. *Uh-oh.* ¡°Yea, little Nilly, that¡¯s because she IS, a large dolly! She can move around and speak, and is very smart too! Go play with her!¡± ¡°Really? WOW!¡± ¡°WOW, it¡¯s true, look, she¡¯s so cold to touch! It''s Like wax!¡± Nael, you evil man... Then they swarmed me before I could escape or come up with something else. *Too late, dolly* {Oh, just shut up will ya?} ¡­ An hour later, I managed to break free from the little monsters and finally get inside the house. Nael was sipping something like nothing ever happened. ¡°Is this the girl you were talking about?¡± I turned as I heard an elderly voice behind me. Opposite ]Nael, was an old couple who seemed to be sizing me up. One was an old man with a withered face, a scar running down his chin, and with a barrel- like torso with muscles so ripped I felt like his biceps were actually watermelons. The other was an old lady with an impressive, elegant air about her, and no less ripped with muscles albeit much less bulky. *What''s the fuck is wrong with this family? What the hell do they even eat?* ¡°Hmm, from what you told me, she¡¯s not going to be a problem right?¡± ¡°Nah, she¡¯s a bit like you in some ways, has a few screws loose up there.¡± ¡°Oh, Nael, you just got here, don¡¯t start brawling with Gilbert again¡± ¡°Laura, the senile fool needs more exercise, you¡¯re spoiling him too much.¡± ¡°Oi, back in my day, I was a gold rank adventurer ya¡¯know, I bet that me alone is enough whip your entire team¡¯s asses. We were STRONG, and we earned it. Not like you pussy explorers who¡¯re scared to go out of their sanctioned zones.¡± ¡°Hey, you shaming the association? we may be very cautious but at least we don¡¯t go around causing more trouble than we were sent to solve!¡± ¡°Oh, was that a comp-¡° ¡°that was NOT a compliment.¡± ¡°Boy-¡° ¡°I¡¯m older than you, ¡®old man¡¯.¡± ¡°Hah, I always say this, and it¡¯s not going to change anytime soon, yer barely a boy in elf country, and that means you¡¯re barely a boy here.¡± ¡°How does THAT make any sense? I¡¯m-¡° ¡°Boys, you¡¯re making our guest uncomfortable¡± All three of them turned to me. ¡°Eh, not a problem.¡± Nael shrugged. ¡°Nael-¡° ¡°Come here girl, sit.¡± Laura beckoned to a chair next to the polished wooden table. ¡°Do you want anything to eat, dear?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I can¡¯t¡± She hesitated ¡°to drink?¡± I shook my head again. I even tried some blood earlier. The result was the same. I didn¡¯t even feel any hunger or thirst¡­ Just an emptiness that¡¯s hard to put into words. As if¡­ there¡¯s something inside me was missing. *More like you''re missing a stomach to actually digest things?* {I''m fairly sure that''s not the case.} * Just keep trying then.* {Juice?} *I don''t think that''ll work. Try something more... Unique. * The voice suggested with a hint of sadness in its tone. Huh. ¡°Can¡¯t drink anything either.¡± Laura seemed like she didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m fine.¡± I said with a sad smile. She nodded and proceeded to the kitchen to get something for the others. Or pry apart the kids who were apparently fighting. They were making a serious ruckus outside. ¡°So what¡¯s the story with Nael?¡± Honestly, I was a bit curious. Gilbert let out a booming laugh. ¡°This scrawny bastard? Ah let¡¯s see, one day Laura and I were just going on with our daily business, making sure these poor kids are all comfy and all, when I smelled an intruder behind the house. I was infuriated! Who dares to try break into the residence of Gilbert the Wolf, A Stormrider! So I took me old blade and started slashing stuff like I used to do back in the day. Can¡¯t say it didn¡¯t bring back memories!¡± ¡°Started slashing stuff? You call that pointless destruction-¡­ I NEARLY DIED!!!! THRICE.¡± Gilbert nodded. ¡°Always wondered how you escaped, probably just dumb luck, but I decided ya were worthy enough to earn my ear! Imagine my surprise to see a full-blooded elf. HERE of all places. Then I HAD to listen to his stupid sob story. Laura really was too soft. Didn¡¯t stop bugging me till I had him help us out with all the kids. I still say it was a mistake.¡± ¡°Yea go sleep or something, you ''old'' man." ¡°PAH¡± I looked out the window at all the kids ¡°Is this an orphanage?¡± I heard a giggle. Laura was back and handed a suspiciously green drink to the others. ¡° Gilbert was an orphan when he was a child, and had to go through a lot. So when he retired, he bought this house and decided to start a ¡®survival programme¡¯ for children who lost their families to the Great Eastern war, and he calls ME soft.¡± Nael chuckled. Then he shot me a glance. ¡°Oi, Gilly, what do you think of Rayola here.¡± ¡°I still find it shocking you had the balls to name her after your dog.¡± ¡°No, not that. I¡¯m talking about what she is. Isn''t it strange. Have you ever heard of a vampire without thirst, lest one that walks through the sun? I¡¯m doubting my own conclusion right now. ¡± Gilbert squinted at me. ¡°She¡¯s strange.¡± ¡°I know, that¡¯s w-¡° ¡°No.¡± He cut Nael off. Nael glanced at Gilbert quizzically. ¡°I¡¯ve fought a few vampires back in my day, even escaped the clutches of a lord! That¡¯s really sayin something ya¡¯know. Those suckers were pale, not like her, but in a freaky sort of way. Yer girl looks like a bleached white Doll, and that¡¯s weirding me out even more. Both have signs that they¡¯re somewhere in between the living and the dead but the¡­ air feels different.¡± ¡°Air?¡± ¡°The vampires smells of blood and death. Rayola here, does, smell of vampire blood, but it feels... Hot, scalding even." Nael¡¯s brow creased. ¡°You¡¯re spouting nonsense again. what are you, a dog? You do well to notice her skin¡¯s cold as ice. ¡± ¡°A WOLF, you''d do well to remind yourself of me title, boy!. And no, you¡¯ll get an idea of what I¡¯m talkin bout if ya raid enough of the Forsaken Grath crypts. The undead there are not like the blighted ones, They don¡¯t multiply fast like those with the dark blight but they have purpose, HATE, and where you expect the hollow darkness you see in their counterpart¡¯s eyes, you¡¯re staring into a burning inferno of Rage and Wrath.¡± He glanced at me. ¡°Vampires are creatures of darkness and has slight relation to the dark blight by their nature. She, however, seems to be their counterpart to the Raging ones.¡± Nael frowned. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. She''s a bit annoying, but otherwise a fair bit harmless.¡± Gilbert turned to me ¡°You said you don¡¯t remember most of your memories, right?¡± I nodded. ¡°Ever wondered why? Maybe that¡¯s something to be concerned about.¡± I tilted my head in askance. He just chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s just a hunch, but I learnt to trust my hunches.¡± He gave me a sad smile. ¡°Lass, I don¡¯t think anyone can help you but yourself. You need to seek your own path and find your own answers. Both me and Laura are familiar with the creatures that roam the world and can have a general idea of what kind of things you can find in a particular location. If it''s already mapped of course. It¡¯s the rite of an adventurer we obtained, one which was passed down from generations of adventurers to the next by blade and tongue.¡± He slowly rose up. ¡°You are an oddity, you are both completely out of place, AND probably the first of your kind.I have no idea as to even what classification to put you under. All of us including you, girl, know too little of yourself.¡± His expression saddened further. ¡°I Hope you really might not have to do this, but I suggest that you go to the Forsaken Temple of Grath, you might discover something there. For some reason, your presence keeps reminding me of the dreadlord residing there.¡± Laura shot from her seat in protest. ¡°GILBERT! You¡¯re sending her to fight Irkath? Are you out of your mind? No matter how much she can revive herself, the place is too Dangerous, too VENGEFUL, too much pure undilutedHATE. And Irkath¡­. You KNOW how we barely survived, how he DECIMATED the kingdom¡¯s best... Our Friends, singlehandedly, and you¡¯re¡­¡± He waved his hand. ¡°I know. I don¡¯t want her to go on a suicide mission. Entering the crypt itself might be enough. If that doesn¡¯t help, it doesn¡¯t matter if she meets Irkath or not.¡± Nael sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to help you with that one. The creatures of Grath Irkath¡¯s valley are known to never leave their territory, but the explorer¡¯s association has barred the area from entry for its members. Any attempt to cross those borders without consent will result in immediate expulsion. And I¡¯m fairly sure no-one¡¯s going give let me go to my death alone, willingly. You probably might find someone to help you with the adventurers, tough. They¡¯re the only ones stupid enough to try.¡± Gilbert huffed. ¡°Told ya the explorers were pussies. Two attempts and a counterattack were enough for them to stop.¡± I was confused. ¡°Counterattack? I thought that you said the creatures there won¡¯t leave their territory.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Nael explained further. ¡°One day, a heavenly rock just dropped from the sky and fell on top of one of the association¡¯s branches, completely flattening it, like... splat. And what do you know, that stupid hunk of rock had Irkath¡¯s Insignia on it. The incident scared the hell out of The ''Blue Tree'' and it refused to be co-operative till they barred the area completely from explorer entry.¡± Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Cowards and bootlickers. Anyway, you should travel to the Adventurer¡¯s guild. You¡¯ll probably find more information there as well, the explorers are awfully stingy with their stuff and aren¡¯t too keen on the idea of sharing, ESPECIALLY information, even to their own members. Clearance and a whole lot of other crap I don¡¯t understand.¡± I nodded. ¡°Thank you, I¡¯m honestly very grateful.¡± Gilbert laughed ¡°Don¡¯t worry girl, my help will also send you to probably one of the most dangerous locations on the map. Actually, the only discovered dungeon that still hasn''t been cleared beyond the first eight floors! So we call it even.¡± I smiled and thanked him again. Gilbert said something to Laura when she started to scold him again. They were out of earshot but I still managed to hear it. *You remind him of his old friends he says.* I shrugged. {Coming here wasn¡¯t completely unproductive. I found allies, and also a goal. To become an adventurer.} *To find this ¡®Forsaken Grath¡¯s temple, eh?* I nodded. Today was good. Probably the best day of my un-life, despite what we had gone through. Then again, it¡¯s barely been three days. 0.06; Interlude: Voice of the Mind. .:: Two days distance from New Ravenfort. ::. I watched the horizon as the sun dipped, Illuminating the grasslands into a vast sea of orange and yellow. The dark clouds that hung overhead just accentuated the scene, making the setting sun seem like a beacon of light amidst the darkness for all those who are searching for a way forward. Another night to sleep, and another day to live. I wanted to grasp it, but something told me that I would burn if I did so. Shadows danced as the trees and their branches swayed in the wind. I gazed at Nael as he got off from next to where I sat on the wagon. We were making camp again. I saw people set up tents and preparing for the night while I just sat there, doing nothing. We had hitched a ride from a group of travellers heading to New Ravenfort, a Prominent Trade centre, which coincidentally, also had a prominent Adventurer''s guild. I didn''t help out at all. I just sat there. Call me Lazy and I know it¡¯s true. Rain started to come down in a light drizzle, and people started to make haste. Within a few minutes, It came pouring down in a torrent of water. Everyone took shelter, everyone but me. I didn¡¯t need it, I just stood in the rain. It felt good. Feeling the rain bounce off my skin, the cold water that ran down my hair, my clothes, my hands, the calm sound of the pattering around me. It all felt good. The cold didn¡¯t bother me in the slightest. In fact, it seemed to calm me a bit. My thoughts were clearer. My mind, slowly recounted all that had happened to me as I sat down by an old withered tree. A great tree, huge, spread out, twisted and leafless. But still beautiful. *Like me.* {Why thank you, I¡¯ll ignore the first part though.} The tree did little to actually stop the rain, but that was never the point. I let out a long sigh. I ¡®awoke¡¯ nearly three weeks ago. It felt like a long journey. I fished for the sword in my bag of holding. Ah, that by the way, was this neat pouch I found in the Mayor¡¯s house, back in the burnt down town I woke up near. Just our luck, too, since his office was remarkably unburnt. Had a lot of books too, but I''m not a grave robber.. Well... not THAT big of a grave robber, was it even grave robbing? It''s not like he was even buried there. Wait.. Is grave robbing actually robbing the Corpse''s items or the corpse iself? * Wow, that''s very dumb of you.* Although the voice in my head Did, protest a lot at leaving the book behind. * I still did''t like it that you just left them there. There was a lot of neat stuff in there.* Already took something neat. I was no grave-robber. Since I was confused, I''ll just go with the former untill I confirm it with someone. It''s going to be an incredibly akward conversation to start. Can''t just go around asking, "Hey, what does it mean to be a grave robber?" ... Or can I? *I know what you''re thinking and I tell you this; stop now.* {Aww.} Then, back to my new pouch. It had this cool feature where it extended to a deeper space inside. you could put things several times it¡¯s size inside of it. Way bigger, better, and sparkly than the one Nael had. I think he''s jealous. Looked kind of expensive too. It had a lot of intricate details carved into it¡¯s leather surface, and some pretty gems imbedded on it¡¯s side. That was actually the main reason I took it the first place, but then soon realized that I had found treasure. No-one was going to come looking for it anyways, so better to keep it than just letting it gather dust right? I Pulled out the sword. It was nearly as long as I was tall. I wasn''t that tall by the way. It was something akin to a Longsword. Too lean but was extremely strong and durable. weighed remarkably low for its size too. Nearly 10 pounds.Probably. Not very convenient for me as a weapon but better than nothing. I laughed at the thought of how I would look like, swinging it around. I was a mage before, I think. {Probably. Weren¡¯t I?} ¡­ { I do know that you''re listening to everything I''m thinking you know.} Silence, huh. { Why are you so extremely picky with your remarks? }Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Anyway,I felt like I never held a sword in my life. But that doesn¡¯t matter now does it? It¡¯s not important. Most of all, I adored it. It was sparkly. I loved it¡¯s perfect form and how it¡¯s silvery- yellow metal gleamed in the fading sunlight. It was the same sword I stole from Fluffy. Nael Kept telling me to toss it away to distract the bear, which was a pretty stupid idea. It was the only weapon we had! I kept it anyways, he seemed awfully enthusiastic to throw it away. I didn¡¯t show it to him, It was mine now, and nothing¡¯s going to convince me otherwise. I saw myself on the blade. I Stared at my reflection as I touched my face. I really did look like a doll. Not human at all. Every day that passed by, I felt less and less like I was an undead monster, and more like I was never even alive in the first place. It all felt so¡­ surreal, out of place. Alien. I glanced up back at the setting sun. The rain blocked most of the view, but I could still see the tinge of orange in the sky. It was a wonderful moment for me. For others, I don¡¯t know. But for me? Sitting in the rain, staring into at the beauty of nature, I felt at home. At peace. {If Things are like this¡­ I wouldn''t mind staying here forever.} Still no reply. I closed my head and recollected the few memories I had left. Not that many to be honest, just some occasional bits of my sister, and my family. Then there was the clearing, and finally, lots of suffering. The last part, especially, was really blurry. And what I Did, manage to see was fire. Lots and lots of fire. {you''re me right?} I asked the voice. *Of course.* {You can feel my emotions right?} The voice. My voice... Her voice, paused. *Yes* That answered some doubts I had.Mainly that she was indipendent of my own thoughts. She had her own feelings. Her own thoughts, her own being. I noticed when she reffered to me as ''you'' every now and then. That''s not who I would talk to myself, now would it?... To be honest, I don''t know. But I could Feel, that the voice... That she, was different from me. { I can feel yours too apparently.} She was silent. {Why is it then that you seek death?} ¡­ *I don¡¯t know.* {We both know that''s a lie. It was because of you, that I jumped off the cliff. Your hated yourself so much you wished to die, And I responded to it.} I felt a huge wave of guilt hit once again. "Why" I spoke aloud. "Why is it that you are in pain?" *I can''t tell you.* { You remember right? My memories. Our memories.} ... {Tell me, Honestly.} *Yes.* {is there a reason why you won''t tell me?} *Telling you is not the same as remembering. Even if you do remember all of it, you''d wish you never did. Any of it. I know it seems cruel, but it''s for the best. And... I feel responsible for it.* If it was anyone else, I would have protested. Made a ruckus. Force whoever it was to spill it out. But this was ME, we''re talking about. My own mind, a part of me. And she would never do me harm voluntarily. Well... Permanent harm. *So much for trust.* And I felt it, just as much as she knew it, that she was right.That I knew best.I sat there with an air of melancholy when I heard footsteps through the rain. The gentle, rhythmic splashing wasn¡¯t mistakable. Well... To me at least. Really did manage to getbetter at distinguishing sounds over the course of the last few days. I saw an old man approaching me with an cheap paper umbrella held up to shield himself. He had white hair, A clean face, bright blue eyes, a malnourished frame, but still strong, tall. We wore a Grey cloak in addition to the umbrella as well. A gale picked up, and blew the thing upwards, effectively breaking it, and the paper just flew away like a leaf in the wind. The wind receded and the rain returned with a vengeance, drenching him. He stared at the skeleton of the umbrella he once held, and just shook his head in disbelief. I noticed his shoulders drop for a moment in a sigh before perking up and coming towards me with a renewed vigour. *Wow, that¡¯s one optimistic old man.* He sat beside me, below the Leafless tree. ¡°Good cover you have here, ain¡¯t it?¡± He said with a contagious smile. Yea, no kidding. ¡°Very nice if I say so myself, Not a single drop on me.¡± I laughed along. ¡°Well, girl, why you sitting here all alone? Your boyfriend giving you trouble? We gave him a good scolding ya¡¯know? Doesn¡¯t admit his mistake, that lad.¡± I could barely contain my laughter. {Oh, poor Nael. I¡¯m so sorry.} *Not.* "Hahahaha." The old man seemed confused. ¡°He calls me by his dog¡¯s name you know?¡± I planned to give him a bit more trouble. I wanted to laugh but stopped halfway when I saw his face. The old man seemed infuriated at that, so I had to stop him before he thrashed the guy. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I was joking, Wished to just give him some trouble. He always makes a lot of problems for me. Didn¡¯t know you would have took things so seriously.¡± I shook my head before continuing. ¡°Me and Nael aren¡¯t in that kind of a relationship. He just agreed to help me with something.¡± ¡°Oh¡± said the old man, before leaning back against the tree again. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable in the biting cold. ¡°Why are ya out here then, lass?¡± There was concern in his voice. ¡°Just enjoying the rain, mr-¡° ¡°Zach.¡± ¡°Mr Zach, my constitution is a bit¡­. Unique at the moment. Neither the cold or the heat can really bother me much at this point. Neither can I get sick. Just me being reckless over it. I don''t want you getting sick because of me.¡± His eyes widened a bit in surprise, and he shook his head. ¡°Nah, It''s not a problem. But that¡¯s one hellofa condition to find yerself in, child, I wish I got something like that.¡± I shook my head with a sad smile. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t. This also comes with a good package full of really annoying bonuses.¡± He stared at me. ¡°I don¡¯t remember much of my past, Nael is just helping me with my quest of self-discovery. The one person that DOES know, isn¡¯t very willing to share much since she said I was better off without them, and that Knowing would make me really, really sad. Now I''m hesitant on whether I should pursue that path or just turn a new leaf and just start anew.¡± I didn¡¯t know why I told this random stranger all that, but I just wanted someone¡­. Anyone (Except for maybe Nael) to tell me what to do. The old man nodded sagely. ¡°That¡¯s really a problematic situation ya got there lass, but remember this ; You can never run away from the ghosts of your past. they will always catch up. Always. And I¡¯m not only saying this from me own personal experience. It¡¯s the collective wisdom of every King, peon, knight, farmer and slave. Better be prepared when it comes back to hit you than not.¡± ¡°But I say this to you; Find your own path, ¡®Tis your own life you¡¯re playing with.¡± I exploded with laughter. ¡°The lastperson I said this to gave me the same reply.¡± Zach nodded again. ¡°Then heor she''s a good person. Don¡¯t be so trusting of this world, girl. It¡¯ll let you down.¡± I nodded. I knew. ¡°Yea, Zach, I know.¡± ¡°So what do you plan on doing?¡± He asked. ¡°What do you?¡± I returned the question. ¡°Well, let¡¯s get out of the rain, You should talk to people more. Go talk to the others.¡± I nodded. ¡°Yea.¡± He flashed me a blinding smile, although it had a few holes in it. ¡°Let¡¯s get back or your not-boyfriend will end up being screwed over.¡± I glanced back the tent. Nael being backed into a corned by a crowd of people. I laughed as I got up and followed the old man. Right. Find my own path. Where do I start again? *The adventurer¡¯s guild* Right. {The adventurer¡¯s guild.} 0.07; To Be an adventurer. .:: New Ravenfort; Rayola ::. I stared at the parchment in front of me as I stood in line. I was in the middle of the Adventurer¡¯s guild in New Ravenfort. The place was unexpectedly neat and tidy, very much contrary to the image Nael painted in my mind. There¡¯s probably a lot of friction between the two groups. Not that surprising considering that they¡¯re rivals of some sort. The last two weeks flashed by in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, we had already reached The City. Time really flies by when you¡¯re enjoying yourself. { Ah, how I miss those little buggers.Children are such joy! } *Even if they think you''re a doll? * I pouted. { Even then.} Nael prompty dropped me in front of the guild and ran before anyone could see him. When I first stood in front of the city gate, I was frightened of even taking a step forward. Nael had to actually drag me inside. The guards checked the authenticity of Nael¡¯s explorer¡¯s card and promptly let us inside after paying my registration fee, then continued to watch the horizon without shooting me a second glance. Extremelyanti-climatic. I was preparing myself to be hunted down after being discovered at first glance. *That¡¯s just stupid* {Maybe I¡¯m paranoid.} *Probably true.* {That doesn¡¯t make me feel better, Maybe I should relax more.} *I never said it''s bad. It¡¯s better to be actually be careful anyway, You never know.* I let out a long sigh. When I got to the reception, I inquired about membership, and the receptionist just gave me this form to fill up. I was confused about half the questions asked. And then there were questions which I don¡¯t know what to answer even if I knew what it meant. Like Race. What even am I? I just went with ¡®Rare human variant.¡¯ I do remember being human once although only a few fragments of it. Birthplace¡­ unknown? Really should have asked the name of the burnt town, but was I even from there? The most confusing part was a lot of ''class'' related details and a guild. Class? I don''t really remember if i had anything of the sort, and I for one, am not going scribble down ''Baker''. Was it really occupation ? For that matter, It probably was. It was obvious. Why was I being stupid again? Then affiliated guilds... That made me wonder if I could join more than one guild at the same time. Had to clarify that with a man nearby and learnt that the adventurer¡¯s guild was more of a mediator and central organization linking all militaristic guilds, and spanned across three of the four inhabited continents and also the regulator of relations between both the Layan Empire and The Dawn. By nature, an ¡®Adventurer¡¯ was a special sort of mercenary bound by a code, who could, if they wish, be part of any other of the sub-guilds or ''factions'' as they call it, but at the same time, they need to earn their badge¡¯s worth lest be expelled. The explorer¡¯s association on the other hand, is extremely exclusive, and is much more of a political entity and has a larger range of influence. Their membership is more akin to that of a militia with a yearly contract and is very restricting to say the least. The plus point being that they get a lot ofneat gear and access to otherwise unavailable, futuristic magitech. They¡¯re not too fond of each other as both of the groups seem to interfere in each other¡¯s businesses too much and can¡¯t seem do anything against the other as well... well, anything major. Both of them neccesary for political balance. A stalemate. The adventurers never missed an opportunity to piss them off either. The stories I listened to were absolutely hilarious. The biggest riot out there at the moment was the case of Tony the Swift. It happened barely a year ago. There were two famed adventurers, Tony and Jacob. Adventurers who transcended mortal capabilities, who were considered demigods, for they tamed dungeons, rode dragons, made the journey across the Great forest unscathed, Fought against a Dreadlord and lived to tell the tale. They were living legends, prided by the empire. Repellents against foreign aggressors. One day, they were in West Griffinreach, Jacob the Thinker asked Tony the Swift a question. Which was Faster, flying with his skill, or being shot across by a catapult? Fair to say, that got Tony thinking, what could possibly be the answer? As one might guess, this was a typical case of Adventurers whose ¡®adventuring¡¯ went wrong. Tony the Swift and Jacob the Thinker ¡®Borrowed¡¯ an enchanted catapult from a nearby explorer branch, which by the way, was an experimental weapon. When Tony was shot, in addition to the whiplash from the force of being launched, the enchantments on the thing set off every one of Tony¡¯s artefacts, in addition to the skills he activated in his confusion. He was fired into the sky at speeds higher than any mortal had ever achieved, which was an achievement in itself. Not even the Harpies of The Dawn managed to replicate this feat, and they were born with the ability to fly! In addition to the damages to the site of launch, Tony landed in the heart of a private Perfume company, a very prosperous business at that which managed to set a trend among various nations. The only problem with the perfumes developed so far, was that it was flammable. Fair to say, things went boom. The company was set back by nearly a year, and they filed a case in the Imperial Court, against Tony, who set fire to their establishment. Tony, by the way, had to spend a whole load of his fortune on medical expenses and couldn''t really pay much unless he sold his Artefacts, and you don''t just separate adventurers from their artefacts. That got the adventurers riled up and they started to make a ruckus against those who dared to insult their heroes. Eventually, everything was traced back to the enchanted catapult, which was apparently, being built in a sensitive strategic position next to the neighbouring Land of The Dawn. And yes, it was not supposed to be there, even if it was but as an experimental model. The adventurers shifted all the blame onto the explorers and they were forced to compensate for the company. That soured things between the Adventures and the Explorers further. All because Jacob the Thinker had asked a question, and that hadn¡¯t even been answered. True story. Then there¡¯s the fact that the explorers have all this neat magitech which they¡¯re not too keen on sharing with others. That rubbed the wrong way with the adventurers too since there were a lot of useful ¡®life saving¡¯ devices which they really could have used. So the adventurers took it upon themselves to make as much trouble for the explorers as possible. With extreme enthusiasm and prejudice. There were even organized events for it, I took one look at the notice board and nearly doubled over with laughter. Someone nudged me from behind, bringing me out of my hazy thoughts. Before I knew it, It was my turn to enter the room. For my Physical and magical statistics or ''stats'' as they call it, I apparently needed to use this ¡®reader¡¯ everyone keeps talking about. Anyone could get a basic gist of their abilities and details of their self if they concentrate hard enough, like trying to remember a dusty memory but it¡¯s hardly accurate and no-one could ever tell ¡®how much¡¯ in relation to other people. IF one doesn¡¯t verify it, it¡¯s going to lead to a lot of inconvenient problems. There''s even a story about it. Apparently there was once this master swordsman who lived alone in the wilds for many a year, and thought he was a weakling just because he couldn¡¯t singlehandedly kill a wyvern, and he never knew his folly till the same wyvern annihilated an entire expedition crew. At that time, the ''reader'' was usually only available for guilds and people who were related to similar organizations. Maybe he''s just stupid. Anyway, after that, there were always one of those ¡®readers¡¯ in every town centre square so that people with the relevant talent could actually become useful for once. No-one''s going to be spouting lame excuses like that any longer. Personally? I Think that''s just a stupid story people tell kids so that they keep track of themselves. *Probably* I hope. {No-one could be that stupid right?...} There are still ¡®readers¡¯ in most guilds too, for required updates. I walked in and stood in front of a man behind a darkwood desk. He had the look of an academic, clean shaven face, groomed hair, glasses, and extremely neat clothes. Maybe that''s just me associating stereotypes. Anyway, he beckoned me to sit. I pulled the seat and did so. ¡°Give me the form please.¡± I handed it over to him. ¡°ooh, new recruit, eh. Lemme see¡­ Rare human variant? What¡¯s that?¡± I shrugged ¡° I honestly have no idea myself.¡± He sniffed. ¡°Reasonable since you look ¡®human¡¯ enough. The reading will probably help since most races have their own characteristic traits.¡± I froze {Oh shit, shit, shit. } He then beckoned me to a table next to his own. There I saw a wide assortment of orbs, and a machine that looked similar to a metal campfire with an magnifying glass, a holder of some sort, and a long strip of paper at the bottom. He placed a green orb on it and told me to place my hand on it. When I did so, I saw it emit a lot of green light and saw the magnifying glass move and with it, a clean beam of green line burnt a straight line along the paper. Then we repeated the process with orbs of various colours. It took a damn long time, as should be with the new registrations but still I shook my head with annoyance. There were nearly thirty of those orbs, and the speed at which they burnt the paper was like waiting for a turtle to run across the entire town. It was agonizing. Especially with all the tension. He seemed surprised at the yellow one, looked at the violet one with a fair bit of disbelief and nearly staggered back at the red one.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Curious, I inquired as to what was wrong. The tension inside me grew. He just told me to wait, and trudged back to his seat where he kept measuring the burns with a ruler and made a whole lot of tally marks. After about ten minutes, he noted everything down on my ¡®status card¡¯ which was in fact, also my identification card. It was fairly professional and fit my hand perfectly, with the option to hide my status and everything. As I read through it, he started talking. ¡°Your physical Defence is at 8, which is barely above that of a normal civilian, and your strength is at 24, which is pretty high, but it¡¯s strange that it¡¯s locked. You probably won¡¯t experience any growth in those sectors. I don¡¯t know why.¡± I nodded. I was dead, I think, not sure. Still a reasonable compensation for my regeneration rate though. ¡°Then about your mana, Your vessel seems very large. The particular machine we use wasn¡¯t enough to measure how much you have, pretty much like the case with High Elves, but the actual amount you possess seems to be negligible.¡± I stared at the burn mark from the violet orb, which had promptly burnt off the edge of the paper. ¡°It¡¯s also linked to Blood and fire magic for some reason. I assume there¡¯s a condition for using it. It¡¯s not that common, but there are a lot of people who use conditional magic. Most are linked to transformations or states like ¡®berserk¡¯ or ¡®Flow¡¯ which are usually race traits, although yours is different and actually requires some sort of trigger, like in the case of beastmen. You probably need to be careful about that, conditional abilities tend to be a bit¡­ Unstable. Anyway, having a large vessel is rare and all, but not that unbelievable. The main problem is this.¡± He said, pointing at the regeneration column in my stats. It was a whopping 85. He seemed to be gauging my reaction, but I was hardly surprised. ¡° what¡¯s wrong with it? ¡° He stared at me with disbelief and suddenly erupted with laughter. ¡° What¡¯s wrong with it you say?¡± He asked as he eventually calmed down. ¡°EVERYTHING! a swamp Lurker barely has 66, and that thing can regenerate an entire body from a single one of it¡¯s tentacles within a week. You¡¯reeffectively the second most un-killable ''person'' in recorded history. The only consolidating factor being that you¡¯re fairly weak and there¡¯s no room for improvement on that regard.¡± Phew, he didn''t notice anything strange... Well, Strange-ER. He shook his head. ¡°What about resistances? I heard you could gain resistance against the elements and stuff like that.¡± "That requires a more detailed inspection and is very expensive because the test is a bit... unique, so unless you have a lot of cash lying around, you have to guess. I do recommend you do it though, You never know how useful it might be if it turns out you could just wade through fire and things like that. There¡¯s also these unrecognized permanent afflictions I¡¯m concerned about. There¡¯s something wrong with your body and I have no idea what. You should probably go to a healer or a diviner as soon as possible to see what¡¯s wrong.¡± *You don¡¯t say, what could POSSIBLY be wrong with my body?* ¡°Okay.¡± I replied He smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry, There¡¯s all kinds of weird things going around. But you really do, need to check those afflictions though.¡± ¡°sure.¡± *As if.* I got out to see a LONG line waiting outside. *Oops. Maybe we took too long in there.* I headed straight for the notice board. What I saw, was not a board at all. It was practically a wall full of posters and requests. { Why do they even call it a board?} *Well, The first guild just put up this board outside their building for people to stick requests on it and someone could just go and grab it.* {Does that even work? I can point out a hundred problems with that arrangement.} *Well, It WAS, after all, this guy''s private estate. Forgot his name, but yea.Anyways, like you said, it failed spectacularly, and things just went from one thing from another and before you knew it- Bam, an adventurer''s guild. The name stuck though.* I saw at least three events dedicated to making problems for the explorers in a multitude of super- creative methods. It was interesting to say the least. I was VERY tempted to take them.Anyone can post a request, but for me to get someone to actually come with me to Grath¡¯s- oh wait...There¡¯s already an expedition scheduled at the end of next winter year. *That was convenient.* Yea. And it''s like in¡­ a year and Eight months? {Hmmm. I¡¯m practically useless except for as bait in there like Nael said.} *Oh, how I hate him for pointing that out.* {Thus I really need to get better at killing stuff before then.Since I¡¯m not that great at Physical battle, I probably have to train my magic, but the reader said my magic is conditional¡­. I really need to check that out then.will still stick with my sword though.} *I really wish it''s something i can use to blow things up.* {Is there anything that requires a lot of stamina? Thankfully the machine didn¡¯t have any way to read that or he would probably have yelled at me more.I guess I¡¯m being too desperate.} I let out a sigh. I''ve beensighing a lot, lately. As my eyes scanned the wall, I saw another event.This one was the long drawn war to recapture the lands occupied by the undead blight. The Eastern War. Apparently they discovered a special Abomination in close proximity, and killing it will apparently destroy the undead¡¯s telepathic network in the region, effectively cutting their combat potential by half.It was led by the mighty Hero of the Empire, Nathan Lance. Hmmm¡­ it was the undead blight I kept hearing so much about. Lots of marks denoting that danger was aplenty. Oh, jolly, Perfect! Can¡¯t hurt to check it out, right?I noted the number and headed to the reception. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Hi, how can I help you!¡± Said a much too enthusiastic blonde girl in a deep red gown with a badge on her chest. ¡­ Casey was her name. ¡°Um¡­ I¡¯d like to take the Request for the Eastern war event, number 56.¡± She started to write it down before abruptly pausing.She glanced at me. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a newbie?¡± ¡°Newly registered but I¡¯m not exactly helpless.¡± she shrugged ¡°Fair enough.¡± She took my card and stared at it for some time. ¡°Oh¡± ¡°What?¡± She coughed. ¡°ugh¡­ I would recommend that you hide your stats¡­. You¡¯ll attract a fair bit of attention with those¡­¡± *That was unexpectedly foolish of us.* ¡°Okay.¡± She signed me up without further questions. Well, objective accomplished, now where are we supposed to go again? *It¡¯s North of Eastwell, about eight day¡¯s travel to the reach the camp inside the borders of the blighted lands.* Hmmmmm. {Really will need a ride.} I headed to the city centre and asked around the market till I heard that there was a caravan heading there tomorrow with rations. {I wonder why the Guild never mentioned that?} *They probably did and I you just weren''t paying attention.* {There¡¯s also going to be a whole load of adventurers as well.} *No one¡¯s going to miss the opportunity to Kill an abomination.* {For glory huh?} I really wanted to take the train but apparently it¡¯s barred from the public and not allowed for anyone without explorer company. Even then, they would need official permission. No wonder Nael thought of blowing the thing up to get rid of all the evidence. The association was really a gang of pricks. Need some new gear as well. I glanced down at myself I was clad in torn trousers and a really, really worn gown. No wonder why all those people gave me the stink eye. *Armour? No, it¡¯s pretty much useless, isn¡¯t it? Unless it¡¯s it¡¯s indestructible, but those cost too much.* {So¡­ let¡¯s just go with looking pretty.} *Seduction eh?* {What? NO!} *Hmmmm¡­¡­.* {Let¡¯s just get going, we have about two golds and two weights} The Empire¡¯s currency was called Qaros, And ranged from small change to a few thousand in units. Weights and golds were the local slang for units of 10 and 500 respectively. Golds were called as such because until a few years ago, that was the exact price for the same wight of gold a coin would possess. A Pretty good little loan Gilbert provided me with. *The man was such a sweetheart.* Anyway, back to clothes. {Let¡¯s see,we''re going with black.} About an hour later, I spent the entire cash for a pair of black coats, trousers, and a chequered shirt. Let¡¯s just say I spent most of my money on the coats and had little for the rest. *I admit we''re pretty terrible with money.* Those were some pretty neat, black long coats made of enchanted leather apparently, not very feminine, Pretty sure it was meant for males, but stillvery cool. And there were only two in stock. I wanted a spare just in case I damaged the first. Which I probably will, no matter what enchantments you put on it. Then I stared down and noticed that I forgot to buy shoes. And I don¡¯t even have any cash left. Shit. Oh well, I¡¯ll just have to monitor the ground for stinky landmines. I sighed again. I tucked my hair in and started on my way towards the gate. I got outside and guess what, no-one was there. *Well, yes, technically since we are an entire day early.* I didn¡¯t have anything else to do, so I just kept the guards company till daybreak. They were interesting chaps. Very good at cards too, taught me a few tricks. I was curious that they didn¡¯t ask me any questions. Maybe they got enough of all the shenanigans adventurers usually pull off and learnt to eventually stop asking questions. Or maybe they just enjoyed the company. Doesn''t matter. After about two more hours, I saw a large group of people assembling. There were quite a bit of wagons and caravans of all shapes and sizes. The adventurers got there first though. There were quite a lot of them too. Nearly eight hundred of them. That¡¯s a Batallion right? Apparently, the group were travelling from city to city, gathering more numbers before heading towards the war. They would also stop at another Fort up North before heading on their way to battle. I saw a woman shouting for attention. She wore some shiny heavy plate armour covered in spikes and horns and looked like a freaking metal Dragon. I wonder how she walks in that. It probably weighs a ton. *High stats? Takes a whole lot of time and effort, but you CAN, hoard a lot of em with enough training right? remember gilbert. He was waay stronger than he seemed, and he LOOKED strong.* Then again, I¡¯m probably the LEAST prepared person in the group, with just some enchantedcoat for protection and a shiny sword for offence. And then there was the absence of shoes. People were eyeing me strangely. I figured Mages would wear cloth or something light like that, Just some image that crept in my mind for some reason but all the mages here seem to be clad in several layers of all Kinds of enchanted protection. They were probably the most heavily prepared of all the groups. Some of them even seemed more buffed up than the sword users. No wonder warriors were having a hard time finding employment. The poor lads were being forced out of service. ¡°Okay folks, I¡¯m Naina Kartha, the one in charge of the recruitment for these parts. We¡¯ll be meeting up with Nathan Lance''s group at Fort Lionsgate. For all the new guys, You know what you signed up for, we¡¯re going to the blighted lands, and we¡¯re going in deep. Things ain¡¯t going to be flowers and honey there, You¡¯ll see all sorts of horrifying things over there. Sometimes, things so horrifying you would wish you were never born in the same world!. If any of you are having second thoughts, Now¡¯s the last chance to chicken out!¡± No-one responded. She shrugged. ¡°Okie, one last thing, we¡¯re a pretty damn large group, so most monsters ain¡¯t going to be bothering us, but there¡¯s all kinds of stupid out there, and all kinds of dangerous too, so see those wagons behind ya, yea, those are our lifeline in the war, so you¡¯d do well to keep them safe in case something attacks.¡± Everyone murmured in agreement. ¡°Okay now, All those already in a balanced team or group go to Malak over there¡± I say a guy behind us waving his hand with vigour. ¡°Yea, that guy. He gets a bit excited too easily and doesn¡¯t stop when he starts his rambles. so don¡¯t go talkin to him if you¡¯re in a hurry¡± I smiled. ¡°Okay, those not already grouped up, step forward.¡± I slowly made my way forward with about seven others. She glanced at us and nodded. ¡°Okie, tell me what you¡¯re good at and whatever I need to be concerned about.¡± One by one, they started to introduce themselves. There was an elf among them too. At least I thought she was one, didn¡¯t have the glow either, like Nael but felt less¡­. Well, *less like a human butterfly?* Yea, that. First one up was Namiel, a warrior of some sort in light armour and a two thin swords hanging at his side. He had a light complexion, long windswept brown hair, black eyes and an extremely annoying grin which seemed to tick me off for some reason. He set off an alarm in my head for some reason. Note to self; avoid at all costs *Self; noted.* Then it was the elf. Called Lien. A hydromancer of some sort. I asked the guy next to me what it was and learnt that it was a mage who specializes in water. That was pretty obvious though. *DUH, ye stupid.* I also asked if she was an elf and what he said was pretty interesting. Apparently there weren¡¯t any pure-blooded elves outside the Great Forest in this particular continent. There were probably some outside of Arthos though. So Nael was special¡­. Then again, he did say he was kicked out. Figures. She had on some yellowish - silver armour that seemed to have a material awfully similar to thestuffthe sword I stole from the bear looked like. The person next to me was a guy in fully clad black armour, which by the way, seems to rival the dragon-lady in bulkiness. His black helmet also had large grey horns which arched backwards. His visor had a thin veil of black cloth in between. Not a single inch of skin was visible. Nirlam, he was called. I also felt a strange sense of kinship with him. I could¡¯t place it into words properly, but I had a hunch. The Next guy who introduced himself was a redhead named Francis. I felt a greaterunderstandingwith him than anyone else. It was pretty simple, He blew things up and he loved it. And so did I. He wore leather armour on top of a set of clothes that smelled heavily of rust and iron. Then there were a pair of female siblings and another guy The sisters seemed identical at first glance, with matching blue eyes and chetnut skin and deep, brown hair. They also wore matching grey leather. Apparently, theywere effective rangers with lots of experience on hunting stuff. And the other guy well... Let''s just ignore the strange silent guy with a dangerous air who wears black like he was going assassinate someone in the dead of the night. *I forgot the sisters¡¯ names and didn¡¯t Listen to the other guy''s by the way.* Oops. There goes my backup plan. Well, not really my fault. I''m forgetful. *It IS, your fault.* Maybe. It was my turn. I shrugged ¡°I¡¯m Rayola, a bit new to the guild. I can slash really hard, not really good at close, OR long ranged combat by the way, but I have a whole load of stamina so I¡¯m not going to get tired easily. I don¡¯t think anything there can kill me either. Oh, I also may or may not go on a frenzy with wild magic, so you gotta be careful about that.¡± Naina raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you a berseker?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I think so, sort of. Not too sure what the trigger is.¡± *you really need to figure what you capable of.* *Sigh ¡°Okay, and what do you mean nothing there can kill you? I can give the name of a thousand things that can.¡± *You screwed up on that one. Never should have mentioned that.* {Oi, do you think I DIDN''T realize that the second my stupid mouth spouted it out?} There was a little bit of contempt in her tone too. *There goes first impressions.* {Might as well play along now.} I shrugged again. ¡°I¡¯m weak, I agree, but I still am pretty much un-killable.¡± She snorted. ¡°Well, miss unkillable, that''s enough. Okay then, folks, you all heard each other, talk tactics or something. Alrighty then, when you¡¯re finished, go to Malak, he¡¯ll give you your posts.¡± With that, she walked away with the heavy clanking of metal. {Well, that was¡­ Interesting to say the least.} *And very humiliating. Don''t forget that part* ... I turned to see the silent guy staring at my bare feet. He just shook his head and walked away. I turned to the rest. Francis shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s talk?¡± Lian suggested. ¡°Yea, let¡¯s¡± I sighed one last time and walked with the group. I wonder how things will end up. 0.08; The Hero of the Dragons light .:: The Blighted Lands; Nathan ::. ------------------------------------------------------------- [ I ran through the blighted grounds, feet pounding the ground, splashing water into the air as I kicked up the dirt and brought my blade down on another one of the blighted Corpses. It was horrifying to look at, and after all these years, I still feel queasy as I gaze upon their wretched shapes. Once a human man, twisted and bloated into a form no more recognizable as anything that should exist in this world. I heard a scream behind me. There was another one, behind the front line. A mass of moving blobs of flesh and ghastly arms with palms the size of a shield. It held a woman in it¡¯s hands. Gracia, an acquaintance I met in an inn one day, Who stayed by my side for three whole years. A fine warrior. A good Friend. But human nonetheless. I screamed in rage as it brought her to it¡¯s jagged maw. I was too late, for all I saw was blood. I gazed away. I was too far ahead. Another friend, dead, in this accursed place. I had no time to mourn. I had no time to even deal with it, for I had to keep my position, And my knights behind me will deal with it soon enough. This was war. And there was no time to hesitate. But still, questions rang in my mind. How did it even get behind us? How was it intelligent enough to exploit the weaknesses in our formations? How did they all move in such unrivalled co-ordination? It was as if they were of one mind. I felt dread in my stomach. I had a hunch, and I needed to verify it. The ground before me exploded, Throwing dirt, mud and grass several feet in the air, There was no time to consider what it was. I thrust again, my spear piercing through the suspended soil and Earth, At whatever monstrosity behind, and I discharged my Magic. Blinding rays of light escaped from behind the cloud of dust and filth, And with a deafening roar, Everything in front of me burnt in the glare of my liberating Light. We got a few moments of respite, and then proceeded to move forward once again. And so we did, Thundering forward till we met the horde once again in barely a moment¡¯s notice. I glanced behind, and saw my men, bleeding, wounded, dying. I grit my teeth. We were suffering too many losses. Things were not supposed to go like this. Something was VERY wrong. ¡°IT¡¯S READY!¡± I heard a shout from behind. The mages in the centre had finished their preparations It was obvious they were the main targetfor the horde. And the reason was even more obvious. The same reason I could barely use any of myspells except the most basic ones. They were amassing a horrendous amount of magic, Nearly draining the entire battlefield dry of it.Stolen story; please report. And in their midst stood the centre of all our attention. A vortex of swirling blue energy. The Mages of The eternal storm raised their lances as one, and it rose into the air. The air started to weigh down. The wind picked up, blowing Dirt and water in our faces. Our footsteps heavier as we marched once again. Our muscles worn, sweating blood. Vision blurring. And then we heard it. The sound of hope. THUNDER. The black clouds started to blot out the sun, casting a shadow on the world around us. The sky crackled with lighting, and then It struck. Like a torrent of fire and death, Lightning rained down upon the Walking Dead. My skin tingled, and my hair stood on end as I felt the Metallic taste and Smelled the burning air. I grabbed my flask and splashed some water in my eyes. My vision started to clear once again and I saw the world in the midst of chaos. Crackling trees of destruction fell upon the Earth one upon the other, The scorched Earth and dust and fire rose up to meet the sky as the orchestra of Death continued to play around us. And Then I saw it. The Abomination. One glance was enough for me to understand. Understand everything. For it was no ordinary abomination. It was a minister of death. Of the Blighted Emperor¡¯s court. It Stood, a Giant of Horrors, Towering over thirty feet. A mass of Writhing snakes served as it''s lower body, a human torso, Six skeletal arms wrapped in loose, torn skin that hung like cloth. It¡¯s body covered with innumerable eyes, and where it''s head was supposed to rest, a single grey Hand rose from the midst of it¡¯s exposed, open ribs, and around it, antlers rose above, shading the hand like an umbrella. There it stood, Decayed and rotting, Sick, red pulsating mist flowing down through the gaps in it¡¯s form, flowing to the ground, like a torrent of blood, pooling a mist of red essence at it¡¯s feet. The hand flexed it¡¯s fingers, and to my horror, a split opened across It¡¯s palm and a very grotesque mouth opened wide in a very obvious frown, and then it spoke. In a Terrible, ancient, outlandish tongue. Then the ground rippled. Mounds of Earth rose up in concentric circles, and pillars of Earth shot up. Then The Sky and Earth clashed. And the World rang still with a wave of white silence. ] -------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up sweating. It was a dream. A nightmare. A memory. Half a year had passed since then, but The Abomination still stands. A curse and a blessing both in one. It gave us the opportunity to kill off a very important Piece of The Lord of Grief¡¯s Power. But at the same time, it reigned terror over everyone and everything in the vicinity. We already had to evacuate Twelve villages due to the risk of theLion''s guard being over-run. But still we held. Waiting. Waiting for our calls for arms to be answered. I got up and slowly limped my way towards the barracks again. There really wasn¡¯t any problem with my leg in actuality, but I still felt phantom pains. After-effects of the lightning storm. I actually got hit by a stray bolt on our retreat and it burnt the entire leg to a crisp. The healers were hard at work to get me up and running again. Not vey heroic at all. Makes me wonder why I was the Hero of Dray at all. The Hero of Dragon¡¯s light they call me. Dragon¡¯s light my ass. I was helpless in front of an UNDERLING of a dreadlord. How was I supposed to rid the world of one? But then again, The blighted emperor wasn¡¯t my true opponent. It was Irkath of the Forsaken Graths. I wasn¡¯t sure, The sign hadn¡¯t presented itself yet, but he was the only one with free time, and the emperor is a bit too imbalanced for me. Then again, the Emperor of the Layan Empire, did, want me to lead an expedition to the Graths the next Winter Year. So I can conclude that it''s fate. I sighed. The whole thing was a huge pain in the ass. I never asked for this, but I had to deal with it anyways. When there''s a Dreadlord, there will always come a Hero of Dray. And vice versa. They¡¯re also very closely related or something too, never paid much attention to the details. Didn¡¯t spend a lot of time in history class. Too busy slashing stuff. There are Four Dreadlords rampaging right now, and three heroes to deal with them. The emperor still hasn¡¯t found himself an opponent yet. I sure do wish itisn''t me. The oracle also predicted a pair to rise this year, both hero AND lord.Even more trouble. No-one Knew who or where either of them were. Just the vague premonition that things are going to get resolved in silence. Oh, joy. Killing a dreadlord when it just spawned was the easiest and also the safest. But also dangerous. A dreadlord without an army tends to... Run around a bit. If you leave them alone long enough, they¡¯ll get seriously problematic to deal with. And I just found that out the hard way. The emperor may not be my opponent, but it¡¯s STILL my business, since I have to fulfill my duty to my people one way or another. Irkath can wait. I was outside the barracks. But I didn¡¯t enter. I stood there, Hesitating. There was a slight dribble of rain, and my hair started to sag in front of my face. My clothes were wet. It¡¯s been several minutes now. The rain started to pour down more heavily, but still, I stood there. Unmoving. I¡¯m afraid, I realized. I¡¯m afraid to see the faces of my allies. I¡¯m afraid to see those who made it. Afraid to see the empty spaces that once hosted many good people. Friends. The rainwater hid my tears as I silently wept. I Didn¡¯t want this to happen I never wanted to be a Hero. Why am I here? Why was I chosen? ¡°Wait.¡± The oracle had said. "For what" I had asked? ¡°For the sign. Wait for the fire.¡± "What sign? What fire?" Was it the burning regret I¡¯m feeling in my heart right Now? Was It the abomination? What am I supposed to do? No-one answered. I turned my attention to the barracks again. There was silence where once, there was laughter. They were Resting. Recovering. Mourning. I tried to take one step further, but never managed to do so. I wasn¡¯t brave enough. Fancy that. The Hero, not brave enough. I''m still just a half-elf. I gazed up at the ashen sky. Rain Dribbled off my face. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I closed my eyes and stood still until I felt a tug on my sleeve. I Glanced down to see a young woman. human. Probably in her early twenties. Deep black eyes, and hair as black as the darkest night. Slightly tanned face, and a short, slim figure. Then I saw her arms. Her leftarm was a stump, wrapped in bandages and a large stain of red clearly visible. Wounded, here, by all that evil. Because of me. Guilt rose up my stomach. But she flashed me a bright smile. ¡°It¡¯s okay¡± she said. I shot her a confused expression. She just shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s okay to cry. It¡¯s okay to feel sad.¡± I was stunned. Here I was, Trying to bear the burden of all these people without ever considering that I could have shared mine.I laughed before breaking down and bawling like awounded child on her shoulder. And we stood still for a few minutes. But for me, those minutes felt like an eternity, For within those few minutes, I let out all my Thoughts, all my burdens, all my worries, all my guilt. All washed away by tears that were held inside for too long. It was still there of course, but it felt more¡­. Bearable. And so, I finally composed myself, Turning back into the hero I was supposed to be. I sniffed one last time, and sighed. I stared the girl in her eyes. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± She suddenly seemed extremely self-conscious, and started to fidget. Nervous. ¡°Um¡­ Alfa.¡± I smiled. ¡°Thank you Alfa.¡± And then I walked into the building. Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst. But ready to accept whatever the truth may be. And with silent determination. It may not be the same as killing the Blighted emperor, But that Abomination will meet it¡¯s end. Soon. Very soon. 0.09; A Vampires tale of Fire and Glory. .:: Nirlam, A Tale. ::. I Stared at the creature who just joined us. In all my years, I had never seen something so beautiful, So¡­ utterly Terrifying. Me, who was groomed to be the vampire lorde since birth, Me, who was to one day, lead my kind to cut a swathe of destruction through this land¡¯s so called ¡®Holy order¡¯ who used their infernal light magic to drive us off our rightful fatherland. ME, who was to one day Knock that incompetent, corrupt, EVIL, indulgent bloat of a Lorde off his stupid throne of lust and Corruption to lead my kind to glory once again, Am now shivering. Hoping. Praying, to Noctis, That the Monster beside me doesn¡¯t notice. But I knew. I KNEW that IT knows. After all, I felt the kinship between us just like it did. It was not anywhere close to what I felt between others of my kind. It was more akin to the kinship we felt between our thralls, or what we feel between those who failed in their awakenings. But I knew, that this time, I was the inferior one. It has been YEARS since I left to travel the lands of the Empire. To see how things were. After all, I was curious. I was sheltered most of my life. Even when I was but a mortal spawn. I¡¯ve always heard of tales of mortals and their folly, their ingenuity, their strength, their frailty. Their betrayal. Even from that tender age, I¡¯ve still wanted to explore, Roam this world, even if it meant I had to don this accursed plate to shade me from the tyranny of the sun. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed masquerading among the mortals, enjoyed feasting on strong prey, ones who fight back, ones who pose a challenge. Warriors, Ones who lost honourably, to be my nourishment. Remembered. And some still Alive to tell the tale nonetheless. It was wonderful, and I loved it. Being an adventurer suited me much more than being the Lorde, but I had to bear the responsibility. For I was the only one capable of standing up to that PIG. No¡­ He was not even worth being the livestock of his livestock. He was a wretched, depraved, ABOMINATION, ah yes, that¡¯s the word. Yes, he was an abomination among our kind that had to be dealt with. And as the one who dealt with him, I also had to bear the responsibility of my actions. I remind myself that despite everything. He was strong. After all, he needed strength to murder Narek the Shade. Narek, the one who withdrew our forces from the land to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. With all his mistakes, despite all his FLAWS, He was a wonderful king, one loved by all. Trusting and trusted. Kind. Kind to both mortals and Vampires alike. And I admired him for that. And I will avenge him. My sire. And to find and obtain that strength, I needed the mortal¡¯s Help. I needed to find the lost relics of the forgotten Lands, The accursed lands. The Forsaken Graths.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. To obtain the relics of the Dreaded King of the Raging Ones. But even with the expedition, I needed more support for it, and to earn that recognition, I came here to the Eastern front, to destroy the abomination that reigned over the Blighted Dead. To Talk to the Hero, man to man, Whom I respect despite being a mortal, And one who can understand me despite our differences. To aid me in my quest to vanquish Irkath the Dreaded lord of Greed, The hoarder of a thousand relics. I was Drunk on dreams. Ambitious. Confident. FOOLISH. For I forgot that I the world doesn¡¯t spin my way. All my illusions was shattered when I saw her. The day walker. No, that¡¯s not it¡­ The creature. No. The Monster¡­ ah yes. I was reminded of my own Frailty. When I first felt her approach, I was ecstatic. I thought I was the only vampire to still roam these lands. Be it one of inferior blood, I was prepared to welcome whoever they were freely. But then I saw her. At first, I was frozen with confused shock. For she was wading through the blazing light! I thought she was a mutated variant, a favourable one, oh, Such a sweet and favourable mutation. But then she came closer. That¡¯s when I started to feel that something was amiss. I noticed. Her Blood. Vampires were considered undead, debatable, since we awaken after leaving our mortal shells behind. But still, we have a heart, one that beats very, VERY slowly, but one which beat nonetheless. We had Blood. The monster that approached? Dead and alive at the same time. Paradoxical. No. She gave off the same scent as vampires, but there was no blood within. At least no normal blood. It was immaterial. Fire and ash. Blood that was to boil and steam. But asleep. Like a dormant volcano. That was what I felt. She was a walking husk of mortal imitation. A mockery of the human form. A white doll of immortalized beauty. For there was one thing she was denied and one thing all those who lived had the right to. The eternal sleep. She was Tireless. Forever Deathless. Cursed. A curse of Unsurmountable viciousness. I was curious. And then I gazed into her eyes. Where normally there should be the silent glow of the red circles of dark magic, I saw something else, something intense, something terrifying. I saw a sea of raging fire ready to be unleashed. At a terrible price, but which could be unleashed nonetheless. Reigned in by ancient magic, Slapped with shackles and rules. And then I knew, what was in front of me was no mere vampire. It was something as terrible as a dragon. Something akin to the dreadlord I aimed to vanquish. And Then she slowly came next me. I was frozen with terror. But she was oblivious to it. She flashed me a brilliant smile, like the young woman she imitated to be. Then I noticed. That she WAS Young. Na?ve even. That the fire didn¡¯t even consider me. It had a mind of it¡¯s own. It had a target, a goal. And it imposed itself on my mind. Weighed down on it. I barely used any mind magic, a negligible amount, but still, it caught on. Then i felt it as our minds connected. EMOTION. Love. Desire. Longing. Guilt. Sorrow. Pain. HATE. Oh, it was pure, raging insanity. But it was still dormant, detached, and sad. It wept, and I knew not for what. The girl asked me my name. ¡°Nirlam¡± I answered. Not my alias, or my title, but my maiden Name. And she held out her hand ¡°Rayola¡± she gave me hers. And I took her hands with courtesy, And we shook. The monster was a monster no longer. She was Rayola, Rayola of the flame, Rayola the deathless. And I realized that she was lonely. Alone. Cold. Despite the raging fire within. A little girl, Despite the weight that burdens her. And so I decided to lend her my shoulder to help her learn to stand. And she would aid me with my ambition as thanks. For such was what was spoken through the language of old from the brief moment we shook. We had already struck a deal. A silent deal. But one of mutual benefit. We spoke as we parted. And I watched as she polished her pure Elven Blade of the ancient ways, Stolen from a Bear of all things. She recounted tales of Bears and innocent mischief. She told of a mortal pair who were kind. And I listened. Listened to the short beginning of an legendary tale. And I smiled at her innocent wish, her Honest goal. And I swore to be by her side, As a friend, an ally, A silent guardian. And as the one who¡¯ll stay, to tell her tale to those yet to come. But that was not our purpose today. We were to Move forward, towards a common goal, And to meet that end, we needed a hero. And so we will fight, To draw the hero¡¯s attention, along with that of the Mortal empire, And be the first to slay a dreadlord in the Thirtysecond Millennium, A feat none could stand up to, since the fall of the Dreaded Lord of Pain, Slain by the Hero of The Dawn And for that, We shall slay an abomination. And as such we had to ride. So we rode. We rode together. We rode through the marshes, the sands, the green. We rode through storm and dust, Through light and shade, Through gale and Earth. Till we stood in Front of the Lion''s Gate. Where eight hundred turned a mere drop among thousands, Where adventurers and explorers and soldiers met without friction for the first time in years, Under the banner of the Hero of the Empire, The Lance of the Morning sun¡¯s glory, Nathan, the liberator. The bane of the blight. The Hero of the Dragon¡¯s Light. We arrived at our camp on the last day of the Fifth month. And on this day, he shall lead us forward, over the mountains and valleys. Forward, to the ends of mortal lands, to the cursed realm, where the King of Undeath sleeps, To rid him of his Minister of death so that we may move forward a Castle of our own. To recover what was once lost, So that one day, several generations in the future, Be it, a century or Aeons ahead, Our inheritors can have a foothold to liberate this continent of the Blighted Emperor¡¯s accursed rule. Let all Remember this day, for the Hero, with his thousands, shall slay an Abomination of the Darkest Depths. Let none Regret, that today, we woke the Blighted Tyrant once again. Let all Rejoice, That today, we won another battle in a war that has drawn out for Eighteen Thousand years. Today we win once again, against the strongest of the dreaded Lords, The Dreadlord of Grief, The blighted Emperor, And his Empire of Plague. -x- 0.10; Ghosts of the past. .:: Fort Lion''s Gate; Rayola ::. It was morning. Probably. IT was way past midnight, and a few hours before daybreak. But still dark. There a slight tinge of orange in the sky as well. I walked along the walls of the Famed Fort. The Lion¡¯s Gate. The Last defence against the Legions of the Blighted emperor. If this place were to fall, The sea of undead beyond shall pour into the Layan Empire. Then, the tides of undeath shall sweep across mortal lands once again, and the continent shall be lost to darkness, and the blighted emperor shall be invincible. The blighted emperor, I knew very little about him. But I¡¯ve heard stories. From Nirlam, and the others. No-one even remembers what race he was originally, just that they were ancient, and that there were none remaining. He became a Dreadlord, made stronger by the strength of all those under his curse. One of the strongest beings to ever walk the world, and to weaken him, one must first cull his armies; The legions of undeath. Thus began the Eastern war. One of the greatest wars to ever take place in the entire history of the world, Second only to The Great war of the Skies. It has dragged on for eighteen thousand years. And for good reason too. It is said that the Blighted emperor takes strength from his creations, the abominations, and thus, the only way to actually stand a chance against him is to kill all of them. Every few hundred years, one or two pops up, and the empire gathers warriors from all over the world for these ¡®events¡¯ to hunt them down and push our boundaries further into the blighted lands. There aren¡¯t many of them left, and those that are, are the strongest of the lot as well. Such was our opponent. I took the war request on a whim, but once I actually got here, I¡¯m starting to get cold feet. I can¡¯t die, but I didn¡¯t want to be thrown against such a powerful foe. How can I even get close enough, much lest even kill it, if even the Hero, Nathan Lance, wasn¡¯t stong enough to take it down? Tales say that the empire itself was united to confront the Undead threat. The war is expected to last one more millennium according to the oracle, and that only Six of the Great Abominations are left standing. Then shall come, the hero of dusk to end the great war, for the better or worse. The result is still clouded by the mists of possibility, like all other predictions, but the duration always remained the same. The explorers deny it though. They say that they will end it sooner, that ingenuity shall prevail over brute strength. I shook my head. I didn¡¯t know anything. NO-ONE knew anything. All information that exists, came from rumours and legends. From fairy tales and scribbles of madmen. Even the famed oracles are at a loss at what route the world would follow. They can¡¯t see everything. They can only follow the results of actions of what they already know to have happened. *To know the future, one must know the past.* And for someone to follow the fate of a man who outlived dragons and all the things he did during that span of time?Of a person, who has never made an appearance since the beginning of the Legendary plague? Impossible. So they knew nothing as well. For they need more than one witness to prove a theory. Two points to draw a line. And only the flow of time from our side of the story exists. Thus, there are too many uncertainties, too many possibilities, for them to actually say what is to happen. A five year old could make a better prediction in that case. If not for the unmistakable, imposing presence of a dreadlord¡¯s Aura in the heart of the blighted lands, people would have questioned the existence of the blighted emperor himself. It was pointless for me to think of all this, for what good will it do me? But I did it anyways. It was only natural. I went down the flight of stairs and strode along the tiled road. Mist hung in the air. There was silence. Mostly because no-one was awake. But I never slept, so I walked. The place was HUGE.There was an entire city within the great walls. Large and vast, but still, full to the brim with warriors and mages and people ofsimilar walks of life, all here for a common goal. But for now, the city was asleep. I stared at the deserted streets. There were still the occasional guards who patrols the place in groups of four, torches in hand. I said hi to them every now and then. Imoved on ahead. Eventually, through the misty morning, I reached the city centre. There was obelisk erected in the middle, and on it were a few words, Inscribed by the founders of the empire themselves. ¡° Beyond this point, lies the blighted lands. Burn your dead, lest they be deprived of their sleep, and arise once again to plague the living.¡± Not very optimistic I see. Good advice, but not something you use to encourage someone to feel more secure. But I could understand why. I could see the ¡®lives¡¯ of those around me. A weak skill, which I still needed more training with. But in the distance, I could see something else. vastly different. Dark. A veil of unnerving corruption, A mist of vile, writhing,grey substance that spread across the horizon. I knew none of the others could see it, but I knew what it was. *The curse of undeath.* The thought of fighting the undead was not what broke my confidence, it was the sick grey mist I saw on my way here. If one was to die within that mist, their bodies, along with what remained of their fragmented soul left behind, would be corrupted and twisted, into something else entirely. It was cruel. It couldn¡¯t be called anything but pure evil, and I didn¡¯t like it. Not one bit.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. If I could, I would stay the hell away from that place. But I had to be strong, For my own sake. I walked forward once again. As I walked, I noticed a strange sensation near me. A feeling of familiarity. I saw a group of mages in front of me. There were a whole lot of them, Not like the ones that accompanied me here. They weren¡¯t here to fight. I wonder what they were doing out and about so early? I saw a very old man, surrounded by a multitude of younger ones. Ah¡­they were his students. A history tour in peace perhaps? What the hell do I know about mages anyways? They¡¯re a crazy bunch. Well¡­ From what I¡¯ve seen so far. The old man was short, with a slight hunch and walked with irregular steps. He had a brown beard with grey streaks. It was so majestic that dwarves would be proud of him. I would have actually mistook him for one had he been a bit more buff. But then again, he might actually be one. I don''t know enough of them to differentiate them from normal folk. I didn''t know much of them either ,except that they''re shorter, are built like gorillas, have fancy for large beards and beer, and that they like to create all sorts of headache-inducing ''objects''. Something just felt wrong when I tried to associate dwarves with mages. Is that just me being prejudiced? Anyway, putting Dwarves aside, he wore a black tunic with golden rims and a red cloak draped over his left shoulder. The students wore a similar attire, but with a more simpler white tunic, and yellow cloaks. That probably means that they¡¯re part of an official school of magic with uniforms right? The old man paused before turning towards me. When his eyes actually met mine, what I saw was recognition. He was¡­ Surprised to say the least. His eyes widened and his face displayed a wide variety of emotions. First was disbelief, then joy. Followed by confusion, suspicion, and a fair bit of curiosity and sadness. His students noticed me too. Most of them seemed to recognise me as well. Two girls and a boy ran towards me. I didn¡¯t recognise any of them. ¡°Ralli! Where the hell have you been? We heard your hometown was found burnt to the ground! What happened? And what¡¯s with that look? Why do you resemble a painted scarecrow? And why the hell are you walking around with no shoes on?¡± Ralli¡­. The name seemed very familiar. I stared at the girl who spoke. It was a tall, young woman. She had grey skin, short curly cold blue hair which stood out like an icicle under a midsummer roof, large eyelashes, and ''extra-long'' pointy ears which were nearly as long as my forearm, adorned with a whole load of silver ear-rings along the entire length of it. She stood out a bit. Yea¡­ a bit. The other girl seemed a bit younger, shorter and more reserved. Had long, straight blonde hair, meek blue eyes, and a pale complexion. The man, seemed about my age, with chestnut skin, finely toned muscles, sea green eyes and red hair. Appearances aside, I was surprised by their familiar attitude. ¡°¡­ and who might you be?¡± I said slowly. All three of them froze, mid smile. They stared at my face as if to see if I¡¯m joking. *You... don¡¯t remember them do you?* There was deep sadness in her tone. My tone. Did my previous self know them? {Did you- no, I- Know them?} *They used to be your friends.* {I don''t remember.} *I see* The voice was choking now. I stared at their faces. ¡° I¡¯m Rayola. I might have known you, but I¡¯m not sure¡­¡­ I don¡¯t really know who this Ralli is, but the name seems very familiar though.¡± There was confusion on their faces. ¡°You-re not joking?¡± The smaller girl asked ¡°Why should I? It¡¯s not like that would do me any good.¡± I stared into her eyes. She shuddered under my scrutiny. Odd reaction. ¡°Leave Jane alone.¡± The grey woman¡¯s voice was suddenly heavy and cold. ¡°We¡¯re sorry, we mistook you for someone else.¡± Did I do something wrong? *Oh, no wait¡­..* She grabbed Jane¡¯s hand and dragged her away despite her protests. The guy shook his head. ¡°That wasn¡¯t funny, Ralli. I don¡¯t know what happened to you, but you-¡° My eyes shifted and met his. ¡°Um¡­. I¡¯m not sure what happened. Did I do something wrong?¡± He was taken aback. Also seemed a bit angry at my question. ¡°That¡¯s going too far, Ralli, we were WORRIED. You left for your village one day, claiming it''s an emergency, and the next thing we heard about you was that the entire place was razed to the ground!" The events made sense with respect to my broken memories and the burnt village, but I was still confused. What was the ''emergency'' he spoke of? Was it really me? I knew too little. I shook my head and tilted my head. ¡°But like I told you, I¡¯m not too sure that I know you. And my name isn''t Ralli¡± His face contorted in silent rage. After calming himself, he spoke, slowly. ¡°This is a bit excessive, even by your stupid standards, how could you possibly be ¡®NOT SURE¡¯ that you know us?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t remember.¡± He frowned. I continued ¡°Because I don¡¯t remember anything prior to the last month.¡± His frown deepened as he we stared at each other. Then slowly, understanding and regret dawned on his face. ¡°You¡¯re serious.¡± I sighed. ¡°Like I said, what would I possibly gain by lying to you people?¡± He was really taken aback. ¡°Um¡­.¡± His eyes flashed a glowing blue for a moment He staggered. Shocked Speechless. I was curious. He suddenly broke off and ran towards the old man who stood with the other two. They talked for a few minutes, then the old mage made his way towards me. He stood in front of me, assessed me for a few moments, and his eyes flashed like the other guy''s, though with much more intensity. Shaking his head, he spoke with a deep voice, but in a low tone. ¡°Yes, her psyche does have a large part of it¡­ just empty. Nearly half of it to be precise. I¡¯ve never seen this sort of damage before. It¡¯s so precise.¡± I assume that it''s something about me being in my current state. He was addressing the man. He shifted, andturned to me. ¡°What¡¯s your name, young woman?¡± ¡°Rayola.¡± ¡°Okay, Rayola, would you like to talk for a moment?¡± I tilted my head. ¡°About what?¡± He smiled. ¡°About being my student, Student of Raphsal, an Archmage of Gilleon Tower.¡± I was stunned and I stood there frozen, And felt a deep pain in my heart, While I listened to the voice inside me weep. "Okay." I nodded. We left the students behind and walked. Eventually, I broke the silence. ¡° So, why did you ask me to be your student? Was it because of this¡­ Ralli?¡± He sighed. ¡°I would be lying If I said no, but you also have the talent for it. One far surpassing her, actually.¡± I glanced at him. ¡°But I¡¯m not really a fan of magic.¡± Raphsal the mighty archmage of Gilleon tower, nearly choked his way to the grave. ¡°What?¡± he croaked. I laughed. ¡°Well... Magic might be convenient, but I seem to have this conditional ability that limits my possibilities, and I don¡¯t even know what it is.¡± His eyes widened and he nodded with understanding. ¡°That makes sense. But that too has it¡¯s own potential. You can also use smaller convenient magics that you¡¯ll be sure to find incredibly useful ¡± ¡°But I could learn that from any mage school, no?¡± He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m serious about the apprenticeship, girl. It¡¯s not an offer I hand out lightly. Why are you so adamant as to not be one?¡± I hesitated. ¡°Because I¡¯m an adventurer right now.¡± I said, flashing my badge. He raised his eyebrows. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Do you know how the apprenticeship works?¡± I shook my head as to why he would mention that when I said I was an adventurer. ¡°Well you see, girl, we don¡¯t stay in one place like the standard basic mage schools you find in town. I¡¯m a tower mage, which means that I am assigned various missions by the Gilleon tower. So I have to travel a whole lot, and I take my students with me. Not going to throw them at anything truly dangerous of course, but still, I take them with me, to teach them the life of a mage, to help them grow, Understand the world, Understand our work, What we do, the choices we are forced to make. Teach them the craft, how to live, All of it.¡± It did sound a bit tempting. I liked to travel. He smiled before continuing ¡°And that¡¯s where YOU come in, ¡®adventurer¡¯, You see, when I go on a rampage, my cute little students might be there all vulnerable to all the big-bad monsters and people out there. So I¡¯ll hire you to keep them out of trouble.¡± Something told me that those students weren¡¯t as vulnerable like he said they¡¯d be, but damn, the old guy was persistent. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± He smiled. ¡°But you¡¯ll have to wait for me.¡± He seemed confused. ¡°why?¡± I laughed. ¡°Because I am to take part in the war.¡± He was taken aback. ¡°What? You? Why? You¡¯ll die out there!¡± I shook my head. I smiled, tapped my adventurer¡¯s card, and handed it over to him. He squinted as his eyes scanned the card. I followed his finger as he slowly traced my stats. They stopped abruptly. I leaned over and peered at the column. Regeneration; 85 He slowly gazed up at me. I gave him a bright smile. He gulped. ¡°What happened to you, girl?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He gave a defeated sigh. ¡°So it¡¯ll be nice working with you, Rayola. I¡¯m part of the Hero¡¯s battalion as well.¡± I stared at him. ¡°None of the students are going to attend of course but-¡­ What? Why¡¯re you looking at me like that? Why do you think I¡¯m here in the first place? I¡¯m an ARCHMAGE, girl, of course I¡¯m going to be part of anything major going on in these parts!¡± Made sense. ¡°Okay then. I¡¯ll ¡®guard¡¯ your students after we come back.¡± A smile broke across his face. ¡°Great! Knew I¡¯d get through to you!¡± I smiled as well. ¡°I¡¯m still getting paid though.¡± He froze. Then broke out in booming laughter. I swear! I bet my sword that this guy¡¯s a dwarf! Wait¡­ no. Not my sword¡­. I¡¯ll think of something else eventually. He stopped laughing. ¡°You¡¯ll get your pay you greedy woman.¡± He sighed. Then we shook, And then returned, smiling. 0.11; Interlude: The muddy path to Death. .:: The Borders of The Blighted Empire; Rayola ::. It was noon. The sun had reached the height of it¡¯s glory, and the brilliant rays bore through our skin. The heat was uncomfortable. It was an uncharacteristically hot day. Maybe it has to do with the humidity around the marsh, maybe just the sun acting up, or perhaps even both. To be honest, I didn¡¯t really feel much of it, but judging from how the others looked, I¡¯d say that it was a fair guess. What I did, find annoying was the mud and of course, how could I forget this god-forsaken smell? The Expedition made it¡¯s way through the borders of the blighted lands, which was incidentally, also a marsh. It wasn¡¯t the wet season yet but still, the place was muddy as hell and the smell of rotten eggs permeated the air. We plodded through the wet Earth. The repulsive sludge clung to my feet and the lower rims of my trousers. The wet and adhesive soil kept slapping against my feet, sucking in air and repeating the process. I may not be a ¡®city girl¡¯ as the locals call them but still, I found the mud incredibly distasteful. Now I really wished that I had some shoes on. Maybe that was just it. I needed shoes. I saw Nirlam slog through ahead of me. The guy must be the worst off among all of us. He was a vampire after all. He was strong, but still found it difficult to get himself moving at a fast pace in that Heavy suit of armour. And then there¡¯s the armour itself. That thing must be the equivalent of a furnace in this heat. I made haste to catch up to him, only for me to slip. Thankfully I didn¡¯t fall over head first, but it was enough to coat half my body in a layer of muck. "Fuck." Nirlam turned around to see me. I swear the guy¡¯s laughing his ass off behind that stupid helmet. He waited for me to catch up. ¡°Not one word.¡± I warned him. He just shrugged. I stared at him as we marched along. I did have a hunch when I first met him, but never did I know that he would be some sort of vampire prince with a drive for vengeance. Being a Vampire? I guessed it. I could tell from the faint feeling of kinship. A familiarity that was based on instinct rather than memory. Maybe all vampires could sense each other properly, but for me, it was faint. It was akin to listening to a song long forgotten once again. So I figured he would be something along the lines. But being a Lordling? Never. Not till he bragged about it. Oh yes, the bragging. The guy never stops. I figured princes were supposed to be majestic and honourable and sparkly and everything. Didn¡¯t remember where I got that idea from, but this was an interesting way to shatter my expectations. Handsome and sparkly? The guy looked like a depressed Blazewort addict who hasn¡¯t had proper sleep in years. Then there was the formality. The guy was such a sucker for old customs and etiquette that he appeared stiff. Just looking at him would have been enough to give people cramps. ¡°So do you know how we¡¯re going to fight the abomination? Do we know anything about it at all?¡± His helmet dipped. I guessed that it was his own way of nodding. ¡° Earth magic. It is a worthy foe. Very strong too, I hear it managed to escape an entire onslaught of lightning by the mages of the eternal storm.¡± I gulped. ¡°Any idea as to how to defeat it?¡± He shrugged again. ¡°I have a scroll that can set anything on fire, one that cannot be extinguished by standard means, but that probably won¡¯t be enough. We¡¯ll have enough cover fire from the battlemages as it is, but the main problem would be to actually pin down it¡¯s location. I hear it can move through the ground like a fish swimming through water." I bit my lip. Its intelligent enough to control every single undead in the vicinity effectively, and employ guerrilla tactics while withholding a majority of it''s horde to protect itself. A nice cherry on top. ¡°We need to kill it so we can earn the right to speak to the Hero.¡± He continued. ¡°Can¡¯t you just go up and say hi? Jeez.¡± I shook my head. ¡°That would place us in a lesser light would it not?¡± I was confused. ¡°How did you ever come to that conclusion?¡± ¡°Because it is the assertion of my presence. If I am accomplished, what I say will have value, and people would be inclined to listen.¡± I let out a sigh. ¡° You don¡¯t have to worry about that you know, Just go up and say hi.¡± ¡° I refuse." *That''s one hell of a stubborn fool* The voice in my mind stated blandly. {Agreed} I echoed back. But I was curious. ¡°Why do you even want to meet the hero in the first place?¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°For our cause. It would be better if he were to assist us on our quest to the Graths than not, no?¡± I tilted my head. ¡°Has it ever crossed your mind that he may already be a part of the expedition? He is a Hero of Dray after all. Those guys don¡¯t really sit well with the idea of Dreadlords frolicking around close to their homes you know. There''s even a high chance that he may be the one to lead the expedition as well, I didn''t check but it feels only right.The Great lake of the Graths shall freeze over for the first time in decades and I don''t think the Empire will just squandor that oppertunity. ¡± Nirlam froze. He turned. And stood rooted in place. ¡°Oh.¡± He spoke eventually. ¡°Wait, so did you come all the way here just to¡­¡± He remained silent. We walked ahead in silence. We were at the Western end of our particular Company of colourful adventurers. There were actually thousands of them, moving around us, in similar groups of two hundred or so. We were to be the front line. Adventurers have absolutely no uniformity, but also a wide variety of unique abilities, so we were at the centre, Surrounded by a more organized group of imperial Knights to our left and a whole load of explorers to our right. The explorers, though, also had a lot of their members spread out along every group, setting up some sort of communication network and aerial reconnaissance. They also left their main intelligence officers back at the fort. Despite having to accept quick orders from someone not even among us, all of us recognized the benefits it would entail. Someone with brains screaming orders to every small group would be better than having no brains at all and running around blind. It was not that great of a formation, but stable despite what anyone might think. They¡¯ve all done this before. It was called the Barman¡¯s formation. Named after a retired adventurer- turned Barman who marshalled the different factions against an unexpected attack from The Dawn. It was the easiest to set into motion in cases of severe emergencies, and also the most flexible to different scenarios. As was our case right now. There were signs that the Abomination had plans to retreat deeper into the blighted lands. We had to mobilize quickly to cut off its escape. And thus, here we were. Eventually, Nirlam and I caught up to Francis, Namiel and Lian. They were immersed in a discussion. ¡° ¡­And the thing is heading right towards the capital! ¡± Lian exclaimed to the pair. ¡°What is?¡± I asked Lian. ¡°Oh, hey Rayola, Sir Nirlam.¡± She nodded her head at us Namiel spoke up. ¡°Ah, sweet miss Rayola, Greetings, we were merely speaking of the Fortress of Woe.¡± ¡°Fortress of woe? What the hell is that?¡± I asked. Francis raised his eyebrow. ¡°Big mechanical dwarven octopus with 17 legs, which was taken over by a dungeon core, Its fully loaded with it¡¯s own tier 9 reality marble and is highly proficient in blowing shit up.¡± Nirlam shook his head. ¡°Mobile dungeons? What¡¯s wrong with the world these days?¡± ¡°Hold up. I thought dungeons referred to those spooky underground tunnel systems with lots of monsters. How can it be on the surface and a machine but yet, still called be a dungeon?¡± Lian scratched her chin. ¡°Well, to be honest, it does mean that literally, but what we¡¯re referring to is a living dungeon, or a Mana Core as you could call it. It¡¯s a sentient mass of mana condensed into a crystal and imposes a reality marble onto it¡¯s surroundings. They¡¯re usually born in very large dungeons with lots of mana, thus the name. The thing makes places much larger, diverse, and deadlier than they¡¯re supposed to be. It¡¯s the main reason we keep raiding some of the older dungeons repeatedly, to check if there are any present. A dungeon developing a core can lead to a whole load of trouble.¡± ¡°Okay. Got that part.¡± I said. Lian nodded before continuing. ¡°Well, the dwarves raided this ancient dungeon and got this tier 7 core, then went ahead to use it as a power source for a machine of theirs.¡± ¡°The big bad octopus.¡± Francis helped. Namiel picked up the rest. ¡°Yea, that. The thing got abandoned after the dwarves had a civil war a few hundred years ago, and the core just wreaked havoc in the area till it got things moving again. It had enough of magic from all their leftover power supplies to grow powerful enough to raid two OTHER dungeons using said mechanical octopus and cannibalize their cores. No-one noticed it till it was too late. It¡¯s nearly unstoppable at the moment, and then there¡¯s the fact that it¡¯s not too happy that it was used as fodder for a magic tool.¡± Nirlam laughed. ¡°Dungeons raiding dungeons. Now I¡¯ve heard everything.¡± Lian nodded. ¡°Strange times, I agree.¡± I glanced back briefly but paused as something caught my eyes. I was confused. I blinked and checked again, but he wasn¡¯t there. Might just be a mistake. Strange, though. I swear I saw Nael. Why the hell am I thinking of him in the first place? He wouldn¡¯t be here, right? Like why would he? What could he possibly gain from being in this battlefield? But then again, Explorers were forced to listen to their superiors right? I wonder. What would be his reaction if he knew that I was a part of this war? If I did find him here, I would introduce him to my ¡®adventurer¡¯ friends, so they could ¡®play¡¯ with him for some time, exactly like what he did to me with the kids. An evil smile broke across my face. Yes, that''s it. A fitting revenge. -::- Nael -::- I felt a shudder up my spine. I glanced around with a sense of foreboding. Something terrible was about to happen. I was never wrong about these sorts of things, after all, it had rescued me from countless situations before. I straightened myself, whatever the hell it may be, It will find me most prepared this time around. No longer shall I run away from fluffy bears, or degenerate vampires! I Shall fight! I was on a levitating platforming with Sooya and James, Guarding a small metal globe with intricate runes carved into it¡¯s surface around the equator. Four pearls of different colours adorned the twelve slots carved in for the sake of directing the signals to contact specific persons who may be countries away, or just across the field. It was an interesting object. Made me wonder at how things will progress in the future. I thought of what wonders awaited me. One day in the future, maybe I¡¯ll get one such orb for my own personal use. I let out a sigh as Sooya and I exchanged glances. Her thin lips spread into an unnaturally wide smile as my own frown grew deeper. Sooya, My team''s Captain. She had large thin eyes which were angled downwards, a pale complexion and long black hair. The most noticeable feature was her creepy smile. She had a wide thin mouth, so whenever she smiled, it seemed like someone slashed open her face with a knife. It may not be nice of me to say this given her nice personality, but it still felt unnerving. James was a lean and lanky redhead with a long nose and a swollen cheek, the last of which I could be held accountable for. I let out a sigh. Why was I dragged into this stupid war again? What the hell was a group of unspecialised ¡®Yellows¡¯ supposed to do out here in an open battlefield? Weren''t it for situations like these that the ¡®Blues¡¯ were established for in the first place? I don''t see them jumping around here. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter for today at least. Today, I just have to stay here and look handsome, which I undoubedly was good at. Simple Job too, just call the appropriate person when the situation calls for it, and there were three of us to do it too. There wasn¡¯t a lot for me to mess up. ¡°Okay Nael, Let¡¯s keep the dumbfuckery to a minimum today.¡± I prepped myself up for the day. Things were finally goingfine for once. An easy Job, a comfortable position, a satisfying view of my surroundings so nothing could jump me. What could possibly go wrong? But still, my spine tingled. Then I saw her. The Un-vampire. Rayola. I was flabbergasted, Shocked speechless. Then I finally realised what was wrong. What in the Deities¡¯ names, was she doing out here in the middle of a warzone? No, the more important question, What the fuck was she doing in a warzone in such close proximity to¡­ ME? This was a recipe for absolute disaster. Things were looking bleak already. ¡°Why? Why me? Just leave me alone! Please!¡± I pleaded to the heavens. Then at that very moment, she turned towards me. ¡°OH FUCK!¡± I yelled as I shot to the Levitating Plaform''s floor. Someone up there really doesn¡¯t like me. I waited till I was absolutely sure that she didn¡¯t notice. Then I crawled my way towards the back of the platform. James eyed my sprawled form with a queer expression. He didn¡¯t speak. Mostly because he was still recovering from yesterday¡¯s punch. He managed to bite his tongue at the precise moment of contact. A heavenly bonus to my satisfaction. I¡¯m glad to say that seeing him running around screaming and begging for water was satisfying to watch. Call me sadistic, but after what he¡¯d done to me, it was only reasonable to settle that debt. I always pay back my debts. I sighed. What the hell is with this situation? We were right at the cusp of a war and here I am, hiding from a girl. I should have just stayed in hiding for a few more weeks. I sighed once again as I peeked at Rayola from the distance. This was going to be a terrible day. Not a great way to mentally prepare for war. Well, what do I say? Things are looking Bleak. Very bleak indeed. 0.12; In the midst of war. .:: The blighted Lands ::. -::- Rayola -::- A ghoulish scream rent the air. I ducked as a writhing mass of rotting flesh dashed forward with deceptive ease. It brought its weight down on the spot I held barely a few moments ago. I saw mud explode as Nirlam launched into the air and kick the monstrosity''s head. An entire chuck of the thing''s bulbous top was removed as if it was made of jelly. Foul black goop splashed onto my once glorious coat. My coat, I was glad I bough a spare. It was utterly ruined now, there was no possible way that I would ever get rid of this accursed smell. The ground below me bulged and I fell back as five spindly arms thrust upwards. I gripped my longsword tightly with both hands and spun as I used my momentum to bring the blade around at impossible speed and force. A body not limited my mortal strain meant that I could put extreme force and effort into each blow without having to worry about the consequences. I was compensating for lack of skill through crude force. Not that efficient, but useful for now. The blade cleaved through all five arms as if flesh and bone were but grass. We were rewarded by a shrill screech as the mound rose. Namiel brought down both of his swords, stopping whatever lay beneath in its tracks before we could even see what grotesquely creative form it had decided to employ. Francis whistled as he pumped magic into the flasks strapped to his waist and I watched as a metallic liquid spiralled its way around his fingers. He laughed as he flung it around. The ground around us exploded in a wide circle as the monsters beyond were blown to bits. I was assaulted by smoke and dust and the stench of burning flesh. A maniacal laughter pierced through the white noise. The guy was nuts. A grin spread across my face. Excitement welled up from within me as more stumbling figures crawled its way forward. I loved this! I loved this excitement, this tension, this glorious feeling in my heart that grew from each small victory. The monsters didn''t make me feel as disgusted as I thought they would. I felt a bit queasy when I saw the first few but I managed to push those emotions back deep within as the battle progressed. I was still horrified and felt repulsion at the creativeness of these stomach-churning horrors, but it was overwhelmed by my burning passion for battle that dominated my mind at the moment. Was I a battle junkie? Perhaps, though I never imagined I had this side to me. I shut out the booming sounds that resounded across the battlefield once again as my feet found purchase in the unstable earth. I glanced back. The two sisters were nowhere to be seen. Lian seemed a bit exhausted and heaved while she slowly recovered. She probably consumed magic far too quickly than her body could naturally handle. Despite the staggering amount of ambient magic that weighed in the air, a large portion of it was corrupted, and what remained was too viscous to be effectively converted for use. The strain she had to through was obvious on her face although it was a bit excessive considering the efficiency and control she displayed while using it. The silent guy seemed to be guarding her while she recovered. I really need to ask his name again because I seemed to keep forgettting it. All of us, excluding me were exhausted. But still, we fought, we fought for hours on end, but there wasno sign of the abomination. Even Nirlam started to slow down, but I continued to slash like there was nothing in the world that could possibly slow me down. I was arrogant andoverconfident. I understood that as I saw it. It rose above the sea of dust and Ash that blanketed the battlefield like fog. A centipede. No... I stared in horror at the towering mass of fused corpses. It had a circular mouth the size of a horse, from which an eerie red glow emanating from deep within. It dragged its serpentine form around at disturbing speeds using two hulking arms of jagged bone. The corpses that composed its body writhed as it moved and countless hands tried to grasp whatever they could find purchase on, rocks, fellow corpses, Men. It''s maw opened wide as the thing roared in a booming screech that reverberated in my lungs. "What the fuck is that thing?" I asked, shaken. Nirlam shook his head. "A Corpse Demon. The Abomination was busy." I stared at him in shock, mouth agape. " It CREATED that?" His helmet dipped in a nod. " Why do you think we hunt all abominations such hate and prejudice? If they just stayed with their emperor and kept still, we wouldn''t have to go to such lengths to kill them. But still, we severely underestimated our opponent this time. It¡¯s probably one of the higher ranked ones." Suddenly, it froze. A reaction among the undead which I knew all too well. After all, I''ve seen this reaction countless times today from it''s lesser kin. I felt dread rising in my heart. "Oh, by the gods, no... please, no..." But my prayer went unheard. It suddenly shifted its attention towards me. For some reason, Nael''s words that I was efficient bait seemed to hold true in this place. Every monstrosity that laid eyes on me seemed to find me extremely appealing and rushed towards me like a moth to a flame. Being popular among the undead wasn''t something I really wanted, it hurt my pride and made me self-conscious and depressed. But it still had its uses, as it was the main reason behind our group''s staggering kill count, as well as why we were so damn exhausted. But even then, the attention of this freaky serpent was the last thing in the world I wished for. But it was all useless. It shrugged off the searing onslaught of fire and lightning that whittled away at its hide and started its way towards me. It raised its two bony hands, drove them into the ground, leaned back and launched itself forward, literally flinging its entire body off the ground. It flew towards our direction at astounding speed. I was rooted to my spot as I saw the rings of large teeth and bone in its gaping maw closing in on me. At that very moment, all my repressed emotions and doubt that I had somehow pushed down to the bottom of my gut returned with a vengeance. Th voice in my head echoed a question that I was asking myself at this very moment. *What the hellare you even doing here?* I didn''t know the answer. I just cursed my luck. " Fuck." - :: - Lian - :: - I was a long way from home. Home, was... a small house right outside the walls of West-meadow town. It was my father''s house. He came from a long line of renowned human woodworkers and it showed, for the entire front was decorated with varios items on display. But he wasn''t always a boring man, for he went adventuring during his teens and met my mother, a half elf from the Northern passes. Despite all odds, what ensued was a cheesy love story that eventually resulted in me. I was glad that I came out normal though. After all, most crosses between the two races were... Strange to say the least. Humans, dwarves, elves, and all of their variants were actually of the same kind, biologically speaking of course. The variation lay in how each of their magic circuits developed. Magic tended to make even the simplest of things unneccesarilty complex and it manifested in a wide variety of ways. Humans had a circular mana conversionnetwork that ran across their blood, and it basically had something to do with how vampires came to be. They say that the original vampires had the most purest ¡®human¡¯ bloodlines of them all. Dwarves had evolved a special organ for mana conversion near their heart, itwas responsible fortheir short bulky figure and their physical reinforcement but I wasn''t sure of how it worked. Elves on the other hand... Theirs¡¯s were in sync with their neural system and was particularly concentrated on their spine. It resulted in a heightened ability to sense magic and they had such ease in learning how to control their powers that a new-born could learn to cast a master level spell by the time They turn twelve. If they weren''t so freaking lazy, or infertile at that, they could have taken over the empire ages ago. They also had the ability to store magic in every fibre of their being. Both features were observed only in the most mystical of all magical creatures, and this coupled with their stupendous lifespan resulted in a vast sense of superiority over all the other races that was quite...troublesome. Then came the problem, any cross between any of these ''races'' would rarely be born healthy. In normal cases of major crossing, you would get a child which has all physical features inherited from one side along with a really fucked up magical circuit, or one with mixed features and an even more superiorly fucked up magical circuit. Sometimes you may even get a new species in itself or maybe, a monstrosity. Goblins were a prime example of the last two combined... and the thought of being even remotely related to those green fuckers sent my stomach churning. Although no-one could claim that they were of pure blood these days, It was the main reason why such marriages across the more extreme ends were were frowned upon. But against all odds, I was born healthy. Well... Relatively healthy. I had a really strange magical circuit that made me sensitive to magic like the elves but the conversion running around my blood threw me out of whack. Eventually, I figured out that the only thing I could effectively control was water magic. But hell, saying that I was good at water magic would be a severe understatement. Even if the effort it took to effectively cast spells burnt through my stamina faster than any workout a knight captain could dream to dish out, it was better than blowing myself up. That happened a lot with half breeds. My life was a hard and long journey. I was lucky enough to somehow have more elf traits than human ones, but it was fairly common because elven traits were usually dominant. But rarely any of the halves actually live as long as an elf does. I for one have never heard of such a thing and I wouldn¡¯t have believed it either if not for the fact that I¡¯ve lived far too long for it to be anything else. But it was a curse. I¡¯ve already reached the height of my abilities, a cap so as to speak. And I couldn¡¯t even be considered that strong by any measure whatsoever. But still, I found ways around it. I learnt different techniques over time. Small tricks, enchantments and items that allowed me to use new abilities that helped me improve, even if it was merely an artificial and fragile change. It was what drove me to adventure. Even though I wasted most of my time idly in a tavern or an Inn with hardly anything to go by, every time I discovered some random treasure hidden away by some long dead mage, or even when I rigged an explorer''s drink with highly effective alcohol right before an important meeting, I felt an exhilaration that was hard to put into words. I understood why mother was an adventurer till the very end. I was an adventurer and the freedom it gave my soul was addictive and irreplaceable. But today, I thought. Was this really what I wished for? I knew the risks it all entailed, especially after what happened to mom¡­ I wondered. Could I have not settled down somewhere? Marry someone or run an Inn perhaps? I don''t know. Perhaps not. I''ve lived far too long. Longer than any human or dwarf. Far longer than anyone of mixed blood were supposed to. It was almost like I was a true elf myself, but I knew better for I was weak. Too weak, and without scope for improvement. Accepting my weakness was only the beginning. I was forced to watch lovers leave me, see friends and age and die as I remained unchanged. It felt like my entire life has been but a paralytic dream. I stood helplessly by as the same thing happened over and over. I could only watch, as a bystander in the story of my own life. But still, my life was okay, for my adventuring never got me into serious trouble. That was, it didn¡¯t right until this very moment. I''ve never been to war, I realised. I still didn''t know what came over me when I took that request in my moment of carelessness. I saw new faces, faces of people I was going to depend upon. There was a fool, an eccentric girl who claimed to be unkillable, a stiff famous guy in a super heavy suit which practically covered every inch of skin despite the summer heat, a pyromaniac, another guy who looked incredibly shady, and two identical sisters who''s eyes made them look like they murdered people for fun. It was a Queer bunch but we got along, we journeyed together, stayed at the famous Fort of the Lion''s Gate, the last line of defence against the darkness. Then finally, here we are. Here I am, in the middle of the most corrupted place in the world, where I felt the very air corrupting my body, my mind, my soul... Like a rain of acid slowly withering away at stone.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The sisters, Miya and Maya, were eaten alive. At least I think they were. I could see absolutely nothing with my own eyes because of all the dust that blew up into the air during the skirmish. There were quite a few water mages among the expedition including me and we nearly drained the earth dry of moisture while using our it. A dire mistake, for I lost sight of them. Their magic signals just blinked out of existence without any warning whatsoever, but I couldn¡¯t confirm, for we were walking blind. No-one even noticed. But I saw. I kept track of my allies, for even if it was weak, I still had the ability to see magic. My vision cut through the obscene darkness of this nightmarish land. I could not see our opponents for they were masked by the very corruption that spared not even the ambient mana that hung in the air. What magic that was left in the ground after everything our mages drew out was utterly poisonous. And again, we were walking blind. A dire mistake indeed. Despite everything, the others were doing pretty well. The shady guy, who went by J.B, wasn¡¯t really good at effectively dealing with the undead with his current skillset which seemed to be specialised against humanoids but he was good enough to keep my sorry ass safe whenever I expended myself. The others didn¡¯t have much going for teamwork. Namiel was too busy trying to impress me to actually be that useful, although I do admit he seemed a bit skilled with his swordplay. Rayola seemed to be good at slashing things blindly without any technique whatsoever but brute strength. It was almost like it was the first time she wielded a sword, an elven longsword at that which seemed even more authentic than the one my grandmother used. But it was surprisingly effective with her strength and the fact that she had no problem using every ounce of it in quick succession without tiring in the slightest. The damn girl was scary like that, and she seemed a bit¡­ emotionally confused. One moment she was scared stiff like a little girl and the next, she was a detached psycho. She also attracted every single monstrosity in view without fail, which were dealt with by the Knight in black like a god. The guy was the main reason we weren¡¯t overrun in the first place, and it was a given fact, for he was a Titled adventurer. I''ve heard of him from adventurers all over the place. He was a mysterious adventurer who rose to fame about three years ago after he eradicated an entire troll infestation all by himself, without even using fire magic or hiring a pyromancer. That was no feat to scoff at given their abominable strength and regeneration. He was made even more famous for sassing the Holy order in public. Everyone knows that the Holy order doesn''t take insults well, but he still had the guts to even call them a dying breed. The guy was insane, he liked to meddle in the political battleground without a single concern for his own life. He was known for a strange sense of justice despite his bloody methods of settling them. The nobles both adored him and considered him a gigantic pain in the ass. They couldn''t just get rid of him without heavy casualties, for he was powerful and had the necessary achievements to receive flak even if they succeeded. Never did I imagined I''d even meet him much less end up in the same group as him, although I did find him as quirky as with the case of the rest of my group. Leaving that aside, things were going fine. Well, relatively fine apparently from the screams I heard over the noise of all the artillery spells going off. That was untill I saw it, the serpent of nightmares. I was already feeling nauseated from the foul stench of rotting flesh, the miasma that tainted the air, and even the tireless onslaught of the owners of said stench and miasma. I''ve seen some monsters during my travels. Living monsters. Fearsome? Yes, very much so. But the things here not only made my skin crawl from fear, but actually identifying distinct humanoid parts and seeing what happened to what was once normal people and their bodies made just want to leave... Just leave this place forever. I wanted to just spend every last coin I had to travel to the other end of the empire and lock myself in a house. Maybe I could even immigrate to The Dawn. The Harpies and those Valaks really don''t really like humans and for good reason too but they don''t discriminate against most races since they were a fair bunch with principles. But that didn''t matter. Anything''s better than being anywhere close to those... THINGS I shuddered as I wondered what would happen to my corpse if I died here. I imagined my own form, twisted beyond recognition, crawling through these desolate lands as a mindless husk. It was undoubtedly the worst, unholy fate that any mortal being could ever suffer. But it was necessary to brave the risk. I needed the reward to become stronger. To master what limited abilities I had to perfection. I had sat idly by for far too long. I needed this. I HAD to see this ordeal through to the very end. Despite every bit of sanity within me screaming otherwise, I embraced the insanity that was fate and held my ground, for I had long since steeled my resolve. I nodded to J.B and rose as Namiel helped me up. Then I noticed that Rayola was acting strange. Well¡­ strange-er so as to speak. She seemed to have been slapped out of her ¡®battle trance¡¯ and now was rooted to her spot like a terrified child. Then she cursed in a low voice. ¡°Fuck.¡± I followed her gaze and saw the humongous monstrosity that was rocketing towards us. I barely had time to act as I spun around and dashed away like my life depended on it. Which in fact, it did. The rest of us saw what was heading towards us and followed suit. ¡°RAYOLA!¡± I screamed at her. ¡°GET YOUR STUPID ASS OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!¡± But it was for naught. She was as still as a statue. Nirlam the black Knight, Retreated as well, albeit much more reluctantly. The thing landed and the world erupted in a massive cloud of dust, and I heard a booming screech that made all my hair stand on their ends. As the undead monstrosity rose up once again, I saw it¡¯s form in full detail, Which was one memory I would rather never have had in the first place. Then to my horror, I saw what I thought to be Rayola disappearing behind rows of Jagged teeth. I was frozen in disbelief, shock and despair. The girl may have been strange, but she was a lovely young woman. Arrogant maybe, but she never deserved this gruesome fate. A good person died today, and I wished I knew her better. But I couldn¡¯t stay and mourn, for I felt the incoming influx of what was probably an artillery spell. Then I was suddenly assaulted by a multitude of such fluctuations in the Magic surrounding us. ¡°Oh No.¡± Realisation dawned on me. The monster was pretty hard to ignore in it¡¯s rampage. It was already being bombarded before it launched itself at us, and now the battlemages had caught sight of their target once again. In came the onslaught of explosions that shook the very ground I stood on while I stumbled my way away from this nightmare. Tears welled up in my eyes as I sought refuge from the stray bolts of destruction that rained down around me. Just as I thought that I was relatively safe, I heard a deafening boom which effectively destroyed my ears. I gasped as my eyes darted around to make sense in this white silence but it was in vain for my surroundings were lit by an white light that painted the landscape in a monotone scenery of burning death and dust. Suddenly a blast of pure force and heat sent me flying forwards. It burnt. I could feel my skin being singed by the heat as I fell on top of a loose boulder. I tumbled down and rolled till I eventually came to a stop. My entire body ached. I bled from bruises and wounds over the entirety of my skin. I coughed out some blood as I tried to rise up but ended up failing miserably. I kept trying but I knew I wouldn¡¯t make it. I was too tired, and anyone who collapses here now is never going to live to tell the tale. It was an absolute truth. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I couldn¡¯t open my eyes, but I felt a familiar vibration reaching my ear but I couldn¡¯t hear it, if not only a bit vaguely. Maybe someone was trying to speak to me, but I couldn¡¯t tell. The pain was blotting out all my senses. I felt a cold wet sensation passing through my lips, into my mouth and down my throat. Suddenly, the searing pain be replaced by a much lesser but irritating one. But it was one which I recognised, for I had experienced it countless times. The effects of a healing tonic. And judging by the scale of the irritation I felt over my entire body, it was undoubtedly a high grade one. I slowly opened my eyes to see J.B crouching over me. He said something but I couldn¡¯t hear it. ¡°DID YOU GIVE ME YOUR POTION?¡± He said something again, but I couldn¡¯t even read his face properly under his dark hood. ¡°I¡¯M SORRY, THAT WAS A STUPID QUESTION, THANK YOU!¡± His shoulders slumped with a sigh and before I could speak up again, he forced the rest of the contents of the yellow bottle in his hands down my throat. I nearly choked, but this time, I could hear more clearly. Before I could say anything, he put a finger on my lips and told me in a low, gravelly voice ¡°Don¡¯t shout, it¡¯s annoying.¡± I nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± I whispered. He gave me his hand and helped me up. I looked down at my body. It was a complete mess. My clothes were in tatters, my armour bent in several locations, but still in one piece. I took one hell of a beating if I got elven steel to this condition. My wounds were closing at an astonishing pace, almost all the minor wounds closed up like nothing ever happened but there were large scars left behind by the deeper and larger ones. I probably have to spend a whole lot to get a healer to fix them, and with the amount of savings I had, I¡¯d rather live with the proof of my shame. I stared at J.B. He wore a long black coat, a bit similar to the one Rayola wore, but it looked more¡­ professional. He covered his head with a large hood which was attached to the worn cloak he wore and maintained like a family heirloom. I saw a wide variety of one handed weaponry strapped to his lean form using some sort of wierd body wraps with specialised straps. But like I said, he seemed incredibly shady, almost and he was wearing a costume to flaunt the fact. He was a nice guy despite all that, even a bit shy. It was conflicting. But I turned my mind towards other matters. I gazed around. There were not a single undead to be seen. I saw Namiel holding up Francis, who seemed to be the worst off among all of us. He was missing a leg. The bleeding was stopped by a potion, but it will never regenerate entire limbs. That¡¯s really going to cost a lot to get fixed and I¡¯m pretty sure that none of us except for maybe Nirlam would be in possession of such a huge amount and I¡¯m pretty sure that it¡¯s not nice to ask for such huge loans from acquaintances. So thus was my friend¡¯s fate. He shall never be able to fight again. Wait, Nirlam¡­ My eyes scanned the warzone in search of him and eventually stopped at a lone figure standing in front of the charred remains of the monster. It was Nirlam. He stood in silence, alone. Mourning for his friend perhaps. He and Rayola did, get along well after all. Even I felt a sense of loss growing within me as I watched. I slowly made my way towards him, but he abruptly turned and made way towards us. ¡°She was a nice girl.¡± I sobbed. Nirlam nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry.¡± I shook my head. ¡°It is, Nirlam, you don¡¯t have to keep it in, we all miss her too.¡± He seemed perplexed. It was like we weren¡¯t on the same page. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine¡± The poor guy¡­ Then I heard Rayola¡¯s voice. ¡°HEY, NIRLAM, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING?¡± She was shouting. I was frozen in place, my brain not processing what I just heard. Both J.B and Namiel seemed as equally stunned as I was. We were speechless, our minds blank. Then Nirlam went back lumbered back to the large carcass and shot back. ¡°You Look like a grilled fish, milady, and you¡¯re buck naked. Have some shame and put on some clothes before you crawl back up will you?¡± ¡°GAH! WHERE¡¯S MY POUCH? WHERE¡¯S MY SWORD? AND EWWWWWW! WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH ALL THIS BLACK GOOP? WAIT¡­ WAS I NOT EATEN ALIVE? HOW COME I¡¯M BURNT?¡± Nirlam seemed pensive for a moment. ¡°Artillery spell.¡± He replied. ¡°FUCK!¡± she cursed out in frustration again. Then I saw movement within the charred remains of the monster as Rayola, or what was left of her, rose up slowly. She seemed like a skeleton wrapped in charred flesh, with a few patches of her white skin still covering parts of her face and neck. It was grotesque, pitiful and a horrifying fate for anyone to endure. But something was strange. As I took in more details, I couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how anyone could be even the slightest bit alive if they even had a fraction of the damage the girl had received. Then to my astonishment, in her body, even as it was still smoking, the burnt flesh was starting to get¡­ unburnt. Her body slowly reversed the damage as she sat still, unmoving. Then I heard her speak again. ¡° I can¡¯t believe how I managed to avoid fatal damage to the head through all that. Being unconscious while healing is what I would have preffered. Right now, my body just feels numb, but as soon as it recovers enough, the pain is going to return again." Her shoulders dipped "I¡¯m useless at the moment. Can you help me out a bit Nirlam? I can¡¯t find my bag of holding. It''s missing! So is my sword, I really need them back.¡± He nodded before wading over to her and then started to rummage through the charred mass of undead filth. The rest of us just watched, dumbstruck and mouths hanging as Rayola started to assume a more human form till she reached the point where she almost looked back to normal, not including the fact that she was still charred black with burns. Suddenly her face contorted and she doubled over in pain and started to scream like what one normally would, if they were set on fire. She screamed and sobbedas she thrashed wildly, gasping. It was so heart-breaking that it knocked us out of our trance. Despite everything, she was still human¡­ well sort of, but the fact is that she still felt pain, and it hurt like how it does for everybody else. She was not a tireless monster¡­ I hoped at least. I dashed over to her shuddering form and tried to set her straight and calm her as she healed. It was a little bit effective for the screaming stopped. Nirlam returned with a sword and a large fancy purse and placed it next to Rayola, before dashing out into the dust once again, undoubtedly fighting more undead along with J.B and Namiel who seemed hard pressed to keep them at bay. It took nearly an entire hour before the girl completely recovered. Mostly because of the lingering pain and trauma. Rayola slowly got to her feet. She was still shaking. After glanced around, still a bit disoriented and flustered, she eventually saw her Purse and bent over and grabbed it. She then started to rummage through what I was shocked to know, was a high quality bag of holding. I was even more shocked to see her pulling out another coat, identical to the one she just wore before it was destroyed. She kept spares of the same coat? Who even does that? I shook my head. I stared at her. Her white hair billowed around her as she held her Longsword while wearing nothing but a black coat. It was not that revealing, but it was enough to figure out her situation below. It almost seemed lewd. She gave out a long sigh. ¡°I look really inappropriate right now don¡¯t I?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to that, so I just shrugged. She shook her head before sighing again. She seemed to do that a lot lately. ¡°Can you fight?¡± I asked her. I saw her blade trembling as she spoke slowly. ¡° I don¡¯t know. The whole experience is just a bit too much to take in right now. I¡¯m probably useless at the moment.¡± I nodded with understanding. Not many live to tell the tale after they get to be chewed out and then blown up in quick succession. Francis whistled as he stared at Rayola. ¡°I wish I had regeneration like that, must be nice not having to rely on a healer. Anyway, it¡¯s okay if you can¡¯t fight right now, so can¡¯tI. Stay here with me for the time being while you recover.¡± Both rayola and I nodded at the idea. Just as I was about to help the others out, I heard the sound of people talking as they made their way towards us. I was overjoyed. Help was on it¡¯s way! I saw three explorers wade towards us. They were the three in charge of communications if I remember correctly. I saw a fellow half-elf call out to us. ¡°Hey, you there, yea you, girl! What''re your casualties? You people safe?¡± ¡°One of us got was seriously wounded. He¡¯s not in trouble at the moment, but he¡¯s an easy target out here in the battlefield!¡± He spoke to an orb and made his way towards us. ¡° The damn dust is messing up all visuals on the field, we had to split up and get the platform to deliver the wounded directly until reinforcements arrive.¡± He explained before he glanced at me. Then he froze mid-sentence. He stared in disbelief at me. ¡°Alliana? You¡¯re Alliana right? What the hell are you doing here of all places? And what happened to your magic reserves? ¡± I shook my head and wondered how this guy knew that name. ¡°No, she¡¯s my grandmother, but how do you know her? She died a long time ago.¡± The guy let out a sad sigh. ¡°So that¡¯s¡­ When I saw that armour, and your face, I thought maybe¡­¡± ¡°It still doesn¡¯t explain how you knew her.¡± He paused. ¡°She was my childhood teacher back in the village.¡± I was confused. ¡°What do you even mean by that? She died nearly half a century ago-¡° Rayola cut me off mid-sentence . ¡°Oh, he probably does, know her. The guy¡¯s a pureblood elf, even if he¡¯s a bit defective. So there¡¯s a high chance he knows her if you grandma was one too.¡± The man grimaced before turning. ¡°And who the hell are you calling defective you retarded excuse of a vamp-¡° He froze in his spot for the second time in a row. ¡°Rayola.¡± She grinned. ¡°Hey Nael, I knew it was you I saw back then!¡± So the guy¡¯s name was Nael. He just sighed. ¡°I knew you would be involved in all this mess one way or the other.¡± ¡°Aww, you meanie! you didn¡¯t even contact me when you KNEW I was here! I could have introduced you to my adventurer buddies !¡± He shuddered. ¡°I¡¯ll pass on that.¡± His eyes swept over Rayola before he frowned. ¡°Is this your desperate attempt at feminine charm? I can¡¯t say it¡¯s not effective but you look like a slut by the way. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s not how you set an intimidating presence.¡± Rayola palmed her face. ¡°Can¡¯t you be, like nice to people at least once, Nael?¡± He smiled before his eyes ended upon the sword that Rayola was wielding. ¡°Wait¡­ isn¡¯t that MY sword? Why do YOU have it?¡± He asked in disbelief. ¡°I stole it from Fluffy, mind you! I don¡¯t care if it belonged to you before then. You should''ve thought about that when you decided to give it to a BEAR! It¡¯s MINE now.¡± Nael opened his mouth in objection but closed it on second thought. ¡°I¡¯ll lend it to you temporarily. But you better return it when I ask for it.¡± Raloya stuck out her tongue at him. ¡°So, are there any sightings of the abomination yet?¡± I enquired. He glanced at me. ¡°To be honest we do, actually. The Hero made contact once again. It was a bit too good at sculpting the Ground around it for us to actually deal some damage, but It¡¯s good to say that the thing isn¡¯t winning. I heard the rumble of lighning and bright flashes of golden light in the distance. ¡°So, it¡¯s begun then?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes¡± he replied. Rayola laughed. ¡°Oh, is that so? What''re we doing here idling then? Let¡¯s get going! I¡¯ll the others.¡± With that, the girl took off into the dust. I closed my eyes for a few moments before steeling my resolve once again. ¡°Okay then, Let¡¯s kill ourselves an Abomination!¡± 0.13; Light and Shadow ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .:: The War of the Skies ::. Once upon a time, there begun a battle. A battle for the right over the heavens, whichshook the world below. A war of seven armies that rent the skies aglow With the light of a thousand suns, And cast over the world below, a pall of Shadow. There rose, the moths from the lands of paradise To challenge the dragons of the eternal Pride. There stood, the lady of the endless night, Whose white wings blotted out the sun. And to her challenge, answered the king of dragons, The great serpent, and on his tail, came the warriors of the dawn, the dusk, And the armies of the unnamed and the damned¡­ The battle lasted for days, months, years, decades, centuries, millenniums. Aeons. But still it raged on, from one side of the globe to the other and the world watched as silent spectators, as alliances were made and broken. As Nations rose and fell, Never attaining what they yearned for, in the wide blue yonder. The skies were cold and stained with death. And one by one, they started to fall. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -::- Schatten -::- .:: A memory ::. [ I stood in the heart of a cathedral. Or that would be the closest thing I could associate it to in human tongue. For us, we called it the hall of remembrance, for it was an eternal reminder of our defeat, as well as our greatest victory. It was a large spacious room with a ceiling of wax that loomed hundreds of feet above, the entire structure was held up in place by ivory pillars said to be made from the bone of an ancient dragon slain by the Grand Queen herself. My eyes scanned the room with undisguised awe, as I saw the countless arches and ringed the entire hall, all the way to the top. And behind them, I saw figures shuffling in the darkness, all of them eager to learn of my verdict. I sensed a ripple in my awareness. My mind was jerked back to the centre of the hall, where a lone figure sat on her throne behind numerous veils of silk. Stained purple, trying to mask the legendary poison that sought to escape. An oppression like no other started to weigh down on my mind. I couldn¡¯t think straight, my vision blurred, and I felt inferior in every way an individual could ever manage to hope. Such was the unimaginable glory and power that emanated from the being in front of me. An existence that I feared and admired from the very bottom of my heart. It was someone I grew looking up to, someone who had my undivided loyalty, but one which I was forced to uphold in rather questionable means. It was for that reason that I was here today, wings crippled and limbs bound. If not for my impending demise, it would have been a memory which I would have cherished, with every fibre of my being. But the fact that she was here, meant that rather than being honoured at such a presence, it spoke of the weight of my actions. That it was indeed as evil as I knew it was, and that I should be punished for it. I always loved my people, my nation, my Queen, but all that I¡¯ve seen goes against everything that had been taught to me in the hive and I acted upon my own principles. The Queen rose behind the silk screen, and tears rolled down my eyes as I saw her silhouette rise. A dark shadow spread as I saw the shape of her glorious wings unfolding. Two of her left arms raised towards me. A melodious voice rang through my mind. ¡° Speak.¡± It was merely one word, but it broke my heart. ¡°State you reasoning, or your defence, if you will.¡± My eyes erupted in tears which I¡¯ve held in for so long, and my voice broke as I slowly tried to communicate, like a mere hatchling who was learning the ways of the world. ¡° I don¡¯t have anything to say in my defence, My Queen. As much as I am honoured to have you decide my fate, I am as guilty as I am told to be. The crimes I have committed are too grievous. I¡¯ve harmed the hive in pursuing my own ideals, my own goals, my own selfishness. I have nothing to say that will fix the irreparable damage I have inflicted upon our kind.¡± There was silence,and I heard the sound of fabric rustling, and I was shocked to see the Queen parting two of the inner veils, just enough so that I could see her more clearly. I saw her beautiful, perfect form, her humanoid figure, clad in glistening white carapace and four arms covered in delicate strands of fine sensory hair, and of all the most famous, her wings. It was like our names suggested, a pair of moth¡¯s wings. It was in no way an insult to call us moths, for we were very akin to them in some ways, but even that compliment was wasted on what I saw before me. I saw four pairs of glowing eyes. It was but a pattern, but it was so full of power, so full of life, so¡­ full of emotion, that it had me completely entranced. They were still folded, but I could make out the ripples that ran along it¡¯s surface, plusating as it reflected the queen¡¯s every thought. It was like I was but a mere insect gazing into the eyes of a great beast. Finally, my head raised and our eyes finally met. Her eyes radiated even more deep power than her wings. Power that sought to break free, power that unsettled the very air, which I could feel even so far away. The outer silk was starting to stain purple as well, soaking up the poison her majesty produced even without any conscious effort. I stared at her in awe, for before me, stood the First Queen. The Queen of Moths, known to outlanders as the dreaded lordess of Venom, Veleno the Maleficent. A ruthless monster from one¡¯s darkest nightmares to those who dare oppose her. But a kind ruler to her own kin. I heard her voice once again as I gazed at her antennas that leaned over her silky white hair and to my surprise, saw that she was surprisingly tranquil. Maybe she had learnt how to control them over her long life. It was very much in contrast to my own, which were flailing all over the place like I was drowning in my own emotions, Which pretty much summed up my mental situation accurately. ¡° I know what you¡¯ve done, child and I¡¯ve yet to forgive you for it either, but on the other hand, you¡¯ve revealed something that has lain hidden from my sight for so long. I am not omniscient, the knowledge of what my own people have been doing behind my back, their true thoughts, their true voice, was hidden from me for so long. Hearing it in such a manner was quite astonishing to say the least. For that, I wish to thank you, despite whatever happens afterwards.¡± My head dipped in gratitude and a deep sadness. Even if I die here today, at least I¡¯ve fulfilled my duty. ¡° Thank you, my Queen.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Her hand let go of the silkscreens, enveloping her form in shadows once again. ¡° You are not forgiven but your actions spoke for your loyalty, even if they harm the very principle behind the hive itself. I was made aware of many loopholes in the system I had laid down here myself, and that is but my own fault. Thus I decree that you, Schatten of the sixty-eighth generation shall be banished onto the mortal realms, where you shall reflect on your actions, and where you shall die, on your own terms. ¡± My mind went blank. Was I not going to be executed? My head rose with so many questions that it nearly made me forget my place. The mortal lands? Weren''t those the Landmasses down below? Banishment? I¡¯ve never heard of such a punishment before¡­ I froze. The Queen¡¯s words rang in my head. ¡°Where you shall die on your own terms¡± I mouthed. I was going to be abandoned.Alive with this heavy guilt despite my crimes just because I was spared by the Queen.. In some ways, it was even worse than death. But before I could voice my protests, I noticed that the queen had disappeared. And then my vision blacked out. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I slowly opened my eyes, escaping the memory that replayed in my mind for the hundredth time. It was all so surreal. I stared at the rays of light that broke through the canopy of the forest above me, They washed the forest floor in motes of light that reflected off the dead leaves and ferns that dotted the place. I closed my eyes once again. It had been nearly a year since my ¡®banishment¡¯. I¡¯ve already made contact with a few locals of the realm. They seemed a bit strange, for they looked extremely similar to our own kind in shape, but they lacked our wings, and also an entire pair of arms. It was a bit hard for me to adjust to seeing just two hands attached to such a similar torso, and it seemed like they found me strange in the same manner as well. I had to wrap my wings around me like a piece of clothing, and keep a pair of hands folded up at all times. It was extremely stressful, but it had to be done. I was in no way the strangest thing in these parts apparently, but I still stood out far too much for me to remain comfortable. Then I realised that it wasn¡¯t enough either. Despite the similarities of our head and our torso, they had no antennas on their heads, nor did they have any carapace, nor any sensory hairs on their arms. They even used some sort of vocal vibrations to communicate, and I didn¡¯t know a single word of their language. If not for the telepathic tether I could attach onto most sentient beings, I would have had a hard time here. Even still, they found it unnerving, so I had to slowly learn to use my own throat to make sounds. It was odd and I made a lot of squeaky noises at first, but I managed to figure some words out. It all felt so alien to me, but I guess I was the one that stood out here. Eventually, I got some baggy clothing and a cloak, with an attached hood to cover myself up. It worked to a certain extent, and I wouldn¡¯t stand out unless there was someone intent on exposing my disguise, which was still a concern I had to worry about. The fact that confused me the most were their genders. It was a bit hard to differentiate it at first, but then I started to understand some characteristic traits, but even so, they differentiated greatly from race to race and I had much to learn yet. That also meant all of them were unique in appearance. There was ALWAYS some variations, no matter how minor it may have been. It was the strangest concept so far for me, who was used to seeing very identical features on nearly everyone around me. To see such large variations in nearly every single part of the visible body, it felt too chaotic in contrast to uniformity I felt back in the hive. I was a stranger to change, to individuality, to the feeling of ¡®uniqueness¡¯. I made such drastic changes in my own realm with only a simple idea that differentiated from the norm, and the resulting aftereffects were catastrophic. Thus I found it hard to even comprehend how every single individual down here could be so¡­ different, yet live on with each other so¡­ peacefully. I wanted to understand them more, to understand this world that was hidden from us all this time, properly and thoroughly as much as I possibly could in what remained of my lifespan. I do not know if I will die of age, or if we aged at all. The first Queen had remained long enough unchanged but I couldn¡¯t draw a conclusion from it since ¡®Dreadlords¡¯ were always a bit different from those of their kind anyways. The mortals here seemed to regard death as a certainty, and now I understood why they were called as such. Mortals. For me, I would have lived until I exhausted my use, and then either die in battle, or willingly step down to be ¡®rewritten¡¯ after my allotted time had been used up. It had everything to do with the very reason I was forced to act according to the silent voices of my kin, why I was forced to follow my own ideals. But here, things were different. Too different for my liking. As I sat on a boulder overlooking the small cliff that hung over the forest below me, I stared at the setting sun with an air of melancholy. I was alone here. Lonely. Suddenly, a butterfly flew into my vision. I tried to swat it away, but to no avail. I hated butterflies. The poor insect didn¡¯t do me any wrong, but they reminded me too much of our cousins, the Fae. The tiny, annoying troublemakers worked with ancient magic and were too chaotic to be actually reined in by anyone. Despite being so fundamentally similar in origin, we couldn¡¯t be any more different. We still had a handful of them back at the hive, and what memories I did have of them were those which I were not fond to speak of. ¡°You must really hate butterflies judging by your reaction.¡± I heard a soft voice behind me. I jumped up in absolute shock. I didn¡¯t hear anyone creeping up on me, but anyone who managed to do so without absolutely any presence or sound was a serious threat I had to deal with quickly. Or so I thought. What I saw before me made me freeze. It was the strangest sight I¡¯ve seen in my entire life, and that¡¯s really saying something. What was before me, was a human. But at the same time, it was not. It was a she, I thought, recognizing her as a female. The first thing that stood out was that she seemed to be made of fog, or a light mist, which seemed to flicker in the light. She was a levitating, disembodied mimicry of a human and it unnerved me for some reason. I didn¡¯t understand why I could make out her finer details when she was but a whisp of fog. I didn¡¯t understand how she could speak, or see, or even hear. I can''t even tell how we could even understand each other. There were so many questions that I didn¡¯t even know where to start. So I went with the simplest one. ¡°What are you?¡± The not-human raised an eyebrow. ¡°I could ask the same, but where are my manners, my name is Ilianora Licht and I¡¯m a spirit.¡± I was confused. ¡°What¡¯s a spirit?¡± The spirit seemed really surprised at that. ¡°Well, it means that I¡¯ve lived once and died, and that I failed to pass on.¡± ¡°Pass on?¡± ¡°My psyche didn¡¯t dissipate after my death, nor did it leave. I don¡¯t know what usually happens but in my case, My consciousness just condensed and here I am, roaming this forest for all eternity! Or at least till a necromancer chances upon here.¡± My mind couldn¡¯t even get around the concept she spoke of. Does that mean that Humans have a consciousness that was able to separate from their material bodies? Or was it a common feature in all creatures which just went unnoticed? I remembered what I was told of the curse of undeath. It might be something similar. ¡°What is life then?¡± I asked eventually. She beamed at me. Then she spun, with wisps of fog twirling around her like a skirt, and little motes of light glowed in the air as she laughed. ¡°I have no idea!¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± I was in disbelief. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t a ¡®spirit¡¯ like you know, having experienced death already?¡± She eyes narrowed. ¡° You mean to say that having known death, that I should know what life is? Sadly, I know the answer to neither, only the endless cold between my life and my second awakening which I was somehow dragged out of. I knew something happened in between but I remember not.¡± She floated higher as the wind around us started to blow dry leaves into the sky until we were surrounded by a swirling vortex of red and yellow. But I didn¡¯t feel fear, for there was no malice. Just pure joy, emotion, affection... and it¡¯s expression. Her voice started to resonate in the air as she sang. ¡°Life is not about where you go, But the voyage that takes you there. Savour that journey with those your heart calls for, And go where your life takes you! What have you experienced? What have you seen? What have you heard? Was your life exciting?¡± I remained silent. I didn¡¯t know the answer ¡° All I knew was war.¡± She frowned. ¡°Oh, then, mighty warmonger! Why did you wage your war so terrible? What did you fight for? Why do you seek the meaning of life?¡± I couldn¡¯t answer that either. Was it my ideals? Was it for my people? My Queen? Myself? ¡° I don''t know the answer.¡± ¡°Tsk tsk tsk.¡± She mocked me. ¡°Oh, then ignorant warrior, heed my words! Ask not what life is, nor what it means, For life is brilliance, life is wonder! Of all things to say, life is not enough, So it is not meant to be wasted.¡± She danced towards me in fluid movement of perfected grace. ¡°In life¡¯s path, all are connected, By the endless crossroads in the labyrinth of fate! And on every inch of it¡¯s brilliant way, There lies a moment.¡± Her voice was but a whisper, but I heard every word. ¡°A moment, however small, Shall always be brightly lit by others, Others very much like yourself.¡± Licht closed her eyes brought her hands together. ¡°Little memories, little tastes of joy, That makes your life sweet.¡± Her eyes shot open, and she pointed a finger at me as a sad smile spread across her face. ¡° At times when priorities stand strong, They do not give much to offer. But perhaps one day, you¡¯ll understand. That those memories are truly- Memories to carry unto the grave.¡± A single golden tear slid down her misty face. She caught it with her right index finger, inspected it, and with the same playful grace, she danced and flicked it at me, and it exploded in my face with brilliant flash of gold. I stumbled, clearly taken aback. Silence returned once again as the leaves settled back onto the ground. ¡° I¡¯ll show you something, follow me.¡± And like that, she drifted into the woods, carrying the same mysterious air with which she came. I hesitated for a moment. But I reminded myself that I didn''t have anything better to do right now. So I I followed my curiosity. 0.14; The Decisive Stand. .:: The Blighted Lands ::. -::- Nathan -::- Wave after wave of earth rushed towards us, like tidal waves that swept across a rocky coast. At the centre of the ripple, crouched the Abomination, who regarded all of us with extreme caution. It seemed to always be aware of it¡¯s surroundings and dealt with each and every attack that headed it¡¯s way with mechanical precision. I summoned all the magic around me to abide my will, and it obeyed. Motes of mana swarmed from the sky, the Earth, and even from my allies, who released it to aid me. All of it amassed at my spear, which glowed with a brilliant, scorching golden light that subdued all colour in the surroundings. I had to make each strike count, for magic was limited here and these lands will eventually be swept by a storm to even out the depression left behind by our war. I can¡¯t afford to drag this tomfoolery any longer. I remembered what happened a few hours ago. Just as I was preparing my ultimate skill, the abomination had apparently noticed something was wrong and it commanded it¡¯s Corpse demons to attack. How they escaped our notice all this time was still a mystery to me, and I had to deal with a whole bunch of them with the assistance of the archmages who fought along with me. That exhausted a considerable amount of our resources. Now I had to make this one strike count, or we will be forced into retreat, losing an opportunity like no other. I leapt, my right foot finding purchase on a large boulder in the shifting wave that rolled forward, and I used it as a platform to jump over it as the wave washed past me. In the corner of my eyes, I saw the mages trying to blast past them while warriors followed my lead, rushing over each wave with utmost effort lest they be buried beneath the rolling earth. Some succeeded, some¡­ not so much. We didn¡¯t even have a moment¡¯s reprieve, for the Abomination was unyielding. The Land was laid in corruption and the corruption was its to command. The ground before me erupted as I saw even more of the foul undead crawl out, they were relentless. Very much so. I held back. I couldn¡¯t strike right now. I bit my lip as the charged towards me. Suddenly, their bodies exploded as they were pelted with enchanted projectiles. My eyes caught a squad of explorers rolling over a wave to my right. They were holding long metal contraptions reminiscent of a crossbow. I didn¡¯t know what they were but they were formidable weapons of war, but sadly not enough to hinder the abomination. I saw the pellets bounce off harmlessly against its protective wards, barely a few made it past and scraped bits and pieces of useless flesh off it¡¯s already rotting form. I had to admit, the thing was proficient with it¡¯s magic. Even so, I thanked the explorers in my heart for clearing my way as I moved on. My fellow warriors managed to catch up to me as they readied their lances. A smile broke across my face as I saw a man run next to me. " Albert. " I nodded at him. He wore a silver plated armour that was wrapped over his form tightly by blue cloth. The insignia of a griffin etched into it, clearly visible despite the mud and dirt that did nothing to mask their unyielding form and composure. It was the very same uniform that I wore myself. He returned my nod with a smile which I could see under his gleaming helm, which was carved to look like an the head of a great eagle, with wings spread out on either side. Despite the situation, I smiled. I was happy for I was not alone, because I was surrounded by friends, Allies. They were called the Storm riders, The mages of the Eternal Storm, and known by many such names. It was a group that had existed since ages past, long before the adventurer¡¯s guild came to be, but were drafted into it during its rise. They even had deep ties with the Empire, and were made up by a few who were Knighted, made into nobility because of their actions, their very might. Even so, as much as the Empire pushes them around, they were still adventurers at heart. They were a legendary bunch, told of in fairy-tales to children, and I grew up listening to their might and glory. Such was why I persevered to join them as a trainee long before the signs of the Goddess manifested on that fateful night. Good memories. But I shook my head as I charged ahead. I needed to concentrate. The abomination, apparently noticed that it¡¯s effort to hinder us were for naught and so It raised it¡¯s six arms as the hand it the centre of it¡¯s torso flexed it¡¯s fingers. It shifted it¡¯s full attention towards me. Eyes all over it¡¯s body locked onto my movements. The mouth split across it¡¯s palm once again as it¡¯s Coarse voice boomed across the landscape. ¡°MORTAL PAWN, YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO BE HERE. FLEE OR FACE YOUR DEMISE!¡± I froze. I¡¯ve heard the creature speak once before, in its own outlandish language, but hearing it talk in the Empire¡¯s tongue made my brain freeze. But then again, This makes things easier. ¡° CREATURE, It doesn¡¯t MATTER if I¡¯m not worthy, or if I am not meant to be here. I didn¡¯t come here to prove ANYTHING to you, my purpose here is to deal you your end! ¡° The abomination crouched low, it¡¯s six arms holding it up just above the ground. The way it stood made me feel like I was staring at some sort of messed up spider. The tentacles that made up its lower body tensed and the red fog that rolled down it¡¯s body ceased. Instead, an eerie red glow started to emanate from inside of it. Suddenly, it burst into an explosion as black corrupted magic seemed to shroud it¡¯s form in what seemed like a misty armour. ¡° THEN SO BE IT, YOU SHALL SEE DEATH! ¡± With that, the thing switched back to it¡¯s native lingo and the accursed words of power rolled across the landscape once again. It that tore apart my head, my mind started to cloud and my confidence started to break as I held on to my sanity as the thing continued. My grip tightening around my spear as I tried to shake off the feeling of dread as I dashed forward, halting the thing in it¡¯s chant. Then it struck it¡¯s fists down on the earth, sending tremors up my feet. Suddenly, pillars of rock propelled into the sky like spears thrust into the air, trying to impale me where I stood. I glanced around and noticed that I was suddenly surrounded by a forest of earthen trees. I realised my mistake too late. ¡° I went too far ahead. ¡° I cursed under my breath, as the creature had succeeded in separating me from my allies, who were busy trying to whittle down the advance of the rising pillars that threatened to strand everyone in the middle of an unfavourable terrain, and impale them while doing so. My situation was worse. Way worse. Mainly because I was here, alone with that THING. My fate was looking bleak, but my spear was still saturated with power, and I could probably kill it with a clean strike, but the Abomination had lots of cover to hide behind now. One wrong move could cost me my life. A sinister laugh echoed around me as I spun around, searching for the source. The creature was speaking and I heard it¡¯s whispers from behind, promising death. I spun around to see nothing. Then I felt a presence behind me again, as well as impending sense of doom. I twirled around, only to be greeted by empty air once again. The atmosphere was heavy with the bloodlust as the creature focused its attention towards me. I bit my lip.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. There was a crash to my left, and I spun around in a reflex, nearly letting go of my spear in a thrust, only to pull back at the last moment. There was nothing there. My memory flashed back to how the Abomination swam through the Earth, cutting through it like a sword. It was indeed fast, and it was taunting me into wasting my only chance at killing it. Sweat dripped down my face, as my attention was diverted to my own self for the briefest of moments. My heart was beating like a stampede of horses, threatening to tear itself out of my chest. I tied to calm down, forcing myself to take longer breaths, and I slowly started to become calmer, more aware, my mind clearer. I need to be at my calmest right now, or I will fail miserably. Blood tricked down from bruises on my thigh. I have no idea on how I got those, and I was pretty sure I made it all the way here unscathed. ¡° Maybe I scraped myself while dodging the pillars. ¡° I shook my head, and was pleased to notice that there were no other damage. Although¡­ my pauldrons were bent out of shape, and it obstructed my movement a little bit, so I used my free hand to unstrap them off my shoulders. The glinting metal fell to the ground, breaking the eerie silence that was cast over the distant explosions from afar. The others were probably pushed back significantly. I cursed my luck once again. How can this creature be so powerful? It was beyond reason! But then again, if it was using the corrupted magic that saturated these parts, then it had plenty to go on. All it needed after that was a proper circuit to process it for it¡¯s use, and it probably had plenty of time modifying it¡¯s own body, which was obvious when considering it¡¯s appearance. It¡¯s not like a normal living creature would even have six arms, tentacles for legs and a hand for a head. It was so obvious that I cursed myself for realising it so late. Perhaps the mages had already made that connection but it''s not like it changes things. I might have accidentally skimmed over it too. I really need to pay more attention to reports but my predominantly inattentive brain doesn¡¯t help things. Maria did say that I was the stupidest hero to ever walk the world. Maybe she¡¯s right. I stood still, clearing my mind of all distractions once again as my eyes darted across the landscape. Suddenly, I heard the grinding noise of more pillars shooting up in close proximity as I spied an explorer platform veering into view. My jaw dropped in shock. I was absolutely flabbergasted. The explorer platforms were employed for vital communications and they¡¯re DEFINITELY not intended for use in combat. They would never use them to travel right into the heart of a battlefield, because it meant certain death for those riding it as well as a waste of expensive Magitech! Then things made sense as I saw who were riding it. ¡°Adventurers.¡± I tried to shoo them away but then I saw a man clad in bulky black armour decorated with black pieces of cloth and was astonished to see him leaping off, onto a rising pillar, and then use it as a foothold to hurtle himself to the next and continue towards me with such skill and agility I had never witnessed before in my entire life, even so with such seemingly heavy armour. Even the Winged warriors of the Dawn couldn¡¯t possibly be so agile! The others, whom I recognised as two half-elves, one of whom was an explorer and the other some kind of a mage, which was strange. But then again, I was an exception to the limitataions of half elves so I couldn''t really say much. Then there was a strange woman with completely white features and a guy who seemed to be some sort of blade wielder. It was a party which was absolutely out of place. Another pillar shot up and I watched as the platform swerved to avoid it, sending it spinning onto the ground, completely out of balance, threatening to send its riders falling to their doom. I kept track of it in the corner of my eye as it disappeared from my sight. I shook my head. THAT¡¯S why you don¡¯t use levitation platforms in the middle of a battle. The man in the black armour landed next to me on both feet, perfectly in balance. If not for my current predicament, I would have applauded him for his skill. Without any prompt, he dashed next to me and stood behind me, back to back. He spoke in a deep voice. ¡°Hero, we may have underestimated the scale of this monster¡¯s prowess in magic I see.¡± I nodded. ¡° Call me Nathan, please. And yes, it seems that way.¡± His horned helmet dipped and he spoke again. ¡° Of course, good sir, I am known as Nirlam.¡± I paused. ¡° Nirlam the Defier? I¡¯ve heard about you. You¡¯re quite famous, you know. I admire your courage.¡± He paused as well. ¡° It is indeed an honour to receive praise from one such as yourself, Hero and ¨C¡° Our conversation was cut short as the creature¡¯s voice echoed across the Pillars that surrounded us. To my confusion, Nirlam suddenly dashed towards my Right, in the complete opposite direction of where the voice seemed to originate from, and he struck a pillar the width of a house, shattering its base as if it was glass. I admit the lad has some strength, but why- ¡°Oh¡± I mumbled. Several dozen feet above Nirlam, I saw the pillar ripple as a seven hands emerged. Six of them gripped the sides of the fissure, and propelled itself forward, leaping over the both of us as the pillar collapsed. The falling stone didn¡¯t cause too much disturbance as it was caught and held in place by the adjacent one. Even so, It raised a fair bit of dust which washed over all of us. For a tense, few moments, I stood still waiting for the dust to clear. I heard shuffling and the scratching of multiple bodies on rock as what I assumed to be the Abomination started to circle me. The atmosphere shifted as I felt the wind rippling around me. I readied my spear to strike but held back as I made out Nirlam through the cloud of dust as he swung his blade, cleaving through the dust and almost-, ALMOST landing a critical strike on the thing¡¯s central hand. It stopped its dash midway and used its six arms to propel itself backwards like a spider. Was Nirlam a sensory type? I haven''t heard of anything of the sort and he was too strong for it as well, but his actions speak otherwise. The Abomination didn¡¯t attack again. We waited for the dust to settle down. After a tense minute that felt like an hour, my eyes could finally make out the Abomination¡¯s silhouette. The thing was probably low on magic as well, as it most likely expended an astronomical amount to raise this forest of pillars. It wasn¡¯t the optimal move but the most effective one. Its magic was nearly depleted, just like me. And Nirlam being here didn¡¯t make things any better for it. However, considering it''s sheer strength alone, it was enough to end things as a stalemate. I took a deep breath before readying my stance once again. My right hand wrapped around my spear and my left stabilising my balance as I prepared my skill. Time seemed to stretch on as I heard my heart beat, felt my sweat dripping off my face. My knuckles were white from the intensity at which I held the spear. The ache in my arms and back flared up in intensity. Even the bruises on my left thigh were acting up but I ignored all of it. I forced myself to. My thoughts shut down as my mind zoned in on my sole objective. I was entranced in a moment of focus so intense that it felt like the world had come to a standstill. I dashed forward. And so did the Abomination. It crouched onto the ground like an arachnid and glided over the Ground like a bird skimming the skies. And then we clashed. Hands tried to grapple me from all directions. I blocked, parried, dodged, countered and swung with the hilt of my spear, it¡¯s magic tense, ready to explode but still reigned in. I needed to find an opening to strike, for it¡¯s arms, despite the obvious signs of decay, felt like it was made of diamond. I shouldn¡¯t risk any damping effect whatsoever. I rolled underneath it and twisted upwards to drive the spear into it¡¯s torso but the abomination planted all six of it¡¯s arms into the ground and it heaved. It lifted it¡¯s entire writhing form up into the air like a drawbridge being raised and twisted its body, positioning it¡¯s colossal form down on the ground behind it once again with graceful ease. It released it¡¯s six arms and they spun like a top around it¡¯s torso as it¡¯s twisted form straightened itself while I heard the sounds of countless bones snapping and grinding against each other. It was unbelievably flexible, something I never expected. I was too careless. I dashed to Its left while Nirlam moved to it¡¯s right as we tried to flank it, but it just pushed itself off the ground, throwing itself backwards to escape our grip. It¡¯s central hand, protected by the cover of antlers, split across the middle of it''s palm as its mouth opened and started chanting a spell. I was shocked. The rate at which it amassed magic was phenomenal. And we were too far away from it to interfere. As I tensed myself, preparing for the worst, a boulder came out of nowhere and crashed into the creature, bending two of its arms into an odd angle and interrupting it as it¡¯s form skidded across stone from the force of the impact. My eyes darted to my right as I saw the girl with white hair lifting another boulder without tire and throwing it once again. This time, the abomination was prepared as it skilfully dodged the flying rock and its hands straightened itself as if nothing ever happened. I saw the biggest frown I¡¯ve ever seen spread across its face as it regarded the girl. Then, ignoring both me and Nirlam, it shot towards the girl like she was suddenly the most important thing in the world. The girl, obviously startled, paused before hurling the boulder she held. Then continued, dashing into the cover of the pillars, running and screaming "I''M SORRY!" like a frightened child. The abomination, for whatever reason it may have held, was so immersed in the chase that it completely shut out it¡¯s surroundings. It was then that Nirlam threw his weapon, which impaled itself onto the creature, right between the protective cover of the antlers and barely a few inches next to its central hand. That stopped the Abomination in its tracks while I heard Nirlam curse himself for missing. It finally brought it¡¯s full attention back to us as the girl ran past us, and took up an elven sword with both hands, holding it up awkwardly. The Abomination ROARED. The sound shook the ground below us, and the sheer power and vibrations of the emotion in it leaked reverberated in my lungs. I felt the denial, the RAGE, the unrestrained bloodlust that leaked into it¡¯s voice as it screamed at us. As if on cue, rain started to pelt down like knives from the sky. Lightning rumbled in the distance in synchrony with the monster as it thundered forward. My heart felt cold, numb. There was no longer any fear, for I was already terrified beyond reason, but like a cornered animal, I bared my teeth and dashed forward to meet its charge. This was a situation of life and death, and if I didn¡¯t do anything, I will certainly, DIE. I leapt, my spear¡¯s light pulsating as it grew in brightness till it washed the world in a golden light. And then I brought it down on the creature like a guillotine. No longer shall I care for openings, or rules of battle, or even my own safety. This one strike held every ounce of magic I had left in my body, and all that I had accumulated for this very moment. More than that, it held the hope that had been placed upon my shoulders by all those who believed in me, it held my rage, my sadness, my despair, my loss, the courage from overcoming all that terrified me to the bone and most important of all, it held, MY CONVICTION. And then I threw the spear with every ounce of strength I had left. ¡° You were a worthy opponent, despite your evil. ¡° I whispered, as I saw the spear passing through the Abomination''s antlers, cutting through it as if it was water. And then the world washed in white silence. -x- POLL; Quality and content. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey folks, I was wondering at how you all feel about my writing so far, the content too. It would encourage me to get some feedback and suggestions in the comments below! Maybe there''s some issue on how my chapters are presented, maybe it''s the pace, maybe it''s my style. I really need some feedback here! The lack of them feels disheartening so far. I can''t improve my work without understanding different perspectives and opinions you know! I''ll respond accordingly as best as I can!Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.15; The Party. -::- Lian -::- My mind was fuzzy. I opened my eyes sluggishly and saw¡­ nothing. The world around me was a complete blur, and it seemed that my hearing was affected as well. Blinking several times, I tried to clear my vision but to no avail. After a painfully long moment of concentration, my vision slowly came into focus, and the ringing in my ears dulled a bit in intensity. Eventually, I sat up with a grunt, glancing around me. I saw wooden planks, a couple of barrels and another body next to me. It was Rayola, apparently asleep. I studied her delicate features as I rose, her soft blue lips, her unearthly colour, her blinding white hair¡­ everything stood out as I stared at her intently. My concentration was broken as the floorboards below me shook, throwing me off balance and forcing me back on my knees. It was quickly followed by another similar bump. It was then, that I noticed where we were. Or rather, In what. I was inside a large supply wagon with around twenty square feet of usable space. Maybe I was wrong, but then again, I don¡¯t trust my vision right now. I slowly moved to the rear end of as my hands slowly grasped the cloth that obstructed the view of the world outside. I pulled it back and blinked from the scorching rays of the sun that flashed on my face. After focusing a bit, I noticed that we were outside the borders of the blighted lands, as was obvious from the lack of corruption in the magic around us. It was a tremendous relief. On further inspection, I observed that we were not among the adventuring group we arrived with, but rather, we were in the midst of the hero¡¯s group, the knights of the Eternal Storm! I was flabbergasted. Why were we here? - UGH! My head pulsated in searing beats of pain that rose and fell in synchrony with my heartbeats. Suddenly, memories cascaded down on my already fragile mind, making my heard throb even more painfully. Images flashed before my eyes. I saw the undead centipede, the explosions, the explorer, the forest of pillars¡­ the Abomination. I shuddered as I recalled what had happened. We took off using the explorer¡¯s levitation platform despite Nael¡¯s protests just to be swatted out the sky as if we were but flies. Then¡­ the rest was fuzzy. I crouched back to check on Rayola. My hand hovered over to her forehead and I slowly placed it down to check her temperature. Why did I even bother? She was the same Rayola who survived an artillery spell! But as our skin made contact, my breath caught in my lungs. She was cold. My quivering hand hovered over her mouth to check her breath, but instead of the warm rhythmic circulation of warm air, I only found cold stillness. I shot to her hand and brought her wrist into my palms and I grasped her delicate hand in every possible direction, checking for a pulse. My heart raced. It was cold¡­ Her pulse was dead, and she lay there, her arm cold against my warm skin. I let out a cry of shock and despair! My friend, Rayola, the girl who claimed to be unkillable was lying before me, dead beyond doubt! I scrambled to the back, tears welling up in my eyes as my fingers started to part the curtain of cloth to alert the guards but I froze as I heard a groan behind me. As I slowly turned around, I was startled by a loud crash, followed by a whole bunch of curses. Nael was sprawled underneath Namiel, which was a pretty bad place to be in at the moment. Our useless warrior was apparently indulging in a pretty indecent dream from what I could tell as he tried to grope Nael, who just woke up to the same and was now fighting tooth and nail to escape. He eventually weaselled his way out, breath ragged and with a horrified expression on his face. He put a finger on his lips and threatened me to keep quiet. But he let it go as he inspected my unresponsive expression. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked, worry clearly in his tone. ¡° Rayola¡¯s dead.¡± I said in a hushed voice as I told him. They were friends from what I knew, and I didn¡¯t want to be the one to break it to him but... I stifled a cry as I wiped my tears away. He froze for a second before bursting out laughing and behind him, Namiel stirred, clutching his gut, before falling back into his stupor. Then her started to mumble deliriously about flowers. I was worried¡­ However, Nael¡¯s reaction was not something you¡¯d hear when told that his friend just died. Was he still in denial? Eventually, he managed to calm down, but still spoke with mirth. ¡°Rayola can¡¯t die even if she wanted to. I¡¯ve seen it happen at least twice and who knows how many times she managed to pull it off when she¡¯s not even around me. ¡° He stumbled over some crates and sat beside her, bending over and opening her eyelids. He inspected her dulled grey irises and seemed lost in thought. ¡°Her eyes aren¡¯t glowing, which is worrying.¡± He eventually spoke with a frown. The he continued ¡° But her body¡¯s fine so she¡¯s definitely okay. I heard from her that she takes some time to recover from any injuries to her head so it may be that.¡± I stuttered. ¡°But her pulse-¡° Nael waved me away with his hand and added, ¡°Just consider it to be one of her quirks.¡± I eyed him suspiciously, I wasn¡¯t convinced, and I continued to stare as he seemed to be lost in thought. But eventually, I let out a long breath as I slowly leaned back against a barrel and I slid to the shifting floor. I was startled as Nael moved towards Rayola and with a sudden burst of speed, started to shake her as her head bobbed around. It was almost comical to watch and just as I was about to step in, a glow orange lit up in her eyes and she kicked, sending Nael flying to the roof of the wagon before he tumbled back down. I winced. ¡°That looked painful.¡± Said Namiel as he woke up in my stead, staring at the two. ¡°No shit. You should try it, it¡¯s VERY painful.¡± Nael replied as he clutched his gut. "I''ll pass" He replied. Rayola had a frown plastered on her cold face. ¡°You know how lucky it was that I got knocked out, Nael? You of all people know I can¡¯t fall asleep! You could have let me there for at least a bit longer! I almost saw a new memory in my dreams too¡­ almost.¡± Her frown deepened Namiel just shook his head and addressed Nael. ¡° I didn¡¯t consider you to be the kind of person to lay your hands on a lady while she¡¯s asleep, Nael. ¡° Nael glared daggers back at Namiel. If looks could burn, Namiel would have been a pile of ash by now. ¡°You¡± Nael said, pointing an accusing finger at him. ¡°Have no right to say that.¡± ¡°Why?¡± He replied with an inquisitive tone. ¡° You violated him! ¡± I helped, grinning as the mood broke. Both their faces scrunched up. Rayola shot up, her face threatening to explode with laughter. ¡°Nael was? Oh shit! I gotta tell someone.¡± She frantically searched around for a ''someone''. Her eyes landed on the curtain behind me, with the sunlight breaking through the small gaps in between. An mischevious grin broke across her face. But Nael reacted faster, and just as he dashed towards her, the wagon hit a bump, sending them both tumbling to the floor. The entire wagon shook and I heard curses from the front. The wooden shutter at the middle slid open as I saw an unfamiliar, bearded face peeking through. Then in a raspy, obviously angry tone, the driver berated us. ¡°What in the name of Sol is going on back there! Keep still will ya? Just cuz the Hero told me to keep ya in there doesn¡¯t mean that ya get a free license to wreck my property! Now stay put and lick yer wounds or get the hell out if ya can¡¯t stay still !¡± Then he snapped the shutter back with enough force to make me wince from the sound. All of us got back to our seats. ¡°The Hero?¡± I asked. ¡°I remember fighting the abomination with him but everything after the explosion is fuzzy.¡± Rayola piped in. Explosion? Was that the bright light that I saw just before I got knocked out? Ugh¡­ I clutched my head as my it began to throb again. ¡°We¡¯re back in the empire¡¯s borders, so we¡¯re safe for now¡­ We won, you know. I managed to escape the Shockwave so I was there when Nirlam returned, shouldering both the Hero and Rayola here. Took a long time to get out of that stupid cluster of pillars though. A lot of people died by that point, but there are always deaths in a war. The journey back was pretty safe and despite everything, it was an astounding success. The Hero came back to his senses soon after and helped us into this wagon too.¡± Nael explained. I let out a sigh of relief and I finally felt my body relaxing after so long. Stretching my hands, I leaned back. My muscles ached so much that it felt hard to even lift my arms properly. The others probably had it even worse, having to fight in direct physical confrontation. Everyone except Rayola of course. ¡°Where¡¯s Nirlam then?¡± Asked RayolaSupport the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Probably with the Hero. Those two seems to get along well.¡± She chuckled. ¡°He was so shy too, it was cute.¡± My eye twitched. Cute? The first thing that crosses her mind when thinking about Nirlam¡¯s menacing form was that he was¡­ SHY and CUTE? Nael shrugged it off. Then we laughed. With relief, with humour, with joy, with a feeling of satisfaction, no matter how little we may have contributed in actuality, we laughed for we were part of the group that slew the Abomination of the Blighted Emperor¡¯s court! We could now boast that achievement with pride! And we smiled, through all five days of our journey, We smiled, for we were victorious. And fortune favours the victor. .:: The Fort of the Lion¡¯s Gate ::. We were back at the fortified city. We strode through the gates in worn garbs that bespeaks a long journey. Fatigue veiled over our faces, but our eyes wore a blinding gleam of pride. The noise hushed instantly. Every eye around us fastens on us with awe and gratitude. We had won an important battle in the Eastern War, and they watched us, as we returned triumphantly. Then, a few at the front placed their right hands before their chests, and nodded, a display shown only to those who earned their due respect. Then they rose as one, pumping their arms into the sky and started to cheer. The cheer rippled through the crowd till the entire city was alit with exclaimations of victory. It was a jubilant scene which I will forever keep in my heart. One thing led to another and now here I am, in Regass¡¯ Inn, drinking off my cup of Ale while my mind was lost in a daze. The excitement in the air was explosive and it would continue to be so for days to come. The city did not sleep, despite being so late into the night. There was excitement everywhere. Bards sang of our tales of glory, the townsfolk spoke of us in high esteem as they made merry unto a drunken stupor. And we who returned, either drank for our victory or to drown the memories of both what we had seem there, or to mourn those who had passed on. I smiled. I myself, received fame as well, even if I was guilty of my negligible contribution. Rayola and Nirlam, even more so. Tales were sung of Nirlam the Defier¡¯s might, and songs of Rayola the Deathless and her fearlessness, her unyielding and tireless prowess in battle as they fought the abomination, found its way around. For those of us who knew the truth¡­ I smiled as I stared at the girl as she sat beside me with her head in her hands chuckling with hints of madness. I was concerned about her strange behaviour, so I hugged her shoulders and teased her about her song, only to result in more mad laughter. I sighed. We were hogged down by a whole lot of people the entire day and we refused the ball since it didn¡¯t feel¡­ comfortable. The last thing I wanted after an entire week of struggle and death was to spend what little money I had left on fancy clothes just to put up faces in a vicious crowd. So The four of us, including me, Rayola, Namiel, and Nael were sitting side by side in a corner of the crowd, trying to blend in into the background. Nirlam went to the ball though. Something about not disrespecting etiquette. For us though, it was a bit hard to find a place free of the crowd. Regass¡¯ inn had a reputation for being excessively rowdy and it was famous for cases where things got out of hand. In the end, it was the last place you expected to find war heroes. Or maybe not. I can¡¯t tell, but it seemed to work so far. Nael was crying over being forced to pay for the Levitation platform using the cuts in his own salary. The explorers were pretty strict like that. It also justified why they were called assholes. I raised my mug to him. ¡° Cheer up, dude.¡± Nael raised his head from his slumped form, like a turtle extending it¡¯s neck. ¡°Yeah. I need something to relieve my stress.¡± He sighed, and rose up with an evil determination flashing in his eyes. Uh-oh. Did I do something I shouldn¡¯t have? Probably. What else should I have done? He rose up, grabbed Rayola by her coat¡¯s collar, and dragged her away. He went a little further before beckoning me to follow as well. We waded through the sea of drunk drunkards who were progressive getting even more drunk like it was the end of the world. As ironic as that sounds. Drunks everywhere, singing and wrestling and flirting and yelling over the entire ground floor. In the centre of it all, a table was upturned and two buffed brawlers were having a go at each other with a fists¡­ well at least one guy was. The other was whipping away with a towel as if it was somehow superior to actually using his own fists. And with his training, it may actually be true¡­ Maybe the guy was an expert at using flails or maybe he was a profession whipper? ¡­ GAH, forget it! I diverted my attention back to Nael and yelled over the noise. ¡°WHERE ARE WE GOING?¡± He raised his eyebrow. ¡°TO FIND NAMIEL, WE¡¯RE GONNA GROUP UP AND PARTY!¡± Now it was my turn to be surprised. Namiel? Wasn''t he with us a few moments ago? Then an image flashed across my mind. ¡°I SAW HIM WALKING UPSTAIRS WITH A WOMAN, LET¡¯S NOT DISTURB THEM!¡± I yelled back. Nael froze. A frown broke across his face, and after a moment of pensive silence, his frown upturned into the most wicked, bone chilling and fiendishly diabolical grin I¡¯ve ever seen. And I¡¯ve seen a LOT. We dashed up the stairs. There were two rows of rooms with six each on either side. He pushed Rayola forward. ¡°You can hear better than all of us, which one is it?¡± Fer face crunched up with focus and after a few moments, she pointed at a room at the end of the left row. She turned her face away from us and I SWEAR- I SWEAR on my elven armour, that she was blushing! It¡¯s a bit hard to tell without the typical reddening or the change in colour at all in general, but her expression was unmistakable. We glided over to the end of the hall in silent steps and listened in. My own elven ears were not just for show after all! But then, I heard what was to be expected. My face reddened as well as I heard a woman moaning in orgasmic cries which, in this situation could only signify one conclusion. Then I heard Namiel''s voice, albeit muffled by the door. ¡°Why so unpassionate, my elegant orchid? Why does your wonderful eyes betray me? ¡± ¡°Ahhh, come on, enough foreplay, hasn¡¯t it been long enough?¡± ¡°But my sweet rose, my beautiful red petunia! we must take things slowly so that we may indulge ourselves the entire night!¡± I heard a shuffling inside. ¡°Ahnnn¡± All of us cringed. Rayola frowned. ¡°Why the hell is he talking in flowers? How the hell did he succeed with such cheesy dialogues?¡± My face was practically a blazing inferno of red at that point. Nael turned to Rayola. ¡°Precisely my point. Are we too late?¡± He asked. She shook her head as she tuned in again. ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°Ok then, come here.¡± They huddled together as he whispered something in her ear. Rayola¡¯s face crunched up in obvious embarrassment. ¡°Why should I?¡± ¡°Just do it!¡± ¡°But it¡¯s soo¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s FINE!, I can¡¯t do it, you¡¯re the one with a pretty voice, so go for it!¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to!¡± ¡°What? Are you not BRAVE enough?¡± Nael taunted with mirth. At the last jab, Rayola froze. ¡°OH, FUCK THEM!¡± Nael rolled his eyes. ¡° We¡¯re here to STOP that from happening!¡± She let out a sigh of exasperation. ¡°Ahn!¡± came a noise from behind the door. Then her face hardened. ¡° You know what, move aside, I¡¯ve had enough.¡± She stood in front of the door and stood still like a statue. Then, she startled the both of us in a sudden fit of movement as she threw herself at the door and started banging on it. ¡°NAMIEL! HOW COULD YOU? YOU TOLD ME THAT I WAS YOUR ONLY ONE! YOU TOLD ME THAT I WAS YOUR WHITE TULIP! HOW COULD YOU!¡± I heard a crash inside. Then silence. ¡°IS IT TRUE?!¡± An infuriated voice seething with rage bellowed. ¡°My bright poppy, you don¡¯t have to listen to her lies, I¡¯ve barely slept with anyone the last few-¡° ¡°Oh.¡± Rayola started pummelling the door again, and It nearly cracked under her barrage. ¡°WHAT? IT WAS BARELY A FEW HOURS AGO! YOU TRAITOR! AND YOU, YOU¡¯RE SEDUCING HER WITH YOUR SLY FEET AND YOUR STUPID FLOWERY WORDS AREN¡¯T YOU¡± Nael raised an eyebrow ¡°Feet?¡± Rayola slouched back as I heard intense arguments from inside and a high pitched cry of pain. ¡°I started to hear their tomfoolery since the moment I stepped foot on those stairs. It was annoying to say the least.¡± Then, her eyes perked up and then she dashed to the windows, broke the stabilising hook, clambered outside onto the railing beyond. She frantically beckoned to us and we followed suit, and she shut it behind us. ¡°Why are we out here?¡± I asked over the muffled noises of the party below. ¡°That woman¡¯s hysterical right now and I don¡¯t wan¡¯t ANYONE to know it was me. ANYONE, you understand Nael? I don¡¯t even know WHY I played along with your antics. And you.¡± She pointed at me, put a finger on her mouth, signifying me to keep quiet, and then she drew the finger across her neck. I gulped and nodded. Nael sighed. ¡°Oh, please, if that¡¯s going to work, I¡¯ll shave off all my hai-¡° I heard the door behind the window break as it unhinged from whatever shock it had endured. Things were getting messy back there. Then I heard a cry of pain and some stumbling along the hallway. ¡°who¡¯s the repulsive raflesia that ruined my day!¡± Namiel cursed again as he cried out in pain once more. ¡°My balls¡­¡± We nearly broke out in laughter as he continued, cursing to the floor below. Rayola grinned at Nael. ¡°Shave off your what, Nael?¡± He stuttered. ¡°Ugh My- ah, yes, my leg hair!¡± I shook my head. ¡°So is he always like that?¡± Asked Nael, ready to change topics. ¡°The flower thing?¡± I asked for more clarification. He nodded. ¡°Well, he gets¡­ creative when he comes in contact with alcohol. It just so happened to be flowers today. Actually, I don¡¯t really know, I met him at a tavern practically a day before Rayola did, and there wasn¡¯t really any alcohol on the expedition to begin with, so you know him about as much as I do.¡± He shrugged. After checking that the coast was clear, we clambered back inside and headed downstairs. Things seem to have escalated a bit since we came to bother Namiel. People were all over the place, in a one big, twirling tornado of alcohol and destruction. The Inn had earned it¡¯s reputation justly. It would be a good idea to leave before things got out of hand on our end. However, just as we got down, Nael disappeared without a trace. So much for a fun evening together, huh. I sat down on a bench and within a minute, a mug somehow landed in my hands. I took a drink and slowly observed what was happening around me. I was starting to black out. But after a few moments, my attention was snapped back as I noticed a commotion at the centre. When I focused to see what it was, I saw Nael standing on a table, yelling to the crowd of adventurers. What startled me more than an explorer getting unhinged with alcohol was that he was leading a group of adventurers in a campaign against the association himself for the cut in his salary. Bit from his tone, it sounded as if they killed his parents or something. ¡° sO, wHAt dId I sAY agAIn?¡± ¡°ThaT they were a bUNCH Of ScumBering ARsebadgers!.¡± A guy piped up. Nael swayed around before fixing his posture again. ¡° Was thAT Even a word? Did I really say that? Ah, yes, The hiGher ups are pissWizards, the lot of em! And then... and then...¡± He started counting off his fingers before blinking and then he just surrendered to whatever mess he was counting and conceded in just throwing his hands up in the air. ¡°you know what? FORGET it! Fuck the explorers!¡± ¡° Fuck da explorers!¡± the adventurers cheered back. ¡° I always supported them, but what did they do? They cut off my salary! Just for breaking a teensy little flying dinner plate!¡± ¡°Fuc da explorArs¡± The cheered in a slurry mass once again. ¡°Like, what goes UP, has ta come DOWN right? Try throwing a saucer, and YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS? It goes up, it flies, AND THEN IT COMES DOWN! WHAT do you see when it lands? No, you don¡¯t see a whole ceramiccc piece! NOOOO, YOU see PIECES of it! That¡¯s why they should make it into a ball INSTEAD right? A ball bounces back! Or a BIRD for that matter!¡± ¡°Fuk da exprolars!¡± Then in the corner of my vision, I saw two men standing over rayola. Both wore a dull blue tunic and had shaven heads, tanned skin, scaggly beards and magnificent moustaches. One had a broken baton in his hand and he spoke in a very heavy Eastern Empire accent. A lot of people spoke like that but I didn''t notice it that much untill now. Then again, I was in the Eastern side right now wasn''t I? Maybe I just overlooked it? ¡°Brotha, I didn¡¯t mean ta do it!, I was just showing off my bashing skills and this chick just stuck her head in the middle.¡± The ¡®brotha¡¯ bent down to check her pulse. Oh shit, I forgot that Rayola was supposed to keep her true nature a secret. Or was it? I wasn¡¯t sure if she had a pulse when she wasn''t recovering in the first place¡­ really got to check that. It probably was a secret right? I tried to think but my mind was still so foggy. ¡°Oh FUCK!¡± ¡°What''s wrong brotha? IS she okay?¡± ¡°NO, ya dimwit! Ya KILLED er!¡± ¡°WHA- BROTHA! I don¡¯t wanna go ta prison!¡± ¡°SHUSSSHHHHH, SHUSHSHSHH¡­ see, everyone¡¯s a bit, drunk right now, ya see, and so''re we! No-one¡¯s gonna blame ya. Just help me hide the body¡­¡± Before I could stop them, A wave of drunks screaming ¡°Fuk da explorars!¡± swept over me. Just then, a guard came knocking at the door to see what the hell was going on in here. What he saw rendered him speechless. Alcohol everywhere. Semi-nude men and drunks pulling moustaches, women dancing and arm wrestling with buff folks who looked like they ate entire bulls for breakfast¡­ and winning. The women on these parts were scary. Then there was the cult of adventurers chanting ¡°Fuk da Explorars¡± as if those words were part of some grand ritual or something. There were also the occasional fools who were still brawling in the middle of the room despite everything and then¡­ Say what, let¡¯s just sum up by saying that it was pure chaos. The brothers who were carrying Rayola saw the Guards. ¡° OH FUCK! BROTHA, THE GUARDS ''RE ''ERE! ¡± The ¡®brotha¡¯ with the club cursed at the precise moment where Nael was about to raise his slogan yet again. And so, the chant got promoted from ¡° Fuk da ExPLORars ¡± to ¡° Fuck da GOURdZ¡± and then they took the chant to challenge the agents of the law who where desperately trying to break the crowd apart while they assaulted them in their faces. A drunk Captain of some sort signified by the badge on his chest, smashed a chair on a guard and yelled; " RETREAT! FALL BACK! " Then there was even more chaos. It was safe to say that a bunch of drunkards nearly started a civil war within the fortified city. I remembered climbing out of a window as things got messy. I ended up in front of a twelve foot wall. The stupid thing was blocking my way, so I took it as a challenge to my great self and I charged towards it. Then my brain blacked out completely. ¡­ And I woke up in a mansion. It was all fine and dandy¡­ except for the fact that I didn¡¯t know whose mansion it was in the first place, or why I was wearing a set of male clothes, which unnerved me as much as it should¡­ or as to why I was in the attic of said mansion. I sighed. I just hope I could leave this place without getting arrested¡­ or killed depending on whatever the hell I did while my body decided to ¡®adventure¡¯ as my mind fell asleep. -x- Artworks; Volume 1. Last updated on; 12/05/2019 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, I''m Cloudless Night and I''m a growing Concept Artist. I plan to post all my various artworks related to this particular project on this page here. Also note that the concepts I post here doesn''t necessarily have to be according to the pace of the storyline. Please understand that there is a chance of the case where the actual encounter in the Novel may not occur untill the story progresses considerably. You may have a chance of encountering spoilers accidentally when I post a new pictureSupport the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Hope you like them. ( Twitter page;https://twitter.com/strumflyhexagon) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 003; Moth ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 002; Nirlam The Defier ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 001; The Abomination 1.01; Dreams and old memories. .:: Alkstar, the elven country ::. -::- Nael -::- In the year 832 on the sixth King¡¯s millennium, in the northern end of Inallian¡¯s Grove, I stood atop the highest branch of the fleetfoot tree, with the wind brushing against my face. Staring down, I could barely see the ground from which the everliving trees rose from. They seemed to stretch on below me seemingly without end. The eternal mist rolled below and carefully split around the trees and continued on their endless journey north. The trees stood there seemingly immovable, as pillars of strength, indestructible mountains of might. They were like stones which defiantly stood against the flow of water in a shallow river that were the clouds of mist that rolled through these lands since ages long past recorded history. The rocky bark of the trees radiated power, strength and life. Pure dense magic seeped through its crevices which glowed blue and spread out in all directions in a cellular pattern of interlocked polygons that rose and fell in intensity like a powerful beat of drums from an ancient song long forgotten. It was what we elves called the Silent pulse of Nature. During festivals, we would beat our drums and tune our instruments to match the pattern. It was an entrancing experience to say the least. The scene was captivating, and one my heart refused to let go of, even after the sixty-seven years of which this scenery had been a part of my life. We respected nature. We feared it, we admired it, we worshipped it. And for good reason too. The beings in the mortal lands called us ¡®tree huggers¡¯, as if that was some sort of insult. We take no such offense. Nature is unforgiving, and an existence which no mortal or godling could ever hope to tame. Those who forget their place and attempt to trample over it will be swiftly and ruthlessly wiped off the surface of the world. Platforms of seamless wood rose and fell, moved around by strong cables that transported people from one section of the tree to the other. Aerial lifts and cable cars moved across the stretched wires that connected the grove in a complex interlocking web that would make an arachnid jealous. I walked along the pathway that was built atop the towering branch until I reached a cliff of sorts. There was a railing attached so that no-one would do anything stupid. Not that it mattered since the guardians would catch anyone if they fell regardless, but falling to your doom would definitely be better than dealing with an angry guardian. They were absolutely terrifying. I shuddered as I remembered the first time I came across one of them. I could never forget the memory, of their cold grey armour which thrummed with power, made from the Everliving trees themselves. It fused with their skin, flesh, bones, their very being. Their hollow eyes had two orbs suspended in their midst which glowed blue with pure undiluted power and luminescent leaves grew from their bodies and draped over their forms like a tunic made of stolen moonlight which almost seemed to be woven into masterful patterns that made their forms as entrancing as they were devastatingly deadly. A crown of branches adorned their heads where there was once hair. The guardians were a unique existence in the elven country and they held a special position within our society. A true elf rarely dies of senescence, but as we age over time, our bodies become too sensitive, too saturated with magic until our vessels can no longer handle it and burn us to cinders from the inside out. It was a long, horrible and agonising death. The only alternative was to abandon our mortal shells altogether. And what better way to do it than becoming one with the very object of our worship? The guardians had little to go on in the form of their own will. They had no desires, no hate, no love¡­ only an unshakable purpose which bound their very existence. They were the peacekeepers, their eyes able to see through any disguised hostility. Terrifying beings which served judgement on all those who dared to offend the Elven land. They kept the beasts away, tamed the hallowed mist, and yes, they protected our people. No-one knew if they were still sane, or even truly alive at all. Even so, we were proud of them. For they were our Guardians. Our silent knights. Our future as well as our past. The Elf of Dusk, The moonlit warriors of Alkstar. From the edge, I stared down. Unlike all the other times I had been here, today I was not afraid. I was no longer terrified of the bottom, of the heights, of falling, for I manifested an ability. A grin broke across my face as the thought crossed my mind. I finally had an ability! Very few elves my age had an ability, and those who did were of royal blood or an absolute genius! Does that make me a genius? HELL YES! I danced in joy but eventually settled down to contemplate on how I should nurture this ability of mine. Abilities were a special method to twist magic which were unique and limited to one or a handful of particular individuals. To understand abilities, one must first understand how magic works. Magic is all around us, in the ground, in the sky, even inside our very bodies. Almost all creatures could use magic to a certain extent, even if it isn¡¯t even noticeable. No creature was truly null for in order for that to happen, they must be the void themselves. One could exhaust magic with use like one exhausts energy with physical exercise. There¡¯s also the fact that stamina was indeed, being consumed during the conversion of the mana in the surroundings into that spent for personal use. Although none have yet to make the connection as to why this is so. Anyone with a good enough sense of magic could easily cause simple phenomena, like using your magic circuit to catalyse a reaction and ignite the air? Child¡¯s play. At least for an elf, for our bodies were almost designed to be sensitive to the otherwise intangible motes of ethereal particles which now came to be known as mana. But it would be unrefined magic which is often labelled as ¡®Wild¡¯ magic. It was extremely unstable due to the obvious reason that there were no means to actually regulate, control or direct it. Thus, ¡®spells¡¯ were developed. ¡®Spells¡¯ were a sort of mental calculation which made mana flow in a particular pattern in order to get a desired result. The phenomena could be taught and explained over time, but no-one, with perhaps the exception of the primordal gods would be actually capable of understanding what magic truly is, as it is something that stands among the ranks of the fundamental laws that govern the world. The actual words incanted had no role other than the fact that it helped to make the association between the spell and its effects easier to understand. Sort of like a guide to complete the calculation without any actual effort. Why do all the math when you already know the answer? In fact, mages can actually train themselves to chant the spell for a fireball while instead, using their magic to shoot a jet of water. They would have to have to have attempted that particular trick thousands of times and understand both spells to its very core to actually pull it off. Thinking of a calculation to compress air while chanting a contradictory speech line? It was like rotating one hand clockwise while simultaneously rotating the other anticlockwise at a constant, fast rhythm. Only ten times harder. There¡¯s also the risk of messing up the spell. I¡¯d rather not blow myself up. For most mortal beings, emotions also play a lot into this whole mess by helping to bypass certain ¡®limiters¡¯ put in place to keep the body¡¯s mana circuit from breaking itself. Sometimes, it helps to find shortcuts to reach an answer faster. Ah, magic was such a fickle thing. Oh, back to my topic, Abilities¡­ Abilities were the next tier of spells which seemingly defied ¡®common¡¯ logic. They were usually associated with words of power and the calculation itself was so immensely complex that a mortal mind would find it incomprehensible. To tell the truth, the only way to stumble upon an ability is either purely by an unimaginably lucky accident, by sharing the ¡®calculation¡¯ among those of an extremely similarly oriented circuit which was often the case in some bloodlines, and finally, were bestowed upon them by a greater entity such as demons or godlings. The difference between them were the fact that while the former two were extremely random and incomplete, the latter would have perfected and solid results.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. In my case, I probably ended up using up a lifetime¡¯s worth of luck. It was a quirky one too. The way the it worked in terms of its trigger, seemed awfully similar to the jumbled mess I saw whenever the oracle used her sight. Except in reverse. Great, a cherry on top to add to my confusion. Despite everything, I was slowly understanding how to set it into motion. I could think of a few ways to use it but none of them seemed to actually work. To be honest, the only reason I knew that it was an ability in the first place was because mana drained from me in a fixed rate which should only be possible if I was casting a spell or in this case, utilising my ability due to its nature. It was strange, watching all my mana drain for no apparent reason, but I eventually figured out that I could influence myself and others using it¡­ for example, convincing myself to overcome my fear of heights. That proved that its effectiveness but it also terrified me. I was up here on the highest branch of this tree to prove that I was no longer afraid of heights. But I was terrified not because I was afraid of heights as of this moment, but the fact that I couldn¡¯t remember being afraid of heights in the first place, nor does anyone else for that matter. If not for the fact that I am actually here and the purpose with which I came here, I wouldn¡¯t have even noticed it. So my ability whatever it is, affects the mind. Both mine as well as that of others. Was it some sort of mind magic? I shuddered at the thought. I hope not. Mind magic isn¡¯t very well received in this half of the continent. Just the mention of a mind mage would be enough to instil paranoia among the masses irrespective of race. I turned back and slid down towards the glossy black semi-circular platform fixed into the junction at which the great branch latched onto its trunk. I lowered myself onto one of the smaller platforms that adorned its edge. The smaller one was large enough to house around ten people while the larger one served as a dock of sorts but the place was empty as rarely anyone has a reason to be so high up above the residential zones. I Clutched the handrail with my left hand and pushed the long metal gear at my side forwards onto the eighth slot using my right. Machinery churned underneath the sleek circular base as the runes around its rim began to glow. The wires that suspended the entire thing up started to spin. With a slight initial jerk, the platform started to descend. I tried to think of what my situation implied. How come I just so happened to obtain this ability out of nowhere? How does that even make sense? Even the most luckiest of all whom developed an ability at least had a trigger which set it into place. What could have possibly be the reason for mine? Or¡­ did I forget it? Did something happen to me that forced me to forget the whole event? A sense of foreboding started to dominate my mind the more my ability started to resemble mind magic. To distract myself, my eyes started to scan the settlements below me. Entire platforms, houses, plazas and even entire villages rose in flattened semi-circular blocks that dotted the surface of the great trees which when seen from afar could be mistaken for mushrooms. I smiled at the analogy. If any of the elders caught me saying that out loud, they¡¯d spank me till my arse turned red and sore. Then I frowned. Why do all of them treat me like a child? I may only be 67 and even if that is considered extremely young in elven years, my sweet, shiny and handsome body is more than good enough to be considered mature! I fumed as I remembered the humiliation I suffered in public as my uncle spanked me out in the open for merely using his heartwood staff without permission. I may have set fire to a couple of things but still! I wasn¡¯t able to cross eyes with a single woman for MONTHS! I was too ashamed to enter the training barracks for YEARS! I let out a sigh of self-pity as I recalled my predicament. I was jolted back to my senses as the lift came to a stop. Shaking my head, I got off the platform and started to weave my way through the various shops and houses that were scattered across the plaza. I stopped at a food stall for a moment and ordered a pair of grilled firebird wings. What can I say, food is a weakness of mine. Just as I was about take a bite into one, I raised my head what I saw took my breath away. In front of me was the most beautiful elf I had ever seen. She had crystalline blue eyes, delicate features, long silky black hair that cascaded all the way down to her waist which seemed to trap the faint blue light that hung in the air. Her golden skin seemed to gleam with life and her long pointed ears were unadorned despite the predominant trends in fashion. Different people may have different values in beauty but I cared not for I was absolutely captivated. In our community, it was extremely rare to see new faces. After all, we had plenty of opportunities to do so, over years, decades, even centuries. Someone like myself who would be considered ¡®young¡¯ may not know everyone but I DEFINITELY knew every single pretty woman out there, young or old. True elves don¡¯t really age but we could guess based on the intensity of the glow of our skin. The brighter the glow, the older one would be, in normal cases. This could, under no situation be considered an accurate measure, but it was good enough for a rough guess. The woman in front of me seemed to within the same generation as me, but what made her stand out the most was the fact that she was salivating over the grilled firebird chunks put on display in the stand. Was she starved? No, she didn¡¯t seem like one who had any troubles with money, as was evident with her intricately decorated dress with those golden borders. Perhaps a rich girl who ran away from home? That would explain why she was on an unfamiliar tree. Enough assumptions, I decided to man up and talk to her. ¡°Hey¡± I called out as I held one of the grilled wings out to her. ¡°Here, take it.¡± She eyed me with caution. ¡° I couldn¡¯t possibly¡­¡± I laughed as I saw the desire in her eyes betray her words. After some persistent nagging, I eventually got her to accept. She stared at me, seemingly even more lost as she held up the steaming the piece in her hand. Of course, I was oblivious to this as I devoured the thing at record speeds. She took a small bite and her face twisted into a sour expression. I glanced at her and saw her expression. Then it clicked. ¡°Have you never eaten firebird before?¡± She shook her head. I laughed. ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten firebird before? How sad, what are you, some sort of royalty? These are widely available in nearly all outer groves.¡± She laughed as well, albeit it sounded a bit artificial. Wait, was she perhaps an actual princess? Nah. I leaned in closer and pointed out the texture of the meat. ¡°You see those orange grainy splits that run along the meat? You see, you bite into it and separate those into individual chunks and eat it layer by layer. There¡¯s a clear difference in flavour between the orange parts and the white ones. The orange parts are slightly sour while the white meat is sweet. Then adding the spice used to grill it, chewing them together will make it taste terrible, so you separate them as you eat.¡± She nodded in understanding as she took a small bite as I instructed. Pure bliss spread across her face as she tore it apart as if it was the best thing she had ever eaten. ¡°This is shoo gwud!¡± She exclaimed between mouthfuls. Truth be told, she didn¡¯t stop till she ate her fifth round. The girl could eat a LOT. After we finished and washed off the grease on our hands, we settled down on a bench at the outer rim of the plaza overlooking the world below. I was entranced by the slow flow of the eternal mist as it rolled over the ground below mimicking clouds that paraded beneath us. No matter how many times I saw this scene, it never failed to impress me. Suddenly I realised my mistake. ¡°Where are my manners, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Nael, your local tour guide.¡± She raised an eyebrow and smiled as I bowed. ¡°Glad to meet you, Nael, you can call me ¨C¡°
I jolted awake from the sudden blackness that encompassed my vision My dream ended abruptly as I was snapped back into reality. Tears rolled down my face despite everything I tried to make them stop. ¡°Why do you keep coming back to me in my dreams, Aerin? I want to see you again but¡­ but¡­ I can¡¯t return. Stop torturing me...¡± I cried as my heart throbbed and my hands shook. I took my time as I calmed myself. I cursed myself for my pathetic display. But what could I possibly do? The memories of my time back in the elven country and¡­ Aerin, kept bleeding into my dreams and I couldn¡¯t help but let my heart cry out in pain and bleed in longing for those good times. By the time I finally regained my composure, my eyes were already strained red. Ignoring the pain, I inspected my surroundings. I was in¡­ a stable? Well, apparently yes because barely five feet in front of me, aside from all the hay that was scattered about was a horse. Or rather, a horse¡¯s behind. Then I noticed the unholy brown substance that started coming out of its rear end. ¡° OH SHIT! FUCK! ¡° I screamed out as I scrambled away from the smelly blob that the horse decided to gift me. I looked around wearily. ¡°Where am I, and how the hell did I get here?¡± Then the memories of the previous night flooded my mind. ¡° Ugh, I¡¯m screwed. the association is so not going to let that go .¡± I let out a tired sigh and just as I was about to exit the stable, I noticed that I felt cold. something was wrong. Oh...I was naked. That explains the cold, although not why I was naked in the first place. ¡° Oh for goodness¡¯ sake! What else do I have to worry about?¡± At that very moment, the horse decided to reply with a fart. ¡°AH, DAMN IT ALL!¡± -x- 1.02; Dreams and old memories part 2. - 43 years ago, The Karnulian mountains, southeastern Irkathian range- -::- Maya -::- I plodded through the snow towards the cave, towards home. The wind blew snow onto my face in a horizontal blur. It was surprising considering that the sky was clear merely a few moments ago. But that was only to be expected, for the weather up here in the mountains was a fickle thing. Passing by the dwindling trees, I returned to the guards carrying bundles of firewood in wraps, one slung over my shoulder, and another held by hand. Because I was a child, I wasn¡¯t allowed to wander past the edges of clearing which sat overlooking the fortifications at the mouth of the cave that was so rigorously defended by the guardsmen. They had a clear view of me the entire time and it felt reassuring, even though in my heart I knew that if a predator indeed did decide to attack me, I would be dead long before they were anywhere close enough to defend me. The warrior that accompanied my group could only do so much. It was a risk I was willing to take though. Getting lost in these mountains meant certain death, so my clansmen regulated all exposure we had outside the cave with extreme caution. Life here was unfair, for only the hunters were allowed to prowl the world beyond. Throughout the entirety of my life, all I knew were the confines of the cave I knew to be my home. So I cherished those occasional moments that I was allowed to walk through these snowy woods even if it was merely for the sake of gathering firewood while the hunters were away. I wish I could be a hunter, but my clansmen were really unfair. They didn¡¯t let women join the hunt, so I could never be able to see those green grasslands, the warm rivers and lakes, or those dreamy fields full of flowers I kept hearing so much about. I was jealous of them, frustrated over their unfairness, sad that I could never experience those sights myself. There were other tribes in the world below as I hear it. There was even an empire there, but they refused to acknowledge our traditions and thus my tribe refused their authority. Hence, the only reason for which my clansmen would descend was to wage war or to hunt. Even so, I wanted to explore. Even if the entire world stood as my enemy, I still wanted to travel. I dreamt of days where I had the right to go an all the hunts I wished to participate in, where I could eat to my hearts content during all those grand feasts rather than just spectating from the side-lines. I wish I was taught to wield the sword to be able to defend myself, to be taught those books so I could become smart like elders and make wise descisions. I just wished I could be ANYTHING other that what I was right now. I wanted to be useful. I wanted to be respected. Proud and bathed inglory. With my own achievements to boast, to explore, to hunt. I wish I was born a man. But it was not to be, and I was not one to defy tradition. I weaved my way through the labyrinth of pathways that connected the entire system of caves that made up my town, till I reached the store-room. After dumping all the firewood into a neat pile in the corner, I joined the rest of my sisters who were taking a break right outside the tunnel entrance, in front of one of the ventilation shafts which were cut into the mountain''s face. I just finished my thirtieth round today, and I was pretty sure we were finished for the day owing to the storm outside that was slowly picking up in intensity. I could either go to the kitchen to help cook, or maybe I practise my dance or music, anything that would set me apart from the rest of the lot. I was no beauty, so it was a good idea to distinguish myself among the women here in order to attract the attention of a stronger man, but due to my clumsy self my prospects were pretty bad even for the chieftain¡¯s niece. The most I could do was dream, or maybe listen to the prisoner! I perked up and my long grey ears twitched in joy at the thought of meeting her again. After sufficiently cooling myself, I left my group and headed home to finish up all the responsibilities I had in helping my mother. I quickly went through my chores, played with my sisters for a little while and hugged my mother goodbye before I decided to set off. But there was one more challenge to overcome. I peeked at my father who sat sleeping on his luxurious chair woven of winterwillow. The problem was not the fact that he was sleeping, but the fact that he was sleeping right beside the front door. I was a bit scared of him or rather, scared of his admonishments which he was sure to dish out if he saw me loitering around so early no matter how much work I had finished up until that point. He had a strange notion of time which was as extremely inflexible as it was annoying. Usually, I would wait it out or pretend to do something else until the right moment to escape but I could hardly wait right now. But sneaking out was risky business because even the slightest mistake could set off his instincts and waking him up in that state was even worse. My father, the chieftain¡¯s younger brother, was a strong man, and an even more proficient a warrior. But today, the hunters just returned from an intense encounter with a pack of nightprowlers. His senses were dulled by exhaustion, thus the reason for my brave determination. I slowly crept my way to the door, placing one foot in front of the other silently until I made it outside. After confirming that I was in the clear, I jogged down the tunnels until I came across a dimly lit room with several guards stationed around the corner. Slowly, I creaked open the wooden door. At the end of the room, there lay a single woman. Saying that she stood out, would be an understatement. I was entranced by her appearance every time I met her, the air about her made her appear ethereal, as if she was but something that could exist only in one¡¯s imagination. Her hair as dark as the midnight sky contrasted greatly with her flawless golden skin. A soft glow radiated from beneath it, not enough to be considered glaring, or even the slightest bit straining to gaze at, but more than sufficient to light up the entire room even without the presence of a torch. I was told that she had unimaginably powerful magic, and that she was subdued using a powerful seal by our shamans. What our hunters lacked in brute force, they made up for it in ingenuity. Obviously since I could hardly imagine them subduing anything so¡­ unreachable with brute force. I heard that she was a rare creature called an elf, and that she was kept to become the chief¡¯s wife. But even with her magic sealed and her body bound, she was no less dangerous, and thus kept here until she was calmer. Normally, I wouldn¡¯t be allowed to meet prisoners like this, but for some reason, she only spoke to children. For the obviously unreasonable reason that the chief wanted to form friendly relations with a kidnapped woman, we were made to talk to her. At first, I was reluctant but over the days, I was fully immersed in the stories she told me. Slowly, day by day, I came to befriend her. I was escorted inside with a man in leather wraps wielding a great spear of spine and bone. After checking me for suspicious items, he stood at the door while I ran towards the chained woman. ¡° Alliana, Alliana, I¡¯m back!¡± The elf slowly opened her eyes, and I nearly wet myself when her cold eyes raised to meet mine. The bloodlust made me tremble in place and only after nearly a dozen long seconds, did recognition finally dawn on her delicate face. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry child, I didn¡¯t realise it was you.¡± I let out a sigh of relief as the pressure lifted off my shoulders. I cheered myself up as soon as it did. I won¡¯t let a bad mood stop me from listening to my only source of adventure! ¡°It¡¯s fine, Alliana, but come, on, tell me more stories! I want to listen to more of your travels! Tell me more of the world outside!¡± She merely chuckled before replying with a question. ¡°Well then, young one, how much did I tell you last time?¡± ¡°Until the part where you were called back to Alkstar!¡± ¡°Ah yes, I left my daughter to take care of my grandchild and went back to Alkstar because I was summoned by the elven council. They don¡¯t usually summon back anyone who defiled their precious bloodline, but it was apparently a serious issue for me to be summoned for aid. I guess it was only natural given the scope of my knowledge-¡° ¡°You have grandchildren? But you look soo young! But why did you have to leave your family behind when you returned?¡± The elven woman chuckled again. ¡°Ah young one, you must understand that I am old, very old despite my appearance, true elves such as myself don¡¯t age. We would be immortal if our bodies could actually handle the magic stored within by the time we reach the end of our lifespans.¡± Then her expression saddened further. ¡°I¡­ very much like yourself, wanted to explore the world, so I left behind my old home to accept a new one. I fell in love, had children, watched them grow until they had their own, but they were not pureblood elves and so were shunned by my kind. Even if they were actually allowed in, they would die from mana poisoning.¡± My mind enraged at the thought of the elves trying to separate her family. Despite everything, no matter how better their society sounded better than my own, NO-ONE should try to split apart a happy family! That was just too horrible! ¡°That was horrible! Why did you go back to those bad people who won¡¯t even let them come with you?¡± "It''s not like your clan is any better." "We-" I stuttered. Byt before I could say anything, she gave me a sad smile as our eyes locked. ¡°It was the only choice. I can''t exactly bring them with me you know. Sometimes young one, you must make a sacrifice so that your family can survive, so that they can thrive. But it was fine, and it wasn¡¯t even that bad, because I returned to my Illya and my adorable grandchild merely after a decade of service anyways. I was even able to return with lots of money and magical items so my return was an event to remember!¡± She let out a happy laugh. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine staying away from my mother and sisters for so long! Weren¡¯t you lonely?¡± She gave me a sad smile again as she closed her eyes. ¡°Oh yes, it was horrible, even if a decade isn¡¯t a long time in the life of an elf, it¡¯s still a considerable amount of time. It was torture being away from my young ones for so long, oh how long I spent being worried and fretting over the thought of something horrible happening to them! But I managed to calm my nerves by taking some students during my stay there.¡± ¡°Students?¡± ¡°Oh yes, I taught the younger generations the way of magic. They were a weird batch if I say so myself, but I was happy during my time with them. One of them was even a princess I tell you!¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°REALLY? What was she like? Was she strong?¡± Alliana chuckled as she replied. ¡°Of course that¡¯s your question, what is with you and your obsession with strength, young Maya? Do you really desire it so? But yes, she was strong. Not at that very moment, but she had the talent and potential to become very, very strong, despite only being the 28th in line to the throne. Ariel was such an outstanding prodigy! So were Iola and Nael. There were a lot of good students among them, huh. It was a lucky catch.¡± I tried to ask for more clarification but all her replies were very vague. ¡°Oh, I also had a whole lot of pranksters among them as well, it was interesting training them and I had to be very, very strict. Those ungrateful brats even had the mettle to call me a nightmarish hag! How I wish I could go and smack sense into them all again.¡± She let out a long, sad sigh before continuing. ¡°That was.. in the year 862 on the sixth kings calendar, I think. Now its¡­hmmm¡­ the year 971? Oh my, it¡¯s so close to the next coronation, I hope Ariel makes it out unscathed. It would be sad if something happened to her.¡± ¡°Alliana, don¡¯t be unfair! You skipped over a hundred years! Tell me more about your time as a teacher, I didn¡¯t know you were such a respected person! Tell me more about your time there!¡± Her eyes were nearly completely closed at this point and I could see the exhaustion on her face. ¡°Maybe later, girl¡­ I¡¯m very tired right now and I want to rest, come back tomorrow hm?¡± ¡°Okay! See you tomorrow then!¡± I visited her the next day, and the next and as time flew by, the less she talked. The exhaustion on her face was as clear as day and the sickness she suffered equally so. Her health kept deteriorating by the day. The chief became frantic at the thought of losing the woman he had spent so much effort in capturing and thus had a lot of search parties sent to the lands below, to bring back various humans and half-elves to try fix her problem, but none succeeded. Eventually, even I wasn¡¯t allowed to meet her anymore. One day, I sneaked past the guards during a change in their shift and what I saw made my breath freeze in my lungs. Her situation wasalarming. Alliana slept there like every other day, her face unchanged, her breath slow and heavy, but steady. Yet she did not open her eyes, nor did she respond to my cries of worry, nor my desperate shaking. She was dying. I knew it for her light was dimming. The warm glow which radiated from her skin and which once illuminated the entire room and drew my attention oh so many times, was now nothing but cinders of the flame which once raged within her. The room was dark and barely lit. I knew the problem there and then, and I knew that the shamans understood it as well, so did the people that were brought in from below, all of them. It was simple actually. Her body was running out of magic, and for a being like her, for a magical creature such as an elf, having her magic cut off from her was the same as suffocating her. But releasing the seal would be the same as releasing her. It was too dangerous to unleash her inside the cave for she would utterly destroy the tribe. If we were to release her, all the chief¡¯s efforts in capturing her and attempts at making her his bride would be for nothing. He knew he couldn¡¯t have her but still, the chief kept her here, took away her sustenance and locked up in this dark forgotten corner of the world, so far away from her family. Only to die. The chief, my uncle was a bad man, a stubborn man, like so many of the men in my clan and evil even more so. I understood this as I let go of my own stubbornness in defending my clansmen¡¯s practices. I now saw evil everywhere I turned. I could see the suppression, the tyranny which was carried out in the name of tradition. And I sat there helplessly as I watched the last embers which was Alliana¡¯s life, extinguish. There and then, when the light left her eyes, I made a wish. I made a wish over my tears, my cries, my little acts rebellion. I wished for retribution, for Justice. And the deities answered. One day, several days later, I ran away from home. My ultimate act of rebellion, my challenge against the chief¡¯s acts. wounded and scarred, hunted and with nothing but punishment to await me, I ran. I ran and ran till my feet gave way and fell into the snow. I left myself to the mercy of the beasts of the wilderness. Neither my parents, nor my sibling rose in my defence, my cries for justice. When I rose to speak and sought support, they just stood there, as mere bystanders, almost as if all these years we spent together meant nothing to them. Like strangers. Day fell as the sun dipped beyond the horizon and the moon rose, illuminating the night with its beautiful light. I stared at it as the heat left my body. I may be a Ureyan girl, but even my racial resistance to the cold, nor the clothing made from the warmest of furs, were enough to keep the harsh mountain winds to strip away what heat I had left. Tonight I was to die, but death never came. Something was wrong. Against all odds, I survived till midnight. Just as I collected enough strength to rise up, something prevented me from doing so. Something kept me rooted in place. It was my mind, holding my body down in place, despite all my effort and struggle to rise. Why was I stuck in place? My body didn¡¯t freeze enough for me to be rendered immobile, and I definitely, am not dead. Close, but no. So why? ... Then I saw it. And I clearly understood why. FEAR. The fear was oppressive to such an extent that my entire body was frozen in place, like a statue. Not a single muscle in my body dared to move. I wasn¡¯t able to scream, nor cry. I was petrified. It was no intentional affliction or magic the monster directed at me, but merely the effect of the sheer amount of bloodlust oozing out of its slender form. It felt similar to what Alliana occasionally let out, but worse. Multiplied a hundredfold and then compacted in intensity. My heart nearly stopped beating there and then. It stood on all fours, barely a few feet ahead of me, and through my half shut eyes, I saw two blue orbs staring back. Its eyes almost seemed to be two balls of ethereal flame suspended in the two hollow depressions in its face. It had pointy ears, as I noticed, and its dull skin was grey very much like our own. But all signs of familiarity ended there. The creature¡¯s skin was¡­ unnerving. It almost seemed to be made of some sort of wood, its flesh seemed to be entirely made of elastic fibres of muscle, but the lines seemed to be carved into its form as if it was a decoration. Its torso appeared as a mass of luminescent leaves from which four spindly limbs rose. And on it¡¯s head was adorned a crown of what appeared to be branches. It was beautiful. Mystical. Terrifying. Oh, so terrifying. It slowly crawled closer to me. Its face merely inches away from mine. My eyes were closed by that point, but I could still feel its unnerving presence, its power. The light from its eyes was so intense that it lit my mind white, the membrane of my eyelids failing to protect my soul from its blazing gaze which roared with the intensity of an inferno. But thankfully, I was cold, already dying. It had no need for my flesh for it had a different purpose to carry out tonight, and I knew not what. As I felt its presence shift and slide over me, I heard cries of alarm from behind me. The huntsmen obviously catching sight of the unsurmountable threat that made its way towards them. I heard a bang behind me as the creature launched itself forward, its speed rending the air apart. And to my horror, I saw another one making its wat towards the cave. THERE WERE TWO OF THOSE THINGS? Screams of terror and pain rent the night for hours on end as the entire clan was wiped out one by one. I lay there, petrified and scared. Then I felt the creature¡¯s presence once more as it walked away. My eyes were open and I had not the courage to even close them lest the movement alert it of my presence. But thanks to that, I managed to see something that perplexed me to no end. The creatures were bathed in blood, blood of my clansmen, yet it was carrying Alliana¡¯s body. It held her up carefully as it walked away, as if it was cradling its own daughter. I watched them until they disappeared from my sight. But I understood what it had done. The monster dealt justice to my friend in my place. But it was too much. Too heavy was the regret that weighed my mind. This was not what I wished for. Not like this... I didn¡¯t wish for everyone to be killed. Today, as the sun rose over the sky, the last Ureyan in the Karnulian mountains sat there crying my eyes out. I didn¡¯t fear the predators that prowled these lands as I had nothing to lose, but they avoided me as well, merely for the fact that the presence of the walking calamity that visited my Clan still lingered in the air. And then I woke up.
-Today, The Fort of the Lion¡¯s Gate- I woke up from my nightmare. The same nightmare that had haunted every night of sleep for the past 43 years. I am a Ureyan, commonly known as the winter elf. We were not elves in any literal sense of the term other than the fact that we had long pointy ears. Even so, they were even longer than the ones possessed by the elves for mine were nearly a foot long each! Some humans found it fairly unattractive while others seemed to roll head over heels for it. They were a queer bunch by the way. In actuality, we are rumoured to be a race originating from a group of half-elves who transformed to survive the harsh conditions of the Karnulian range, so I don¡¯t know what to think of my social situation here. We had roughly double the lifespan of a human, and yes, we are very much a mortal race despite what our name suggested. My desire to explore was fulfilled, and I was even discovered to possess great talent in magic, even receiving the offer to study under the great archmage, Raphsal of Gilleon tower. He found me and kindly offered to tutor me. I would have considered myself a lucky woman under normal circumstances, but no. I knew the price for the happiness I am experiencing right now. It was a terrible price, one which no girl should ever come to pay. But I did, and the nightmares never forgot me for a single day. And I never forgot. I started to adorn the length of my ears with enchanted silver rings, to stabilise my magic. By how Alliana had explained it, I thought that learning magic would be an easy task. But even with all the tomes and grimoires, even with the guidance of an archmage and even with my supposed talent, I couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it. It took me well over five entire years merely to cast an unstable flicker of flame. Magic was an intangible existence, something I knew to be there, but untouchable yet. I never understood how to make it obey my will, and I still don¡¯t. However, I eventually managed to learn to channel it through my body and I was now able to dish out spells of intermediate difficulty. However, like all mages, I needed a wide assortment of enchanted support to do it. Now that I thought about it, the ease at which the elves commanded magic without the same was terrifying. I could understand why the chief was so obsessed over them. To command that monstrous power would just be enough to turn the tables on an otherwise disadvantageous skirmish. I shook my head. After I made sure all my ear-rings were in place, I Combed my unruly hair into place . I put on my uniform, a simple white tunic with a yellow cloak. It was an ugly thing and VERY unfashionable to boot. I didn¡¯t care for fashion a lot but the other girls in my group cursed the invertor of this garb to the ends of the world. As I stepped down the stairs which led to the dining room, I laughed as memories of some of those comments flashed in my mind. One thing led to another until my mind stopped. I thought about my friends. There was me, then little young Jane, the unruly Irsif, charming old Lariot and¡­ Ralli. Beautiful, proud Ralli Coal. My best friend. But she was no more, and in her place, now stood¡­ THAT. My eyes narrowed in open hostility at the monster that now replaced what was once my friend. She looked unnatural with how white her features were, almost to the point that it seemed inorganic. A chill went up my spine when her blazing orange eyes settled upon me. It reminded me of the eyes of the creature that annihilated my kin. It was different in every sense of the word but there was a similarity in how those eyes kept imposing its mind on those around it. Rayola, was her name. She nodded at me as I sat down next to my mentor, Lord Raphsal. ¡°Good morning sir, you too Rayola.¡± I greeted them both. ¡°Oh, good morning to you too, Maya. Rayola and I were discussing the terms of our contract, after all she will be escorting us for a good part of our tour!¡± I bit my lip and gave my mentor a sad smile. I knew exactly how desperate Raphsal must be to go as far as to arrange a contract for Rayola to accompany us. She was always his favourite student after all¡­ For him, the young woman was the equivalent of his own child. To him¡­ she was like his own daughter. And to now see her like this¡­ I could hardly imagine how much pain he is enduring right now. I remember the day we heard he news¡­ of the fire. He really did, almost die of a heart attack. ¡°So, back to our topic, we will then leave the Rhinestone Gorge and finally, stop at the United front fort-city. By that time, most of the batch would finish up their current term. And then, our contract¡¯s over.¡± Rayola blinked. ¡°Isn¡¯t that four months ahead of time? From what I understood, I thought you¡¯d want me to stick with you until the beginning of the winter year.¡± Raphsal shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll be very occupied in the efforts for reclaiming the spectral woods, and that¡¯s something which is going to take a long time to see through. So I might as well let all of you go for the time being.¡± She nodded in understanding. ¡°So, I¡¯ll get going then. I gotta get all my things and let my friends know. We¡¯re going our separate ways as of today, so we might as well spend some time together before we part..¡± ¡°Sure, I won¡¯t be keeping you here any further. We¡¯ll meet up here tomorrow at daybreak, so it would be great if you¡¯re prepared to travel by then.¡± Rayola nodded in confirmation one last time before sliding the chair back underneath the table. ¡°Have a good day, sir. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then.¡± ¡°Goodbye.¡± Raphsal said as he waved her away. I watched them as they parted, and let out a long sad sigh as I watched her leave the inn. Raphsal patted my shoulder as he noticed the melancholy in the air. ¡° It¡¯s a sad thing, seeing her but not.¡± He stated. ¡° It is.¡± I confirmed. A grumble rang in the air and I blushed when I noticed that my stomach was the source of it. The archmage burst out laughing. ¡°Get some breakfast girl, you¡¯re late.¡± My face blushed furiously in embarrassment as I waved my hand attempting to catch the innkeeper¡¯s attention. Jane slowly climbed down the stairs and sat beside me. ¡°You¡¯re late again Maya. Nightmares again?¡± I nodded silently. Two small arms embraced me in a hug as she rocked me back and forth as if trying to calm a baby. My mood brightened by the little blonde girl¡¯s adorable behaviour. I nodded as a smile broke across my face. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± I said, reassuring myself more than her. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± For now... -x-